Sorcery VI

Welcome back ladies and ladyboys! Today I will touch on PvP. I, like everybody else, am learning... but that doesn't mean I can't share what I've learned thus far with the world. There are some classes I wish I'd fight more (or fight more skilled ones at least) but I believe I have some down pat :). In addition to my ramblings, there is a (somewhat old) translated korean strategy guide for the sorcerer.

Get good enough and maybe* you can solo this

PvP's a whole different spaceship of shugo compared to PvE. No longer do rotations come into play; PvP is all about proactivity and reactivity, learning to anticipate what your opponent(s) are doing and what spell to cast for the situation. This is essentially where skill comes in... the pursuit of skill is the pursuit of knowing the perfect move to make given any situation. Still, there are some tips that can be transmitted via blog medium! Note that all of this comes from a pre-level cap sorcerer (41) and thus may not be current at 50.


Gear

What to wear you might ask? The top koreans seem to lean towards full HP or full Magic Resist. Those are two defensive stats I respect, but I wouldn't drop Magical Accuracy entirely -- it's just too important in PvP. Can you imagine if your roots were resisted with a decked gladiator hurtling towards you? Or a resisted silence? Doom is what comes to mind.

To this end, the best Abyss gear has HP on it... but of course they require badges. So often you just need to improvise. As I previously mentioned in another issue of Sorcery, HP just isn't around on leveling gear as much as I'd like. Sometimes you just need to pick up that MP gear just to keep current with the gear's Magic Resistance, etc. So instead, dedicate a larger percentage of your sockets to HP instead. MR manastones can wait for the highest levels, when you start finding HP gear more readily available. I would also keep some room for MA manastones, but don't bother with MB manastones for PvP -- you have tons of damage. Your main focus is on survivability and HP, MR and MA all work towards this goal.


Moves

Master backleap. It is fantastic if only for confusing your opponent as to where your location is. Against ranged classes it's brilliant for getting up close and personal for some Freezing Wind weaving. Against a class that will open with CC, such as a spirit master or sorcerer, leap will untarget you allowing you to get it in first but you'll need to still be close enough to get it off, which means backleaping.

Practice weaving Freezing Wind. Get close to someone and cast it, followed by any damage spell (the faster the better, so prioritise Fusion, Wind Cut Down, etc first) then repeat. It's your highest damage rotation -- if used against a Cleric, you may even find that you'll outdps their heals with nothing else required. Best used against clerics, rangers and SMs, but also great against Sorcerers if they're not used to weaving FW... you'll have the upper hand.

The Abyss is my dancemat

Jumpcasting: most useful with Winter's Binding. If you cast Winter's Binding and jump, you can cancel the animation entirely, giving you precious seconds to move while your opponents are instantly snared. It's difficult to time right (I still suck at it) and there's no visual indication of the WB working so this is definitely something to work on :). On another note with WB, consider breaking your CC with it on templar or gladiators: it will keep them in place without bumping up their elemental resistance... though this is a bad idea on Assassins as they can aethertwist your spells or if your opponent has the presence of mind to use a dispel potion.

Tab chaining: when casting Ice Chain, you can change target and Frozen Shock a separate target. Brilliant if two people are chasing you, or you're keeping someone off you and want to interrupt the healer, etc. Situational but good to keep up your sleeve.

Skew the fight towards happening on the ground: we can't leap or Aether's Hold in aerial combat. In the abyss this is mostly psychological, for eg if you have the jump, land before opening and they'll be less likely to open their wings. If you have the time or potions and your opponent will be tricky, consider running or CCing until they have to land.


vs. Templar

Prior to the highest levels, templar don't do jack all damage. Templar will only pose a threat if they have the best gear with dps manastones, or in that it takes so long to kill them that someone else might run into you. But that doesn't mean you should slack: the length of the fight is his advantage. You can't just burst him down or chain him all day; depending on the room you have to move, he will eventually whittle down your shield.

• Keep Ice Chain on him constantly. When IC comes off cooldown, there's a 2 second window in which to recast it before it wears off him, so plan into the future.
• Use Flame Cage... the lack of Tree/Sleep is not substantial versus a templar but the time taken to kill him is. :P
  
• Constantly move unless you have a Frozen Shock up your sleeve and are confident you can get a good round of spells off before you need to move and/or recast IC.
• If he does get in melee range (due to incompetence, or speed, or confined area) he will likely get your shield down eventually. Fortunately, by that time, you probably have it off cooldown again :). It's best to make sure shield is kept up, otherwise he can drag you into him every 30 seconds.
• Save leap for whenever he uses Inescapable Judgement. The movement slowing effect will kick in even if you have shield up. Shield prevents you from being dragged to him though.
• Possibly the hardest part of the fight is finishing the bugger off. He will likely know that the fight is not going his way long before his end. Be ready for a chase scene with roots and ice chain!
• Templar can easily prevent Aether's Hold, so only do it if he's unable to use any abilities, ie. is tree'd.
• It may not be the hardest fight in the world but don't get cocky. He has all the time in the world to whittle your shield and health down.
• Robe Choice: Cold for control. Flame is also acceptable. Earth's regen is not required; the fight is long but the dps is not intensive.
  
• Ground Difficulty: Low
• Air Difficulty: Low. Cons: no leap. Consider abandoning Flame Cage and treeing him when he IJ's
  

vs Gladiator

I previously thought these little shits were free kills, until I found some that don't suck. Gear really is the measure of this fight though: someone decked in gear can obliterate you the first time they get up to you if you're not careful, while others won't get through your shield. Don't hang about to see which type your opponent is.

• As with Templar, try to keep Ice Chain up. This time however, be a bit more conservative: you do NOT want this guy catching up to you so tree or root if you think he will before your IC finishes.
• Don't Cage him: you'll need your CC.
• Keep Mobile. I cannot stress enough that he can't be allowed to make contact with your squishy arse.
• If he does get up to you, he'll more than likely get through your shield. When that happens, you can be knocked down by his crits (which are plentiful) and stunned (not cool) and Aethers Hold'd (which will likely spell your end). First priority is thus reshielding if available. If not, get the hell out of there! Leap, Root, Tree, do anything you can to get some distance between you.
• If your shield is down and he's about to get in range (or is in range), Ironclad in anticipation of stuns/knockdowns/aether's hold.
  
• If he uses Charge, chain CC him until it wears off.
  
• If he potions your root, use your other roots (Winter Binding for eg) or CC him instead for some distance.
• Gladiators have ranged abilities which will eventually whittle you (or your shield) down. It's important not to string the fight out for too long.
  
• Fight in bursts. Tree, Burst, Sleep, Burst, etc.
• Robe Choice: Cold: their ranged attacks will slow them ;). You want to drop them quickly so flame is also acceptable. Earth's regen is not required.
  
• Ground Difficulty: Low-High (depends on gear and setting). Cons: can be knocked down by crits when on ground.
  
• Air Difficulty: Medium-High (depends on gear and setting). Cons: no leap, jumpcast or aether's hold; harder to judge distances.

vs Assassin

Finally, a worthy opponent. The assassin was the anti-sorcerer prior to 1.5 but PvP damage reduction sorted that out. Now the two classes make for a fun and fair fight. I've seen two general tactics work against this class.

Approach one: Burst + Control

Similar to the gladiator, you attempt to slow or CC the assassin and do your damage in chunky bursts. The pro to this style is that if pulled off correctly, they'll have less contact with your squishy arse. The cons? Assassins have two anti-sorcerer abilities, Evasion (resist one spell) and Aethertwisting (stigma, resists two spells), each on a separate 30 second cooldown. You need to get around this by using quick spells such as Fusion or a FB+Blaze chain to burn the resists away before applying your CC/burst. You also need to keep a mental timer on when these abilities cool down. You can use Flame Cage to instantly burn one of their resists away but be careful: if mistimed and the cage lands, you've just fucked half of your CC and much of your burst for fifteen seconds ^^. You can use Robe of Cold for this but there's a good chance it will break on of your CCs if they make it to melee range.

Approach two: Freestyle DPS

Perhaps not the most traditional method, it is none the less one I found that works none the less. The disadvantage of using Flame Cage on an assassin is that you can't tree or sleep them. The advantage is that you don't need to worry about it getting through aethertwisting... as you won't be using Tree/Sleep anyway! With this method, instead of CC + Burst, you instead just use movement and sustained damage with quick damage spells. It's a more on-your-toes method and will get your robes quite dirty.

Use Robe of Cold and stay on the move. Whenever he hits you he will be slowed. Erratically change your direction and Freezing Wind as you pass him. Use Flame Cage to burn his twists at every move, and keep it up on him regardless for the dps. Root and jumpcast Winter's Binding where possible to get distance. Don't bother with ice chain unless you have good distance and you know his twists are on cooldown; instead, just cast quick spells like Soul Freeze, Flame Fusion, Wind Cut Down, etc. Disclaimer: I haven't tried this tactic on someone with less than 200 ping yet ^^.

Since learning to kick Vylette's arse, tension has been high

Back to general tips...

• Learn what the Evasion and Aethertwisting buff icons look like. Never cast a noteworthy spell like Root while they are active. Instead, wait them out or burn them with quick spells. Remember that a mistimed Flame Cage will screw up your tree/sleeps for the next 15 seconds.
  
• Only cast Aether's Hold, Inferno, etc. while they are tree/sleeped or you are certain their twists are on cooldown.
• Oceanic players (all players?) aren't optimal while on a moving target. Using movement and robe of cold you can actually Freezing Wind a skilled assassin to death.
• Keep mental note of their twist cooldowns. Even if you get a root off, they might twist your ice chain, inferno, etc. Cancel casting important spells as soon as you see a twist icon appear.
  
• The assassin will get in range to get some damage in several times during the fight, guaranteed.
• Only use leap to escape melee if you can't CC them (cooldown or twists up).
• If your shield is down and they're in melee range, Ironclad in anticipation of stuns/aethertwisting/spin.
• Silence locks down a LOT of Assassin abilities; use it whenever you can get it in. Similarly, Magic Resist will prevent a lot of abilities (such as the ambush stun) from taking hold.
• Clairvoyance will not work against a level 34+ assassin; they get advanced hide.
• Robe Choice: Cold. This is not a damage fight, it is a control fight: cold will serve you most of the time. Earth's regen is not needed and Flame's damage increase is not substantial enough.
  
• Ground Difficulty: High. Cons: he can aether's hold you.
  
• Air Difficulty: High. Pros: assassins aren't very effective when you move erratically. Flight gives you an extra axis :). Cons: can't aether's hold, leap or jumpcast.

vs Ranger

Another close fight. Whoever gets the opener has the advantage: we can unload some amazing burst and then silence them. They can unload some amazing burst and then silence us.

• Dispel potions are a must. If you bawlk at their price, don't complain when you get nailed to the wall. You need dispel potions to break their silence ability; don't use it for anything else.
• If you get the air jump on them, a good burst chain is
  Sleep -> Delayed Blast -> Ice Chain -> Frozen Shock -> Soul Freeze
  Follow that up with damage spells. Save your tree for a second round of burst... I always forget to!
• If you get the ground jump, it might be best to skip IC and go for Aether's Hold.
  
• He'll likely dispel your silence, or it'll wear off before you've killed him, so be ready to dispel his.
  
• Silence messes up rangers pretty bad. You'll notice their previously amazing damage go to hell. Many rangers don't anticipate silence: work to this.
  
• Unlike other ranged classes, rangers don't have any shielding or stun prevention. Everything you do eats into their finite health.
• Every window you give the ranger is a window in which they can sleep or silence you.
  
• Ranger's sleep last something like 12 seconds in PvP, compared to our eight. In addition it doesn't mess with their damage, unlike our sleep. If they do get a sleep off on you, expect some nasty burst. If you have shield up it will rip through it and probably be capped by a nasty stun. Magical resistance really is undervalued.
  
• If they had the opener, you can expect that sleep to be the end of you.
• If you had the opener, you can tree or sleep them for a second round of burst.
• As with Assassins, rangers have Evasion. Since that's only 1/3 of the spells that a assassin can resist, it's easy to forget about it. Try and keep it in mind and watch for the evasion buff icon.
• Most rangers won't bother laying traps against a sorcerer. Use that to your advantage and backleap into them for some FW weaving! Be aware of traps if chasing a fleeing ranger, though.
  
• Unlike Assassins, the Ranger's hide skill can be seen through with Clairvoyance.
• If a ranger gets the jump on you, your best move is to Soul Freeze them (rather than tree) and go from there. You have a fighting chance if they don't dispel it.
• Robe Choice: Flame. Cold will break any trees/sleeps you place on them most of the time, switch quickly if fighting a ranger. Earth's regen is not needed as the fight will not last long.
  
• Difficulty: High. Pretty much depends on who gets the jump.
  

As with all PvP combat, difficulty relies entirely on the skill of the opposing player, the gear of the opposing player, the level difference and the setting. Keep that in mind if you lose to a templar in a 5 meter by 5 meter arena or kick Spirit Master's arse who is 5 levels below you.

Dueling is the safest and most efficient way to get your skills and tactics up. Duel everyone you see and accept all requests, especially if they're a couple levels higher than you! Just don't take duels seriously: there's no honour at stake, nobody will think any less of you if you get creamed. Use the duel to learn. Try unproven tactics, make intentionally stupid moves to see if you can recover, and above all don't whine or give any excuse if you lose, even if it's valid. It just makes you look like a tit.


Spell Tips
The ubiquitous section

Boon of Iron-Clad
This ability, when used, will overwrite your Stoneskin buff. As stoneskin prevents everything that Ironclad does, never use it while Stoneskin is up!

Lumiel's Wisdom
I feel confident enough now to call this an essential sorcerer ability. Never abandon this Stigma, ever, or you will run Out Of Mana!

Boon of Clairvoyance
At level 34, Assassins get advanced hide. Clairvoyance will no longer see stealthed assassins past that level. Rangers are still uncovered, though.

Aether Flame
I previously had this hotkeyed and could get four during one Aether Hold, sometimes five. Since moving my abilities around on my bars, I need to click it now... and appear to be getting five reliably every time I use it. I have no +attack speed or +spell speed gear as of yet. Anecdotal or pro tip? You decide!

Soul Absorption
As this abilities damage directly affects how much mana you gain, consider using Zikel's Wisdom (if you have it) whenever using it for maximum mana gain.

Lightburst/Shadowburst
I've used this twice in PvP so far. The first time against a chanter which one-shot him, doing 4000 damage. The second time against another chanter which also one-shot him, doing 4500 damage. Both chanters were within my level range. My 5k health cleric buddy in my guild was also one shotted yesterday. If you have Zikel's Wisdom, you can add another +25% onto that damage. It's official chaps: we can one shot people.

Soul Freeze (aka Silence)
I mention this spell in this issue but you may be wondering what it is. Well, here you have it: a 30 second cooldown, 8 second silence, 1 second cast ability that inflicts a good amount of damage. If that sounds overpowered... well, it is. That said I'm damn glad I have it as it definitely makes certain class match ups a lot more bareable. In PvP it should essentially be cast whenever it's off cooldown as silence kills a LOT of abilities for all classes (and it's technically the highest dps non-DP spell we have, excluding Inferno). Silence can be removed with a dispel potion of the appropriate level.

Flaming Meteor
If this looks good, I'll forgive you. In practice, it rarely stuns. It's also awkward to cast... you need to select the ability then wait about a second before clicking the target area, otherwise it will make your character start running off into the distance :|. Its AOE damage is also lackluster: in PvE it does about 1000 damage to everything in range... with a recast of 5 minutes. I have yet to make this spell work for me.

Frost/Frostbite
This upcoming spell (for me) is almost insulting for other classes. Yup, we get another snare... and what a snare! You can think of it as Root, but instead of the target being unable to move until you damage it, it gets slowed for a full twelve seconds and takes a nasty spike of damage. The cons? Apparently, you can only get it from instances, not city vendors.


Next issue of Sorcery: Sorcerer, Spirit Master, Cleric and Chanter PvP tips!