Thursday, January 5, 2012

Sith Sorcerer Leveling Guide


Sith Sorcerer Leveling Guide
By Zero Hour 17
So young Sith, you have decided to follow the path of the Sorcerer on your rise to power. The Sorcerer bends their enemies to their will with a combination of lightning and crippling force effects. Allies can be useful (until they have outlived their usefulness) so the sorcerer has learned to bend the force to heal the injuries of their “companions”. The sorcerer is as versatile as it is deadly, are you prepared?
 
Overview: The Sith Sorcerer is the caster advanced class of the Sith Inquisitor, chosen at level 10. Sorcerers can fulfill the role of either a healer or a damage dealer, depending on the skills you choose. The 3 trees that are available are Corruption (healing), Lightning (Damage) and Madness (Damage). The Corruption and Lightning trees are unique to the sorcerer while Madness is shared with the Sith Assassin. As a sorcerer you will where light armor, so you aren’t the most durable class in the game, so choosing the right companion is key to your success.
 
Leveling Path 1: Corruption
Leveling through the game as Corruption is a completely viable option. The higher level you reach, the more un-killable you become. However, be aware that mid to end game, it will be slow going while questing solo. This is great if either you plan on leveling with a friend or intend to do a lot of group content like heroic quests, flashpoints and battlegrounds.
This is the best spec (in my opinion) to use while solo leveling as Corruption:
 
Levels 10-11 Choose Haunting Presence if you are going to quest these levels. Presence increases the amount of health that your companion has and bonus healing is always good.
If you plan to run black talon or pvp, then get the first 2 points of Seeping Darkness.
Levels 12-13: You learn Dark Infusion at level 12 so now grab both points of Dark Mending.
Level 14: Put your point in either of the first tier talents that aren’t filled.
Levels 15-17: Max out Lucidity. There’s nothing worse then trying to get off that clinch heal just to have your cast time get knocked back and someone dies.
Levels 18-19: Finish off the tier 1 talents, they are all fantastic while leveling
Level 20: Grab Resurgence, this is your first and best HoT and will become the best spell you have over the next 2 levels.
Level 21-22: Max Force Bending. This is the single greatest talent in the tree, it makes your bad spells good and your good spells great. More on this below.
Level 23-24: Max Efficacious Currents. Your Static Barrier is good with no talent support, but with this and another talent, it is amazing.
Level 25-26: Max Reserves. Having an extra 100 force is very nice,
Levels 27-29: Max Electric Induction. The force reduction is very minor, but as a pure healer build it’s your best choice. You can instead grab Convection, if you aren’t having force issues, for quicker killing.
Level 30-31: Max Lightning Barrier. This talent, in combination with Efficacious Currents makes your barrier great.
Level 32-33: Max Reconstruct. Obviously longer HoT duration is nice, and the increased armor on your companion or tank is always nice.
Level 34-36: Either Grab Sith Purity then Force Suffusion or vice versa. Force Purity is obvious and Suffusion is a filler talent which makes killing things faster since you now have Force Storm.
Level 37: Get Innervate. It’s not quite as useful as Resurgence since it doesn’t trigger force bending, but after that is active, it becomes pretty nice.
Level 38-39: Max Life Surge. Extra critical chance for heals and other abilities is great and taking less damage from attacks is a bonus.
Levels: 40-41: Max Dark Resilience, Empty body or Conspiring Force, it’s personal preference.
Levels 42-44: Max Penetrating Darkness. Bonus Healing is great and increased chance to hit will help make sure the offensive spells you do cast, hit.
Levels 45-46: Max Will of the Sith. Willpower is your main stat for both healing and dmg so it’s self explanatory.
Levels 47-50: You can choose whatever you like, there is nothing else required to level.
Leveling tips:
Khem Val is going to be your go to companion from when you get him to when you hit 50. The way you want to do things up until level 32 is to put a shield on Khem Val and send him in to attack. Then you want to use Shock, Force Lightning and Lightning strike to pick off enemies. When Khem Val or yourself starts taking damage, first cast Resurgence, which will activate force bending, then use the appropriate spell. Dark Infusion should always be the choice unless you think either Khem or you will die before you have enough force to use it, in which case force bending makes the suck-ish Dark Heal useful since it will only cost half force. After you hit 32 you will get Force Storm. This is a powerful, aoe force lightning attack. From here on you want to Begin the same way, but put a barrier on yourself as well, then you can either spam force storm or you can use it at the beginning to soften the enemies up, then use your single target spells to finish enemies off. This build will make you nearly invincible, but it will take a long time to deal with things because your attacks won’t be doing much in the way of damage.
 
 
Leveling Path 2: Madness
Of the 2 damage trees, Madness is the better option because it comes with far less downtime then Lightning thanks to self healing + force restoring talents. Both damage trees, however, leave you wide open to damage. Luckily, you do still have your 2 main healing spells, but they are far less efficient and will burn your force very fast, leaving you up a certain creak without a paddle.
This spec will allow you to burn through crowds of enemies very fast while still being able to do good single target damage.
 
 
Levels 10-12: Max Calcify. Force Lightning will become your main single target attack very soon.
Levels 13-14: Max Will of the Sith. Willpower is your main damage stat
Levels 15-17: Max Chain Shock. You will be using shock whenever it’s off cool down so having the chance to add 50% more damage to it in the form of another instant is nice.
Levels 18-19: Max Disintegration. Increased crit chance on your main attack is great.
Level 20: Get Death Field. This spell will be your opener in both group and single target fights and should be used whenever it’s off cool down.
Level 21: Get Madness. This is now when your Force Lightning becomes your main attack. Basically spam this while using Shock and Death Field when they come off cool down.
Level 22-24 Max Sith Efficacy. Reducing pushback is nice, but being able to regain force from your main spamming ability is awesome while questing.
Level 25: Get Wrath. This is a fantastic ability. This will let you use your cast time attacks, instantly, Making Crushing Darkness a lot more destructive.
Levels 26-29: Here you want to max Parasitism and Oppressing Force, it’s up to you which you want first. Getting heals while you do damage is great, and increasing your crowd controlling abilities is great if you accidentally pull more enemies then you can handle.
Level 30: Get Deathmark. Since most of your attacks deal periodic damage, it is a great talent.
Levels 31-32: Max Lingering Nightmares. This way, when you do use Crushing Darkness when it becomes instant, it will do more damage.
Levels 33-34: Max Force Horrors. Affliction should be kept up at all times on any powerful enemy, so additional damage is always nice.
Levels 35-37: Max Creeping Death. Again, this increases the damage of all your key abilities so it’s a given.
Levels 38-39: You have 2 choices. You can either grab Devour to increase the healing portions of your attacks or Haunted Dreams to help with emergency cc. This really is a one or the other choice.
Level 40: Get Creeping Terror. Another good attack against strong enemies.
Level 41-43: Max Seeping Darkness. Self explanatory.
Level 44-45: You can choose between either Haunting Presence or Dark Mending. Haunting Presence is definitely better if you got Devour.
Level 46-47: Max Force Suffusion. This will increase the aoe damage of your Force Storm and Death Field.
Level 48-49: Max Reserves. This will let you spam Force Storm more during bigger, longer aoe encounters.
Level 50: Your choice, but you will probably respec here.
 
Leveling Tips:
Khem Val is still probably the best companion because he will get the agro and enemies will beat on him while you kill them, basically giving you a second life bar. Up until you get Death Field, you are going to be using shock, then force lightning while throwing out lightning strikes while both are on cool down. After you get it, open with Death Field,, then use the same rotation, using Death Field when it’s off cool down. Once you get madness, phase Lightning strike out of your rotation. At level 32 you get force storm. At this point open with Death Field and then spam Force Storm until either everything is dead, or there is only one enemy left. When facing a strong, single target enemy, open with Death Field then apply affliction and use shock. Then use Force Lightning until Wrath procs, then apply Crushing Darkness. Spam force lightning and use shock and Death Field off cool down and re-apply your dots when they run out. Don’t be stingy with your CC either, because as Madness, you need to do damage to your enemies faster then they can kill you.
Conclusion:
All and all the Sorcerer is a fun, versatile class that you should definitely try out. Now go, forge your destiny.