Stam Sorc is a pretty interesting class in that they tend to be perceived as doing better than they actually are. Now there are a lot of reasons for this, beginning with their historic strength, the fact that they are a natural nightblade counter, their strength in no-cp, and the cheese that is implosion.
However, currently the class has a number of pain points that make it feel worse to play, and outside of no-CP battlegrounds as an answer to Stamblades, there really isn’t much reason to pick a Stam Sorc over something like a Stamden, which will do everything, but better, with more group utility.
So I thought I’d weigh in with my thoughts and ideas on the matter, as based on playing pretty much nothing but Stam Sorc since Morrowind dropped.
The Issues:
Firstly, the meta.
I know that sounds like a silly point to make. But hear me out. As a Stamina character, you need to run some form of snare removal. This means that you either need to give up Rally, or Heavy Armour. So why is this a problem on a Stam Sorc? Firstly Sorc is the only class in the game without a natural way to boost healing, leaving them with the weakest Vigor in the game. This on its own isn’t terrible, and can be compensated for, but with how stupidly strong Befoul is currently, any form of Defile is going to ruin your day. This in turn makes the previously mentioned choice tricky. Do you either give up a lot of in combat durability (Something else that the class innately lacks), but keep your burst heal, or do you keep the heal and play something squishier? Basically, you are dealing with a lose/lose situation the second you pick your gear.
Secondly, PVE balance.
Stam Sorc is in a good place in PVE right now. They aren’t the best class in the game DPS wise, but they aren’t far behind either. This makes it hard to buff the class for PVP without pushing them over the edge elsewhere. Honestly this shouldn’t be too hard to get around, given that the class mostly wants utility buffs over more raw damage anyway, and most of that sort of thing is ignored in PVE for more DPS anyway.
Thirdly, lack of options.
Stam Sorc has a grand total of three stamina abilities, two buffs and a sustain tool. And while the class does have access to some utility tools in its magicka abilities, the same is true for other classes as well. The class is the only one in the game that is almost entirely reliant on weapon abilities in order to deal damage. This in turn means that while something like bleeds make the class seem strong, the minute bleeds get hit with a nerf bat, the class has nothing to fall back on.
Fourth, Implosion.
This gets its own point, because this passive is honestly one of the worst parts about the class. An RNG instakill to low health targets eats up a massive portion of the classes power budget, and honestly isn’t fun for anyone.
Getting tagged by a single tick of Hurricane at 14% health and dying feels like a load of BS, and likewise keeping someone at 10% health for 20 seconds whilst everything is ticking on them and not getting a single proc feels like rubbish on the giving end. Hell, even winning a fight off of a lucky proc feels bad, because it cheapens the victory.
While this passive exists in its current state, the class will never be in a healthy position.
What Stam Sorc needs:
Honestly? Nothing. The class is in a great place in PVE and they are functional in PVP. However a lot of their functionality in both stems from the state of weapon abilities. Bleeds for instance are doing a lot to help out the class. The physical damage scaling and implosion passives give Stam Sorc the nastiest bleeds in the game.
However should Bleeds get nerfed (not unlikely given their current state) then you are kicking a crutch out from the class and you’ll see it drop further down the rankings.
To help prevent these future issues, it might be a good idea to give the class a bit of what it wants.
What Stam Sorc wants:
First of all, class based snare/immobilisation removal.
The class is meant to fit the archetype of a mobile warrior, but that is pretty heavily hampered by all the snares and roots that currently exist in the game.
Personally, I’d add this to either Ball of Lightning or to the base skill. The scaling cost should help keep the mobility it would offered somewhat in check, and it currently makes no sense that talons would still be latched onto you after teleporting away.
Second would be a change to Implosion.
This passive is on of the reasons that you pick the class, but it is also one of the things that make it frustrating to play as and against. Getting insta-killed because you took a tick of hurricane at 15% health and the Stam Sorc player got lucky doesn’t feel good. Likewise never getting the proc on a low health target just feel bad.
My suggestion would be to heavily cut the damage of the proc, increase the proc chance, give it a per target cooldown, and have it able to activate at any HP value, with increased damage to low health targets.
A base idea of the numbers I’ve been playing with.
Damage => 10% of current damage
Cooldown => 10 seconds per target
Proc Chance => 25% on physical/lightning
Execute => Double damage to targets below 15% hp
Of course these numbers would need to be tweaked in order to keep the passive in a balanced state
Stam Sorc lacks the same oomph to a burst combo that other classes have, this is made up for somewhat by passive damage increases and the random execute on Implosion. Making the passive more reliable makes it something that can be played around by both parties. The Stam Sorc player can time their burst around an implosion proc to take advantage of the extra damage for an execute, and the other player doesn’t have to deal with a 6% chance to instantly die.
Third is additional class Stamina abilities.
First of all Sorc is the only class in the game that does not have a physical damage ultimate morph, so one of those would be nice. A morph of Atronach for instance, after all the Air Atronach model exists in the game already.
Secondly some form of offensive ability would be nice. The most common suggestion is dropping the trash heap known as crystal blast, and changing the skill to a stam morph where you slap an opponent with a dark magic encased fist.
I’d say that this sort of skill would need to be more along the lines of Wrecking Blow than Surprise Attack, just to keep thing balanced with the passives in that skill line, along with keeping the class in check PVE wise.
Finally is a Bound Armaments change.
This is last on my list, mostly because I have come to terms with the skill. The three changes above would do much more for the class in terms of quality of play than any changes here, but I will still list it because it is important.
Not having to double bar the skill, and having it do something more interesting than a passive buff or two would definitely be much appreciated.
Honestly, you could do just about anything along those lines and have things be an improvement over what the skill is now.
Final Thoughts:
Honestly, that’s just about all I really have to say on the matter. I could go more into depth on what I’d like some of the changes to be, but often that just devolves into arguing semantics that are better left to the balance team at ZOS (haha). Regardless, I don’t think that the class really needs much more to be in a much better place. Innate snare and immobilisation removal would go a long way towards making the class feel more mobile again, and making Implosion into a more fair passive that both parties can play around removes a lot of cheese kills, and adds more of a skill cap to the class.
If you have any questions comments or criticisms about anything I have written here, I’d encourage you to leave a comment so we can get a good discussion going here.
Tl;Dr
Class wants some love because of weakness outside of fairly narrow niche, and reliance on outside factors
Buff:
Snare removal on bolt escape
Rework:
Stam Atro or Crystal blast pls
Implosion damage reduced, proc chance up, add a cooldown
Other:
Do something with Bound Armaments to make it interesting
