Shade Sorcerer Review

[Shroomery_]

I am sucking it up and going with what you chose first raj, no way to only way possible I dont like so i can deal with an odd str.

[Shroomery_]

I got this I can work with as well, just remove Extra Spell 9 and take out meteors...

Dwarf: Aleithian Dwarf
STR:8
DEX:14
CON:16
WIS:8
INT:10
CHA:16

40 sorc
read spell pen book

pre-epic feats: sf illusion, gsf illusion, gsf transmutation, sf evocation, gsf evocation, sf necromancy, gsf necromancy

epic feats: extend spell, empower spell, esf necromancy, esf illusion, esf transmutation, esf evocation, great charisma 1-7

legendary feats: l spell pen, lsf necromancy, lsf illusion, lsf transmutation, lsf evocation, great charisma 8-9

Gets two more cha for 1 more dc and only looses out on meteor swarm. I can ditch LSF trans to pick up spell known 9 to keep meteors, what do you guys think?

[Raj]

Just choose Meteors over bigby9/drain until your toon is 55-59 ( when you'll stop farm LL/tia, where meteors rock, and will need to advance deeper through Hells ).
Between those two spells, I'd proly keep energy drain if only to safely kill the toymaker from inside a epic wall ( with conj->gate you can go there alone ), while you can substitute banishment for bigby7 and use that in place of bigby9 against everything needing a hand ( dustbone, ssitraks on the bridge... ), as lvl9 is mainly used against raks, para-orthons and ely bears, and against those you'll use your level 56-60 spell selection.
Banishment is for Abo/Ely/Abyss and you shoudn't miss it elsewhere, it's hard to justify it for PoM runs.
In fact, your spell list isn't set in stone until level 60, so feel free to experiment switching around spells after every level up.

[uncanny]

Jan 19, 2012 8:05:37 GMT Raj said:

Just choose Meteors over bigby9/drain until your toon is 55-59 ( when you'll stop farm LL/tia, where meteors rock, and will need to advance deeper through Hells ).
Between those two spells, I'd proly keep energy drain if only to safely kill the toymaker from inside a epic wall ( with conj->gate you can go there alone ), while you can substitute banishment for bigby7 and use that in place of bigby9 against everything needing a hand ( dustbone, ssitraks on the bridge... ), as lvl9 is mainly used against raks, para-orthons and ely bears, and against those you'll use your level 56-60 spell selection.
Banishment is for Abo/Ely/Abyss and you shoudn't miss it elsewhere, it's hard to justify it for PoM runs.
In fact, your spell list isn't set in stone until level 60, so feel free to experiment switching around spells after every level up.

I've found ED to be quite useful at the 40-50 range, for no other reason than it saves channelling (though I'm usually channelling to get the ED's off, then switch off channelling and use ED as the levels). I guess it's mostly because people in that range are heading to areas that have heavy SR. You've a lot more experience than I do with casters, so it's your opinion that matters more here; I'm just speaking as a newbie caster coming up against these issues .

One thing I'm struggling with myself is whether to trade legendary trans for extra spell: GPB or summon9 or even BBoD to serve as a focus point for mobs, since I have conj as a legendary focus. Just how essential is a summon, and is legendary trans really that low impact that it won't be missed (assume no other caster in party of course ?

Shroom_:
One thing I don't notice is GS; are you planning to use GV instead? I've found having GS to be a party saver on a few occasions; not sure if I would drop that. Main thing that makes it more effective than GV in "oh crud" moments is the walkmesh: if you're in a crowd, it looks like you're walking away but after a few moments (eerily close to the rounds that GV lasts) you spring back to the middle of the mob. I don't mean lag, that's a different animal; talking about the walkmesh that prevents you walking between mobs. Don't get wrong, GV is good in a tight spot, especially if you got Gate and setup in safety zone.

[maljin]

Once you've cast GV, use a GS scroll if you need to extend it longer. Scrolls won't last as long as if you'd cast it obviously and the "cool down" period is shorter than the duration (so it's not possible to stay in GS indefinitely) but it helps for rez'ing people. I've been using GS scrolls on my staffmaster, AA and rogue exclusively and it always worked fine.

mal