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SWTOR 5.0 Lightning Sorcerer PvE Guide by Sion
Автор темы: JTMarsh
Дата создания: 27.12.2016 21:20
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08.12.2014
SWTOR 5.0 Lightning Sorcerer PvE Guide by Sion
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Intro to Lightning Sorcerer



The Lightning Sorcerer is a ranged burst dps class that offers some
of the best utility for a dps class in the game. This class is easy to
play but hard to master, especially if you want to take on the hardest
content in the game.

Ratings


Single Target Damage: 1/10

With 5.0, Lightning has been nerfed pretty hard. We are currently
dead last among the dps specs. We will still be viable for HM, but as
far as NiM goes, I find it unlikely that we will be able to do the
damage unless the rest of the specs are so far above the dps checks that
our low damage is still enough

AoE Damage: 5/10

Although our AoE is not as good as it used to be, Lightning Sorcs
still have some really great AoE damage. With Chain Lightning and Force
Storm, we have incredible burst AoE, and with very little resource
management we can spam Force Storm for a long time without having to
worry about running out of Force.

Burst Damage: 6/10

Like everything else, our burst has suffered due to the 5.0 changes.
The one upside is that you can use Recklessness on Thundering Blast and
see some actual benefit. We still do decent burst, and we can control it
with Polarity Shift and Recklessness. The major upside is that our
burst is simply more frequent than most classes.

Raid Utility: 9/10

Sorcs bring excellent raid utility with them into any group. We
bring with us a copious amount of abilities including our pull (though
used almost exclusively for trolling raid members it does have its niche
uses), battle rez, cleanse, raid buff, force and AoEdebuffs, self and
off heals, bubble, and the ability to completely mitigate some mechanics
via our Force Bubble.

Survivability: 8/10

Even the Sorcs have Light Armor, we are not as squishy as one would
think. We have a bubble that lasts for 30s that is refreshable every
15s, a passive that allows us to have 9% additional damage reduction,
and we have another shield that gives us invulnerability for 8s.
Additionally we have utilities that make our bubbles stronger and our
threat dump and large self heal grant damage reduction as well. All of
this combined with our ability to heal ourselves in a pinch, allows us
to survive well in fights.

Gearing


The following numbers are taken from Bant’s Optimal Stats
thread on the SWTOR Forums. In case there is any confusion
E=Enhancement (these include implants and earpiece), A=Augment, and
C=Crystal. As a DPS we want the Focused Retribution and Serendipitous
Assault Relics.

Eternal Commander MK-3, Tier 1: Artifact (230 ilvl): 7405+-216 DPS @ 49.5 APM

  • 5901 Mastery (Stim)
  • 3183 Power
  • 1543 Critical (7xE, 1xA, 2xC)
  • 1056 Alacrity (11xA)
  • 735 Accuracy (3xE, 2xA)

Eternal Commander MK-13, Tier 2: Artifact (234 ilvl): 7611+-225 DPS @ 49.5 APM

  • 6128 Mastery (Stim)
  • 3181 Power
  • 1614 Critical (6xE, 3xA, 2xC)
  • 1056 Alacrity (11xA)
  • 760 Accuracy (4xE)

Eternal Commander MK-15, Tier 2: Legendary (236 ilvl):8092+-246 DPS @ 50.1 APM

  • 6317 Mastery (2xA)
  • 3424 Power
  • 1691 Critical (7xE, 2xC)
  • 1256 Alacrity (1xE, 11xA)
  • 736 Accuracy (2xE, 1xA, Stim)

Iokath MK-3, Tier 3: Artifact (240 ilvl): 8352+-258 DPS @ 50.3 APM

  • 6385 Mastery (1xA, 1xC)
  • 3506 Power
  • 1746 Critical (4xE, 7xA, 1xC)
  • 1313 Alacrity (5xE, 3xA)
  • 733 Accuracy (1xE, 3xA, Stim)

Iokath MK-5, Tier 3: Legendary (242 ilvl): 8692+-273 DPS @ 50.4 APM

  • 6637 Mastery (1xA, 1xC)
  • 3694 Power
  • 1792 Critical (4xE, 7xA, 1xC)
  • 1363 Alacrity (5xE, 3xA)
  • 743 Accuracy (1xE, 3xA, Stim)

I would advocate for foregoing any mastery augments and using either
crit or alacrity, and only using crit crystals. I suggest this for the
sake of ease, and because I know that the difference will be negligible
if not unnoticeable. I also would advocate for using an accuracy stim in
all tiers and adjusting according. Bant has provided the various
accuracy options for each gear tier to help with this.

Set Bonus

With 5.0 the old Dread Master set bonus is not BiS at max gear tier.
Anything lower than that, and you can probably still get away with it. I
would recommend switching it out for the full Ultimate Exarch set bonus
once you get 240s.

Utilities


Skillful





Force Suffusion
Overload heals you and up to 7 affected allies for X-X.
Not really worth taking as a dps.



Sith Defiance
Increases damage reduction by 3%.
Always take this. With Light Armor any free damage reduction is welcome.



Tempest Mastery
Increases the damage dealt by Force Storm by 25%.
Boss fight with adds? Take this utility. Works great with Storm Brewing passive.



Empty Body
Increases all healing received by 5%. Does not affect stolen life.
I often take this for the same reason as Sith Defiance.



Dizzying Force
Reduces target’s accuracy by 20% for 8 seconds after
Whirlwind ends. Additionally, your Whirlwind affects up to 2 additional
standard or weak enemies within 8 meters of the target.
PvP/leveling utility. Not worth taking.



Dark Speed
Dark Heal increases the movement speed of the target by
50% for 6 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12
seconds.
This is more of a healer utility, and situational at that. It won’t do much for dps specs.



Masterful





Suppression
Activating Cloud Mind grants Suppression, which increases damage reduction by 25% for 6 seconds.
Very useful for mitigating large hits. I use this on most fights as an extra defensive CD.



Corrupted Flesh
Reduces the damage taken from all periodic effects by 15%.
Take this on fights with non-cleansable dots.



Dark Resilience
Reduces the damage taken by the target of
your Extrication by 25% for 6 seconds. Additionally increases the
healing done by Unnatural Preservation by 30%.
Useful because of the increased healing to
Unnatural Preservation. I take this on most fights to alleviate some of
the healing on myself.



Conspiring Force
Targets affected by your Affliction are slowed by 30% for its duration.
PvP Utility.



Lightning Barrier
Your Static Barrier crackles with
electricity, shocking attackers for X damage when it absorbs direct
damage to you. This effect cannot occur more than once each second.
PvP utility. May have some use in fights with heavy AoE damage, but will most likely not be worth taking.



Torturous Tactics
Lowers the cooldown of electrocute by 10
seconds. In addition, targets stunned by your Elecrocute deal 25% less
damage for 10 seconds when Electrocute wears off.
Extremely situational. This is mainly a PvP
ability, but it is useful in mitigating damage from energy spheres in
Brontes HM/NiM.



Heroic





Emersion
Force Speed grants Emersion, removing all movement impairing effects and granting immunity to them for the duration.
Good for fights where you need to break out of slows. Can be helpful in Underlurker or Reaches phase in Brontes.



Shapeless Spirit
Reduces all damage taken while stunned by 30%. Additionally, reduces all damage taken from area effects by 30%.
An absolute must take on every fight. 30% AoE and Stun damage reduction. What more could you want?



Surging Speed
Reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 5
seconds, Force Slow by 3 seconds, and Force Barrier by 30 seconds. In
addition, Force Speed lasts 0.5 seconds longer, Polarity Shift increases
your movement speed by 100% while active, the active cooldown of Force
Speed is finished when Force Barrier ends.
Even in high mobility fights this is not worth taking. Too little benefit to use a utility point.



Backlash
Static Barriers you place on yourself erupt
in a flash of light when they end, blinding up to 8 nearby enemies for 3
seconds. This effect breaks from direct damage.
PvP utility.



Haunted Dreams
If your Whirlwind breaks early from damage, the target is stunned for 2 seconds. In addition, Whirlwind activates instantly.
Could be situational, but really not worth taking over other utilities.



Electric Bindings
Overload binds its targets in electricity,
immobilizing them for 5 seconds. Direct damage dealt after 2 seconds
ends the effect prematurely.
Mostly a PvP utility. It does come in handy for NiMStyrak though.



Legendary





Force Mobility
Thundering Blast, Innervate, and Force Leach may be activated while moving.
This should be taken on every fight. Increased mobility is always a good thing.



Galvanizing Cleanse
Expunge grants Galvanizing Cleanse, making
your next ability an activation time activate instantly. The effect
cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds and lasts 15 seconds.
This is just a bad utility. I cannot think of a single fight I would use this, even as a healer, let alone as a dps.



Corrupted Barrier
Your Static Barrier, Force Barrier, and
Enduring Bastion heal you for 1% of your total health every second for
as long as they last. This healing scales up to 4% with the charges of
Enduring Bastion.
With the nerf to this utility, there is no real reason to take this anymore.



Unnatural Vigor
Unnatural Preservation increases your
damage reduction by 15% for 6 seconds. Additionally, reduces the
cooldown of Unnatural Preservation by 5 seconds.
This is a good one to take. This provides another small
damage reduction cooldown, and lets you get more of your amazing self
heal with a reduced cooldown.



Shifting Silhouette
Using Phase Walk to return to its marked
location grants Shifting Silhouette, keeping you from being lept to or
pulled and making you immune to interrupts and ability activation
pushback for the next 10 seconds. Additionally, the cooldown of Phase
Walk is reduced by 15 seconds and all defenses are increased by 30% for
the duration of Shifting Silhouette.
With the removal of the AoE damage reduction from this
utility it is much less attractive. The reduced cooldown is nice but not
necessary in PvE. The increase to defense is nice, and it may prove to
be a useful defensive cooldown.



Enfeebling Lash
Strike the target with your lightsaber,
dealing X-X weapon damage and immobilizing it for 3 seconds. When the
immobilization effect ends, the target is slowed by 50% for 3 seconds.
Replaces Saber Strike.

Cooldown: 15s

Range: 4m

PvP utility. This is completely useless in PvE



Passives and Abilities



Lightning Discipline Passives





Lightning Storm – Lightning Strike,
Lightning Bolt, Thundering Blast, and Force Storm grant Lightning Storm
when activated. Lightning Storm immediately finishes the cooldown on
Chain Lightning and makes your next Chain Lightning activate instantly
and consume 50% less Force. Cannot occur more than once every 10
seconds.



Storm Brewing – Increases the critical chance of Force Storm by 15% and its critical damage bonus by 30%.



Lightning Effusion – Direct Force
attacks grant Lightning Effusion when they critically hit, reducing the
Force consumed by your next two non-channeled Force attacks by 75%.



Subversion – Reduces the pushback
suffered while activating Chain Lightning, Lightning Strike, Crushing
Darkness, Thundering Blast, and Lightning Bolt by 75%. Additionally, you
have a 25% when taking direct damage to gain Subversion, which causes
your next Lightning Strike or Lightning Bolt to activate instantly.
This effect cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds and lasts up to
15 seconds.



Forked Darkness – Crushing Darkness
has a 25% chance to tick twice and makes its targets vulnerable for 45
seconds. Vulnerable targets tak 5% more damage from Force attacks. In
addition, when you activate Thundering Blast, there is a 25% chance the
ability will produce a second blast that strikes the same target for 25%
damage.



Lightning Swarm – Increases the
maximum range of your Force attacks by 5 meters. Additionally, Chain
Lightning immobilizes all affected targets for 0.5 seconds and slows all
affected targets by 50% for 6 seconds.



Convection – Force Speed gives 2 stacks of Convection, which allows Lightning Strike and Lightning Bolt to be activated instantly.



Forked Lightning – Lightning Strike,
Chain Lightning, Lightning Flash, and Lightning Bolt have a 25% chance
to produce a second arc of lightning that strikes the same targets for
25% damage. Additionally, Chain Lightning overwhelms its targets for 45
seconds. Overwhelmed targets take an additional 10% damage from area
attacks.



Focal Lightning – Damage dealt by
Chain Lightning and Lightning Flash has a 100% chance and damage dealt
by Lightning Strike and Lightning Bolt has a 50% chance to grant Focal
Lightning, which increases alacrity by 1%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts
15 seconds.



Chaos Nexus – Forked Lightning is
twice as likely to trigger while Polarity Shift is active. Additionally,
increases the duration of Polarity Shift by 5 seconds and reduces its
cooldown by 15 seconds.



Reverberating Force – Increases the critical damage dealt by Chain Lightning, Crushing Darkness, Thundering Blast, and Lightning Flash by 10%.



Conduction – Each Forked Lightning
and Forked Darkness reduces the active cooldown of Polarity Shift by 1
second. In addition, being interrupted grants unshakable for 4 seconds.
This can only occur once every 15 seconds.



Charged Reaction – Direct damage
dealt by your Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning abilities refreshes
the duration of your Affliction on affected targets. In addition,
Lightning Bolt increases your Force regeneration by 10% for 10 seconds.
Stacks up to 3 times.



Fulgurous Fortification – Lightning Bolt increases your damage 3% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.



Convulsing Currents – Shock deals 20% more damage to targets affected by your Crushing Darkness



Rotational Abilities





Crushing Darkness [CD]- Summons a
dark cloud of energy to crush the target, instantly dealing X-X kinetic
damage and an additional X kinetic damage over 6 seconds.
Range: 35m, Activation: 2s, Force: 36, Cooldown: 15s




Affliction [Aff]- Casts a powerful Force affliction that deals X internal damage over 18 seconds.
Range: 35m, Force: 32




Thundering Blast [TB]- Sends a
thundering blastwave at a single target that deals X-X internal damage.
Thundering Blast automatically critically hits targets affected by your
Affliction.
Range: 35m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 45, Cooldown: 9s




Lightning Flash [LF]- Blasts the
target with a quick flash of lightning, which deals X-X damage and
grants Force Flash, which reduces the activation time of your next
Crushing Darkness by 0.5 seconds. This effect lasts up to 12 seconds.
Range: 35m, Force: 45, Cooldown: 15s




Chain Lightning [CL]- Delivers an arc of lightning that deals X-X damage to up to 8 targets within 8 meters of the primary target.
Range: 35m, Activation: 2.5s, Force: 45, Cooldown: 6s




Lightning Bolt [LB]- Hurls a bolt of
lightning at the target, dealing X-X energy damage and slowing the
target by 30% for 3 seconds. Replaces Lightning Strike.
Range: 35m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 30




Shock [S]- Shocks the target for X-X energy damage. Standard and weak targets are additionally stunned for 3 seconds.
Range: 35m, Force: 36, Cooldown: 6s




Non-Rotational Abilities





Force Storm – Calls down a Force
Storm over the target area, consuming 60 Force and dealing X energy
damage to up to 8 targets within 8 meters over the duration of the
channel. Standard and weak targets have a 33% chance to be stunned by
the storm each second.
Range: 35m




Dark Heal – Heals a friendly target for X-X health.
Range: 30m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 50




Resurgence – Immediately heals the target for X-X, plus an additional X over 9 seconds.
Range: 30m, Force: 27, Cooldown: 6s




Unnatural Preservation – Immediately restores X-X health to you. Cannot be used on others.
Cooldown: 30s




Expunge – Cleanse a friendly target of up to 2 negative mental or Force effects.
Range: 30m, Force: 12, Cooldown: 12s




Extrication – Lowers the target’s threat by a moderate amount and, if the target is a group member, pulls the target to your location.
Range: 30m, Force: 27, Cooldown: 1 minute




Force Speed [FS]- Increases movement speed by 150% for 2 seconds. Does not break stealth.
Cooldown: 30s




Phase Walk – Activating this ability
marks your current location for 10 minutes. When this ability is
activated again, if you are within 60 meters of the marked location, you
instantly return to the marked location



Reanimation – Revives an
incapacitated ally. This ability is usable while in combat. When used,
all group members can neither use nor be the target of an in-combat
revival for the next 5 minutes.
Range: 30m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 27, Cooldown: 5 minutes




Offensive and Defensive Cooldowns





Polarity Shift [PS]- Your connection to the Force shifts, granting 20% alacrity and immunity to pushback and interrupts for 15 seconds.



Recklessness [Rck]- Grants 2 charges
of Recklessness, which increases the Force critical chance of your
direct attacks and heals by 60% and increases the ranges of Force
Lightning and Depredating Volts to 30 meters. Each time a direct Force
ability critically hits or a channeled Force ability is activated, 1
charge is consumed. Lasts 20 seconds.
Cooldown: 1m 30s




Unlimited Power [UP]- Increases mastery, endurance, and presence for you and your Operation group members within 40 meters by 10% . Lasts 10 seconds
Force: 45, Cooldown: 5 minutes




Force Barrier – Projects a Force
Barrier around you, granting immunity to all control, damage, and
negative effects while channeled. This ability does not respect the
global cooldown and can be used while controlled. While you are
protected by Force Barrier charges will build up and grant you Enduring
Bastion, a shield that absorbs an amount of damage based off the charges
that are present when Force Barrier ended. Enduring Bastion also
grants immunity to interrupts.
Cooldown: 3 minutes




Static Barrier – Surrounds the
target in a lightning shield that lasts 30 seconds and absorbs a high
amount of damage. The target becomes deionized and cannot benefit from
Static Barrier again for 20 seconds.



Cloud Mind – Wipes enemies’ thoughts, instantly lowering your threat by a moderate amount.
Additionally grants 25% damage reduction for 6 seconds. (with Suppression utility)

Cooldown: 45s




Advanced Polybiotic Attack Adrenal – Increases Power by 870 and decreases all healing done by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds.
Cooldown: 3 minutes




Rotation



Opener


This opener applies regardless of whether you are using the Dread
Master 4-piece and Ultimate Exarch 2-piece or the Ultimate Exarch
6-piece.

CD -> PS, Aff -> UP, Adrenal, Rck, TB -> CL -> LF ->
LB -> LB -> LB -> TB -> CL -> LB -> CD -> LF -> S
-> TB -> CL -> Priority System



There are two things I should note here. The first is that in the
opener I use Polarity Shift before casting Affliction. This is done
because the increased alacrity increases the tick rate of the DoT. This
carries over whenever Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning refresh
Affliction as well. This allows us to squeeze a little extra damage out
of Affliction. With the increased tick rate, Affliction can now tick
right before a refresh from Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning, which
will then cause it to tick again, thus gaining just a little bit more
damage from Affliction. The second is that the Shock after your 2nd
crushing darkness may need to be used prior to the Lightning Flash
depending on alacrity and when the DM set bonus procs if you are using
it.

Priority System


The nice thing about Lightning Sorcerer is that it is a priority
system. Because of this you don’t have to worry about where to pick up
if you experience downtime due to boss mechanics. You simply use the
ability with highest priority and work from there.

There are really only 6 abilities that factor into the priority
system, but the caveat to that is Affliction must be on your target.
That being said, the priority is as follows:

  1. Thundering Blast
  2. Crushing Darkness (with proc)
  3. Lightning Flash
  4. Shock (only while Crushing Darkness is on the target)
  5. Chain Lightning (with proc)
  6. Lightning Bolt

Thundering Blast must always be used on cooldown. It is an autocrit
every 9 seconds (with no alacrity) and therefore must take priority over
everything else. This leads us into Crushing Darkness, which should be
used only with the Force Flash proc. Lightning Flash is next due to its
decent damage and because of the Force Flash proc. Although Chain
Lightning hits rather hard, its proc’s 10s internal cooldown pushes it
rather low on the priority provided the proc is not about to fall off,
which it never should. When everything else is on cooldown, Lightning
Bolt is your primary filler. I say primary because of the new passive
that makes Shock barely better than Lightning Bolt so long as Crushing
Darkness is on the target.

AoE Rotation


There are a few ways of going about this depending on the priority of
the group of adds that are being killed. However, regardless of the
scenario you want to prioritize Chain Lightning and Force Storm. If they
will die pretty quickly this is all you want to do. If there is a
higher health add in among lower health ones, then you can throw in
Affliction and Thundering Blast and then continue with Chain Lightning
and Force Storm. You should not be using Lightning Flash, Lightning
Bolt, or Crushing Darkness though.

Some Notes on Offensive Cooldowns


Polarity Shift is by far your best offensive cooldown. I always try
to use this right before a Thundering Blast. However, I will uses it
earlier if a Lightning Flash will benefit from its use sooner than a
Thundering Blast would. The reason is a combination of your Chaos Nexus
and Forked Lightning Passives. You want to make sure you can fit as many
of your hardest hitting abilities into a Polarity Shift block so don’t
just use it on cooldown, but never delay it longer than one Thundering
Blast cycle. While talking about Polarity Shift, it is also worth
talking about ability usage during the time that it is active.
Traditionally, it has been considered important to prioritize Lightning
Bolt over Crushing Darkness during Polarity Shift because Chaos Nexus
doubles Lightning Bolt’s chance to proc. I have found, however, that it
is still not worth delaying Crushing Darkness. If you look at how much
damage is done by each ability, Lightning Bolt would be better, when it
procs, as far as instant damage goes. However, when you consider how
much additional damage Crushing Darkness does with its DoT, that is
still for only a 1 gcd cast, CD comes out ahead in damage even if it
doesn’t proc once and Lightning Bolt does. This is under the assumption
that they are critting more or less equally. Because of this, and what I
have seen in my own parses, I find it more beneficial to never use
Lightning Bolt over Crushing Darkness.

Next we come to Recklessness. I try to use Recklessness when under
the effects of Polarity Shift as often as I can, partially because of
the reduced cooldown the increased alacrity brings me, but also because
with the increased chance to proc on abilities we are making an almost
guaranteed crit. As far as ability usage goes, always Thundering Blast
and Chain Lightning. Thankfully Recklessness properly buffs Thundering
Blast so it should always be used in conjunction with it. The third
stack should be used on Lightning Flash if possible, then Shock if it is
buffed, and finally Lightning Bolt if the former two are not possible.
Using Recklessness is always a little bit of weighing your options with
what you will have available. Delaying it for a short time is okay, if
you will get your hardest hitting abilities to align, but like all your
offensives, too long of a delay will make you lose dps. Each situation
is different and it just comes down to knowing the fights and knowing
your class in order to determine what to use and when.

Unlimited Power should not be used in the opener if you will need it
later for a tight burn phase. It is always important that you use your
offensive cds appropriately for the maximum potential dps, instead of
just when they are available. That being said, you don’t want to over
delay these abilities either, and some discretion on the player’s part
is necessary.

One final note for Force Speed is that there is no dps gain to use it
on cooldown since you are simply making the damage of the Lightning
Bolts come at the beginning of the gcd instead of the end. Where this
does have use though is within proc windows, the most relevant being
relic procs. When a casted Lightning Bolt would fall outside of the
proc, but an instant wouldn’t, you would use Force Speed for the instant
proc.

Sample Parse



Here is a link to a parse.
Please note that this is still mostly 224 gear with the 186 4-piece.
With this being old gear, the damage was not very different from 4.0,
especially when the large damage nerfs to the spec are taken into
account.

How to Analyze Your Parse

The most important part you should look at is if you are using
Thundering Blast, Crushing Darkness, and Lightning Flash on cooldown.
The way to check this is to look at the ability usage section and then
look at the Avg Time. At the very minimum this should be the same as
your abilities cooldown, heavily varying by alacrity. As a note,
Thundering Blast’s cooldown only starts once the cast finishes. This
means with no alacrity, the average usage of Thundering Blast

should be 10.5 seconds. While talking about Thundering Blast, the crit % should 100%. If it is not you have messed up somewhere.

As far as damage profile goes, Thundering Blast should be your
highest damage because it is your hardest hitting ability, followed by
Lightning Bolt, Affliction, Chain Lightning, Lightning Flash, Shock,
Crushing Darkness (crushed) which is the DoT, and Crushing Darkness
which is the initial hit per cast. What follows will be your Forked
Lightning and Forked Darkness procs. Due to large amounts of rng, the
amount of damage, and their occurrences, will vary heavily.


Offtopic: Да, я в дрова пьянючий
Ваши права в разделе