Sorcery - A sorcerer source

[Zot]

Reposting as I can't edit the other thread :>

I've started up a Sorcerer column over at everyone's* favourite dinky little Aion blog, Flying Bishounen.

Part One focuses on stats: what should you aim for and avoid as a sorcerer?

Part Two discusses the perhaps not-so-obvious uses of various level 1-25 sorcerer abilities and even has a cute little youtube video I made ^^
There is also an addendum to part II with additional tricks learned since posting.

Part Three goes into detail on professions: what are the best choices for a sorcerer and what can I expect from each of them?

Part Four goes into detail on level 25-35 abilities and revisits some familiar spells for yet another dive into tips and tricks for PvP and PvE.

Part Five touches on rotations for solo and group settings, pvp and pve, as well as some more of my ubiquitous spell notations. ^^

Part Six discusses solo sorcerer PvP, going into general tips and more indepth tips against Templar, Gladiators, Rangers and Assassins.

Part Seven completes the solo sorcerer PvP guide, discussing strategies versus the Chanter, Cleric and Spirit Master classes, as well as versus other Sorcerers.

I intend to cover anything and everything sorc, published in whenever-I-feel-like-it-ly issues. Please visit, absorb and critique!



*might not actually be everyone's favourite

[Nevers]

I've had Flying Bishounen bookmarked for a while now.

Keep it up, I look forward to the updates.

[Lorraine]

Just finished reading your latest article, I was hoping to reach the SM's part but I guess that's got to wait.

On your pvp tips I mostly agree but, really... you don't want to do freestyle dps against sins, at least not if they have up to date gear. Maybe I just suck at it but the risk of getting caught in an Ambush with Stoneskin down doesn't seem worth it when you could easily remove their aethertwisting with flamecage + erosion and then proceed to tree them. Also, I feel aerial fights are actually easier even while lacking blind leap, because they can't use ambush in the air (which we would reserve leap for if on ground). Not having aether hold does suck but the extra mobility while in the air makes up for it (just look at the assassin subforums, it's all whining because of air fights against ranged classes).

On Rangers I don't have anything to add except that I'm the worst when it come to fight against them and only seem to win if I get the first shot and can keep them chain-CC'd long enough. I'm only 37 atm so the lack of Soul Freeze is a problem, It seems like it'd be especially useful against rangers but I won't be able to test it for two more levels and three bars. While in the ground it's a little bit easier, "Freezing Weave" is actually quite helpful and it seems most of them don't really expect a sorc blind leaping into them.


Overall, I must say Flying Bishounen is the only Aion blog I try and read regularly... but to be fair I only do that because of your column, the other articles that I read were kind of boring so grats on stealing the spotlight and keep up the good work .

[Zot]

Soul Freeze will save your arse vs rangers. It's incredible to see the transformation from nailgun to bbgun ^^

I haven't had too much experience fighting SMs on an equal level. I have some basic tactics down but simply don't have enough to post yet. But mostly I just didn't want to double the size of this issue xD

[terrrrrible]

Part V was exactly what I've been looking for all day about PvE/PvP spell rotations and which stigmas to use.

When do you recommend swapping out Lumiel's for Zikel's? I have nowhere near enough kinah to purchase it on my server, so I'm waiting until I do, or I get a lucky drop of it. I just hit 31 so I'm without Fusion right now obviously.

In the Group PvE section, when you say Blaze, do you mean FB -> Blaze? Again at 31 I'm without Fusion and WCD. Is it more damage leaving out IC -> FS @ 31 and just doing FC -> FH -> FB -> Blaze ->(FB -> FB -> FH)... and then Cage whenever it goes down / Blaze whenever it's up?

[Nathan001]

Just finished reading the newest edition. Great stuff!

I saw where you said you never plan on getting rid of Lumiel's Wisdom. I personally love it, but I can't possibly see fitting it in after reaching 50. What do you plan on your final stigma build being, if you don't mind my asking? Also, have you gotten to play with Vaziel's Wisdom yet? I just picked mine up, even though i still have another level and a half before I can use it.

[Lorraine]

I actually forgot to comment on that too... I love Lumiel's and still use it to date but I just can't see it being better than Vaizel's in regard to PvP. Mana problems shouldn't be huge if you keep your pots up to date unless you are fighting a templar or maybe cleric? At least it never happened to me that I lost a fight because of running out of mana :/

[Shiyo]

You might want to edit part 4 of the guide under the Zikel's Wisdom section. There is no MB cap.

btw, thanks for the guide. I love picking up new tips and tricks here and there.

Edit:
- As I continued to read into the next sections I see you made your corrections there. Is it possible to retroactively do those? Might prevent confusion. Nevertheless, great read so far.

[Zot]

Originally Posted by terrrrrible

Part V was exactly what I've been looking for all day about PvE/PvP spell rotations and which stigmas to use.

When do you recommend swapping out Lumiel's for Zikel's? I have nowhere near enough kinah to purchase it on my server, so I'm waiting until I do, or I get a lucky drop of it. I just hit 31 so I'm without Fusion right now obviously.

In the Group PvE section, when you say Blaze, do you mean FB -> Blaze? Again at 31 I'm without Fusion and WCD. Is it more damage leaving out IC -> FS @ 31 and just doing FC -> FH -> FB -> Blaze ->(FB -> FB -> FH)... and then Cage whenever it goes down / Blaze whenever it's up?

Yes, FB->Blaze

I wouldn't swap Lumiel's out. I've done it a few times now and whenever I do, I find I have to chug mana potions in order to not go OOM when grouping or soloing PvE content. With Lumiels I don't even have to mana treatment xD. This may well change at 50 of course. At 40 you can squeeze Zikel's or Yumiel's in.

Originally Posted by Nathan001

Just finished reading the newest edition. Great stuff!

I saw where you said you never plan on getting rid of Lumiel's Wisdom. I personally love it, but I can't possibly see fitting it in after reaching 50. What do you plan on your final stigma build being, if you don't mind my asking? Also, have you gotten to play with Vaziel's Wisdom yet? I just picked mine up, even though i still have another level and a half before I can use it.

I haven't worked on my final build yet, at least not seriously. I want to give Sleep Storm a proper go first, though . Vaziel's Wisdom is rapidly dropping in price on Nezekan so i'll wait for it to be more affordable, hehe. I'm also still playing with Curse of Weakness II and don't want to unequip it before I've given it a good run in PvP.

-------------------------

Originally Posted by Shiyo

You might want to edit part 4 of the guide under the Zikel's Wisdom section. There is no MB cap.

btw, thanks for the guide. I love picking up new tips and tricks here and there.

Edit:
- As I continued to read into the next sections I see you made your corrections there. Is it possible to retroactively do those? Might prevent confusion. Nevertheless, great read so far.

I cleaned up issue 1 the other day but only because it had glaring inconsistencies. I think that once I feel I've covered all of the basics into 50, I'll conglomerate it all into one little sorc handbook type thing... but there's nothing stopping me from fixing issues up as I go along, yes xD

Originally Posted by Lorraine

I actually forgot to comment on that too... I love Lumiel's and still use it to date but I just can't see it being better than Vaizel's in regard to PvP. Mana problems shouldn't be huge if you keep your pots up to date unless you are fighting a templar or maybe cleric? At least it never happened to me that I lost a fight because of running out of mana :/

Lumiels is crap in PvP you're right, but swapping them out costs a few hundred thousand kinah. I'm still leveling and doing PvE content with my legion so I keep lumiels on. Whenever I made the mistake of unequipping it, soloing and grouping PvE stuff became almost intolerable... even with mana potions

[Thetan]

I've enjoyed your videos, and the guides are great as well! I'll definately be coming back to see some updates. Only comments I had was:

1) I see a few references to the 1200 MB cap... I'm fairly certain this was busted. I think. :O
2) Sins are total shite in the air, their rune carve chains DO NOT work while moving, as well as ambush. So a sorc moving in the air is pretty much death-from-above to sins. I speak from experience, I leveled my Sin to 31 then quit XD

Great job though! I enjoy it

[Zot]

Noted on #2

The first issues were written when 1200 was assumed to be the cap. I'll fix it at some point XD

[Twilight Sky]

Bookmarked. Very good stuff for aspiring sorcerers.

[DarkBlade]

just made a sorc and had a quick look at your blog and it seems full of good info, i will sure keep an eye on it, thanks

Bookmarked

[Zot]

Flying Bishounen: Sorcery VII

Issue seven completes the solo sorcerer guide, discussing strategies versus the Chanter, Cleric and Spirit Master classes, as well as versus other Sorcerers.

[Everesq]

[QUOTE=Lorraine;1608881]Just finished reading your latest article, I was hoping to reach the SM's part but I guess that's got to wait.

On your pvp tips I mostly agree but, really... you don't want to do freestyle dps against sins, at least not if they have up to date gear. Maybe I just suck at it but the risk of getting caught in an Ambush with Stoneskin down doesn't seem worth it when you could easily remove their aethertwisting with flamecage + erosion and then proceed to tree them. Also, I feel aerial fights are actually easier even while lacking blind leap, because they can't use ambush in the air (which we would reserve leap for if on ground). Not having aether hold does suck but the extra mobility while in the air makes up for it (just look at the assassin subforums, it's all whining because of air fights against ranged classes).


Erosion + flame cage are dots.. gl using tree with them

good little tips in here Zot