Sorceress Class Guide - BDFoundry (2024)

Introduction

The Sorceress class was one of the ‘original’ 4 classes in Black Desert. She is a dark magic user with a mixture of mid-range to melee skills. The Sorceress class uses an Amulet as their primary weapon and Talisman as their secondary weapon. At level 56, Sorceress unlocks their awakening weapon which is a Scythe. The Sorceress class uses mostly melee range spins and slashes with her Scythe, as well as some ranged abilities and massive AoEs.

Sorceress is strong in 1v1 and 1vx situations because of her many iframe abilities making her difficult to catch. She is able to kite whilst staying protected and look for engages when it favours her. Sorceress is one of the harder classes to master. You need to be able to manage cooldowns and your stamina effectively. Getting caught or messing up your skills in PvP can result in a very quick and painful death.

Awakening VS Succession

Sorceress Succession and Awakening can be unlocked after level 56 after speaking to the Black Spirit and completing the Awakening and Succession quests under the suggestions tab.

• The Awakening will unlock a completely new skill tree, which will be your primary skills from now on. The skills in the pre-awakening are mostly utility skills, and your main damage dealers will be your Awakening skills.
• The Succession skill kit enhances your amulet skills instead and only has a few awakening skills.

Your awakening weapon still affects your succession damage and vice versa. For example, if you are using the Succession kit, then 30% of your Awakening AP is still applied to the damage of Succession skills, as well as the additional item stats on the awakening weapon, such as Human/Species Damage and Accuracy.

Both Succession and Awakening are pretty good and equal at the moment for PVE, with Succession usually slightly better. However, it really comes down to the grind spot. I would try out both specs and go with which playstyle you prefer.

Skill Builds

Since the skill point update in late 2022, you can obtain all skills for approximately 1,000 skill points. Focus on your main skills first, then level the passives. The Weight Training skill should be leveled last since it only gives you weight limit increase.

[Click to Show/Hide] Sorceress Awakening Build - 1005 Skill Points

[Click to Show/Hide] Sorceress Succession Build - 1002 Skill Points

Protected Skills

It is important to read through your skills to understand which skills have protection and crowd control effects. Read through your skills carefully to get familiar with what each skill does. You can also filter the different effects in the Skill Window (K).

Locked Skills

To lock a skill, press the lock icon on the top of each skill icon in the skill window (K).

These are the skills I recommend locking to help prevent messing up combos during PVP.

• Evasion
• Bloody Contract
• Shadow Kick
• Rushing Crow

Skill Enhancement (Rabam) Skills

Skill Enhancement skills can be obtained in the Skill Window (K) under the “Skill Enhancement” tab at the top. At levels 56, 57, and 58, you will have 2 different options to choose between. These skills have no skill points cost, but you have to have other skills leveled up to be able to take them.

Level 56 – [SHIFT + X]

• Shadow Ignition – Requires [Bloody Calamity] and [Shadow Eruption IV]
  • (Preferred Choice}
• Crow Nightmare – Requires [Bloody Calamity] and [Rushing Crow II]

Shadow Ignition is simply the better choice out of the two due to the high damage and low cooldown, combined with the fact the skill has air smash. It can often be used immediately after an iframe to catch players out or in a combo after skills with a float CC.

Level 57 – [SHIFT + Z]

• Engulfing Shadow – Requires [Crow Flare III] and [Midnight Stinger II]
  
  • (Preferred Choice)
• Abyssal Blow – Requires [Crow Flare III] and [Abyssal Flame III]
  

Engulfing Shadow is usually the preferred choice out of the two.It is a gap closer with super armor and also has good damage. Abyssal Blow is a mid-range skill with a front guard. The skill also heals you for a decent amount.

Level 58 – [Quickslot Only]

• Shadow Hellfire – Requires [Shadow Eruption IV] and [Ultimate: Dark Flame]
  • (Preferred Choice)
• Shadow Wave – Requires [Shadow Eruption IV] and [Black Wave IV]

I would recommend Shadow Hellfire. The skill has a forward guard and is a movement skill. It is used for protected damage.

Skill Add-ons

Below are some examples of PVE skill add-ons you can take.

If you would like example skill add-ons for other scenarios, please refer to the Class Discord and its resources.

I recommend experimenting with your add-ons and figuring out what is best for you because it really depends on your personal preference and how you play your class. If you’re simply not sure what to take then you can blindly follow the examples below and they will still be effective.

You can also check our Skill Add-on guide for a complete list of Skill Add-ons.

Armor

For your armor, you will make a choice between Damage Reduction or Evasion gear. I recommend reading our guide about the two different DP stats if you want to learn what the two different stats do.

Generally, you are recommended to build Damage Reduction on Sorceress. Evasion is viable on Sorc and you can switch to Evasion when you reach high gearscore if you want to swap offensive for more defense.

Accessories

There are various different accessories in the game. At first, just focus on using the accessories that give you the highest AP in each slot.

There are also “free” accessories that all new players should get:

Accessory	How to obtain
Tuvala Accessories	Tuvala accessories are starter accessories obtained from the Season Server. Try to push up your accessories to PEN if possible, but if you don’t have much time to play Season, then focus on your Weapons and Armor first.
PEN Capotia Necklace	You can obtain a FREE PEN Capotia Accessory from the Season Servers Special Reward. For your first season, it is recommended to get the PEN Capotia Necklace because it gives the most AP. You then want to create another Season character in the next season to get the PEN Capotia Belt, and finally the PEN Capotia Ring or Earring.
PEN Ring of Crescent Guardian	You can obtain a PEN Ring of Crescent Guardian by completing Jetina’s PEN Accessory quests. These are daily quests that take a minimum of 45 days to complete. Every new and returning player should complete these as early as possible for a highly discounted PEN accessory.

Common Starter PVE accessories:

• TET Black Distortion Earrings
• TET Basilisk’s Belt (or PEN Capotia Belt)
• TET Ring of Crescent Guardian
• TET Ogre Ring/Laytenn’s Necklace (or PEN Capotia Necklace).

Crystals

Below is an example starter Crystal build for PVE. Some of the crystals are expensive. You can obtain the Rebellious Crystal by completing the main story questline. For more example crystal builds, including an end-game PVE crystal build, and PVP Crystal builds, check our Crystal Preset Guide.

There are few different viable choices for both Artifacts and Lightstone combos. Sorceress is the “Magic Damage” type so you want to go for Magic Accuracy and Magic Damage for offensive artifacts.

For PVE Lighstones there are a few different options to min-max. For certain spots, you may want to use Species damage combos (eg. The Wild: Demihumans, The Wild: Kamaslyvia, The Wild: Humans). Species damage combos perform better if you are reaching the monster AP caps at a certain zone.

A more generic PVE combo is listed below that is recommended for your class and will work at any spot.

You can also find more information about Artifacts and Lightstones, and how to obtain them, in our guide. We also have a list of Best in slot Artifacts and Lightstones.

Useful Links/Credits

I highly recommend checking out the Sorceress Class Discord for resources about your class. The class discords always have the most up-to-date information and tons of experienced players that can help with questions or gearing advice. I would like to give a shoutout to the Moderator and Helpful Roles in the Sorceress discord for all their hard work gathering resources. You can find some of their own guides below. I honestly cannot recommend enough to join the discord.

Useful links to check out:

• Official Sorceress Forums
• Ultimate Sorceress Gearing Guide by the Sorc Discord
• Sorceress FAQ/Info by the Sorc Discord
• Awakening Sorceress Guide by Heedun
• Awakening Sorceress Advanced Guide by eyesack
• Awakening Sorceress PVE Guide by Emmi

PVP Montage Videos:

• Sorceress 1V1 PVP by Shura
• Awakening Sorceress PVP by Fate
• Succession Sorceress PVP by Yongje Shin
• Succession Sorceress PVP (2) by Yongje Shin
• Awakening Sorceress PVP by Rasck
• Awakening Sorceress PVP by eyesack
• Sorceress Arena of Solare PVP by DERM