Editing Last Stand - Chaos Sorcerer (section)

==Progression==
The Sorcerer's progression is a weird affair. Starting out, he's almost laughably weak, though he's neither as gimped as the [[Last Stand - Lord General|Lord General]] nor tactically-pigeonholed as the [[Last Stand - Captain|Space Marine Captain]] at first. His health will remain a fairly constant 100 on most builds for the bulk of his career, barring Narcissistic builds, and his defense will never be that great. In exchange, he gets some damned good starting wargear, and is a rarity in that he does fairly good at any range. Even with his dedicated ranged weapons (his staves), he does pretty good overall damage from afar, and boasts more-than-satisfactory close-range DPS in a punch to boot. As you get stronger, his strength compounds, and he quickly can become one of the most powerful direct or indirect heroes on the battlefield - but this takes time and patience. Above all else, remember that the Chaos Sorcerer, lacking the Staff of Tzeentch, is quite vulnerable and has rather bad mobility - get around this by exploiting your spells, minions, teammates, and if all else fails, the terrain to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed.

In general, there's six "main" Chaos Sorcerer builds, all of which focus on specific attributes of the Chaos Sorcerer's wargear options. Melee Sorcerers range from Doomblasting tanky Sorcerers who focus on the Sword of Spite and heavy armor, throwing themselves into the fray and scattering mooks about like leaves, to Hellblade-wielding serial assholes that focus on priority target destruction. Nukers focus on Let the Galaxy Burn, fighting from afar when possible and using their considerable punch to destroy enemy formations for their teammates. Ranged Support Sorcerers use the Sword of Fate or Warpfire; the former to cast on mooks to break up oncoming groups or cripple a single large target, the latter to obliterate small crowds, tear vehicles apart, and clear paths. Minion builds focus on minions, whether in a commander standpoint or as suicide units. Commander builds focus on boosting teammates, with orbs and with auras. Lastly, troubleshooter builds focus on mobility, getting around quickly, dealing with priority issues, and then fucking off before the enemy can muster a response. All of these six basic roles offer considerable overlap, and as time goes on, you have the ability to either generalize or specialize, as you see fit. This is the centerpiece of the Chaos Sorcerer.

Starting out, you have a few basic choices for gear. You naturally want Armor of Eternal War, Mark of Tzeentch, and Tome of Hunger, and either the Sword of Spite or Staff of Warpfire. Both have advantages - the Sword of Spite gives you good CQC DPS and the always-useful fuck-off button in Doomblast, whilst the staff of Warpfire gives less melee damage but a much stronger and longer-ranged zap attack from afar, and lets you demolish lines of enemies with a series of explosions in Warpfire. Warpfire itself has the drawback of being susceptible to Latency, but early on it's easily the best spell and can clear out entire clusters of enemies in short order. You'll have some damned good early minions due to the Armor of Eternal War, but you can't clone high-level units yet, so target quality regular enemies - the Tyranid Warriors in Coliseum are especially prized. Tome of Hunger will let you munch minions if you desperately need to stay alive, so don't forget about it in a pinch.

If you got the DLC, both options give a great survivability boost at the outset. The Rubric Helm can temporarily give you a barrier that cuts all damage by about 50% for the duration; The Oracle staff is a melee weapon that, whilst it does little damage, periodically causes a Fate Weaver attack that can essentially one-shot any early enemy, which makes it hilariously useful, so don't underestimate it. With the right wargear, this ability can seriously mess up the errant Carnifex that heads your way, so don't underestimate it.

- When you get to '''Level 2''', the Scroll of Blood gives you a tactical option that bolsters your allies; be sure to tell your teammates you have it, and cast it around allied Lord General firing lines and Tau Commanders - they'll be very grateful for the healing potential it offers, especially if you're setting up gun nests. You can alternately use this to bolster ''your'' survivability in close combat, if you're going with a melee build.

- At '''level 3''', you get your first Narcissist armor - be very careful - you don't really want to use this armor immediately, since you don't have really any of the reasons you'd normally go Narcissist in the first place just yet. Instead, hold onto it and keep it ready for another few levels or so, when that piece of kit will really come into its own.

- '''Level 4''' then brings you Tome of Doom, which is an outrageously useful piece of wargear that gives you what is, unequivocally, the most utilitarian spell the Chaos Sorcerer gets in Doombolt - don't underestimate it. From this moment onwards, unless running a build that absolutely ''needs'' that slot, you will invariably be glad you have this spell somewhere on your person and ready to go, at least for now. Melee builds, ranged builds, everyone gets mileage out of Doombolt.

- '''Level 5''' comes next, and with it, a useful piece of wargear that comes with a price. Icon of Summoning lets you finally clone enemy commanders and bosses, and alternately will give you almost double your normal health for a Narcissist build. But pay heed - your clone on Wave 16 of Coliseum will be able to do so as well, and will cheerfully spawn clones of your and your teammates - and this can quickly lead to disaster... And that asshole will show his ugly stupid head on wave 20, too, just to be a cock. On Anvil of Khorne, this isn't an issue - use it all you want there (and indeed, it rocks there) - but bear in mind the drawbacks before committing to the use of this wargear outside of a Narcissist loadout otherwise!

- '''Level 6''' brings you the Sword of Fate, a major boon to ranged builds that offers superior tactical and control options, without sacrificing too much melee power. Cast the spell on a mook squad and watch it cease to exist as you [[Fist of the North Star|make them fucking explode]].

- '''Level 7''' then brings you the delight of the Sigil of Greater Sorcery - this incredibly useful item overclocks many of your favored prizes up until this point, making Warpfire ragdoll enemies, Doomblast do much more damage and in a larger area, and Curse of Tzeentch leeching some energy from the victim whilst it's in effect. This useful upgrade will effect your spells yet to come and some gifts you'll get soon, so it's absolutely amazing.

- '''Level 8''' then brings you the Daemonic Gift of Retaliation, and at this point, you can finally Narcissist proper. Throw this gift on with the Sword of Fate, Vestments, and Sigil of Sorcery to become a painfully-hard-to-bring down support tank. Replace the Sword of Fate with the Sword of Spite, and you've got twice the Doomblasts for even more explosions. Warpfire Staff's another option, giving you a mix of close-range power and the ability to launch annoying foes like Banshees. This gift's also great for minion builds, and it benefits from the Sigil, so by all means, use it.

- '''Level 9''' then gives you a fantastic boon: An armor that boosts health and energy. The Robes of Unholy Fortitude are, simply put, ''a fucking godsend'' for your survivability at this point, and your minions will also have more health and more energy to play with as part of the bargain. It also has significantly higher defense than your original armor. Sadly, it lacks the Combat Mastery trait of the Armor of Eternal War, so many of your spells and attacks will become notably weaker should you wear this instead. The Sword of Fate really shines here - the spell's health drain is not effected by the loss of attack power, though the blast is a little weaker, but survivability often trumps raw damage output, so with that in mind, this armor's in good company.

- At '''Level 10''', you get what is unequivocally the Chaos Sorcerer's worst wargear item in the Icon of Change. Though the explosions generated by the Aura are quite powerful, and capable of seriously disrupting nearby foes, they happen purely at random and virtually never where or when you want them to be, which makes this summarily a very poor choice overall.

- Thankfully, '''11 brings you''' Scroll of Vengeance - as is the case for all scrolls, coordinate with your allies, and you'll find this little bastard of a spell to be quite useful for dealing with pesky, high-damage units like Banshees and Warp Spiders.

- '''Level 12''' brings ''the single most important item in the Chaos Sorcerer's entire career'' - the Staff of Tzeentch. Mere words cannot describe just how much of a vital improvement this item is for the Chaos Sorcerer. Yes, it denies you the use of vital spells like Doomblast and Curse of Tzeentch, but it lets you teleport, which can and will boost your survivability by several leagues. Unless you have a specific build in mind, the Staff of Tzeentch will never disappoint, since you can escape bad situations, get into position to clear-cut an enemy position, or get right where's needed to drop a Doombolt barrage in an enemy's face. Never underestimate it.

- '''The number 13''' in eastern cultures carries connotations of danger. In case of the Chaos Sorcerer hitting Level 13, this is prophetic, because the Chaos Sorcerer's strongest overall Narcissist armor is unlocked here. It grants both unshakable, fearless, and the best armor rating of any Chaos Sorcerer armor, as well as the Narcissistic trait. This makes it the king of survivability for Narcissist builds - the improved statistics make it generally the go-to choice, but be forewarned - like the Icon of Summoning, this armor is potentially double-edged - your clone will also be fearless and unshakable with this armor, making it necessary to kill him outright to stop him from reviving his teammates or casting powerful spells!

- '''Level 14''' gives you the gift of Spite, which makes you minions explode when they die. At this point, you now have what's needed for a minion bomber build, or, alternately one final "Fuck You" to enemies when you die.

- '''Level 15''' finally brings the beer and pretzels with the Staff of Daemonic Flame, letting you cast Let the Galaxy Burn and immolating entire squads of mooks like so much kindling. At this point, Nuker builds are now ready to be exploited; nothing of value survives a LtGB salvo when properly kitted out, and anything that does somehow eke its way past the flames is likely to be in sorry shape (or a vehicle/monstrous creature/commander unit - hope you prepared accordingly).

- '''Level 16''' then gives you the Scroll of Unholy Might - the lynchpin of gunline builds. Coordinate with a Mekboy, General, or Commander specializing in rapid-fire weapons, throw on an Orb of Unholy Might, and laugh as nothing short of a vehicle is getting within 30 feet of your firing lines. Support builds are now fleshed out, so you can begin setting up better to support allies.

- '''Level 17''' comes next with Robes of the Deathless, the king of Minion armors and considered by many to be one of the single most powerful wargear options in the entire game, bar none. At this point, you're rapidly approaching the apogee of the Minion builds, but not quite yet.

- '''Level 18''' gives the Sigil of Master Sorcery - exactly the same as its level 7 counterpart, it bolsters spells much the same way. This turns Doomblasting tanks into godly destroyers of mooks, and adds even more ridiculous destructive potential to Nuker builds, fleshing out both nicely. This also gives Warpfire more bite and makes Curse of Tzeentch heal the user, adding a ton of utility to spells that had previously fallen by the wayside - ranged sorcerers now have even more options, and the ability to stay in the fight longer regardless of build is a major boon.

- At one point, '''Level 19''' was a hallmark of the Chaos Sorcerer - the Daemonic Gift of Sustenance was once mighty enough to completely warp the metagame around it. LtGB could completely recover your energy, which meant firing it off again and again. Sadly, patches utterly destroyed this for Narcissist builds, and it's now just a mediocre piece of kit for Narcissist Sorcerers unless running a Muscle Wizard or ranged Zapper build. It is, however, ''fucking amazing'' for Minion Sorcerers, and is the last piece of gear needed to make the strongest Minion Sorcerers viable.

- Lastly, at '''level 20''', you have the Icon of Pain, which bolsters you and all allies ''beautifully''. Pair up with skilled Mekboys, Generals, and Tau Commanders, and you'll turn a firing line into a bloodbath waiting to happen. Even better, this effects both your minions and you as well, giving the final piece you need for nuke builds and support builds alike. By this point, all avenues are open, and the Chaos Sorcerer is an absolute delight to play - you will constantly unlock new tricks and new spells to try, and you'll find something that works for you.

Special note needs be made of the two achievement wargears. The Accursed Idol gives you the ability to damage opponents that hit you - invaluable for Doomblast Tanks and a godsend to other melee loadouts, though it's generally not taken that often due to overlap with the Rubric Helm and Orb of Vengeance. The Cataclysmic Hellblade is the single strongest weapon in the Chaos Sorcerer's entire arsenal damage-wise, but comes at a steep price, so it's a very finicky option unless you're planning to make a Muscle Wizard.