How to be a bolting sorceroror??

[Lucktar]

How to use bolts as a sorcerer?




Lucktar (at level 33), your base skill bonuses, ranks and goals are:
Skill Name | Actual Actual
| Bonus Ranks Goals In-Game Time to Goal
Armor Use..........................| 40 8 8
Physical Fitness...................| 126 33 33
Arcane Symbols..................| 124 32 32
Magic Item Use...................| 124 32 32
Spell Aiming.......................| 166 66 66
Harness Power....................| 126 33 33
Elemental Mana Control.......| 96 22 22
Spirit Mana Control.............| 108 26 26
Sorcerous Lore - Necromancy 126 33 33
Perception.........................| 124 32 32
Climbing...........................| 70 15 15
Swimming...........................| 50 10 10

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental.................| 30 30

Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual...................| 13 13

Spell Lists
Sorcerer...........................| 39 39
Training Points: 11 Phy 0 Mnt (734 Phy converted to Mnt)


I'm a level 33 sorcerer that is 2x in spell aiming. I've been gone for long long time and have been back for a few weeks and am starting to get things under control.

I basically use spell aiming only for Malestrom ATM. Considering that I'm 2x in spell aiming I want to start exploring bolting and seeing what it can do. If I test it and use it a lot and don't like it, then I can remove the training.



I recently got 111 and have been playing around with it with skeletal ice trolls in the west gate of icemule. It's fun but it really doesn't seem to be as mana efficient as a maelstrom. Malestrom will kill the skeletal ice trolls 80% of the time. It just takes time but my defense can handle that.


How should I best use 111?

I've never used bolts. So seems to me that I need to put them on the ground before I bolt them as that lowers the DS. So if I see a lot of creatures in a room I could cast 709, and then cast 111 at them? I need to stance dance correct? Cast from offense? or maybe adv? Seems like changing stance like that opens me up to get whacked when another mob comes in the room.

Are there certain wands I should be stockpiling? THe major fire/cold/water wands? Or can I do well with the minor ones. 111 for me at this point doesn't seem very mana efficient considering I need to use a spell to make put them on the ground first. I imagine as I get more mana over time this will be less of an issue.

Should I be using 705 as a bolt? I typically don't' use it in any fashion at this point, sometimes when I see things are stunned I will channel it but never as a bolt.

Are there certain types of creatures or hunting areas that are better suited to bolting?

Any advice on how best to use bolting would be greatly appreciated.



Lucktar

[Realk]

bolting as a sorcerer is going to be mana intensive anyway you do it. However I like the spell aiming you have because 708 is great for disabling, and much cleaner to use than 709... a personal preference of mine. If you are bolting make sure to always get a star curse because it's a night and day type boost over just 2x SA.

I've used 111, and 713 primarly when I bolt as a sorcerer but frequently only in situations like a group bandits when i want the splash to tag 5 or whatever the case may be.

The stance dance portion of your concern shouldn't be a huge factor, you can set a macro and put yourself in guarded right after the cast. Just as you would be if you were using a warding spell.

[wetsand]

Sorcerers don't make the best bolters(mana intensive and lackluster bolt AS) but if you really want to stick with spell aiming, try Evoking 705. That will be your cheapest bolt spell.

[Methais]

1. Be a sorceroror
2. Cast bolts

[Fortybox]

1. Be a sorceroror
2. Don’t be gone long long time
3. Cast bolts

FTFY

[Realk]

Sorcerers don't make the best bolters(mana intensive and lackluster bolt AS) but if you really want to stick with spell aiming, try Evoking 705. That will be your cheapest bolt spell.

cheapish for sure... I didn't spend a lot of time doing tests, but found 705 as a bolt to be underwhelming compared to just doing the warding.. useful if something has a higher td but prone to bolts cant hurt to have the extra versatility

[Xred]

Hi Lucktar,

If you are into bolting there are a few things you should remember and do. I’ll list them out.

1. It’s really hard to be a full time bolter. We do better using bolts as finishers or stunners. What I mean by this is our damage per mana is low with 705 and 713 to be primary. Even at post cap, xred basicly uses bolts with bandits.
2. I have found 705 can be very useful after a creature is stunned and prone. When the monster is this condition, it doesn’t matter that our AS and DF is lower. And a targeted channeled bolt can finish a mob easily.
3. In a troupe of stunnable monsters. I can 708 knock everything down, throw a 713 and stun the majority of them which gives enough time to finish plink off the mobs one by one.
4. Remember to curse of the star
5. Use wands, have wizard friends make you wands from imbedables.
6. 713 is great with bandits, you tap all the bandits, often stunning them, leaving them alive for the group to take down as needed.

-X

[Vishnell]

cheapish for sure... I didn't spend a lot of time doing tests, but found 705 as a bolt to be underwhelming compared to just doing the warding.. useful if something has a higher td but prone to bolts cant hurt to have the extra versatility

If you're going to compare bolting as a sorc to warding as a sorc, you will always be underwhelmed. Warding is always the better option. Once you have the mana to 719 everything, there's no going back.

Sent from my LG-G710 using Tapatalk

[audioserf]

Any class with powerful warding spell choices is almost always going to be better served using warding than bolting. Warding is just a superior attack form. Bolting is good for invasions where stuff has the wild untouchable TD, or bandits/Reim in groups for splash tagging. Bolting is like a party trick if you can smash the Kill Now button with a CS spell instead.

[nindon]

To boost your bolt AS, collect 307, 513, 211, 215 and 1750 scrolls. Spells 215 and 1750 are the rarest. You can use 1750 as an alternative way to cast 215 or one of the other three spells. I use those four spells only rarely when I'm in the mood to do some bolting. It's too difficult to use on every hunt. You can be awesome until you run out of mana, which a Sorcerer will quickly do when bolting.