N help with mf sorc build

[Jimi-]

well im new to hardcore, tried it out first with a trapper,she is lvl 82 now still alive and wear shako and storm:teeth:,but the time has come too build new chars and for that i need a mf sorc -.-, can anyone help me out with a good hc mf sorc build?(stats and skills)this will be a blizzard sorc for sure,my mf areas are mostly meph and andariel, sometimes ancient tunnels, hoping too get some hints and tips :)

regards jimi- and you all have a merry christmas! :xsmile4:

[Valar-Wrath]

can anyone help me out with a good hc mf sorc build?(stats and skills)this will be a blizzard sorc for sure,

I don't get it. What do you need help with if you know you are going to make a blizzard sorc?

Unless you don't know how to build one.... Max blizzard, 17 with +skills into cold mastery and max the rest of the synergies. Stats are enough strength for gear, enough dex for max block and rest into vitality.

I wouldn't suggest a blizz sorc because I like orb sorc's much better especially for Hardcore. They are much safer IMO but if you go with blizz, thats what you do.

[Stimm]

Well blizzard might be more damage but unless you have a merc who can tank , you ll miss more then you hit. I have an FO sorc who can mow down andy and meph in less then 10 seconds per. Orb is so much easier to aim IMO.

Good safe orb build is max orb / icebolt / ice mastery / 16 in tk / max warmth or teleport depends on your preferance. I max warmth and have never lost a sorc in thousands of andy / meph runs

[NEUROSHOCKED]

Blizz sorc build is pretty simple. For the stats & skills

Skills:
20 Blizzard
20 Cold Mastery
20 Glacial Spike
20 Ice Blast
1 Teleport
1 Warmth
1 Static Field
Rest in Ice Bolt

Stats:
Strength: enough for your gear
Dexterity: enough to get 75% ctb
Vitality: Rest
Energy: None

Get your merc The Reaper's Toll, let the Decrepify do the work and BLIZZ AWAY! :lol:

[Jimi-]

well ive played sc all of my d2 career and build tons of sc mf sorc,and they dont need very much life,but in hc you do and thats why hc mf build at least i think is quite different than sc mf build, the usuall way i lure him is too get him to the lake and i stand on the other side between bremm and maffer,then i can hit him and he cant hit me, ok ill try too make a frozen orb sorc but what about energy shield?

[Stimm]

I think the methods of building orb sorcs bring up the most repsonses and lead to a lot of "why the heck would you do thats" I ll post my build Im using and Im sure everyone else will chime in as well.

gear: shako / skulders / tals amulet / wiz spike / upd visc defender / tals belt / chancies / travs / raven ring / soj

+7 all skills - +1 more with anni

Max orb
Max ice bolt
Max warmth
lvl 16 TK ( hard points)
1 point / 9 with + skills e shield
1 point / 9 with + skills static field
Max warmth
lvl 13 cold mastery / 21with + skills (-120 cold res )
Base teleport

This is at clvl 88. I still use a lower res wand on switch which brings my effective cold mastery to -155~ which is more then enough to rip through andy and meph in quick fashion. I have mage fists in stash when i teleport to meph , but use chancies on the way to andy since i walk more then tele. There are so many champ packs on the way to her so I kill a ton of them. If you are more of a porter dump chacnies for mages so you have 70% fcr.

Stats ( i built this sorc before i had an anni so i have some wasted str)

113 str
199 dex ( max block )
271 vit
51 energy ( base)

1086 life / 1030 mana without bo
65 / 70 / 70 / 60 res in hell
350% mf

This is the build ive used since the patch and have never lost a sorc. Ive had a lot of success with it and Im sure everyone else will give you thiers and reasons why mine is bad, but hey it works and you wanted suggestions.

Edit: I started this sorc using a viper magi /water walks / rare jewelry / tals mask / whistans / tals belt / mask and mages. The gear I have now was all found by that sorc MFing nm andy and meph then eventually nm baal then hell andy now finally hell meph. I added this so I dont get accused of using uber gear that noone can get thats new. I was "new" and found it all

~Stimm

[Jimi-]

thx stimm, just a last question whats tk? telekinesis ?

[weedkilz]

My build is a little different than Stimms and I have had huge success with it.. I have two with the same build, 1 is lvl 90 and tears everything apart and the other is lvl 87 and has not gone past act 3 in hell and has solely done leveling from hell mephs from lvl 63 to 87 with no baals and haev not had a single close encounter.....As far as Skills I would do the following:

Max Orb
MAx CM
MAx Telekenis
1 in STatic
1 in ES
1 in warmth
rest alternating between TEleport and ORbs synergy

These are the first sorcs I Have ever built with a high level teleport and I will never go back, my mana never moves and I only have like 650 ish and as long as you reach the 63 faster cast break point you can tele through most anything even if you get mana burned (which is quite often in hell)

As far as general equip ideas: Max block, I dont know how much stuff you have to put on your sorc, but at the least, get a whitstans and go max block as that is probably the cheapest, easiest shield to do it with....Other shields you can resonably get it with are Upped Viscerant (sp?), Upped Mosers with eld, p diamond, even SS, although thats a big higher. Also Max resists as you probably know. And in case you dont know, and I Have had to tell some people wear a ravenfrost this ring is godly for sorcs, and helps you attain max block too. If you have any other questions, fire away :xgift:

Oh, and I just remembered, inc ase you dont know what Telekenisis does, which you may, but just in case. It is a synergy to Energy Shield. You probably know that when you take dmg, energy shield takes some of it away from mana rather than life... Well, telekenis cuts the dmg that goes to energy shield away the mroe points you put in it, so it sort of makes dmg you take disappear, its very very nice. I have never heard the 17 point thing before, I just max it, as the more the better. The only thing you want to limit a bit is teleport, it reaches 1 mana cost at lvl 24 so with items dont go p ast that as it is a waste.

[Stimm]

thx stimm, just a last question whats tk? telekinesis ?

Yes and Weedz at lvl 16 its a 1:1 ratio , lvl its like 2:1 and maxed is like .8:1 not exact but you get the idea. I only get the 16 because i can use the 4 points elsewhere ( c mastery )

I max warmth over teleportfor a few reasons. 1 is I always like a high mana pool ( less then life though) . When i teleport my mana pool and regen rate i never lose mana and if i get mana burned its instantly recovered with my regen / warmth rate.

[Jimi-]

thx guys ill try theese builds, ill probably die 1 times or two but thats life and i learn from the mistakes :)

regards jimi-

[Full_Circle]

Yes and Weedz at lvl 16 its a 1:1 ratio , lvl its like 2:1 and maxed is like .8:1 not exact but you get the idea. I only get the 16 because i can use the 4 points elsewhere ( c mastery )

Each point you spend in TK is better than the previous point. It starts at 200% damage taken and goes down by the same amount each time (6.something%).

Thus, taking 6% off the original 200% is a 3% reduction in mana damage, whereas taking 6% off the 100% (level 16 to 17) is a 6% reduction. If you go as far as 16, I'd say max it. :xgrin:

[Valar-Wrath]

My build is exactly like Weed's. I maxed TK, FO, CM and alternate between tele and ice bolt. I have had no close calls yet and have already found many goodies from meph and andy.

My sorc is level 79 so far and wears the following:
Shako(ptopaz)
Rare ammy with resists/mf/skills
Up'd Um'd Vipermagi
Wizzy(Best caster weapon, imo)
Um'd SS
Travs
Chancies
Tals Belt
Raven and
a rare str ring with resists.
Gull and Rhyme on switch



She currently has 1.2k life w/o BO, Max block, max resist, 45% pdr and is a total beast. Even with her very nice survivability she still has 350 mf. I highly recommend this build as I've never been able to keep a sorc alive for very long but I am not having any trouble with this girl.

Good Luck with the new sorc.

[Jimi-]

thx, i dont have that stuff yet except shako and storm but i use them on my trapsin and they will stay there,but with good build and little luck this problem will be fixed:teeth: thx for the good spirit and help

regards jimi-

[thamuzdevil]

Umm quick question to you guys who max tele (because Im gonna try that, ive never done it with my sorcs before but i bet it would be awesome)... what are your stat allocations? do you stay base energy, str to equip, dex for max block, and rest in vit? or do you put some into energy as well?

[weedkilz]

I stayed base energy and its no problems now...When you are lower it can be but look for mana gear and pick up all sapphires...You dont have to max tele just put in as many p oints that will make it 24 or close to 24 when you are done because that is when it becomes 1 manacost.. I have ss with max block on my mf sorc and she has around 950 life, but room for more charms.. and my 90 power leveling sorc has 1250 life full of charms and str for upped mosers with max block and both have max resists.....Both have the same build, just slightly different gear...

If you have any other q's let me know I love talking about my sorc :thumbsup: and like valar said, he has a hard time keeping any characetrs alive, so the fact that he hasnt killed this one yet says something, lol

Oh 1 more thing, it sounds like you have a reasonable amount of stuff, get yourself a wizzy, whistans and aas good a vipermagi as you can, and fill in wth whatever else you can and you will be good to go and can run nm meph all day long and as you get better fill in gear around that stuff, you can take that to hell....Thats really all you need wizzy+whitstans(p diamond)=uuubbbbarrr and cheap combo

[Valar-Wrath]

and like valar said, he has a hard time keeping any characetrs alive, so the fact that he hasnt killed this one yet says something, lol


*Sigh* .........it's true. :lol:

But I havn't died too often lately and my sorc is my best character yet.

FO sorc's are ubar 1337!!!11one!1 :thumbsup:

[repoarto]

I have experienced couple so called "close calls" but they wasnt reall close calls.
I teled in manaburn pack and lost energy shield and mana, cause of almost maxed tele, i just teled in safety and casted shield, oak etc back and took mana potion, showed intarnatioal finger gesture with some orbs and continued my way

:D

The fashion gear:

shako t-topazed
tals ammy
tals plate
storm
frostburns
crafted ring with nice mods^^ (at least some originality)
rare uber ring with mods ^^ (str, dex, castrate, loads of res)
waterwalks
tals belt
hoto

in switch: isted alibaba&rhyme gilded shield

very nice build to even some hell pa´s ^^
That orb/defence build has suprised me many times what all she can do without trouble

merc has

guillames
blachades (topazed)
kelpie snare (thinking of upgrading.. but need eth one for to really think that)
Kelpie snare, because of when teleporting in durance.. evil dols dies very easily with high dam wpn and may cause dangerous situation to sorc, not sure how strong my sorc is atm, if she would survive easily doll explosion .. but when in hc, im not volunteering to check out hehe

-Arto-

[Jimi-]

ill try this build when ive collected enough pgems and ''cute'' runes too afford at least wizzy and whitstans,

yet again thanks a lot for the help~~

regards jimi-

[eurymone]

I've one question about storm - do you successful guys max block with it? It requires so many statpoints both in str and dex, so 'm wondering how do you distribute them? My KTA sorc is lvl 78 now, so there's not much time to decide if she will wear that storm after we finish team, or not. I'm already collecting the strength charms, but dex is what i'm wondering about mostly...

[weedkilz]

Both Valar and I do have max block with ss on our sorcs and our gear is similar.....If this is for mf, use tals belt it has 20 to dex and mf so a good combo for this need. You should be using a ravenfrost anyways so thats another 18-20....wateralks if you need dex, but Valar and I both use WAr travs on the sorcs for the mf and good str bonus. If you look at a sorcs stat points you only get 2 life for every stat point put in Ibelieve so actually it is much better to put the points in str and save the room in your inventory for LIfe charms. 2 sc of vita would be around 30-40 life and 1 lg charm with 5 str would save you 5 stat points to put in vita and net you 10 life, so life charms are far more profitable to your life. This is not teh case with barbs (4 life per point) but is for sorcs. Another option if you are looking to use this sorc in other things other than just mephs is t-gods...IT adds 20 to str and has lightabsorb which makes you safer, but tals belt is cheaper and a great alternative, especially just for running meph. ONe thing to keep in mind though is ss adds 35 to str, so if you bug it on with t-gods or charms or what not, you can take it off and put other stuff back on like tals and what not. If you have any other questions feel free to ask :thumbsup:

P.s I forgot to add that I am lvl 87 and need right around 200-210 dex I think for max block so that is a fair amount. If you have max block now with whatever shield so you have at least some dex to work with you have quite a bit of leveling to help get more, but raven, tals, wartravs/waterwalks will make quite a big difference

[eurymone]

Thx a lot weed, I didn't remember about huge dex bonus on tal's belt. Seems I have all the gear I need, I'll just have to calculate all the stats. I may have lower tele and orb synergy, because i put few points into static for better teamplay. I maxed TK, because i guess the more= the better.

[det]

My Meteorb (lv 76) sorc uses a SS (HELed). My str breaks down like this: 81 base to wear Sandstorm Trek which adds 14. Slap on a str charm to wear TG which adds another 20. Add str charm to wear SS which adds 20 more. Remove charms and play.

Block is at 73, so pretty close to max, with 750 life and 650 mana. With maxed res (LR=85), 105 FCR and 30 DR I am at least getting easily to Andy and kill her with like 5-10 Fireballs. I also have absorb from Dwarfstar - but only 1 point in TK, ES and TP. Which might prove fatal...I know...

Still in act 2 Hell.

[weedkilz]

ok, sound slike you are on the right track...AS long asy ou have orb, cm, and tk maxed you are fine, the more points in the synergy and tele the better, but not essential... MY mf sorc only does 370 dmg with wizzy and she takes meph down fine with static.....AS far as Det's hel in the ss...I wouldnt do that if I were you....It sounds like a good idea but here is my reasoning for not doin git.. A hel brings ss's str from 156 to around 132 I think, thats around 24 stat points saved with the hel and thats 48 life at 2 life per stat point. IMO 22 resist all is way more important that 48 life and you will get the life from charms anyways.

I had much more but there was a server glitch and I cant remember what else, but this is something, :lol:

[eurymone]

Yes, I wouldn't do it too - with just pdiamond storm will give some awesome resists, esp. cold, and I have enougch charms to bug the strength with travs+tgods. I think 111 hard str points is enough - one of my str charms has also 22 mana, so I'll be keeping it in my inventory :)
One last thing I'm wondering about is the merc: I know removing his weapon for teleporting is a must. Second option is kelpie, and third - no merc at all. But a 8x lvl merc with reapers/tals mask/duriels really CAN tank meph (I have a 91 trapper and I visit meph sometimes). So I think I'm rather determied to use a merc - the question is: defiance of holy freeze? For really low chance to be hit, my def woud have to be 10k or something like this - dunno if it's doable with sorc (but..SS+upgraded viper, who knows).
The sors will be mostly meph/andy runner i think. Thx in advance for your reply (yep, I'm at work now ;) )

[weedkilz]

I started off with a defienace merc and put reapers, etc on him and he was ok, but my defense was only around 6.5 K with 1 point in the 2nd cold armor so with plus skills it was like lvl 7 or so and defiance aura...Thats with upped vipermagi, ss, etc. I personally would go for Might and level him up...If you are going solely mf with no rushing or anything else, hf or defiance would be ok, but chances are you are going to have to use your sorc sometime where there are CI's and a might merc is much better at those than a defiance one....I would say Might first, Holy Freeze 2nd and defiance 3rd...Also, You can level up a merc from act 2 nm to your current level in the 80's in a day without much problem, so I would take one of those two

[lyceum]

i recently got to lvl 30 with my new orb sorc (sure is nice to finally get a source of dmg) and have been debating whether ice bolt is worthwhile as an orb synergy since it has that measly 2% ed per point spent. i've been thinking that those points could be better spent in eshield and go with a big mana pool. should be able to tank quite a few more shots.

something along the lines of:

20 orb
20 mastery
20 telekinesis
15 teleport
10 eshield
1 static
1 frozen armor (this has saved my life more than once on previous sorcs)
1 warmth
8 prereqs
---------
96 points = lvl 84 if all skill q's finished

somewhere around 150 vitality, 80 or so strength, dex for max block with moser's, rest into energy.

with a modest +6 to skills (+1 ammy, +1 helm, +1 armor, +3 orb), this would have eshield absorbing 71% dmg. so far as being a survivor over raw killing power (isn't this a good thing in hc?), i think this might be superior. you would have 354-372 lvl 26 orb dmg with -145% res from mastery, and only 4 mana per teleport (not a problem with the big mana pool).

edit: for comparison purposes, if eshield is left at lvl 1 and those points are put into ice bolt (assuming all others are unchanged), you would have 417-438 orb and 50% absorb from eshield at lvl 7 with skills.

comments/suggestions?

cheers,

lyceum

[weedkilz]

Looks good except I would levae e shield at 1....The only way you should put points in es really is if you plan on a very high mana pool...If you go base energy which I did and I suggest, than 1 is fine with your plus skills but you have to have a high pool to use e shield more...

SOrry, I did not read your stat points....I have not had much experience with vita/energy builds...usually you pick one of the other..I would just think you would end up with too low a life pool...I dont see you getting over 500 life or so with only 150 points spent....I think you would be better off leaving energy at base

[Jimi-]

i have a question,if you have base energy, and 2 points into mana for each level u have about 180 mana from lvls in 80,110++ from shako,150++ from wizzy and thats about 400-500 mana, does ur mana recovery regenrate so fast that you can teleport out of those annoying buggers with mana burn?, and keep in mind that not everbody has cta just in case if u didnt think of that.

thx a lot for the help weed~

regards jimi-

[lyceum]

ok, after doing a little bit of calculating, here are some possibilities:
these are assuming a lvl 84 sorc using tal's set with no rings or charms or bonuses from gloves/boots


with 150 vitality:
150 *2 life per point = 300
300 + 83 (1 life gained per level) = 383
383 + 57 (orb) + 60 (helm) + 50 (ammy) + 150 (set bonus) = 700 life

with 80 vitality:
80 *2 life per point = 160
160 + 83 (1 life gained per level) = 243
243 + 57 (orb) + 60 (helm) + 50 (ammy) + 150 (set bonus) = 560 life

throw in say...45-65 from waterwalks and you're over 600 life with no charm or ring bonuses.

with base vitality:
10 *2 life per point = 20
20 + 83 (1 life gained per level) = 103
103 + 57 (orb) + 60 (helm) + 50 (ammy) + 150 (set bonus) = 420 life

pair of waterwalks and a couple vita small charms and you're over 500 life with base vitality.

the more i think about it, i'm thinking that 80 might be enough for the build i listed above.

[Stimm]

For an orb sorc you shouldnt need anything over base enrgy. If you find you are lacking in mana mana charms are easy enough to find.

Ive always gone 1 point into eshield and keep a high mana pool 800+ usually more like 950 though and its almost all from charms

Lyceum i favor going into ice bolt over e shield since i rarely take a big hit and my plus skills and high mana pool my life bulb rarely dips.

[weedkilz]

I agree with stimm on the base energy thing....I still believe that base energy and 1 point in es before skills is the best way...You may prove otherwise, but I can tell you that you can get 1 hit ko'd in hell even with ES and TK so having 5-600 life isnt a real good idea. WIth SS I would aim for 900 life minimum and without probably 1k-1100 minimum....It just isnt worth the skill points in es imo when you can put them into tele, warmth or the synergy.

OK, to jimi....One of the things that I find so great about my build is I can get totally manaburned and lose all the mana but with 1 (or as low as possible) you can keep on tele without any problems...If I had my build to do over I would take some points out of warmth and put them into the synergy for more dmg as with high level tele you simply dont need a high level warmth too. I have base energy and mana around 700 and haev no problems, I have to pump a mana pot when I am constantly shooting orbs like in tunnels or something, but nmeve tele. In fact I can tele all the way to durance 3 from the wp no m atter how long it takes, and I am usually still at full mana when I get there. I dont have a cta on my sorc but mana wise she doesnt need it at all...Your welcome on the advice and if you have any more questions I am more t han happy to help you out

[Jimi-]

yes one more at least :teeth: since im not a big ''mf fan'' im not good at tactiks i only learned one in mephisto and that is too lure him too the infernal gate or around there and teleport to the island and cast blizzard that way, if u know this way u can NEVER ever die from mephisto, but how do orb sorcs handle mephisto and andy?, do u just stand up at him and spam orbs or tele all the time?

regards jimi-

[Stimm]

yes one more at least :teeth: since im not a big ''mf fan'' im not good at tactiks i only learned one in mephisto and that is too lure him too the infernal gate or around there and teleport to the island and cast blizzard that way, if u know this way u can NEVER ever die from mephisto, but how do orb sorcs handle mephisto and andy?, do u just stand up at him and spam orbs or tele all the time?

regards jimi-


There are 2 ways to handle meph / andy. First way is if you have a merc that can take the hits and not die. First step is to static them to half life. Then back up and orb so that the orb blows up in them if you place it right it will only take 3-4 orbs to kill him. I have max block and no DR on my sorc and have yet to take a hit from meph that made me juvi. His only attack that does any real damage is his orb blast which is half physical and half elemental, if you can block that you are set. His lightning attacks are pretty weak providing you have max or near max light res

Second is basically like the first except you tele a little bit after you spam your orb so they walk through it.

Lastly in the warmth vs teleport debate like ive said before I max warmth and never pot even after getting mana burned. I can spam orbs till my finger gets tired and not run out of mana either. Basically i have crap for charms and still manage 1100/1000 life / mana before bo.

I used to be a Stormshield fan for sorcs but through time ive learned its really not needed. If you have a synergied eshield and a good mana pool you should not need any DR at all.

[lyceum]

i understand your points, and i like the idea of warmth over teleport. with an es build, mana regen will be quite important. i'm gonna have a go with a version of my build stated earlier with the only change being warmth over teleport:

20 telekinesis
20 orb
20 mastery
10-15 eshield (as levels permit, but i'm still o_O about 81% dmg absorbed from lvl 26 es)
20 warmth
1 teleport
1 static
1 frozen armor
8 prereqs
---------
101-106 pts (lvl 89-94 if all skill quests done)

i'll keep you posted how things go.

cheers,

lyceum

note: i'm really thinking about a mf'er for nm andy and meph, and also hell andy. with the +15% cold damage from the tal's set i should end up with 428 orb dmg. i think that should be enough as i solo.

[Jimi-]

im currently testing out those builds u have told me too test,ill start with too max:

orb,cm,warmth,tk, and then teleport or a few in orb synergy, and 1 in es

she is lvl 35 and works fine so far, i have no energy so when i tele too baalruns i have too have a mana pot or two :)

[Stimm]

im currently testing out those builds u have told me too test,ill start with too max:

orb,cm,warmth,tk, and then teleport or a few in orb synergy, and 1 in es

she is lvl 35 and works fine so far, i have no energy so when i tele too baalruns i have too have a mana pot or two :)

teleporting to norm baal @ 35 is going to get you killed. You dont have the life / mana / res / or cast rate to do that. Take your time and walk to him youd be amazed how much xp the walk gets you

[Jimi-]

well stimm i saw that one coming, so im doing the tests in sc, but playing hc style so im not ''dead'' yet, so each time i die ill see what i did wrong and try too not make the mistake when i make the build in hc

edit: in lvl 33 u can have over 100% cast rate

[Stimm]

well stimm i saw that one coming, so im doing the tests in sc, but playing hc style so im not ''dead'' yet, so each time i die ill see what i did wrong and try too not make the mistake when i make the build in hc

edit: in lvl 33 u can have over 100% cast rate

you can but do you? :xsmile3:

[Jimi-]

yes :-), i think suicide branch is very suitable for sorc, and viper and mages no doubt about it:teeth:

[thamuzdevil]

But do you have em in hc? ;)

[Jimi-]

yes but the viper is 20, btw if u think i dont know how too play think again ;), i know how too survive with stuff considered ''not good''

[lyceum]

ok,

i did quite a bit of testing last night with different builds in single player and you might be surprised what i found. the strongest build by far was like so:

20 orb
20 mastery
20 telekinesis
20 warmth
13 ice bolt
7 energy shield
1 static
1 frozen armor
1 teleport
7 prereqs

at lvl 99.

the stat distribution was like so:

156 strength
base dexterity
100 vitality
rest energy

gear was not uber. i was using tal's set, sandstorm treks, dwarf star, raven frost, frosties, ss (um). i even put a couple topaz's in armor and helm.

why not go max block? with frozen armor on my def is 3107 and most ranged monsters in hell difficulty had about 50% or less chance to hit me. of those 50% that get through, i have 16% chance to block them with base dex. so they have a 42% chance to hit me. i don't know about when you play sorc, but i dont just stand there. i tele around quite a bit and monsters rarely hit me. but assuming they do land some hits, you have 65% damage reduced by energy shield, and then 35% of remaining damage reduced by ss. (i think that's the order it's calculated) this doesn't even take into account that i had 15% fire absorb and magic damage reduced by 15 from the dwarf star!

with absolutely NO charms i had 705 life and 1376 mana. when mana burned i had no problems teleporting right on with maxed warmth and a huge mana pool. the one problem with the build was poison since it is not absorbed by energy shield and the tal's set has low poison resistance. this was solved by adding the treks. i would be happy to provide the character file to anyone who is not convinced, or just wants to play it.

cheers,

lyceum

[Stimm]

ok,

i did quite a bit of testing last night with different builds in single player and you might be surprised what i found. the strongest build by far was like so:

20 orb
20 mastery
20 telekinesis
20 warmth
13 ice bolt
7 energy shield
1 static
1 frozen armor
1 teleport
7 prereqs

at lvl 99.

the stat distribution was like so:

156 strength
base dexterity
100 vitality
rest vitality

gear was not uber. i was using tal's set, sandstorm treks, dwarf star, raven frost, frosties, ss (um). i even put a couple topaz's in armor and helm.

why not go max block? with frozen armor on my def is 3107 and most ranged monsters in hell difficulty had about 50% or less chance to hit me. of those 50% that get through, i have 16% chance to block them with base dex. so they have a 42% chance to hit me. i don't know about when you play sorc, but i dont just stand there. i tele around quite a bit and monsters rarely hit me. but assuming they do land some hits, you have 65% damage reduced by energy shield, and then 35% of remaining damage reduced by ss. (i think that's the order it's calculated) this doesn't even take into account that i had 15% fire absorb and magic damage reduced by 15 from the dwarf star!

with absolutely NO charms i had 705 life and 1376 mana. when mana burned i had no problems teleporting right on with maxed warmth and a huge mana pool. the one problem with the build was poison since it is not absorbed by energy shield and the tal's set has low poison resistance. this was solved by adding the treks. i would be happy to provide the character file to anyone who is not convinced, or just wants to play it.

cheers,

lyceum

Ok now do that build at lvl 80 or 85 and see if it is nearly as good. Sure the skills look OK at clvl99 but will you ever get there? IN 09 you could base a build on 99 since it was easy to hit in 1.10 you ve got to base your build on 85.

Couple problems with your build. Life is way too low and mana is way too high. IN act 5 you ll be getting blood mana cursed constantly. The eshield isnt 65% damage reduced , it absorbs 65% to your mana bulb. MDR isnt a % as well not sure weather thats what you thought or not its points. MDR isnt as golden as it was in 09. Frozen armor is a waste as well and 3k defense is low - 50% in hell to get hit is quite high couple that with no block you ll be taking a lot more damage then you think. Your cast rate is only 80% iirc might be lower so you wont be zipping through the levels either.

There are a couple more points but im on my way to go :xgift: shopping

[weedkilz]

I am with stimm on this one....I will never play a sorc without max block every again, it is just stupid imo. You can get it and still have over 1k life without much problem. And what need do you have for 1300 mana, that is basically ******ed to have that much when it could be life. The only reason to have that much mana is if you went the base vita full energy full ES build. I still think you should put 13-15 in tele rather than warmth, but that is my opinion t oo. And as Stimm says getting over 91-92 just isnt that feasable because it takes so long so buildin a sorc to see 85-90 is much better, and your build just isnt as strong there which is where most people would be. In Sc your build is fine, but not in HC imo...

My build has kept Valar alive so far and that is all you need to know about taht to know that it is a great safe build :lol:

[Jimi-]

is it just me or does the new runeword ''insight'' perfectize this build?, it can have lvl 17 medi wich is the same as lvl 55 warmth?, if u have merc with this weapon and u know how to play u will never die!

btw weed ur build is ownage!!!!!!!!, im lvl 79 now not one single rip, 750 life, enough mana and medi merc!,max block with whitstans guard,

and i just found a tals amulet in cows XD

regards jimibob-theN00b

[weedkilz]

I am glad you are doing well jimi :thumbsup: Ya the insight wpn makes this build awsome because you dont have to worry about warmth at all and can definately alternate between tele and ice bolt....For now I would try to trade for vita charms to get your life up some too...750 life is a tad low for 79, but you probably just havent had a chance to get some nice charms yet...Congrats though :thumbsup:

[Jimi-]

y i agree 750 is low, but i have no vita charms what so ever, but im not rich atm in hc so i cant afford much but im saving ;)

[weedkilz]

Ya over time you will find stuff and you can trade them for vita charms....with 750 life and none, thats not bad at all...You figure if you threw in 20 of them with avg aroudn 15 life, thats 300 life and boom you have over 1k life and still lots more room for charms and your only lvl 79. So you are off to a very good start :thumbsup:

[Jimi-]

im lvl 75 ;), i wasnt on so i guessed,knew i was between 75-79:teeth:

[weedkilz]

Thats even more promising..I dont know what you have for gear yet, but nm mpeh is a great place to run until you have the gear and feel ready for hell. You can get lots of goodies there that trade very well if you dont use them yourself..Hoz, occy (dont use trade:) ) Vipermagi, P-crown, War Travs, etc..In fact, you can get everything you need except wizzy there and wizzy is so cheap, you can trade many things from what you find in nm for it. You will want to outfit your merc before you go to hell too, having a might merc up to your level helps a whole lot killing ci's. You can give him a shaft or duriels, tals mask/gaze, and like a kelpie or something and that will work ok and allbe found in nm mephs until you find/trade for reapers, and whatever else you want.

[Jimi-]

i have already trained a might merc, uses Insight scythe,shaft and tals mask,im thinking of making him a good duress(just found um in nm cows)and when the time comes a good crown of thieves

regards jimi-

[Jimi-]

so ive done this sorc on hc now, have shako,whitstans,wizzy and some other stuff, im lvl 67 now, have 750 life,max block and resist

but when should i go over too hell? what lvl?, should i baalrun until lvl 86?, cause some of you guys said ur lvl 89 w/o baalruns?, with the exp rate im doing now i find that very hard to belive,

any recomendations?

[Stimm]

The xp stops at 78 in nm baals, even in full parties your bar wont move much. I wouldnt venture too far into hell till atleast 75 and you have some more life and your res are good. Then mf hell Andy till your in the mid 80s then you can move onto meph.

[Jimi-]

ok thx for the tip :thumbsup:

[weedkilz]

The way people get to 89 without baal runs is by running crypts? in act 1 and especially ancient tunnels in act 2. These are high level areas where any items can drop and the experience is great. You can easily get to 89-90 in there especially if you join games with people in them already. My first drop mf sorc has leveled from 63 to her current 87 just by killing meph. She has never gotten the meph quest yet, heh. Exp is real slow now though, hehe.

[Jimi-]

ah yes of course i mf in ancient tunnels all the time, but ive never really tried it out in full games, i usually mf in private

is it true if you do mephisto in a game you cant do quest and you havent done it first drop works over and over again?

[weedkilz]

ah yes of course i mf in ancient tunnels all the time, but ive never really tried it out in full games, i usually mf in private

is it true if you do mephisto in a game you cant do quest and you havent done it first drop works over and over again?
Thats how it works and the drops are definately a little better I feel. A friend of mine had a barb so he would make games bo me and I would tele down and tp and we would spank him. I did only this from llvl 63 until her current 87. I have not used her for a couple months because my lvl 90 sorc (was a first drop but messed up once hehe) is so much fun. If you have two computers or can run two versions at once, I did this too when my friend wasnt on. You can get another char, preferably a barb and join with the sorc and rince and repeat. Also wise to throw in some ancient tunnels too so you dont get booted. I am allowed 21 runs in 1 hour. If I do the 22nd before the hour is up I get booted, and since you will be able to do meph even with making with another char and joining in under 1 and a half minutes tunnels are good way to pass the time.

[Jimi-]

i dont got the cd keys or two computers :),