Swampfox's PvP guide

[Churchryn]

So I see we have a lot of PvE threads for sorc's in terms of DPS, and rightly so, but I think there are some people out there who may want to do Sorc DPS in PvP as well. Or maybe you have an alt and you want that to be your PvP toon. All in all, I've learned some things that would more than likely benefit any Sorc who wants to make a name for himself.

Also, here's a link I learned my initial stuff off of.
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=856

I'm going to talk about three things:

1. The Build
-The DPS builds
-What each build specializes in
-Strengths and Weaknesses

2. Your priorities
-Each Build
-1v1
-Groups

3. Strats for PvP
-Warzones
-Medals
-World PvP

The Build

1. DPS Builds
Really, Sorc's have 3 different builds they can rock for PvP. However, 2 are geared more towards effective PvE damage and the last one is more user preference choice.
-3/31/7 Lightning Dps
-3/7/31 Madness Dps
-3/15/23 Madness Hybrid Dps
The first 2 are plain and simple. One focuses in the lightning spec, while the other focuses in the Madness tree. The third one is more of a user preference. The main goal though is to be a hybrid spec, taking parts from lightning and madness. How you go about picking your hybrid spec is up to you, but for the purposes of this guide, I will be referencing the one I linked.

2. What each Build Specializes in.
We got our three specs, now it's time to see what main focus of each them is.
The 3/31/7 spec focuses on burst damage with intermediate damage abilities. The main heavyweights in this build are thunderblast and chain lightning. This build is reliant on consistently casting Lightning Strike, which gives you a decent force return buff, and provides a chance to make chain lightning instant cast. This build is mostly a stand still one, which emphasis on casting.

The 3/7/31 spec focuses on DoTs to do its dirty work. The heavyweights on this build are the deathfield, a combo of crushing darkness, affliction, and creeping terror, and Wrath. Wrath is proc'd by casting force lightning, which has no CD in this spec. When you gain wrath, any offensive timer-based cast spell becomes insta-cast. The emphasis on this build is mobility and insta-cast DoTs.

The 3/15/23 spec is hybrid of both lightning and madness. It takes the heavy damage hitter of chain lightning and combines it with deathfield and the dots. The benefit of this mix is that chain lightning can be insta cast through Wrath. This build is more focused on keeping constant damage on targets and then bursting them down to finish them off. The emphasis on this build is mobility with firepower.

3. Strengths and Weaknesses
3/31/7
Pros
Heavy Burst Damage
Great for Stand still fights
Huge AoE damage when utilized with Force Storm
Virtually never runs out of force

Cons
Periods were damage is nil or drops offs
Not a good build for moving fights
Single Targets can sometimes take long to kill if buffs are not up
AoE damage is limited to small area

3/7/31
Pros
Constant damage of high caliber on target at all times
Able to damage multiple targets in a wide area
Debuffs can benefit other Sorcs
Great for mobility fights, which is huge in PvP
Creeping terror roots a target in place, great for huttball and voidzone

Cons
Does not hit hard
If healer, will more than likely just heal through it
Can be dispelled by force users, limiting damage
Heavy force drain for sustained fights
2 of your 3 dots have cooldowns of 9 and 15 seconds

3/15/23
Pros
Heavy Burst Damage through Chain Lightning + Deathfield
Dots + Deathfield produce significant damage to keep healers busy
Force lightning allows you to instacast Chain Lightning
Great Mobility
Significant

[Churchryn]

Split it to make it less Wall of Text-y

Your priorities
1. Each Build
I will spend less time on the first 2 simply because its pretty evident they are PvE builds and the 3rd is more of the PvP build you want to take into the fight.

The Lightning Build (3/31/7)
Your priority for this one is two fold:
-keeping up your force regen stacks through Lightning Strike
-only using chain lightning/thunderblast whilst Lightning Effusion is active
The rest is just pew pew to your hearts content

The Madness Build (3/7/31)
Your priority for this one is pretty simple:
-Keep yours DoTs on target and Deathfield when its up
The rest is just pew pew, using wrath for crushing darkness whenever possible

The Madness Hybrid Build (3/15/23)
For this one you want to do a couple things:
-Deathfield should be your opener
-Force Lightning to Proc Wrath
-DoTs
-Force Lightning to Proc Wrath
-Chain Lightning
-Force Lightning, Force Lightning,and Force Lightning
Lightning Strike does return force, but its damage is nil and not worth the cast time. Remember, It's mobility we want!

2. 1v1
Ok so you see a guy on ilum or in a warzone, what do?!
1. Do the rotation above, however, you want to stay mobile and only use your stuns when he's about to pull off a big damage or heal move. Also remember to interrupt whenever possible, but only big heals or moves that are the classes main attack.
2. Line of Sight your opponent whenever you can, so long as you DoTs on them. Heal up if possible
3. Use your knockback to push them into environmental obstacles or to interrupt casts. This would be a good time to couple knockback with stuns, however this will cap their resolve bar, so be aware.
4. RANGE RANGE RANGE. You have 30m range, USE IT! Force slow/stun + force speed is awesome here. Specially if it LoS's your opponent.
5. If it seems to be going bad, then there's no shame in running + stunning. Live to fight another day.

3. Groups
This one is harder. Your main focus is to be the least juicy target. So if you're out front, you're doing it wrong.
1. A big way to be a pain in the ass is to cast Affliction on everyone you see. This helps keeping people from plant or diffusing bombs on doors, or from capping things. Plus it boosts your damage for medals!
2. Chain Lightning + deathfield are your best bets here. Plus step 1!
3. In groups, you want to cause as much damage as possible to as many people as possible so you strain the healers. Or, have a buddy take on one guy while you focus the healer. this causes the healer to choose between himself or the guy he's with. 9 times out of 10 the healer will save himself.
4. RANGE RANGE RANGE
5. BE A SMALL TARGET!

3. Strats for PvP
1. Warzones
Huttball
Huttball is our best zone simple because we can use all the levels to our advantage. Line of sight is your best friend here. Remember to stay mobile and keep yourself from being the main target. This means don't grab the ball, if you do have it, toss it to someone else. You're squishy.
Couple your knockback with the environment devices and your stuns.
Your force speed can take you safely through a firepit so long as you have your shield up.
Force slow people to run away or beat them to a heal thing.
Time your stuns so ball carriers get stuck on fire pits. Watch out on the resolve bar though.

The Civil War
This is by far the worst zone for both Imperials and for Sorcs. There's almost no Line of Sight and easy ways for stealthers to take us unawares.
Use the sidewall ledges to get a good look at center without exposing yourself to large damage.
Remember to Range things!
Save force speed to get a healing pot
Affliction is a great way to keep people from capping points
Knockback is effective for keeping people of the LoS pillars.

The Voidstar
This always a 50/50 toss up. This is more of player skill then class at doing well.
Affliction is your best friend on both Defense and Offense!
Stay near pillars, you never want to be out in the open.
Range!
Save your CDs to nuke down lone targets
AoEs on the door are nice
Always use knockback at doors or on the bridge
Forcespeed should be saved for health pots or getting to the other side quicker.
Couple knockback then force speed when a door explodes to get a head start on opening the next one.

2. Medals
So medals are pretty easy for a sorc to get. You should be able to get at least 4 with the first minute of the game.
-First two (requires Relic of Forbidden Secrets or higher version to be 100% guaranteed) are the 2.5k and 5k healer medal. First use consumption down to where you can heal for 5k and not over heal. Then hit Recklessness and the Relic and cast Dark Infusion on yourself. NOTE: do not do this if you have the pvp healing debuff on yourself! it won't work!
-3rd medal is the 2.5k damage attack. easy enough, just hit recklessness and the trinket again, hit them with chain lightning, and you should be good.
-4th medal is a killing blow. Keep dots on all targets and force lightning them to death. Or use wrath to cast chain lightning
-5th medal is a solo kill. self explanatory
-6th medal is 75k damage. again, self explanatory
-7th is 75k healing, bit harder to get, but so long as you keep dots up, use deathfield, and heal yourself up, you should get it in a full length match
-8th is 10 enemies slain. Again keep dots up and force lightning + deathfield + chain lightning and you should be good
-9th is 25 enemies slain. harder to get but just follow the above
-10th is 300k damage. This one is only possible if you constantly throw affliction, deathfield, chain lightning, and force storm around.
-11th is 1k defender points. ON the civil war this is easy to get, any other you gib yourself of other medals.
-12th is 3k defender points. Really hard to get and get other medals too.
-13th is 300k healing done. Virtually impossible to get as a nonhealer
(I think there's one for killing 50 enemies but needs verification.)

3. World PvP
This one is easy. Focus fire targets with your group or follow the 1v1 guide posted above.
Range all targets, even LoS them
Be a very small target
AoE damage is best for groups.

[-Malevol-]

Nice post

[riastlin8830]

Very nice post. The Hybrid needs more work though.