Sorc build - stat distribution?

[ShakeNBakeUK]

Thinking of starting a caster build.

Just looking for some basic advice on stats.

How much Vitality / Endurance do you need for casters?

I assume the rest goes into Attunement / Int.

How much Str / Dex do you need for decent basic weapons..? I quite like the halberd in general, so I could go 16str 12dex and upgrade it into a magic weapon later on. Any other weapons that are decent on Sorc's with relatively low Str / Dex requirements..?

[Beast]

My favorite two weapons for sorcerers are the Moonlight Butterfly Horn and Moonlight Greatsword. I think the horn is 12 str, and the greatsword is 16 str 10 dex. But, their damage scales with your intelligence, which you'll increase as a sorcerer anyway. They both also do pure magic damage, instead of spliting it between two damage types, which usually means more damage gets through (unless the target is magic resistant, so you should have a backup of some type).

[CordedUberator]

I'd just skip using regular weapons. When you get to Seath, you can get the Moonlight Greatsword, which is a perfect weapon for a mage. Until then, or even after, just use Pyromancy for short-range combat.

For Vitality, not much, maybe enough to have about 600 health. You can pretty much ignore End for the most part, just use Havel's Ring if you want fast roll with robes (which I recommend.)

Stop Attune at 50, you get no more slots after that. Int gets to about 44 first time through, and then you can stop, that's enough to use Logan's Catalyst and cast CSS. (Crystal Soul Spear, very powerful)

Lastly, 2 things worth picking up: The headdress from Dusk of Oolacile (you can get her robes after freeing her and going back to where you fought the golem after saving/quitting). It boosts your magic (all magic, Pyro, Miracle, Sorcery) by 20% at the cost of 30% more magic weakness. The other thing worth getting is the Bellowing Dragoncrest ring (Or whichever one boosts your magic damage.) It'll boost your Sorcery Damage by 33%. You can get that from freeing the mage from lower undead burg.

[ShakeNBakeUK]

Holy moly that's a lot of points in attunement. Do you really need to open up that many slots?

I don't plan on using Pyromancy, just want to go pure Sorc.

Moonlight horn looks cool, only need 12 Str for that. Greatsword is 16 Str.

[CordedUberator]

If you want all 10 Attunement slots, then yes, you need 50 attunement. However, you probably won't need all those points on your first playthrough. At most, you'll probably use 6-7.

As for Pyromancy, I'd still strongly recommend using it. It will make a lot of bosses a LOT easier, especially Seath, who will heavily resist your magic. It's worth at least getting the ability to cast some Pyromancies, just as a failsafe. It's a good way to supplement the shortcomings of your basic Sorceries, even if you don't plan on using it.

[naptalie]

8 slots is probably better, the points needed to get get from 8-10 is just so absurd it's not even worth it.

[The Badger]

In my opinion, you really don't need that many spells when playing a sorcerer, definitely no where near 50. You sound pretty set on using an enchanted weapon, which is fair enough, so no reason to upgrade STR and DEX past the requirements for the weapons listed above (16 STR, 10 DEX). In that case make sure you have a good elemental weapon as backup, as for some with really high magic defence and if they cast GMB then you may as well just give up. My recommendation would be a chaos weapon if using in PvP.

Vitality and Endurance is largely based on preference and desired end SL. If you want a higher SL then obviously you'll have more in VIT or END, most SL120 builds fit about 40VIT and 40END. I recommend using a wolf ring unless you want to go all damage (bellowing dragon ring), but in my opinion I would take the slightly lower damage for the increased poise.

Using an SL100 build this is an idea: http://mmdks.com/4a4k
As I say with any build I post, it is only a quick build and could be improved. As always whatever works for you can work really well. It's not always about how many castings of things you have, it can often be the casting and use of sorcery that can get wins.

[enfeebler]

I too like the move set of the halberd... started using the BKH for awhile, but eventually switched over to the Gargoyle Halberd (Enchanted and another 15 for buffs if needed). That being said, if I were to build it again with that weapon in mind, I would start a pyro, get 12 dex to 2h the halberd (farm the first tower garg until you get the halberd, then get up to 44 int while every so often bumping attun to 16 as I am getting collect the right spells. then you can go 16 str to 1h the halberd (although I still prefer 2h, mainly this is so I do not accidentally waste a good parry/riposte if I miss click the switch to 2h, and then I would pump up to 40 end and the rest into vit. Eventually by 105 I would have something that looks like this build: http://mmdks.com/4a4l, I like to keep a fast roll but still gives decent defense.

After that add to whatever you feel if you want to go to SL120. Add more attun, if you want to use more sorc for normal mobs, more vit for more HP, even add to other stats to become more well rounded, does not matter.

For normally going through the game, I would run 2h garg halberd, then reserve the spells for the boss fights. Unless you go 19 attun or more for Sorc against normal mobs. for the boss fights, I would probably end up switching the wolf ring to RTSR and playing with PW, run a high risk slaughter fest on bosses, but that is overkill, you should not have to RTSR and still do insane dmg.

[naptalie]

1 very important thing is 45 dex, it maxes out casting speed

[ShakeNBakeUK]

Yeah, there's no way I'm plugging 45 points into Dex for cast speed. I'll just learn to deal with it.

This build is going to be mostly for PvE, not really all that interested in PvP. Just want to try the game as a caster. So probably something like 50 Int, 34 Attunement (8 slots) and the rest in health / endurance.

I'm not that confident with 2h-ing a weapon, I'd miss my shield too much xD Do you rely on dodging or parrying to avoid incoming damage when using a 2h weapon..?

I might take Pyromancy later on then, but just save it for bosses which are "magic immune". I don't really like Pyromancy all that much, it seems a bit OP :p

[Paulinchen]

Why nobody is trying to create his/her own build :/ I think if you just spend so much points into something (what you want) its better than some other builds like : Op darkwraith : Spend so much points into X and you are op (btw you need everytime your own playstyle)). You could also play a tank/fighter like Pyro / Sorcerer .

[Shifty Mario]

This is what I run: http://mmdks.com/4aj0
The extra END is for tin crystallization. Instead of velka's, you can dump some into STR for moonlight weapons. You will need to increase END. You will need fire if you want to get to Seathe easily unless you saved for crystal magic.

[enfeebler]

For me on that build, I do a lot of dodging / rolling and some parry / riposte, but with that 16 strength I had in the build you should have no problem with that weapon in the build I linked. if you plan on 1h, just get that first, before dumping all int. I do PvE myself, as I tend to suck really bad in PVP and people just end up collect a lot of easy souls from me... err I mean I rock at PVP, please do not invade me or else you might die :)

as for the link of the build it was http://mmdks.com/4a4l ... noticed the "," at the end messed up with the link.

[Sllaayy]

If you don't plan on going past NG with it, then this is what i would suggest:

19 Attunement - It gives you 5 slots which is more than enough for any scenario in your first playthrough.
12 Str, then later 16 Str - Get 12 at first, which would allow you to use the Moonlight Butterfly Horn. It's a solid weapon for a mage. Later, when (if) you get the Moonlight Great Sword, get 16 Str for it.
Get 10 Dex (i think that's the requirement for both the Horn and the Greatsword).
You should be fine with 25 Vitality. As a sorcerer your whole goal is to avoid close combat, which is what most bosses are. So there's really no need to waste anything more than 25 on Vitality.
Endurance should be 15 at most.
Put the rest in Int.

This shouls give you a fairly strong Sorcery based character to play with. This is more or less what i followed on my first playthrough and i managed to 2 hit most of the bosses near the end. If you do the DLC quite early on, and get Dark Bead, most bosses will be a joke.

This is currently what i'm on: http://mmdks.com/4ajz
The only bosses i really have a hard time with now is Kalameet and Nito. Nito is only a problem because any Divine weapon i use doesn't kill the Skeletons fast enough, so i end up taking a lot of damage from them before they're finally dead.
Kalameet is just a matter of me not knowing the rotations yet.

The bosses a lot of people typically have trouble with (Artorian, Manus, Four Kings) really are no issue anymore because magic just does so much damage to them at that level and usually i can stay far enough away to not take any damage from them.