Sourcerers are the main spellcaster users in ESO. Aside from using destructive and protective magic, they can summon creatures and weapons to aid in a battle.
When creating a new character, you’ll need to pick a race with your class, but to know which race is the best for a sorcerer, you’ll need to know what role you’ll have in the game. High Elves are best for Magicka DPS characters, while Dark Elves are best for Stamina ones. Go for Bretons if playing as a healer, and Nords for tanks.
How classes work in ESO
You can choose between seven classes —four in the base game and three from DLCs— when creating your character in Elder Scrolls Online (ESO): Dragonknight, Sorcerer, Nightblade, Templar, Warden, Necromancer, and Arcanist.
The classes are combined with the role you’ll play as in Tamriel. You can be a Sorcerer, which is a Magicka-based class but have a Stamina DPS role, for example. You can consider roleplay, your party, or just experiment with different roles.
All classes have three skill lines that allow you to choose what ultimate, active, and passive skills your character can use. The three Sorcerer skill lines are Dark Magic, Daedric Summoning, and Storm Calling.
Related: How to create a Sip of Health in The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO)
The ultimate and active skills are the attacks you can use during battle and see the animation in-game, while the passives are effects you can get after triggering a condition. As you gain experience, you can choose between two stronger versions of that skill —which is called morphing.
I recommend choosing one skill from each skill tree to handle yourself better from an early game stage. You can choose other skills later if needed and retrieve the points to redistribute them.
In this guide, we’ll explain how each Sorcerer skill works based on the game’s description.
All Sorcerer Ultimates, Active, and Passive skills in ESO
Sorcerer’s Dark Magic skill-line in ESO
Dark Magic’s Ultimate Skill
- Negate Magic: Create a globe of magic suppression, removing and preventing all enemy area of effect abilities from occurring in the area. Enemies within the globe are stunned, while enemy players will be silenced rather than stunned.
- Morphs
- Absorption Field: The same, but the globe also heals you and your allies every second.
- Suppression Field: The same, but the globe also damages enemies with Magic Damage every second.
- Morphs
Dark Magic’s active skills
- Crystal Shard: Conjure dark crystals to bombard an enemy.
- Morphs
- Crystal Fragments: The same, but it deals more damage, and while slotted casting a Health, Magicka, or Stamina ability has a 33 percent chance of causing your next Crystal Fragments to be instant, deal more damage, and cost less Magicka.
- Crystal Weapon: Encase your weapon in dark crystals for six seconds, causing your next two Light or Heavy Attacks to deal additional damage and reduce the target’s Armor. The second deals more Physical Damage than the first.
- Morphs
- Encase: Call forth Daedric shards from the earth to immobilize enemies in front of you. If no enemies are immobilized, you restore Magicka.
- Morphs
- Restraining Prison: The same, but the duration is increased, but you restore less Magicka. Hitting an enemy also increases your healing received for a couple of seconds plus an extra second per enemy in the area, up to a maximum of six enemies.
- Shattering Prison: The same, but it deals Magic Damage when the effect ends, and If no enemies are immobilized, you restore Magicka.
- Morphs
- Rune Prison: Imprison an enemy in a constricting sphere of dark magic. After a short duration, they are stunned.
- Morphs
- Defensive Rune: Place a rune of protection on yourself for two minutes. While active, the next enemy to attack you is imprisoned in a constricting sphere of dark magic, stunning them after a short delay for three seconds.
- Rune Cage: Imprison an enemy in a constricting sphere of dark magic. After a short duration they are stunned for three seconds. Deals Magic Damage if the stun lasts the full duration.
- Morphs
- Dark Exchange: Bargain with darkness to restore Health and Magicka instantly, and an additional Magicka per second. The exchange also increases your damage.
- Morphs
- Dark Conversion: The same, but restores more Health and Magicka
- Dark Deal: The same, but it restores Stamina instead of Magicka and also increases Critical Damage.
- Morphs
- Daedric Mines: Place three volatile Daedric mines around you. When a mine is triggered, it explodes, dealing damage and immobilizing the enemy.
- Morphs
- Daedric Minefield: The same, but you can place more Daedric mines, with each dealing more damage.
- Daedric Tomb: The same, but the mines can be placed at a target location, they arm instantly, and each mine deals more damage.
- Morphs
Dark Magic’s passive skills
- Unholy Knowledge: Reduces the Health, Magicka, and Stamina costs of your non-Core Combat abilities.
- Blood Magic: When you hit an enemy with a directly applied Dark Magic ability, you heal. This effect can occur once every half second and scales off your Max Health.
- Persistence: After blocking an attack, your next Health, Magicka, or Stamina ability costs less.
- Exploitation: When you cast a Dark Magic ability, you grant Minor Prophecy to you and your group, increasing your Spell Critical rating.
Related: What are the best classes in Elder Scrolls Online (ESO)?
Sorcerer’s Daedric Summoning skill-line in ESO
Daedric Summoning’s Ultimate Skill
- Summon Storm Atronach: Summon an immobile storm atronach at the target location. It deals Shock Damage and stuns enemies. The atronach zaps the closest enemy, dealing damage. An ally near tit can increase the damage done.
- Morphs
- Greater Storm Atronach: The same, but the atronach deals more damage and has more health.
- Summon Charged Atronach: The same, but the atronach’s arrival and attacks deal more damage, and enemies hit are afflicted with the Concussion status effect.
- Morphs
Daedric Summoning’s active skills
- Summon Unstable Familiar: Command the powers of Oblivion to send a Daedric familiar to fight at your side. Once summoned, you can activate the familiar’s special ability to deal damage to enemies near them.
- Morphs
- Summon Unstable Clannfear: The same, but you summon a Daedric clannfear, dealing more Physical Damage, and you can use its ability to heal both of you.
- Summon Volatile Familiar: The same, but if you summon a volatile familiar that deals more Shock Damage, and you can activate his ability to deal area damage and stun enemies.
- Morphs
- Daedric Curse: Curse an enemy with a destructive rune, dealing damage to the target and to all other nearby enemies.
- Morphs
- Daedric Prey: The same, but while the curse is active, your pets deal an additional 45 percent damage to the target.
- Haunting Curse: The same, but the curse will continue to haunt the enemy and explode a second time, dealing Magic Damage to the target and extra Magic Damage to all other nearby enemies after additional time.
- Morphs
- Summon Winged Twilight: Call on Azura to send a twilight tormentor to fight at your side. Once summoned, you can activate its special ability causing more damage to enemies above 50 percent Health.
- Morphs
- Summon Twilight Matriarch: The same, but it summons a twilight matriarch instead of a winged twilight and heals two friendly targets and itself.
- Summon Twilight Tormentor: The same, but it summons a twilight tormentor instead of a winged twilight and deals 60 percent more damage to enemies above 50 percent Health for 20 seconds.
- Morphs
- Conjured Ward: Conjure globes of Daedric energy for protection, granting a damage shield for you and your pets that absorbs damage.
- Morphs
- Hardened Ward: The same, but it absorbs more damage, and you get a higher capped value.
- Regenerative Ward: The same, but the duration is increased and increases your Magicka and Stamina Recovery.
- Morphs
- Bound Armor: Protect yourself with the power of Oblivion, creating a suit of Daedric mail that increases your block mitigation and reduces your taken damage.
- Morphs
- Bound Aegis: The same, but block mitigation is increased, damage taken is reduced for longer, and your Physical and Spell Resistance is increased.
- Bound Armaments: Arm yourself with the power of Oblivion for 40 seconds, causing your Light and Heavy Attacks to summon a Bound weapon for 10 seconds. You can reactivate the ability for half cost to arm the weapons, causing them to strike your target for Physical Damage.
- Morphs
Daedric Summoning’s passive skills
- Rebate: You restore 300 Magicka or Stamina when one of your non-Ultimate Daedric Summoning abilities ends. The resource returned is dictated by the ability’s cost.
- Power Stone: Reduces the cost of your Ultimate abilities by 15%.
- Daedric Protection: Increases your Health and Stamina Recovery by 20% while you have a Daedric Summoning ability slotted.
- Expert Summoner: Increases your Max Health by 8% while you have a Daedric Summoning ability active on yourself.
Sorcerer’s Storm Calling skill-line in ESO
Storm Calling’s Ultimate Skill
- Overload: Charge your fists with the power of the storm, replacing your Light and Heavy Attacks with new, stronger abilities. Light Attacks become lightning bolts, while Heavy Attacks blast enemies.
- Morphs
- Energy Overload: The same, but it deals more damage and also restores Magicka and Stamina.
- Power Overload: The same, but it deals more damage, Light Attacks have more range, and Heavy attacks have a larger radius.
- Morphs
Storm Calling’s active skills
- Mages’ Fury: Call down lightning to strike an enemy. If the enemy falls to or below 20 percent Health after being struck, an explosion deals additional damage to other enemies nearby.
- Morphs
- Endless Fury: The same, but if any enemy is killed within five seconds of being hit with this ability, you restore Magicka.
- Mages’ Wrath: The same, but it deals much more damage.
- Morphs
- Lightning Form: Manifest yourself as pure lightning, zapping nearby enemies with electricity. While in this form you also increase your Physical Resistance and Spell Resistance.
- Morphs
- Boundless Storm: The same, but the duration is increased and increases your Movement Speed.
- Hurricane: The same, but it deals Physical Damage instead of Shock Damage, the winds grow in damage and size, increasing up to 120 percent more damage and up to nice meters in size, and you increase your Movement Speed.
- Morphs
- Lightning Splash: Create a nexus of storm energy at the target location. An ally standing within the nexus can deal damage to enemies around them.
- Morphs
- Critical Surge: The same, but it deals more damage and the radius is increased.
- Standard of Might: The same, but the duration is increased.
- Morphs
- Surge: Invoke Meridia’s name to increase your Weapon and Spell Damage. While active, dealing Critical Damage heals you.
- Morphs
- Shifting Standard: The same, but the healing is increased.
- Standard of Might: The same, but it nows heals in an area, the cooldown is longer, and it also increases your Weapon Damage.
- Morphs
- Bolt Escape: Transform yourself into pure energy and flash forward, stunning enemies near your final location.
- Morphs
- Ball of Lightning: The same, but after reaching your location, you become immune to snare and immobilize effects for a couple of seconds. A ball of lightning is created at your end point, which intercepts a projectile attack made against you every second.
- Streak: The same, but it now deals Shock Damage to enemies in your wake and stunning them for three seconds.
- Morphs
Storm Calling’s passive skills
- Capacitor: Increases your Magicka Recovery.
- Energized: Increases your Physical and Shock Damage.
- Amplitude: Increases your damage done against enemies.
- Helping Hands: Increases your Weapon and Spell Damage for each Sorcerer ability slotted.