Sonic Wild Mage?

[droid327]

Mocking up something like this in the planner but wanted to see what experienced sorcs think

Blue dborn, Air savant capstone, core 4 wm. Fatesinger, mach, Shadow for 10% cooldown reduction.

Main point of the build is to get shout and g shout both under 3 secs so you can just cycle those with fs strike, crank up their caster level as high as possible (arcane aug works on them iiuc) with +50/100% damage, and augment dps with the sonic blast rune arm via mach

There's no real marquee sonic ability for big numbers, but it's just a solid steady rotation of aoe sonic damage plus heals via hear my voice.

 

[Deathdefy]

My thoughts on something similar are in this thread (in excruciating detail I won't pain the forum with further) - https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/air-savant-spell-list.23409/

- I think you'll end up using more than just G Shout and Shout when you get into higher reapers in the cooldown gaps; but genuinely whatever - easy to just start casting other things (you can triple down and add Sonic Blast to the rotation for the memes; it's bad but not as bad as you'd think with Master of Music and the Fatesinger boost; and does daze!).

- I'd at least try Draconic over Mach to double-down on the cooldown reduction from the T4 Mantle enhancement. Fatesinger's awesome, but the Mantle sucks, (but both Mach and Draconic bring things [great defence vs decent additional dps respectively] to the table) so ymmv - probably a 'see how it feels' thing.

- Greater Shout is still bugged to not give helpless damage. It still is good cc, just be aware that aspect is probably permanently SSG-ed.

- Do seriously consider Stormsinger:
1. Horn of Thunder is kind of that 'marquee' sonic ability air sorcs miss (every 12 seconds)
2. You also get the option to benefit from Melody: Imperial Resonance which Air Savants can't (but you can still get good critical numbers via Lamord damage augments and a really good Air Savant set).
3. This thread indicates they get very good damage [for casters (so like 300% worse than ranged and 150% worse than melee)] but they're 5 MCL down, but they don't have to deal with wild mages surges, but they can buff, but the frogurt is also cursed, etc.

 

[droid327]

My thoughts on something similar are in this thread (in excruciating detail I won't pain the forum with further) - https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/air-savant-spell-list.23409/

- I think you'll end up using more than just G Shout and Shout when you get into higher reapers in the cooldown gaps; but genuinely whatever - easy to just start casting other things (you can triple down and add Sonic Blast to the rotation for the memes; it's bad but not as bad as you'd think with Master of Music and the Fatesinger boost; and does daze!).

- I'd at least try Draconic over Mach to double-down on the cooldown reduction from the T4 Mantle enhancement. Fatesinger's awesome, but the Mantle sucks, (but both Mach and Draconic bring things [great defence vs decent additional dps respectively] to the table) so ymmv - probably a 'see how it feels' thing.

- Greater Shout is still bugged to not give helpless damage. It still is good cc, just be aware that aspect is probably permanently SSG-ed.

- Do seriously consider Stormsinger:
1. Horn of Thunder is kind of that 'marquee' sonic ability air sorcs miss (every 12 seconds)
2. You also get the option to benefit from Melody: Imperial Resonance which Air Savants can't (but you can still get good critical numbers via Lamord damage augments and a really good Air Savant set).
3. This thread indicates they get very good damage [for casters (so like 300% worse than ranged and 150% worse than melee)] but they're 5 MCL down, but they don't have to deal with wild mages surges, but they can buff, but the frogurt is also cursed, etc.

Yeah you touched on a lot of thoughts i had as this build developed

- for cdr, i think i just need to get g shout down under 3 secs, and 10% is enough for that. I can't get to full 40% to get it under 2, won't have the EPLs for that. And anything in between doesn't really help

- wasn't planning on taking a caster into high reaper anyway lol

- draconic doesn't boost Sonic in any way does it? I thought only blue dborn cl/mcl and air savant extends to Sonic casting

- mach is also for unlocking rune arm. Echoes of night seems like a great fit for this, with free sonic damage and fast charge plus resonance and lore

- the idea actually started out as a stormsinger with a WM splash for mixed magics and air savant T4...but the longer cds made building a seamless sonic rotation way more difficult, and i didn't want to be stuck weaving fs strike and sonic blast just to fill time. That spammable sorc cd rate plus the bonus caster levels led me down a rabbit hole until bard was cut out entirely. Also was really trying to build it single element just for simplicity - stormy really needs sonic+electric and that throws the gearing all to hell

 

[Deathdefy]

That all makes total sense. I didn't even consider that Stormsinger had longer cooldowns!

 

[Pilgrim]

shout and greater are both great spells when empowered by fatesinger and master of music. Be warry of there range however. If your fighting a raid boss like say a dragon or hydra you might end up geting smacked around in order to get close enough to damage them. I would make sure you also have some fully ranged spells that you can use as back-ups.

 

[droid327]

Update: it's a success on Lama. Optimized the gear in the gear planner though filis aren't available on Lama so missing that part. No past lives either so out 9% crit chance. Also disappointed because I thought Hear My Voice would self heal too lol...I swapped draconic for primal so i could get cocoon/reborn for self heals.

Even without the added caster speed, the rotation works great. Shout - Gshout - Shout, then hit a Chord or Thunder Hammer or Discord, then S-GS-S again, so lots of steady aoe as predicted. Nice simple rotation, basically a three button caster. Almost plays like a cone lock, except with actual damage lol. Was really squishy but that's probably just me not knowing how to sorc well.

 

[Qrvar]

Maybe go tabaxi instead, because Sonic gotta go fast

 

[droid327]

Maybe go tabaxi instead, because Sonic gotta go fast

Lol no you want the dborn CL boost - and you don't stand still long enough to get zoomies anyway

 

[Qrvar]

Lol no you want the dborn CL boost - and you don't stand still long enough to get zoomies anyway

Intended as a joke not a serious build discussion.

But I suppose you could dip into Falconry for the sprint boost.

EDIT: It does help that the required ancestry is blue, which fits the "Blue Blur" theme

 

[saekee]

How was Cut the Strings damage? I have seen some surprising boss damage numbers from my monk using it

 

[Qrvar]

- draconic doesn't boost Sonic in any way does it? I thought only blue dborn cl/mcl and air savant extends to Sonic casting

No but it does proc its mantle damage on any offensive spell cast, so if you're willing to compromise from just "sonic" to "lightning and thunder", you could still do it as a bard. Horn of Thunder does sonic + electric anyway.

 

[droid327]

How was Cut the Strings damage? I have seen some surprising boss damage numbers from my monk using it

I wasnt meleeing at all, and AFAIK it only procs on melee attacks

No but it does proc its mantle damage on any offensive spell cast, so if you're willing to compromise from just "sonic" to "lightning and thunder", you could still do it as a bard. Horn of Thunder does sonic + electric anyway.

Primal mantle is an option - I went with Fate because its AOE where Primal is only first target hit (AFAIK), and because the build was designed to be a low-button caster...if you start to support Electric too, then you go down a rabbit hole and just turn into an Electric sorc Or yes, a two-element Bard...but then you're dealing with extra fill between 6 and 4 second Shouts instead of 3 and 2 second.

 

[EinarMal]

I wasnt meleeing at all, and AFAIK it only procs on melee attacks



Primal mantle is an option - I went with Fate because its AOE where Primal is only first target hit (AFAIK), and because the build was designed to be a low-button caster...if you start to support Electric too, then you go down a rabbit hole and just turn into an Electric sorc Or yes, a two-element Bard...but then you're dealing with extra fill between 6 and 4 second Shouts instead of 3 and 2 second.

Stormsinger AOE rotation is pretty solid. You have Horn of Thunder, Gr Shout, Shout, Shout SLA, Chain Lightning, Ball Lightning (rarely get to it).

Also really benefits from ~25% cooldown reduction of Draconic + Shadowdancer + Dragon Soul 2-pc

I just don't see how an air sorc could be a better sonic caster to be honest. Horn of thunder alone makes a huge difference. You also have to use lightning.

I don't think the Fate mantle can crit, your single target damage is going to be much lower compared to Draconic mantle.

 

[droid327]

I just don't see how an air sorc could be a better sonic caster to be honest.

Well again, the goal here is different - its to have a single element Sonic caster with a complete Sonic rotation. Stormsinger wouldnt be that great if you only used your Sonic spells, because you'd have to fill more spots with single-target spells, which means they go dual element with Lightning, which means they go Draconic, and at that point you're an entirely different style of caster, with entirely different build and gear priorities.

Sorc is a good sonic caster because it has a full pure Sonic rotation, and because it gets bonus caster levels from Air Sav + Wild Mage, and boosting your base CL is even more important for Shout/GShout because of the additional multipliers for those spells in FS. Stormy gets, what, +2 MCL? Air Sav + WM gets 4, or 6 if you're willing to deal with Very Bad Surges. And then you're casting your Shouts twice as often as a Bard. Which, bonus, means you're almost constantly healing if you're in a group, too.

Not trying to say its meta, or the best sorc. Just saying its a solid viable playstyle that seems simpler than other true casters.

 

[EinarMal]

Well again, the goal here is different - its to have a single element Sonic caster with a complete Sonic rotation. Stormsinger wouldnt be that great if you only used your Sonic spells, because you'd have to fill more spots with single-target spells, which means they go dual element with Lightning, which means they go Draconic, and at that point you're an entirely different style of caster, with entirely different build and gear priorities.

Sorc is a good sonic caster because it has a full pure Sonic rotation, and because it gets bonus caster levels from Air Sav + Wild Mage, and boosting your base CL is even more important for Shout/GShout because of the additional multipliers for those spells in FS. Stormy gets, what, +2 MCL? Air Sav + WM gets 4, or 6 if you're willing to deal with Very Bad Surges. And then you're casting your Shouts twice as often as a Bard. Which, bonus, means you're almost constantly healing if you're in a group, too.

Not trying to say its meta, or the best sorc. Just saying its a solid viable playstyle that seems simpler than other true casters.

Yea I think the biggest limitation is you are going to be stuck very close in to do damage if you are dead set on mostly using shout/gshout and not much else.

I still doubt even with the extra caster levels you are coming out ahead with the loss of horn of thunder + draconic lightning mantle + thunderstroke/iceberg etc... Also, the stormsinger lightning procs.

But probably better than Warlock!

 

[Qrvar]

Primal mantle is an option - I went with Fate because its AOE where Primal is only first target hit (AFAIK), and because the build was designed to be a low-button caster...if you start to support Electric too, then you go down a rabbit hole and just turn into an Electric sorc Or yes, a two-element Bard...but then you're dealing with extra fill between 6 and 4 second Shouts instead of 3 and 2 second.

Yea, Draconic, Primal, Exalted all function the same way, only hitting one target on AoE. Are you positive Fate functions differently? I'd test it before commiting tbh.

The way it reads to me, is it still only hits one target but also a small AoE around it. Unless you play solo a lot and/or are really good at grouping mobs, Draconic will come out ahead. Not to mention for bosses.

 

[droid327]

Yea, Draconic, Primal, Exalted all function the same way, only hitting one target on AoE. Are you positive Fate functions differently? I'd test it before commiting tbh.

The way it reads to me, is it still only hits one target but also a small AoE around it. Unless you play solo a lot and/or are really good at grouping mobs, Draconic will come out ahead. Not to mention for bosses.

Yes, I ran this on Lama this week, and its a self-centered burst AOE with a fairly big radius for such. Which isnt an issue since Shout is already a cone attack, so you're in range already. Very easy to see in Grimm since the devils all start in nice big packs. Also procs when you're buffing up or healing out of combat, you'll see the burst graphic.

And I do solo a lot, as my title suggests Though in a group, you'd still want to/need to be fairly close, just behind the melees, so your Shouts are granting them Hear My Voice heals.