View Full Version : So, you think your a good PvP Fire Sorc eh.....
Ok, Im in the "pre-design" phase for a PvP Fire Sorc. Im stuck on a coupe issues, I would like your input on.
Issue#1: Gear
Mainly the Helm/Sheild/Boots are in question. Let me list off my other gear so you get an idea of my build:
-Perfect Fire Dmg Eschutas (5/5 fire facet)
-Perfect Viper Magi Armor (5/5 fire facet)
-MageFists
-Arachnids Sash
-(2) SOJS
-Maras Amulet (30% Resists)
-18stats/20res Anni Charm
-10 Fire Skill Charms
-Vita (or FHR) charms accross the bottom
-CTA on switch for BO
Ok, that gear stays the same no matter what. Now, for a helm, I can go with a (2/29/14) CoA with (2) 5/5 facets, or a Shako with a 5/5 facet. For a sheild I can use a switch sheild: SS with 5/5 facet for melee and Sanctuary for casters. As for the boots...the helm and sheild choice affects that. If I go with the CoA and SS (and max block along with that), then I will need alot of STR req'd. So, Marrowalks would be a good choice there, since it saves me 37 stat points (17 dex, 20 str). If I go the lighter route (meaning probably a vita sorc), I am thinking SandStorm Treks would be better.
Or I can do a combination of things. Shako and SS, just leave the CoA out. The CoA (although has high STR req'ts) is very sexy with nice resists, DR, +1 skill, and 2 sockets for 5/5 facets. I ran the numbers, and I will need 113 Base STR, and about 160 Base DEX to use the CoA/SS and have max blocking. (important note: to wear CoA requires NO more added STR than wearing SS for me). Which brings me to my next issue:
Issue#2: Stats (to block or not to block)
An age old debate, but I want to hear it from some PvP fire sorcs who may have experience with one or the other. Either way I will have max FCR (110%). As you read in issue #1, it will take 113 base STR and 160 base DEX to wear that gear and achieve max blocking. But with that max blocking I will be able to use a very nice CoA with (2) 5/5 fire facets (also has a sexy 29% res all, and 14% DR). With this option I will have 49% DR also, very attractive.
The other option is ditch the SS, ditch the CoA, and have BASE dex, and only about 70 STR and wear a sanctuary and shako (with sandstorm treks) all the time, and just rely on my higher life and heavy FCR to keep me away from people. The only thing im worried about is that with a fire sorc, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty in the muck to do your dmg. And Im worried that even with the HUGE extra life, that without the DR, a WW barb or Charger will still take me out in one hit anyways. With the blocking route, I might be able to make an escape and come back to burn another day. But with this route, I could possibly have 2K+ Life, whereas with blocking route, I might only have 1500-1600 life. Such a hard desicion!!!
Minor Issue#3: Skills post lvl 80
Heres what I have planned for my skills-this is a no brainer:
Cold
(1)Ice Bolt
(1)Frozen Armor
(1)Ice Blast
(1)Shiver Armor
Light
(1)Static Feild
(1)Telekenisis
(1)Teleport
Fire
(20)Fire Bolt
(1)Warmth
(1)Inferno
(1)Blaze
(20)Fire Ball
(1)Fire Wall
(20)Meteor
(20)Fire Mastery
This brings me to 91 used skills, or lvl 80. I have absolutly no idea where I might place them after this. Ive decided to go without energy sheild, so I dont want points there. All my sysnergies and mastery is maxxed. I figure maybe 1 pnt into enchant to be party freindly? Or maybe I could start pumping points into teleport to reduce its mana cost? Or any other suggestions?
Minor Issue#4: Energy?
Base Energy Right? Or do you guys put in a little?
Ok, so there it is. There are my issues. To sum it up: CoA/SS/Marrowalks(with Sanctuary on switch) along with max blocking. OR Shako/Sanctuary/SandstormTreks and forget blocking all vita. Or maybe some combination of both that I am overlooking? I really do appreciate you taking the time to read this. I thank you for any input or advice you might be able to lend out.
I tried asking the sorc forum this same thing...but as usual over there, I got lack of respones, so since this is PvP, I figured I would see what you all had to say!
Issue one- on your own there. I don't know the first thing about equiping pvp sorcs.
issue two- Blocking can be Very nice. One time I lagged while dueling a ww baba and died. It turned out he wwed me about 3 times with NO hits because of 75 block. Another couple wws finished me off but thats not the point. Block can save you against any melee char(not that you should be in range of melee anyway). As for vita sorc...is 500 life gonna stop as much as 75 block? Dont forget stormshield's dr either.
issue three- The hardest sorcs ive dueled have been energy shield ones. you should consider using it( it would mean changing your build alot though). Other than that I dont see any helpful skills left.
Issue four- never put energy in unless you are going to use energy shield. It is just a waste of points. Use mana pots if you have to.
Have fun with sorcy and I hope this helped a little.
As for vita sorc...is 500 life gonna stop as much as 75 block? Dont forget stormshield's dr either.
You are correct, 75% block and 50% DR will be MUCH more helpful vs melee characters. BUT, 500 more life would be MUCH more helpful vs other casters....such is my dilema. My options are this as I see it: Blocking Sorc (tele away from casters, semi-tank melee) or Vita Sorc (tele away from melee and semi-tank casters).
The hardest sorcs ive dueled have been energy shield ones. you should consider using it( it would mean changing your build alot though). Other than that I dont see any helpful skills left.
Yea, I have already ruled out ES. In 1.09 it used to be a great skill, but now since it does DMG to ES, before it calculates your resistances...IMO its a big waste because even with mana pots, one hit from something completly drains your mana.
So, unless someone can give me (and duel/prove to me) a gear set-up thats better utilizing ES...then Im just gonna go without it.
Thanks for you comments Rauth.
no2fakeshakes
25-05-2004, 19:42
if you are on uswest scnL gimme a msg /w *angry_skool or my buddy *absolute-fire on how a es fb sorc works
What I meant when talking about block is that against melee, 75 block and 50 pdr helps a LOT. Against extremely-high-dmg-one-hit-kill casters, 500 life is nothing. Just something to consider. Against those kinds of casters your best bet is just dont be hit.(blizz, hammerdin,artic blast druids, etc)
As for the energy shield...let me put it this way. One ES sorc I dueled tanked 3 tornados and hurricane. Still died...but that is Alot of phys and elem damage. (6k tornados)
You might be right about the mana pots though..I didn't think about that...thats kind of like life potting. Might explain such crazy tanking. Thats an interesting issue. Is mana potting with ES sorc similar to life potting?
From what I understand, if you want to use ES you cannot go halfway. Maxing ES and telek would lower your fireball dmg but being able to tank hits might make it worthwhile. I think I saw a guide for ES in the sorc strategy section. Check there and see if you can work it into your build. All I know is from what I've seen dueling. ES sorcs can tank a few hits. All others die in 1-2 hits depending on the attack.That is just my experience with them. Its worth checking out at least.
We need an expert sorc here to sort this out. In the end the blocking thing is more preference than anything. If you are fast you shouldn't be hit by most melee anyway. Good luck on it. Block or no block, fire sorcs hurt.
I think I am gonna try the blocking route first. But now im not sure whether to use an Upped Viscerant (5/5 facet) and shako (5/5 facet) - thus, saving tons of stats but only 10% DR OR CoA (2x5/5 facets) and SS (5/5 facet) - thus having 49% DR, but losing alot of VIT.
As far as Energy Sheild goes. I am on East, so I cant really test with people on west. If I were to be a lightning sorc, then I would consider ES/TK, but as a FB/FB sorc, its just too much dmg to give up to have a good ES.
And as to your question about mana pots. IMO, I think that Clan Honor and any other leagues or groups that allow mana pots have made a grave mistake. The whole point of dueling is to balance your stats. If youre a sorc, and you teleport around WAY too much, you should be penalized by having to let your mana regen, thus making you vulnerable. The fact that mana pots have become acceptable now just makes me sick. It takes away from much of the strategy of building and dueling.
I wouldn't sacrifice fireball damage for telekinesis. The use of Energy Shield is very limited now due to the new calculation order toader mentioned. 1 point in Energy Shield is well worth it though, IMHO. It can be a lifesaver against physical/pure magic damage attackers. The new calculation order also makes it extra good against attacks based on negating resists, like Sorceress cold spells and Foh/Conv.
When I looked through the rules I think it said tele was not allowed, even for sorcs. You might be right about the balance issue. But personally winning because the other guy ran outa mana just isn't as satisfying to me. It would open up some annoying duel tactics as well. Like running the entire duel till they run out of mana. If I happen to have mana pots I usually use them. But since I usually don't have them, I just use fc rings with lots of mana(yes, they add more than sojs). I hit around 850 with bo which is more than enough to last a few minutes of dueling.
The shield choice is pretty tough. I would go with the ss/coa version just because ss is so awsome. Does upd visc have same dex needed for max block? If it is less you have to factor that in too. More facets are always nice. The difference between 75 res and 70 res can mean the diff between 3 hit kill or 2 hit kill.( not that 75 res would stop a 20k fireball) It also counters res stacking somewhat.
Have fun figuring out that one.
When I looked through the rules I think it said tele was not allowed, even for sorcs. You might be right about the balance issue. But personally winning because the other guy ran outa mana just isn't as satisfying to me. It would open up some annoying duel tactics as well. Like running the entire duel till they run out of mana. If I happen to have mana pots I usually use them. But since I usually don't have them, I just use fc rings with lots of mana(yes, they add more than sojs). I hit around 850 with bo which is more than enough to last a few minutes of dueling.
The shield choice is pretty tough. I would go with the ss/coa version just because ss is so awsome. Does upd visc have same dex needed for max block? If it is less you have to factor that in too. More facets are always nice. The difference between 75 res and 70 res can mean the diff between 3 hit kill or 2 hit kill.( not that 75 res would stop a 20k fireball) It also counters res stacking somewhat.
Have fun figuring out that one.
Well, yea, its a tough one. Im pretty sure that the Visc would require less dex to use it. No matter what I chose to do with blocking or dex or sheilds, I WILL be using a sanctuary against all caster (so resists arent a problem), no questions asked. The debate here is whether or not I should use it in all duels (and just avoid melee), or switch to Visc or SS when I encounter melee. I will have to think about this one for awhile.
1/6 PvP penalty makes ES still valuable except when you are hit with life-draining mods, like open wound.
1/6 PvP penalty makes ES still valuable except when you are hit with life-draining mods, like open wound.
So what are you saying SBC? You think I should place my remaining points after lvl 80 into ES? Possibly put more into ENG than planned (planned = base)?
well, well, well. my 2 cents here. i've not been online for a few days... maybe that's why no response from anyone in sor forums... :)
i've had a fb sor too. but my items arent perfect as u had. i dont have a cta too, kind of poor. i dont use max block, i go to vita. If my fb can kill botd tele baba without max block, i dont see why you cant do it. fb sor bascially can kill melee easily provided they dont stack and absorb completely. You build a fb sor is to kill necros and other sorcs... go for high life, but do change to ss when pvp melee chars.
Some types of chars that i (maybe you as well) have difficult in killing: 1) 95%resis, max %absorb + numeric absorb chars. But i must say i've killed a few. 2) tele hammerdin. if they are wearing GA, you dont really have good chance. You can tele non-stop, but no results or u can stay still and bombard fbs, but u will end dead as when they tele on you, a single hammer is enough to kill (me). 3) bowazons. Most bowazons are easy against, just be careful of 120ed/45ias helm, 160ed/60ias armour, 40ed/15ias wf or cmb carrying bowazons that spam ga from far far away...
Edit: forgot to touch on excess points
my suggestions on excess points
1) Too late to put points in es or teleke; they need 95% es and max teleke to work well and massive mana, which is not required for fb sor.
2) put in inferno or hydra. Inferno increases averages meteor damage and 3 hydras can deal massive damage in addition to your fb. Place hydras at where your char is standing, if your opponent is running in circles, they wouldnt really know if the firebolt chasing them is from you or from the hydras, (and Yes... firebolt can kill as well.... not only fireball!! fire bolt uses very minimum mana!! Take note for anyone using fire sor), and when the opponent comes close, finish with fireball. my 1 point hydra, after +skills from items is now sitting pretty at over lvl 20...
soulesschild
26-05-2004, 03:58
why on earth would you use CoA?!?!?!?!?!? 194 str and your not wearing enigma...you plan on wasting so many points into str?
go with shako, life/mana, yum!
IMO block ONLY helps agaisnt chargers/zons/barb(maybe), other then that, you shouldn't really be getting hit by melee if you've got good teleporting/connection and know how to place FB
edit: err read ur post a bit more closely...i still dont recommend CoA, but others may think differently, regardless of blocking or not, a good charger with a decent damage weapon will still smack you to hell and back
speaking from barb point of view, if a melee char has a 75 or above fire resist, decent damage, and like 5-6k health, fire ball sorcs which dont use max block get owned pretty fast regardless of how much dr or eshield they have.
however, SS isnt the best idea vs good barb since u'd get stuck in place by a triangle whirl for at least enough time to do serious damage. setting up the gear to duel other casters (base str and low dex) and using whitsans guard with shael rune is a much better idea since u'll still block mostly everything and on top of that block faster so u can tele out, and using ber rune shako is a better idea than using coa.
as for fighting smite or wind druid or whatever (physcal attacks which dont cause blocking), if you actually got hit you're pretty screwed regardless of DR amount, so might as well not bother and wear caster gear with higher damage and life so that you can beat them before they beat you.
why on earth would you use CoA?!?!?!?!?!? 194 str and your not wearing enigma...you plan on wasting so many points into str?
go with shako, life/mana, yum!
IMO block ONLY helps agaisnt chargers/zons/barb(maybe), other then that, you shouldn't really be getting hit by melee if you've got good teleporting/connection and know how to place FB
Good point about the blocking. With 100fc on my druid and 250ping with dialup I still manage to avoid melee fairly well while still staying in killing range. With a better connection it would be relatively easy. Plus you are a sorc so you get better cast rate anyway.
The chargers and zons would be the most annoying with no block because you have nothing to take those hits for you (summons,block,dr, whatever) A good charger can probably kill you if he connects. If you block that first charge you have a good chance of killing him first. I would only go with the blocking because I like to be prepared for All builds in one way or another.(plus its nice insurance for when you dont tele fast enough and lagspikes)
why on earth would you use CoA?!?!?!?!?!? 194 str and your not wearing enigma...you plan on wasting so many points into str?
Well, First of all, CoA only has 174 STR req'd. The way I have it worked out, I would need 108 Base Star to wear StormSheild (108 not to shabby). Once I put on the SS, it has another +30 STR that will allow me to equip the CoA.
So, for a mere (I know its still a good chunk) 108 Base Str, I can use a CoA which allows me to place TWO fire facets, and it has sexy stats as well.
THAT, my freind, is why on earth would I use a CoA. Anyone that can wear a StormSheild can automatically wear a CoA. The real question here is: why would anyone wearing a SS, NOT wear a CoA (fire sorcs that is).....
As to everyone else. I think I am going to go with the max block, but NOT use SS/CoA. I will conserve stat points and use a whistans (or upped visc) with fire facets vs melee. That way, I will still be saving alot of stat points, and can still get my max block vs melee. If that doesnt work....scrap her and try it again!!! One last thing Im contemplating here is...can ANY sactuary get good (cheap dex) blocking? Or would it be best just to switch sheilds all the time for melee/casters?
So what are you saying SBC? You think I should place my remaining points after lvl 80 into ES? Possibly put more into ENG than planned (planned = base)?
1 point in ES and the rest in telekinesis. Maybe some ES sorc expert can tell you exactly how to balance mana/life/%ES. Mana is life for ES sorc, especially with high mana pool and warmth level. However, if you have low mana pool (less than 1000), it is pointless to have even 1point into ES.
Joe_smith
26-05-2004, 08:21
1 point in ES and the rest in telekinesis. Maybe some ES sorc expert can tell you exactly how to balance mana/life/%ES. Mana is life for ES sorc, especially with high mana pool and warmth level. However, if you have low mana pool (less than 1000), it is pointless to have even 1point into ES.
if you wanna figure out the ideal distribution you'll probalby have to look a lot of stuff up and do the calculations which can be quite time consuming. i suggest just put points in gradually while you test how fast your life and mana go down when you get hit.
I repeat myself. There is no good way to balance Life/Mana for ES in 1.10. The part of the damage absorbed by ES receives no damage reduction from resists/absorb. It's always 0%. So basically, if your necro friend spams bone spells on you and you find a good balance you will be disappointed later. A fireball sorc will drain your mana while you're still at high life. Versus a cold sorc you'll get the opposite effect. You still have 50% of your mana pool left when you die, since the -100% resist on their spells will be adjusted to 0% versus your mana pool.
I miss the old Energy Shield (calculated after resists/absorb). Even if it always took 2 points of mana per point of health, it was still possible to balance life/mana.
I repeat myself. There is no good way to balance Life/Mana for ES in 1.10. The part of the damage absorbed by ES receives no damage reduction from resists/absorb. It's always 0%. So basically, if your necro friend spams bone spells on you and you find a good balance you will be disappointed later. A fireball sorc will drain your mana while you're still at high life. Versus a cold sorc you'll get the opposite effect. You still have 50% of your mana pool left when you die, since the -100% resist on their spells will be adjusted to 0% versus your mana pool.
I miss the old Energy Shield (calculated after resists/absorb). Even if it always took 2 points of mana per point of health, it was still possible to balance life/mana.
Finally i find someone that is on the same thought and same stand as me :clap: Dont use es in pvp. :thumbsup:
AndyChrono
27-05-2004, 12:20
I repeat myself. There is no good way to balance Life/Mana for ES in 1.10. The part of the damage absorbed by ES receives no damage reduction from resists/absorb. It's always 0%. So basically, if your necro friend spams bone spells on you and you find a good balance you will be disappointed later. A fireball sorc will drain your mana while you're still at high life. Versus a cold sorc you'll get the opposite effect. You still have 50% of your mana pool left when you die, since the -100% resist on their spells will be adjusted to 0% versus your mana pool.
I miss the old Energy Shield (calculated after resists/absorb). Even if it always took 2 points of mana per point of health, it was still possible to balance life/mana.
Hmmm, its true that you cannot really calculate an ideal mana/life ratio in 1.10. However, ES in PvP can be VERY dangerous if you invest heavily in it. Assuming your opponent isn't overabsorbing, an ES sorc is one of the most resiliant sorcs out there. The thing with ES is you MUST go all or nothing. If you decide to go for it, you have to sink massive points into energy (350+), and put 40 points in ES and TK. It used to be about finding a nice ratio of life to mana. Now its all about getting as much mana as possible if you decide to go with ES. However, the new ES pays insane dividends if you decide to invest in it.
Here is how effective ES can be. My ES sorc packs 95% ES with 75% block. I have over 3000 mana to go with the ES. ES is calculated after the PvP penalty, but before resists and MDR. If I put on 2 15 MDR Dwarfs, a perfect vipermagi (13 MDR), and a sorc skill amulet that has MDR on it, my friend can use his necro and fired bone spirits (4k damage) at me and I'll take no damage to my life. Frankly, as long as I have mana, I never take any damage from any of his bone spells, because PvP penalty and ES both reduce the damage to a very small amount before MDR comes in. As a second test, my friend got his Eth' BotD Ghost Spear barb. With max block and 95% ES, I could kill him 3/4 of the time before I ran out of mana and I would only end up losing about 20% of my life or so. The other times I'll get unlucky with block and he'll land 4+ hits in a single WW...
With such a massive mana pool, as long as I'm not trying to tank attacks constantly, I'll never run out of mana. A direct hit from a 20k fireball drains almost all my mana, but since I take virtually no damage to life, I will not be stunned by it and can continue teleporting. This prevents me from eating several fireballs in a row. If you have 95% ES, you will easily have around level 20+ teleport which is dirt cheap. It allows you insane mana regen even while teleporting. Also, since resists come after. 20k fireball -> 5k after (1/4 penalty for elemental damage; and yes this is proven). Only 5% of that gets through to my life. 250 fire damage. This is then reduced by resists so with just 75% resist, I only take about 63 damage to life. Weaker attacks like Wind Druid hurricane does absolutely no damage to life even with just the MDR from vipermagi. Oh and uhh, did I mention that Tornado does almost no damage at all? Even an 18k hammer does only about 150 damage to life.
With something like blizzard, ES still helps a ton, even with the -resists. 8k blizzard against 95% ES does about 200 damage per shard if you have -100 resist because of cold mastery. But that's better than taking 4000 damage if you didn't have the ES. Putting on raven's just sweetens it. The fact that resists come after ES just means you lose less mana. If resists came before ES for say 1000 cold damage, -100 resist, and 95% ES with max TK, you'd lose (1000 * 2 * 0.95 *0.75) = 1425 mana. But since resists come after ES, you only lose (1000 * 0.95 * 0.75) = 712.5 mana. You take the SAME damage to life either way, but lose less mana with the current ES.
Your hardest matchup as an ES sorc is against characters with massive open wounds and/or poison. Anything else has a rather hard time killing you as long as you're actually playing.
I've noticed the practical immunity to tornados on that kind of ES sorc. Howevver, I also notice it still sends them into fhr(no clue why since I can't see any damage to life bar) and I have yet to see one get out of a locktele after being hit. Maybe they all just sucked or I'm imagining things, I dunno. We just end up sitting there with me shooting tornados at his head for another 3 seconds more than normal while he runs out of mana and flops around in hit recovery. ES may tank damage but once they are caught they seem just about as vulnerable as a non-ES sorc(to chars that teleport on you), only they take a few more hits to kill. On the other hand maybe having really good fhr(coa maybe) might let you escape.
Way to show everyone that ES doesn't suck. I didn't know enough about the skill to say WHY it is good, I just knew it helped sorcs I've dueled out alot.
Open wounds and poison eh...*goes to level his wwsin*
Finally i find someone that is on the same thought and same stand as me :clap: Dont use es in pvp. :thumbsup:
Then we're not on the same stand. Scroll up a few screens in this thread. I quote myself: "The use of Energy Shield is very limited now due to the new calculation order toader mentioned. 1 point in Energy Shield is well worth it though, IMHO. It can be a lifesaver against physical/pure magic damage attackers."
I have 1 point in ES and base energy on all my sorcs and use it against everyone except trappers. Usage of ES means that a large chunk of my life would regenerate very fast, since my mana is my life.
AndyChrono: I agree to about everything you wrote in your post. My post was just an answer to the guys talking about finding a balance. I use base energy and Level 1 base ES/TK. In return I have about 40 skill points to invest in offensive synergies. You choose max energy/ES/TK and that's fine if you wan't to sacrifice offensive power. Of course, on an orb sorc it could potentially be a great idea since there are lots of skill points left after maxing orb/synergy/mastery. Btw, how does your build do against trappers?
AndyChrono
27-05-2004, 17:00
AndyChrono: I agree to about everything you wrote in your post. My post was just an answer to the guys talking about finding a balance. I use base energy and Level 1 base ES/TK. In return I have about 40 skill points to invest in offensive synergies. You choose max energy/ES/TK and that's fine if you wan't to sacrifice offensive power. Of course, on an orb sorc it could potentially be a great idea since there are lots of skill points left after maxing orb/synergy/mastery. Btw, how does your build do against trappers?
Yea, I use a FO/IB/CM/ES/TK build with 1 point in all the staple spells. My old sorc used 1 point ES with max TK and max Warmth. It was still effective since I sank points into vit, but it had no where near the longevity of my current sorc. I decided to make the new one after trying out a pure lightning sorc going ES/TK/LM/CL/Lightning.
As for trappers, they aren't particularly difficult if you are all lightning. I used to just teleport right into their face and a couple shots of lightning would finish them off. Its difficult with FO because everyone in the world has raven frosts and orb is rather easy to dodge from any more than half a screen away. I generally resort to 2 options. The first is to teleport to a spot a bit more than a screen away. Usually the trapper will cast some traps in your direction. Then I slowly circle around off their screen forcing them to recast their traps. When they have enough traps closer to me and not directly next to them, I make a sharp turn and try and get in point blank range for the FO shot. As long as they aren't overabsorbing, they will take far more damage than I will. Sometimes I will lose a lot of mana this way, but due to the random nature of trap damage I still don't take much damage. FHR is extremely important here to get out of stunlock in case they do manage to MB you. The other option is to use blizzard. Although I only have 1 point in it as a prereq, it still does slightly more damage than my orb. Blizzard has the advantage in that it reaches the target instantly, although it is kind of random.
Hrmmmm, this whole ES build sounds awfully interesting and even more so because I've been playing the FO sorc for a while.
However, a few questions arises after reading some of your posts. First of all, what is the highest % ES you're allowed to have? Can you go beyond 95%? I'm also not aware with of what items/charms I should use to attain this high ES because I got a good set of cold charms and not sure if I should switch them to lightning charms to get higher ES.
Lastly, Andy, do you use CTA to boost your mana to 3000 or 250 + energy allows you that privilege? Replies will be appreciated.
AndyChrono
27-05-2004, 21:39
Hrmmmm, this whole ES build sounds awfully interesting and even more so because I've been playing the FO sorc for a while.
However, a few questions arises after reading some of your posts. First of all, what is the highest % ES you're allowed to have? Can you go beyond 95%? I'm also not aware with of what items/charms I should use to attain this high ES because I got a good set of cold charms and not sure if I should switch them to lightning charms to get higher ES.
Lastly, Andy, do you use CTA to boost your mana to 3000 or 250 + energy allows you that privilege? Replies will be appreciated.
ES is capped at 95%. You need to get it to level 40 for this, and anything higher will just increase duration. CTA is a must... I don't think its possible to get 3k+ mana without it. Even with most of the common uniques as +skills, you'll probably need around 6-7 lightning skillers to get to level 40 ES. Generally, I just use enough lightning skillers to get to level 40 ES and the rest are cold skillers.
Base Stats:
Str: 35
Dex: 150
Vit: 10
Energy: Everything else...
At the moment my equipment is:
Switch 1: Fathom / Whitstans
Switch 2: CTA / Lidless
Helm: Shako
Armor: Vipermagi
Belt: Arachnid
Gloves: Frostburns
Boots: Triple resist rare with FHR/RW
Rings: 2 SOJ's
Amulet: Maras
In an ideal situation, your charms would be Perf Anni, Lightning And Cold GC's with life/FHR, and 20 life/resist or 20/17's. Of course this is unlikely to happen on ladder...
I find getting ES that high a bit extreme, I'm sure it can be effective, but how do you fare against Mana-eating beasts like Trappers or FoH Paladins?\
I mean the good ones, not the ones on Hell that you can tank in 1-2 FO. :)
About your equipment, you might want to swap that Mara's for a Tal Rasha's, unless you really want the extra Res from it. The Mana/Life boost from Tal Rasha's is significant compared to Mara's, even more so with BO.
Also, you might want to consider using a "Memory" runeworded staff with +3 ES base, this gives you a +9 ES total and lasts about 15 minutes unless you die/take a hit without having Mana.
Unlike 1.09, you can actually precast ES now, even if you don't have any points in the actual skill.
Hrmmm, another thing is if anyone proven that casting ES on switch 2 with higher skills stay in effect after switching weapon back to 1? I'm pretty sure thunderstorm works this way but seeing that oaksage dies when you swap weapon with hoto made me think otherwise.
AndyChrono
27-05-2004, 23:40
I find getting ES that high a bit extreme, I'm sure it can be effective, but how do you fare against Mana-eating beasts like Trappers or FoH Paladins?\
I mean the good ones, not the ones on Hell that you can tank in 1-2 FO. :)
About your equipment, you might want to swap that Mara's for a Tal Rasha's, unless you really want the extra Res from it. The Mana/Life boost from Tal Rasha's is significant compared to Mara's, even more so with BO.
Also, you might want to consider using a "Memory" runeworded staff with +3 ES base, this gives you a +9 ES total and lasts about 15 minutes unless you die/take a hit without having Mana.
Unlike 1.09, you can actually precast ES now, even if you don't have any points in the actual skill.
Against trappers or FoH paladins, I basically take a more step-by-step approach. The basic idea is the same, but after each "attack run" I'll back off and allow my mana to regenerate. Since I take very little damage to life while attacking, the duel is lengthened, but not nearly as difficult as if I had little or no ES at all.
Tal's Amulet is nice, but the problem is that it doesn't add skills to my BO because its +2 sorc skills instead of +2 all skills. I have such a massive base mana pool that the mana from Tal's Amulet doesn't add as much as 2 levels of higher BO. Not to mention the life bonus that every sorc with this build needs... All around, for this build, Mara's is significantly better in every aspect except maybe a couple of life points or so.
I would use the memory....except that I'd need a 3rd weapon switch.... =\
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