INTRODUCTION
Remember that class guides are a rough explanation of the class, designed to give you an idea of the class and what you should be aiming for. You should really adapt the guide and follow your own instincts to match your play-style! This guide also uses items from the Media patch and some items will not be in-game at EU/NA launch.
The Sorceress class was one of the ‘original’ 4 classes in Black Desert. She is a dark magic user with mostly melee attacks and some ranged attacks. It is a squishy class with a decent amount of AoE skills making them quite good in PvE. They also have high mobility and decent sustain.
DIFFICULTY
PVP
PVE
SIEGE
Sorceress is very good in 1v1 situations. You may find them difficult to play and even harder to master because of their low defense. Getting caught or messing up your skills in PvP can result in a very quick and painful death. They aren’t as strong in group PvP and sieges, so you will want to kite and try to pick out solo targets.
Check out the video below to see some examples of character creation and combat.
Source: http://black.game.daum.net/black/pds/video/index.daum?id=34#4
PROS
- Great at PvE
- Good in 1v1 PvP
- Hybrid mid-range class
- AoE skills
- Decent sustain
- High mobility
CONS
- Low defense
- Weaker in group PvP/Seiges
- Hard to play
SKILLS
The build below is a well-rounded build for players who are level 55 or higher. It uses a total of 814 Skill Points. Click here to view the build.
If you are currently leveling or have just reached level 50 and are lacking in Skill Points, you can use this minimalistic build (507 Skill Points) for an indication of which skills to take. But make sure you refer to our level 55+ build and max the extra skills as soon as you can. Click here to view the build.
The names of skills in this build are taken from the EU/NA version and may differ from the skill calculator above.
- Keys in square brackets [] mean that you tap the key. For example, [Q] means you tap Q once.
- Keys in round brackets () mean that you hold the key. For example, (HOLD Q) means you hold Q until the next step. (PERMAHOLD Q) means you hold Q throughout the combo.
- Keys separated by a “+” symbol should be used at the same time. For example, [Q] + [LMB] means you tap Q and LMB at the same time.
- Keys separated by a “>” symbol show the order you should follow out the steps. For example, [Q] + [LMB] > [F] means you tap Q and LMB at the same time, then tap F
- [LMB] refers to left-clicking with your mouse, [RMB] refers to right-clicking with your mouse.
Shards of Darkness
[Q]
Each time you use a skill to hit a target, you will generate Shards of Darkness. These will be stored and can be used in a variety of ways. You can see how many Shards you have collected just above your health bar at the bottom of your screen. Pressing [Q] will consume all of your Shards to restore mana and buff your damage. Shards of Darkness has 3 gradess. Each grade will store an additional 10 fragments. At max grade your damage buff will be +30 AP.
Spirit Absorption
Passive
Spirit Absorption I will passively generate 1 shard every 10 seconds. Spirit Absorption II will create 1 extra fragment for every skill you use that hits.
Shield of Darkness
[SHIFT] + [Q]
Shield of Darkness will give you a +13 DP buff at max grade. It has a 5 minute duration and a 4 minute 30 seconds cooldown so this skill has a 100% uptime.
Bloody Contract
(HOLD SHIFT) + (HOLD SPACE)
This skill consumes your mana to convert it into health. If you’re having a bit of trouble with this skill, I would advise putting this skill on your skill bar to avoid jumping by accident.
Dark Armor
Passive
This skill is is a passive which will give you extra DP.
Dark Maneuver
Passive
This skill is is a passive which will give you extra Evasion.
Evasion
(HOLD SHIFT) + [A] OR [S] OR [D]
This skill is your roll dodge. You can roll to the sides or backwards.
Night Crow
(HOLD SHIFT) + [A] OR [S] OR [D]
This skill replaces the Evasion skill if you have enough stamina to cast it. I does cost more stamina and will teleport you in a direction. You can also teleport forward by double tapping [W]
Crow Food
Passive
This skill allows you to teleport when you don’t have enough stamina but will consume one Shard instead.
Rushing Crow
[W] + [RMB]
Rushing Crow is a forward dash/charge at a target. It will hit the target and put a magic debuff on them. It’s a great skill to open with.
Low Kick/Shadow Kick
[F]
Low kick is one of your two kicks. It can be used whilst sprinting to perform a flying kick and is used in many secret skill combos.
High Kick
[F] > [F]
High Kick can be used after Low Kick/Shadow Kick by pressing [F] again. At maximum grade the skill is named “Scattering Shadow” and will deal higher magic damage, as well as giving you high magic accuracy.
Dark Spirit
[LMB]
Dark Spirit is your melee auto attack. The skill will attack 4 times if you hold it, before resetting the animation. On the third attack you hit extra damage. This skill will restore mana on hit. Higher grades will increase the amount of mana you restore, along with accuracy and damage. This skill can be cast while sprint to cast the Sharp Nails skill.
Flow of Darkness
[LMB] + [A] OR [D]
This skill allows you to strafe left or right whilst using Dark Spirit. It does use your stamina but will give you an evasion buff once used.
Sinister Energy
[RMB]
Sinister Energy is your ranged auto attack. It will restore mana when you hit a target and at higher grades will deal more damage, restore more mana and hit more targets.
Sinister Shadow
[HOLD RMB] + [A] OR [D]
This skill allows you to strafe left or right while using Sinister Energy. It does use your stamina but will give you an evasion buff once used.
Absolute Darkness
[HOLD S] + [RMB]
This skill will empower your auto attacks to do more damage and generate extra Shards. It will also reduce the targets magic defense.
Black Wave
[HOLD S] + [HOLD LMB + [HOLD RMB]
Black Wave knocks back enemies and deals lots of damage. It does have a 10 second cooldown that can’t be ignored. But at max grade you can cast it 5 times and hit a maximum of 7 targets. It’s an important skill to rank up.
Shard Explosion
Skill Bar
Shard Explosion extends from the skill “Shards of Darkness” and will consume all of your collected Shards to do lots of damage in an area in from of you. It will restore mana and has a critical chance of 100% and accuracy of 100%. The skill does have a long cooldown and can only be used on your skill bar.
Darkness Released
[F] + [W] OR [S]
Darkness Released can be used in two different ways. Using [W] will knock down enemies whilst using [S] will knock back enemies. Higher ranks will increase the rangem damage and knockback distance.
Midnight Stinger
[LMB]
Midnight Stinger will flinch targets and deal a lot of damage as well as giving you a critical chance buff. The buff doesn’t stack with Sinister Shadow but at max rank will give you a 40% critical chance buff and the ultimate can be used in a quick combo with lots of other skills.
Eruption of Guilt
Passive
This skill will consume a percentage of your max mana to deal more damage and give you a 40% critical chance buff for 10 seconds.
Claws of Darkness
(HOLD S) + (HOLD LMB)
This skill will consume your mana to deal lots of damage and knock back enemies. At max grade it will also slow enemies.
Dark Flame
[S] + [LMB] + [RMB]
You can also use (HOLD S) + (HOLD LMB) + (HOLD RMB) to continuously attack. This skill is an air jump which will knock down enemies and deal more damage. At higher grade it will hit more times and the ultimate will add a burn effect and combos together to deal high damage.
Signs of Agony
[S] + [E]
Signs of Agony is a projectile stun which will deal damage over time. At higher grade the travel time will be increased and damage over time will also be increased. This skill scales with your maximum health and can be used whilst on cooldown but will not stun.
Crow Flare
[E]
This skill will inflict a casting speed debuff on the target. The ultimate can be used in combos.
Beak Kick
[E] > [F] OR [RMB]
This skill will combo out of Crow Flare to deal more damage and knockdown enemies. At max rank it will also inflict an evasion debuff to targets.
Mark of the Shadow
(HOLD SHIFT) + (HOLD LMB)
This skill is similar to the chain lightning ability that Wizard and Witch has. You can channel the skill until you mana runs out. It drains the health of it’s targets and at higher ranks will restore your health. The two top ranks will also slow targets. This skill is great for pulling mobs.
Shadow Eruption
(HOLD SHFIT) + (HOLD F)
shadow Eruption will deal damage to enemies in front of you with a high knockdown. If you have the ultimate of Shadow Eruption you can hold [LMB] after the skill to deal another hit and higher damage.
Sinister Omen
Skill Bar
Sinsiter Omen will inflict a debuff dealing damage over time to targets hit. Shortly after it will detonate and deal additional damage, as well as reducing the enemies movement and attack speed by 30% for 10 seconds.
Dream of Doom
[SHIFT] + [E] > [LMB]
This is your 100% Black Spirt Rage skill. You can begin casting it by pressing [SHIFT] and [E] at the same time. It does take a while to cast but will make your character float in the air. You can move whilst floating using [W], [A], [S] and [D] then when you are ready to fire press [LMB]. This is one of your main damage skills and will also knock down up to 10 targets. At level 50 you should unlock the ultimate (Imminent Doom) which will remove the cast time of the skill completely.
Bloody Calamity
Skill Bar
This skill is your 200% Black Spirit Rage skill. You can instantly cast it if you use Night Crow beforehand in the following combo: [SHIFT] + [A] OR [D] OR [S] > [SPACE]. The skill will hit all enemies around your character and inflict a bleed and accuracy debuff. The skills cooldown is 40 seconds but you should be using it every time it’s up.
Abyssal Flame (Optional)
(HOLD LMB) + (HOLD RMB)
This skill is completely optional. I would only really recommend getting this skill after you have your main build. It does combo with quite a lot of other skills and has no cooldown. You can charge the skill to deal more damage but you don’t need to full charge to cast it. It will return health for each target hit and deal a lot of damage.
SKILL COMBOS
The following skill combos are known as “secret combos”. These are not all of the combos. There are many others but these are the ones that have been posted before. Some people believe that “secret combos” should remain a secret to give the people that know them an edge over others. This is why we will only be posting combos that have already be shared elsewhere.
- Keys in square brackets [] mean that you tap the key. For example, [Q] means you tap Q once.
- Keys in round brackets () mean that you hold the key. For example, (HOLD Q) means you hold Q until the next step. (PERMAHOLD Q) means you hold Q throughout the combo.
- Keys separated by a “+” symbol should be used at the same time. For example, [Q] + [LMB] means you tap Q and LMB at the same time.
- Keys separated by a “>” symbol show the order you should follow out the steps. For example, [Q] + [LMB] > [F] means you tap Q and LMB at the same time, then tap F
- [LMB] refers to left-clicking with your mouse, [RMB] refers to right-clicking with your mouse.
Required skills: Rushing Crow, Night Crow, Midnight Stinger
[SHIFT] + [LMB] > [W] + [RMB] > [W] > [W] > [SHIFT] + [LMB]
This combo is great for gap closing. It uses Midnight Stinger, into Rushing Crow then Night Crow. By this time Midnight Stinger is off it’s short cooldown and you can use it again.
Required skills: Night Crow, Abyssal Flame
(HOLD SHIFT) + [S] > (HOLD LMB) + (HOLD RMB)
This combo will instantly cast Abyssal Flame with a full charge. Allowing you to lifesteal without having to stand in one place. You can then use Abyssal Flame again shortly afterwards.
Required skills: Flow of Darkness, Shadow Eruption
[LMB] + [A] OR [D] > (HOLD SHIFT) + (HOLD F)
This combo will instantly cast Shadow Eruption after the strafe.
Required skills: Low Kick, High Kick, Shadow Eruption
[F] > (HOLD SHIFT) + (HOLD F)
This combo will instantly cast Shadow Eruption after the High Kick. The duration of the combo does make it faster and allows you to get extra damage on the target from the kick.
Required skills: Signs of Agony, Mark of Shadow
[E] + [S] > (HOLD SHIFT) + (HOLD RMB)
This combo will ignore the cast time of Mark of Shadow. Signs of Agony will stun the enemies then you can instantly cast Mark of Shadow to slow enemies as well.
Required skills: Signs of Agony, Abyssal Flame
[E] + [S] > (HOLD LMB) + (HOLD RMB)
This combo allows you to instantly cast Abyssal Flame.
WEAPONS/ARMOR
The best weapons in the game are currently dropped from World Bosses.
For more information on this click here to view our World Bosses guide.
For your primary weapon, the 
Liverto is without a doubt the best weapon you can get that isn’t bound. You will want to upgrade it to +15 or higher as soon as possible. If you don’t have the budget for this weapon then the 
Yuria weapon is what you should be using in the mean time while you save up enough silver for Liverto.
For your off-hand, 
Jubre is best or 
Krea if Jubre isn’t in the game. 
Helrick is good as well for both PvE and PvP whilst being much cheaper.
The best armor in the game is currently dropped from Bosses.
Giath’s Helmet (helmet) – dropped from Giath.
Red Nose (chest) – dropped from the Red Nose and Contaminated Imp Captian.
Bheg’s Gloves (gloves) – dropped from Bheg.
Muskan’s Shoes (shoes) – dropped from Monastery Leader.
The full set will give you HP Recovery +100, Maximum MP/WP/SP +100, Maximum HP +100, Accuracy +1, Evasion +1, Attack Speed +1, Casting Speed +1
In the mean time you should be using one of the following two armor sets:
The most popular armor choice for Sorceress is the 
Grunil set. It increases your maximum HP and will give you 2 socket slots on each piece, along with extra AP if you have the full set. Another advantage of using this set is that it is viable on any class, allowing you to swap to another class easily.
Another alternative set, is the 
Agerian set. You should be using it whilst leveling or if you don’t have enough silver for Grunil. Some people even prefer the Agerian set because it is a much cheaper and gives attack speed and casting speed, along with other bonuses such as health and movement speed. However, each piece will only give you 1 socket slot, so Grunil is better overall.
ACCESSORIES
Blue Whale Molar Earring x2
Maximum HP +100
Ring of Crescent Guardian x2
Ogre Ring Necklace x1
Basilisk’s Belt x1
Weight Limit +80LT
Bares Earring x2
AP +4
Bares Ring x2
AP +2
Topaz Necklace of Regeneration x1
AP +5, knockdown resistance +30%
Bares Belt (OR any with AP) x1
AP +2
Blue Whale Molar Earring, Ring of Crescent Guardian and Basilisk’s Belt will not be available in the game at EU/NA launch. At this time, the best accessories will be 
Witch’s Earring (x2), 
Mark of Shadow (x2), Ogre Ring Necklace (x1) and 
Tree Spirit Belt (x1).
SOCKETS (CRYSTALS)
Red Battlefield Crystal – Carmae x2
(weapon)
Critical Chance +1, Attack Speed +1, Damage against Humans +3
Red Spirit’s Crystal x2
(sub-weapon)
Maximum HP +100, AP +5, Damage against Humans +3
Black Magic Crystal – Memory x1
(helmet)
Casting Speed +2, Knockdown Resistance +5%
Red Battlefield Crystal – Harphia x1
(helmet)
Maximum HP +50, HP Recovery +5, Damage against Humans +2
Red Battlefield Crystal – Cobelinus
X2 (chest)
Maximum HP +100, Weight Limit +20LT, Damage against Humans +2
Black Magic Crystal – Assault X1
(gloves)
Attack Speed +2, Grab Resistance +5%
Black Magic Crystal – Valor X1
(gloves)
Critical Chance +2, Grab Resistance +5%
Red Battlefield Crystal – Adamantine
X2 (shoes)
Knockdown Resistance +5%, Stun/Freeze/Slow Resistance +5%
Magic Crystal – Crimson Flame
(weapon)
Critical Chance +1
Ancient Magic Crystal of Perfection
(sub-weapon)
Luck +2
Magic Crystal of Infinity – Memory
(helmet)
Casting Speed +2
Ancient Magic Crystal of Abundance – Energy X2
(chest)
Maximum HP +100
Magic Crystal of Infinity – Assault
(gloves)
Attack Speed +2
Magic Crystal of Infinity – Swiftness
(shoes)
Movement Speed +2
CONSUMABLES
For your food I would recommend using 
Serendia Special, 
Media Special and 
Steamed Whale Meat
The recipes for these are:
| ICON | RESULT | INGREDIENTS | USE |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Serendia Special | Ham Sandwich x1, Honeycomb cookies x1, Life Saeal x2, Fruit Wine x2, Meat Pie x1 | Damage +5, Critical Chance +5%, Accuracy +10 for 90 minutes |
 |
Media Special | Dark Pudding x1, Oatmeal x1, Exotic Grain Wine x2, Grilled Sausages x2, Meat Salad x1 | Damage +5, Attack Speed +1, Cast Speed +1 for 90 minutes |
 |
Streamed Whale Meat | King Whale Meat x1, Edible Honey x1, Salt x2, Garlic x4, Mineral Water x6 | Damage Reduction +2, Evasion +8 for 75 minutes |
Alternatively you may want to use Serendia Special, 
Calpheon Special and 
Knight Combat Rations
The recipes for these are:
| ICON | RESULT | INGREDIENTS | USE |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Serendia Special | Ham Sandwich x1, Honeycomb cookies x1, Life Saeal x2, Fruit Wine x2, Meat Pie x1 | Damage +5, Critical Chance +5%, Accuracy +10 for 90 minutes |
 |
Calpheon Special | Milk Tea x1, Cheese Pie x1, Soft Bread x2, Meat Pasta x1, Fish Fillet Salad x1 | Defense +5, Max HP +100, HP Regen +5 for 90 minutes |
 |
Knight Combat Rations | Dark Pudding x1, Ham Sandwich x1, Fruit Wine x1, Meat Croquet x1 | Damage +5, Damage against human race +5, Defense +5 for 90 minutes |
SKILL AWAKENING
Usually people will tell you to awaken skills that you use often. This skill builder will show you all the possible skill awakenings for each skill and can be useful. It is in Russian however, so you will need to translate it with Google. I would actually recommend going for increased casting speed on Rushing Crow and Midnight Stinger.
This wall of text goes into my experience on how epic the Sorc’s self sustain is. I may be slightly wrong on some of the cooldowns, just a heads up.
Got the skill add-on for Blood Calamity to recover more health, never used a health pot. Got the skill add-on for Dream of Doom where you recover MP, never used a mana pot.
As long as you can group 3+ mobs you can pretty much fully recover all your health if you need to or mana if you need to (the more mobs grouped up, the more you recover).
Dream of Doom has a pretty short cooldown, I never waste all my mana in less than 10 seconds so basically my mana is always full thanks to this skill, its add-on, and of course the using Q at 30 shards also helps. Blood Calamity on the other hand has a 40 second cooldown and withing those 40 seconds you may need something to recover health, this where Abysmal Flame comes into play (LMB + RMB, remember you can instant cast this with combos!) and if you’re 56 the scythes S + LMB can recover health as well (the scythes S+LMB health recovery has a cooldown too
so you have to switch between amulet/scythe to use abysmal flame/S+ LMB til you recover a good amount of health or until Blood Calamity is off cooldown).
I’ve seriously been playing this class from 0-56 all the way up to farming Sausans and never ever used a pot.
My main used to be Tamer and I always had to carry 100+ health/mana pots on me and had to haul a wagon around for more, not sure if awakening or anything else has changed this or if I was just extremely bad at the class.
Hope this helps or informs people or at least shows you a different viable play style for Sorc!
@ Teoria If you play your cards right, then you don’t even need hp potions as well. Sometimes maybe with those hard hitting mobs like giants (used 2 hp pots there after being chased by 3 of them)
The sorc is probably one of the strongest classes and you’re able to defeat even purple enemies.
When i started with the game with the second closed beta i tried then a few classes and the first one was a sorc. After the end of cbt2 i made then my deciscion for the full release; sorc was gonna be my first class. When the full release was finally there i then picked the sorc as first. Sorc ain’t really hard to play it. Ok, the combo’s can be complex sometimes, but not as complex as that of the kunoichi. It has a low defense yes, but the power a sorc possess makes up for it. I use claws of darkness as main attack and also use abyssal flame (i usually start with that), dark wave and dream of doom (very usefull skill, even below 100%) I don’t use mark of shadow that often, since it draws MP quick, it takes time and enemies often ignore it, meaning while you drown their health they bash you all the time. And with hard hitters like trolls and giants that means you probably end up dead instead. Mark of shadow is only usefull against weak foes and casters and even then there are better options.
Currently i use the grunil set, yuria amulet and helrick talisman. Yes, i progress slow and have been out for a while as well. I don’t like to rush levels.
Good guide. Now you can add all combos to the guide and mark it as complete.
Hidden combos is not a thing anymore as PA decided to add in descriptions for all the combos.
So….secret is no more.
Cheers!
Can’t say I like the skill build very much. In my book the 2 basic attacks (melee and ranged) are very useful because they are fast and they not only don’t use MP but they regenerate it. With the build you suggest you need to relay on mana potions, but I prefer to carry life potions because of the sorceress low defense.
Some skills are of doubtful use, in particular Table of Pain. It has to land a successful hit to have an effect and it is (too) slow. Much better to invest these SP in the 2 basic attacks IMHO.
Nice site! Gongratulations for all the team and the others involved!
Man, have you mastered Sorceress already? I “just” started playing as Sorceress on RU server, pretty stylish, huh? I’m looking for Lockdown/Stunlock Combos and Hidden Combos, do you know any? I tried to search for it but I didn’t find anything good, at least not in english x_x. I’m trying to figure out some. Just started PvPing against some people in arenas in order to practice.
Anyway, nice guide, helped me ^^
PM me if you want to pvp on RU
Nick: Caitriona