aimson
25-08-2004, 05:01
Hello, I have been slaving away trying to figure out the best mfing sorc (for ladder) and my head is killing me. For this reason I have decided to outline my *future* build and get others to help relieve my pain for me :uhhuh: . This sorc will mainly be used for *solo* mfing andy, meph, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, baal. I also might do trav/pindle/pits. I am shooting for lvl 89, which is the level my orb/ball sorc is at (she kicks soooo much *** btw).
I chose blizzard because everybody seems to do better with it than orb for mfing (dmg and speed-wise) and firewall because it is the best 1-hit wonder on the fire tree (I really hate firewall because its such a pain to use but it does give good bang for ur buck). Keep in mind that blizz is my main skill and firewall is my secondary skill.
I am really sorry for writing so much in this post but I am really passionate about making the best mfing sorc possible. If you are too overwhelmed to read this entire post, please skil down to the skills section because that is the one I have the most questions on. Anyways, lets get started shall we:
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EQUIPMENT:
Shako (ptopaz)
Tals: ammy, armor (ptopaz), belt
20dex raven+soj
magefist gloves
40% war travs
Main mfing switch:
Occy (4/-5 cold die facet)
SS (pdiamond, HEL, or SHAEL)
Teleporting switch:
wizardspike (possibly jewel of truth: 7 fhr)
Lidless wall (pdiamond, eld, or SHAEL)
1 cold skiller
39% gheeds
As many res/life/MF/FHR charms as I need
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Here is an explanation for this equipment:
1.) I will be using max block with SS for tanking purposes (214 total dex for max block with ss @ lvl 89) and maybe even get some block with lidless when teleporting. Also helps me get 45% dr with shako :)
2.) I am a sucker for 8 frames casting, which is why i use wizardspike+lidless on my TELEPORTING ONLY switch (50wiz+20lidless+20magefist+20tals=110). I don't use mh so this is very important to me for faster runs (not to mention adrenaline rush). Wizspike also gives me tons of mana+regen, crazy 75 all resists, and possibly even fhr to boot) while lidless just rocks.
3.) I am using 3 peices of tal's to get +20 fcr and 65 mf, as well as the good resists from the armor, the 20 dex/37% mana from belt, and awesome ammy.
4.) I will have approximately 395 mf total (65tals set+112 armor+50 occy+40 travs+74 shako+15 belt+39% gheeds) which ought to be enough. Using nagels could give me a good mf boost, but I will probably use raven+soj instead. I use raven for the mana, 20 dex, cold absorb!, & cannot be frozen while soj gives great mana and +1 skills (necessary for this build). BK ring is also an option besides soj, but i'd rather have 20+25% max mana than +45 life).
5.) With my mfing switch, I will have +8 skills total (3 occy+2 shako+2 ammy+1 soj), as well as +1 fire skills from magefist and +1 cold from my skiller. I really need an annihilus and more skillers, but this will have to do for now.
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I do have a few questions that maybe somebody could help me out on:
1.) For my ss, should I put a pdiamond, hel rune, or shael? A pdiamond would help me on resists, but I can probably make up for them with charms. Hel rune would decrease the str req for ss from 156 to 133 (about 46 extra life in stats). The shael will allow me to achieve the next breakpoint of ......... GOSH DARN IT THE FAQ ISN'T LOADING. Any help with this? I know for sure it helps ss get to the next bp...
2.) Would it be better to use arachnids+28% maras+ptopaz skullders instead of tals? That would give me more + skills and mana but i'd sacrifice a bit on the mf. Any advice on this?
3.) For lidless on teleporting switch, should I put eld for more block, pdiamond for resists, or shael for faster block rate? Again, I can't seem to load up the awesome faq on strategy compendium atm...
4.) Should I just scrap the 8 frames casting that I love so much? If i forget the teleporting wpn switch I can use a lower resists wand or +3 energy shield staff (saves 4 skills)... I'm so addicted to 8 frames I don't think i'd give it up easily.
5.) Will I have enough fhr? I don't know how much of an issue this is for blocking sorcs and I'm not sure how to add non-charm fhr into my current equipment setup without sacrificing mf, resists, fcr, and skills. Should I invest in 5% fhr small charms or not? Also, I can't seem to pull up THAT GODDARN FAQ WITH BREAKPOINTS ARGH.
6.) Do I have enough resists? My brain hurts too much to count what they'd be right now...
Anyways, I know this has been a long equipment section, but my mind is too full of ideas to keep them inside. On to the stats section:
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STATS (at lvl 89 without charms):
Str: 186 (144+42 str from shako+travs+ss)
Dex: 214 (174+40 dex from belt+raven+shako to get 75% block)
Vitality: 214 (184+32 occy+shako+travs )
Energy: 57 (35 base+22 from occy+shako)
I believe this is correct, counting in base stats, quest stats, and lvl 89. Life will be a bit low around 700-800 but mana should be pretty high, especially on my teleport switch. I also have charms and stuff just in case, but I dont plan on dying very often with holy freeze merc. On to skills:
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This is the most important section of my post because it's the most critical to this build (i.e. if you only have 5 minutes to read something, read this)
SKILLS (remember lvl 89 with +9 skills):
cold (69 total):
+20 blizzard
+20 glacial spike
+20 ice blast
+7 cold mastery
+2 prereqs
lightning (8 total):
+1 energy shield
+1 teleport
+1 static
+4 prereqs
fire (24 total):
+20 firewall
+1 fire mastery
+1 warmth
+2 prereqs
With +9 skills to cold/fire tree (and 4/-5 cold facet in occy) I should have:
3346-3530 blizzard
-100 enemy resists
4188-4233 firewall damage
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Here are some questions I have on skills:
1.) Will I do enough dmg in hell, particularly meph, andy, trav, and baal? I plan on soloing most of the time or perhaps rushing another person so take this into account. Since my orb/ball sorc solos baal in 5-6 minutes (3400 fireball/380 orb/-140 enemy resists) I want to be able to go faster with my blizz/fw build (3 minutes). THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION I COULD POSSIBLY HAVE!!
2.) Do I have enough cold mastery? At lvl 17 (7 base+9 skills) I should get -100 enemy resists, which is enough for some monsters. I looked at the resists of most of the monsters I plan on encountering and most seem to have 33% or 50% (e.g. baal) cold resists, (75% for meph). **Should I max cold mastery instead of ice blast? I'd still get about 2633-2778 blizz and -160 enemy resists, so will this be high enough dmg for blizzard???
3.) Is it worth it to use firewall? I have no experience using this skill so perhaps somebody could tell me from their own experiences. Assuming about 4200 dmg per second, will I be able to handle cold immunes in hell? Most importantly, will I be able to handle cold immunes in act5 throne room? Is this skill too frustrating to use?
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I really want to thank you for reading this, despite its length. I have so many questions and I am not willing to make 5 sorcs to find out via trial and error. I am most interested in speed, both teleporting and killing, as well as trying out a new build not many seem to have made before. I speculate that this build could be more powerful than blizz/fireball or meteorb & fireball/orb but I have yet to test it. Please let me know if you have any advice, comments, or questions because I am really curious for some feedback. Thanks again.
*aimson2
I chose blizzard because everybody seems to do better with it than orb for mfing (dmg and speed-wise) and firewall because it is the best 1-hit wonder on the fire tree (I really hate firewall because its such a pain to use but it does give good bang for ur buck). Keep in mind that blizz is my main skill and firewall is my secondary skill.
I am really sorry for writing so much in this post but I am really passionate about making the best mfing sorc possible. If you are too overwhelmed to read this entire post, please skil down to the skills section because that is the one I have the most questions on. Anyways, lets get started shall we:
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
EQUIPMENT:
Shako (ptopaz)
Tals: ammy, armor (ptopaz), belt
20dex raven+soj
magefist gloves
40% war travs
Main mfing switch:
Occy (4/-5 cold die facet)
SS (pdiamond, HEL, or SHAEL)
Teleporting switch:
wizardspike (possibly jewel of truth: 7 fhr)
Lidless wall (pdiamond, eld, or SHAEL)
1 cold skiller
39% gheeds
As many res/life/MF/FHR charms as I need
---------------------------------------------------------------
Here is an explanation for this equipment:
1.) I will be using max block with SS for tanking purposes (214 total dex for max block with ss @ lvl 89) and maybe even get some block with lidless when teleporting. Also helps me get 45% dr with shako :)
2.) I am a sucker for 8 frames casting, which is why i use wizardspike+lidless on my TELEPORTING ONLY switch (50wiz+20lidless+20magefist+20tals=110). I don't use mh so this is very important to me for faster runs (not to mention adrenaline rush). Wizspike also gives me tons of mana+regen, crazy 75 all resists, and possibly even fhr to boot) while lidless just rocks.
3.) I am using 3 peices of tal's to get +20 fcr and 65 mf, as well as the good resists from the armor, the 20 dex/37% mana from belt, and awesome ammy.
4.) I will have approximately 395 mf total (65tals set+112 armor+50 occy+40 travs+74 shako+15 belt+39% gheeds) which ought to be enough. Using nagels could give me a good mf boost, but I will probably use raven+soj instead. I use raven for the mana, 20 dex, cold absorb!, & cannot be frozen while soj gives great mana and +1 skills (necessary for this build). BK ring is also an option besides soj, but i'd rather have 20+25% max mana than +45 life).
5.) With my mfing switch, I will have +8 skills total (3 occy+2 shako+2 ammy+1 soj), as well as +1 fire skills from magefist and +1 cold from my skiller. I really need an annihilus and more skillers, but this will have to do for now.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I do have a few questions that maybe somebody could help me out on:
1.) For my ss, should I put a pdiamond, hel rune, or shael? A pdiamond would help me on resists, but I can probably make up for them with charms. Hel rune would decrease the str req for ss from 156 to 133 (about 46 extra life in stats). The shael will allow me to achieve the next breakpoint of ......... GOSH DARN IT THE FAQ ISN'T LOADING. Any help with this? I know for sure it helps ss get to the next bp...
2.) Would it be better to use arachnids+28% maras+ptopaz skullders instead of tals? That would give me more + skills and mana but i'd sacrifice a bit on the mf. Any advice on this?
3.) For lidless on teleporting switch, should I put eld for more block, pdiamond for resists, or shael for faster block rate? Again, I can't seem to load up the awesome faq on strategy compendium atm...
4.) Should I just scrap the 8 frames casting that I love so much? If i forget the teleporting wpn switch I can use a lower resists wand or +3 energy shield staff (saves 4 skills)... I'm so addicted to 8 frames I don't think i'd give it up easily.
5.) Will I have enough fhr? I don't know how much of an issue this is for blocking sorcs and I'm not sure how to add non-charm fhr into my current equipment setup without sacrificing mf, resists, fcr, and skills. Should I invest in 5% fhr small charms or not? Also, I can't seem to pull up THAT GODDARN FAQ WITH BREAKPOINTS ARGH.
6.) Do I have enough resists? My brain hurts too much to count what they'd be right now...
Anyways, I know this has been a long equipment section, but my mind is too full of ideas to keep them inside. On to the stats section:
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
STATS (at lvl 89 without charms):
Str: 186 (144+42 str from shako+travs+ss)
Dex: 214 (174+40 dex from belt+raven+shako to get 75% block)
Vitality: 214 (184+32 occy+shako+travs )
Energy: 57 (35 base+22 from occy+shako)
I believe this is correct, counting in base stats, quest stats, and lvl 89. Life will be a bit low around 700-800 but mana should be pretty high, especially on my teleport switch. I also have charms and stuff just in case, but I dont plan on dying very often with holy freeze merc. On to skills:
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
This is the most important section of my post because it's the most critical to this build (i.e. if you only have 5 minutes to read something, read this)
SKILLS (remember lvl 89 with +9 skills):
cold (69 total):
+20 blizzard
+20 glacial spike
+20 ice blast
+7 cold mastery
+2 prereqs
lightning (8 total):
+1 energy shield
+1 teleport
+1 static
+4 prereqs
fire (24 total):
+20 firewall
+1 fire mastery
+1 warmth
+2 prereqs
With +9 skills to cold/fire tree (and 4/-5 cold facet in occy) I should have:
3346-3530 blizzard
-100 enemy resists
4188-4233 firewall damage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some questions I have on skills:
1.) Will I do enough dmg in hell, particularly meph, andy, trav, and baal? I plan on soloing most of the time or perhaps rushing another person so take this into account. Since my orb/ball sorc solos baal in 5-6 minutes (3400 fireball/380 orb/-140 enemy resists) I want to be able to go faster with my blizz/fw build (3 minutes). THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION I COULD POSSIBLY HAVE!!
2.) Do I have enough cold mastery? At lvl 17 (7 base+9 skills) I should get -100 enemy resists, which is enough for some monsters. I looked at the resists of most of the monsters I plan on encountering and most seem to have 33% or 50% (e.g. baal) cold resists, (75% for meph). **Should I max cold mastery instead of ice blast? I'd still get about 2633-2778 blizz and -160 enemy resists, so will this be high enough dmg for blizzard???
3.) Is it worth it to use firewall? I have no experience using this skill so perhaps somebody could tell me from their own experiences. Assuming about 4200 dmg per second, will I be able to handle cold immunes in hell? Most importantly, will I be able to handle cold immunes in act5 throne room? Is this skill too frustrating to use?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to thank you for reading this, despite its length. I have so many questions and I am not willing to make 5 sorcs to find out via trial and error. I am most interested in speed, both teleporting and killing, as well as trying out a new build not many seem to have made before. I speculate that this build could be more powerful than blizz/fireball or meteorb & fireball/orb but I have yet to test it. Please let me know if you have any advice, comments, or questions because I am really curious for some feedback. Thanks again.
*aimson2