Starting a Sorcerer

(This page was last updated on September 6, 2020.)

Introduction
A Sorcerer is one of the two classes known 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).

The Sorcerer has a very limited selection of simple weapons, and usually only wears cloth armor. Heavier armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure. These factors typically force the Sorcerer out of melee to the back row, contributing to battle with their ranged spells and/or bow/crossbow. The Eldritch Knight enhancement tree allows sorcerers to bypass some of these penalties, at the cost of some Action Points (APs) (This are DDO’s word for the points you spend in upgrade trees), however weapon-focused sorcerers are not recommended for new players; if you want to play a weapon-using arcane spellcaster you will probably have a much better time trying the Wizard version of Eldritch Knight and being a Wizard.

Penalties to armor or weapon usage is hardly even a consideration for most sorcerers, though. Usually, a DDO sorcerer should be a walking array of firepower (or acid-/ice-/electric-power as you so choose) that will overwhelm all who oppose her. Back row or not, the shear amount of death she is dealing will cause the mobs to agro on her fast and concentrate their efforts on taking her down; though usually they will simply be destroyed before they can even get close. Sorcerers are known for annihilating entire groups of enemies at once, especially at earlier levels. They are known for their insanely high “nuking” potential - the ability to deal crazy amounts of damage as soon as possible - but have a tough time competing with weapon-using characters when it comes to damage-per-second in a sustained fight. (This is not a big deal for new players, because sustained fights where Sorcerers actually fall behind are not too common in DDO until much later in the game and only on some of the highest difficulty settings or hardest quests). At higher tiers of play, sorcerers still have huge amounts of damage and can usually destroy anything in their way with only one or two spellcasts. At the highest tiers of play when it is much harder to kill anything in only two spells or less, you will usually see Sorcerers prioritizing crowd control, stunning or immobilizing mobs before they proceed to deal tons of area of effect (“AOE”) damage to a group of enemies.

Types of Arcane Spells
Arcane spells fall under one of five categories:


 * 1) Offensive spells like Magic Missiles and Burning Hands, every arcane caster needs some kind of offensive spell if they plan on doing any damage.
 * 2) Buffs (spells that aid yourself and your allies) such as Jump, Haste, Stoneskin or Shield.
 * 3) Debuffs (spells that hinder enemies) such a Ray of Enfeeblement or Bestow Curse.
 * 4) Repair spells that can heal Warforged.
 * 5) And finally crowd control spells such as Web or Hold Monster, this type of spell immobilizes, stuns, traps, or otherwise restricts enemy movement or attacks for a period of time.

Casting a Spell
When you cast a spell in DDO, here is generally what happens:
 * 1) You press the button which corresponds to a spell you dragged into one of your hotbars.
 * 2) Your character begins to cast the spell.
 * 3) At this point, if you take damage, you must make a Concentration check, or the spell fails.
 * 4) You finish casting the spell, and hopefully hit an enemy. In most cases, the enemy tries to avoid the full effect of your spells:
 * 5) If your spell has a crowd-control effect, you will probably need to make a Spell Penetration check. This could entirely stop the spell’s effect on that creature. (You make a different Spell Penetration check for each affected creature.) New players mostly do not need to worry about Spell Penetration, since it tends to come up much less often in lower-level quests.
 * 6) If your spell has no crowd-control effect, or if you passed the Spell Penetration check, the enemy gets a chance to make a saving throw. They roll a 20-sided die and add it to their relevant modifiers. If they get a number which is higher than your spell’s DC they resist the spell, causing the effect of your spell on that enemy to be mitigated or entirely negated, depending on the spell. Your spell’s DC is based on the spell’s level, your spellcasting ability (Charisma for Sorcerers), and any other boosts to DC you might find from in-game items or effects.
 * 7) If the spell deals damage, roll dice to determine if you got a critical hit (based on your critical hit chance with that type of spell). Deal damage according to the spell’s base damage, modified by your Spellpower, and further increased if you got a critical hit (usually doubled, but it is possible though challenging to increase this later with special items, feats, or enhancements).

(See more details here.)

Spellcasting Terminology

 * Base Damage: how much damage the spell does, before any modifiers. For example, Fireball deals 4 to 9 damage per caster level, up to level 10.


 * Caster Level: a number which affects the damage of spells and the duration of spells when applicable. This number does not affect your spell’s DC. By default, your caster level for a sorcerer spell equals to the number of levels you have in this class. If you are a level 7 character and all your levels are sorcerer levels, your caster level will be 7 for sorcerer spells. This number can be increased by various effects including sorcerer enhancement trees and items such as Apprentice's Robe.


 * Spell Level: a number which affects your spell DCs. Spell DC is increased by 1 per spell level. This number does not affect spell damage. The Heighten Metamagic affects this number, raising it to be equal to the level of the highest level spell available to you (based on your sorcerer level).


 * DC: a number which determines how high an enemy must roll when they make a saving throw for your spell, in order to resist or negate its effects. DC is based on the spell’s level, your spellcasting ability (Charisma for Sorcerers), and any other boosts to DC you might find from in-game items or effects.


 * Saving Throw: the thing enemies make to try to resist your spells. Making a saving throw means rolling a 20-sided die and adding any relevant modifiers, then comparing it to your spell’s DC. If the roll plus the modifiers was lower than your DC, your spell will have full effect, otherwise the enemy has succeeded on their saving throw and your spell will not take full effect. Most spells allow saving throws, but some do not.


 * Maximum Caster Level: a number which is written in the spell description, and limits the damage of a spell. If you cast a spell at a higher caster level than the spell’s max caster level, it will be as if you cast it at its max caster level, meaning it will do less damage than it would have otherwise. For example, casting Fireball at level 20 will deal 40 to 90 base damage, at level 10 will deal 40 to 90 base damage, and at level 6 will deal 24 to 54 base damage. The level 20 and level 10 fireballs have the same base damage because this spell has a max caster level of 10. Max caster level can be increased by a few rare effects, including some of the higher-level sorcerer enhancements.


 * Casting Time: the time it takes to cast a spell. That is, the time between when your character starts casting the spell, and when your character finishes casting the spell. This is usually not even noticeable for many spells, but some spells (especially persistent area of effect spells) have longer cast times. The Quicken Metamagic reduces this time.


 * Spellpower: a number which increases your spell’s damage. Multiply base damage by (100 + spellpower) / 100 to find out how much damage your spell actually does.

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!


 * 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. Spells like Blur, Displacement, Resist Energy or Fire Shield also can be quite helpful.


 * 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.

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.
 * 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.
 * 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

 * 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.


 * 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.


 * 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. (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.


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


 * Charisma affects a Sorcerer's casting ability. 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.

Feats
Sorcerers get no bonus feats in DDO. At level 20 they will have 7 Feats in total. (8 for Humans)

Feats sorcerers will find useful include (somewhat in order of importance):
 * Maximize Spell - Metamagic which increases spellpower by 150 at a cost of 25 SP per spell.
 * Empower Spell - Metamagic which is like maximize, but increases spellpower by 75 for 15 SP.
 * 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.
 * Enlarge Spell - Metamagic which increases the range of spells, for 10 extra SP per spell.
 * 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.
 * Past Life: Arcane Initiate, Completionist If you qualify for these feats you probably don’t need any of the advice on this page in the first place.
 * 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.
 * Extend Spell - Metamagic which increases the duration of your (non-offensive) spells, for 10 extra SP per spell. (E.g. cannot affect Firewall, but can affect Displacement or Fire Shield.)
 * 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.
 * Mental Toughness Increases spell point maximum and gives +1% critical chance for spells. This feat gives only a small amount of spell points and generally you should take all the other feats on this list before even considering this feat, but some people still really like to take this feat.
 * Toughness - A few more hit points. Largely a legacy of older builds where it was more important. You really should find a better feat to take than Toughness. It’s on this list so that you could be advised to avoid this feat.
 * Epic feats and Epic Destiny feats are not listed here, because by level 20 you will either understand enough to make educated choices for feats on your own, or can find another guide to help you.

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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

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.

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.

Sample build (W.I.P. - to be updated)
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)
 * 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.
 * Master's Touch will surprise those unfamiliar with DDO. A greataxe is still an effective weapon in the hands of a sorcerer who dumped strength, as long as he has cast Master's Touch.  Using the axe can save SP on longer adventures, and where monsters resist your favorite spells.
 * 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.
 * Some other spells to enjoy at higher levels:
 * Sonic Blast is an evoc spell with a will saving throw to avoid stuns. What this means is that 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 (although you obviously might want heighten on it 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 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 without worrying about ship buffs.
 * 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
 * Eladar's Electric Surge and Niac's Biting Cold are the best boss-killers in this game. They can stack 3 deep (each), have no saving throws or spell resistance (important for boss damage) and have the highest damage/SP cost in the game.  Don't bother (too often) slapping these on trash, they take too long (the idea is that you are spamming bosses with spells while these tick away the damage, and refresh them each time they come off cooldown).
 * Phantasmal Killer If your DCs are up to it, this is your first insta-kill spell. Used to be important, but I tend to stick to killing through superior firepower.
 * Reconstruct is the reason you see so many warforged sorcerers. Quickened reconstruct on your toolbar makes nearly any death avoidable.

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 half of the favorite "disco inferno" strategy. Cast this spell to get the mobs dancing, then cast firewall to burn them up.

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.