ESO Magicka Sorcerer PvE Build – Flames of Ambition

Magicka Sorcerer has been good since day one in ESO, and it's still one of the most popular builds in The Elder Scrolls Online. In this guide, Deltia's Gaming shares with you a Magicka Sorcerer PvE build, which is intended for solo Veteran Arenas, Veteran Dungeons, and four-player Arenas with modification for Trials.

Attributes

Magicka: 64 points (you can do an Attribute respec with ESO gold)

Maximum Magicka: 39155

Maximum Health: 28698

Maximum Stamina: 15579

Magicka Recovery: 1375

Health Recovery: 551

Stamina Recovery: 971

Spell Damage: 4996

Spell Critical: 70.8%

Spell Penetration: 7974

Weapon Damage: 3750

Weapon Critical: 38.1%

Physical Penetration: 1400

Spell Resistance: 23235

Critical Resistance: 1320

Physical Resistance: 18153

Skill Setup

Various skill options can work for the Magicka Sorcerer, so choose what works best for you and your play style.

Bar One

Bound Aegis provides Mitigation to damage, increases your Maximum Magicka by 8%, and increases your Physical Resistance and Spell Resistance by 2974, making it more helpful than running Inner Light.

Crystal Fragments: This skill shoots crystal fragments to bombard an enemy, dealing Magic Damage.

Summon Twilight Matriarch: Call on Azura to send a Twilight Matriarch to fight at your side. The Twilight Matriarch deals damage to enemies and heals you and your allies. This is a morph that can be used for solo play or uncoordinated groups because the Heal is so strong, allowing you to solo almost anything. It is also very nice if you are pugging dungeons and need the off-heal a little. 

You'll want to switch morphs if you are doing more serious, high-end content. In some of the solo arenas, it will die, and you'll need to re-summon it. If it's already summoned, you can recast it for a burst heal. Twilight Matriarch is a fantastic ability, though you have to double bar it to keep it active.

Force Pulse is your main Spammable skill. It focuses all the elemental energies with your staff and blasts an enemy with three elements: fire, shock, and ice, and nearby enemies will also take additional Magic Damage. You will want to use this and wait for the Crystal Fragments to proc. You'll hear a sound, and your skill bar will light a different color, and that's when you fire off fragments.

The last ability is a very flexible spot, and there are so many different uses for it:

[FLEX SKILL] Mages' Wrath is an execute skill that is useful for a longer-duration fight. 

[FLEX] Camouflaged Hunter gives you Minor Berserk when you are standing behind enemies and crit them. However, it can be a little redundant if a healer runs Combat Prayer and constantly spam it on you. Camouflaged Hunter allows you to hit enemies from the flank or behind. It also comes with another passive if you get a killing blow. You will generate some ultimate if your Fighter's Guild is maxed out as well.

[FLEX] Elemental Drain: If you struggle with sustain while playing solo, you can swap Elemental Drain for the Destruction Staff because it lowers the enemy's Resistances and allows you to get some Magicka. 

[FLEX] Haunting Curse is another good tool that functions like a DoT. It blows up twice, and it's fantastic in solo or group play.  

For the ultimate, Shooting Star gives you some bonuses and stuns the enemy. It can come in handy if you are bursting down something quickly, and it's very cheap for a Magicka Sorcerer to use.

Bar Two

Boundless Storm gives lightning damage to nearby enemies with electricity. You will have a short but big burst of speed from this skill. Plus, it gives you Physical and Spell Resistance. Boundless Storm is a fantastic ability for solo and group, though you will not get a lot of damage unless you are standing close. Therefore, if you are playing coordinated Trials, you may want to flex this out.  

Twilight Matriarch: You have to double bar Twilight Matriarch since it will stay active the whole time. 

Hardened Ward: This morph gives you a bigger shield. The other morph is also valuable because it grants Minor Intellect to you and your nearby allies. Therefore, if you want a bigger shield while playing solo, you can use Hardened Ward. If you want a little more sustain, you can switch the morph.

Lightning Flood has a massive AoE effect, and your allies can synergize this, dealing additional damage. 

Unstable Wall of Elements is also an AoE damage ability that covers a huge area in a shock field and explodes at the end. Depending on staff equipped (frost, flame, or lightning), it can deal burning, chilled, or off-balance status effects to enemies. Slotting a Destructive Staff skill grants the passives: Tri Focus, Ancient Knowledge, and Destruction Expert.

Elemental Rage is a powerful DoT ultimate ability that deals Elemental Damage to enemies in the area.

Priority Skill Lines & Passives 

Class-Specific Skill Lines

Daedric Summoning

Dark Magic

Storm Calling

Weapon Skill Lines

Destruction Staff

Armor Skill Lines

Light Armor

Medium Armor

Heavy Armor

World Skill Line

Soul Magic

Guild Skill Lines

Undaunted

Fighter's Guild

Psijic Order

Crafting Skill Lines

Alchemy

Provisioning

Racial Skill Line

Gear

Starter Gear Setup

Solo Gear Setup

For solo gear setup, I recommend five pieces of Medusa. You'll want to run it on your front bar with a fire staff. Using five pieces of Medusa will be helpful because it gives you a lot of Spell Critical and the same Minor Force as Barbed Trap or Channeled Acceleration does. That means it will free up a Bar slot, which is very important for a Magicka Sorcerer because you have many valuable abilities. 

As for the extra Jewelry piece, you can use the Ring of the Pale Order, which increases your survivability significantly as the Critical Surge. Using the Ring of the Pale Order frees up another bar slot, though you have to rely on Spell Power potions for the buffs that Critical Surge provides.

You also need a Monster helm, and I recommend the 1-piece medium Valkyn Skoria that gives you extra Spell Penetration. This piece of armor can come in handy if you are playing solo or miss out on a lot of group buffs and debuffs. You could also run something that gives you Spell Damage or Max Magicka.

For the main five pieces, you can use False God's Devotion from the Sunspire Trial. It reduces the cost of your Magicka Abilities and restores Magicka when you kill an enemy, making you fast and mobile. It is a no-brainer for either solo or groups when you can't control the buffs and debuffs.  

Group Gear Setup

I suggest that you use five-piece Mother's Sorrow, five-piece Medusa on Front Bar, and a Monster helm for group gear setup. For the Monster helm, you need to pick something that works for you, based on the content you are doing:

Zaan has the strongest single target DPS out of all Monster sets. Grothdarr is usually used when you want a lot of AoE damage, but you have to play in Melee, so it not very applicable for a Magicka Sorcerer. Balorgh gives you a Weapon and Spell Damage bonus equal to the Ultimate consumed. However, if you do Trials that will take a long time, specifically when you do Veteran Trials, Balorgh will not be optimal. For those reasons, I'd recommend Zaan for longer single target fights and Balorgh if you do Veteran Dungeons and need the quick 12 seconds of the massive burst. 

These gear setups for Solo and Group should work very well and be close to Meta. When the next patch comes out in June, there may be some small adjustments, but it will be worth collecting these gear right now because they will be very good for the next patch.

For people who don’t have the gear mentioned in the guide, buying TESO gold at MmoGah allows you to get what you want quickly with no effort.

Racial Choice

High Elf is the best because it provides the most damage and sustain.

Dark Elf: Great Magicka and Stamina based with flame resistances as a bonus

Breton: Great sustain and good Magicka race

Argonian: Great for tanky Magicka user that can transition into tank or PvP character

Consumables

Food: I use Blue Bi-Stat food for Maximum Damage. If you're struggling with sustain, you could use gold food such as Clockwork Citrus.

Potions: I use potions that give me back Maximum Magicka, Spell Power, and Spell Critical because I don't have those buffs on my bar. I also take some Tri-Pots with me as a backup through a tough fight. 

As for the Poisons on my Front Bar, I use the Max Damage Health ones. You can get the Poisons from traders. Or, you can craft them by yourself or receive them as Daily Rewards.

Scrolls: If you need to grind for CP, these scrolls can help a lot!

Mundus Stone

Shadow: If you have over 50% Spell Critical buffed, if not try Thief

Thief: Great all around for most content

Lover: Amazing for solo content

Champion Point Setup

Fitness

Rejuvenation 50 (slot-able)

Ironclad (slot-able)

Boundless Vitality (slot-able)

Tumbling 45

Mystic Tenacity 10

Hero’s Vigor 40

Siphoning Spells (slot-able)

Hasty 32

Tireless Guardian 40

Defiance 33

Warfare

Precision 40

Eldritch Insight 40

Fighting Finesse 50 (slot-able)

Deadly Aim 50 (slot-able)

Thaumaturge 50 (slot-able)

Biting Aura 50 (slot-able)

Extended Might: Piercing 40

Staving Death

Quick Recovery 10

Hardy 10

Elemental Aegis 30

Preparation 30

Craft

Gilded Fingers 50

Fortune’s Favor 50

Inspiration Boost 35

Steadfast Enchantment 10

Treasure Hunter 50 (slot-able)

Breakfall 50

Rationer 30 (slot-able)

Liquid Efficiency 75 (slot-able)

That is the build for Magicka Sorcerer PvE. If you found this video helpful, please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to Deltia's Gaming's channel.  For more ESO tips, please check out other guides on MmoGah. There are five useful houses that you should own in the game and ten tips to build your character successfully in ESO.

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