Sorcerer Class Guide / FAQ

[ladywhite]

awsome guide. bookmarked it. thx

[Neacail]

Originally Posted by Ziv

Someone posted YouTube - Sorcerer with +85% casting bonus.

That's not instant. Big difference. I find it very unlikely that he has +85% casting speed, as he would be casting much faster than in that video (0.3s for Flame Bolt, for instance). In reality, he probably has around +67.5% casting speed, or 0.65s per Flame Bolt (which seems consistent with the video).

Additive casting speed stacking would make no sense from a balance standpoint. Proper buffs with an Asmodian Sorcerer = instant cast all non-CC spells.

[Emolokz]

It also seems like the sorc's spells are going faster perhaps due to Boon of Quickness (50% cast speed)?

[Austerus]

Originally Posted by Kayoto

I know I've read some conjecture somewhere, but considering that the only time in the game that you ever gain bonuses to those stats are when flying (from Winged Sage ) you don't really have to worry about them in terms of gearing or manastone choices.

If I find something specific on exactly what they do, I'll be sure to let you know.

ty ty! I hadn't been able to find anything that modified them so thanks for the link. Great guide too! its clear how much work you put in it and I'm wiling to be this will be one of those tried-and-true threads for some good info.

[mosh]

This should be stickied!

[Dett]

Originally Posted by mosh

This should be stickied!

Agreed.

This is a very fine guide; well done!

[Ziv]

Originally Posted by Neacail

That's not instant. Big difference. I find it very unlikely that he has +85% casting speed, as he would be casting much faster than in that video (0.3s for Flame Bolt, for instance). In reality, he probably has around +67.5% casting speed, or 0.65s per Flame Bolt (which seems consistent with the video).

Additive casting speed stacking would make no sense from a balance standpoint. Proper buffs with an Asmodian Sorcerer = instant cast all non-CC spells.

It certainly looks like he's casting 0.3 second Flame bolts to me. Heck, he casts Inferno in what looks to me like half a second.

[shoseijutsu]

that cast speed video is 75%, 50% from boon of quickness and 25% from chanter buff.

[Ziv]

Originally Posted by shoseijutsu

that cast speed video is 75%, 50% from boon of quickness and 25% from chanter buff.

The chanter buff is 50%. Boon of quickness was 35% when the video was made.

[Kayoto]

Updates for 9/23/09:

Fixed the typo Sakuyarules mentioned. Added Magic Resist as a viable manastone choice for PVP. Added Magical Accuracy, Magic Resist, and Elemental Defense mechanics thanks to the link Ziv provided (I added this link to the references/resources section).

Updates to come:
Will be adding in a section for optimal PVE damage rotations, including grinding & fighting bosses.
Will be adding in a section for PVP strategies/tips.
ETA: Soonish. I've been quite busy between work and, well.. you know, actually leveling Sorcerer!

Originally Posted by sakuyarules

Great guide! Didn't finish reading it, but I will soon as I get off the phone. Just wanted to make a quick note that there are only 3 Advanced Stigma slots, you accidentally put in 5.

Also a quick question, what does the stigma Barrier of Severance do, makes you get stunned instead of taking damage?

I fixed the typo, thanks for pointing that out!

Also, Barrier of Severance is a 2 second cast spell with a 5 minute cooldown that renders you invulnerable to ALL attacks for 8 seconds. Very useful if you're getting focused by a lot of people, and also (I believe) is affected by cast time reductions, so you could potentially get this off very quickly.

Some people recommend popping our level 28 skill Boon of Iron Clad first if you think you'll be interrupted by physical attacks while trying to get Barrier of Severance off. If you're ONLY dying to physical damage, I'd recommend using Boon of Iron-clad (BoI), and then beginning to cast Barrier of Severance (BoS) when BoI has 2 seconds remaining on its buff duration. This gives you about 13 seconds of protection in total. Definitely not to be underestimated!

Originally Posted by sculti

missing Lumiel's Wisdom I - Skills - Aion for the pve stigma-set tho
it works for 15 seconds 30 secs reuse, not only for one spell (at least thats been my experience, may needs to be tested further)
because i do run out of mana with mana treatment and pots

The stigma build I posted for my PVE suggestion was mostly from a pure-DPS standpoint, as I don't believe mana will be so much of an issue as long as you make smart use of potions, Absorb Energy, Soul Absorption, and mana treatment (I rarely ran into issues, myself, before I got Lumiel's Wisdom). However, I do indeed highly recommend Lumiel's Wisdom while leveling. It does make a big difference and reduces downtime by quite a bit. Thank you for mentioning it!




As for the cast time boost discussion, I'm going to leave the guide as-is for now (it still has the disclaimer attached to that section) and once I hit 37 and get Vaizel's Wisdom, I will personally do some testing to confirm how it stacks and then update the guide (I'll update it earlier if I see confirmed testing posted somewhere before then). Until then, I'd recommend leaving the poor dead horse alone.


Thank you so much, everyone, for the positive feedback! I'm really glad that you're all enjoying it. And please keep the suggestions (and questions, if they're not covered by the guide) coming!

[pcatzm]

great post!

was amazed to see how many roots/stuns/cc we have...frankly, i don't think there is enough keys around asdw to bind them all...what am i going to do?

[IzmiR]

thx, great post.
and..

Yes, go ahead and get all the jokes related to the name out of your system early. "DUDE I TOTALLY JUST FISTED THAT GUY SO HARD LOL" -- yeah, we got it, thanks.

This is dangerous to read at the work, couldnt stop laughing

[Carodor]

Excellent guide! Cleared up a lot of things for me. 8)

[snyk666]

you know, when i started a sorcerer i was quite disappointed to see that , we couldn't use staves :S, i would've loved some cool looking staffs with sorc :P.

And nice guide by the way, really useful for someone who doesn't want to search alot .

[sakuyarules]

Originally Posted by Kayoto

Fixed the typo Sakuyarules mentioned. Added Magic Resist as a viable manastone choice for PVP. Added Magical Accuracy, Magic Resist, and Elemental Defense mechanics thanks to the link Ziv provided (I added this link to the references/resources section).



I fixed the typo, thanks for pointing that out!

Also, Barrier of Severance is a 2 second cast spell with a 5 minute cooldown that renders you invulnerable to ALL attacks for 8 seconds. Very useful if you're getting focused by a lot of people, and also (I believe) is affected by cast time reductions, so you could potentially get this off very quickly.

Some people recommend popping our level 28 skill Boon of Iron Clad first if you think you'll be interrupted by physical attacks while trying to get Barrier of Severance off. If you're ONLY dying to physical damage, I'd recommend using Boon of Iron-clad (BoI), and then beginning to cast Barrier of Severance (BoS) when BoI has 2 seconds remaining on its buff duration. This gives you about 13 seconds of protection in total. Definitely not to be underestimated!

No problem, and thankies .

Originally Posted by Kayoto

Thank you so much, everyone, for the positive feedback! I'm really glad that you're all enjoying it. And please keep the suggestions (and questions, if they're not covered by the guide) coming!

Of course, who could hate such a great guide!