5.0 Class Guides/ SWTOR

SWTOR 5.0 Madness Sorcerer PvP Guide by Emiri

Dulfy 107 Comments Feb 5, 2017

SWTOR 5.0 Madness Sorcerer PvP guide by Emiri.

Intro to Madness Sorcerer

Madness is currently the best, yet most difficult, Sorcerer DPS spec in SWTOR. In this guide for PVP Madness Sorc, I will be showing strategies for dueling, utilities, and rotations for certain situations and I will explain why to use them.

Gearing

This is what I have in 230 gear. Once I get fully geared, I will update this guide for the higher gear tiers.

I currently run with 41.71% crit (1833) and 8.19% alacrity (823). This build is more for applying pressure than it is for single target damage. Although this is more of a pressure build, the high alacrity (more dot ticks), and the high crit (more crits on your dot ticks and high surge/crit multiplier) guarantee good single target damage. I would recommend putting at least one power augment in. When I get fully geared, I am thinking that I will have 12% alacrity, 100% accuracy, and 42% crit with the rest put into power.

My normal build along with the way I have my bars set up.

Another build that I ran in 4.0 quite often, and have run occasionally in 5.0 is 41.95% crit – i ran 40% in 4.0 – with everything else put into power. I am assuming that this will go up to 45% in 242 gear, as you would have around 40% in the best gear in 4.0. I will give an update once I find out for sure. I find that this build is really good for single target damage and puts out a lot of damage. Obviously, you still want to dot spread with this build despite it being a single target build.

Key Abilities

	Force Lightning: Deals x energy damage to the target and consumes 40 force over the duration of the channel. Also slows the movement speed of the target by 50% and immobilizes weak and standard enemies. Force Lightning is one of your most important abilities. Over the duration of the channel, it builds up four stacks of Wrath, causing your Demolish or Lightning Strike to deal 25% more damage and consume 50% less force. You should almost never cancel this channel because if you do, you may accidentally hardcast Demolish or Lightning Strike. This ability also has a 20% chance to cause Lightning Burns, restoring 2 force and causing energy damage.
	Demolish: Crushes the target with devastating force, dealing kinetic damage initially, plus an additional kinetic damage over 6 seconds. The target also becomes vulnerable for 45 seconds, increasing the damage taken from Force attacks by 5%. Replaces Crushing Darkness. Demolish is one of your most important damaging abilities. This ability is your hardest hitting dot. The initial damage not too significant, but after the dot finishes ticking, this ability ends up being your hardest hitter. It can be proc’d by having 4 stacks of Wrath, which you get from channeling Force Lightning. Wrath increases the damage dealt by 25% and reduces the force cost by 50%. Never hardcast this ability. Once you hit level 44, Crushing Darkness and Demolish have their duration increased by 3 seconds, making this ability’s dot last 9 seconds.
	Creeping Terror: Paralyzes the target in fear, dealing internal damage over 18 seconds and immobilizing it for 2 seconds. The immobilizing effect cannot occur more than once every 9 seconds. When you are kiting or in a duel against melee, make sure that you are reapplying this dot every 9 seconds. This is your best ability for kiting. I always open with this dot. Once you hit level 52, you will get healed for 10% of the damage death each time Creeping Terror deals damage.
	Death Field: Creates a death field at the target location, dealing internal damage and stealing life from affected targets to heal you for 10% of the damage dealt. Strikes up to 8 targets within a 5-meter radius. This ability is your dot spread and is also part of your burst window. You will notice later on that I like to use it before Force Leech. I do that because it flows better and Force Leech restores 15 force when used on targets affected by Deathmark. However, you may want to use this after Force Leech because the cast time of Force Leech is one GCD. Because of this, it makes the burst appear much more significant and may cause panic. Doing this does not increase your overall damage, however. This ability applies 15 stacks of Deathmark to all targets it hits. Targets with Deathmark take 10% more damage from your damaging periodic effects. With 5.0, when you hit level 68, this ability has a 50% chance to emit something called a Death Echo. The Death Echo does damage to the target it affects and 7 other targets within a 5 meter radius. If you read the passive, you will note that it doesn’t just work on a primary target. You have a 50% chance to emit a Death Echo from EVERY target that is hit by Death Field. That means that if you hit 8 people with Death Field and all the people emit a Death Echo, you will be doing massive amounts of damage. Along with getting your dot spread at level 28 with Death Field, your Death Field also gets a passive where it overwhelms the target, causing the target to take 10% more damage from area damage. This absolutely does not mean that you should be spamming Force Storm. Very rarely should you be using Force Storm. Madness Sorcerers are much more useful when they actually go through their rotation and focus more on dot spreading. Force Storm does not receive any buffs in Madness, unlike in Lightning.
	Force Leech: Steals life from an enemy, dealing internal damage to the target and healing you for 50% of the damage dealt. This ability is also part of your burst window. It is your hardest hitting burst attack and the heal is very helpful. I find that it heals for around 10% of my health when I crit with it. This ability has a 60% chance to cause a Lightning Burn, restoring 2 force and dealing energy damage to the target. As I said previously, I like to use Force Leech after Death Field. I do this because it flows better and it restores 15 force when used on targets affected by Deathmark. You typically won’t have a problem with force unless you’re going to be fighting for a long while or you’re doing a lot of offhealing. If you anticipate that a fight or duel may last a long while and you have to offheal a lot, always use Force Leech after Death Field. Always make sure that you use Force Leech on a target that you have Affliction up on. Force Leech does 25% more damage on a target with Affliction.
	Affliction: Casts a powerful Force affliction upon the target that deals internal damage over 18 seconds. This ability is one of your dots. I like to use this dot second. Typically, in a warzone or when I’m dueling melee, I will take the Conspiring Force utility. My kiting is weak, so I use this as a crutch and I find that it also helps out other ranged users in my group. A 30% slow on every target I get with my dot spread is very helpful. Once you hit level 52, you will get healed for 10% of the damage death each time Affliction deals damage.
	Lightning Strike: Fires a charge of lightning at the target, dealing energy damage. This ability is proc’d by having 4 stacks of Wrath, which you get from channeling Force Lightning. Wrath increases the damage done by 25% and reduces the force cost by 50%. Never hardcast this ability. It will result in a loss of DPS and may make force management more difficult.
	Force Storm: Calls down a Force storm over the target area consuming 60 force and dealing 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. I felt the need to include this ability because of what I said earlier when I was talking about Death Field. You should use this ability very rarely. If you have your dots on the whole enemy team, you should use it twice at the end of your rotation in place of doing Force Lightning x2 > Lightning Strike. One thing to note is that I would only do this in group ranked and very rarely in solo ranked when your team is running a pressure composition. I would do this occasionally in unranked warzones. Don’t do this very often and don’t use this ability very often. You are much more useful going through your rotation. Death Field grants an Overwhelm debuff to targets it hits, which increases the damage that the target takes from AOE effects by 10%.
	Consuming Darkness: Consumes the dark energy around you, restoring 40 force. Utilizing Consuming Darkness makes you Weary, reducing your Force regeneration rate by 2 for 10 seconds. This effect can stack up to 4 times. This ability gives you force, as you probably can tell by the description. With four stacks, you lose all force regeneration. If you are going to be in a long duel, try to use this at the end of every rotation. Just make sure that you do not use have more than one stack on at a time unless it is absolutely needed that you spam this ability. Very rarely should you ever have to use this in a warzone.
	Force Slow: Deals kinetic damage and slows the target’s movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. Use this on cooldown on the highest melee DPS in ranked whenever they are not white barred. You can use this in Voidstar to slow people down from getting to the next part of the map. You can use this to get closer to your target for a 1v1 and you can use this to kite melee DPS in a 1v1.
	Shock: Shocks the target for energy damage. Standard and weak targets are additionally stunned for 3 seconds. I typically don’t use this ability. It costs too much force. Try to refrain from using it.
	Overload: Deals energy damage and knocks back up to 8 enemies within a 15-meter cone in front of you. Standard and weak enemies are additionally knocked down for 3 seconds. Use this ability when you are swarmed by melee enemies. This is especially useful when you take the Electric Bindings utility. After I use this, sometimes I will use Force Speed to run away.

Defensive Abilities

	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 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. Use this ability when you are low on health. If you take Corrupted Barrier, I would recommend using this around 10% HP. If you do not take Corrupted Barrier, use it around 40%. This is your strongest cooldown. Sometimes you will want to break this early in order to be unpredictable and get a jump on your enemy. At times, if you think you can win and the target is at very low health and has popped all defensives, you can use Force Barrier to break a stun, making them unable to use double stun tactics to heal up or anything of the sort. Just be smart about this. I’ve done this before and it has almost cost me the duel because I underestimated my opponent.
	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. Phase Walk goes on cooldown for 60 seconds when used to return to the marked location. Some people will use this ability offensively. In my opinion, that is a complete waste of your Phase Walk. I would recommend placing this ability at a place with good line of sight, such as under the ramp going up to the bridge in Makeb Mesa Arena. In warzones such as Novare Coast or Alderaan Civil War, placing it close to a node to get there faster is viable. Just don’t do it very often. Phase walk is a very useful defensive cooldown. Use this ability when you are low on health and you need to heal up using Dark Heal.
	Static Barrier: Surrounds the target in a lightning shield that lasts 30 seconds and absorbs a high of damage. The target becomes deionized and cannot benefit from Static Barrier again for 20 seconds. This ability should be used whenever it can be. It is your most important defensive cooldown and if you take Corrupted Barrier, it heals you for 1% every second that it is up. A sorcerer needs as much damage mitigation as possible, and this gives you the mitigation you need. This ability should be used whenever it can be. It is your most important defensive cooldown and if you take Corrupted Barrier, it heals you for 1% every second that it is up. With the Backlash utility, it give a short hard stun to enemies in the area whenever it is popped. With Lightning Barrier, this ability reflects a small amount of damage back to people who attack you for thirty seconds. This effect does not end when Static Barrier is popped. I advise against taking Lightning Barrier, as it is a weak utility and there are better utilities in the Masterful tier. A sorcerer needs as much damage mitigation as possible, and this gives you the mitigation you need.
	Resurgence: Immediately heals the target, plus an additional amount of health over 9 seconds. This is another ability I would recommend always having up. This increases your survivability greatly. It doesn’t give instantaneous gratification, but it makes a noticeable difference and distinguishes between an average sorc and a good sorc.
	Dark Heal: Heals a friendly target. This is your burst heal. Only use this when you are los’ing and not taking damage. Using this while you are catching focus is almost useless. You lose a lot of force, lose damage, and lose health while you could be kiting.
	Unnatural Preservation: Immediately restores health to you. Cannot be used on others. This is your biggest heal. As it says, it cannot be used on other people. Part of playing a sorc is knowing how much this ability heals you for. Memorize it. Know what you’re going to be healed for when you use this heal. It is very important. You don’t want to be over-healed with this heal. If you take Dark Resilience, this heals for 30% more. If you take Unnatural Vigor, you take 15% less damage for 6 seconds, and the cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.
	Extricate: Lowers the target’s threat by a moderate amount and, if the target is a group member, pulls the target to your location. Use this if a group member is taking damage and needs to get away. If you take Dark Resilience, the target takes 25% less damage for 6 seconds when you use Extricate. In Huttball, you can use this to pull the ball carrier up towards the goal or closer to the goal line.
	Expunge: Cleanses a friendly target of up to 2 negative mental or Force effects. This ability is your cleanse. I won’t use it very often unless someone is stunned by a force user and I can cleanse it. Sometimes I will use it on myself when I am dueling a dot spec so that I take less damage from their dots. If you take the Galvanizing Cleanse utility – which I think is somewhat pointless – you will get an insta-cast on your next casted ability. This can only happen every 30 seconds. It is somewhat of an incentive for cleansing. It is much more useful in Lightning spec than it is in Madness so that you can do an insta-cast Chain Lightning > Thundering Blast > procced Chain Lightning combo. One situation it can be useful for in Madness is when you need to get a Whirlwind off and you do not want to get interrupted.
	Cloud Mind: Wipes your enemies’ thoughts, instantly lowering your threat by a moderate amount. The only reason you should ever use this is if you take Suppression. Suppression lowers incoming damage by 25% for 6 seconds and is very good for mitigating burst. Aside from that, it is useless in PvP.
	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. This isn’t necessarily a defensive cooldown, but it’s important nonetheless. If you have voice communication with someone in a warzone, you can use this to rez them without them worrying about getting stuck at the door. This is not usable in arenas.
	Unbreakable Will: Summons the unbreakable will of the Sith, immediately purging incapacitating and movement-impairing effects. This is your stun breaker. Very rarely should you use this on the first stun. Typically, you do not want to use this on soft stuns or ccs, such as Low Slash, a grenade, and Whirlwind. The only time you should use this to break a soft stun or use it on the first stun is when someone on your team is about to die, or you are COMPLETELY sure you can kill your target.
	IForce Speed: Increases movement speed by 150% for 2 seconds. Does not break Stealth. Use this ability when someone jumps to you or you need help kiting. It is your best kiting ability, next to Phase Walk.

Offensive Cooldowns

	Recklessness: Grants 2 charges of Recklessness, which increases the Force critical chance of your direct attacks and heals by 60%. Each time a direct Force ability critically hits or each time a channeled Force ability is activated, 1 charge is consumed. Lasts 20 seconds. I previously explained where I like to use this in each rotation. Typically you will use it before Death Field. Recklessness has three charges with the set bonus, so sometimes I use it like Death Field > Force Leech > Unnatural Preservation for the extra health.
	Polarity Shift: Your connection to the Force shifts, granting 20% alacrity and immunity to pushback and interrupts for 10 seconds. This is a very useful cooldown. Use this in your opener before Force Leech so that your casted abilities do not get interrupted.
	Unlimited Power: Increases mastery, endurance, and presence for you and your Operation group members within 40 meters by 10%. Lasts 10 seconds. I like to pair this ability with Recklessness. It makes a huge difference in DPS and it is a factor in outplaying your opponent in a 1v1.
	Electrocute: Electrocutes the target, dealing energy damage and stunning it for 4 seconds. This is, needless to say, your hard stun, meaning that it does not get broken by damage. Typically in a ranked match you will use it on a healer or the highest dps.
	Whirlwind: Traps the target in a whirlwind for 8 seconds. Non-player, non-standard, and non-weak targets heal rapidly while trapped. Damage causes this effect to end prematurely. This is your soft stun/cc. As I said before, use this on a healer or the highest dps. Always make sure there are no dots on the target you use this on, or else it will be broken immediately.
	Jolt: Interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for 4 seconds. Typically, you will use this on a healer in warzones. The main heals you should interrupt are Innervate or Dark Infusion for Sorcerers, Kolto Injection for Operatives, and Healing Scan or Progressive Scan for Mercenaries. Note that typically Operatives and Mercenaries will bait interrupts. Mercenaries will bait interrupts with Rapid Scan and Operatives will bait interrupts with Kolto Waves and Kolto Infusion. I have also seen Sorcerers bait interrupts with Revivification. Very rarely should you interrupt these abilities.

Utilities

Utilities for Warzones

For skillful utilities, I like to take Empty Body and Sith Defiance. I take Sith Defiance because the sorc class is very squishy. It is very helpful to have the extra base damage reduction. I like to take Empty Body because it gives me a bonus to my heals. Although Empty Body does not affect leeches, I almost always have my Resurgence up and the bonus to other heals I get is very nice.

For masterful, I take Conspiring Force and Dark Resilience. I take Conspiring Force for the fact that it makes kiting easier and I know from personal experience that it’s frustrating to constantly to have a 30% slow on you. The 30% slow on everybody that you dot spread to is very good. The reason I take Dark Resilience is that I really like the healing bonus and it gives me more utility with the damage reduction on Extricate. Sometimes I will take Suppression. Suppression is very useful if you know other classes and can predict their burst windows. Taking this requires a lot of attentiveness.

For heroic, I take Emersion and Backlash. I take these two because they help a lot with kiting. Kiting is everything as a sorc. With very minimal defensives and the lowest damage mitigation in the game, kiting is everything. Electric Bindings can be useful to keep people off a node for a longer time, can help separate a tank-healer combo, and can also help with your kiting. It can be used in place of Backlash, although I personally prefer Backlash.

For legendary, I take Corrupted Barrier and Force Mobility. The reason for Force Mobility is pretty obvious. It helps A LOT with kiting. Now, Corrupted Barrier is very controversial. The nerf to it makes it seem useless, but it’s really not. It still heals you for quite a bit after you get out of your bubble, so it is very useful in my personal opinion. If you’re not comfortable taking Corrupted Barrier, I would take Unnatural Vigor for the reduced Unnatural Preservation cooldown and the damage reduction after you use Unnatural Preservation.

To sum it up:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Conspiring Force or Suppression and Dark Resilience
• Heroic – Backlash and Emersion
• Legendary – Corrupted Barrier or Unnatural Vigor and Force Mobility

Utilities for Ranked

Normal ranked utilities when ranged is in queue:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Suppression and Dark Resilience
• Heroic – Shapeless Spirit and Emersion
• Legendary – Corrupted Barrier or Unnatural Vigor and Force Mobility

Normal ranked utilities when more melee is in queue:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Conspiring Force and Dark Resilience
• Heroic – Backlash and Emersion
• Legendary – Corrupted Barrier or Unnatural Vigor and Force Mobility

CC oriented utilities (Emersion is optional, but recommended):

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Torturous Tactics and Dark Resilience
• Heroic – Shapeless Spirit, Emersion, and Haunted Dreams
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier or Unnatural Vigor if you’re not taking Emersion

When there are a lot of Mercenaries in queue:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Suppression or Torturous Tactics
• Heroic – Combination of Shapeless Spirit with Haunted Dreams, Emersion, and Surging Speed
• Legendary – Corrupted Barrier or Unnatural Vigor and Force Mobility

When there are a lot of dot specs in queue:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Corrupted Flesh
• Heroic – Shapeless Spirit and Emersion
• Legendary – Corrupted Barrier or Unnatural Vigor and Force Mobility

Anti-burst utilities:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Torturous Tactics and Suppression or Dark Resilience
• Heroic – Emersion and Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – Corrupted Barrier or Unnatural Vigor and Force Mobility

Off-healing focused utilities:

• Skillful – Sith Defiance and Dark Speed
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Suppression
• Heroic – Emersion and Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – Combination of Galvanizing Cleanse with Force Mobility, Corrupted Barrier, or Unnatural Vigor

Utilities for Dueling

As an avid duelist, I have to include this next two parts. Not many guides include dueling strategies and utilities, so I figured I would include this.

Madness Sorcerer:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Corrupted Flesh or Torturous Tactics
• Heroic – Haunted Dreams and Surging Speed or Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – A combination of Force Mobility, Corrupted Barrier, and Unnatural Vigor

Lightning Sorcerer:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Torturous Tactics or Suppression
• Heroic – Haunted Dreams and Surging Speed or Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – A combination of Force Mobility, Corrupted Barrier, and Unnatural Vigor

Jugg:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Conspiring Force
• Heroic – A combination of Emersion, Haunted Dreams, and Backlash
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Mara:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Conspiring Force
• Heroic – A combination of Emersion, Haunted Dreams, and Backlash
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Concealment Operative:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Conspiring Force
• Heroic – Emersion and Haunted Dreams or Backlash
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Lethality Operative:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Conspiring Force or Corrupted Flesh
• Heroic – Emersion and Haunted Dreams or Backlash
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Powertech:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Conspiring Force
• Heroic – Shapeless Spirit and Haunted Dreams or Backlash
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Deception Assassin:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Conspiring Force
• Heroic – Haunted Dreams and Backlash
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Hatred Assassin:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Conspiring Force or Corrupted Flesh
• Heroic – Haunted Dreams and Backlash
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Marksman and Engineering Sniper:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Suppression
• Heroic – Emersion and Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Virulence Sniper:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience and Suppression or Corrupted Flesh
• Heroic – Emersion and Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – Force Mobility and Corrupted Barrier

Arsenal Mercenary:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Torturous Tactics and Suppression
• Heroic – Haunted Dreams and Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – A combination of Force Mobility, Corrupted Barrier, and Unnatural Vigor

IO Merc:

• Skillful – Empty Body and Sith Defiance
• Masterful – Dark Resilience or Torturous Tactics and Suppression or Corrupted Flesh
• Heroic – Haunted Dreams and Shapeless Spirit
• Legendary – A combination of Force Mobility, Corrupted Barrier, and Unnatural Vigor

Rotation

In this part, I will be showing my primary rotations, and some other rotations I mess around with that also work pretty well. Keep in mind that rotations in PVP are just guidelines. You’re not confined to these rotations.

My primary AOE/kiting rotation is the following:

After that, it’s mostly a priority system. Place Death Field and Force Leech along with the FL > Demolish combo as they come off CD. Place dots on as they expire. As this is an AOE rotation, switch targets every time you go through the rotation. In this rotation, I like to put Recklessness right before Death Field or Force Leech. If you don’t have the 6 piece set bonus, always put it before the Death Field. Put Polarity Shift before Force Leech so you don’t risk it getting interrupted.

Single Target Rotation:

At the end of this rotation, your Demolish should be back up, so you can start from the beginning. Just don’t forget to reapply your dots. This is more of a PVE oriented rotation because it is much more strict. In this rotation, you have your Demolish off cooldown at the end, so you want to start back at the beginning with the Force Lightning. In this rotation, put your Recklessness and Polarity Shift right before Creeping Terror. If you don’t have the set bonus, just put Polarity Shift before the Demolish, then put Recklessness before Death Field.

AOE Rotation For Ranked Pressure Comp:

Use Recklessness before Death Field and use Polarity Shift before Force Leech. Only use this rotation if you have dots on the entire enemy team and the enemy team is grouped up for the Force Storm.

Ranked Rotation:

Use Recklessness before Death Field and use Polarity Shift before Force Leech. You should almost always be having Resurgence up anyways, but it is even more important in ranked warzones and I am accentuating that with this rotation. Keeping yourself up while being focused should take priority, while still putting out as much damage as you can. Ranked is all about prediction and knowing when you’re going to be focused, so be smart about when you pop Resurgence. Only really pop Resurgence when you are getting focused or are below 100%.

Experimental Rotation 1:

This rotation is meant to maximize your burst. I haven’t used it very often, although it’s still good if used in the right hands. Use Recklessness before Death Field, and Polarity Shift before Force Leech.

Experimental Rotation 2:

This rotation is very strict. If you are going to use this rotation, you HAVE TO start back at the beginning. Your dots should have 1 second left on them assuming you have no alacrity, so you will have to reapply them. All your other abilities will be off cooldown, so you will be fine to start over. Put Recklessness before Death Field, and put Polarity Shift before Force Leech. I use this rotation quite often and I find that it works pretty well. I still prefer the single target and aoe rotations over this, however.

Experimental Rotation 3:

This was the rotation I used for a very long time. It drains your force and I would not recommend using it. It puts out a good amount of damage, but as I said before, it REALLY drains your force. Be careful when using it.

Procs

Your only proc is the proc from Wrath. You build stacks of Wrath (up to four) when you successfully hit a target with Force Lightning. Every time you get four stacks of Wrath, you get an insta-cast Demolish or Lightning Strike.

Strategies

Dueling Strategies

Basic Dueling Practices

In a duel, you should always want to place your Phase Walk in a place where you have good line of sight. Be smart about kiting and try to line of sight as much as you can. Take as much advantage of that as you can. Being that you are the squishiest class in the game, you rely a lot on kiting. Because you are Madness, you need to be more offensive and you can’t offheal as much. Use line of sight wisely and make sure you don’t run out of force. Put Static Barrier on during the countdown and pop Resurgence when there is one second left in the countdown.

Assassins

Assassins are the hardest counter to sorcs. There is not much I can do to help here. Do what you would with normal melee classes. Kite them away from your Phase Walk. Once you start getting low, Phase Walk and heal to full. As is the case with all other melee classes, your Creeping Terror root and your slows are vital to dueling Assassins. When they shroud or stealth out and you’re low on health, use your insta-cast Whirlwind, run, and heal to full. Sometimes, you will want to pop your bubble and then Whirlwind them right after so you can heal. Just be smart about when you apply your dots when you take Haunted Dreams. Watch for Phasing Phantasm. Phasing Phantasm is a utility that reduces the damage an Assassin takes during Force Speed by 60%, so try to avoid using your hardest hitting abilities while they are using Force Speed.

Marauders

Marauders are more difficult to counter with the Sorcerer nerf, but they are still one of the easiest to counter. They can be kited rather easily. If you take Haunted Dreams, be smart about when you apply your dots. Keep them rooted and slowed. As is the case with most non-healing classes, try to outlast them and kite them around. Sometimes I will take Suppression if the Mara is a Carnage Marauder and I will use Suppression during their Ferocity window to mitigate the damage. Of course, the first time they use Ferocity you will want to stun them or knock them back so they can’t get their burst in. Annihilation has a longer set up time for the burst, so in the middle of the rotation, that is why you want to knock them back. My rotation for Annihilation is Force Charge > Deadly Saber > Battering Assault > Force Rend > Rupture > Ravage > Frenzy > Berserk > Annihilate > Dual Saber Throw (only when proc’d). Knock the Marauder back right after Ravage. Force Speed away from Carnage and Fury when they jump to you, and run away from Annihilation when they use the Ravage immobilization. Make sure that you watch out for all of their defensives and try not to burst into them. Cloak of Pain reduces incoming damage by 20% and deals minimal damage whenever attacked for 6 seconds, Saber Ward absorbs 25% damage for 12 seconds, Undying Rage reduces incoming damage by 99% for 4 seconds, and Obfuscate reduces the target’s accuracy by 90% for 6 seconds.Try not to burst into any of these defensives, especially not Obfuscate or Undying Rage. Don’t deal any damage into Cloak of Pain, minus your dots. Cloak of Pain refreshes whenever the target takes damage from direct attacks and can last up to 30 seconds. That means 30 seconds of minimal energy damage and 20% damage reduction. Stay within the range of 4-10 meters because they can’t leap to you, nor can they do damage to you because they are out of range. The only exceptions to this are Fury’s Obliterate, Force Scream, Devastating Blast for Carnage, Force Rend, Vicious Throw, Fury’s Force Crush, Fury’s Raging Burst, and Dual Saber Throw.

Juggernauts

Jugg is another class that is easy to counter. As is the case with maras, they don’t have enough anti-kiting abilities to utterly annihilate you. The only problem with juggs is that you have to eat right into their Enraged Defense. However, you just need to keep them away from you and keep attacking them during ED. If you do this, you won’t have a problem. Just go straight into it and don’t let it faze you and you will be fine. As is the case with maras, when the jugg jumps to you, force speed away. Watch for Saber Ward during Enrage Defense. Most Juggernauts will use Endure Pain at the very end of a fight, so just kite them around for that time period and wait out the Endure Pain, while using abilities that can be used on the move. Stay within the range of 4-10 meters because they can’t leap to you, nor can they do damage to you because they are out of range. The only exceptions to this are Rage Juggernauts with their Obliterate, Vengeance’s Hew, Vicious Throw, Rage’s Raging Burst, Saber Throw, Rage’s Force Crush, and Force Scream.

Sniper

Snipers are difficult to counter this expansion because of their heals. As was the case in 4.0, you have to kite them during their casts like Cull and Ambush. If you take Suppression, use Cloud Mind after Plasma Probe if the sniper is Engineering, during Ambush if the sniper is Marksman, or during Cull if the sniper is Virulence. Engineering is probably the most difficult spec to counter because of being unable to line of sight EMP Discharge and Explosive Probe setting off whenever you take damage. When Engineering is casting Series of Shots, you want to line of sight them IMMEDIATELY so that the cluster bombs do not go off. You absolutely do not want Engineering to get a full Series of Shots cast off on you. It’s the same with Ambush and Cull. Ambush, Cull, and Series of Shots – when paired with the cluster bombs from Explosive Probe – will take off a good chunk of your health and you want to avoid this. Typically a sniper will try to roll your Force Leech or your Demolish, so watch for that. Delay the Demolish and interrupt your Force Leech when they roll. When the sniper pops Ballistic Shield, line of sight and make sure you’re out of range so you do not get attacked while they are in their shield. Attacking a sniper with the Ballistic Shield heal utility while the sniper is in Ballistic Shield is futile. You HAVE to wait out this DCD. Try to make the Sniper waste their Entrench as well. Absolutely do not stun into Entrench. If you can watch for their defensives and prevent them from rolling your Force Leech and Demolish, you can win, despite it being very difficult.

Operatives

Operatives are, well, operatives. Kite them as much as you can and hope they don’t kill you. Interrupt their heals and watch for the roll if they are Concealment. Although sin is the hardest counter to sorcs, operatives are also very difficult to kill. It’s just easier for a sin to kill you than an operative. So yeah, kite the operative, interrupt the heals, and reapply dots when they are cleansed. Duel an operative like you would duel a sin, but more offensively. In this case, the best defense is the a strong offense. Still make sure that you heal and kite away from your Phase Walk.

Mercenaries

Okay, so sorcs are mercenary chew toys. What you want to do is take Haunted Dreams. When they pop their Kolto Overload or after you bubble, you want to CC them. After they cast Blazing Bolts, you will want to stun them for the damage reduction if you are taking Torturous Tactics and if you are taking Suppression, use Cloud Mind after that Blazing Bolts. Typically, a merc will use Heatseeker Missile and Rail Shot not long after the Blazing Bolts and you want to mitigate that damage as much as you can. You have to be very offensive when you are fighting a merc, especially if the merc is Arsenal. They have much better resource management than a Madness sorc so you can’t afford to offheal as much. This is not saying that you should be facetanking the merc. That is a death sentence. Always keep Resurgence and Static Barrier up and make sure that you don’t CC while you have dots up. Try not to do damage when Energy Shield or Responsive Safeguards are up unless you want the merc to get a heal to full. It’s going to be hard to do, but you have to focus entirely on kiting while Energy Shield is up. Now, I know I didn’t cover IO. IO is more difficult to predict. The burst that IO has is very erratic and many IO mercs do not use the same rotation which makes me firmly believe that IO is harder to counter as a sorc. I am going to base my strategy for countering IO on my IO rotation and opener. So my opener as IO is Power Surge (with the two stacks) > Serrated Shot > Incendiary Missile > Thermal Detonator > Fusion Missile > Thermal Sensors Override > Mag Shot > Power Shot > Mag Shot > Unload. This rotation maximizes the burst you get as IO. An IO merc’s most powerful burst attacks are Thermal Detonator and Mag Shot, so the main burst window will start when the first Mag Shot hits due to the new passive at level 68 causing the Thermal Detonator to explode when the target takes damage from either Mag Shot or Power Shot. If you take Torturous Tactics, I would recommend stunning right after the Incendiary Missile goes off. If you take Suppression, use Cloud Mind after the Thermal Detonator is placed on you. You will have to be fast so that the merc doesn’t get the Mag Shot or Power Shot off causing the Thermal Detonator to explode before you activate Cloud Mind.

Powertech

Kite them and make sure you mitigate the burst. If the PT was not thinking and didn’t use Hydraulics in the beginning, knock him/her back. If you take Suppression, pop it in the beginning right when the burst is about to start. You MUST mitigate the burst or else you are going to get destroyed. Just keep them away. That’s the most important thing.

Sorcerers

If you don’t know how to counter yourself, don’t expect to counter anything else. Kite the sorc and interrupt Force Leech or Force Lightning depending on the situation. If the sorc is lightning, you always want to interrupt Thundering Blast when it comes up and you can interrupt it. Typically they will use Polarity Shift with the first Thundering Blast, so knock them back. It’s the same case with Force Leech. Knock them back if you have to interrupt and they use Polarity Shift. Use your interrupt on Force Lightning, as it procs everything and is the most used ability in a Madness Sorcerer’s rotation. If you take Torturous Tactics, use Electrocute to “interrupt” the Force Leech. It will reduce the amount of damage that Force Leech does and will be very helpful. When you’re dueling a sorc, be offensive. With Madness, you will run out of force quickly if you offheal a lot. It’s okay to do that with Lightning, but you can’t do that with Madness. Only offheal when necessary. I typically don’t like to take Force Mobility against sorcs because there is really no point to it. You can kite a sorc just fine without it. If you’re feeling lazy, go ahead and take it. I just don’t find it optimal, despite not taking Force Mobility requiring more work.

Ranked Strategies

All DPS

When there are no healers, you want to focus a lot on offhealing and staying alive. You will more than likely be focused first. Your job is to stay alive and try to put out as much damage as you can while the rest of your team is killing the primary target. If you don’t end up being the first person focused, you want to focus mostly on offhealing and keeping your team alive while putting out damage. Dots should be up on all targets at all times. Recently, I was in a match against three Mercenaries and a Carnage Marauder. That is three Electro Nets along with the hindering effect from Gore. If you are in this situation, do not break the hinder effect from Gore, and try not to break the first net. Heal yourself through the first net and try to kite and keep the other team away while trying not to move more than you have to.

One Tank and Three DPS

Your job is mostly the same as when there are no healers. You kite, stay alive, and offheal. However, you can put out more damage in the match because the tank is there to mitigate damage.

Healer With or Without Tank

When you have a healer in your match, you can focus a lot more on damage. Obviously you should still offheal a bit. If you see someone about to die, pop a Resurgence and Extricate that person. Once you Extricate, cast Dark Heal as many times as you see fit. Try not to use it too many times though, for it will drain your force.

Acknowledgements

Thank Yous

I’d like to thank Baoton for getting me into Sorcerer DPS a while back, although he played Lightning and not Madness.

I’d also like to thank my guilds Imperial High Council, Asylum, Hackers of the Round Table, Wither, Elegant Edge, and Imperial Strike Force for getting me where I am.

Thank you to Saeari, Ketara, and Maoul for constantly dueling me and helping me learn how to counter other classes, especially sins.

Thank you to Safar for teaching me Madness in the beginning and getting me started on Madness.

And lastly, I’d like to thank Evalithia for helping me build on my knowledge of Madness, for helping me write this guide, and for being the number 1 hug sorc in the game. *hugs*

About Me

I am a Sorcerer main originally from Jung Ma. I initially started playing SWTOR back in beta almost six years ago now. I quit for about four years until I came back in the middle of 2015. When I started playing Sorcerer, I played Corruption, but now I main Madness and Lightning.

I did ranked in season 7 when I was on Jung Ma. I was ranked the 9th sorc and the 23rd overall player in the world for a long while (about a month) until ranked died on Jung Ma. Once ranked died on Jung Ma, I didn’t do ranked until I went to Shadowlands, where I played ranked on my operative and sniper until I transferred my sorc. I ended the season with tier 1 on my sorc. I also was tier 1 in season 4 under a name I won’t disclose. This season, I haven’t done much ranked due to the toxicity, although I have done some on my sniper. I may be getting back into ranked once I move my sorc back over to Harbinger.

You can find me on Begeren Colony under the names Emree, PHGJOYBHTYBFGOV (0236 on the first i), Ayumà (0224 on the à), Illenwè (138 on the e), and Zikà (0224 on the à), Red Eclipse under the name Emìri (0236 on the first i), Harbinger under the name Emìri (0236 on the first i), and on Ebon Hawk under the name Citrinè (138 on the e). If you would like clarification, tips on anything, or would like to duel, please feel free to message me, mail me, or hug me.

https://www.twitch.tv/emiritsuki

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcXdXFVD9k-EXHyw7doZCsw