I was just having fun in the builder and wanted to share, there aren't exactly a lot of sorcerer templates on the forum that I generally see. I don't think there's anything particularly special here, but it's fun to think of doing 2d8+3d8+2d8+3d8+2d4+3d8+177 (or maybe 195 vs bloodied) with nothing but at wills for a couple rounds.
The feat order isn't optimal, I didn't really plan this so much as play around for a while. But I love how Speaker of Xaos can make things bigger, Resounding Thunder can make things bigger, and Destructive Wizardry can add 4 more to each of the damage rolls. Then there's brutal 1 from the paragon path to help out, slide 2 or more from the mark and the superior implement, -2 target AC once you've finished arranging your targets where you want them from distracting coincidences, all those extra d8's from promise of storm, lightning blades at will from archmage (daily -> encounter with effect that let's you attack throughout the encounter), admixed to thunder (natch!)... Just a lot of little synergies here and there.
The main kick though is the static mods...
+9 primary stat, +6 enhancement, +6 dual implement, +11 secondary stat (sorcerous power), +4 feat bonus, +5 dragonshard, +5 ioun stone, +4 superior implement (+3 echoes of thunder, +6 elemental echo, +4 destructive wizardry, +6 gauntlets)... Tossing 10 or 13 d8's across the table with a couple d4's with +50 or +59 or +69 on the minor and another +50-70 on the standard makes me giggle.
You could go the sonnlinor or ghostly vitality or superior will route to layer pseudo-invincibility on there if you wanted as per the revenant handbook, there are suboptimal feats and things you could rearrange, I'd probably go promise of storm long before improved defenses in actual play. He's probably got too much gear. But I was mainly just fooling around. Hopefully this draws a couple giggles or comments or better yet refinements from the crowd.
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ====== Scourge, level 30 Revenant, Sorcerer, Speaker of Xaos, Archmage Build: Chaos Sorcerer Spell Source Option: Wild Magic Arcane Admixture Damage Type: Arcane Admixture Thunder Choose your Race in Life: Genasi Born Under a Bad Sign (Born Under a Bad Sign Benefit) Theme: Firecrafter
FINAL ABILITY SCORES STR 12, CON 12, DEX 24, INT 13, WIS 10, CHA 28
STARTING ABILITY SCORES STR 10, CON 10, DEX 14, INT 11, WIS 8, CHA 18
You mean that's your "round 2" damage (Quicken is 1/enc and You'd have to use the Encounter/Daily in round 1). At level 30. That's terrible, you're not even killing a Standard, statistically speaking, even if you AP to do another at-will. What you're calling synergies, the rest of us call "um, yeah, ok?".
Pretty much any At-Will > Storm Walk, Lightning > Thunder, Demonskin Adept > Xaos, and more importantly, Encounter Powers >>> At-Wills, just using Flame Spiral would deal 1d10+2d6+9d8+171 damage to 3 targets using your layout. Especially as a Sorc, the only reason you even look at your at-wills post 7th is because of OAs and Having an Enabling leader.
It's worth pointing out that Destructive Wizardry doesn't work with Storm Walk, you have to hit two targets with the power.
Also, it's Lightning Daggers (not Blades) and Natch is one of the most absurd abbreviations I've ever heard.
"Invokers are probably better round after round but Wizard dailies are devastating. Actually, devastating is too light a word. Wizard daily powers are soul crushing, encounter ending, havoc causing pieces of awesome." -AirPower25 Sear the Flesh, Purify the Soul; Harden the Heart, and Improve the Mind; Born of Blood, but Forged by Fire; The MECH warrior reaches perfection.
Wow, I read that with a little curb stomping in it. You never run out of dailies and encounters after 7th? That seems, I dunno, unlikely... But I could very easily be wrong, I just picked the at wills because I wanted a OA safe ability and a quickened choice that would already be thunder for when I need to hit a single target or a target that just has too many friendlies around it even with the -5 to attack friendlies. Conversely, I definitely agree on the Lightning > Thunder, it's just it's resisted more, it doesn't auto expand, and the actual sorcerer powers I saw to choose from either were both lightning and thunder, or the thunder option was, I dunno, cooler. >_<;
I would want to use the AP during the promise of storm/elemental echo/echoes of thunder turns and probably with one of the encounter powers for the additional burst size from Xaos and resounding thunder (and as you said, encounters >>> at wills so it'd definitely be better to get them out then). I know AE is sub-optimal over DPR king single target eliminations, but some part of you has to find throwing burst 5 sonics out that thunder across 50' of the battle field at least partially entertaining? Pretty please? ^_^
How do you get to +171 on flame spiral? It's single attack so it'd be more in the 50 range wouldn't it? The +150's and more only come from multiattacks, like the added minor from Lightning Daggers or stuff like Wrathful Vapors doing it's damage once to the target, then again giving your mods when it hits adjacent targets which hopefully splashes back. And it's not thunder so it doesn't get some of the goodies. I really like that power though, especially with slides. You think it's good enough to keep way into the late game over higher level encounter powers? Unless you just mean as part of the normal combo.
True enough on Destructive Wizardry, it only applies to the big booms, not the little single target booms. But then, everything but the minor action/at wills ARE big booms. ^_^
Sorry about the blades/daggers confusion. You don't like (natch!)? I've always had an affinity for it from columns at the back of comic books. I can see how you might find it absurd though, it's definitely an acquired taste. Thanks for the tough love. Anything you'd want to see to bring it up to your damage standards?
Oh I like Flame Spiral a lot, it's just in this build I didn't have a place for it. Getting to add another damage roll with mods is great, that's why I love wrathful vapors too. You think it'd be better to keep flame spiral all the way to 30?
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
You think it'd be better to keep flame spiral all the way to 30?
Many people do not like that Sorcerers get what is often considered their best Encounter power ever at level 3. It's great when you're playing only a few levels, especially after you get a few feats to add to it, but people sometimes get bored doing the same killer death spiral from level 3 - 30.
Being able to take Mark of Storm makes it that much easier on you to get the triple tap. Lightning Dagger (Lancing), all creatures in the burst take a hit, then take another from entering the aura, and then they start their turn in your aura for a third. All from one Standard. Add in other movement shenanigans from yourself or other members and you are nuking half of team monster.
Oh that's sweet... You'd definitely want to build around that though, utilities to help you survive you wanting to be surrounded, more close bursts than area bursts to then safely hit the people you've brought into your aura, completely different kind of sorcerer but from the looks of it a far more deadly one. It's a great schtick to have though you are right, if you had to play it from level 3 to 30 it might get kind of old never replacing it because you lack more tactically optimal choices.
Destructive Wizardry applied to nothing you mentioned in your damage layout of At-Will, Quicken At-Will, Lightning Daggers.
All of your Encounter Power choices are terrible. Strikers only work by doing multiple high damage instances to targets, and only one of the ones you picked (Primordial Storm) is even capable of doing that, and you'd need to be abusing Cold and/or Radiant in order for that to occur, you aren't. Raw Dice of damage are meaningless unless you're racking up dice per attack (10+) equal to what Chargers do, and even then you're falling behind a multi-attacker very quickly.
Flame Spiral, done with a Lancing Thunderbolt Weapon, is 1d10+Cha+X Slide 1 -> 1d6+X due to the slide, +1d6+X at Start of their Turn (+1d6+X for every off-turn forced movement applied to the target). That's 3+ High Damage instances. Demonsoul Bolts (From Demonskin Adept) is 3 High Damage instances to a single target from range. More encounter multi-taps: Chains of Fire (13) - Requires forced movement, but that's trivial. Dragon Tail Meditation (17) - IA's are an extra attack per round, not quite a multi-tap but still solid. IR to being moved next to is quite good until high epic where every enemy has reach. Poisonous Evasion (17) - Requires being missed, but a burst as an IA is fun. Rumbling Storm Bolt (23) - Requires hit, but adds solid control. Sun and Stars (23) - Guaranteed 2 Attacks vs the target, the top choice. Inferno Ring (23) - With Active Familiar you can damage the Primary twice. Mother Claw (27) - This is a terrible IA since it's only Melee 1. Chaos Infusion (27) - Not by itself, but enables Chaos Bolt and a few other powers to be. Lightning Backlash (27) - Requires Active Familiar and hitting. Poison Ward (27) - Potential double-tap, the "on it's turn" is Forced Movement restrictive. Wildfire Curse (27) - You have to hit, but the 1st target can be hit twice. Chains like Chaos Bolt.
And with the feat Unlucky Teleport, every power that teleports enemies becomes a +1-tap: Chains of Fire (13) - Gets even better! Thunder Summons (17) - Fantastic targeting on a clustering power. Wildrift Burst (23) - With potentially two different teleports this could be a trippletap. Shuffling Thunder (23) - Melee 1 and only single target is lame
In terms of Daily powers, Wrathful Vapors deals damage to each creature adjacent to a creature you hit. When combined with a setup power or 2 to ensure 3+ creatures being adjance to each other, you are doing 3d6+Cha+X to a creature when you hit it, and 2d6+Dex+X to a creature when you hit a creature adjacent to it, 3 creatures next to each other? 3 damage instances, 4 creatures? 4xDamage, etc. Damage Now > Damage Later, so while Lightning Daggers is a fantastic power (and should be the one chosen for the level 21 Archmage Feature) it loses out to something that can outright kill creatures if you get 4+ targets grouped (you should be doing 1/4 HP damage per hit) Other good multi-tap Dailies: Thunder Leap (5), Prime the Fire (9), Day and Night (15), Hostility Charm (15, assumes allies can OA), Aspect of the Dragon (19, with the weapon that bloodies yourself), Blackfire Serpent (19, requires Str or the Arcane Reach feat)
Frost or Radiant Vuln Abuse enables powers like Stalking Frost and Primordial Storm to be not optimal, but at least viable.
Edit: To address your latest post, Sorcerer's are a Close Range Skirmisher when played to their best strengths, and are often said to do "what the Monk is designed to do, but better". Defenses are just as big of an issue to the Skirmisher as they are to the ranged Blaster, except that the Skirmisher kills creatures faster and Dead Creatures make no attacks. It is definitely "something to build around" which is to say "it's something you should build around".
The argument about an E3 being the best power being bad is ... well, I guess that's an opinion you can have. It's true of nearly half the Classes in the game with another large chunk having their best power being a special "At-Will Basic Attack". But that's not really that bad when you consider that the classes are being given the ability to do their job properly while at an early level so they can do their job properly at all levels. People really fail to realize that monster HP scaling really outclasses PC damage, it's +8.125 HP which means a 4 round party (the assumed baseline) needs to increase at 2.0625 Damage per round per PC counting Encounter Powers; it's tough for some Strikers to keep up with that, much less the Defender, Controller, and Leader, so the Strikers have to make up the difference. Early Multi-taps give you a jump start, allowing you to focus a bit more on Defenses and Control options. One of the main reasons I dislike the Barbarian is that they don't get their good power until Paragon, and it doesn't really mesh with their main Charge tactic that they've been using for the past 12 levels, there's a reason why Fighter|Barb is an entirely better character.
"Invokers are probably better round after round but Wizard dailies are devastating. Actually, devastating is too light a word. Wizard daily powers are soul crushing, encounter ending, havoc causing pieces of awesome." -AirPower25 Sear the Flesh, Purify the Soul; Harden the Heart, and Improve the Mind; Born of Blood, but Forged by Fire; The MECH warrior reaches perfection.
