I don't understand the bolded part. Nova has advantages - It's fast and unavoidable if you're in range. I found that 15k Lightning is plenty enough damage to counter stacked resist, if you can't do some damage with that lightning, then you're probably not gonna win anyway. Lightning counters ES quite nicely, as does Thunderstorm. Admittedly Charged Bolt would drop ES a bit faster than Nova/TS, but also requires you to be right next to your opponent, which is dangerous.

If I were to alter this build at all, I'd forgo maxing Thunderstorm and Max Lightning with remaining points in Charged Bolt. Actually I might Token that and try it later today

I actually like your comments, critical and yet constructive. Thanks again.



142 FHR isn't just for your life, FHR lets you get out of knockback and swirly-thingy recovery. Thanks for comment.

This post was edited by cweaver8518 on Mar 26 2011 09:02pm

Back in the day it was. Now it isn't.

you still dont under stand you dont go into fhr animation with 95% ES. so the max fhr istn needed. not at all.

This is a quote taken from Companyofthree's Shaman guide. Granted that's for a druid, it still applies to us ES'ers.



What this doesn't state is that any time you are knocked back(charge does this, as do zons, grizzlies, Mind Blast, Telekinesis, or anyone with a Knockback mod on them), or any time you are hit when you have Mind Blast swirls over your head, you are put into FHR animation. This is especially pertinent for escaping and regathering yourself, or letting your mana regen a bit.

Taken the above quote, and our measily HP of ~1000, your cutoffs would look something like this:
62.5 Dmg: 37.5%
125 dmg: 75%
250 dmg: 100%

We've got a 37.5% chance of being put into FHR by Lightning Trappers(10k+ dmg), Hdins(12k+ dmg). We've got an even better chance of being put into FHR by Fireball sorcs(20k+dmg will result in 166.66+ dmg taken by us, which is 75% chance of FHR). Not sure on the Blizz sorc's damage, but I think it's somewhere up near the Trapper/Hdins damage.

What's also important is that when your ES is broken, you still have a chance to escape that druid's telestomp/any Telestomp. I've had many duels where a Windy Tornadoed my ES away, and I was able to escape leaving him baffled. It gives you a second chance at taking down those harder characters without them expecting it at all.

Of course all of this is personal preference, I'm one of the few who opt for this build, and I obviously don't suffer from my choice at all. I tried both breakpoints, and I still occasionally switch back to the 86 FHR breakpoint, but I quickly remember why I opted for 142 FHR instead. I lose nothing in terms of damage or survivability with 142 FHR, the only thing I lose is a bit of mana. Any duel where that extra mana would have helped instead of the extra FHR, I probably played the duel wrong.

This post was edited by cweaver8518 on Mar 27 2011 12:41am

I've always played my nova sorc as 105fcr and 86 fhr but kept enough Lite Fhr Gcs in stash to hit 142 fhr bp when needed.. but I can vouch that 142 bp will save you in duels vs bvc or windies and straight trappers as well.

the small loss in life or mana is definitely made worthwhile by maneuverability.

This post was edited by boxelders on Apr 1 2011 10:45am

To the top

no problem
thunderstorm is easily avoided because of stack. sin/nec/druid can all use summon stack to avoid it. zons can use decoy/valk + have dodges and most zons will wear wisp+fort or tgods... barbs eat nonblock sorcs unless they get outdamaged because they neglect stack (bad barbs or pubbing) which requires higher light damage. tstorm will not help you here. it just is either easily taken advantage of or does not do what you want it to do (high dmg). 1 pt would be enough
cb may require to be on top to do LOTS of damage, but nova requires more hits and close proximity. 1 pt nova is plenty (or rest after others) because it doesnt have a synergy... nova is more of a fhr type thing if they are trying to walk you. however it should be noted that lightning can do this job too in most cases (but not all). nova would get a +1 for team duels for locking up a char that is swirlied or walking a druid etc.

let me know what you think once you token your sorc

Well stacked Resist pretty much owns every elemental character. As far as minion stack, I've never had minions be a problem. Most of the time I'm close enough to opponents that their minions die in 3 or less Novas anyway. I still maintain that any druid facing me should use Heart of the Wolverine and a Grizzly for extra damage.

As far as Zons go, tbh they can't usually get enough resist to full stack against me. If they do, their damage is utterly pathetic and I can outtank them or fire off Lightnings at them til one hits. Along with Tstorm and Nova this makes them dodgelock or run.

Barbs are more of a 50/50, although tbh I haven't faced many good bvcs that weren't modding. As far as 1 point Nova goes - a single point into Nova means less than 1.5k Nova damage, which makes it completely worthless to even think about using. The prime reason I chose Nova is the spammability with Infinity. Other useful lightning skills require 117 FCR, which is a bit too much of a gear sacrifice and negates Infinity's positive effects.

I did respec my sorc, and it proved quite useful too. I only played with her this way for 3 days before ladder reset though, so I'm not 100% on her. Here was my skill layout:

20 Telekinesis, 20 Nova, 20 Lightning, 20 Light Mastery, 1 pt Tstorm, Frozen Armor, Warmth, Enough points for lvl 40 ES, remaining points into Charged Bolt.

This netted me a 1.5k max Tstorm, same damage Nova, and a 23k Lightning.

I found this variant played much more like a Bone Necro. Lightning was my Bone Spear. Charged Bolt my Teeth. Nova... well, can't really compare that to a Bone Necro skill. Poison Nova I guess? But less deadly. I'll admit the 23k Lightning was nice. I rarely used Charged Bolt though. I can't say which build is better, cause with Tstorm I was able to whittle away opponent HP slowly just by dodging attacks, and it helped more against ES sorcs. With Lightning build, a single Lightning destroyed ES, and I was able to aggressively take down tough/stacked Pallys, Assassins, and Barbs. Of course I had to be much more aggressive with the Lightning build.

As I said when I wrote this guide though, I originally designed this build to be for me, a crappy inexperienced dueler. I've definitely gained some pvp skill since I started playing the sorc though.

Honest opinion though, I think I liked the original build better. Lightning build I didn't have much time to experiment with though, as the modders were hot and heavy the last 3 days before ladder reset and I haven't played my sorc since.

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