Heavy Attack Sorcerer DPS Build - ESO Guide

• Ulfsild's Contingency (Shock, Lingering Torment, Force) - your source of crucial Empower buff, which increases damage done by Heavy Attacks by 70%. Since Ulfsild's Contingency is a Mages Guild skill, it will trigger the Might of the Guild passive, which grants you Empower for 10 seconds. It also deals decent damage in an AoE and grants you Minor Force buff, increasing your Critical Damage by 10%. Ulfsild's Contingency is delayed until the next skill cast but whenever it's needed you can activate it early by bashing your enemy. If you cast this ability as you're finishing your Heavy Attack, the Empower you gain from it will start working just in time to boost the final tick of that Heavy Attack you just finished
• Daedric Prey - increases damage done by your pets by 50% and deals AoE damage at the end
• Summon Volatile Familiar - an ability that summons a pet, which can be reactivated to deal damage in an AoE around this pet over 20 seconds
• Summon Twilight Matriarch - an ability that summons a pet, which can be reactivated to heal 2 friendly targets
• Banner Bearer (Magic, Cavalier's Charge, Berserk) - increases your Magical damage done by 6%, grants Weapon Damage based on your movement speed and grants Minor Berserk, increasing your damage done by 5%. You can change the Berserk script to Heroism if Minor Berserk is being provided by your supports
• Soul Harvest - a cheap ultimate that increases target's damage taken from you by 20%. You need it on your frontbar to trigger passives of the Assassination skill line. Having it slotted will also cause you to regain 10 Ultimate whenever you deal a final blow against an enemy
• Concealed Weapon - an ability that will passively grant us 15% movement speed, which will grant us 90 Weapon and Spell Damage thanks to the Cavalier's Charge script on Banner Bearer
• Elemental Blockade - a ground DoT that will constantly re-apply your backbar weapon enchantment. It will also deal increased damage thanks to the Crushing Wall set and proc Off Balance if your supports aren't already doing it
• Summon Charged Atronach - a powerful AoE Ultimate which gets boosted by Daedric Prey. It will also keep proccing Concussed status effect. An ally can also activate the Charged Lightning synergy which grants all nearby allies (including you) Major Berserk for 10 seconds, which increases damage done by 10%

Whenever you need to slot situational skills, replace Concealed Weapon

• Elemental Susceptibility - use it as your source of Major Breach whenever you're assigned to mechanics that separate you from your group, like for example portal in the Nahviintaas fight, Reef Hearts in the Reef Guardian fight, bridge in the Taleria fight, etc.
• Summon Twilight Tormentor - this morph deals a bit more damage than the Summon Twilight Matriarch morph but you lose the access to the heal. It is an option depending on what you're trying to achieve, use it if you don't mind sacrificing a backup heal for a bit more damage. Expect a 4% damage increase compared to the healing morph
• Stampede - a replacement for Elemental Blockade, which also involves swapping Crushing Wall to Merciless Charge. It's a 1.3% damage increase, but it makes you reliant on Healers to keep up their own Lightning Elemental Blockade for Off Balance. Don't use it in PUG groups.
• Bound Aegis - passively provides Minor Resolve and Minor Protection which grant you roughly 10% damage mitigation (the actual number varies due to armor's increasing returns). This means you lose out on 15% movement speed from Concealed Weapon which the Cavalier's Charge script would convert into 90 Weapon and Spell Damage, but it's worth it depending on the situation. Keep in mind that both Minor Resolve and Minor Protection can be provided by your supports in good groups.
• Critical Surge - a more active defensive option compared to Bound Aegis. Provides a lot of healing which is usually more effective than the mitigation from Bound Aegis, but it has to be actively used instead of being passive
• Trample (Magic, Cavalier's Charge, Off Balance) - your source of Off Balance for trash packs. You can start channeling it as you're running into trash packs.
• Proximity Detonation - extremely good ability for trash packs, you can pre-buff it a few seconds before entering combat
• Hurricane - good ability for trash packs, since it can be prebuffed without a target. It also provides the same movement speed buff as Concealed Weapon
• Reaper's mark - good ability for trash packs, since it can be prebuffed without starting combat. Pre-casting it on some low HP add allows you to benefit from Major Berserk

If you're tracking the Off Balance debuff, you should cancel your Heavy Attack when there's around 1-2 seconds left on the Off Balance Immunity. This way the next Heavy Attack you start will finish its channel during Off Balance and you'll be able to fit 3 Heavy Attacks during a single Off Balance window

The best way to weave backbar abilities into your rotation is by swapping to backbar right after your Heavy Attack finished, casting the ability and then immediately going back to frontbar to start channeling the next Heavy Attack. This is however impossible with high ping

Priority List

This is just a list of priorities. Simply recast abilities when they run out and follow this list of priorities when there are multiple things to refresh.

• 1. Ulfsild's Contingency if your Empower is out or if it's going to run out by the end of the Heavy Attack you're channeling
• 2. Elemental Blockade/Stampede
• 3. Daedric Prey
• 4. Soul Harvest if it's obvious you won't get enough Ultimate for another Summon Charged Atronach before the fight ends
• 5. Summon Charged Atronach if it's ready
• 6. Summon Volatile Familiar
• 7. If enemy is above 50% HP, Summon Twilight Tormentor (only if you're using the Tormentor morph)
• 8. Ulfsild's Contingency as a filler

Pre-buff

These abilities can be pre-cast before entering combat

• Ulfsild's Contingency
• Summon Volatile Familiar
• Summon Twilight Tormentor (only if you're using this morph)