What's the best all-round veratile sorc build?

[dave2412]

I'm thinking of starting from scratch by making only one character, and focusing exclusively on that char.

Because of this, I want it to be able to 'do it all' - pvp (the eventual goal), level, quest, mf, rush others, etc. Obviously, one char won't be the best at everything, but I want to be able to do anything with some degree of success. I also want it to be fun :thumbsup: .

That said, I want to make a sorc, as they're powerful and flexible (hammerdins are strong, but too boring). What would be the best sorc build for this? (Blizzard? Lightning? Fire? Orb? Hybrid? Other?)

Thanks.
(I'm sorry if this is a recurring question. If there's a good discussion on this, please point me to it.)

[skygoneblue]

I think a good sorc that can MF just as easily as she can PvP and rush is an orb hybrid:

20 Frozen Orb
20 Cold Mastery
20 Ice Bolt

20 Thunder Storm
20 Lightning Mastery

Depending on what you want to do, you would max the appropriate skill first.

[Boston2882]

Ya I was wondering about this.

What is the most dominant sorceress? I dont really need PvP but for MF and PvM who is the best?

DO people still mostly do cow runs?

I used to have a Frozen Orb and Nova sorc. Are they still dominant?

I here now that the best sorc is Orb and Meteor/Fireball? True?

I am considering using the meteorb guide and building me one of those.

That does make alot of sense orb em with the left click and drop a hellacious meteor on them.

[aclockworkprple]

dave- Well PvP isn't really my thing, its pretty rare that I duel.Hhowever, I do know that any PvP sorc build is going to need to be single tree. A hybrid sorc such as a meteorb generally doesn't have a high enough damage output with any one skill to be effective in dueling. Since your ultimate goal is PvP, you're probably going to want to build a single tree sorc, fire and cold usually being the most popular. As such, you will have difficulty soloing hell without a killer merc and since you're starting from scratch, getting good gear might be a bit of a hassle. Sky has suggested probably the only truly viable hybrid sorc for dueling, as orb is very powerful without a lot of synergies. LS is a great skill, but if you plan on MFing effectively, you'll need that merc to be pretty strong.

Boston - Welcome to the forums! :thumbsup: Since you don't PvP, and it sounds like you'll be playing fairly untwinked, I would say a meteorb is the most effective PvM build for you. You will be able to solo essentially any part of the game in hell with a half decent merc. As for the cow runs...they're not really popular anymore, people still do them, but the primary places to MF are "The Pit" which is in act 1 in the tamoe highlands - its popular because the normal monsters there can drop almost any item in the game, and it has lots of boss packs, which can drop any item in the game. Other popular MF spots now are bosses - mainly Andy and Meph, and then of course Pindle, which I loathe because I never get a single freakin thing from that guy :rant:. Hope this helps.

[Boston2882]

Thanks I like the idea of Meteorb.

However, what is this untwinkled I keep hearing?

Is the meteorb good for the tamoe highlands?

[aclockworkprple]

To play untwinked is to only use the items that you find with your character as you play through the game. "Twinking" is the practice of giving a new character items that you found with another character to make it easier to get through the game.

Yes, a meteorb build is good for the tamoe highlands. It is an excellent build for almost any part of the game really (although it can get very boring after a while - I only use my meteorb for MFing these days). I'm thinking when you say "tamoe highlands" you mean "the pit". I was probably a bit unclear on where the pit is. The easiest way to reach The Pit is to take the Outer Cloister WP in act 1, and then teleport backwards into the tamoe highlands. Once you're there, simply follow the path along until it splits in two directions. One of these paths leads to a cave which is The Pit, and the other leads to the Black Marsh. The Pit is only worth MFing in hell difficulty.

[dave2412]

skygoneblue - Interesting build. Is TS strong enough for both pvm and pvp? I'm just thinking that, since most FO sorcs also use energy shield, is it worth losing ES for TS?

aclockworkprple - For single-tree sorcs, is there any tree that is better overall? I've seen good FB/Meteor, Lightning and Bliz sorcs in pvp (haven't seen many FO sorcs). But I don't know how they do in pvm (leveling, mfing, rushing, etc).


Also, in case it makes a difference, I live in NZ and play on USWest. This means my ping is normally 200-300. Should this influence my choice of build?

[aclockworkprple]

Single tree sorcs do fine in PvM until you reach hell, when immunes become a problem. I got my lightning sorc to lvl 91 before I got annoyed with her and built a meteorb (she died one too many times on those solo baal runs). Lightning sorcs are very mana intensive since none of the spells are timered, which means you will almost certainly need some stat points in NRG, which will take away from your survivability (although a high damage chain lightning kills non-immunes like nobodies business, so maybe it balances out a bit?) Fire and cold builds both have a timered spell that does high damage, thus eliminating the strong need for tons of mana and freeing up some stat points. It really comes down to personal preference I think, as there isn't one obvious winner here. Wow....a whole paragraph for me to come to that conclusion, I'm going to bed.

[skygoneblue]

Are you serious - some people build sorcs without points in energy? :cheesy:

[MrPink]

METEORB OWNZ JOO... :lol:

i have a level 81 meteorb that i just remade... and she is seksi, she can duel, rush, and mf everywhere and anywhere..

[aclockworkprple]

Are you serious - some people build sorcs without points in energy? :cheesy:


Lol yes...its actually quite popular. I didn't drop a single point into energy for my meteorb, it was a bit taxing in the lower levels, but now its not even a problem. With around 800-900 mana (I'm not exactly sure how much) its enough. And I have more life than mana, so that freakin blood mana curse that the succubi cast doesn't affect me. gg. I do run out of mana when TPing, but it takes a while, and I'm not one of those people who have a phobia with drinking potions.

[Soepgroente]

The first sorc i made on ladder had about 75 energy, the rest all has base.

[lextalionis]

Are you serious - some people build sorcs without points in energy? :cheesy:
my blizz sorc has base energy. ONce you get to higher levels its not much of an issue and its more important to have max block and life.