REQUEST: Levelling guide for Azata Sorcerer Build

[Sta Barbara]

Compared to Kingmaker, there seem to be fewer build guides for WotR. I'm looking to start my first run of the game, and I always generally play Sorcerer for my first run. I've read that Azata is a good mythic compliment to this class, so I want to go Sorcerer/Azata for this run.

Can anyone please help me with a level-by-level build guide? Including, what beginning
stats to take, what race, what spells and feats at each level, etc. There are a few build guides online, but I've read that the latest patch disabled dual dragon-bloodlines for Crossblooded Sorcerers, so I'm not sure they are still viable, given that a lot of Sorcerer builds rely on dual-dragon blood, and I don't really know how to modify that.

I'm pretty open to either a Fire-based Sorcerer or a Lightning-based one.

Thanks in advance! :)

[Soul]

I play sorcerer azata and never went dual dragon build.... just dragon and elemental of same type...

I used to go crossblooded with elemental primary, dragon as secondary... and later on take second bloodline mythic feat arcane for a total of 3 bloodlines..... not anymore though...

I now like to use seeker sorcerer for the extra feats and the skills early on... by Act 2 my seeker sorcerer was the best thievery character I had... I can still pick a primary with seeker and using second bloodline pick elemental.... to give me 2 bloodlines.... only so I can convert all spells to my dragon type and benefit more with ascendant element whatever....

can also offset the damage loss from the second dragon a bit if you wish.... sorcerer cant wear armor.... but with 4 feats.... light armor proficiency, medium armor proficiency.... (to be able to wear light then medium armor....) and arcane armor training, arcane armor mastery (to be able to cast in light, medium armor).... you can wear a piece of medium armor called "hide of elemental carnage" that you can buy from vendor in wintersrun in Act 3... that adds +1 die just like a draconic bloodline would....

thing is you can pick up a background with light armor feat already.... like bounty hunter.... and then you'd only need 3 more feats.... which seeker already gets an extra 3 feats for being a seeker at 5, 10, and 15th levels...... so you'd have some leeway to make it work by time you reach wintersrun...

[Soul]

sorcerer doesnt really get a lot of skill points.... only 2 per level....

so my build usually is like....

10 str
16 dex
10 con
14 int
10 wis
19 cha

with that I can get 3 skill points per level.... which I dump 1 point into use magic device, knowledge arcana, and stealth.... rest of the levels I put points into trickery, persuasion, and perception.... seeker gets trickery as a class skill... bounty hunter or pickpocket (great for +2 initiative rolls) gets stealth as a class skill.... and dragon bloodline gives perception as a class skill....

reason for leveling trickery is to take advantage of seeker trapfinding where you gain a bonus for every 2 levels to trickery... so by level 20 seeker you'd be +10 to trickery... and with high starting dex for ranged touch spells it helps even more....

race wise I normally play either normal kitsune or beastbrood tiefling.... there are others that can get higher numbers its just personal preference for me... and those stats I can plug in just fine with those 2...

[Soul]

spell wise its up to you on what you think you want....

but pretty much when i play blaster caster.... I dont bother learning a lot of damage spells.... actually know more buffs and such instead.... damage spell wise I mostly rely on metamagic to increase the spell level of a spell to a higher level...

like scorching ray for instance.... its a level 2 spell.... but if I learn bolster metamagic and empower metamagic I can make it more useful...

level 2 spell... scorching ray
level 3 spell.... scorching ray bolstered
level 4 spell... scorching ray empowered
level 5 spell... scorching ray bolstered, empowered

then level 6 i'd have hellfire ray....

level 6 spell.... hellfire ray
level 7 spell... hellfire ray bolstered
level 8 spell... hellfire ray empowered
level 9 spell... hellfire ray bolstered, empowered

so with 2 spells and 2 metamagics im covered with single target damage... so no need to try to take any more single target really....

also early on enemies will have high spell resistance.... but a conjuration spell level 1 called snowball is your friend.... its a ranged touch attack that doesnt require a spell resistance check.... so when you need to deal damage against a tough enemy with high AC and high spell resistance... usually their touch AC is very low and easy to hit.... making snowball very very useful... especially if you can convert it and have ascendant element... i'd say its good enough i'd rather take that spell over something like magic missile... especially when the bloodline damage comes into play...

[devmabi11]

Originally posted by Soul:

spell wise its up to you on what you think you want....

but pretty much when i play blaster caster.... I dont bother learning a lot of damage spells.... actually know more buffs and such instead.... damage spell wise I mostly rely on metamagic to increase the spell level of a spell to a higher level...

like scorching ray for instance.... its a level 2 spell.... but if I learn bolster metamagic and empower metamagic I can make it more useful...

level 2 spell... scorching ray
level 3 spell.... scorching ray bolstered
level 4 spell... scorching ray empowered
level 5 spell... scorching ray bolstered, empowered

then level 6 i'd have hellfire ray....

level 6 spell.... hellfire ray
level 7 spell... hellfire ray bolstered
level 8 spell... hellfire ray empowered
level 9 spell... hellfire ray bolstered, empowered

so with 2 spells and 2 metamagics im covered with single target damage... so no need to try to take any more single target really....

also early on enemies will have high spell resistance.... but a conjuration spell level 1 called snowball is your friend.... its a ranged touch attack that doesnt require a spell resistance check.... so when you need to deal damage against a tough enemy with high AC and high spell resistance... usually their touch AC is very low and easy to hit.... making snowball very very useful... especially if you can convert it and have ascendant element... i'd say its good enough i'd rather take that spell over something like magic missile... especially when the bloodline damage comes into play...

Holy ellipses Batman

[jonnin]

the half elf kindred raised can start with a 22 in cha. For a pure caster, that is maybe worth doing, but it greatly reduces your point buy for all the other stats, so its kinda niche. Half elf and elf get their racial spell pen feat, which puts them a cut above most other races.
typically a 2 bloodline is looking to convert all the spells to one element, and dragon is adding damage to that element, and mythic element makes it work on everything, the core stuff for making it work.

sorcerer feats are just going for metamagic and spell pen, + ranged touch (precise shot etc). Past that you can specialize -- conjuration is nice for pits and pets. Pure nukes is the hardest thing to build around, because the game mechanics and enemy types push back hard against that type of caster. You need at least a couple of metamagics to move good spells into bad spell levels or to powerhouse a few spells. Nothing like a level 9 grease with a 50 whatever to resist.

Fire is slightly better than lightning simply because demons are 100% immune to lightning and only resisty to fire. Its irrelevant after mythic element, but before that, its a minor hassle.

[ptirodaktill]

Due to numerous nerfs to direct dmg casters such casters no longer worth the effort. You can`t pick 3 draconic bloodlines for +3 dmg to dice of some elements. You can`t push chain lightning above CL 20. +dmg items no longer affect sneack attacks. And there is abbudance of persistent metarods, so you`d better play as DC wizard right from the start, then dip intro cross-blood sorcerer for undead/serpentine/fey bloodlines (its a bug, bloodline powers shouldn`t work on preparaid spells, but i guess owlcat will destroy it one day or another)

[Soul]

Originally posted by ptirodaktill:

Due to numerous nerfs to direct dmg casters such casters no longer worth the effort. You can`t pick 3 draconic bloodlines for +3 dmg to dice of some elements. You can`t push chain lightning above CL 20. +dmg items no longer affect sneack attacks. And there is abbudance of persistent metarods, so you`d better play as DC wizard right from the start, then dip intro cross-blood sorcerer for undead/serpentine/fey bloodlines (its a bug, bloodline powers shouldn`t work on preparaid spells, but i guess owlcat will destroy it one day or another)

i'd say its balanced.... you still can get the 3 draconic bloodline equivalent with the last sarkorians amulet in chapter 5.... before only fire element was able to have 3....

with the introduction of intensified metamagic... you can now make spells that level with caster level more potent.... snowball becomes a 10d6 spell by level 10 instead of 5d6.... fireball and lightning bolt become 15d6 by level 15 instead of 10d6.... and hellfire ray can go from 45d6 up to 60d6..... and chain lightning can go from 20d6 up to 25d6

which intensified can stack with bolster metamagic...

so before when i'd take bolster and empower.... the downside is that I couldnt pump up the damage of the empower with another empower metamagic rod.... but with intensified and bolster both only increasing spell by 1 each.... that means I can take a level 1 spell snowball... crank it up to level 3 with intensified and bolstered metamagic... and use an empower rod on it which are quite a few in Act 2... it basically makes snowball on par if not better than scorching ray

at level 10 snowball can reach max potential.... scorching ray reaches it at level 11... so lets compare as a level 11 caster

snowball level 2 spell via intensified metamagic deals 10d6
scorching ray is a level 2 spell and will deal 12d6

scorching ray looks like a winner... but.... gloves of neopyte works with snowball since it is a level 1 spell technically.... so gloves would make the intensified snowball 10d6 + 10... making it deal 20-70 damage... vs scorching ray 12-72 damage... which latter requires 3 separate spell resistance checks to do full damage....

which at this level intensified metamagic doesnt have the drawback of bolster negating sneak attacks.... so if your going arcane trickster route you can boost the damage from both these spells even further with sneak attacks... which your probably already around 5d6 sneak attack by level 11 and with sense vitals to pump that up by 3d6 at that point... so up to 8d6 added sneak attack... this way you can kinda compensate for not having bolster for this level of spell

snowball level 3 via intensified and bolster metamagic deals 10d6 + 20 bolstered and +10 gloves... so 40-90 damage
scorching ray level 3 via bolstered metamagic (since it cant be intensified).... deals 12d6 + 24... so 36- 96 damage

neither would benefit from added sneak attack damage due to bolster metamagic negating it from qualifying....

so pretty much you can add sneak attack to normal and intensified only spells.... and rely on bolster for the next level of spells for more consistent damage... especially for hellfire ray.... and if your going arcane trickster route... you'd be able to get the special robes in Act 3 that adds +1 per die for elemental damage.... basically a free draconic bloodline feat.... and you'd also have light armor proficiency for dipping into a rogue class... so all you'd need is medium armor proficiency feat and could take a dip into loremaster for the final version of arcane armor mastery to be able to wear the hide of elemental carnage from wintersrun... which adds another +1 per die just like a draconic bloodline... so you can end Act 2 with up to +3 draconic bloodline equivalent with all elements... and by Act 5 you complete Ulbrigs questline and you would gain the amulet that would pump that up to +5 per die.... so intensified bolstered hellfire ray at caster level 20 would deal 60d6 + 420 damage... so 480-780 damage with extra 120 splash damage.... minus 60 damage if you replace the arcane trickster robes with robes of the seven sin to boost caster level to reach level 20 caster level.....

[leyasu888]

Personally I would go Sylvan Sorcerer because you get a pet, but Crossblooded is also good, For fire i would go Red Dragon main bloodline with Fey bloodline as your secondary since the secondary bloodline for crossblooded only gives you the spells and the arcana, then get arcane bloodline as a second bloodline as a mythic feat later in the game.

[Soul]

Originally posted by leyasu888:

Personally I would go Sylvan Sorcerer because you get a pet, but Crossblooded is also good, For fire i would go Red Dragon main bloodline with Fey bloodline as your secondary since the secondary bloodline for crossblooded only gives you the spells and the arcana, then get arcane bloodline as a second bloodline as a mythic feat later in the game.

havent played a sylvan sorcerer.... but crossblooded I used to be till getting into seeker.... seeker sorcerer I like better since you get 3 more feats and you can gain majority of class features... and pick up second bloodline for full access to the second bloodline's features

downside to crossblooded is you lose out on 1 spell per level and if going the arcane bloodline later on your best bet is to not pick the spells tied to that bloodline... so no magic missile.... no invisibility... no dimension door.... till you pick the arcane bloodline feat.... which the new arcana also benefits from taking it very late so you have a bigger pool of spells to choose from

so to me crossblooded is behind on learning new spells by one level than a normal sorcerer.... and is also behind on learning spells vital to my builds as a enchanter / blaster type of caster with not able to access those arcane spells the bloodline has to offer for free later on....

seeker on the other hand gives me bonus spells and bonus to trickery which is a quality of life feature for me since I dont like Cam or Woljiff in my party..... it allows me to be the trickery character till I get Aru and even better than her with full seeker progression when it comes to trickery... by time I recruit her... she basically needs trickery bonus gear to outmatch my seeker sorcerer in terms of trickery checks... and the extra feats the class gives can give a quick boost to my build coming online faster....

which as a seeker I go the elemental bloodline first so that I can pick the ascendant element to bypass the elemental resistances first.... and be able to convert all my spells thanks to elemental arcana.... the only spell that dragonic bloodline im loosing out thats really worth it is mage armor early on.... but there are potions of that stuff that last an hour so its not a big deal to run without learning mage armor.... and early game you got gloves of the neophyte which add +1 to level 1 spells and below so somewhat like a free draconic bloodline for those spells....

[revan1229]

Originally posted by ptirodaktill:

Due to numerous nerfs to direct dmg casters such casters no longer worth the effort. You can`t pick 3 draconic bloodlines for +3 dmg to dice of some elements. You can`t push chain lightning above CL 20. +dmg items no longer affect sneack attacks. And there is abbudance of persistent metarods, so you`d better play as DC wizard right from the start, then dip intro cross-blood sorcerer for undead/serpentine/fey bloodlines (its a bug, bloodline powers shouldn`t work on preparaid spells, but i guess owlcat will destroy it one day or another)

It can be worth it, but how you build them is now far less forgiving.

The damage/dice loss and Chain Lightning level cap is annoying, but it can mostly be made up for. Legacy of the Last Azlanti amulet nets you +2 damage/dice to all elements (as well as +2 DC for elemental spells), so the last leg of Ulbrig's quest should be done asap. Obviously it's late, but what can you do...

Intensify Metamagic gets you another +5 CL to capped damage spells, which is useful throughout the game for blasters. Geomancer can be dipped into for more damage, as the damage scales from the spell level, not the class.

Demon is still amazing for damage casters for obvious reasons. Azata's spell damage has been buffed, as bonus damage from Incredible Might now affects any damage that you do. Both paths also let you still DC cast effectively. Gold Dragon is now great for blasting, too, due to Dragon Mind and Perfect Soul, but obviously they come online very late.

DC Wizard is better, but if you take something like an Exploiter Wizard or Elemental Specialist down the Demon or Azata path, you can both blast and DC cast effectively.

[jonnin]

sylvan is doubly depressing. You get to spend the first 1/3 of the game watching your pet outperform you in every conceivable way, adding extreme insult to injury. Ive said it before but up to around level 10+ your sorcerer will do more damage with high dex and finnian the heavy crossbow and a pet than he will with any spell. But you can enjoy watching your level 4-5 buddy kill 8 guys at once with a cleave.

Until the sorcerer can do something equally as effective as this at this point in the game, he can stay in the inn for the rest of the game and ponder his life choices.

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