Character Optimization – Cabal Sorceress

[JanessaVR]

UPDATED (1st Update) on 07/02/2015


Design Notes:
This character is intended to be a sorceress of the Cabal.  Strictly speaking, the best match to a canon Cabal sorceress would be an Electrical Blast / Storm Summoning Corruptor (or possibly a Storm Summoning / Electrical Blast Defender, but I lean more towards the Corruptor as the best match).  That said, I personally tend towards playing Controllers or Dominators these days, and thus I've come up with a next-best match – an Electric Control / Storm Summoning Controller.  As per usual for me, Hasten was avoided on purpose as its look clashes with the character's costume (at least it does to me).

Please let know what you think.


Screenshot of Mids Build:

https://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p720/janessavr/Controller_EC_SS_zpsqiyihfnz.png


Export of Mids Build:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Cabal Sorceress: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Electric Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Tesla Cage

• (A) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold
  
• (9) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold/Recharge
  
• (17) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
  
• (19) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (19) Unbreakable Constraint - Endurance/Hold
  

Level 1: Gale

• (A) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Knockback
  
• (5) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Knockback
  
• (31) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Endurance/Knockback
  
• (34) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Damage/Knockback
  
• (43) Range IO
  

Level 2: O2 Boost

• (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
  
• (3) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
  
• (3) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
  
• (7) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (9) Doctored Wounds - Heal
  

Level 4: Fly

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 6: Jolting Chain

• (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (25) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (25) Performance Shifter - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (31) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy
  
• (43) Devastation - Chance of Hold
  

Level 8: Recall Friend

• (A) Interrupt Reduction IO
  

Level 10: Steamy Mist

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (11) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
  
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (13) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure
  

Level 12: Snow Storm

• (A) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Slow
  
• (13) Tempered Readiness - Damage/Slow
  
• (15) Tempered Readiness - Range/Slow
  
• (15) Tempered Readiness - Endurance/Recharge/Slow
  
• (17) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Damage/Slow
  
• (31) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 14: Teleport

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
  

Level 16: Freezing Rain

• (A) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Slow
  
• (39) Tempered Readiness - Damage/Slow
  
• (39) Tempered Readiness - Range/Slow
  
• (40) Tempered Readiness - Endurance/Recharge/Slow
  
• (40) Tempered Readiness - Accuracy/Damage/Slow
  
• (40) Range IO
  

Level 18: Paralyzing Blast

• (A) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized
  
• (21) Superior Will of the Controller - Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Recharge
  
• (21) Superior Will of the Controller - Endurance/Recharge
  
• (23) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Endurance
  
• (23) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 20: Hurricane

• (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff
  
• (43) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge
  
• (45) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance
  
• (45) Dark Watcher's Despair - Recharge/Endurance
  
• (46) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance
  

Level 22: Long Range Teleport

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 24: Grant Invisibility

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  

Level 26: Synaptic Overload

• (A) Coercive Persuasion - Confused
  
• (27) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Recharge
  
• (27) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
  
• (29) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Endurance
  
• (29) Coercive Persuasion - Contagious Confusion
  

Level 28: Invisibility

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  

Level 30: Hover

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  

Level 32: Gremlins

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
  
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (34) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
  

Level 35: Tornado

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
  
• (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (46) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
  
• (50) Range IO
  

Level 38: Lightning Storm

• (A) Apocalypse - Damage
  
• (39) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge
  
• (42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (42) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
  
• (46) Devastation - Chance of Hold
  

Level 41: Fire Ball

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
  

Level 44: Fire Shield

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection
  

Level 47: Rise of the Phoenix

• (A) Healing IO
  
• (48) Healing IO
  
• (48) Endurance Modification IO
  
• (48) Endurance Modification IO
  
• (50) Absolute Amazement - Stun
  
• (50) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge
  

Level 49: Afterburner

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  

Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Damage Increase IO
  

Level 1: Containment
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge

• (A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure
  
• (45) Celerity - +Stealth
  

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) HamiO:Microfilament Exposure
  

Level 2: Rest

• (A) HamiO:Golgi Exposure
  

Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

Level 2: Health

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
  
• (34) Miracle - +Recovery
  

Level 2: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping IO
  

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
  
• (5) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (7) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (37) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (37) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy
  
• (37) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Endurance
  

Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
Level 50: Ion Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Cognitive Core Flawless Interface
Level 50: Clarion Core Epiphany
Level 50: Cimeroran Core Superior Ally
Level 50: Control Radial Embodiment
------------


But wait – that's not all!  :)

Here, from Paragon Wiki, you can see some canon examples of Cabal sorceresses in costume:

https://paragonwiki.com/w/images//0/0d/CabalAdept1.jpg

https://paragonwiki.com/w/images//5/5a/StormMaven1.jpg

https://paragonwiki.com/w/images//f/f4/CabalSorceress1.jpg


Now, based on those, here's my take on those costumes, using the costume pieces actually available to players:

https://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p720/janessavr/Selene_Witch_Cabal_zpsd283456d.jpg

I deliberately avoided the actual Cabal Witch's Hat, however, as you have to be bald to wear it!  ;)  That always annoyed me.


Alternately, here's my "Cabal Sorceress – Gothic Glamor Makeover Edition" costume, which I'm rather fond of:

https://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p720/janessavr/Selene_Witch_Gothic_zpsd440bb30.jpg


Thoughts and suggestions?

[Tacitala]

Does Celerity +Stealth stack with the actual concealment pool?  I've never been sure on that.

As for costume, I agree.  I hate that the Cabal hat makes you bald.  I like the fancy one better too, but you might as well go all the way and give her the witch's leather top.  Then you could give her the back story that she was kicked out for looking better than all of the other girls.  ;D

[Power Gamer]

Nicely done!

[JanessaVR]

Does Celerity +Stealth stack with the actual concealment pool?  I've never been sure on that.

As for costume, I agree.  I hate that the Cabal hat makes you bald.  I like the fancy one better too, but you might as well go all the way and give her the witch's leather top.  Then you could give her the back story that she was kicked out for looking better than all of the other girls.  ;D

Celerity Stealth does indeed stack with other stealth powers - I've personally tested this on many occasions.  Use one or the other alone, and enemies will see you if you get too close.  Use both together, and they're effectively full invisibility - I've hovered right in front of enemies, even bumping right into them, and they didn't see me.

As for the witch's leather top, it was a bit too cheesecakey for me.

[Fridgy Daiere]

As for the witch's leather top, it was a bit too cheesecakey for me.

Not to mention the overdone giant shiny...leather.

[DarkCurrent]

Have you looked at the Mu epic powers? Would stay in theme with the electrical animations and it has analogous powers to the 3 fire powers you selected.  You could also take power sink for more immediate /additional end drain ability.

[blacksly]

Gale: Do you especially want it to throw targets further? Otherwise, just put an Accuracy in it, and you're done. You pull out 4 slots, and put 1 of them into Fly with a Zephyr -KB IO, gaining 3 slots.

Jolting Chain: This is a decent AoE damage power if slotted right. Also, you don't want to slot it for Knockback, and turn the Knockdown into Knockback. I like mine slotted with 2-3 damage procs (Explosive Strike, Apocalypse, and Gladiator's if you want to spend the money). Then mix in Acc/Dam/Rech/End, or maybe the Devastation "Chance to Hold". The 7.5% Recharge is nice, but not worth turning a useful AoE damage power with Knockdown into a scattering Knockback power.

Snow Storm: Why slot it for Slow? The slot bonuses are not all that, and combined with this and Freezing Rain, the mobs are going to be slowed enough with just a bit of Slow slotting, and even that is wasted because you really should take Chain Fences and use that to prevent movement. Remember that Chain Fences does NOT prevent Knockdowns, and it sets up Containment for AoE. Plus does AoE damage.

Freezing Rain: The main reason for this power is the -Res, not the Slow. This means that you want it up as often as possible. Take Chain Fences to keep the mobs in it, and slot it for 90% Recharge or more, and maybe a bit of End Reduction and Slow. I also like the Achilles Heel proc in it.

Hurricane: Change that last slot to the Recharge/Endurance IO. You still end up with over 100% End Red, and gain a nice 2% damage enhancement to all damaging powers.

Synaptic Overload: I would put in the last purple IO, getting 5% ranged defense is never a bad thing.

Tornado: I don't see the need for such a great Range increase in it, I'd rather see more Recharge.

RotP: I have never seen this get slotted. I think that the slots would be better used to avoid dying in the first place, such as by adding more slots in Fire Shield, putting the last slot into Paralyzing Blast (this and Coercive Persuasion would add +10% Ranged Defense), adding the Steadfast 3% Defense to either Steamy Mist or Fire Shield, etc.

Oh, and if you're not going to add the Damage proc from the Controller ATIO set to Paralyzing Blast for the set bonus, add it to the single-target Hold, for a large damage increase.

[JanessaVR]

Gale: Do you especially want it to throw targets further? Otherwise, just put an Accuracy in it, and you're done. You pull out 4 slots, and put 1 of them into Fly with a Zephyr -KB IO, gaining 3 slots.

I know some people don't like knockback, but I actually do.  It's an excellent defense against a mob of enemies that have gotten too close for comfort.

Jolting Chain: This is a decent AoE damage power if slotted right. Also, you don't want to slot it for Knockback, and turn the Knockdown into Knockback. I like mine slotted with 2-3 damage procs (Explosive Strike, Apocalypse, and Gladiator's if you want to spend the money). Then mix in Acc/Dam/Rech/End, or maybe the Devastation "Chance to Hold". The 7.5% Recharge is nice, but not worth turning a useful AoE damage power with Knockdown into a scattering Knockback power.

I didn't want it to be a damage power.  This is a Controller, not a Dominator or Blaster, and I'm looking to lock down enemies first and foremost.  You have, however, highlighted an area of concern of mine, and I can't seem to get a clear answer on this from either Mids or Paragon Wiki.  I was under the impression that slotting Knockbacks here would actually enhance Knockdown ability.  Have you personally used this power?  I'd like to hear about this issue from someone who's actually used this power in-game.  I would sacrifice the 7.5% recharge to put in a Chance for Hold, but the Knockdown is nice as well - unless that's something I can't enhance with IOs.

Snow Storm: Why slot it for Slow? The slot bonuses are not all that, and combined with this and Freezing Rain, the mobs are going to be slowed enough with just a bit of Slow slotting, and even that is wasted because you really should take Chain Fences and use that to prevent movement. Remember that Chain Fences does NOT prevent Knockdowns, and it sets up Containment for AoE. Plus does AoE damage.

Well...because I like to Slow enemies?  As for Chain Fences, that's an Immobilize, and I regard Immobilize powers as junk - an Immobilized enemy can still shoot back just fine, so I avoid those powers.  Hold them or Slow them, or don't even bother.

Freezing Rain: The main reason for this power is the -Res, not the Slow. This means that you want it up as often as possible. Take Chain Fences to keep the mobs in it, and slot it for 90% Recharge or more, and maybe a bit of End Reduction and Slow. I also like the Achilles Heel proc in it.

Disagree stongly, I used it for Slow.  As for Rechange, it has a duration of 30 seconds and currently recharges faster than that, so that is up as often as possible.  And again, for Chain Fences, I regard Immobilization as useless.

Hurricane: Change that last slot to the Recharge/Endurance IO. You still end up with over 100% End Red, and gain a nice 2% damage enhancement to all damaging powers.

Ok, gave this one a try in Mids...and yes, it's probably worth the change.  It does increase the End Cost from 0.28s to 0.29s, but a 2% damage enhancement isn't bad for that.

Synaptic Overload: I would put in the last purple IO, getting 5% ranged defense is never a bad thing.

At present, I'm currently running thin on slots to be able to try this.  If I can save on Jolting Chain above, however, that's not a bad idea.

Tornado: I don't see the need for such a great Range increase in it, I'd rather see more Recharge.

I love Range - I don't hang out where the action's going on, I hang back and support from a distance.  Accordingly, I try to ensure a minimum range of 80' on all my distance powers.  Tornado has base Range of 60', so I increased it.

RotP: I have never seen this get slotted. I think that the slots would be better used to avoid dying in the first place, such as by adding more slots in Fire Shield, putting the last slot into Paralyzing Blast (this and Coercive Persuasion would add +10% Ranged Defense), adding the Steadfast 3% Defense to either Steamy Mist or Fire Shield, etc.

If you don't slot it, you don't come back at full Health and Endurance.  With 2 staight IO Heals and 2 straight IO End Mods, I come back very nearly all the way in both.  Fire Shield has never impressed me - I used to use it all the time on my Fire Blaster, and it rarely seemed to make much a difference.  Slotting a straight IO Disorient raises the Stun duration from 15.5 seconds to 23.39 seconds, which is a good deal of time to take out any corpse-camping enemies.

Oh, and if you're not going to add the Damage proc from the Controller ATIO set to Paralyzing Blast for the set bonus, add it to the single-target Hold, for a large damage increase.

For a Controller build, you seem to be highly focused on damage here, but again, that's not my priority.  My teammates can handle dealing out the damage.  I see my role as locking down enemies for my teammates to deal with.

[blacksly]

True enough, most of my suggestions DO have to do with damage, as I think even a Controller should add to damage if possible. But if you're set on always teaming and the team includes multiple AoE damage dealers, then the low-level AoE damage of Controllers is superfluous. But it does limit the build to be good on teaming only.

As for Freezing Rain, the duration is 15 seconds, and the debuff lasts for an additional 30 (!!) seconds. But it can self-stack, so having it up as often as possible is still important, as it means that a fast-moving team never has to wait for it to recharge from the prior spawn, and a slow-moving team can stack it on the same spawn for double the -Resist.

Immobs are more useful than you think, because they allow the teammates to use other powers that would otherwise scatter opponents such as (heh) Freezing Rain. They're also useful if you have a Tank, because after a few seconds and the Tank has them aggroed on him, an Immobilize them keeps them on him. They're not used directly to stop incoming damage, but they are useful for setting up or allowing other powers to be more useful.

Slotting Knockback enhancements... increases Knockback. As in the magnitude of the Knockback if it occurs, not the chance of it occurring (which doesn't matter for Jolting Chain since it's a 100% chance to knockdown). Jolting Chain starts below 1.0 KB, so it's Knockdown, but if you enhance it, it can go above 1.0, and that's not as good. It's actually especially terribad for Jolting Chain, since it's considered to be shot by the last target hit in the chain, so the mobs will get knocked back in all directions, generally away from each other.

Also, are you dead-set on being a ranged-only Controller with this combination. Because Thunderclap is a great PBAoE power, and so is Conductive Aura. I would absolutely suggest them for any Electric/Storm, but they would be pretty useless if you'll never close into the spawn to use them.

[JanessaVR]

True enough, most of my suggestions DO have to do with damage, as I think even a Controller should add to damage if possible. But if you're set on always teaming and the team includes multiple AoE damage dealers, then the low-level AoE damage of Controllers is superfluous. But it does limit the build to be good on teaming only.

True, but once I'm high enough level to get my pets, then I'm much more independent.  But I don't mind being largely restricted to primarily teaming only for the lower levels.

As for Freezing Rain, the duration is 15 seconds, and the debuff lasts for an additional 30 (!!) seconds. But it can self-stack, so having it up as often as possible is still important, as it means that a fast-moving team never has to wait for it to recharge from the prior spawn, and a slow-moving team can stack it on the same spawn for double the -Resist.

Mids is showing me a duration of 30 seconds for Freezing Rain (and I know I have the most recent version), and the current build has a Recharge of 24.34 seconds for that power, so I'm not sure where you're seeing that 15 seconds duration.

Immobs are more useful than you think, because they allow the teammates to use other powers that would otherwise scatter opponents such as (heh) Freezing Rain. They're also useful if you have a Tank, because after a few seconds and the Tank has them aggroed on him, an Immobilize them keeps them on him. They're not used directly to stop incoming damage, but they are useful for setting up or allowing other powers to be more useful.

I got shot at and even killed way too many times by Immobilized enemies to ever want to bother taking it again.  I don't ever recall Freezing Rain scattering any enemies, just creating a snowstorm zone where everyone's moving in slow motion.  As for helping the melee types, that's what I'd use my 2x Holds for, but that's also what the Slows are useful for.  Gale was the only power people usually asked me not to use - I typically used it only when enemies got too close to me and I needed to push them back again.

Slotting Knockback enhancements... increases Knockback. As in the magnitude of the Knockback if it occurs, not the chance of it occurring (which doesn't matter for Jolting Chain since it's a 100% chance to knockdown). Jolting Chain starts below 1.0 KB, so it's Knockdown, but if you enhance it, it can go above 1.0, and that's not as good. It's actually especially terribad for Jolting Chain, since it's considered to be shot by the last target hit in the chain, so the mobs will get knocked back in all directions, generally away from each other.

Thanks for alerting me to that.  I'll need to completely revamp my slotting of Jolting Chain.  Whatever else I do, I'll be putting in a Devastation / Chance of Hold there.  I'll post an updated version of the build here when it's complete.

Also, are you dead-set on being a ranged-only Controller with this combination. Because Thunderclap is a great PBAoE power, and so is Conductive Aura. I would absolutely suggest them for any Electric/Storm, but they would be pretty useless if you'll never close into the spawn to use them.

I avoided Thunderclap precisely because I had to get right up in the action to use it.  I only took Hurricane as it's proven to be a good power for "Yikes!  The enemies are RIGHT IN MY FACE!  Turn on the close-range defenses!"  The winds pushed them back and the To Hit Debuff soon reduced them to rarely being able to land a blow on me.  And yes, my playstyle is heavily-ranged - if I could get ALL of my powers up to over 120' in Range, I would love it.  Squishies get hurt up close, I'll keep my distance.

[blacksly]

[Mids is showing me a duration of 30 seconds for Freezing Rain (and I know I have the most recent version), and the current build has a Recharge of 24.34 seconds for that power, so I'm not sure where you're seeing that 15 seconds duration.]

There are a lot of powers with a lot of different durations on their effects. Mid's has room to only show one thing, usually it's set up to be the power's main Control effect, or its main Debuff effect. The thing is, the duration of the actual patch is a Summons, and for some reason, the power is set up to show the duration of the Debuffs (which are all 30 seconds) rather than the duration of the patch. Sometimes a power like Freezing Rain will show you the summons duration as well as the debuff duration (see Quicksand for an example of a power that shows the different duration of the patch versus the debuffs).

However, for Freezing Rain, Mid's doesn't show you the true story. You have to look here:
http://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/powers/power.php?id=Controller_Buff.Storm_Summoning.Fog
That leads you to the base Freezing Rain power, showing you that it summons a patch for 15 seconds. You click on the patch to see what it does, and you see that its debuffs last for 30 seconds. So you combine the two, and see that the power creates a 15 second Knockdown patch, which also puts out some major debuffs every 0.2 seconds that it exists, and the debuffs last for 30 seconds. So if you can keep mobs in the patch for the full 15 seconds, and they last another 30 (usually only AVs), they're debuffed for the full 45 seconds.

That's why Recharge is important for Freezing Rain, for two reasons: First is that if you're fighting tough fights where it can come up faster, you can really start stacking -Resist for some nice damage improvement. But the second is that the Knockdown patch only lasts for 15 seconds, and so if you want it active and knocking down mobs almost all of the time, you want a Recharge below 20 seconds.

[JanessaVR]

Hmmm.  This is the second instance I've run into recently where someone has given me a correction for figures in Mids.  I'm thinking it's definitely due for an upgrade.

[JanessaVR]

Build has been updated as per forum feedback.

[JanessaVR]

Build updated again in response to helpful suggestions on other builds, that apply nicely to this build as well.