melee-sorc - what to do with last ~10 skillpoints?

[Lira Lindriel]

Well, I've already planned out my next build: a melee-sorc.

She'll use Lightsaber, Stormshield, upgraded Ummed Skin of the Vipermagi, Tal-ammy, Ravenfrost, BK/res-ll-ring, Laying of Hands, Thundergod's Vigour, Gorerider, a rare +2-tiara, tons of lit-dam-charms.

Build will be the "classic" one:
20 Warmth
20 Enchant
20 FM
2 prereqs

20 LM
1 static field
1 TK
1 TP

1 frozen armour

Calculating with lvl 85, this leaves me with 10 unused skill-points. Now what to do with them?

Possibilities: 1) put them into TS. This means four more prereqs and then I'd probably place one point into ES for use against Ancients and the like. I'll only have +5-6 in skills. Even with lvl 25 LM, a lvl 10-TS won't do much dam.

2) put them into SF. Not sure if I'll need them there as I'm getting close to monsters anyway.

3) place them into CM. Not really all that useful as the only cold-dam I'll have will be the bit from my armour and from Ravenfrost.

4) throw them into frozen armour - to get higher def.

5) go for shiver armour (as it's got the higher def) and place all of them there.

6) put them into frost nova to freeze monsters. I had a point there with my melee-sorc in 1.09 and ended up never using this.

7) Get ES anyway (for just the rare occasions where I'd use it) and place only the rest somewhere else. (Again where?)

8) Get ES and put the last few points into TK (though it won't make much difference).

Also what merc? I was thinking HF - as I don't do any cold dam - but someone else just told me to go with Might... Hmm.

Btw, I play sp only - though I occasionnally play via IP - so I can't rely on big parties for most of the game.

[MSA.]

Well, I've already planned out my next build: a melee-sorc.

She'll use Lightsaber, Stormshield, upgraded Ummed Skin of the Vipermagi, Tal-ammy, Ravenfrost, BK/res-ll-ring, Laying of Hands, Thundergod's Vigour, Gorerider, a rare +2-tiara, tons of lit-dam-charms.

Build will be the "classic" one:
20 Warmth
20 Enchant
20 FM
2 prereqs

20 LM
1 static field
1 TK
1 TP

1 frozen armour

Calculating with lvl 85, this leaves me with 10 unused skill-points. Now what to do with them?

Possibilities: 1) put them into TS. This means four more prereqs and then I'd probably place one point into ES for use against Ancients and the like. I'll only have +5-6 in skills. Even with lvl 25 LM, a lvl 10-TS won't do much dam.

2) put them into SF. Not sure if I'll need them there as I'm getting close to monsters anyway.

3) place them into CM. Not really all that useful as the only cold-dam I'll have will be the bit from my armour and from Ravenfrost.

4) throw them into frozen armour - to get higher def.

5) go for shiver armour (as it's got the higher def) and place all of them there.

6) put them into frost nova to freeze monsters. I had a point there with my melee-sorc in 1.09 and ended up never using this.

7) Get ES anyway (for just the rare occasions where I'd use it) and place only the rest somewhere else. (Again where?)

8) Get ES and put the last few points into TK (though it won't make much difference).

Also what merc? I was thinking HF - as I don't do any cold dam - but someone else just told me to go with Might... Hmm.

Btw, I play sp only - though I occasionnally play via IP - so I can't rely on big parties for most of the game.

Well, you can get shiver armor, and use a defiance merc for a crapload of extra defense =]

[Lira Lindriel]

Well, you can get shiver armor, and use a defiance merc for a crapload of extra defense =]
Shiver Armour and Def work additively, not multiplicatively, so it won't be that huge.

[melianor]

Shiver Armour and Def work additively, not multiplicatively, so it won't be that huge.

Uhm, not much? Current build has 1pt Shiver armor, +12 skills, Defiance Merc -> close to 7k defense. With even more hard pts in Shiver that will boost it quite a bit =)

In case of Might Merc i would still remain with Shiver armor or get 1 ES with prebuff from staff and rest in Telekinesis

[Lira Lindriel]

I do have a Leaf-staff on switch. ;) Forgot to add that with my gear.

Why Lightsabre?
In 1.09 I really, really wanted it. And now I have it - so I want to use it :p - and I could do a whole lot worse. ;) (In 1.09 I Matted my melee-sorc with Tiamat's and Hexfire...)
I know that I could use Passion with Zeal - but I like the Lightsabre. I don't need the ITD, that's right. But it's one of my main-sources for lit-dam: 1-200 (Tal-ammy will give 3-32, TG's 1-50. My charms 9-265. My circlet if I use the res-all/lit-dam-jewel 1-14. 15-551 all in all if I haven't miscalculated. With lvl 25 LM this'll be 65-2413 lit-dam alone (the Lightsaber alone accounting for something like 4-876 of it!)

And also, it seems like every melee-sorc nowadays uses Passion... Seems boring! :P

I know Mungo Jerry's guide - but even the best guide doesn't tell me what would be best for the last couple of points.
And FO would not work with this build. For one thing she'll already have lots of fire-dam, quite a bit of lit-dam and also some physical dam. Maybe also poison-dam if I can spare the place in my inventory. That means with my melee-attack I'll do enough dam already not to need the other attack. For another thing after maxing LM I just won't have the points. - And as you said, it doesn't fit with the build.

And yes, Melianor, I know that you get a lot of defense out of a def-merc. But with a Def-merc, SA won't really augment it much anymore. (Though I still favor my HF-one. ;))

[aclockworkprple]

Ahhhh not again. Kingslayer > Passion! Crushing blow, open wounds, more IAS, more ED, -% to target defense, still gives a bonus to AR (albeit smaller, but the -% to target defense makes up for this) along with vengeance, which has its damage boosted by the masteries. Passion only has zeal going for it, which isn't that great anyways since a sorc can't get an uber fast zeal like a paly can, and % chance to make monster flee is the most annoying mod ever.

[aclockworkprple]

I know you're not supposed to post twice, but I've been thinking about what you're doing Lira, and it sounds pretty interesting! Fire immunes are a major concern for any melee sorc, so I'm curious to see how yours turns out with your focus on lightning as a secondary source of damage.

Im afraid that I'm plain out of suggestions for you, since everyone else has got the bases pretty well covered. However, you should really consider getting shiver armor. More defense never hurts, and the best thing about shiver armor is it chills the enemy on ATTACK, so your enemies will constantly be slowed down a bit when you're fighting. Compare this with frozen armor, which only freezes when you're HIT. This is really only important if you aren't getting hit much. I'm currently building a TITAN sorc and she's gonna need insanely high defense, so since I hope to avoid being hit, shiver armor is best for me. Hope this helps, or at least gives you something to think about.

[savvyguy]

I agree with the kingslayers >> passion debate, i also think that lightsaber >> passion too. I tried maxing out LM then getting TS, with one of my melee sorcs... result... remaking the build. TS is just not very effective in hell even with 25+ LM.

I'm going with 20 TK, prebuff ES and shiver armor from staff, rest into LM and 1 pt CM this time. Going for the uber tank melee sorc. About 1050 life 1020 mana at lvl 70.

[Lira Lindriel]

My melee-sorc in 1.09 had maxed Shiver Armour and a Def-merc. I'd certainly not go that route again. ;)

But I think after reading your comments I will go for SA. I usually liked it better than FA anyway as it had higher def - and the point with it slowing monsters on attack is definitely a good point.
So I'll invest my next two points (she's lvl 23 now) into Icebolt and Iceblast and the third into SA.
One point into CM at lvl 30. (Even if SA and Ravenfrost are my only cold-"attacks", that one point is still worth it, I guess.)
And after maxing ench, W, FM and LM, everything else will go into SA.

And thanks for the positive words over my choice of weapon, Clockwork and Savvy. :) I'm glad that at least some people don't think "melee-sorc = Passion" *rolls eyes*

Still not sure about merc. Right now I've got the Def-one. But once I reach NM he'll probably get ditched for a HF one. Yep, I favor those! :lol - He will add some cold-dam and I noticed with my last two chars how much a HF-merc actually kills! He got a lot of monsters with my tri-sorc and without him this char could not have done it. And with my hammerdin he got a lot of those monsters that my hammers just plainly missed. My Conv-Zeal-pally has a Might-merc which didn't do badly but I don't really think the melee-sorc needs the augment to her physical dam that badly. (It's not that high originally, so Might won't do all that much for her anyway.)

Now convince me why I should keep Def instead or get Might! ;)

[savvyguy]

Still not sure about merc. Right now I've got the Def-one. But once I reach NM he'll probably get ditched for a HF one. Yep, I favor those! :lol - He will add some cold-dam and I noticed with my last two chars how much a HF-merc actually kills! He got a lot of monsters with my tri-sorc and without him this char could not have done it. And with my hammerdin he got a lot of those monsters that my hammers just plainly missed. My Conv-Zeal-pally has a Might-merc which didn't do badly but I don't really think the melee-sorc needs the augment to her physical dam that badly. (It's not that high originally, so Might won't do all that much for her anyway.)

Now convince me why I should keep Def instead or get Might! ;)

Holy freeze is really the best merc for most parts of the game, but he's pretty worthless for tanking bosses. I like having 8000 defense so shiver armor + defiance works for me. The decreptify on Reaper's Toll acts as a sort of freezing effect anyway.

[Lira Lindriel]

Holy freeze is really the best merc for most parts of the game, but he's pretty worthless for tanking bosses. I like having 8000 defense so shiver armor + defiance works for me. The decreptify on Reaper's Toll acts as a sort of freezing effect anyway.
Well, being melee myself, I don't need a tank. - And with Shaeled Reaper's, res-all-jewel-VampGaze and upgraded Ummed Shaftstop my mercs do usually well on tanking bosses as well.