Cold sorc build wanted
- Thread starter Ebi
- Start date
FaustianBargain
Well-known member
I’m interested in seeing a build as well, since I’m stumbling through a cold spec life on an ancient alt I recently dusted off, but it’s probably relevant to state your goals and parameters as well. Are you looking for a cold spec build to build up a lot of past lives, to stay at cap and run high skull reaper, park at cap to farm for other characters, something else? Do you have many past lives or racial APs, lots of/ very few reaper points?
Good points to be stated here. For now this is a leveling build. Plan on running to 30 reincarnation epic the. Reincarnation class/race there after.
This is first life for now
FaustianBargain
Well-known member
So I don’t know that this is optimal by any means, but for a leveling build I’m running a pure human sorcerer:
23 in EK for survivability from medium armor plus core 4
11 in Feydark for CC from color spray
The remainder in water savant
Stats are fairly obvious, max CHA, at least 6 into CON, I like at least 4 into INT so beyond maxing out spellcraft, I can invest in some social skills to take advantage of the high CHA bonus.
Feats are the usual; Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Heighten, Evocation focus, Greater Evocation focus, Conjuration focus (for Web and Acid Blast), I took Wizard past life because that was my one past life on this alt - you could sub in Greater Conjuration focus.
Enlarge isn’t worth it here because of the spell list and I generally don’t take Extend on a sorcerer because I’m either done with the quest before buffs run out or I’m shrining because I blow through spell points quickly.
For leveling it’s a diet of Niacs, Ice Bolt (there’s no save so it’s a nice utility damage doer for some time), Polar Ray and Frost Lance on single targets, or Cone of Cold and Otilukes on groups.
When dealing with cold immune/resistant targets, switch to a cycle of Melfs, Chain Missiles, Magic Missiles, and Black Dragon Bolt for single target and Force missiles or Acid Blast for groups.
Frost lance will generally chew through reapers quickly with half damage even on a made fortitude save, but you have the no save damage options (Melfs, BDB, Polar Ray, Ice bolt, Chain Missiles) at various points. Crowd control is mostly Web, Greater Color Spray, and disco ball.
With Charisma to hit and damage plus the imbue dice from EK it’s a surprisingly effective melee when needed to conserve SP.
Gearing with sets is a little sparse because of using medium armor, but the shield (Giant’s Platter) and frost sickle combo from the House J level 14 chain gives a nice cold spell power bump.
In epics, I’ll be running in Shiradi and spamming AOE spells for all of the random procs, but predominantly take abilities from Magus because of the boosts to cold and force.
This hardly a perfect build, and probably not much helpful detail, but it’s been a blast to play thus far. The shattering noise from mobs that die from cold is a little addictive.
Note - if you don’t want to go with medium armor use, then the Sharn Esoteric Initiate set is tailor made for the build In that case ignore EK and spend more in Feydark. Then you can dip into earth savant for a bit more damage with acid.
23 in EK for survivability from medium armor plus core 4
11 in Feydark for CC from color spray
The remainder in water savant
Stats are fairly obvious, max CHA, at least 6 into CON, I like at least 4 into INT so beyond maxing out spellcraft, I can invest in some social skills to take advantage of the high CHA bonus.
Feats are the usual; Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Heighten, Evocation focus, Greater Evocation focus, Conjuration focus (for Web and Acid Blast), I took Wizard past life because that was my one past life on this alt - you could sub in Greater Conjuration focus.
Enlarge isn’t worth it here because of the spell list and I generally don’t take Extend on a sorcerer because I’m either done with the quest before buffs run out or I’m shrining because I blow through spell points quickly.
For leveling it’s a diet of Niacs, Ice Bolt (there’s no save so it’s a nice utility damage doer for some time), Polar Ray and Frost Lance on single targets, or Cone of Cold and Otilukes on groups.
When dealing with cold immune/resistant targets, switch to a cycle of Melfs, Chain Missiles, Magic Missiles, and Black Dragon Bolt for single target and Force missiles or Acid Blast for groups.
Frost lance will generally chew through reapers quickly with half damage even on a made fortitude save, but you have the no save damage options (Melfs, BDB, Polar Ray, Ice bolt, Chain Missiles) at various points. Crowd control is mostly Web, Greater Color Spray, and disco ball.
With Charisma to hit and damage plus the imbue dice from EK it’s a surprisingly effective melee when needed to conserve SP.
Gearing with sets is a little sparse because of using medium armor, but the shield (Giant’s Platter) and frost sickle combo from the House J level 14 chain gives a nice cold spell power bump.
In epics, I’ll be running in Shiradi and spamming AOE spells for all of the random procs, but predominantly take abilities from Magus because of the boosts to cold and force.
This hardly a perfect build, and probably not much helpful detail, but it’s been a blast to play thus far. The shattering noise from mobs that die from cold is a little addictive.
Note - if you don’t want to go with medium armor use, then the Sharn Esoteric Initiate set is tailor made for the build In that case ignore EK and spend more in Feydark. Then you can dip into earth savant for a bit more damage with acid.
Here is a build from Strimtom that I nabbed from his old build stash: https://forums-old.ddo.com/forums/s...Ice-Strimtom-s-Ice-Sorc?p=6186705#post6186705
warlock player
Well-known member
I'd say think about what your goal is with the build first. idk about others but at cap my sorc seems to perform less efficiently than other nuker class.
If you enjoy the fast, almighty, but also quite risky style which is sorc I can gif you my tuppence.
Best race is Dragonborn. If either you don't like it, or don't have it, or whatever reason you don't wanna play Dragonborn, imo the next best is Drow, followed by Aasimar and Human.
41 points in cold tree, 24 points in illusionist.
If you are Dragonborn: Get up to Tier 3 (Draconic Knowledge) or 4 (True Power)
If you are Drow: +2 Cha, then a) Eldritch knight up to spell power boost (3/3) b) Falconry cha+1 & sprint boost
If you are Aasimar: All cores, Divine Purpose, Divine Resolve (3/3), Heal Amp, Divine Charges (3/3)
I'm feeling lazy so here's the keypoint: DC
I like to run highest dc possible on my sorc - prior to Dino update my sorc (not a racial completionist) had 121 evo, 114 ench, 116 ish necro etc etc with 980ish cold spell power (no buff) and about 1050ish buffed. spell crit chance lacked a bit, at 64% (this can be fixed with better gear, at least up to 74% with pomura's ring or smth and by replacing a filigree) and crit dmg multiplier at 100. I reckon now with dino (haven't farmed yet) I could reach 125+ on evo (128 with reaper boost). if you have all the past lives it's like 127 standing and 130 boosted.
By focusing on dc you know your **** works, and most importantly you can freeze nearly everything (those plants in RL are pain in the arse but you will freeze them with this dc). By having decent dc all across the board you can instakill all the pesky archers and hold the muscle brutes, before nuking them with ice cold magik!!!
So to wrap up:
No.1 thing you should worry about is DC
No.2 is your knowledge of the map / monster spawn points
No.3 is your skill on targetting archers/muscles with the right spells. (finger, pk, circle, mass hold, glacial wrath, colour spray, ice storm, sunburst, prismatic spray, prismatic ray, etc)
No.4 is debuff items (double lgs set or smth) for boss. This helps a ton
No.5 is spellpower/crit chance / crit dmg / helpless dmg
if you follow this you will nuke the crap out of ddo (but you will also get nuked the crap out if misplayed)
Also if you're just running heroic / low reaper (1-4) you can ignore dc pretty much lol and prolly ignore all the things i said here.
If you enjoy the fast, almighty, but also quite risky style which is sorc I can gif you my tuppence.
Best race is Dragonborn. If either you don't like it, or don't have it, or whatever reason you don't wanna play Dragonborn, imo the next best is Drow, followed by Aasimar and Human.
41 points in cold tree, 24 points in illusionist.
If you are Dragonborn: Get up to Tier 3 (Draconic Knowledge) or 4 (True Power)
If you are Drow: +2 Cha, then a) Eldritch knight up to spell power boost (3/3) b) Falconry cha+1 & sprint boost
If you are Aasimar: All cores, Divine Purpose, Divine Resolve (3/3), Heal Amp, Divine Charges (3/3)
I'm feeling lazy so here's the keypoint: DC
I like to run highest dc possible on my sorc - prior to Dino update my sorc (not a racial completionist) had 121 evo, 114 ench, 116 ish necro etc etc with 980ish cold spell power (no buff) and about 1050ish buffed. spell crit chance lacked a bit, at 64% (this can be fixed with better gear, at least up to 74% with pomura's ring or smth and by replacing a filigree) and crit dmg multiplier at 100. I reckon now with dino (haven't farmed yet) I could reach 125+ on evo (128 with reaper boost). if you have all the past lives it's like 127 standing and 130 boosted.
By focusing on dc you know your **** works, and most importantly you can freeze nearly everything (those plants in RL are pain in the arse but you will freeze them with this dc). By having decent dc all across the board you can instakill all the pesky archers and hold the muscle brutes, before nuking them with ice cold magik!!!
So to wrap up:
No.1 thing you should worry about is DC
No.2 is your knowledge of the map / monster spawn points
No.3 is your skill on targetting archers/muscles with the right spells. (finger, pk, circle, mass hold, glacial wrath, colour spray, ice storm, sunburst, prismatic spray, prismatic ray, etc)
No.4 is debuff items (double lgs set or smth) for boss. This helps a ton
No.5 is spellpower/crit chance / crit dmg / helpless dmg
if you follow this you will nuke the crap out of ddo (but you will also get nuked the crap out if misplayed)
Also if you're just running heroic / low reaper (1-4) you can ignore dc pretty much lol and prolly ignore all the things i said here.
For leveling, your first feat should be Maximize because all that extra spell power for free on your SLA is huge. Whatever build you follow, shuffle the feats around so Maximize is your first.
Don’t turn Maximize on for all your spells, but do turn it on for every spell where you get the Metamagic for free. The lower levels will be so much smoother. I’m
Don’t turn Maximize on for all your spells, but do turn it on for every spell where you get the Metamagic for free. The lower levels will be so much smoother. I’m
FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted
Well-known member
my favorite cold sorc build is aasimar pure 20 monk fist monk
Similar: my favorite cold Sorc is a 20 Alchemist cold nuker. I like having self healing and the fact that the self healing is so buggy that it often doesn’t land makes it extra exciting.
Archer hater
Member
For enhancements I go t5 ek for HP capstone savant. Rest in fdi
im interested in your gear/feat set up to compare where i am going. I am having trouble getting my DC's that high
warlock player
Well-known member
I’ve been trying to incorporate the 5 piece vecna set as much as possible, but in the end I don’t think it’s worth the slots, because of the nature of set augments replacing preexisting set bonuses (I don’t even have a single set augment, but I like to theorise for the most optimal setup).
In the end I think improvements from my previous setup is the way to go.
Here is the setup I came up with
Head: Elder’s (14 int, 2 sox, reaper +2)
Trinket: Elder’s / Huruvayah’s (+6 evo, ins. Glac., 1 soc)
Eye: Sharn raid set goggles (+3 ins. Spell foc. Mastery, 2 sox)
Neck: Huruvayah’s (+2 profane DC, 2 sox, +15% helpless dmg)
Chest: Order’s Garb (1 soc)
Back: dino spell crit dmg 35% (+2 sox)
Belt: dino artefact (+15 cha, hamp, 2 sacred DC, 3 sox) (tough shield)
Wrists: Order’s Garb (1 soc, spell pen)
Hands: vecna gloves / defiler gloves (+2 q.focus, 2sox) (tough shield)
Feet: sharn (+3 q.cha, q.potency) (1 soc) (tough shield)
Ring1: Elemental Ring (Fire)
Ring2: Elemental Ring (Ice)
Aug:
- +2 evo
- +2 Festiv. Cha
- +5 ins. Cha
- +14 con
- +5 ins. con
- +2 Profane (litany)
- +2 necro
- +2 enchant
- (+2 illu)
- +6 necro
- +6 enchant
- +6 conju
- Pomura’s whatever, the +5% ins. Spell crit chance aug
- Aug set: Tough Shield
- Deathblock
Weap1: dino staff (efficacy, glac, tic dmg of your choice, affirmation) (meridian) (devotion)
Weap swap 1: lgs vacuum & lgs mrr reduction
If you are in a party then
Lgs mrr&prr reduc / lgs mrr&hamp reduc or smth there’re 2 versions
Weap swap2 (healing): lgs hamp + lordsmarch heal stick
Filigrees:
15 cha (2* (+2 rare cha) + 11 cha) + 5% cold spell crit filigree
4 piece otto / beholder
Rest +1 cha’s
This will net in 123 evo dc in Reaper (3 racial points) and 124 on BOGW, and ~ 121 on others.
And cold spell crit dmg at 105 and spellpower around 1050, and 1150 buffed.
Epic tree:
Magus / draconic / primal
Draconic tier 5, magus up to spell focus and 3rd core for nullmagic shield, and rest primal. Pick up all the little spellpower as you can, and ignore efficiency stuff; you have a lot of sp for quests from gear.
Evo +3
Necro +3
Enchant +3
Enh tree:
Ice savant 41
Dragon racial 18 (20 for wings, this is very useful in combat)
Feydark 22 (24 for 1% crit chance if you have racial past lives)
If you’re racial completionist obvs get +1cha from harper tree
Looks good. Any info on Feats? Thanks
For leveling I would suggest you consider the choice of cold sorc. Imho fire/lightning is far superior for that.
1-4: Use Fire (if you dont use xp stones). Scorch at level 4 is amazing. Fire SLA is decent. Sonic Burst is worth using.
5: If you run Fire Caves in 3bc - swap to cold for that. Use Snowball Swarm + Sonic Blast.
6-11: Swap right back to fire. Fireball, Scorch spells, fire sla, Acid Ball.
12-17 (or 19): Swap to Lightning + a side of cold. Chain Lightning + Wind Dance + Run speed boost from Falconry (add in Tumbling) and you kill and move really, really fast. Add Ball of Lightning, sla's from tree and Cone of Cold for lightning immune mobs (when many, use the immunity stripper from T5 in tree for big single mobs).
20+ (or 18): Swap back to fire. Meteor Swarm, DBF, Fireball and Energy Burst.
Obviously, if you fancy cold more by all means go with that - but if you just want to sorc for powerful leveling I suggest the above instead.
warlock player
Well-known member
This is where opinions divide. Or I mean for my build/gear setup there's only one feat path, but there is a build for raids and stuff which involves ruin/greater ruin and I guess geared toward maximising crit chance/dmg. I like when my stun works.
Heroic:
Max
Emp
Quicken
Heighten
PL: Wizard
Evo I
Evo II
Epic:
Wellspring
Burst of Glacial Wrath
Intensify
Embolden
Destiny:
Spell power cold
Crush weakness
Spell power positive
Spell power electric or deific warding
Legendary:
Ice
Playstyle is primarily kill-or-die so I use a lot of finger/pk/trap the soul for stray mobs and hold/freeze for groups.
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Spell Specialty requires Epic Spell Focus, so don't forget that in your Epic feats.
Also, I use Ruin/GRuin in regular quests. They're generally too expensive to cast in raids unless I'm in charge of killing some specific trash IMO.
warlock player
Well-known member
Ah in that case forget that, guess that's why I don't have it. Get Evo I and II, and replace 31 feat with another spell power
warlock player
Well-known member
Why do you need ruin for trash mobs, when u can finger? Those are for raid bosses. Ppl go for ruin build on sorc cos the elemental dmg from dragborn tree works with caster level and it's massive dmg - more than ruin itself.