Interesting. Bomb of Annihilation sounds like a fun skill - not only for the sorcerer that is casting it, but also for the person on the receiving end - scary dodge or die moments anyone?
Backstep looks like a somewhat two sided PvP skill as well, since Sorcerers will be able to get away easier, and yet if they turn to the left or the right, it's possible to predict where they will move (even if they only stay in that position for .5 of a second or so, other people will be able to read where they will move next during that time). On another note, I'm assuming that it has a cooldown, or high mana cost - could someone provide me with that information?
Tactics: Sorcerer Skills Guide
A basic overview of practical usage of currently known sorcerer skills.
Next in our Class skills overview series is the sorcerer. In addition to myself, we're featuring guest writer Valaka this time around, to provide more opinions. Disclaimer: This is a basic overview of the practical usage of currently known sorcerer skills with my commentary. This piece is not intended to cover basic values and numbers, but rather to explain general pros, cons and situational purposes.
Want to know more about their attacks, movement, recovery and utility skills? Read on.
Attacks
Fireball
Your basic starter attack. Use it as a filler while feeling out more optimal shots which may require more setup, for efficiency in MP (Mana Points) consumption, or as a finisher when nothing stronger is required. Because this skill follows the “hitscan” hit detection system similar to archer skills, you may also choose to use this when you feel that connecting collision based projectiles with travel time on a target would be unreliable.
Ice Needle
This is a quick casting ranged snare with a short cool-down time that is potentially very useful. This is currently the only projectile style snare, which adds greatly to the utility of a sorcerer. You can use it to make up for a sorcerer’s lower base movement speed, for the purpose of kiting, make it easier for your teammates to focus fire or to restrict and punish over-extenders on the field. Additionally, it has a penetrating effect so make sure to take advantage of shots which can line up multiple targets.
Blastball
A slow moving but large projectile with a penetrating property which can also be charged for higher damage. Due to its slow moving nature, depending on ranges, you may have to lead a significant amount of distance, or use it on snared or lock-downed targets. Alternatively, you can use it in an attempt to control territory during PvP. By shooting it out where you don't want people to go, you can sometimes make someone waste a movement skill cool-down or funnel opponents into more desirable locations on the field... perhaps making it more favorable for you and your team to go on offense or defense.
Hellfire
This is the sorcerer’s major power Area-of-Effect (AoE) damage skill. It does have a minimum range of sorts, due to the ground target area being 10 meters in front with a +/- 4 meters AoE. Essentially, spacing will be a concern—you won't be able to hit opponents right on top of you. With a long cast-time and high MP consumption, you will want to have a nice setup to increase your chance of landing it. If you try to start it empty and while being pressured, you will probably get interrupted before you finish casting. However, it is so powerful that people will be afraid of being hit by it and will make attempts to escape it. Something that you could try would be to pop Mana Shield to stay safe and get this skill off if it would be a fight deciding move.
Flame Column
A quick frontal cone or fan type Point-Blank AoE, this is what you will use when your harder hitting skills can't be used due to minimum range concerns. As a soft sorcerer, you probably will not want to be in close range combat very often but this gives you something with quick and moderate damage in those situations.
Blastshell Lob
The baby Hellfire. With a medium cast-time, being on the high end of moderate damage and having significantly less MP consumption, the chances of landing this skill without having appropriate setups is much higher. The same concerns with minimum range apply to this skill as Hellfire. You can kind of think of this as your staple rocket or grenade launcher type attack.
Bomb of Annihilation
Ultra-long range, mega damage and fast casting, this bomb is indeed capable of annihilation. Aside from MP management issues, you can only use this skill 2-3 times as sparingly as others due to its longer cool-down. While it only hits 1 target, it does have a range of 24m, which is quite an increase compared to the standard 14-15m range of both sorcerer and archer skills. If you look at the base power/damage versus MP of other AoE skills, you will see that the efficiency of this spell wins out unless you can hit two or more targets with another skill. Potentially very scary and relatively reliable burst damage when combined with Contract of Wreck.
Page 1: Attacks
Page 2: Movement/Recovery, Utility/Situational
Page 3: Valaka's Commentary
