.09b build advice

[somethingsin]

I'm thinking about doing some .09 playing, but as I have nothing to start with, I was wondering if anyone could point me to a build that's not very equipment-dependent, so I can get a foothold to expand from

[corax]

LF zon
any type of sorc( tri-elems are viable but a little weaker)
multi-shot amazon or GA zon.

[NSXdreamer]

Here is a copy paste of my post from another place:

I started off piss poor with skull cap and breast plate with rubies in them, so you can see why I went with the basic safe build. :D I went with 1.10 build standard, lotsa resist/life. Didn't bother with block however since I knew I'm not gonna be able to find a SS.

Here is my setup if you are interested, almost all items find by moi.

str: 40/95
dex: 75/77
vit: 270/270
energy: 120/130

life: 702/1021
mana: 369/748

resist: primary/switch

75/20/52/32
75/75/75/75

Setup:
+2orb with +meteor
lidless
circlet with +2 and resist/str
vipermagi
amulet with skill/life/resist
frostburn
silkweave
belt with +str and life
rings with +resist and AR :rolleyes:

switch is wizardspike and 2xpdiamond moser, for high resist and fast cast when teleport down to meph.

skill is maxed meteor, orb, fire mastery, static, and 5 in warmth.

merc is holy freeze with crown of thieves, eth honor thresher (courtesy of cows), and smoke boneweave.

Not the fastest killer out there, but pretty safe and untwink friendly.

[somethingsin]

hmmm guess I'll go with a sorc then

charged bolt seems like fun..

[Malachi]

No no ! 1.09 was Nova Sorc territory if I remember correctly :) Forget them charged boltresses :)

[somethingsin]

damn, I already put like 5 points into bolt...
restart?

also, about the players setting

how does it work in 1.09 b?
does it really go up to 64?
because I don't really see much difference between 16 and 64 as far as exp/kill is concerned

[moo-cow]

the nova sorc relied heavily on fc and pdr and block, and a couple of lightning charms. an easy sorc would be FO/firewall and she's not too item dependant.

[somethingsin]

well, I got started, and have now decided it's bedtime and that players 16 is too hard...

[grogs]

the nova sorc relied heavily on fc and pdr and block, and a couple of lightning charms. an easy sorc would be FO/firewall and she's not too item dependant.

I had a Nova sorc on 1.09 cattle.net that I took to lvl99. She had base dex and no pdr. Fast cast I agree with, and you also need loads of mana.

When all you're doing to level is cow runs, nova sorc's are awesome. I used to use a HF merc as a meat shield (unusual at the time). Tele around to herd a large group, I used to cast frost nova to slow down the forerunners, static, then nova till dead = very quick cow games.

EDIT: Back up skill was FO.

-Grogs

[Arreat_mercenary]

I still play .09 :xmad:

For cookie cutters, most sorc will do as posted (go for 2 elements only) and charged boltress are fun! mine is clvl 70 and kicking hell diablo *** :lol: but sure they are mana burners and need some nice equipment

For easy chars, go multizon or even burizon (if you have it) sure you will have a kind of hard time during normal act II and act III, but the REST of the game is piece of cake

But GO BARBS!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: (barb fan)

[TheNix]

I have to agree with Arreat_mercenary. If you can lay your hands on a Burra, the Burazon will get you through the game, no sweat. You can get away very little else in the way of equipment. I believe that the Burazon is considered the cheesiest of all the cheesy builds, using BOTH the GA and FA bugs, but as I've said before - I LIKE CHEESE. My Burazon is now lvl 90, does all my Meph, Cow, and Pindle runs, and has an average resistance of about -25. Between my merc, valk, and decoy I can stand half a screen away and blast the baddies out of existance.

[D2Addict]

I still only play 1.09b. Yes the players does go to 64. As you go higher the experience increase lessens and the hit points for the minions go dramatically up. We do cow runs at players 64 many times and it is just for the challenge when we mow thru them too easy.

Nova sorc is powerful in 1.09 but really requires some decent stuff to be effective. I have a level 99 FO/FW/Nova sorceress. :) Corax they certainly are not a little weak if you build it right. You do have to be very careful with skill points if you go tri though.

If you would like a starting equipment donation for 1.09 I can dig up some stuff for you. Just tell me if you intend to stick with sorcy or what you want gear for. Barb is best for finding stuff later on for other classes. I would start there. A bowazon would be fairly easy too (MS/GA). Going higher than players 8 I would skip until you have more equipment to make things easier. If you can handle it at the beginning you can get some levels quick and cut back later. You simply hit enter type players 8 (or anything from 1-64) and enter again. No slash like in 1.10. It takes about 2 screens before the new settings will kick in since minions are generated about this far before you.

[Serdash]

I'd like to point out that just about anything can make it through the game in 1.09 with enough skill, a little luck, and playing safely. I, personally, would start with something really easy like a Fanatic Zealot or an Iron Barb. That's if you're just looking to complete the game though. If you want to continue playing, doing cows, MFing, I'd go with a Meteorb sorc(No, Firewall is NOT dominant over meteor wtfggdainpkthx) or a good ol' LF Zon. Though I prefer Hybrid. Bows can be reaaaaaaaaally useful.

[NSXdreamer]

I was gonna use firewall on mine, but 1 point later I found it's almost impossible to let monsters stand on it, and merc in .09 has pretty low hitpoint (my sorc has more life than her HF merc :\ ) and dies pretty quick while tanking. Meteor has a lower listed damage at same skill level compare to firewall but at least you can make sure all of it is dealt to your target in one hit, that and the residual fire burns pretty darn long at high skill levels, so you can probably stack it to have almost same damage as firewall.

[D2Addict]

Firewall takes a lot of practice to use it effectively. I can almost always get minions in it by myself. Tanks make it even easier. Of course the 42 yards long helps too. :) Nothing better or quicker for boss or uni killing (unless immune) than putting a FW on them.

[NSXdreamer]

Yeah, I was never fond of sorcs pre 1.10, and my current one would my first ever sorc mat in pre-1.10 versions, so I don't have much experiance with firewalls. :)

Then again, merc dies in two hit dosen't help either. :D

[TheNix]

If you combine your meteorb with a holy freeze merc it makes timing the meteor MUCH easier. I found the firewall a little hard to position correctly to be of much use.