Black Desert Online Sorceress PvP Advanced Guide

Black Desert Online Sorceress PvP Advanced Guide by FoE_Archer

Hello all, Archer here, and this is the first iteration of my PvP guide to the best class in BDO, the Sorceress!

Quick disclaimer: Everything in this guide is based off of my experiences and guild testing on the NA servers, if you disagree with anything please let me know! Finally if you have any further questions, I stream as much as I can so feel free to check it out! (https://www.twitch.tv/foe_archer)

Skill Build and Explanation

http://www.blackdeserttome.com/calculator/sorcerer/9886

High Priority skills

• Ultimate Dark Flame(Down+LMB+RMB then hold LMB+RMB): This will quickly become one of your most used skills as it is the bread and butter of our class. High aoe Dmg output, frontal block and an aoe knockdown on the final hit. This skill is mainly used as a damage source once you’ve gotten your enemy on their back, but it’s also great for breaking enemy shields and quickly hitting an enemy when they are vulnerable. One thing to always remember about this skill is the frontal block, because of this you can do some more tricky plays. For example if you see an enemy Sorc locking themselves in the Shadow Eruption animation you can leap through it and hit the Sorc using only Dark Flame(blocking the eruption) doing damage and knocking down your opponent.
• Ultimate Midnight Stinger(Shift+LMB): Another skill you will be using a lot of, It’s a gap closer, it does damage, it applies stiffness, it gives you a crit buff and it can cancel animations. One other thing to note is it does not require a target, therefore it can be used as a poor man’s night crow if you are out of stamina. Also it can be used to animation cancel on abilities like Signs of Agony, Imminent Doom and Shard Explosion.(make sure to use it as soon as you have cast the initial ability or else you may cancel the entirety of the ability and not just the after cast animation)
• Shard Explosion(Quick Slot): Not much to say, at max power(30 shards) I have 1 shot people with this ability. This thing is a nuclear warhead that should be used against CC’ed opponents or groups of people who are not paying attention to you. Try to learn and memorize the travel speed of the projectile and be careful when using it because you are vulnerable during the animation.
• Imminent Doom(Shift+E): Oh baby this skill is truly a beautiful thing, IMO this is one of the strongest abilities in open world PvP. Use it to engage, use it to peel, use it to aid in your escape, Use it to make your significant other a sandwich to help avoid agro for playing too much BDO. This skill is a huge radial knockdown with reasonable damage and a silly high range, what else is there to say about this? Oh you can cancel the after cast animation with midnight stinger.
• Night Crow(Shift+Directional or W+W): This is your main evasion/movement skill, the entirety of the teleport is an Iframe(invulnerability frame) meaning you can’t get hit during it. Use this skill to engage, to flank enemies and to escape/dodge dangerous situations, however always be monitoring your stamina because if you over use Night Crow you may not have enough stamina for when you really need it. On that note always have a specific reason for using Night Crow and be conscious of how much you are using it, this will help you manage your stamina.
• Rushing Crow(Forward+RMB): This is a great gap closer + knockdown, similar to UMS it can be used as a poor man’s Night Crow when out of stamina.
• Ultimate Shadow Eruption (Shift+F and then LMB): Really strong aoe knockup followed by a knockdown, it has a reasonable amount of damage as well. Careful when using this as it will leave you vulnerable during the animation. Also it can be insta-casted if used after Flow of Darkness, which is left or right directional + LMB.
• Bloody Calamity(Quick Slot or combo): An AoE that applies bleeding and debuffs, it also self-heals for a large amount. *This can be comboed with using a left or right Night Crow, after the teleport immediately press space and Blood Calamity will be insta-casted.

Other Necessary Skills

• Shards of Darkness, at max it’s a group +30 AP buff
• Spirit Absorption
• Shield of darkness

Low Priority Skills

• Signs of Agony, Inconsistent but strong stun
• Darkness Released
• Abyssal Flame(can be insta-casted after Night Crow backwards using LMB+RMB)

Class Matchups

*For Sake of length I will be brief here, I can expand upon this later if people would like me to OR just ask me specifics!

• Berzerker: You should never lose to this class 1v1, at worst it should be a stalemate if HP pots are involved. Just keep your distance, use imminent doom to knockdown from range or look for an opportunity to CC them with Shadow E/UMS/Rushing Crow then shard explosion/Dark flame.
• Warrior: A bit tougher then zerker but still an easy matchup. You can either wait till they commit to a charge and counter or you can proactively try to get around there block using your superior movement and CC them from behind. When at range be ready to dodge their spear toss, and when in melee range remember they can grab you through the block of your Dark Flame.
• Valkyrie: A high dp(+140) Valk is probably the hardest counter to a Sorc in a 1v1 situation, simply because they have 360 degree CC immunity when blocking, which renders half our abilities useless. A smart Valk will play very patiently and wait till they eventually get you with their ranged skyward spear. 1 strat I have had some success with is using your 30 ap buff followed by quick successive attacks on the valks shield, blinking in and out in the hopes of breaking their shield.
• Ranger: This is a very tough matchup if your opponent has strong movement mechanics, it entirely hinges on if you can land a knockdown before they hit you with enough damage to kill you. I still need to do more testing here to come up with a consistent strategy, the best tip I have is be aware of the distance between the 2 of you and never stay close for longer then you need to(shotgun blasts hurt).
• Tamer: This is another fairly easy matchup because the tamer relies on knockdowns that are easy to Iframe away from. You can play this proactively, or you can wait for them to commit to an animation and counter. Both will rely on speed and precision/timing.
• Witch/Wiz: Arguably the most important matchup for the Sorc, these guys will be your main prey on the battlefield. I highly recommend grabbing a competent wizard and dueling them a lot, learn what their abilities do and the telegraphs for them. Most importantly learn to recognize when they are teleporting and be able to predict where they will end up.

GvG battle strategies

• More to come here, hopefully I will be able to put together some video examples because it is hard to accurately explain how to play these scenarios
• So far I would say the Sorc’s job is to get to the enemy backline and destroy it. This mainly translates into killing as many witch/wizard’s before you need to blink out and reassess. Just make sure you are never engaging head-on with your main force, always be flanking, an unaware wizard is usually a dead wizard.

Final Thoughts

• True to my in-game name(Sterling Archer) I believe the most important skill for Sorc’s is situational awareness. One mistake, one misstep, one knockdown and you are dead. Always be aware of anyone peeling for the backline, is there a warrior there waiting to grab you? Is there a zerker charging you from the side as you engage a wizard? Is a fellow Sorc charging up an Imminent Doom with your name on it?
• Finally, quick decisions and being unpredictable will make you a very effective Sorc. An unpredictable Sorc is very hard to lock down and very easy to die too.

Tl:DR, Get good and kill wizards, also stop being a lazy arse and read the guide.