Did I mess up my Sorc?

[Azathor]

Ok now I originally planned on making an all Cold Skill Tree sorc but am now slowly changing my mind. Thinking of starting to invest in Fire tree but am wondering if those skills will have enough punch to get me through hell. Or because I already MAxed Ice bolt, stay the course and make her all Cold Skill Tree'd.

I currently have...

Max Ice Bolt
Max Orb
1 in CM
1 warmth
1 static

...also 1 into each of the prereq's.

I currently have +9 to all skills from my gear. I am in NM clvl 66.
I have saved the rest of my skill points because I dont know what I am going to do with them. BTW I have 25 Skill points saved up.

Also is getting my block up really that important?

I have been pumping life like crazy. Just about every point is into life.

Should I stop that and put the next 20 clvl's Stat points into Dex or until I have max or something close to it?

Thank you for any help that you may be able to offer me.

Edit- As a side note this sorc will be mainly used for MF(the usual suspects) and rushing friends.

Az.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

No self respecting hybrid would have maxed ice bolt that I know of. I'd say stay the course and dump 19 points into CM then start pumping teleport.

[Gaza0469]

Ok now I originally planned on making an all Cold Skill Tree sorc but am now slowly changing my mind. Thinking of starting to invest in Fire tree but am wondering if those skills will have enough punch to get me through hell. Or because I already MAxed Ice bolt, stay the course and make her all Cold Skill Tree'd.

I currently have...

Max Ice Bolt
Max Orb
1 in CM
1 warmth
1 static

...also 1 into each of the prereq's.

I currently have +9 to all skills from my gear. I am in NM clvl 66.
I have saved the rest of my skill points because I dont know what I am going to do with them. BTW I have 25 Skill points saved up.

Also is getting my block up really that important?

I have been pumping life like crazy. Just about every point is into life.

Should I stop that and put the next 20 clvl's Stat points into Dex or until I have max or something close to it?

Thank you for any help that you may be able to offer me.

Edit- As a side note this sorc will be mainly used for MF(the usual suspects) and rushing friends.

Az.


If you stay as you are - the best you can hope for is a reasonably strong FO build - Place 15 points in cold mastery and your orb will be nice. ( Ice bolt is a synergy to orb, so thats not 2 bad.)


as a backup skill use Static Field.

If you want to use fire skills, then Start again.

This build wont succeed u will save time in the long run.

If you want to go for a fire / cold hybrid then :

20 frozen Orb
15+ Cold mastery

65+ In Fire Tree

if meteor , 20 meteor 20 fire mastery 25 in synergies
if fireball, same deal, 20 fire ball, 20 fire mastery, 25 in synergies.

But you will only be semi-strong - dual tree sorcs are the best for MFing though.

Max block is important for HC, I would also use a 35+ point energy shield to stay alive.

Orb + ES work well as a combo.

35+ Orb , 35+ ES

[BubbaHoTep]

I'm inclined to say yeah stay with all cold. I've tried many a hybrid sorc, mainly cause i hate relying on mercs and i dont play with other people often. And i almost always find that i dont have the patience to use the secondary skill because it kills too slowly, so if you find some way to own all let me know, cause the closest i got was a blizzard/fireballer.

as for blocking i've seen friends do it but i go with the mentality of: sorcs should only be hit by ranged elemental attacks to all i need are maxed resists, but i guess it might help on archers. I also hate the fact that points in vitality give such little return in the way of life so maybe thats something for me to look into on my next sorc.

[Ankeli]

on topic: stay with cold, you dont need more than 8 hard points in CM to get the -100 effect with your +9 gear, i would put in maybe 9 just to make sure it stays there if you switch some gear. With the rest... well, there are a few options, pump tele, OR throw a few (1-4) into ES and the rest in telekinesis.
Max block is great but not needed if you have enough life and trust to your tele'ing skills.

off topic: Bubba, how on earth was a FB / Blizz better than, say, FB / orb :/

[Azathor]

I have decided to go all Cold. Thank you for clearing some things up. I have over 1k life and over 500 mana. SO now I will work getting that block past the pitiful 22% it is now at.

All that aside, What about pumping blizzard too? Or teleport or ES and Tk?
How many points in each?

There aren't any current HC guides that I was able to find. ALl were for PvP or SC.

Thanks again.

[Ankeli]

well those SC guides work fine when you modify them a bit more HC''ish (ie. cut the useless SC stuff, add more life and block :p)

NO blizz. its useless without full synergies. You're better off imo with some more in CM (as i said above), 4 points in ES (13 with your gear = 65% sorb) and the rest in TK so your mana pool wont hump empty when you get hit. This way you'd have max block, decent ES and a deadly weapon. Now just gear up your merc for the CI's :)

edit: edited numbers

[Azathor]

well those SC guides work fine when you modify them a bit more HC''ish (ie. cut the useless SC stuff, add more life and block :p)

NO blizz. its useless without full synergies. You're better off imo with some more in CM (as i said above), 4 points in ES (13 with your gear = 65% sorb) and the rest in TK so your mana pool wont hump empty when you get hit. This way you'd have max block, decent ES and a deadly weapon. Now just gear up your merc for the CI's :)

edit: edited numbers

I appreciate all the efforts of everyone that posted here on my thread. It has helped me a great deal.

Thanks again.

Az.

[PhatTrumpet]

If you're mainly built for Meph runs you'll want to max Cold Mastery ASAP. Meph is resistant to cold, so every little bit helps (to a certain point, which is very hard to reach).

If you do other areas more, 8-12 points invested is good. Again, slvl 17 is the magic number for -100%.

[Pezeteros]

When trying to achieve max block, make sure you calculate with your planned final shield, ie Stormshield. Depending on your level you may not have enough stats left even till 99 to make max block. So one more reason to rebuild

I never liked single element sorcs myself. All cold will do you wonders with mephisto, but if you want to MF elsewhere or rush friends ect the very slow killing of Cold immunes and the inability to handle cold/physical immunes can be a real pain.

My sorc build is

20 orb
20 fireball
20 meteor
20 firebolt
1 FM
some in CM
1 in teleport, ES, static

rest point go between CM and FM
I prefer firebolt over FM anyday. I use both meteor and fireball a lot, with firebolt you get -2% meteor dmg for +7% fireball damage, a fair trade in my eyes.

[weedkilz]

The very best sorc build I Have ever tired so far uses the following skills

max orb
max cm
max telekenis
rest in ice bolt and tele
1 in static

I also go max block and at worst you can use a whitstans or upped mosers and get it without too much trouble. Neither of my two sorcs with both this build have ever come close to dying and are 87 and 90. I am assuming you have a ravenfrost on becasue you should and thats 15-20 dex, waterawalks can give you 15, etc. Since you have already maxed ice bolt you will lack a few in teleport, but get it as close to 24 (1 cost tele) as you can. Since you said you had plus 9 skills you should reach for 15 tele or close.

so I would get cm to at least -100, max telekenis and then work on teleport after.

at lvl 85 with all skill quests, thats 97 skill points. WIth around 11-12 pre reqs or so thats leaves 85 points or thereabouts to max skills

20 orb
20 ice bolt
20 telekenishs
17 or so in cm and rest into tele. After 85 just put them in either tele or cm as you see needed.

[PhatTrumpet]

Pezeteros,

For a maximum damage Fireball you actually want your displayed slvl of Fire Mastery to be about 10 more than the number of points you have invest into Fire Bolt. I did a ton of spreadsheets for this kind of thing and you can check out this thread:

http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=295277

if you're interested.

A general strategy (assuming +9 fire skills) would be to max Fireball and Meteor with 1 point in Fire Bolt and Fire Mastery, then start alternating points between FB and FM. If you have less +skills you'll want to place more points in FM first. If you have more +skills you'll want to place more points in FB. If you rely more on Meteor to deal damage you'll want to place more points in FM

[BubbaHoTep]

off topic: Bubba, how on earth was a FB / Blizz better than, say, FB / orb :/


I dunno it just seemed to work better for me to cast FB during the casting delay of blizz, but then again i dont remember ever making an orb/FB sorc...

[Valar-Wrath]

Put only 1 into ES the rest of the points only drain your mana faster and maxed tk is enough for the shield.

Max block is a must. Especially if you get stuck in a monster group while teleing.

Get enough points into cold mastery to get -100 like everyone else stated.

And you better have max resists :)

[Azathor]

Put only 1 into ES the rest of the points only drain your mana faster and maxed tk is enough for the shield.

Max block is a must. Especially if you get stuck in a monster group while teleing.

Get enough points into cold mastery to get -100 like everyone else stated.

And you better have max resists :)


I have read a few guides on ES sorcs and they all say that resist's are irrellevant if I manage to get my ES to MAx and enough + skills to hit slvl 40:95% Damage absorbed. Oh yeah, I should add that the reason that they said to forgo resists is because of the order that damage is calcualated and by the time it got down to the portion where it would effect hp's the damage would be minimal.

I have also read that if I MAx block I may have problems with a block lock type of situation. That will be fatal in HC as you all know already. However it is too late as I have already pumped my Dex.

The guides I have read have suggested to use a Memory staff with +3 ES locked into it already.

I dunno about this though. I am nervous to go to hell without a shield and no resists at all. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you.

Az.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

I have read a few guides on ES sorcs and they all say that resist's are irrellevant if I manage to get my ES to MAx and enough + skills to hit slvl 40:95% Damage absorbed. Oh yeah, I should add that the reason that they said to forgo resists is because of the order that damage is calcualated and by the time it got down to the portion where it would effect hp's the damage would be minimal.

I have also read that if I MAx block I may have problems with a block lock type of situation. That will be fatal in HC as you all know already. However it is too late as I have already pumped my Dex.

The guides I have read have suggested to use a Memory staff with +3 ES locked into it already.

I dunno about this though. I am nervous to go to hell without a shield and no resists at all. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you.

Az.
I don't recall who it was, but someone decided to try an HC ES sork recently. Check with how he did, I'm not sure if he's gotten to hell yet or not though so you might not get any useful hints from him.

[Stimm]

I don't recall who it was, but someone decided to try an HC ES sork recently. Check with how he did, I'm not sure if he's gotten to hell yet or not though so you might not get any useful hints from him.

He died, pretty much like everyone predicted

If you want to read up on it here is the link:

http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=294979&page=1&pp=10 (http://)

[Gaza0469]

I appreciate all the efforts of everyone that posted here on my thread. It has helped me a great deal.

Thanks again.

Az.


Keep in mind that for a good energy shield that you need a minimum of 17 hard points in Telekenesis - go for 20 hard points if you can.

+ skills on items do not benefit synergies, so you have to physically place those points into TK.

as many points as you can spare into Energy sheild. ( once TK is maxed)

[Valar-Wrath]

Um, unless I read it wrong, I thought you posted you were only going with 50 or base energy. ONLY max energy shield if you are putting a few points into vitality and the rest into energy. If you have base energy and maxed energy shield, one hit from a monster will drain your mana to nothing, which will leave you with no defense. If you are building a vita sorc, energy sorc or max block sorc, any build, I like my sorc to have max resists.

I don't know about the block lock thing but unless you are planning on making a build like this:

strength- enough for equipment
Dex-enough for equipment
Energy-All the rest
Vitality-None

If you are not making a build like that, I would have max block, max resists, maxed tk and only ONE point into ES.

[Azathor]

Um, unless I read it wrong, I thought you posted you were only going with 50 or base energy. ONLY max energy shield if you are putting a few points into vitality and the rest into energy. If you have base energy and maxed energy shield, one hit from a monster will drain your mana to nothing, which will leave you with no defense. If you are building a vita sorc, energy sorc or max block sorc, any build, I like my sorc to have max resists.

I don't know about the block lock thing but unless you are planning on making a build like this:

strength- enough for equipment
Dex-enough for equipment
Energy-All the rest
Vitality-None

If you are not making a build like that, I would have max block, max resists, maxed tk and only ONE point into ES.


I guess mine is a bit different but she is doing well thus far. I tried that before with base life and she died, so I am not going to do that again.

Now she has 1k Life and almost 900 Mana and I have yet to invest in ERG at all and I don't plan on it. I am maxing block, Tk is MAxed now and I have 4 points in ES.

All is well. I dont get hit much but when I do it isn't a big deal yet. with my plus skills I get 67% absorb and she also has 56% block so far. I am now concentrating on getting more DR and MDR gear on her. Now I plan to pump Teleport(I think). I like the idea of regenerating mana as I teleport but we will see.

BTW thank you for the link to that other HC ES sorc build thread. I will read it right away.

Thanks all for posting, I gladly listen to all who have some ideas.

Az.