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ESO Build: The Storm Aegis - OUTDATED

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    The Elder Scrolls: Online Character Build

    The Storm Aegis

    Introduction

    Welcome to the first ESO build hosted here on the blog! First of all, I'd like to mention that this build is to be used as an example for the formatting of all ESO builds hereafter. While there is obviously room for personalization, this is the gist of it. Second of all, before anyone says anything, this wasn't planned to be like any other certain builds! I actually rolled a d4 to come up on Sorcerer and Tank (/nerd), however Oneness did play this build in the beta, so we both contributed to it a great deal. Now, on to the actual build.


    Stats

    Race: Breton, however Imperial or Redguard also work
    Class: Sorcerer
    Attributes: 1/3/0
    Mundus Stone: The Lady or the Atronach


    Equipment

    For equipment, we'll be using the following set-up:

    • Light Hood
    • Light Robes
    • Light Pants
    • Heavy Pauldrons
    • Heavy Gauntlets
    • Heavy Boots
    • Heavy Girdle
    • One-Handed Sword
    • Shield

    This combination allows us to have a high base armor as well as benefit from different passive skills from both of our armor skill trees. We won't be doing much enchanting on our gear until later levels, but when we do, we want to make sure we have the Infused trait (increases the power of the enchantment on that piece of equipment) researched on all of the pieces we're enchanting.

    Since we can't craft jewelry in ESO, we'll mainly be using the quest rewards from the Main Quest, and as well as the Fighter's Guild and Mage's Guild quests until we acquire The Atronach, then we'll be using mainly stamina-oriented jewelry and a few pieces of equipment with the Divines trait (increases the power of Mundus Stone effects).

    As far as crafted and looted sets go, early on I used Death's Wind and Vestments of the Warlock. This meant when I dropped below a certain level of health, an Area of Effect burst would cause knockback to the enemies nearest to me and when my magicka dropped below a certain level, I'd instantly regain some amount of it. There are most likely better sets for this build, but I have yet to test anything else.


    Skills

    I have come up with a couple of different configurations for this build: level 15, and level 25.A and 25.B. 15 is a great starting point, so if you're not sure which variation you want to try, you don't have to choose immediately. Whichever path you choose, just be sure to invest in all the appropriate passive skills as they become available as long as a relevant skill isn't available to be unlocked or morphed. This typically goes for any build.

    Level 15

    You can have all of these skills by roughly level 15. They are as follows, left to right, top to bottom:

    • Mage's Fury > Mage's Wrath
    • Puncture > Ransack
    • Shield Charge
    • Lightning Form > Thunderous Presence
    • Winged Twilight
    • Summon Storm Atronach
    • Lightning Splash
    • Entropy
    • Circle of Protection
    • Overload

    Mage's Wrath allows you to finish enemies off quicker, meaning you can typically defeat a group of three with only one Thunderous Presence rebuff. Ransack allows you to solo without having to use up magicka on Presence, it also helps fill the gap between Presence buffs if you need to regenerate some magicka or lose track of it. Shield Charge is a great opener as it sends you directly into the fray, all armored up. Thunderous Presence is one of your main armor buffs, as well as one of your best ones as it increases both your armor and your spell resist; you'll be using this before 90% of your battles. Winged Twilight is like your own personal damage engine. It can't take many hits, though. Summon Storm Atronach needs to be the first ultimate you unlock, as your experience in certain skill line increases with the number of abilities from that skill line you have slotted. This is how we'll be getting Bound Armor by level 20. It's also not half bad as an ultimate, and can often take a particularly menacing boss for you if you're in over your head. Lightning Splash is a nice little AoE for Public Dungeons where enemies spawn in groups as large as eight. Entropy is slotted to gain experience in order to be morphed. It's here until I find a suitable replacement for it. Circle of Protection is another great armor and spell resist buff that also helps your allies. Perfect for Group Dungeons and Public Dungeons. Overload is a great damage boost if you need to stay out of the fray for a bit.

    Level 25.A

    This is very close to the build I'm using right now. Here are the changes from the level 15 build:

    • Shield Charge > Shielded Assault
    • Bound Armor > Bound Aegis
    • Overload > Power Overload
    • Lightning Splash > Liquid Lightning
    • Power Bash
    • Entropy > Structured Entropy
    • Circle of Protection > Ring of Preservation
    • Summon Storm Atronach > Summon Charged Atronach

    Shielded Assault is yet another buff, but in the form of a powerful opening attack. Your armor rating will frequently be overcharged, and the damage shield provided by this feat has nothing to do with your armor rating. Depending on how avidly you level your Summoning skill, this may either be Bound Armor or Bound Aegis. Aegis simply has more armor than Armor, so no huge difference. You'll be replacing your creature summons with this, since in order to have any toggle skill active when you swap weapons, it has to be on both bars, otherwise the effect will be dispelled. I'm alright with sacrificing two skill slots, but four is pushing it. The Power Overload morph simply increases the power of your AoE heavy attack, which is incredibly good. Liquid Lightning is another strictly damage upgrade. Power Bash Is a nice little skill. No huge need for it, but it's nice to have access to in case you're taking too much damage from a solo boss. Structured Entropy is there for the passive health buff. It's there until I find a skill that better replaces it. Ring of Preservation Is a great upgrade from Circle of Protection because it boosts all allies' health regeneration while in the circle (this includes yours). Summon Charged Atronach is another strict damage upgrade.


    Level 25.B

    This is a slightly different take on the Storm Aegis. This is the variation in which you keep your Winged Twilight. Here are the changes from the other versions:

    • Entropy
    • Power Bash
    • Winged Twilight > Twilight Matriarch

    By morphing Winged Twilight into Twilight Matriarch, you increase your survivability as it's basically a healing potion on a stick now. With this morphed ability, you want to make sure that you use Ransack on anything that's trying to attack it, as Ransack and Puncture come with a passive taunt that is applied upon use. This ensures that you're doing all the tanking, and your Matriarch is staying alive to help keep you alive. Keep in mind though, that with both Bound Aegis and Twilight Matriarch active, you're sacrificing 20% of your magicka pool. That can be a huge deal, so you may want to invest more of your enchanting slots to magicka or magicka regeneration.


    Gameplay

    Combat

    When you play a Storm Aegis, you have to think of yourself as "squishy until buffed" so always remember to buff Form/Presence before you run into any kind of fray. Keep your buffs up and you'll be fine. So far this has only been tested in PvE, and I have yet to go to Cyrodiil with this character, so I'm not sure how this build fares in PvP, but I'm sure it's not terrible.

    As for the rotation, I typically followed this line:

    Thunderous Presence > Shielded Assault > Circle of Protection* > (Ransack / Mage's Wrath)

    * - Only for Daedra/Undead/Bosses/Giant groups

    This rotation is what I believe is optimal for this build. Since we have such highly overcharged armor rating, you can focus on one enemy at a time and take out large groups with ease.

    Crafting

    I personally used all three equipment trades on this one (Woodworking, Blacksmithing, and Clothing) so I could craft everything the way I wanted it. This isn't how it has to be, although if you want to choose this same path, I advise only putting skill points into being able to use higher level materials and the first rank of the skills that let you research more than one item. Otherwise, you end up wasting skill points and you won't have enough for your other skills. In later levels, you'll be able to spend skill points like candy. Save the rest of those skills for later.


    Closing

    Thanks to Bethesda and Zenimax for producing this game.

    Thanks to Oneness for helping with this build and for dealing with me. 

    Thanks to Emer for the Blog.

    Thanks to you! Because you read this.

    We hope this build serves as inspiration for everyone, and we hope to see many unique and well-tested builds being posted soon!

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    Great first ESO build! 

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    Thanks, Tae! I already have some ideas for more, although I hope I'm not the only one posting them. 

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    Thanks, Nix! I'm sure Oneness appreciates it as much as I do.

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    You should really consider it. I enjoy just walking around and questing. Though, thanks for the +1!

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    One more thing I forgot in the build! The numbers don't lie! With a base armor rating of 729 at level 26, activating Bound Armor (rank 1) boosts it up to 952 AR (immediately overcharged). Thunderous Presence (rank 3) boosts that to 1133, Ring of Preservation (rank 1) makes is 1172, and finally Ransack (rank 3) makes it 1287! That's almost doubling your armor rating, even in the face of overcharging it! And that's not even the highest level for any of those skills.

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    Thanks! We appreciate it!

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    Nice build! I was wondering if you could link your build to one of the eso builders so we can see how you placed your passive skills and you armor skills

  • Member
    April 22, 2014

    Thanks! Also, I touched on that a bit in the build. "Whichever path you choose, just be sure to invest in all the appropriate passive skills as they become available as long as a relevant skill isn't available to be unlocked or morphed. This typically goes for any build." Though some passives you're going to want immediately are: Daedric Protection, Recovery, and Resolve. Protection increases your health regeneration when you have Summoning skills slotted, Recovery increases your magicka regeneration for each piece of light armor, and Resolve increases your armor and spell resist for each piece of heavy armor.

  • Member
    April 23, 2014

    Would it be worth wearing some heavy pants/helmet so you can make use of the Bracing passive (less damage when blocking, requires 5+ pieces)?

    Otherwise it looks very solid, I'm using some of these skills on my Sorcerer at the moment so I can definitely testify to its effectiveness!

    Should totally make a guild for this group so we can discuss ideas in-game as well :D