5.0 Class Guides/ SWTOR

SWTOR 5.0 Lightning Sorcerer PvE Guide by Sion

Dulfy 74 Comments Dec 26, 2016

SWTOR 5.0 Lightning Sorcerer PvE Guide written by Sion.

Intro to Lightning Sorcerer

The Lightning Sorcerer is a ranged burst dps class that offers some of the best utility for a dps class in the game.  This class is easy to play but hard to master, especially if you want to take on the hardest content in the game.

Ratings

Single Target Damage: 1/10

With 5.0, Lightning has been nerfed pretty hard. We are currently dead last among the dps specs. We will still be viable for HM, but as far as NiM goes, I find it unlikely that we will be able to do the damage unless the rest of the specs are so far above the dps checks that our low damage is still enough

AoE Damage: 5/10

Although our AoE is not as good as it used to be, Lightning Sorcs still have some really great AoE damage.  With Chain Lightning and Force Storm, we have incredible burst AoE, and with very little resource management we can spam Force Storm for a long time without having to worry about running out of Force.

Burst Damage: 6/10

Like everything else, our burst has suffered due to the 5.0 changes. The one upside is that you can use Recklessness on Thundering Blast and see some actual benefit. We still do decent burst, and we can control it with Polarity Shift and Recklessness. The major upside is that our burst is simply more frequent than most classes.

Raid Utility: 9/10

Sorcs bring excellent raid utility with them into any group.  We bring with us a copious amount of abilities including our pull (though used almost exclusively for trolling raid members it does have its niche uses), battle rez, cleanse, raid buff, force and AoEdebuffs, self and off heals, bubble, and the ability to completely mitigate some mechanics via our Force Bubble.

Survivability: 8/10

Even the Sorcs have Light Armor, we are not as squishy as one would think.  We have a bubble that lasts for 30s that is refreshable every 15s, a passive that allows us to have 9% additional damage reduction, and we have another shield that gives us invulnerability for 8s.  Additionally we have utilities that make our bubbles stronger and our threat dump and large self heal grant damage reduction as well. All of this combined with our ability to heal ourselves in a pinch, allows us to survive well in fights.

Gearing

The following numbers are taken from Bant’s Optimal Stats thread on the SWTOR Forums.  In case there is any confusion E=Enhancement (these include implants and earpiece), A=Augment, and C=Crystal. As a DPS we want the Focused Retribution and Serendipitous Assault Relics.

Eternal Commander MK-3, Tier 1: Artifact (230 ilvl): 7405+-216 DPS @ 49.5 APM

• 5901 Mastery (Stim)
• 3183 Power
• 1543 Critical (7xE, 1xA, 2xC)
• 1056 Alacrity (11xA)
• 735 Accuracy (3xE, 2xA)

Eternal Commander MK-13, Tier 2: Artifact (234 ilvl): 7611+-225 DPS @ 49.5 APM

• 6128 Mastery (Stim)
• 3181 Power
• 1614 Critical (6xE, 3xA, 2xC)
• 1056 Alacrity (11xA)
• 760 Accuracy (4xE)

Eternal Commander MK-15, Tier 2: Legendary (236 ilvl):8092+-246 DPS @ 50.1 APM

• 6317 Mastery (2xA)
• 3424 Power
• 1691 Critical (7xE, 2xC)
• 1256 Alacrity (1xE, 11xA)
• 736 Accuracy (2xE, 1xA, Stim)

Iokath MK-3, Tier 3: Artifact (240 ilvl): 8352+-258 DPS @ 50.3 APM

• 6385 Mastery (1xA, 1xC)
• 3506 Power
• 1746 Critical (4xE, 7xA, 1xC)
• 1313 Alacrity (5xE, 3xA)
• 733 Accuracy (1xE, 3xA, Stim)

Iokath MK-5, Tier 3: Legendary (242 ilvl): 8692+-273 DPS @ 50.4 APM

• 6637 Mastery (1xA, 1xC)
• 3694 Power
• 1792 Critical (4xE, 7xA, 1xC)
• 1363 Alacrity (5xE, 3xA)
• 743 Accuracy (1xE, 3xA, Stim)

I would advocate for foregoing any mastery augments and using either crit or alacrity, and only using crit crystals. I suggest this for the sake of ease, and because I know that the difference will be negligible if not unnoticeable. I also would advocate for using an accuracy stim in all tiers and adjusting according. Bant has provided the various accuracy options for each gear tier to help with this.

Set Bonus

With 5.0 the old Dread Master set bonus is not BiS at max gear tier. Anything lower than that, and you can probably still get away with it. I would recommend switching it out for the full Ultimate Exarch set bonus once you get 240s.

Utilities

Skillful

	Force Suffusion	Overload heals you and up to 7 affected allies for X-X.	Not really worth taking as a dps.
	Sith Defiance	Increases damage reduction by 3%.	Always take this. With Light Armor any free damage reduction is welcome.
	Tempest Mastery	Increases the damage dealt by Force Storm by 25%.	Boss fight with adds? Take this utility. Works great with Storm Brewing passive.
	Empty Body	Increases all healing received by 5%. Does not affect stolen life.	I often take this for the same reason as Sith Defiance.
	Dizzying Force	Reduces target’s accuracy by 20% for 8 seconds after Whirlwind ends. Additionally, your Whirlwind affects up to 2 additional standard or weak enemies within 8 meters of the target.	PvP/leveling utility. Not worth taking.
	Dark Speed	Dark Heal increases the movement speed of the target by 50% for 6 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12 seconds.	This is more of a healer utility, and situational at that. It won’t do much for dps specs.

Masterful

	Suppression	Activating Cloud Mind grants Suppression, which increases damage reduction by 25% for 6 seconds.	Very useful for mitigating large hits. I use this on most fights as an extra defensive CD.
	Corrupted Flesh	Reduces the damage taken from all periodic effects by 15%.	Take this on fights with non-cleansable dots.
	Dark Resilience	Reduces the damage taken by the target of your Extrication by 25% for 6 seconds. Additionally increases the healing done  by Unnatural Preservation by 30%.	Useful because of the increased healing to Unnatural Preservation. I take this on most fights to alleviate some of the healing on myself.
	Conspiring Force	Targets affected by your Affliction are slowed by 30% for its duration.	PvP Utility.
	Lightning Barrier	Your Static Barrier crackles with electricity, shocking attackers for X damage when it absorbs direct damage to you. This effect cannot occur more than once each second.	PvP utility. May have some use in fights with heavy AoE damage, but will most likely not be worth taking.
	Torturous Tactics	Lowers the cooldown of electrocute by 10 seconds. In addition, targets stunned by your Elecrocute deal 25% less damage for 10 seconds when Electrocute wears off.	Extremely situational. This is mainly a PvP ability, but it is useful in mitigating damage from energy spheres in Brontes HM/NiM.

Heroic

	Emersion	Force Speed grants Emersion, removing all movement impairing effects and granting immunity to them for the duration.	Good for fights where you need to break out of slows. Can be helpful in Underlurker or Reaches phase in Brontes.
	Shapeless Spirit	Reduces all damage taken while stunned by 30%. Additionally, reduces all damage taken from area effects by 30%.	An absolute must take on every fight. 30% AoE and Stun damage reduction. What more could you want?
	Surging Speed	Reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 5 seconds, Force Slow by 3 seconds, and Force Barrier by 30 seconds. In addition, Force Speed lasts 0.5 seconds longer, Polarity Shift increases your movement speed by 100% while active, the active cooldown of Force Speed is finished when Force Barrier ends.	Even in high mobility fights this is not worth taking. Too little benefit to use a utility point.
	Backlash	Static Barriers you place on yourself erupt in a flash of light when they end, blinding up to 8 nearby enemies for 3 seconds. This effect breaks from direct damage.	PvP utility.
	Haunted Dreams	If your Whirlwind breaks early from damage, the target is stunned for 2 seconds. In addition, Whirlwind activates instantly.	Could be situational, but really not worth taking over other utilities.
	Electric Bindings	Overload binds its targets in electricity, immobilizing them for 5 seconds. Direct damage dealt after 2 seconds ends the effect prematurely.	Mostly a PvP utility. It does come in handy for NiMStyrak though.

Legendary

	Force Mobility	Thundering Blast, Innervate, and Force Leach may be activated while moving.	This should be taken on every fight. Increased mobility is always a good thing.
	Galvanizing Cleanse	Expunge grants Galvanizing Cleanse, making your next ability an activation time activate instantly. The effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds and lasts 15 seconds.	This is just a bad utility. I cannot think of a single fight I would use this, even as a healer, let alone as a dps.
	Corrupted Barrier	Your Static Barrier, Force Barrier, and Enduring Bastion heal you for 1% of your total health every second for as long as they last.  This healing scales up to 4% with the charges of Enduring Bastion.	With the nerf to this utility, there is no real reason to take this anymore.
	Unnatural Vigor	Unnatural Preservation increases your damage reduction by 15% for 6 seconds. Additionally, reduces the cooldown of Unnatural Preservation by 5 seconds.	This is a good one to take. This provides another small damage reduction cooldown, and lets you get more of your amazing self heal with a reduced cooldown.
	Shifting Silhouette	Using Phase Walk to return to its marked location grants Shifting Silhouette, keeping you from being lept to or pulled and making you immune to interrupts and ability activation pushback for the next 10 seconds. Additionally, the cooldown of Phase Walk is reduced by 15 seconds and all defenses are increased by 30% for the duration of Shifting Silhouette.	With the removal of the AoE damage reduction from this utility it is much less attractive. The reduced cooldown is nice but not necessary in PvE. The increase to defense is nice, and it may prove to be a useful defensive cooldown.
	Enfeebling Lash	Strike the target with your lightsaber, dealing X-X weapon damage and immobilizing it for 3 seconds. When the immobilization effect ends, the target is slowed by 50% for 3 seconds. Replaces Saber Strike. Cooldown: 15s Range: 4m	PvP utility. This is completely useless in PvE

Passives and Abilities

Lightning Discipline Passives

	Lightning Storm – Lightning Strike, Lightning Bolt, Thundering Blast, and Force Storm grant Lightning Storm when activated. Lightning Storm immediately finishes the cooldown on Chain Lightning and makes your next Chain Lightning activate instantly and consume 50% less Force. Cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.
	Storm Brewing – Increases the critical chance of Force Storm by 15% and its critical damage bonus by 30%.
	Lightning Effusion – Direct Force attacks grant Lightning Effusion when they critically hit, reducing the Force consumed by your next two non-channeled Force attacks by 75%.
	Subversion – Reduces the pushback suffered while activating Chain Lightning, Lightning Strike, Crushing Darkness, Thundering Blast, and Lightning Bolt by 75%. Additionally, you have a 25% when taking direct damage to gain Subversion, which causes your next Lightning Strike or Lightning Bolt to activate instantly.  This effect cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds and lasts up to 15 seconds.
	Forked Darkness – Crushing Darkness has a 25% chance to tick twice and makes its targets vulnerable for 45 seconds. Vulnerable targets tak 5% more damage from Force attacks. In addition, when you activate Thundering Blast, there is a 25% chance the ability will produce a second blast that strikes the same target for 25% damage.
	Lightning Swarm – Increases the maximum range of your Force attacks by 5 meters. Additionally, Chain Lightning immobilizes all affected targets for 0.5 seconds and slows all affected targets by 50% for 6 seconds.
	Convection – Force Speed gives 2 stacks of Convection, which allows Lightning Strike and Lightning Bolt to be activated instantly.
	Forked Lightning – Lightning Strike, Chain Lightning, Lightning Flash, and Lightning Bolt have a 25% chance to produce a second arc of lightning that strikes the same targets for 25% damage. Additionally, Chain Lightning overwhelms its targets for 45 seconds. Overwhelmed targets take an additional 10% damage from area attacks.
	Focal Lightning – Damage dealt by Chain Lightning and Lightning Flash has a 100% chance and damage dealt by Lightning Strike and Lightning Bolt has a 50% chance to grant Focal Lightning, which increases alacrity by 1%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 15 seconds.
	Chaos Nexus – Forked Lightning is twice as likely to trigger while Polarity Shift is active. Additionally, increases the duration of Polarity Shift by 5 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds.
	Reverberating Force – Increases the critical damage dealt by Chain Lightning, Crushing Darkness, Thundering Blast, and Lightning Flash by 10%.
	Conduction – Each Forked Lightning and Forked Darkness reduces the active cooldown of Polarity Shift by 1 second. In addition, being interrupted grants unshakable for 4 seconds. This can only occur once every 15 seconds.
	Charged Reaction – Direct damage dealt by your Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning abilities refreshes the duration of your Affliction on affected targets. In addition, Lightning Bolt increases your Force regeneration by 10% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
	Fulgurous Fortification – Lightning Bolt increases your damage 3% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
	Convulsing Currents – Shock deals 20% more damage to targets affected by your Crushing Darkness

Rotational Abilities

	Crushing Darkness [CD]– Summons a dark cloud of energy to crush the target, instantly dealing X-X kinetic damage and an additional X kinetic damage over 6 seconds. Range: 35m, Activation: 2s, Force: 36, Cooldown: 15s
	Affliction [Aff]– Casts a powerful Force affliction that deals X internal damage over 18 seconds. Range: 35m, Force: 32
	Thundering Blast [TB]– Sends a thundering blastwave at a single target that deals X-X internal damage. Thundering Blast automatically critically hits targets affected by your Affliction. Range: 35m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 45, Cooldown: 9s
	Lightning Flash [LF]– Blasts the target with a quick flash of lightning, which deals X-X damage and grants Force Flash, which reduces the activation time of your next Crushing Darkness by 0.5 seconds. This effect lasts up to 12 seconds. Range: 35m, Force: 45, Cooldown: 15s
	Chain Lightning [CL]– Delivers an arc of lightning that deals X-X damage to up to 8 targets within 8 meters of the primary target. Range: 35m, Activation: 2.5s, Force: 45, Cooldown: 6s
	Lightning Bolt [LB]– Hurls a bolt of lightning at the target, dealing X-X energy damage and slowing the target by 30% for 3 seconds.    Replaces Lightning Strike. Range: 35m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 30
	Shock [S]– Shocks the target for X-X energy damage. Standard and weak targets are additionally stunned for 3 seconds. Range: 35m, Force: 36, Cooldown: 6s

Non-Rotational Abilities

	Force Storm – Calls down a Force Storm over the target area, consuming 60 Force and dealing X energy damage to up to 8 targets within 8 meters over the duration of the channel. Standard and weak targets have a 33% chance to be stunned by the storm each second. Range: 35m
	Dark Heal – Heals a friendly target for X-X health. Range: 30m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 50
	Resurgence – Immediately heals the target for X-X, plus an additional X over 9 seconds. Range: 30m, Force: 27, Cooldown: 6s
	Unnatural Preservation – Immediately restores X-X health to you. Cannot be used on others. Cooldown: 30s
	Expunge – Cleanse a friendly target of up to 2 negative mental or Force effects. Range: 30m, Force: 12, Cooldown: 12s
	Extrication – Lowers the target’s threat by a moderate amount and, if the target is a group member, pulls the target to your location. Range: 30m, Force: 27, Cooldown: 1 minute
	Force Speed [FS]– Increases movement speed by 150% for 2 seconds. Does not break stealth. Cooldown: 30s
	Phase Walk – Activating this ability marks your current location for 10 minutes. When this ability is activated again, if you are within 60 meters of the marked location, you instantly return to the marked location
	Reanimation – Revives an incapacitated ally. This ability is usable while in combat. When used, all group members can neither use nor be the target of an in-combat revival for the next 5 minutes. Range: 30m, Activation: 1.5s, Force: 27, Cooldown: 5 minutes

Offensive and Defensive Cooldowns

	Polarity Shift [PS]– Your connection to the Force shifts, granting 20% alacrity and immunity to pushback and interrupts for 15 seconds.
	Recklessness [Rck]– Grants 2 charges of Recklessness, which increases the Force critical chance of your direct attacks and heals by 60% and increases the ranges of Force Lightning and Depredating Volts to 30 meters.  Each time a direct Force ability critically hits or a channeled Force ability is activated, 1 charge is consumed. Lasts 20 seconds. Cooldown: 1m 30s
	Unlimited Power [UP]– Increases mastery, endurance, and presence for you and your Operation group members within 40 meters by 10% . Lasts 10 seconds Force: 45, Cooldown: 5 minutes
	Force Barrier – Projects a Force Barrier around you, granting immunity to all control, damage, and negative effects while channeled.  This ability does not respect the global cooldown and can be used while controlled.  While you are protected by Force Barrier charges will build up and grant you Enduring Bastion, a shield that absorbs an amount of damage based off the charges that are present when Force Barrier  ended. Enduring Bastion also grants immunity to interrupts. Cooldown: 3 minutes
	Static Barrier – Surrounds the target in a lightning shield that lasts 30 seconds and absorbs a high amount of damage.  The target becomes deionized and cannot benefit from Static Barrier again for 20 seconds.
	Cloud Mind  – Wipes enemies’ thoughts, instantly lowering your threat by a moderate amount. Additionally grants 25% damage reduction for 6 seconds. (with Suppression utility) Cooldown: 45s
	Advanced Polybiotic Attack Adrenal – Increases Power by 870 and decreases all healing done by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes

Rotation

Opener

This opener applies regardless of whether you are using the Dread Master 4-piece and Ultimate Exarch 2-piece or the Ultimate Exarch 6-piece.

CD -> PS, Aff -> UP, Adrenal, Rck, TB -> CL -> LF -> LB -> LB -> LB -> TB -> CL -> LB -> CD -> LF -> S -> TB -> CL -> Priority System

There are two things I should note here. The first is that in the opener I use Polarity Shift before casting Affliction.  This is done because the increased alacrity increases the tick rate of the DoT. This carries over whenever Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning refresh Affliction as well. This allows us to squeeze a little extra damage out of Affliction. With the increased tick rate, Affliction can now tick right before a refresh from Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning, which will then cause it to tick again, thus gaining just a little bit more damage from Affliction.  The second is that the Shock after your 2nd crushing darkness may need to be used prior to the Lightning Flash depending on alacrity and when the DM set bonus procs if you are using it.

Priority System

The nice thing about Lightning Sorcerer is that it is a priority system. Because of this you don’t have to worry about where to pick up if you experience downtime due to boss mechanics. You simply use the ability with highest priority and work from there.

There are really only 6 abilities that factor into the priority system, but the caveat to that is Affliction must be on your target. That being said, the priority is as follows:

1. Thundering Blast
2. Crushing Darkness (with proc)
3. Lightning Flash
4. Shock (only while Crushing Darkness is on the target)
5. Chain Lightning (with proc)
6. Lightning Bolt

Thundering Blast must always be used on cooldown. It is an autocrit every 9 seconds (with no alacrity) and therefore must take priority over everything else. This leads us into Crushing Darkness, which should be used only with the Force Flash proc.  Lightning Flash is next due to its decent damage and because of the Force Flash proc. Although Chain Lightning hits rather hard, its proc’s 10s internal cooldown pushes it rather low on the priority provided the proc is not about to fall off, which it never should.  When everything else is on cooldown, Lightning Bolt is your primary filler. I say primary because of the new passive that makes Shock barely better than Lightning Bolt so long as Crushing Darkness is on the target.

AoE Rotation

There are a few ways of going about this depending on the priority of the group of adds that are being killed. However, regardless of the scenario you want to prioritize Chain Lightning and Force Storm. If they will die pretty quickly this is all you want to do. If there is a higher health add in among lower health ones, then you can throw in Affliction and Thundering Blast and then continue with Chain Lightning and Force Storm. You should not be using Lightning Flash, Lightning Bolt, or Crushing Darkness though.

Some Notes on Offensive Cooldowns

Polarity Shift is by far your best offensive cooldown.  I always try to use this right before a Thundering Blast. However, I will uses it earlier if a Lightning Flash will benefit from its use sooner than a Thundering Blast would. The reason is a combination of your Chaos Nexus and Forked Lightning Passives. You want to make sure you can fit as many of your hardest hitting abilities into a Polarity Shift block so don’t just use it on cooldown, but never delay it longer than one Thundering Blast cycle.  While talking about Polarity Shift, it is also worth talking about ability usage during the time that it is active. Traditionally, it has been considered important to prioritize Lightning Bolt over Crushing Darkness during Polarity Shift because Chaos Nexus doubles Lightning Bolt’s chance to proc. I have found, however, that it is still not worth delaying Crushing Darkness.  If you look at how much damage is done by each ability, Lightning Bolt would be better, when it procs, as far as instant damage goes. However, when you consider how much additional damage Crushing Darkness does with its DoT, that is still for only a 1 gcd cast, CD comes out ahead in damage even if it doesn’t proc once and Lightning Bolt does. This is under the assumption that they are critting more or less equally. Because of this, and what I have seen in my own parses, I find it more beneficial to never use Lightning Bolt over Crushing Darkness.

Next we come to Recklessness.  I try to use Recklessness when under the effects of Polarity Shift as often as I can, partially because of the reduced cooldown the increased alacrity brings me, but also because with the increased chance to proc on abilities we are making an almost guaranteed crit. As far as ability usage goes, always Thundering Blast and Chain Lightning. Thankfully Recklessness properly buffs Thundering Blast so it should always be used in conjunction with it. The third stack should be used on Lightning Flash if possible, then Shock if it is buffed, and finally Lightning Bolt if the former two are not possible. Using Recklessness is always a little bit of weighing your options with what you will have available. Delaying it for a short time is okay, if you will get your hardest hitting abilities to align, but like all your offensives, too long of a delay will make you lose dps. Each situation is different and it just comes down to knowing the fights and knowing your class in order to determine what to use and when.

Unlimited Power should not be used in the opener if you will need it later for a tight burn phase.  It is always important that you use your offensive cds appropriately for the maximum potential dps, instead of just when they are available. That being said, you don’t want to over delay these abilities either, and some discretion on the player’s part is necessary.

One final note for Force Speed is that there is no dps gain to use it on cooldown since you are simply making the damage of the Lightning Bolts come at the beginning of the gcd instead of the end. Where this does have use though is within proc windows, the most relevant being relic procs. When a casted Lightning Bolt would fall outside of the proc, but an instant wouldn’t, you would use Force Speed for the instant proc.

Sample Parse

Here is a link to a parse. Please note that this is still mostly 224 gear with the 186 4-piece. With this being old gear, the damage was not very different from 4.0, especially when the large damage nerfs to the spec are taken into account.

How to Analyze Your Parse

The most important part you should look at is if you are using Thundering Blast, Crushing Darkness, and Lightning Flash on cooldown.  The way to check this is to look at the ability usage section and then look at the Avg Time. At the very minimum this should be the same as your abilities cooldown, heavily varying by alacrity. As a note, Thundering Blast’s cooldown only starts once the cast finishes.  This means with no alacrity, the average usage of Thundering Blast

should be 10.5 seconds. While talking about Thundering Blast, the crit % should 100%. If it is not you have messed up somewhere.

As far as damage profile goes, Thundering Blast should be your highest damage because it is your hardest hitting ability, followed by Lightning Bolt, Affliction, Chain Lightning, Lightning Flash, Shock, Crushing Darkness (crushed) which is the DoT, and Crushing Darkness which is the initial hit per cast. What follows will be your Forked Lightning and Forked Darkness procs. Due to large amounts of rng, the amount of damage, and their occurrences, will vary heavily.

Visual illustration based on the above parse: