Starting a Sorcerer

(This page was last updated on September 19, 2020.)

Introduction
The Sorcerer is the go-get'em, blast with everything I've got, annihilate everything as soon as you can see it nuker of spellcasting. Their spell point pool is large enough to throw tons of powerful spells before needing to rest, and to afford making those spells even stronger via metamagics. Sorcerers are known for dealing crazy amounts of damage all at once and as fast as possible. Be warned: unless you run really challenging content, the melee players may start to dislike you as you frequently wipe an entire room of enemies before your party’s barbarian even gets a chance to attack once!

Sorcerer vs Wizard
A Sorcerer is one of the two classes known mainly for arcane spellcasting in DDO, the other being Wizard. The two classes share some similarities such as the master list of available spells, but there are a few key differences:
 * A Sorcerer learns spells instinctively, unlike Wizards who learn by studying. A Sorcerer can only swap one known spell every 3 (real world) days, but a wizard can choose different spells to prepare at any time they are in a tavern or even during quests at rest shrines.
 * A Sorcerer's spells are powered by her Charisma, not Intelligence.
 * A Sorcerer has a larger pool of spell points than a wizard, lower cooldown on her spells (i.e. a smaller time before you can cast the spell again), and shorter casting time similar to the feat Quicken (i.e. a smaller time between when you start casting a spell and when you finish casting the spell).

Is Sorcerer Right For Me?
The best way to find out is to get in game and try it out! The defining feature of sorcerer is doing tons of damage using your spells, and while the selection and damage of your spells gets bigger over time, the fundamental playstyle doesn’t change all that much. Even right off the bat at level 1 you’ll be doing tons of damage. For a quick build and more helpful info about DDO spellcasting, see Building a Spellcaster. (As a Sorcerer, your spellcasting ability is Charisma.)

The main things that players do as successful Sorcerers are: If doing these things sounds like a blast to you, then you should definitely give Sorcerer a try!
 * Spam your strongest spells, casting them as often as you can whenever there is an enemy in sight.
 * Crowd-Control enemies (Sorcerer is not the best class for this, but can do it decently well).
 * Manage your spellpoints by choosing which spells to use, and when to use them.
 * Gear up! Find items which boost your spellcasting in various ways.
 * Avoid taking damage, usually by staying out of reach of enemies whenever possible.

Some things that Sorcerers generally will not excel at: If you really wanted to do some of these things, then it is possible sorcerer is not for you. Usually Sorcerers don’t even wear any armor, due to the Arcane Spell Failure chance when armor or shields are equipped.
 * Dealing damage via weapons, be it melee or ranged weapons.
 * Healing allies (unless the target, possibly yourself, is of the Warforged or Bladeforged race).
 * Standing in melee range of enemies for any sustained period of time.
 * Taking many hits from enemies and shrugging them off like they are nothing; being generally tanky.

Possible alternatives:
 * If you were looking for a spellcasting character that can take a beating and retaliate in kind, you will probably want to have a look at playing a Wizard and focusing on the Eldritch Knight enhancement tree to boost your damage and let you wear armor without penalty, and the Pale Master enhancements to let you heal yourself (by taking an undead form and casting negative energy spells).
 * If you like the idea of spellcasting but want to be able to heal people, have a look at Cleric (see also: Starting a Cleric), Bard (see also: Starting a Bard), or Favored Soul (see also: Starting a Favored Soul).
 * If you realize you don’t like the idea of spellcasting anymore, you’ll have to take a look through your other options and see what sounds best.

Spellcasting
The spellcasting guide has been generalized and moved to Starting a Spellcaster. If any of the terms on this page seem unfamiliar, or you want to know more about spellcasting in DDO, that page is a great place to start.

General Pointers
Here are some things to keep in mind while making or playing your sorcerer, or other tips that could be very helpful.

Things to look out for

 * Your Charisma fuels your spells. It dictates how hard your spells are to resist (their DCs) and how many bonus Spell Points (SP) you get. Try to get your charisma as high as possible!


 * Boost your Spellpower in as many ways as possible, especially for your preferred element[s]. This is your primary way of maximizing your dps (and thus effectiveness) as a sorcerer.  Spellpower boosts are typically found on weapons (aka "caster sticks" if you aren't beating mobs with them), orbs, and sometimes rings.  Note that these boosts typically are element specific (glaciation, combustion, magnetism, and erosion) although potency items (boosts everything) also exist (and provide less specific boost.  And they don't stack).  Spellpower is also increased by feats such as Maximize (150% boost) and Empower (75% boost).  Be warned that both of these are typically to expensive in SP to apply to your spells, but SLAs can be boosted for free. The Borderlands (paid content) has a crafter, Morten_Edgewright who will craft weapons (the caster sticks are more useful than most of the other weapons) from easily found items in the Borderlands (you should find plenty farming feathers for a horse, but also a few in the quests).  Also the Borderlands quests include orbs and rings for each element.  IMPORTANT.  In general, spellpower from different items doesn't stack (unless it mentions a specific "insightful", "quality", artifact" bonus, in which it won't stack with others of the same bonus).  Feat bonuses stack unless  specifically mentioned otherwise.


 * Try to improve your defenses. Generally it is tough for a sorcerer to get a high armor class, but you can still try to gain defenses other ways.
 * Look for items which give Constitution, False Life, PRR and MRR, Ghostly, or otherwise improve your defenses and damage mitigation.
 * Look for Spells which improve your defenses, such as Blur, Displacement, Resist Energy or Fire Shield.


 * Look for spells which do not allow enemies to make saving throws. Examples include Flaming Bolt, Shocking Grasp, Scorching Ray, Polar Ray, Power Word: Stun. Especially when you are a new player, it is very useful to have spells which are guaranteed to deal damage. Most damaging spells give enemies a chance to make a reflex save to avoid half the spell’s damage, however many enemies have Evasion which means they take 0 damage instead of half damage if they succeed. Having spells which are guaranteed to deal damage means you can still kill these enemies eventually, even if they are consistently succeeding on their saving throws otherwise. Also know your enemy and know yourself:  Many enemies have specific weakness and can't make a saving throw regardless of how bad your DCs are.  Often casters can't make fortitude and reflex saves (but will make every will save you throw at them) while ogres have hilariously bad will saves (let the cleric put them in timeout).


 * Improve your DCs. As mentioned, improving your Charisma helps land your spells.  The two best ways for a new player to increase this are joining a guild (with a guildship, and going to said ship and getting the bonuses) and drinking a potion of Eagle's splendor.  Fairly early bonuses for guildships include +2 to charisma and a further +1 to spell DCs.  This will stack with potion's benefit (but the potion/spell/wand effect won't stack with any "charisma gear").  At third level you can buy wands in the Marketplace which should be cheaper (per cast) than potions.  Hopefully you will find a +4 charisma item (or better) before it runs out.  At low levels you might find +1 (or more) items that improve your evocation DCs, grab them.  At higher levels, named gear will be your primary means of increasing DCs.  Other means of improving DCs are feats.

Metamagics
Some of the strongest feats for spellcasters are Metamagics. These toggle-able abilities will augment your spells in various ways, greatly improving their effectiveness. Additionally, you can use them on "Spell Like Abilities" for free (see the tip a few points down for more info).


 * You can toggle metamagics for all your spells at once by going into your character sheet, on the feat tab, finding and dragging the metamagic icon into a hotbar, then clicking the icon to toggle it on or off. Just remember to turn this off again after your boss fight or you can suddenly be low on SP early in the next quest.
 * You can toggle metamagics on a spell-by-spell basis by dragging the spell (or spell-like ability) into a hotbar and right clicking the icon in your hotbar. You should include every metamagic feat you can onto each SLA, but be careful about adding additional cost to each spell.
 * One tip is to make a “panic” version of your most powerful spell, and a “spell-point conservation” version. For the “panic” version, set all metamagics to “always on”, and for the spell point conservation version set all metamagics to “always off”. Now, when you are in a dangerous fight you can use the powered-up version of the spell, but for less dangerous situations you can use the normal spell without any extra cost.

Spell-Like Abilities
Some enhancements give you spell-like-abilities (“SLAs”). These are abilities you can activate in order to produce the effect of a spell, however they go on a different cooldown from the same-named spell. Spend points to get the enhancement, then go to your character sheet then enhancements, find the ability, then drag it into a hotbar.


 * Any applicable metamagics can be applied to SLAs at no additional cost. This makes SLAs especially useful when trying to conserve spell points but still do a good amount of damage. Make sure to right click the SLA in your hotbar and set all possible metamagics to “always on” for that ability, since it’s free!
 * For example, if you get the Burning Hands SLA and the feat Maximize, you should set Maximize to “always on” and then you will effectively have 150 more spellpower each time you use this SLA. This is a great way to deal a ton of damage especially at early levels.
 * The cooldown on an SLA is entirely separate from the cooldown for any spells with the same name, if applicable. The two abilities are treated as entirely separate. For example, the SLA for Burning Hands in the Fire Savant enhancements tree is treated as entirely separate from the Burning Hands spell, so the two could be used in quick succession if desired.
 * If you ever drag a weaker version of an SLA into a hotbar and then upgrade the SLA (by spending more action points (APs) on it), make sure you drag the new version of the SLA into a hotbar and remove the old version. The cost and cooldown are not updated automatically when you spend more APs; you must fully remove the old version and drag in the new version.

Dealing with Enemies’ Attention
Enemies (if any survive your initial onslaught) may tend to target you due to the insane amounts of damage you are dealing. To deal with this, you have a few options:


 * Put extra distance between them and you. Commonly this is done by running backwards while continuing to launch spells at enemies in front of you; this is known as "kiting". Another possibility is to use a movement ability such as Wind Dance, which can be very effective for getting out of dangerous situations.
 * CC ("crowd control") enemies. Typically wizards are much better at CC because they can get higher DCs on their spells thanks to different enhancement trees with DC-boosting options, and the bonus feats wizards get while leveling up. But, sorcerers still have a few spells that can be effective (such as sonic blast and greater shout) that are evocation spells (the school sorcerers most often specialize in). Focusing in enchantment spells instead of evocation would also work wonders in keeping the mobs off of you while you fight, however most new players will find an evocation-focused sorcerer to be more fun. At higher levels, you also get a few crowd control options which do not even allow enemies to make a saving throw, making them very valuable. Examples include: Otto's Irresistible Dance, Power Word: Stun, and even Tsunami much later in the game.
 * One (mostly outdated) tactic is to cast a damage-over-time spell such as Firewall, then equip a tower shield (no proficiency needed if you aren't attacking while using it) and block with it while your spell kills enemies over time. However, sorcerers are mainly known for how powerful they are and for being able to one-shot entire groups of enemies, so many players will find that waiting for firewall's damage-over-time takes too long, and will prefer to just use spells which cause instantaneous damage. Additionally, while a tower shield will increase your defenses, at higher tiers of play even that will likely not be enough for you to take many attacks from enemies, at which point your best bet is to stay mobile and avoid getting attacked at all.

Attributes
Primary
 * Charisma is the most important ability for a Sorcerer, because it affects a Sorcerer's spellcasting. Higher Charisma leads to higher spell point totals and higher DCs for the spells you cast, which means you can cast more spells and your spells will be harder for enemies to resist. Sorcerers should always max their charisma.

Secondary
 * Constitution is always helpful for any character. More Constitution (“CON”) means more hit points, especially at later levels; for every two more constitution, you will get 1 more health point per player level. (For example, if you have 14 CON you will have 1 less hit point at level 1 than if you had 16 CON; and at level 30 would have 30 less hit points). Constitution should probably be your second highest stat, but due to the abundance of health-boosting items (and reaper tree enhancements, when applicable) a difference of 1 hit point per level is hardly noticeable nowadays so don’t feel too bad if you want to lower this stat by just a bit.

Tertiary
 * Intelligence affects a sorcerer’s skill points. You will want an intelligence of at least 12, or 10 if you are a human. Here is why: sorcerers should max Spellcraft, Concentration, and Use Magic Device. Warforged may want Repair as it boosts repair spellpower.  Use Magic Device will be important later in the game; for now you should max it and accept that eventually you will learn and understand why it is so useful, but it will take a bit of playing before you start to use this skill. Based on the number of skill points you would have as a Sorcerer, you need an intelligence of 12 to max 3 skills as you level, or intelligence of 10 if you are a human since humans get 1 free skill point each level. See below for more info about which skills are relevant for sorcerer, or see the skill point page for more info about how intelligence and skills are related.  Spot and Balance are also useful skills, but likely only available by items for new sorcerers (don't sacrifice constitution for them).  Consider taking them after a TR (or two) and possibly an intelligence tome (you might get one by dropping the "extra" two points from a human or drow in intelligence).
 * Strength is relatively useless unless you are a melee sorcerer focusing on the Eldritch Knight enhancements tree. Some people like to dump any extra build points into strength in order to increase your carrying capacity (total combined weight of items you can have in your pack before you get encumbered or burdened which makes your speed drop) and to reduce the inconvenience of any strength-reducing abilities (which exist at early levels but become quite uncommon after level 5 or so, in all but a few quests).


 * Dexterity is relatively useless unless you are a weapon-using sorcerer using some type of weapon where you can get Dexterity to hit and damage. You should probably put 0 points in Dexterity.


 * Wisdom is relatively useless for a sorcerer. You should probably put 0 points in wisdom.

Race
Generally, any race will do. You will be able to be extremely successful regardless of your choice; to casters, the differences between races are mostly minor.

If you really want to optimize here, look for a race that boosts your spellcasting ability modifier, or gives you other relevant goodies (such as Human which gives an extra Feat). If you want to pick a race that is "sub-optimal" for any reason (perhaps to emulate your PnP Dwarf Sorcerer, for example), feel free to do it – it won't make a huge difference, especially long-term. (It will make a difference, but new players already have enough to worry about learning, so only worry about choosing an "optimal" race if you want to.)

That said, if you own Warforged, playing that race will allow you to heal yourself, thus overcoming one of a Sorcerer’s biggest weaknesses, and possibly making for a much more pleasant experience. If you don’t own warforged do not fear, you will just need to be extra careful about avoiding damage and also spend some extra time figuring out how to heal yourself (e.g. get potions, a Cleric friend, or summon a Hireling to heal you).

Feats
Sorcerers get no bonus feats in DDO. At level 20 they will have 7 Feats in total. (8 for Humans). At level 29 they will get 3 additional epic feats. And at 30, one legendary (as of this writing, levels 31 and 32 are delayed).

Feats sorcerers will find useful include (somewhat in order of importance):
 * Must Take tier: Take them as soon as available
 * Maximize Spell - Metamagic which increases spellpower by 150 at a cost of 25 SP per spell.
 * Heighten Spell - Metamagic which allows you to cast all spells at your highest spell level. So if you cast a level 1 spell like Niac's Cold Ray and you can cast level 5 spells, your spell DC will be 10 + 5(spell level) + (spell focus feats) + (charisma modifier) instead of 10 + 1(spell level) + (spell focus feats) + (charisma modifier). Note that this metamagic affects spell DCs only; spell damage is unaffected.
 * Quicken Spell - Metamagic which reduces the casting time (the time between when you click to use the spell and when your character finishes casting the spell you just clicked) of spells, for extra 10 SP per spell. This is mainly recommended for use with SLAs (since it costs nothing extra to apply metamagics to SLAs) and with spells with a long casting time such as Otto's Sphere of Dancing.
 * Nearly must take, but take the above if available first
 * Empower Spell - Metamagic which is like maximize, but increases spellpower by 75 for 15 SP.
 * Past Life: Arcane Initiate, Completionist While completionist is a mind-boggling journey which should only be started for the journey's sake and not the reward, a single wizard past life will improve any caster, and something to think about after leveling your sorcerer. Don't expect to have either available for a new sorcerer, but they go here (or possibly above empower).
 * Filler feats, for when you can't take the above:
 * Spell Focus {School of your Choice} - Passive feat which increases DC by 1 for spells from the chosen school of magic. Note that acid savants tend to focus in conjuration, other savants tend toward evocation (and most "sorcerer gear" helps evocation, making acid savant often the least powerful choice).  Also consider taking Spell focus Enchantment to keep mobs from killing you and your party.  Note that Past Life: Arcane Initiate gives +1 to *every* spell school, making it a much better feat (not to mention that the wizard past life needed to qualify auto-grants you +2 spell penetration).
 * Greater Spell Focus {School of your Choice} effectively lets you take the above feat a second time.
 * Spell Penetration (feat) - Helps some spells hit enemies with Spell Resistance. Most damage-dealing spells do not even consider the enemy’s spell resistance, however when casting a spell related to crowd control you usually need to pass a Spell Penetration check for each enemy or the spell will not have any effect.
 * Greater Spell Penetration (feat) - Effectively allows taking the above again and allows Epic Spell Penetration (+4, as much as the previous two feats put together).
 * Alternative feats, that you might want instead of the above (although they typically aren't as good).
 * Toughness - A few more hit points. Typically taken with taking Epic Toughness later, which requires an inherent 21 constitution (i.e. only through starting points, level ups (which should all go into charisma), and tomes).
 * Enlarge Spell - Metamagic which increases the range of spells, for 10 extra SP per spell. Note that this often lets you attack mobs with ray spells far enough away they can't get agro (even if they could get to you fast enough), so it has some value.  Still, it belongs more on a wizard build than on the few feats a sorcerer has.  IMPORTANT: in tabletop play, "enlarge" increases the spell area.  In DDO it doesn't (just the range).  This makes it far less useful than tabletop players might expect.
 * Trap feats, feats new casters shouldn't take.
 * Mental Toughness Increases spell point maximum and gives +1% critical chance for spells. While the extra spell points look enticing for new players, simply learning to effectively use spells (which the other feats will improve) is much better. Load up your SLAs with metamagic and use them first and whenever they are off cooldown.  Also sonic blast (without any metamagic) is extremely SP-efficient.  It shows up in recommended builds, presumably for the absolute maximally geared players who have zero need for any more DCs, but want that extra .5% (assuming 50% crit chance before it, which is *very* low for "maximally geared" characters) damage thanks to crits.
 * Extend Spell - Metamagic which increases the duration of your buff spells, for 10 extra SP per spell. (E.g. cannot affect Firewall, but can affect Displacement or Fire Shield.) Even wizards rarely take it now.
 * Epic Feats (which can only be taken after level 20)
 * Wellspring of Power should be taken at level 21. Allows a significant boost of spellpower for 30 seconds, with a 3 minute cooldown.  Your Draconic Incarnation tree should include ways to increase this further.
 * Arcane Insight is an alternative that does the same thing but for DCs (at level 21). Consider taking this later if you don't like the available options.
 * Master of Fire (or element of your choice) - (not available until level 24). A significant bump to your SLAs, but a somewhat underwhelming "epic" feat.
 * Burst of Glacial Wrath (not available until level 24) makes the spell of that name available. I think there are new ones for other elements, but the wiki doesn't have them.  Typically only used for the "freeze effect" that requires a DC check, this is an option for ice savants.
 * Intensify Spell (not available until level 24) an "epic" copy of empower spell, which you probably (if you are human) took at level 1. Of course it does stack and empower is nearly "S tier", so there is that.
 * Embolden Spell (not available until level 24) a metamagic that adds +2 DC to your spells, at a cost of adding 10 SP to the spell.
 * Ruin (not available until level 27) a new spell that does 500 hp damage (untyped), no saving throw. While that sounds good, and while the "untyped" means that there is nothing immune to it, it only scales with force spellpower (and metamagic feats).  Also costs 75 SP.
 * Greater Ruin (not available until level 30) a new spell that does 1000 hp damage (untyped), no saving throw, for 150 SP. Requires Ruin.
 * Other Epic feats (for sorcerers)
 * Epic Spell Penetration (feat) adds +4 to your spell penetration. Requires both Spell Pen and Greater Spell Pen, so a significant cost for a single (rarely needed) boost.
 * Epic Spell Focus {School of your Choice} for those who can't get enough of this feat and want to take it a third time (Epic Destiny trees should give you more ways to get DCs). Not that all the epic feats above are necessarily better.
 * Epic toughness: 50 hit points. Requires toughness and 21 Constitution (see toughness for more details).
 * Epic mental toughness. 200 SP, stacking 1% critical chance. Requires both mental toughness (155 points by level 30) and improved mental toughness (155 points by level 30) so flushing down three feats for less than a 2% increase in damage (thanks to 3% crit increase) and 510 SP, or about half of what you can expect from an  epic ring of spell storing, now vastly easier to obtain after update 53.  And at level 30 (as in when you'd finally get all 510 SP), you can also relatively easily get a legendary ring of spell storing which will grant you 2-3 times the spell power.  They don't even require finding room in your gear: just swap rings, click to grab 100-600 SP, then swap back.  I can't even recommend these feats on a wizard.  Still, everything outside of the "must take" feats for a sorcerer can be so meh that end game players might take this for that little extra boost.  But don't even think of taking without all the past lives and all the gear.
 * Legendary Feats:
 * scion of the plane of fire (or your favorite element) (not available until level 30). Finally a legendary feat, don't take anything below 30 for this slot.
 * that's all folks, although expect more as the cap rises.

Skills
Many skills can be useful to a Sorcerer, under the right circumstances. Here are the relevant skills in order of importance for a sorcerer:
 * Spellcraft increases the damage your spells do. Max it first. Increases spellpower by one point per point of spellcraft on most spells.
 * Concentration is highly useful. If you take damage while casting, you roll a Concentration check. If you succeed, the spell is cast. Failure means you used the spell points but the spell did not come into effect. Concentration is important enough that it is worth putting skill points into, but because of the formula for determining your success or failure, once you have a “decently high” concentration it really doesn’t make a huge difference to increase it more. Don’t worry too much about looking for items which improve this skill. Sidenote: a spell cast with Quicken Spell cannot be interrupted, making concentration irrelevant for that casting.
 * Use Magic Device allows the sorcerer to use scrolls and wands made for Divine casters such as Paladins and Clerics. This is almost must-have for fleshy races in order to heal via Divine wands and scrolls. Later on you will even be able to use scrolls to raise your allies from the dead, if your Use Magic Device skill is high enough! For the first few levels, don’t worry much about what this skill actually does, but just keep it as high as you can. Later on you will learn more about why it is so useful and how to use it.
 * Tumble is worth putting one full rank into, as this will let your character do a roll when you hold block (default: Shift key) then try to move. One full rank means two skill points for a sorcerer, since tumble is not a “class skill” for you (don’t worry about what this means yet if you don’t already know). Don’t put more than two points into tumble.
 * Spot While any character would like to know when they are about to step in a trap, a sorcerer's primary reason for wanting spot is to see (and blast) hidden mobs before they close and attack. Any ranged (and sorcerers are ranged casters) will find spot extremely useful.
 * Balance allows a character to get up faster after she's been knocked down in combat. Since preventing the knockdown requires either high Strength, high Dexterity, or the divine spell Freedom of Movement, investing in this skill can help you to stand back up sooner after some creature does knock you down.
 * Bluff or Diplomacy can allow your character to convince certain Non Player Characters to do something for you, give you some information, or otherwise make it easier to make progress in a quest. These skills are rarely useful, but when they are useful, they can sometimes save significant amounts of time or effort. Having multiple social skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate) is generally unnecessary, and it is much better to have one very-high social skill than to split points between them.
 * Repair increases the spellpower of repair spells. Never taken by fleshlings
 * Perform increases the spellpower of sonic spells. I don't care how overpowered sonic blast is, it isn't worth taking this skill (unless you are doing some sort of meme build).
 * Haggle will allow you to purchase supplies at slightly lower prices and will improve the price you get for items you sell to vendors. It is not important nor useful in combat, but it can be nice to make more money faster. If you still have enough skill points to get to this point on the list, you could put some points in haggle, but you also probably put too many points in intelligence and not enough in charisma / constitution when choosing your stats. Roll up a bard (preferably on the  same account) to do your haggling if it is that  important to you.

Enhancements
Sorcerers have access to 4 elemental trees (air, earth, fire, water) and one melee/force tree, Eldritch Knight. Placing points into elemental savant trees also lock out access to the opposing tree: fire and water oppose each other and air and earth oppose each other. The savant trees themselves each focus on a specific element. Fire Savants focus almost entirely on purely destructive spells in both area and single-target form. Air Savants gain a special jump-like ability and tend to be the most rewarding of the savant trees in terms of raw damage, provided you keep up with your evocation DC's. Water Savants tend to have the highest single-target damage, and provide useful movement and attack speed debuffs to targets of your cold spells. Earth Savants focus on acid spells, gain a small bonus to their defenses, and tend to focus more on persistent area-of-effect and damage-over-time spells (also remember that unlike other sorcerer spells, acid spells are in the conjuration school, which often forces a sorcerer to specialize in one or the other.

Most commonly, sorcerers invest in one or two of the elemental trees. Especially early on, it is recommended to try to get many SLAs (Spell Like Abilities) from the trees you invest in. These SLAs have minimal cost, and metamagics can be applied for free (see more info in General Pointers above). Sometimes it is also nice to put some extra points in the Eldritch Knight tree to improve your defenses and slightly improve your spell power.

Generally the cost to reset your enhancements is a very small amount of platinum (which increases a bit each time you reset your enhancements, but decreases over time), so don’t be afraid to spend some points in a tree to try something out, since you can reset it quite easily if you change your mind. One thing Stimtom suggests in his "introduction to sorcerer" video is that you want two savant trees (the most you can have) running while leveling. This allows you to use the other tree on mobs immune to one. Once you hit level 20 and can take elemental form, you can then drop one of the trees and switch to EK (and wear medium armor).

I have to recommend all fleshling (i.e. anyone not warforged) start in water (ice) for at least levels 1-3. The reason is that Niac's cold ray scales with caster level (and unlike sonic blast, scales with both the Apprentice's Robe and water savant core enhancements (the bottom row). So it does 3d5+15 at first level, 4d4+20 at second, and maxes out at 5d5+25 at third.  Take the core enhancement and the niacs SLA three times (you might need to move the "new improved" SLA down to your toolbar each time you take it for the faster cooldown, other enhancements work that way).   Then put maximize (and empower, if you have it) for a wildly overpowered first level spell (with a significant cooldown).  During second level, try taking electric enhancement options (which should help sonic blast) and sometime around 4-5th level consider swapping water with fire (and swapping out niacs at a trainer).

If you want to keep water, you'll have issues getting niacs to stick, especially as it is a conjuration spell. Fortunately, once you get heighten, you can add that for free to the SLA. Stimtom loves leveling water sorcerers, but I'd recommend savant trees with stronger SLAs for new players.

Tieflings will likely move into the fire tree and stay there (although I'd recommend putting plenty of points in electric until 20).

Multiclass Options
Usually it is ill-advised for Sorcerer to multiclass, because it will reduce your caster level (and therefore reduce the damage you deal with spells) and delay your access to the stronger, higher–level spells. If you really feel the need to multiclass, there are some “reasonable, but cheeky” two-level dip options:
 * Sorcerer 18 / Barbarian 2. The two levels of barbarian give you access to +10% movement speed and for the cost of 8 AP you also get Blood Tribute, which helps alleviate your lack of defenses as a sorcerer, granting a spam-able 150 temporary hit points. For another 3 AP you also get Sprint, letting you run through quests even faster.


 * Sorcerer 18 / Favored Soul 2. The two levels of favored soul gives you access to Close Wounds SLA, which gives some spammable healing. However, it is not nearly as strong as when playing a pure Favored Soul, because you don’t have as much positive spellpower, positive critical chance, and you also would be casting it at caster level 2 instead of its max caster level, 5.

There may be other alternatives, but hopefully you are getting the idea; it is much simpler to remain as a pure Sorcerer, and it is unclear whether the benefits from multiclassing would actually outweigh the costs. One more note: if you might play through epics (from level 20 to level 30), the capstone enhancement for Sorcerers makes all their spells of a single element strip all enemy immunity and resistance to that element. This makes for a much easier epic experience, as you can finally fully focus on one element and be able to damage any groups of enemies you come across.

Sample build (Outdated - Needs Update)
Race: Human

Ability Scores

 * Str: 8 (0 build points)You won't be winning arm-wrestling contests, but still make sure to have some sort of strength item so you will be able to continue casting after a spell-caster hits you with a Ray of Enfeeblement.This may be too low  and may have to leave loot behind because you are too weak to carry it.
 * Dex: 8 (0 build points) Luckily DDO won't penalize (or even show) you for tripping over your own feet. Your AC doesn't matter at all after somewhere after level 5.
 * Con: 16 (10 build points) You won't be trading punches with minotaurs in Stormcleave, but you will have enough hit points most creatures won't be able to kill you in one hit. While you might drop this down to 14 and split the points between strength and intelligence, never dump this stat.
 * Int: 10 (2 build points) You are still pretty dumb, but smarter than the Half-orc (your charisma score will make everyone overlook this). You need enough intelligence to max spellcraft, repair for Warforged/Bladeforged, and use magic device.  Everything else can wait for a tome.
 * Wis: 8 (0 build points) You won't be mediating a peace settlement in the middle east, but still make sure to have some sort of wisdom item for your Will save.
 * Cha: 18 (16 build points) You will be suave, debonaire, and confident. You will have as many spell points as it is possible to have at the start of the game, and your save DCs will be as high as they can be.

Skills

 * Concentration - You need a high Concentration to cast spells while under fire.
 * Spellcraft increases your Spell Power, making your spells deal more damage.
 * Use Magic Device - Use Magic Device will allow you to use magic items built for other races or alignments. You can use arcane scrolls and wands without this skill, but it comes in handy for self-healing and certain items later in the game.

Feats

 * At first level, Maximize for more firepower mostly to power your SLA´s (note you are unlikely to turn either on normal spells till 6th level).
 * Human bonus feat (at first level) Empower Spell just like Maximize, only less expensive.
 * At third level, Spell Focus evocation for fire savant later, for Earth savant you will want to take it in conjuration (Niac's is a conjuration spell and the only save that matters for your first few levels).
 * At sixth level, Heighten make your DCs higher.
 * At ninth level,Quicken - Sorcerers cast fast but you can't rely only in that at high levels. Note that if your concentration is high enough, you shouldn't have to use this often.
 * At twelfth level, Spell focus Enchantment. At some point you have to keep the mobs off your back while they die.  This should help some cc spells land.
 * At fifteenth and eighteenth level, Greater Spell Focus Evocation, Greater Spell Focus Enchantment - there are many feats you can take here and you will have a good idea how they work by level, 18 or Spell Penetration (and later maybe even Greater Spell Penetration or Epic Spell Penetration more, more, more spells must land! (although these two aren't typically kept after level 26)).

Enhancements

 * Your first enhancement should be to start the water or fire savant line. Starting with the water line will increase the damage of your Niac's Cold Ray by 50% (note that if you are wearing your Apprentice's Robe, you won't get a similar effect from taking the next level as you will have already capped Niac's damage at 5 caster levels), or unlocking fire line will boost your fire spells.
 * The next three enhancements should be to take Niac's Cold Ray or Burning Hands as an SLA. Even if you have this as a spell (and you should), the overpowering damage and ultra-cheap SP cost will make this your best spell (when it is off cooldown). Both  Niac's cold ray and Burning Hands can do great damage if you Maximize and Empower them, drag the spell from the enhancement tab on your character sheet onto your main toolbar and right click to select "maximize: always on" and "empower: always on".
 * Your next goal is to add as many SLAs as possible.  The acid line mixes well with water (unlike fire) and gives a great SLA in Acid Spray.  Do the same thing as in water, except in acid.
 * You won't be able to get any more SLAs (unless you want to play tricks with opposing schools) until 4th level, so look for anything that looks good. Increasing charisma, healing amplification, and (temporary) spell power boosts all look good for human sorcerers.
 * I recommend switching to fire savant at 5th or 6th level (with two levels of fire savant you can get your second ray of Scorching Ray, with 6th level comes Fireball). Fire still works well with acid, but not so well with ice.  At 12th level, the chance to spam unlimited maximized & empowered fireballs is irresistible (although acid might even work better, especially if you have patience for Melf's Acid Arrow).
 * Eventually, most of the options balance out, and you can move into any option. I still recommend the above for early levels.  I'd also recommend having at least two elements with plenty of points spent, as there will always be mobs immune to your best spells.  If you have patience and like your niac's, keeping acid and water is a strong contender.  Most things that fire does can be done  with acid, the main difference being that acid arrow is DoT while scorch/scorching rays are instant (scorch has a slight area effect).
 * Note that most acid spells are conjurations and most of the other elements are evocations. If you want both acid and another line, you cannot expect feats/enhancements/items to work on both.  Personally, I find both the knockdown immunity and winddancer enhancements of the air line irresistible (and plays well with either fire or ice).

Spells
Pick a few of these, and if you find that one is less useful than you thought it might be, go back to the trainer and pay a small fee to replace the spell with another one. See also full list.

Level 1 spells: Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Jump, Magic Missile, Niac's Cold Ray, Repair Light Damage, Sleep, Sonic Blast Level 2 spells: Blur, Bull's Strength, Glitterdust, Knock, Otto's Resistible Dance, Resist Energy, Scorching Ray, Web Melf's acid arrow Level 3 spells: Displacement, Fireball, Halt Undead, Haste, Heroism, Hold Person, Lightning Bolt, Frost Lance, Rage
 * Niac's Cold Ray should be your go-to spell at lower levels. Fleshlings will love what the robe of the appretice does for it (increases caster level, doubling the power at first level).  Take water (ice) enhancements to increase its power and then get the spell as an SLA (and put it as a separate item on your button bar with "always maximized" and "always empowered" turned on by right clicking the spell).  Keep this up until at least 4th level or so (by 6th level you will likely switch to fire specialization).  Much less important to warforged.
 * Sonic Blast It is has been buffed enormously and quickly scales to a first level powerhouse (note that neither the Apprentice's Robe nor electric savant core enhancements seem to increase caster level for this spell, so that its power won't be immediately obvious). As an evocation spell with a will saving throw to avoid stuns, if you hit a big dumb brute (like an ogre) with it, it will stop and do nothing for a few precious seconds.  Since this is an area of attack spell, it will stop even groups of brutes and let you hit them with things like acid spray or burning hands.  It is also the best barrel breaking spell in the game, so it is sometimes worth slotting just for the xp bonus you get that way.  Top trick, set this to "maximize: always off" to avoid paying extra for the minimal damage it does, and possibly have a separate button with heighten and other metamagics (preferably with "efficient metamagic" reduced costs) for more critical combat.
 * Repair Light Damage will let warforged sorcerers heal themselves. Long-time players with huge plat reserves prefer buying potions (hint, try the tower of the twelve), but starting WF players will love RLD. Warforged should take this and sonic blast first, and consider Naics for second level, if at all.
 * Acid Spray and Burning Hands are okay offensive spells when starting. Burning hands is better on Korthos (i.e. take it first) since it does extra damage on the ice spiders and ice flenser, and they are immune to niac's cold ray. Swap it for Acid spray (at any sorcerer trainer) when you leave korthos (or have just too many levels in ice savant) as the slimes in the harbor are immune to both fire and ice, but can be killed with acid.
 * Master's Touch is mostly obsolete these days, although warforged should carry some type of weapon at first level when sonic blast isn't getting the job done.
 * Some other spells to enjoy at higher levels:
 * Jump at 9th level it will nearly max out you jump score on its own (30 points out of a maximum 40), and by that point you aren't using many first level spells for damage
 * Scorching Ray becomes more powerful if you can get your caster level (for fire spells) up to 7; you will probably want it at level 5 (with two core levels of fire savant to get you to the magic 7th CL mark).
 * Web One of the most popular CC spells for sorcerers, even better for Acid-based sorcs (it's a conj spell). Warning: fire spells will often burn the web away.  Use ice storm or acid rain instead.
 * Resist Energy is needed if you don't have guild resists and can't afford the +20 potions in the twelve. Eventually (at 11th level or so) take it anyway to give full protection.
 * Fireball This spell is enough to switch you from a water savant to fire savant (Scorching ray is icing on the cake). Take it at 6th, adjust your enhancements and go burn down the dungeons until you get to Lamannia.
 * Note that the party will likely ask for an occasional haste and rage.  It is important, but don't focus all your power and spell points there.

Level 4 spells: Charm Monster, Dimension Door, Enervation, Force Missiles, Phantasmal Killer, Remove Curse, Solid Fog, Stoneskin, Fire Shield
 * It has been nerfed several times, but expect Wall of Fire to be your preferred spell as long as you are not a water savant.

Level 5 spells: Ball Lightning, Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Hold Monster, Eladar's Electric Surge, Niac's Biting Cold

Level 6 spells: Acid Fog, Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone, Greater Heroism, Shadow Walk, True Seeing, Reconstruct
 * Reconstruct is the reason you see so many warforged sorcerers. Quickened reconstruct on your toolbar makes nearly any death avoidable.
 * Chain Lightning is one of the first really strong AOE spells in DDO.

Level 7 spells: Delayed Blast Fireball, Finger of Death, Hold Person, Mass, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Waves of Exhaustion
 * Otto's Sphere of Dancing is a great way to keep mobs from killing you and your party, and one of the reasons for the spell focus: enchantment feat.
 * Delayed blast fireball is an overwhelming edition of fireball, and typically replaces chain lightening as an introductory attack. Just remember that you have to copy the spell to your hot bar, then pull the "don't delay" option and put that on your hotbar.  Expect to still use chain lightening when this is on cooldown.

Level 8 spells: Charm Monster, Mass, Otto's Irresistable Dance, Polar Ray, Black Dragon Bolt Level 9 spells:
 * Polar Ray Has no saving throw nor any spell resistance. Great against bosses and anything with evasion and high reflex saves.  A bit expensive (and a longish cooldown) for anything else.
 * Black Dragon Bolt is excellent against bosses due to its relatively cheap cost and strong damage-over-time.
 * Nearly all spells are useful, depending on your casting style. At this level, you may make your toss-up as you have enough experience to make decision yourself.

If you have an hour and twenty minutes to spare, Stimtom's tier list https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzFrDLCv4QU is an excellent discussion of each spell and how to use it (he still doesn't have time to typically explain why "never use" spells are so bad. But at 1:20, I can't argue to make it longer).