Energy Shield or not? Public Debate

[Hunt3r_kill4]

Well heres the question I have for my all the experience sorc players out there:
To use energy shield or not?
If not should I get max block or life?
If I go the path of block, what shield should I use?

now I dont want this: Its up to you whether you like this or that...
I want to know which you would PREFER....

I have used energy shield in the past and it has always worked nicely, helping me survive when my friend died a bloody death. But I have never EVER tried playing a sorc not using a energy shield so I want to know which do you guys use and what i should do with mine

My sorc is going to be a blizzard sorc..jus so you know

[Miladys-Knight]

I try it all the ways. Just depends on my mood.

[melianor]

My preference for PvM:
1. Blocking
2. Vita
3. Energy Shield

The thing with Energy Shield is, that for it to be effective you need to invest at least 20 points into Telekinesis, so that already takes away quite a few points leaving you mostly with pure single tree builds like pure Orb, maybe a weakend pure fire tree or Lightning ofcourse.

Vita or Blockbuilds are not skill dependant at all and just need a different stats distribution.

On the other hand a pure Frozen Orb/ES build is a very nice choice!
You would still need resistances since elemental attacks will be calculated seperatly. Also read up on the Energy Shield explained 1.1 thread which you can find in the Sorceress Guide Library. This you will need to undersand how ES works now in the 1.10 patch.

[Black_Rose]

I'd say it depends on the usage of that sorceress. If it is mainly for mf runs, then block can be a disaster, as it is not a single hit that kills my vita sorc when teleing to meph, but a few strikes that hit me after I'm stuck in a block lock on my blocking sorc.

If I wanted to rush or just have fun, I'd probably go the blocking way. Block would also be my choice for pvp.

[Lunatic]

All my pvm sorcs are build without block and no ES. And I do fine. Even without a merc it's not all that hard. For pvp it's a totally different story , block is a must there IMHO. Except if you're only going to duel against casters ofcourse.

As for ES , you need to build your whole char around massive mana + good level (or max) ES + max TK in order to make it work. Which means less points in other skills (synergies or or 2nd skill perhaps).

[Hunt3r_kill4]

well so far I have had 2 sorc's and both with energy shield, I have no block and average life...

I put one point in energy shield and one in TK and leave it to the + skills...

I can take at least 4 hits and still live in Hell Chaos Sanctuary

in duels vs other sorc, I can take a blizzard hit from a 8 k blizz sorc


I was wondering does it get better than that>

[Lord_Shinnok]

First off i'll say that i've never been a fan of ES. I guess for my style of play it just never seems to work. Anyway...

I'm a vita man. The way i see it your going to get git no matter what. Even with max block your going to get hit eventually and u got to be able to take it. I usually invest a lot into vita then drop some in dex to possibly get around 30 to 40 % block if i want. I've done this with a lot of my sorcs and while some of them didn't do well in terms of damage they were able to survive, even with less than fantastic gear.

[DeamonMonkey]

in duels vs other sorc, I can take a blizzard hit from a 8 k blizz sorc


I was wondering does it get better than that>

I can take 2 ~12k Blizzard, they do a little more than half my life, If I had skillers with life, I could take 3 of them. And thats without any Stacked Cold Res. And agains a Level 42ish Cold Mastery and 2 facets. I like my sorc.

[Hunt3r_kill4]

I can take 2 ~12k Blizzard, they do a little more than half my life, If I had skillers with life, I could take 3 of them. And thats without any Stacked Cold Res. And agains a Level 42ish Cold Mastery and 2 facets. I like my sorc.


and this is with what route?

[melianor]

I put one point in energy shield and one in TK and leave it to the + skills...

Hunt3r_kill4 you do realize that the +pts from skills in TK do NOT benefit the synergy for ES? Synergies only work with hard skillpoints invested into the skill that gives the synergy.
Also pointing out that this was all about using ES in PvP would be helpful ;)

[Zarhrezz]

On the other hand a pure Frozen Orb/ES build is a very nice choice!
You would still need resistances since elemental attacks will be calculated seperatly. Also read up on the Energy Shield explained 1.1 thread which you can find in the Sorceress Guide Library. This you will need to undersand how ES works now in the 1.10 patch.

In PvM the only resistance I would consider is poison, since poison damage isn't affected by ES. Investing in other resists is a waste in a full ES build, since no elemental damage will ever reach the phase of damage resolution where resists lower/raise the elemental damage. With max ES (slvl 40) your negation multiplier on MDR/PDR is 20, so 20 MDR/PDR will prevent the first 400 damage of a hit from taking any life at all (even when cursed and with -100% resist all). No monster in Hell can deal that much elemental damage in a single hit and only some very rare combination of mods can yield that much physical damage, so pretty much nothing can harm your life (outside poison and charge bug). Note that only 10% of the damage over 400 from an elemental attack is applied to life if you have -100% resist. It's really not worth it investing in resists to make that 5% or less of the 'overflow' damage...you're basicially spending gear slots on lowering the damage you might possibly face once every million games.

[melianor]

In PvM the only resistance I would consider is poison, since poison damage isn't affected by ES. Investing in other resists is a waste in a full ES build, since no elemental damage will ever reach the phase of damage resolution where resists lower/raise the elemental damage. With max ES (slvl 40) your negation multiplier on MDR/PDR is 20, so 20 MDR/PDR will prevent the first 400 damage of a hit from taking any life at all (even when cursed and with -100% resist all). No monster in Hell can deal that much elemental damage in a single hit and only some very rare combination of mods can yield that much physical damage, so pretty much nothing can harm your life (outside poison and charge bug). Note that only 10% of the damage over 400 from an elemental attack is applied to life if you have -100% resist. It's really not worth it investing in resists to make that 5% or less of the 'overflow' damage...you're basicially spending gear slots on lowering the damage you might possibly face once every million games.

Now you make me want to build a FO/ES Sorc for PvM :p :thumbsup:

[Zarhrezz]

Now you make me want to build a FO/ES Sorc for PvM :p :thumbsup:

My guide is archived at the Compendium ;)

[Sartok]

My guide is archived at the Compendium ;)
And it's a good one!

Alas, I had built n Energy Shield sorc prior to this guide. It was on old ladder and had a lvl 41 ES (I know extra lvl is useless) and a lvl 20 bass telkenisis (base is all that matters), in PvM purposes, with the right equipment. No damage is taken at all, even against such things as hell baal, i would take zero, sometimes maybe 10-20 dmg per attack.

When ES isn't utilized though I feel that vita sorc's are the way to go, for pvm at least... with tele you can avoid most hits anyways and stay at a distance. Assuming you are not a melee sorc, then max block is required of course.

In PvP cases I would agree with most of the points shared and also stress that max block is required. It helps against all non-magic builds naturally, provided they get close enough to hit. As a final note, an ES sorc, whether for PvM or not, stands a good chance against most PvP builds. This is with a maxed ES of course though, providing 95% absorbtion of all to mana. If this route is taken though, I would suggest a lightning build though, because of all the +lightning skills that will be used already for the ES.

On SCL USEast I have a Charged Boltress with maxed ES (almost). With her current lvl, each one of her 24 bolts does about 650 dmg... how fun :clap:
Anyways, thats my two cents...

- Sartok :thumbsup:

[Hunt3r_kill4]

well I know that + skills does not effect synergies but somehow, my energy shield does fine...

also, i have base energy, yet still have around 1.2 k mana, which is like have 600 xtra life

so after all this im still undecided...this is supposedly my final and "perfect" sorc so I dont want to screw this up :thumbsup:

[DoC-Makaveli]

i say definitely use es if pvp... my lvl 90 blizz sorc is at 10.3k blizz with max TK, 1 in es, 20 blizz, 1 orb (useful for last hits or freezing pepole without cannot be frozen), 20 cold mastery, 20 ice blast, rest to ice bolt then glacial spike

[catastrope]

My preference for PvM:
1. Blocking
2. Vita
3. Energy Shield

The thing with Energy Shield is, that for it to be effective you need to invest at least 20 points into Telekinesis, so that already takes away quite a few points leaving you mostly with pure single tree builds like pure Orb, maybe a weakend pure fire tree or Lightning ofcourse.

Vita or Blockbuilds are not skill dependant at all and just need a different stats distribution.

On the other hand a pure Frozen Orb/ES build is a very nice choice!
You would still need resistances since elemental attacks will be calculated seperatly. Also read up on the Energy Shield explained 1.1 thread which you can find in the Sorceress Guide Library. This you will need to undersand how ES works now in the 1.10 patch.

I want to ask you sth: If you want to put some points to energy shield, why are you putting all your points to vita. When you max energy shield, it takes 95 percent. So if you wan to max it, oyu have to put points to energy.