View Full Version : Sorceress builds everywhere
Wolfedude
06-10-2004, 22:01
Just got back in town and have been reading the posts about the different sorc builds ppl are using and thought I would repost mine and see if anyone will agree with what my thinking is about running hell Meph. Build is:
Pure Blizzard sorceress with a few points wasted in fire skills just to try to make it through hell.
Equipment is:
Iratha's set
Wizard Spike
Skin of Vipermagi
Whitstan's shield (Lidless)
Waterwalks
1 rare 10% FCR ring and 1 Nature's Peace
My thinking, unless Stringer or someone else can ABSOLUTLY convince me that it is too dangerous, is to use lidless to teleport through the Durance because I can acheive the 110% FCR with Lidless and should be able to go through the Durance fast enough to not wake up too many monsters. I can then use the moattrick switching to Whitstans if necessary. Use Blizzard until Meph is almost dead then switch to Gull dagger and Rhyme shield to finish Meph off.
I admit I don't have a lot of magic find but I believe better safe than sorry.
My resistances are 85% all except Fire which is 90%. My blocking with Whitstans is 75%. My life is 850 before using Oak from ring, about 1300 after.
What I am asking about, besides asking for any suggestions, is:
1. When using the moat trick is a merc an unnecessary distraction for other monsters or a helpful distraction for monsters when teleporting?
2. Will the Oak from the ring wander off & attract other monsters?
3. Would using Lidless instead of Whitstans be unadvisable because the added danger from less blocking cannot be overcome by the increased speed while teleporting?
4. I read somewhere in this forum that pressing the alt key while teleporting will add some sort of advantage to the teleporter. Please advise as to whether there is any advantage to using the alt key while teleporting and what that advantage is?
Thanks in advance for your replies.
MoUsE_WiZ
06-10-2004, 22:22
1) I hate the moat trick. Haven't used it ever, so I can't actually answer this question.
2) While teleporting, no. While moat tricking just teleport in spot inbetween blizz casts if it starts wandering.
3) Less blocking = hit more often by dolls = stunlock (block lock isn't an issue in 1.10, so don't try telling me it is =p). As such if you're not blocking and you are teleporting, FHR should be double the priority it would have been had you been blocking. Or something to that extent. Basically I'm in love with FHR and will tell EVERY single person with a sorc thread to use it ^^
4) I'd assume the advantage would lie thusly:
Holding alt will make you not right click on doors/chests/baskets/monsters while teleporting, making you teleport to the location that you wanted to, rather than possibly to a somewhat more dangerous spot. Since you aren't killing things on the way, there won't be any item names to accidentally click on.
Can't say I've ever tried doing it that way, my fingers are busy tapping blues/ready to juv most of the time (because remapping hotkeys is for jerks and necros), but it does sound like a good idea and I'm annoyed that I'd never thought of it now that I hear it.
I think it's too dangerous. To teleport with high FCR/low block and then switch to block when you get to mephisto strikes me as bass ackwards. Teleport with high block, then switch to high mf and mediocre block (thinking rhyme).
I wouldn't bother with the moat trick either, just let a kelpie equipped or reapers equipped merc get up in his face while you stand off to the side, ready to mf switch when he is slivered. If your merc is getting punked, teleport away from meph to disengage meph from your merc, then run up yourself and take a hit or two while you feed your merc reds (or purples, depending on availability).
The moat trick is something I just save for a might'ed mephisto. He can't hurt you that bad normally, IMO it's more dangerous to stand behind the moat and risk awakening bremm&co, or a vampire pack than to tank mephisto toe to toe.
I dont think you NEED more than 63 FCR for Meph runs just dont give merc a "big stick" give him a Kelpie Snare.
Lidless sucks man.....God it jsut sucks if you get ANY lag or make ANY error than all that dex for block is worthless and you die!
Also, what the hell you going to do wiht all these switch items? (3) shields (2) weapons
850 life? Seems rather low. My MFer is 1250 and abotu 1800+ with Oak and my Baal Teler is 1100 and she has poor charms, but she doesnt run Baal without BO so she is still solid. Carrying a shield around takes up (6) slots or 120 life and more wiht good charms
Not sure the use of Irthras for Meph is "needed" now maybe if you were doing Baal runs it might be but Meph runs arent a big resists issue really. The resisits would be rocking but I think it is over kill there while sacraficing life and other great mods you can get from other items.
Tals or Nightsmokes DtM is damn nice especially with mana burners not to mention the 10 priz, or the 20 dex.
Pcrown is nice, or there can be others also, staying wiht the cheap items here
Irthras ammy even with fulls set can be beat by a Blue Chromatic.....find one wiht Dex and you ahve block easier, or maybe life. i used a 100 life 26 Priz for a long time til I found Tals. Caster ammy "could" help you hit 105 FCR and still allow using Natures.
30 viper
50 Wizzy
10 ring
15 ammy.....they can hit 20 on a caster ammy, or......the Helm can also supply FCR if the 105 is realy what you want. Irthras Helm with 2nd item has nice rez and big defense but i think can be replaced easily.
I think Frosties are a big item, 40% more mana is just hard to not use when without BO and even with BO.
To "finalize" Irthras resisits are difficult to beat, but the items you can replace Irthras with can still get you 75 all pretty easily, could hit 105, and can supply a ton of mana, lot of dex, DtM, MF, +skills...etc.
Rememmber, +skills are really just a bonus, but each +skill helps in teleporting, and ES, and Irthras gives no +skills and you "could" have as much as +4 in Ammy and Helm alone, or easlily +2
I applaud your thoughs on Irthras but I think you can do fine if not better without.
Wzzy Whitstans
Gull Rhyme switch
Donate the Lidless to a new SC transfer so he can learn it sucks! Hell he is begging for it anyway and lessons learned the hard way are ones that stick well!
if you were going no dex all vita i could possibly understand the Lidless......but spending all that dex just to not use it in the most crusial time which is teleporting seems so wastefull. Max block isnt needed standing still to much, its when teleporting you get attacked the most.
My sorc uses Lidless with wizzy (ali baba/mosers on switch) with Iratha's full set.
My armor is Skullders, boots wartravs. One resist/MF ring and ravenfrost on the other.
I have 85+ resist all on BOTH weapon switches in hell (reads 85 - but they're about 90-110 in case of conviction or lower resist).
Lidless works fine for me but I'm under the influence of a defiance merc and battle orders and shout, so my defense is something like 15,000, with 2100 life and lots of mana. So I rarely get hit, don't have to worry about the slow blocking of lidless as my blocking percentage is lousy anyway (just enough dex for wizzy).
I cannot vouch for lidless when not using shout/battleorders. But I LOVE the full Iratha's bonus. I still have 250-ish MF (and another 100 on the merc) and never worry about my resists, even with conviction or when switching for the boss-kill. :)
I've gone with synergized frozen orb. What REALLY helped (I had never tried it before) was putting my extra points into telekinesis. That really helps when the elemental attacks hit my energy shield, something that was annoying with all my other builds (to the extent that I stopped using ES eventually and died as a result).
Blizz works fine with moat trick, careful of the council member on left side or boss packs below you though.
110% fc works wonderful, I know many people hate lidless but I personally have always like it. I've used lidless on most of my sorcs, just an occasional meteor or nova with ss back in 1.09. In my entire career of d2 hc (2 years) I've only had 1 sorc die, and that was to a msle convict...
Donate the Lidless to a new SC transfer so he can learn it sucks! Hell he is begging for it anyway and lessons learned the hard way are ones that stick well!
i do a lot of pgem trades in normal games and that is like my biggest selling item.
i charge more and more each time i trade them! 8)
Nerf-Herder
07-10-2004, 02:28
i do a lot of pgem trades in normal games and that is like my biggest selling item.
i charge more and more each time i trade them! 8)
probably because people die alot using that damn thing and are too stupid to learn from their mistakes.
i am a strong supporter of max block, not just on sorks but on virtually all of my weap//sheild characters
the only char i have ATM that uses a shield and doesnt have max block is my necro -- but i didnt have a homuncy when i made him, now that i do i may delete the bastard and remake him with max block
BLOCKING PWNZ ALL!!
Vita sorcs are still just as viable as they have always been. If you have always played a vita sorc, continue playing that way, youll die more trying to switch to a blocker. If you have always used a blocker, continue using them.
Both has pos and negs, it just depends how you play.
0takuPryd3
07-10-2004, 04:18
You dont really need block or life to tele to Meph... Lidless is fine. If you're always ready to juv, I don't see how you can die unless you lag. If you lag badly enough to die, you're pretty much screwed anyway. If you lag at all teleing through a minotaur pack in act 5 Hell, it's pretty obvious that you're ****ed. Don't lag and you'll do fine.
And by the way... resists are important for Meph, including fire resistance. Lords can destroy you pretty fast if you have low fire resists.
Wolfedude
07-10-2004, 06:03
I see that we have not reached a consensus again. The main question should always be "Is the 110% teleportation rate with 50% blocking safer than the 63% teleportation rate with 75% blocking"? I don't know and am not sure anyone actually does. The opinions are diametrically opposed. Hmmmmm..... I wonder who really is right?
MoUsE_WiZ
07-10-2004, 06:04
63+75>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>110+50
I think the opposition is as to whether or not 110+50 is safe at all, unless I'm mistaken.
Wolfedude
07-10-2004, 06:48
Mouse_Wiz, have you ever teleported at the higher rate? What did you find as to waking up the monsters?
MoUsE_WiZ
07-10-2004, 07:12
1) Yes, but not for quite some time.
2) Waking up the monsters? Not much. Getting to the target faster, a bunch. Really I've never had much trouble with waking the monsters up with 9fpc, and although I've had less with 8fpc I don't feel it's a difference that matters, especially when running meph.
However, I'd still go something like: Wizzy+Viper+FCR jewelry to hit it and ignore the lidless regardless.
Dolls and Maulers and Bloodlords regardless of mods are not an issue even if you land in the middle of them unless you cant recover either due to lag, being hit too much, low cast reat or mana burn with no way to recover.
If you have some FHR you can recover
If you have defense you wont get hit alow
If you have block you will get hiit less
If you have DtM (Damage to Mana) you will always recover "some" mana to get out of nasty situations with mana burners
The most dangerous thing is having a merc that can 1-2 hit a Doll.
Also, I dont think the comparison here is 63 and 75% vrs 110 and 50%
My current Fire sorc I tele Baal with has both Mosers and Whitstans, uses Eschutes and Mosers on switch for "stand still killin of minions" and has Wizzy and Whitstans for teleporting and "mass confusiong killing" or cleaning throne.
With Max Block for Whitstans when I switch to Mosers I am at approx 50-55% Block. Lisless compared to Mosers in block is like comparing Bloodletter to Grandfather for max damage. Your block wiht lidless will be pitifull, especially with the gear you mentioned. Getting 50% Max block with Lidless will cost you greatly and you dont intend to have any dex gear.
i use to never play sorcs, each one I built use to die. I never wanted to invest in making one "right" to defy death but once I finally broke down and did it I will never change. I have yet to loose a sorc in 1.10 built with base energy, max block using whitstans/Wizzy/Viper ot Naj or Tals. My list of sorc deaths was very long in 1.09 and got a quick 3 deaths in Classic 1.10 before i changed my build plans.
I am not.....well wasnt a good sorc player, i hated them with a passion until I built one "right".
I dont use map hack, i dont drink purples except so rarely it is strange. People ask me constantly if I need juvs when I tele Baal but I just rarely use them as I jsut dont get into trouble much and usually its just a quikc Blue and keep teleporting.
Not one of my sorcs has ever use absorbs of any kind, they dont have overly high FHR jsut some, my current Baal runner has Sanstroms ETH and a 55 mana 12 FHR Grand for instance. I have never put an SS on a sorc and dont intend to unless I get frisky and try a dueler. I never stand around and wait for other to kill anything, I always teleport in wiht my 1 point invested Static and do my 50% max, and hell I even uses Chain Lightning at its misserable 100 damage as its just boring doing nothing. I telek nasty monsters so others can kill them safer or my merc.
Glaoms do not sorry me but I also "kep the hammer down" around them meaning I stop for nothing! I have teled thru Convic Gloams several times with no issues, and wiht my MFEr and no Map Hack i have found my self in kissing distance of the nastiest of the nasties possible in Durance over and over and no Bo and got out of it with no real scares.
Damnit, i frankly suck at sorcs.......well use to, but a well built sorc played with a little brains is damn hard to kill!
When I first started this game in SC Lidless was reguarded as "the sheild" except for dueling then SS came in or Black Oak. People in SC would constantly toss Whitstans and say "PoS" and move on. When I came to HC I heard them talk all abotu Wizzy/Whitstans over and over but in SC those things jsut werent use much, it was all abotu Lidless/Occy. In teim I began to understand all this stuff and I now know what all those guys were preaching about when I first came here. I ignore them at first, I use Lidless, or WoE in Classic and I paid for it. I invested in Energy and paid for it, I ent max damage and little D and paid for it. I finally learned and went no energy, max bloc. max rez, enuff MF to allow max rez with max block, max life charms, big cast rate and I finally have Sorcs that just dont die as long as I am not stupid with them.
i am afraid of nothign with BO on my sorcs, I dont have to change gear ever for a situation, I dont need map hack to tell me what is there because I can handle what is there or read its mods before death to not die to FE explosions because my sorc can stand in the middle of Hell for a couple seconds while I read those mods because she has 1850 or so life wiht Oak, Max block, ES, Cold Armor, Max rez, good D, Hit recover, Caste rate...etc
if you want to build sorcs alot use Lidless, go Vita, screw block. If you want to build your last sorc you have to build build one with Wizzt/Whitstans/Viper, get max bloc, max rez, some FHR, and if you can add Oak somehow, and load up that inventory with life charms.
the whole key to MF is not having to rebuild, its not getting there the fastest or having the most MF it is being alive to pick up that Shako that fell, or getting to the boss that one time he is just itching to give you a Shako.
Glas cannons work, they cna work a really long time, but they can also die in the first 10-50 runs and not collect you **** also.
1) Yes, but not for quite some time.
2) Waking up the monsters? Not much. Getting to the target faster, a bunch. Really I've never had much trouble with waking the monsters up with 9fpc, and although I've had less with 8fpc I don't feel it's a difference that matters, especially when running meph.
However, I'd still go something like: Wizzy+Viper+FCR jewelry to hit it and ignore the lidless regardless.
I did probably 200 meph runs the way he said. I got exasperated at all the failed set bone knives, set shakos and rares that I would find, so I finally ditched the viper for more mf from a skulders and tweaked for 70 FCR. I liked 8 fpc better, but 9 has still been fine.
Really, I'd be surprised if there is any situation that will kill you at 9 fpc and yet you would survive it at 8 fpc.
Mf is all luck man, the % doesnt mean alot, it is timing. My MF sorc found 8 Shakos and 2 SS and plenty of other crap wiht nothing more that Topazed Shako, Toped Viper, Alibaba and Rhyme wiht I think 3 MF charms and a Gheeds. I have (2) Skullders sitting on mules and would darn use them on my sorc. I have Tals armor now so I definelty wont, but I have had one skully for over a month and got Tals Monday froom Baal and the killers had 50 Mf on the pally and 0 Mf on the Druid, it was #1 Druid (last seasons rikjamesbiatch) and a 95 Pally.
in 17 runs those two gave me a near perfect Raven, Occy, Skully and Tals! It is ALL abotu timing and luck, not MF!
Not to get off topic, but....
Every time I build a char I end up reading something that makes me think it's wrong lol. Anyway...
I've got a lev 71 hc sorcy I mostly want to use for mf. So far I've got like 90 base str and the rest is in vit, except I have like 55 points remaining to assign. If I wanted to max block is it too late?
If it matters, I do have a whistan's (actually, maybe two of them), and a vipermagi, and some other ok stuff. But nothing too great.
Even if it's too late to go max block, is using whistan's still worthwhile? Regardless, should I socket it and a perf diamond? What about vipermagi socketing?
Great forum. Thanks in advance.
PS: One more thing: I seem to die more often than not due to spear-chuckers or dolls. Vipermagi is fairly low defense. Seems like I might do better with something higher in def. Why not? Thanks again!
You cna up Viper it is very nice upped and I beleive your STR will cover it easily, like 86 STR i think upped. I thinkit is LEM and KO to up it best check.
Actually when I build a Sorc I go Vita and dex for Wizzy at lvl 61. This is 75 dex. Now, i am not 100% on these numbers, these are all from memory but i beleive at lvl 70 u need something like 85 dex to be Max Block with Whitstans and at about lvl 90 u need somehting like 145-150 or so.
Ways to get Dex:
First you ahve the 50 stats, but dont use them all if you dont need.
Waterwalks are great with 15 and life up to 60
Tals Belt is 20 dex and also 35 DtM which IMO is just nice to have.
Raven Frost can be 15-20 dex, or Rare or magical ring with Dex and mana and rez maybe.
you can add dex elsewhere, but if you can get 50-60 from boots/belt/ring you are doing pretty good.
Pdiamond the Whitstans, and wiht the Wizzy and Viper (Ruby or Topaz in it, or UM if ya want), but wihtout UM you are somewhere around 55 rez all or better with jsut those three things and (3) Anyas quest in Hell. You are maxed in NM Easy. Some rez charms hoepfully with second mod are great to make up the rest, or in the Ammy, Cromatic Ammys are easily gambled and found, second mods just that more handy. You can put a Rez Jewel in your Wizzy, I have a 10 in mine for my MFer.
IIRC my MFer "wore" until Monday when I got Tals:
Viper Top
Shako Top
Wizzy 10 priz Jewel
Whitstans Diamond
Tals Belt
Waterwalks
Soj
Natures
Tals Ammy
The rings and ammy and Shako frankly are optional, I mean hell if you dont ahve them that doesnt mean you cant have a good sorc. beleive me, she didnt have those when she started, and she was using a Naj Armor before I got Viper.
PCrown
Priz Ammy
Rez Rings with mana maybe life
Those will get you good and started.
The key is charms......use all the life charms and man charms you can even if they are crappy at first. In time you will find or can craft better ones. Save all your crappy Hell small charms and use Gems on them to roll them. Great way to get life and rez charms. Get a few 10-11 FR or LR or CR charsm and then you can free up say the ammy slot. Get one wiht 15 or so life and 10-11 Rez and its all that much better.
If you are low on mana early, and sort of weak on life....GO SLOWER....dont tele liek you have a 1400 life 1100 mana sorc when you have 800/600......do a tele/Walk to Meph, or stay in NM until you improve your gear more.
Andy is a great run do her, 7 of my 8 Shakso this season came from her or monsters on the way to her, and she has given me sevearl Gheeds, Vipers...etc. She gave me two Stones last season also.
Thanks a ton for the info Stinger. Sometimes it's hard to get a reasonable reply on some of these forums, especially if you don't already know the answer to your own question (lol).
Anyway, I should have been a bit more specific. I'm non-ladder. I didn't really know much about how the ladder worked these days when I started back, and frankly I didn't think I really cared. Whenever it starts over I'll probably start playing it, but for now all my gear is non-ladder and I don't feel like starting over (to play ladder) again. So, I can't up the vipermagi.
A long time ago I got in the habit of liking items with resists, so other than some of my mf gear, everything has at least some resist. Besides the vipermagi, I found a unique amu (something "chance" amu) that gives 12 to all stats and 22 res to all. I haven't been using it to mf but it's part of my leveling/normal gear. I haven't killed baal on nm yet, but probably will later because I've had better luck in the past even in low areas of hell finding decent items than mf shenk, pindle, and eld on nm. I don't often do meph runs because I don't use mh and the dolls kill me about half the time when I don't see them before I send out an orb. I also don't really know what people do to tele to him, and the thought of dying in the process of trying that makes me afraid.
Anyway, my gear for leveling includes either vipermagi or currently some poor mageplate that, however, has better def than viper, blackthorns face, either hellmouth gaunts or fosties, the "something chance" amu, a normal 2-socketed grim sheild with two pdias. The rest of my stuff are rares that mostly add resists and whatever additional things I can get with them. I even hang on to various orbs based on them having different combinations of skills/resists so I can get the best combination once I get to hell. Then I can mule the rest of them.
Anyway, I may just hold off on allocating those points to dex for blocking until I get to hell and figure out what I have going. Idealy, I'd find a mosers and I'd want max block using that which would obviously take more dex (not sure how much). But the max blocking thing is really appealing because it seems lately that most of the time I get in trouble isn't to the LEs but to spear-chuckers or the dolls.
Anyway, thanks again for all the info. Any info you (or anyone) has about my current stuff (for example, "hellmouths are not worth it because...."), I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks again.
the key to Durance is to not kill ANYTHING becasue killing dolls can kill you! If you stick tight to the walls, always keep your left shoulder to the wall you "normally" find lvl 3 the fastest. Occasionally it is the other way but rarely, and occasionally its in the middle of the damn place but rarely. Always look all (3) dirrections by the WP and see if you can teleinto a room form the WP. Many times lvl 3 is right there by the WP, and I couldnt tell you how many times I teled thru the whole damn thing to end up finding it right next to the WP.
Defense, D is a good thing, never ignore it, but remember that it actually takes rather large increases in D to make a difference in chance to be hit. A Mage plate that is 600 D is better than a Viper at 279 IIRC, but not so much better to outweigh the excellent mods on the Viper. The +1 alone makes your Cold armr and ES a little better, makes teleport 1 cheaper. The FCR makes the chance of teleporting past things without getting hit much better, or even seen for that matter. No Mage Plate can ever beat a Viper IMO. Look at Que Heagans, there is a reason most people dont use it, hell it has several excellent mods and much better Defense but it has no resisits.
Try a Holy Freeze Merc. Get one and lvl him up in Flayers, Eld, SHnenk in NM. When you go into a new NM game after he is lvled up some go do the Eld/Shenk run and make sure his arura gets activated. Once that is activate anything that gets close to you will get Holy Freezed and can only hit you less than half as much as it use to. Now, personally i feel HF mercs wiht Cold sorcs are a bit too much cold, but for a person like yourself that is still concerned than go for the HF guy. Hell you can get him lvled up in a day or 2 doing what you are already doing.
Use the Viper......it is Godly for what it is. I have (2) sorcs lvl 89 and 90. the 89 is my MEFer and she wore Viper doing Andy/Meph/Pindle for a very long time until Monday when I gae her Tals. My 90 si my Baal teler and she teles in pretty large games, normally 4-6 ppl all the time sometimes 8 goinf for Baals Throne. Whe uses exactly what I recommend, Viper/wizzy/whitstans. Those are the core of a solid sorc and anyhting above that is just only bonuses to a great build it really is.
When I rune Meph I tele along the wall basically "hammer down" meaning dont stop do not pass go dont collect $200 just GET TO THE STAIRS! Occasinoally I stop in those corner rooms that have like 4 chest, 2 armor stands and more and pop all those as I have had good luck wiht that. Have 1 row of Blues.....tele, tele, tele, drink blue if needed........rinse and repeat, blues are cheap, go to town and buy more but DONT STOP TELEPORTING. Dont get nervous/scared just BLANKIN TELE!!! (pick YOUR word for blankin).
Meph run is really so simple but many make it difficult for themselves. Usually fear kils people. If they fear something they panic when the **** hits the fan instead of using the skills they have to get out of it. People who play football scared to be hurt get hurt. Duelers afraid to die, die. Have a little fear is a good thing, but having so much as to panic is bad. Fear makes you play SMART, no fear allows you to play stupid. Some people get in the "no fear" state once they put on that Shako/Tgods/SS and get killed 10 misn later because they thought they were Godly.
The whole key to a successfull Meph run is to NEVER kill a doll and NEVER stop teleporting! Dont let your merc be strong enuff to kill a Doll, give him a mid lvl weapon, somehting he caan kill with "over time" not in 1-3 hits.
.................................................. ..
FEAR Kills
GREED Kills
Dont let either of these rule your judgements!
And never be afraid to abort a run! Live to fight another day, but frankly wiht your apparent mindset you will have the gear to fight your way thru most things safely as you like to get your resisits, you are concerned about Defense and you are trying to learn how to do it better.
BTW, think your ammy is Saracens Chance, solid little ammy to get you going with!
Also......Try NM council, take them from the left side of the building it is dead simple with a Blizz sorc with max Fire. They dont drop a lot but tons of gold and the ocasional goodies!
Wolfedude
07-10-2004, 21:34
Thanks guys, especially STRINGER, I think I will stick to the Whitstans and keep my block up. Although I did have a few stray thoughts about a build using Twitch, I discarded the idea as probably not worth trying it out. I am gonna try using the Iratha's, wizzy and Whitstans and see if the added resists can help against Meph. We'll see anyway. Perhaps I will change out her equipment in the future. But since I make the vast majority of my Meph runs alone without BO I have not wanted to risk the only Shako and a few of my most choice charms on a sorceress that will be running for her life through the Durance of Hate in hell. Perhaps after I have some additional choice items I will attempt the change & see how it works.
You know, if I use the wizzy, skins, magefist and a couple of rings, maybe an amulet, I could reach that higher teleportation rate and still have max block. My resists might suffer from 85% but still could probably make close to 75%.
It's a thought. Perhaps the next one anyway.
Thanks again Stringer!
I'm sure at some point i'll give the teleporting idea a go. I already have the HF merc, so that's not a problem. I can also do some runs on normal just to get a feel for the teleing before trying it on anything harder.
I don't have a regular group of folks I play with, and I play pretty late in the evening, so it's frequently hard to find good games to level up in or anyone to rush me. That's the main reason I hate to die so much. Besides, in all my time playing hardcore I've never made it very far in hell and I'd like to at least have a while to actually *possibly* see something really high lev fall.
I did make it to hell, and have done the first three quests, but that was with full leveling gear on. At the end I mixed things around and found a combination that would let maintain about 50 resists to all and still have around 120 mf (195 with a weapon swap to skull staff).
Anyway, thanks again for all the info!
Stinger,
I gave it a shot and though I didn't actually get to the stairs, I'm still alive. I think I would have been fine but I realized, after I started teleporting that if I had to bail out of the game to survive I'd lose my merc's weapon and I didn't really want to do that. So I've got to clear out some inventory space before I give it another go.
Couple of questions for you though whenever you are around, if you have time to respond.
First, my attempt a few mins ago I was using all my leveling gear so I'd have the best shot at surviving. I'm assumming, however, that most people just go with mf gear? Thing is, though I'm gambling constantly to try and upgrade, my mf rings and amu have almost no other stats on them, so I'm really flying without much protection if I do the runs like that. Also, my helm is just a deathmask with 3 ptopaz socketed, so nothing there.
Second, does the merc have to have a weapon at all on the way down? I have a feeling I might be tp'ing back to town once I get either to the third floor, or right by meph to either switch gear (at least until I get use to making it down there) or something along those lines.
Finally, I use to do this teleporting thing in softcore, but I always just killed everything on the third floor. I know, however, that there's a way to tele past everything and straight to meph, but the one post I read on a diff forum had pictures I couldn't make out. Do you happen to know of a good spot that explains where you tele to on the third floor to get past the council and to meph?
Thanks again for all the help!
Once you go down the stairs just go straight at Meph if you have a good connection and cast rate there are no issues. Usually the Council are either on the center isle or on the right side. If you go straight from stairs to the red portal you will normally tele straight thru them if they are on the right.
So if you dont have a good connection or are short on cast rate then just tele over the wall and walk until you see them and then tele to avoid them.
I suggest you tele to the "circular isle" in front of the red portal, walk forwards slowly and let Meph come to you. One that that can make a Meph run real dangerous real fast is if you go straight at him as this can awaken the bloodlords and sometimes dolls that may be up behind him.
Always look for aruras on Meph. Meph with Might can be a nasty SOB and if you dont have a great bild just make a new game if you see might.
When i make anew sorc for MF I get my resisits, FCR, block and life first.......MF is last, I dont care if it is only 50 MF if that is all I cna have safely taht is what I start wiht. I dont screw around wiht stoppping and changing gear. If you can do 10 runs with 50 MF instead of 4-5 stopping and changing gear you should do better with more runs. Besides, it is easy to forget to swap gear and get into trouble.
Personally the first items I want is a weapon switch. Gull or Baba and Rhyme on switch. That is easily 100+ MF even if you have none anywhere else. Then all you do is take meph to a sliver, switch when he has say 1/10 life left and take him out. If Merc is tanking him, or if you do the moat trick properly then you wont have any worries with teh switch, but your resisits wil be pretty low while switched. This is why i like Keplies on new sorc mercs. 75% slowing of Meph is a whole lot less attacks, makes merc survival much better and as long as the merc is alive you dont see much of anything but posions or charged bolts. If the Merc dies then you are open for the Ice Baal which can be nasty.
I only use the moat trick wiht poor gear, after I get better stuff I just tank him wiht static back off a bit when he is at 50% and Blizz him till 1/10 or so and switch. Then on the final blizz I tele in place to keep merc from getting the last hit. Yes, you will screw the timing upp some on these moves but if you stick to them they will become second nature and simple.
If you're not experienced at teleporting to bosses, practice tele-ing from Cats2 to Cats4 10, 20, or 50 games or more before you try teleing durance.
There's not much dangerous in cats when compared with durance. Also, if you talked to warriv after killing andy for quest the first time, she will be 'bugged' and you'll get first drop on her every time, so she drops really good items.
Once you feel confident, then give durance2 a try. Stick near the walls and NEVER stop near dolls.
Kurg,
Didn't know about the andy/warriv bug, so not sure if I talked to him or not. Don't you have to to get to the next act? Does that work for each difficulty level or do you have to talk to him on normal for it to work in later difficulty levels as well?
Thanks
Basically kill andy for quest in the difficulty you're playing, talk to warriv, go to act2.
Then exit game.
Any game you play from that point onwards andy will be 'bugged' for that difficulty.
Since 98 percent of people do this routine anyway, almost everyone has a 'bugged' andy.
The scenario which will ruin your andy MF runs (for that difficulty) is to exit the game before talking to warriv and going to act2. It can only be ruined on the first game when you first kill her for the quest for that difficulty. You don't have to talk to warriv every time you make an MF run game.
Its easy to tell. If andy ever drops any 'white' items besides runes and gold, then she's not bugged, and you might as well give up andy running with that character. Also, I believe all of her magic (blue) items will be double durability if she's bugged which is another way to tell (but I'm not completely certain if they'll ALL be double durability so I would just use the 'white item' test).
This is all new to 1.10 btw.
Also, you should create meph games with a character that has already killed meph, then quit and join with your MF'er who has NOT ever done meph for quest. Let that 2nd character kill meph. That way meph will give first drop every time too, and because of the andy bug you can get first drop on her in the same game! The downside is your meph/andy runner won't have izzy quest or anya quest, but the drops they get from meph will far more than make up for 10 resist all and 2 skill points.
Cool, thanks Kurg.
Don't ever remember *not* talking to kurg and going on to the next act, but I might have on hell difficulty if I was going to run andy again.
Ran Andy a few times (actually, more like walked). After the first time killing her in hell, i talked to warriv to go east and the game locked on me after I hit "sail east". Fortunately, I've checked the magic weapons that subsequently dropped and they have all been double durability, so I think everything is ok.
Second run on Andy (first after killing her for the quest), I went back to town and put on my mf dusk shroud armor and helm with 7 ptopazes between the two, then went back and made the kill. I also equiped a skullcollector and had a couple of points in mf from charms (maybe 10 or so). She dropped barucks greater talon, carrion ring, darksight helm, and the sharktooth unique armor all at the same time. Only one item fell that wasn't a unique.
I do have one more random question. Reading various forums on this site I hear people talking about using etherel stuff frequently. I realize on a merc the durability isn't going to wear down on ethereal items, but I gather there is some particular advantage to using them, specifically weapons. Can anyone tell me what's up with that?
Thanks.
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