Optimised Storm Sorcerer Build

[DarthOccultarus]

So, I am playing a Storm Sorcerer in a campaign currently, and I would like some tips on how to make a Storm Sorcerer as powerful (deals a lot of damage, doesn't get squished), as possible whilst remaining loyal to the theme of the Sorcerous Origin with an optimal battle strategy, selection of spells and combo of feats. You guys have any suggestions?

[AttilatheYeon]

Can you multiclass? 2 levels of Tempest Cleric would help alot. Maximizing Thunder/Lightning spells, heavy armor prof plus if they do hit you, you have a reaction to return damage.

Other than that, you'll want to take advantage of your bonus action flight every chance you get. Really the magic doesn't happen on the SS side until level 6 SS. At that point, run into the mobs (making sure to have at least one side clear so you can get away). Cast a leveled lightning or thunder spell (thunder wave is good for clearing a side). You'll do the spell damage plus half your level in lightning/thunder dmg from Storm Surge. Use Tempestuous magic to fly away.

[DarthOccultarus]

Can you multiclass? 2 levels of Tempest Cleric would help alot. Maximizing Thunder/Lightning spells, heavy armor prof plus if they do hit you, you have a reaction to return damage.

Other than that, you'll want to take advantage of your bonus action flight every chance you get. Really the magic doesn't happen on the SS side until level 6 SS. At that point, run into the mobs (making sure to have at least one side clear so you can get away). Cast a leveled lightning or thunder spell (thunder wave is good for clearing a side). You'll do the spell damage plus half your level in lightning/thunder dmg from Storm Surge. Use Tempestuous magic to fly away.

I am trying to avoid multiclassing. Kinda prevents the possibility of reaching the full potential of the Sorcerer Class

[AttilatheYeon]

I am trying to avoid multiclassing. Kinda prevents the possibility of reaching the full potential of the Sorcerer Class

Ok, you're going to hurt a little until level 6. What race are you playing? Cuz that will help you mechanically find your identity in combat.

[DarthOccultarus]

Ok, you're going to hurt a little until level 6. What race are you playing?

Air Genasi.

[Nhorianscum]

I am trying to avoid multiclassing. Kinda prevents the possibility of reaching the full potential of the Sorcerer Class

Oh, the joke here is that sorc basically always dips to reach it's full potential.

Also for your build as a single class sorc.... metamagic adept and... spells??? It's really. Not complicated.

[AttilatheYeon]

Air Genasi.

Hmmm, ok. So you'll have a pretty good dex and con.

I'd lean on Tempestuous magic and Thunderwave to kite enemies. Try to Twave them into your melee. Positioning and movement are going to be the most important thing for you.

What cantrips do you have?

[DarthOccultarus]

Hmmm, ok. So you'll have a pretty good dex and con.

I'd lean on Tempestuous magic and Thunderwave to kite enemies. Try to Twave them into your melee. Positioning and movement are going to be the most important thing for you.

What cantrips do you have?

FireBolt, Shocking Grasp, Chill Touch, and mage hand

[AttilatheYeon]

FireBolt, Shocking Grasp, Chill Touch, and mage hand

Hmmmm, i was kinda hoping Create Bonfire was in there. You seem to have a ton of damaging cantrips. If you can swap out one or two i would. You don't need both Fire Bolt and Chill Touch. I'd swap Fire Bolt for Create bonfire, maybe shocking grasp for frostbite. That'll give you sustained damage and a debuff without using spell slots.

[jojosskul]

FireBolt, Shocking Grasp, Chill Touch, and mage hand

I like what a some of the other posters have said about leaning into forced movement, movement control, and hazards.

I'm not sure if your DM will allow you to switch THIS many cantrips, but if you could swap out Firebolt, Shocking Grasp, and Chill Touch for Lightning Lure, Create Bonfire (as someone previously mentioned) and Ray of Frost that opens up some options.

Why those three? First off here are my thoughts on Ray of Frost. To make use of your Storm Sorcerer abilities you will, by nature, always want to be fairly close to your opponents. This makes the 120 ft range benefit of Chill Touch and Fire Bolt moot. 60 ft will be plenty for your needs for your generic "Guess I'm going to do a cantrip attack this round" cantrip.

Also with Ray of Frost, it's rider helps with the idea of kiting your enemies around the battlefield by reducing movement by 10 ft. Fire bolt is slightly more damage and sets stuff on fire, and chill touch prevents healing. Both can be useful situationally, but the reduced movement speed is going to be useful for you MUCH more often.

Moving on to Create Bonfire. Talk to your DM about how many squares he believes Create Bonfire covers before taking this. I'm in the camp, and this seems to be RAW, that the intention is for a 5 ft cube to affect 4 squares on a battle map. If your DM is in the camp where it should only affect one square, maybe keep shocking grasp instead.

The main benefits of create bonfire are create a resourceless hazard on the battlefield for you to knock, or pull, people into. As a storm sorcerer you have plenty of ways to do that, and once you get access to some good battlefield hazard spells, like Cloud of Daggers (once again dependent on a 5 ft cube affecting four squares) and Wall of Fire, I heavily recommend you take those.

Which brings us to Lightning Lure. Drawing people towards you when you're trying to kite them seems counter intuitive, but it interacts well with what you're trying to accomplish and gives you a way to pull people into hazards without using spell slots. Pull one (or two with twin) more enemies into an already created Create Bonfire, dealing both the Bonfire and Lightning Lure damage to them, putting them in perfect Thunderwave formation. Then knock them back using a quickened Thunderwave, which at level 6 will also trigger your extra damage ability.

With Cloud of Daggers this becomes an even more effective combination, especially in a hallway where they have no choice but to go through it again to reach you.

But even if your DM isn't on board for 5 ft cubes covering 4 squares, Lightning Lure still makes a great respositioning tool to get more people in line for a good quickened AOE, like say... Lightning Bolt.

Since you don't want to multiclass, make sure you have a good number of defensive spells since instead of backline you're more midline. I know that's rough on a sorcerer, but mage armor and shield are going to be essential for when things don't go quite right. Possibly also Absorb Elements, but that's a lot better if you also still have Shocking Grasp because you're in the rare position of possibly getting the extra damage rider on it.

I hope this wasn't too rambly, this is my first post here but Sorcerer is my favorite class and I spend way too much time thinking about it. Hope this helps!

[DarthOccultarus]

I like what a some of the other posters have said about leaning into forced movement, movement control, and hazards.

I'm not sure if your DM will allow you to switch THIS many cantrips, but if you could swap out Firebolt, Shocking Grasp, and Chill Touch for Lightning Lure, Create Bonfire (as someone previously mentioned) and Ray of Frost that opens up some options.

Why those three? First off here are my thoughts on Ray of Frost. To make use of your Storm Sorcerer abilities you will, by nature, always want to be fairly close to your opponents. This makes the 120 ft range benefit of Chill Touch and Fire Bolt moot. 60 ft will be plenty for your needs for your generic "Guess I'm going to do a cantrip attack this round" cantrip.

Also with Ray of Frost, it's rider helps with the idea of kiting your enemies around the battlefield by reducing movement by 10 ft. Fire bolt is slightly more damage and sets stuff on fire, and chill touch prevents healing. Both can be useful situationally, but the reduced movement speed is going to be useful for you MUCH more often.

Moving on to Create Bonfire. Talk to your DM about how many squares he believes Create Bonfire covers before taking this. I'm in the camp, and this seems to be RAW, that the intention is for a 5 ft cube to affect 4 squares on a battle map. If your DM is in the camp where it should only affect one square, maybe keep shocking grasp instead.

The main benefits of create bonfire are create a resourceless hazard on the battlefield for you to knock, or pull, people into. As a storm sorcerer you have plenty of ways to do that, and once you get access to some good battlefield hazard spells, like Cloud of Daggers (once again dependent on a 5 ft cube affecting four squares) and Wall of Fire, I heavily recommend you take those.

Which brings us to Lightning Lure. Drawing people towards you when you're trying to kite them seems counter intuitive, but it interacts well with what you're trying to accomplish and gives you a way to pull people into hazards without using spell slots. Pull one (or two with twin) more enemies into an already created Create Bonfire, dealing both the Bonfire and Lightning Lure damage to them, putting them in perfect Thunderwave formation. Then knock them back using a quickened Thunderwave, which at level 6 will also trigger your extra damage ability.

With Cloud of Daggers this becomes an even more effective combination, especially in a hallway where they have no choice but to go through it again to reach you.

But even if your DM isn't on board for 5 ft cubes covering 4 squares, Lightning Lure still makes a great respositioning tool to get more people in line for a good quickened AOE, like say... Lightning Bolt.

Since you don't want to multiclass, make sure you have a good number of defensive spells since instead of backline you're more midline. I know that's rough on a sorcerer, but mage armor and shield are going to be essential for when things don't go quite right. Possibly also Absorb Elements, but that's a lot better if you also still have Shocking Grasp because you're in the rare position of possibly getting the extra damage rider on it.

I hope this wasn't too rambly, this is my first post here but Sorcerer is my favorite class and I spend way too much time thinking about it. Hope this helps!
This is helpful, but since when was lightning bolt an AOE? The only lightning/thunder AOE besides Call lightning is Shatter isn't it?

[AttilatheYeon]

This is helpful, but since when was lightning bolt an AOE? The only lightning/thunder AOE besides Call lightning is Shatter isn't it?

Lightning bolt is a line, it hits every creature in that line.

[jojosskul]

Lightning bolt is a line, it hits every creature in that line.

And using Lightning Lure you have a chance to put more people in that line, which RAW and I believe there is even a diagram somewhere for this should be able to cover two adjacent squares going down the line. Usually Fireball is prefered, but as a storm sorcerer the more lightning and thunder spells you're casting the better.

[Kireban]

what is your level atm?

[5eNeedsDarksun]

I know you said you wanted to avoid MC, but I want to play one of these for my next character, and I'm looking at PAM as a way to combine well with the short flight. At least I will get a reaction if the baddies try and close the distance. So, a level or two in a class that gives me access to martial weapons is a must, and some armor won't hurt either. Other than something like that I honestly don't see a Storm Sorcerer lasting long if it's close enough to combat to use all it's abilities.

[DarthOccultarus]

what is your level atm?

Currently at 3rd level

[DarthOccultarus]

I know you said you wanted to avoid MC, but I want to play one of these for my next character, and I'm looking at PAM as a way to combine well with the short flight. At least I will get a reaction if the baddies try and close the distance. So, a level or two in a class that gives me access to martial weapons is a must, and some armor won't hurt either. Other than something like that I honestly don't see a Storm Sorcerer lasting long if it's close enough to combat to use all it's abilities.

Could you provide a suggestion for one such martial class? Should I go with a Hexblade, Paladin, Fighter, or Tempest Cleric? If so, care to explain the ratio?

[Chugger]

I have a Shadow Sorc and so play a little differently, but there's a lot of overlap.

One of the most powerful mc's in the game, at least as far as single target damage goes, is the Sorlock. Two lvls of hexblade and the rest in sorc (some do 3 in lock). I'm thinking about doing this w/ my sorc but may not. Sorlocks are best in campaigns that have many fights between rests - their main gun is a cantrip, EB, At lvl 5 it is 2 x 1d10 + 1d6 + 4 -- but if you quicken it (you do this on monsters you want to kill fast or bosses), it's 4 x 1d10 + 1d6 + 4 (+3 if you also curse it).

That's 2 x 13 or 26 average damage (if both hit) or 52 if you quicken.

There are other advantages to hexblade: med armor and shield, another invo such as devil's sight, and armor of agathys (which if upcast is a tremendous spell).

The reason I might not MC hexblade is that this sorc is in Adventurer's League, and modules are not that resource-draining, and I don't wanna be 2 lvls behind on sorc spells. I can pop darkness if I get attacked. At lvl 14 or so I get a shadow sorc ability to teleport into shadows to escape danger.

Anyway, the other thing you need to think about for sorc is your meta and what _else_ you're going to do besides nuke things. Sorcs are good at blasting but don't overlook other options.

Nothing is more depressing for a wiz if he casts banishment or polymorph on a nasty monster … and it makes its saving throw. As a sorc you can cast those spells - and they can turn a combat from a nail-biter into an easier victor - but you can impose via meta magic a disadvantage on the ST. This makes DMs cry when they roll a 20 on the ST...but the other dice is a 6.

There are control spells that remove a creature from the fight permanently, unless you lose concentration. To control you don't want a spell that lets them roll out of the effect every turn, like hold person/hold monster. What you want to cast are spells like suggestion, levitate, hypnotic pattern, banishment, polymorph, and so on.

For suggestion to work you need to know your DM. "Flee now and get as far from here as you can! It's the only way you can live!" usually works to remove one creature that can understand you from a fight. The spell has to be "reasonable", so some DMs say "it thinks it can kill you so that's not reasonable" - the counter to that is "the outcome is not guaranteed and it failed its ST on an enchantment spell - it makes the creature believe this" - but a stubborn DM might still rule against you. At this point lesser suggestions might work, but I would not use the spell - if your DM is too much against it.

Suggestion is stupid powerful, especially if you can impost a disad on the ST. You can tell them to flee, to surrender, to dance a ballet and not fight, you can tell them to take off their armor before fighting you (this can take minutes) - you can tell a caster to give you their arcane focus and any spell components - you can even cast Tongues (iirc) on them first so they understand you - and then next round do suggestion. Tongues is not a concentration spell.

Levitate, anything under 500 lbs you can put up in the air. Like a werewolf - poof - up he goes. He's got no ranged spell, so he's helpless. The party finishes off the other werewolf, then you kill this one w/ cantrips and ranged.

If you polymorph a monster into a snail to take it out of a fight, a smart ally of this monster will damage it to turn it back into its normal form. So someone in the party needs to use an interact w/ object to pick it up and pocket it. Or turn it into a high hitpoint passive monster with a very weak attack, which it might not choose to use.

Some fights you nuke away. Some you mix in a little control. Any long fight you probably want to divide and conquer, meaning you should have one concentration spell going - you should be controlling. Hypnotic Pattern is brutally good, too - the main prob with it is that any badguys who make the ST can wake up their dazed allies. But any round they spend using an action to wake up an ally is a round they're not attacking the party, and with the tight fight mechanics of 5e, this is okay, it's still worth casting. BUt H Pat is even better if they remain dazed for many turns.

[Chugger]

The other MC to consider is Pal, 2 lvls, to smite. But this is hard to make work. Pal is MAD, but if you're going to be on the front line a lot and if you worry about running out of slots in your campaign, this could work - but again it's hard.

[Damon_Tor]

In theory the Storm Sorcerer's level 6 ability is stronger than the Dragon Sorcerer's damage-added ability, with the major drawback of needing to be in close quarters to use it. And you lack the dragon sorcerer's extra HP or free Mage Armor... your 10 foot bonus action flight is (a) a bonus action which means no quickened spell and (b) is just 10 feet which is not usually far enough to make a difference in an enemy getting to you. That means an important focus of your build needs to be keeping you safe, by tanking up and/or by creating disincentives for enemies targeting you.

Consider at least one level of Warlock for (among other things) Hellish Rebuke. Use Elemental Spell (UA for now, might be coming to print with TCoE) to change it to Thunder or Lightning Damage for 1 sorcery point. This allows you to Trigger Eye of the Storm whenever you take damage, which can be a powerful disincentive for harming you. The Fiend Patron's THP when you kill something is also a great way for enemies to feel like they're doing nothing to you. If you would rather have armor proficiencies than regenerating THP, then the Hexblade is the better choice, but taking the hexblade always feels cheesy to me. And armor proficiences don't help you with non-attack damage, THP will.

False Life, Mage Armor, and Mirror Image can be useful before fights for keeping you standing. Shield or Absorb Elements for when a big hit comes your way. Depending on your DM's playstyle, it might be worthwhile to add Disguise Self to your pre-battle buffing, making you look like a beefy warrior clad in platemail. All are usable with your low level spell slots, and don't use your concentration. Obviously you've only got a certain number of spells known, so choose whichever collection of defenses you like best.

[GalvanicFour64]

In theory the Storm Sorcerer's level 6 ability is stronger than the Dragon Sorcerer's damage-added ability, with the major drawback of needing to be in close quarters to use it. And you lack the dragon sorcerer's extra HP or free Mage Armor... your 10 foot bonus action flight is (a) a bonus action which means no quickened spell and (b) is just 10 feet which is not usually far enough to make a difference in an enemy getting to you. That means an important focus of your build needs to be keeping you safe, by tanking up and/or by creating disincentives for enemies targeting you.

Consider at least one level of Warlock for (among other things) Hellish Rebuke. Use Elemental Spell (UA for now, might be coming to print with TCoE) to change it to Thunder or Lightning Damage for 1 sorcery point. This allows you to Trigger Eye of the Storm whenever you take damage, which can be a powerful disincentive for harming you. The Fiend Patron's THP when you kill something is also a great way for enemies to feel like they're doing nothing to you. If you would rather have armor proficiencies than regenerating THP, then the Hexblade is the better choice, but taking the hexblade always feels cheesy to me. And armor proficiences don't help you with non-attack damage, THP will.

False Life, Mage Armor, and Mirror Image can be useful before fights for keeping you standing. Shield or Absorb Elements for when a big hit comes your way. Depending on your DM's playstyle, it might be worthwhile to add Disguise Self to your pre-battle buffing, making you look like a beefy warrior clad in platemail. All are usable with your low level spell slots, and don't use your concentration. Obviously you've only got a certain number of spells known, so choose whichever collection of defenses you like best.

About the 10 feet
You can break up your movement whilst casting so that’s 40feet movement without Attacks of opportunity
That’s gotta count for something right?

One more thing
Tough feat.
As much HP as a fighter -2
Sick.

[Satori01]

There is no need to multiclass. Shield, Mirror Image, and Blur can keep you safe in a scrum.

Dipping into Tempest Cleric delays your from getting more sorcery points, and higher levels spells.

Also, by the strict letter of the rules, one can upcast a Cantrip.
A Cantrip is a zero level spell.
Expending a 1st level spell slot to cast Shocking Grasp, makes shocking grasp a 1st level spell.

Normally, this is a terrible waste, as casting Shocking Grasp as a 1st level spell does absolutely nothing except make Shocking Grasp a 1st level spell.
A 1st level spell that triggers Heart of the Storm.

It is one of the cases where upcasting a Cantrip to interact with a subclass ability actually is useful.

Preemptively, before some points out some Tweet or other:

Reading Comprehension: 1. Jeremy Crawford's Tweet: 0. :)
(Every table can be different, rule it how you wish)

CASTING A SPELL AT A HIGHER LEVEL
When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is ofa higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if Umara casts magic missile using one of her 2nd-level slots, that magic missile is 2nd level. Effectively, the spell expands to fill the slot it is put into.
Some spells, such as magic missile and cure wounds, have more powerful effects when cast at a higher level, as detailed in a spell's description.
CANTRIPS
A cantrip is a spell that can be cast at will, without using a spell slot and without being prepared in advance. Repeated practice has fixed the spell in the caster's mind and infused the caster with the magic needed to produce the effect over and over. A cantrip's spell level is 0.

[Nhorianscum]

There is no need to multiclass. Shield, Mirror Image, and Blur can keep you safe in a scrum.

Dipping into Tempest Cleric delays your from getting more sorcery points, and higher levels spells.

Also, by the strict letter of the rules, one can upcast a Cantrip.
A Cantrip is a zero level spell.
Expending a 1st level spell slot to cast Shocking Grasp, makes shocking grasp a 1st level spell.

Normally, this is a terrible waste, as casting Shocking Grasp as a 1st level spell does absolutely nothing except make Shocking Grasp a 1st level spell.
A 1st level spell that triggers Heart of the Storm.

It is one of the cases where upcasting a Cantrip to interact with a subclass ability actually is useful.

Preemptively, before some points out some Tweet or other:

Reading Comprehension: 1. Jeremy Crawford's Tweet: 0. :)
(Every table can be different, rule it how you wish)

CASTING A SPELL AT A HIGHER LEVEL
When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is ofa higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if Umara casts magic missile using one of her 2nd-level slots, that magic missile is 2nd level. Effectively, the spell expands to fill the slot it is put into.
Some spells, such as magic missile and cure wounds, have more powerful effects when cast at a higher level, as detailed in a spell's description.
CANTRIPS
A cantrip is a spell that can be cast at will, without using a spell slot and without being prepared in advance. Repeated practice has fixed the spell in the caster's mind and infused the caster with the magic needed to produce the effect over and over. A cantrip's spell level is 0.

To be fair, if you're going to cl9+ there's really no reason to bypass the tier 2 dip in sorc outside of a self imposed challange or access to very specific spells of 5th or 6th level.

(Note: Hexblade 1 is a tier 2 dip, hexblade 2 is a tier 3 dip. Pushing things back more than one level in terms of slot progression is rough and EB+AB is not actually generating value until cl11. Other dips are fullcaster so 2 levels is fine at 7+.)

Past that the cantrip bit is interesting and was a bit of play optimization I was not aware of. Thank you.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

Could you provide a suggestion for one such martial class? Should I go with a Hexblade, Paladin, Fighter, or Tempest Cleric? If so, care to explain the ratio?

I was going to go for 2 levels of Tempest Cleric for thematic reasons, and Hill Dwarf would help with the MAD issue since Str doesn't need to be as high for the Heavy Armor.
I'm currently playing a Dragon Sorcerer/ Fighter which also works.
Everything you've suggested is fine; I generally find something I like to play, then 'optimize' to the point that it is at least decent to good mechanically. Seems like particularly with Sorcerers there are some posters who figure there are 1 or 2 ways to play them or you are doing it wrong. I generally don't subscribe to that theory. Good luck with whatever you do.