In light of the changes to the Vampire Skill Line with the release of Greymoor i figured I’d put together a build that is viable for solo, group dungeon and arena content as well as normal trials that has a good mix of damage and survivability without using the risk reward system that is now a key part of the the Vampire Skill Line so without further adieu let’s jump in.
Gear
My go to setup for gear is as follows:
5 x False Gods Devotion
5 x Mother’s Sorrow
2 x Slimecraw
1 x Maelstrom Inferno Staff
To break this down a little further this is how it looks piece by piece:
Front bar - Mother’s Sorrow Inferno Staff - Precise - Flame Damage Glyph
Back bar - Maelstrom Inferno Staff - Infused - Weapon Damage Glyph
Head - Slimecraw - Heavy - Divine - Max Magicka
Shoulders - Slimecraw - Medium - Max Magicka
Chest - False Gods Devotion - Light - Max Magicka
Hands - False Gods Devotion - Light - Max Magicka
Waist - False Gods Devotion - Light - Max Magicka
Legs - False Gods Devotion - Light - Max Magicka
Feet - False Gods Devotion - Light - Max Magicka
Neck - Mother’s Sorrow - Arcane - Spell Damage
Ring 1 - Mother’s Sorrow - Arcane - Spell Damage
Ring 2 - Mother’s Sorrow - Bloodthirsty - Spell Damage
You can mix and match what pieces you have and where, as long as you have 5 False Gods Devotion, 5 Mother’s Sorrow and 2 Slimecraw and with the above traits and weights.
The exceptions to the above traits are the Head, Chest and Legs which you can have in Infused instead of Divine to have access to a slightly higher Magicka pool but you have to remember that for each piece you have in Infused you’ll lose a 7.5% bonus from your Mundus Stone.
Jewellery you can have either Arcane, Infused or Bloodthirsty, or you can have a mix of the three. I personally like to have 2 Arcane and 1 Bloodthirsty but that’s my personal preference. Set these up as you feel best.
If you don’t have access to or have yet to farm False Gods Devotion then you can substitute this with one of the following:
Bright Throats Boast - Can be farmed in Murkmire or bought from Guild Traders. Offers an insane amount of Magicka Recovery, especially when using a drink that boosts your resources (IE - any of the Bloody Mara, or a Purple Tri Stat Drink) as this triggers the 5th piece bonus which increases your Max Magicka and Mag Recovery even further.
Armour of The Seducer - If you don’t have False Gods Devotion or Bright Throats Boast then this is your next best option. This is a craftable set and only requires you to have researched 3 traits on any piece you wish to craft. This has a nice mix of Mag Recovery and Cost Reduction and will do nicely as a put me on until you are able to acquire one of the above.
As for Monster Sets, if you have yet to get Slimecraw there are a couple of options you can use instead:
Iceheart - This offers a nice free shield just for attacking as normal, and also a small damage pulse for adds that get too close to you. Great for first time clears and generally adding an extra layer of safety for you till you’re comfortable / confident with mechanics for whatever content you happen to be running.
Maw of The Infernal - This is a very strong set and the uptime for this is pretty insane as it procs pretty much on cooldown every time. This summons a Daedroth to fight for you which creates an extra target for enemies. This is probably the next best set to Slimecraw to use.
Valkyn Skoria - This is a nice set to use as you get extra Spell Penetration for having it equipped which means you can reduce the amount of Champion Points you put into Penetration and spend them elsewhere. It offers a nice burst damage to targets and procs pretty much on cooldown.
Consumables and Mundus
There are several options available to use but I tend to stick to the tried and tested.
If you’re wearing False Gods Devotion or Armor of The Seducer then use Blue Bi Stat Food (Solitude Salmon and Millet Soup as an example of this).
If you are wearing Bright Throats Boast then you’ll want either of the Blood Mara Drinks (Purifying or Corrupting) or a Purple Tri Stat Drink (Spring Loaded Infusion being an example of this).
For Potions you’ll want Essence of Spell Power (Spell Damage, Spell Critical, Magicka Recovery and Restore Magicka) to boost your damage as much as possible.
The Mundus Stone that you use will depend on what your Spell Critical Rating is with the gear setup you are using. If your Rating is less than 53% then you will use The Thief, however, if your rating is above 53% then you will use The Shadow. If you are not not at Max CP level just yet then an alternative would be to use The Lover to increase your Spell Penetration rating. Champion Points
As with any build, where you allocate your points can make a huge difference to how your build performs in the field. The below setup is what i have found works best for me, however, the Green and Red Champion Points setups are up for debate as there are several ways to align these that all give the same or similar output.
Blue
Elfborn - 61
Elemental Expert - 49
Spell Erosion - 30
Staff Expert - 21
Master-at-Arms - 72
Thaumaturge - 37
Green
Warlord - 51
Arcanist - 100
Tenacity - 43
Tumbling - 72
Shadow Ward - 4
Red
Ironclad - 81
Spell Shield - 43
Thick Skinned - 48
Hardy - 49
Elemental Defender - 49
Skill Bars
Here are the skills I choose to use for this setup and have found them to be the most effective overall for this build, however, you’re free to change things up if there’s skill not used / mentioned that you have a preference for.
Front bar
Mage’s Wrath (Morph of Mage’s Fury)
Crystal Fragments (Morph of Crystal Shard)
Force Pulse (Morph of Force Shock)
Hardened Ward (Morph of Conjured Ward)
Summon Twilight Matriarch (Morph of Summon Winged Twilight)
Meteor (Either Morph can be used, dealers choice)
Back bar
Unstable Wall of Elements (Morph of Wall of Elements)
Lightning Flood (Morph of Lightning Splash)
Critical Surge (Morph of Surge)
Channeled Acceleration (Morph of Accelerate)
Summon Twilight Matriarch (Morph of Summon Winged Twilight)
Elemental Rage (Morph of Elemental Storm)
Flex Skills
Twilight Matriarch - If you are in a group where there is healer present or you are confident you can manage your shields enough to allow Critical Surge to keep you healed you can swap this for Summon Volatile Familiar (morph of Summon Unstable Familiar) which will add a nice amount of damage for you as well as stunning adds from time to time (be careful though that when adds are being stunned it does not interfere with a Tanks role if you are in a group).
Lightning Flood - This can be swapped out for Mystic Orb (Morph of Necrotic Orb) which adds a lot of cleave damage as well as a nice synergy for when running in groups. This is quite a costly skill to use to be careful on how you manage this one.
Channeled Acceleration - If you have yet to level up your Psijic Skill Line then you can instead use Barbed Trap (Morph of Trap Beast) from the Fighter’s Guild Skill Line as this will give the same benefits, with the only caveat being that you will need to use careful placement for the trap to be triggered by an enemy.
Elemental Rage - This can be swapped for Greater Storm Atronach (Morph of Summon Storm Atronach) for situations where there is a high health or boss target that won’t have much movement and will not go out of the range of the Atronach. This also adds a nice synergy for a group to use when in grouped instances.
Skill Logic
Front Bar
Mage’s Wrath - This is your execute skill to help push that extra damage when the target is nearly dead. Be sure to cast this when the target's health is around 30% for adds and 22% for bosses as unlike other executes in the game the Sorcs can be pre cast on a target and will trigger if the targets health drops below 20% shortly after being cast. Once the target's health reaches 20% you would swap your spammable for Mage’s Wrath.
Crystal Fragments - This is a nice skill that adds a large amount of damage at a low cost and can also hit as hard as an execute skill when this lands as a critical strike.. When the skill procs (skill icon will change on your bar) you will cast this in place of your spammable (Force Pulse / Mage's Wrath - depending on the health of the target) then continue to use your spam again until the Crystal Fragments procs again.
Force Pulse - This is your main spammable as it deals a crap tonne of damage and also adds elemental status effects to the target and having a change to hit additional targets within close range.
Hardened Ward - This is your source of damage mitigation throughout your run. It offers a large shield which protects both you and your pets. This should be weaved in whenever you feel you need it.
Summon Twilight Matriarch - The Matriarch offers a nice burst heal for you and the pet itself in “oh shit situations. Combined with Critical Surge you should have more than enough healing available to survive vast amounts of punishment.
Meteor - Meteor is used purely for the Mages Guild passives that grants extra Magicka, either morph of this skill can be used but this will not be your main ultimate. is a placeholder skill purely for passive of extra Magicka.
Back bar
Unstable Wall of Elements - This is a strong DoT and has the added benefit of dealing burst damage when the skill expires / is recast early. Targets that are burning also receive increased damage while inside the cast area.
Lightning Flood - Like Unstable Wall of Elements, Lightning Flood is also a strong DoT and has the added benefit of greater range so you can use this to manage targets at varying distance.
Critical Surge - This is your main source of healing during your run. You gain Major Sorcery which increases your Spell Damage by 20% as well as healing for 3k health every second for every critical damage hit you deal while active. As the Sorc setup i use is a “high crit” setup this means you’ll always be regenerating health while this skill is active.
Channeled Acceleration - This will be your source of Minor Force which increases the damage of your critical strikes by 10% for a set period of time. This ability does have an odd cast time but due to the Psijic Order Skill Line passives this is not an issue as you receive 30% less damage while casting a skill with a cast time.
Summon Twilight Matriarch - The Matriarch offers a nice burst heal for you and the pet itself in “oh shit situations. Combined with Critical Surge you should have more than enough healing available to survive all the punishment the arena can throw at you.
Elemental Rage - This is your main ultimate due to having a wide radius and dealing a large amount of damage over its duration. It’s great for add control and heavy damage on bosses as well as for “oh shit” situations where you find yourself overwhelmed and need a quick burst of damage.
Conclusion
MagSorc has always been considered the “easy mode” class in ESO and even now nothing has changed. Sorcs are versatile, have a great skill set and utility at their disposal as well as being able to hit with the best of them. The added benefit of pets means that you have a free tank with you at all times as targets have a chance of attacking your pet instead of you.
If you want an easy time with a class that doesn’t have as steep a learning curve as others then MagSorc is for you.
I’ve personally used this setup for Flawless vMA runs, soloing world bosses and Vet Dungeons as well as doing No death, Speedrun, HM achievements in DLC dungeons with groups.
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