Sorcerer is the spellbook caster. Its kit splits along two elements, fire built around single-target damage and the Fire Mark debuff, and water built around slows, freezes, roots and seals, and most builds lean one way rather than mixing evenly.
Field | Detail |
|---|---|
Role | Magic damage |
Weapon | Spellbook |
Signature mechanic | A fire and ice branch split, delayed detonation effects, and a seal that silences and restricts |
Party fit | Damage and control in five-player Expedition and ten-player Sanctuary content |
NCsoft's own class overview calls the Sorcerer a spellcaster who commands a wide range of magic, casting powerful spells while keeping distance. The class is part of the eight-class roster offered on the global service, which opened to Founder's Pack holders in paid Advance Access on September 30, 2026 ahead of the official launch on October 5, 2026.
NCsoft's Korean guidebook describes the Sorcerer (마도성) as a pure magic damage dealer that wields a spellbook, casts powerful ranged magic and specialises in dealing heavy damage in a short time; its low Defense and HP mean it has to keep its distance and use its control skills well.
Global practical build
Use Sorcerer Global PvE Build for the Global launch setup, including skill-point priorities, specialties, Stigmas, Daevanion routes, Arcana, equipment and the skill sequence. The later Korean and Taiwanese balance history on this page remains service-specific.
How It Plays
Several core spells, including Flame Arrow, Firestorm, Ice Chain and Blaze, can be cast while moving. On the fire side the passive Fire Mark marks targets hit by fire attacks, Blaze can only be used on a marked target, Hellfire is a charge spell with three levels, and Delayed Explosion and Fire Wall deal damage after a delay or over time. On the water side Ice Chain and Winter's Shackles slow, Frost can freeze, Frost Burst follows up on a frozen target, Bittercold Wind can root and Soul Freeze can seal. Curse: Tree turns a target into a tree until it is hit.
Its defensive Stigmas are Steel Barrier (a shield sized by maximum HP), Arctic Armor (damage tolerance plus Magic Displacement, which moves part of the damage taken onto MP while MP is at half or more) and Hibernation, several seconds of immunity that can be ended early to heal and step back.
The class has been reworked more often than most. A late-April 2026 patch added PvP-side buffs, and a mid-May pass retuned a defensive armour cooldown and an offensive frost ability, with the stated aim of sharpening the class's identity at the high end of solo and small-group content without inflating its raid contribution.
Naming Note
An English report of NCsoft's global press presentation rendered this class as Mage. Every other source, including NCsoft's own English global teaser material, calls it Sorcerer, and Sorcerer is the name used here.
Party Synergy
Sorcerer lost its party-wide synergy effects in the April 22, 2026 pass along with the other three pure damage classes, and was included in the six-class numerical pass a week later.
Skills
In the client data every class has 12 active skills, 13 Stigma skills and 10 passives, plus Dodge and chain follow-ups that do not take a slot of their own. Stigma skills are equipped through the Stigma System and keep every specialty they have unlocked. Each skill also unlocks specialties (numbered Spec 1 to Spec 5 in patch notes) as it levels up.
The full reference, with Korean names, unlock levels, cooldowns, costs, every specialty, the chain follow-ups and the complete balance history since launch, is on Sorcerer Skills. The rules for skill levels, specialties and presets that apply to every class are on Skills and Specialties, and boss stagger is explained on Stagger Gauge.
Skill | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Firestorm | Active | Fire damage on one target; usable while moving. |
Ice Chain | Active | Water damage on a group around the target that slows it; usable while moving. |
Flame Arrow | Active | Basic fire bolt that restores MP; usable while moving. |
Bittercold Wind | Active | Summons a cold wind at the target that can root a group. |
Blaze | Active | Fire damage on a target with Fire Mark; restores MP. |
Flame Scattershot | Active | Fire attack that can only be used on a staggered target. |
Frost | Active | Water damage on a group that can freeze the target. |
Winter's Shackles | Active | Water damage on a group that slows it. |
Frost Burst | Active | Water damage on a group around a frozen target. |
Wish of Concentration | Active | Self buff to Attack and Accuracy. |
Hellfire | Active | Charge spell with three levels that deals fire damage to a group. |
Defiance | Active | Shared escape skill: removes stun, knockdown, airborne, grab, frost and fear, then grants brief status immunity. |
Glacial Smite | Stigma | Heavy water damage on a group. |
Soul Freeze | Stigma | Water damage that can Seal the target. |
Curse: Tree | Stigma | Turns a target into a tree for a short time (broken by damage) and lowers its fire resistance. |
Steel Barrier | Stigma | Shield sized by maximum HP plus damage tolerance. |
Cold Storm | Stigma | Slows a group and leaves a storm that inflicts Frostbite, water damage over time that grows when targets move. |
Arctic Armor | Stigma | Damage tolerance, a chance to freeze attackers, and Magic Displacement, which moves part of the damage taken onto MP. |
Lumiel's Space | Stigma | Area spell that can launch targets into the air. |
Delayed Explosion | Stigma | Fire damage that lands after a delay; the target takes more damage from the Sorcerer meanwhile. |
Divine Burst | Stigma | Fire damage with heavy stagger damage. |
Fire Wall | Stigma | Places a wall of fire that inflicts Embers, fire damage over time that grows when targets move. |
Element Enhancement | Stigma | Self buff to fire and water damage. |
Hibernation | Stigma | Several seconds of immunity; ending it early restores HP and moves the Sorcerer back. |
Assault Bombardment | Stigma | Ranged area spell that can freeze and raises Defense by the number of targets hit. |
Fire Mark | Passive | Fire attacks can apply Fire Mark, which makes the target take extra fire damage. |
Robe of Earth | Passive | More MP and MP regeneration, and Critical Hit while MP is at half or more. |
Cold Snap | Passive | Extra damage against slowed targets. |
Robe of Flame | Passive | Raises Accuracy, damage and Double Chance. |
Absorb Essence | Passive | Raises status chance and restores MP on hit. |
Grace of Resistance | Passive | Raises resistance to mental-type and impact-type effects. |
Robe of Cold | Passive | Raises Defense and slows enemies that strike the Sorcerer. |
Grace of Enhancement | Passive | Raises damage while MP stays above a quarter and adds bonus hits. |
Revitalization Contract | Passive | Status resistance, plus an emergency heal at very low HP. |
Vitality Evaporation | Passive | Extra damage against targets above 70% HP. |
Balance History
Changes made on the Korean and Taiwanese service since the Chapter 1 update. Earlier passes are described above and on Classes.
Every change since the Korean launch in November 2025, including the passes before Chapter 1 and the pure fixes, is listed on Sorcerer Skills.
Date | Change (Korean and Taiwanese service) |
|---|---|
July 8, 2026 | Element Enhancement's fire and water bonus doubled from 10% to 20%; Blaze gained 15% PvE damage. |
July 15, 2026 | A Delayed Explosion specialty's extra damage taken rose from 5% to 10%; Hibernation's freeze specialty area now extends with the weapon. |
July 29, 2026 | Fire Wall and Cold Storm now refresh their damage over time on recast; Absorb Essence's MP recovery went from 20, 30 and 40 to 70, 120 and 170 at skill levels 10, 20 and 30. |
August 12, 2026 | Overlapping delayed damage from Blaze and Delayed Explosion now stacks instead of refreshing; Firestorm's healing-cut specialty rose from 50% to 60%. |
August 26, 2026 | Steel Barrier's shield now scales with maximum HP (20, 30 and 40% at skill levels 5, 15 and 25); fixed Delayed Explosion's extra damage taken not applying to Bittercold Wind, Fire Wall and Cold Storm. |
September 16, 2026 | Fire Mark is now applied by every fire attack instead of 20% of them, and Blaze no longer removes it. |
September 23, 2026 | Fixed Cold Snap's bonus damage not applying to targets slowed by Robe of Cold. |
September 30, 2026 | Tooltip corrections for Element Enhancement and Curse: Tree. |
October 7, 2026 | Fixed Fire Wall's Embers and Cold Storm's Frostbite extra damage not occurring above a certain height (Embers damage over time now counts as fire damage), and fixed Remove Hibernation's backward move. |
October 14, 2026 | All classes: PvP damage reduced by about 30%. Assault Bombardment now gives up to 80% more Defense and all elemental resistances for 5 seconds, scaled by the number of targets hit (previously up to 20% more Defense), and cooldown reduction no longer applies to it. Fire Wall's Embers and Cold Storm's Frostbite are no longer removed by another player's Fire Wall or Cold Storm of a higher skill level; Fire Wall's tooltip gained its missing fire element label, and with specialty 3 it no longer deals extra damage after Embers end. Lumiel's Space, 나락, Grace of Enhancement and Vitality Evaporation now deal Fire damage, and Soul Freeze and Cold Snap deal Water damage. |
On the Korean service, NCsoft's known-issues notice for the second week of October (last edited October 14, 2026, 22:43 KST) lists Cold Storm's Frostbite extra hit intermittently not applying as an open issue, with the fix schedule to be announced.
On the global service, the October 13 PDT / October 14 CEST patch (Global Patch Notes: October 2026) made its own Sorcerer fixes, separate from the Korean changes above: Fire Wall and Cold Storm bonus damage now applies when there is a difference in elevation, Embers and Frostbite are no longer removed by another player's stronger Embers or Frostbite effect, and Bittercold Wind's Frost cooldown reduction now works with a difference in elevation. That global patch note lists no Assault skill, PvP damage or elemental damage change.
Shared Systems
Every class runs the same underlying loop: tab-targeting with active dodge and parry, skill chains that prompt a follow-up key, a Groggy stagger gauge on bosses, and Perfect Parry (plus Perfect Shield Block for Templars and Clerics), a low-chance block result that stops most of a hit's damage. Loadouts hold twelve active skills, a set of Stigma slots and ten passives, raised with skill points and Stigma Shards.
Naming and Sourcing
Skill names on this page are the English names used in the global client. The skill table is drawn from the global client data as of September 2026 and describes what each skill does rather than its per-level numbers, which change with skill level and with balance patches. The balance history covers the Korean and Taiwanese service, which receives changes on its own schedule; the global build can differ from it at any given time.
Burst and control PvP loadout example
These are effective-level targets for one loadout example. Mastery skill points raise a skill to level 10; equipment, Arcana and the Daevanion Board supply additional levels. Keep the activation conditions and available specialty slots in the skill tables when choosing options.
Skill family | Effective level | Priority skills |
|---|---|---|
Active | 20 | Blaze; Hellfire |
Active | 16 | Wish of Concentration |
Active | 14 | Ice Chain; Firestorm; Bittercold Wind; Winter's Shackles |
Active | 9 | Flame Arrow |
Active | 5 | Flame Scattershot; Frost; Frost Burst |
Passive | 20 | Grace of Enhancement |
Passive | 15 | Fire Mark; Robe of Earth; Cold Snap; Robe of Flame; Absorb Essence; Grace of Resistance; Robe of Cold; Vitality Evaporation |
Passive | 14 | Revitalization Contract |
Selected Stigma | Effective level | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Element Enhancement | 20 | Prepare Fire and Water Attack. |
Arctic Armor | 20 | Provide tolerance and the MP-dependent damage-sharing effect. |
Steel Barrier | 20 | Hold a protective shield for the dangerous part of the exchange. |
Divine Burst | 20 | Add stagger damage and selected control effects to the burst. |
Prepare Element Enhancement and Wish of Concentration before Hellfire, then fit Firestorm and Blaze into the opening. Keep the water-control sequence separate so Bittercold Wind, Frost and Winter's Shackles can create distance when the opponent closes in.
Blaze requires Fire Mark; Frost Burst needs Frost or its chance-based trigger against an incapacitation-immune target, and Flame Scattershot requires Stagger. Preserve MP before relying on Arctic Armor's Magic Displacement and use Steel Barrier when incoming pressure justifies it. Manual access to defense and control is more useful than a sequence that spends every spell before the opponent retaliates.
Attack, accuracy, Combat Speed and cooldown reduction support the burst plan. Keep enough MP recovery and survivability to repeat it after the first exchange.
Related Pages
Classes for the full roster and the balance history. Combat and Skill Chains for the shared input loop. Gear and Progression for equipment. Daeva System and Daevanion Board for talents. Stigma System for the enhanceable skill layer.