Mid level sorc help

[Oooooooooohhhhh!!!!!]

I just passed level 30 with my hydra/orb sorc, so now I have my two primary skills. I have two problems now, one more pressing than the other, and I have three questions.

1) I have serious mana issues. I don't want to use my attribute points on energy because I know I'll need them in other places later in the game. I had to start from scratch with this character, so I don't have much to trade and I'm slowly building MF gear. I have one point in warmth, and I'd like to keep it that way. Suggestions?

2) In reading the guides, most of the suggested gear choices have high level requirements. What are some good mid level (30-60) selections? This also ties into question #1 and my mana problems. I'm currently using 4 pieces of Cathan's set (staff, helm, armor, ring) and a bunch of decent rares. I also have about 60 attribute points saved, so I can use them in strength if I need to.

3) I've done about 20 mephy and council runs in normal, and I did about 10 Shenk/Eld runs last night too. Should I do these or just try to get to nightmare and do runs there?

Thanks,
O

[prion]

my opinions:

1) you could try insight on yourself or your merc. go ahead and bring your energy up to 50, it's not a big deal.

2) vipermagi is a good armor but kinda expensive. Lidless wall for your sheild isn't too expensive and neither is visceratuant. and you can try crafting caster stuff. spirit sword is the bomb and lore helm is nice. mana charms if you find any.

3) i would not bother with runs in normal except for maybe Baal. do baal minion runs until lvl 45 then finish off act 1 nm, and you can do andy and countess runs in nm or go back to baal whenever.

[FreezerBurn]

Try a pair of frostburn gloves (aka frosties). You can proabably get a pair for 3-6 pgems and they give you +40% mana.

Also, I wouldn't bother with mf runs in normal. You won't get anything worth trading. Your best bet is collecting every gem you can and cubing them up to perfects.

[Oooooooooohhhhh!!!!!]

Try a pair of frostburn gloves (aka frosties). You can proabably get a pair for 3-6 pgems and they give you +40% mana.

Also, I wouldn't bother with mf runs in normal. You won't get anything worth trading. Your best bet is collecting every gem you can and cubing them up to perfects.

Frosties are a good idea, I've been saving every chippy+ that I can find. It's annoying trying to keep all my gems organized because I haven't muled them yet. I've manage to get 2 pgems and about 8 flawless. I guess I'll keep plugging away and get to nightmare asap (doing plenty of baal runs while I'm at it). Is there any market for low runes and junk jewels? I've been saving them too. I need to save anything that has value. Sorry if this is getting more along the lines of a trade forum post.

[Sartok]

Sorry if this is getting more along the lines of a trade forum post.
Quite alright.

Frosties will help out alot, some other mid lvl gear would be lidless, vipermagi, peasant crown, sojs are lvl 31, but very pricey... silkweaves will help with mana, and are low lvl also. Occy can be had at lvl 42 when you hit it, it will also go for Pgems... though it may be a little more than you have hehe.

About running bosses, nm is much more effective, because the items there are in common use at least. In norm it is mostly low lvl gear, and it doesn't trade well. In nm you will find some nice things that are very tradeable with a little luck.

Happy Hunting.

[Wambat]

Are you playing Bnet or SP? If Bnet you shouldn't need to worry about killing anything until you get to NM. For right now just leach off of baal runs. Tele for the group and/or SF on baal and they wont mind your not doing anything in-between. Heck, they probably wont mind either way.

[darzog]

Your best bets are:
Gloves: Frostburns (lvl 29) gives +40% mana
Shield: Lidless Wall (lvl 41) gives +10 Energy, +10% mana, +1 skills, 20% FCR
Ring: Manald Heal (lvl 15) gives +20% mana regen
Belt: Gloom's Trap (lvl 36) gives +15% mana, +15% mana regen
Armour: Skin of the Vipermagi (lvl 29) gives resists, +1 skills, 30% FCR
Boots: Silkweave (lvl 36) gives +10% mana

All of the above are fairly cheap (handful of PGems each) except a good Vipermagi. But people usually only want to buy high % vipermagi (they can get between 20 - 35% resists) so if you ask for a low 20-22% one you should be able to get it for some PGems. If you have some PGems you can head over to the Trading forum for your server and post with what you're looking for and what you have to offer. You should be able to get setup with at least a couple of the items above. If you're on USEast-Ladder-softcore give me a shout and I can hook you up with some (*Darzog or *Vaughan).

Adding stat points to mana won't ruin your build but you will be better off if you can live with base energy until you get some +mana gear.

____________________
Darzog

[Oooooooooohhhhh!!!!!]

Thanks for all the help. I think I can get a good amount of the gear everyone suggested. I've done the first two quests in Act 5 of normal, so I'm almost ready to do some Baal runs. For anyone who's interested:

*LD_0
US East Ladder
Softcore

My character's name is Temptress_LD and I typically play some evening during the week and random times on weekends. (Eastern time)

Thanks again everyone,
O

[zozojohn]

You could try getting some cheap topaz armour , topaz helm, frosties, blue mf boots, and try killing meph in nightmare with your Hyrdras from across the moat

Edit
OT: Like that accname Oooooooooohhhhh!!!!! must be a bit hard to remember :)

[chaca]

Thanks for all the help. I think I can get a good amount of the gear everyone suggested. I've done the first two quests in Act 5 of normal, so I'm almost ready to do some Baal runs. For anyone who's interested:

*LD_0
US East Ladder
Softcore

My character's name is Temptress_LD and I typically play some evening during the week and random times on weekends. (Eastern time)

Thanks again everyone,
O


Look me up online. I need to level my merc so I've got some high level chars that can baal you (eg don't care if you leech). I also have a bunch of stuff you might need. I'll be on after 6pm EST tonight.

*chaca8611
*chaca1

[darzog]

Yeah, give me a shout too. I should have some of that stuff collecting dust on a mule. Accts in previous post.

_________________
Darzog

[zozojohn]

i would give you some stuff aswell, but im on euro ladder :(

[Oooooooooohhhhh!!!!!]

We're doing the birthday thing for my sister tonight, so I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay online. I'll probably be on until 6:15 or 6:30 EST tonight. I should be on for a while tomorrow night though. I'll look everyone up when I get on tonight, probably around 5:30 or so. I appreciate all this help, sometimes I feel like I'm on an island when I play. I don't want to be a charity case, so I'll offer up whatever I have and I'll help collect gems and runes for people in the future, whatever I can do to help those who help me.

O

@zozojohn: Thanks for the thought. The account name isn't too bad. I just started playing again a few weeks ago after a year plus hiatus. I knew my acct name was something like Oooooooooohhhhh!!!!!, but I couldn't remember how many of each character I used. 10 O's, 5 H's, 5 !'s. It's the chant my buddy and I use during Maryland Terrapin basketball games, in case anyone was wondering. (Didn't get to cheer much during that game against Clemson last night though.)

[chaca]

As long as you get out and play nobody will think of you as a charity case. feel free to add me to your f list and look me up to play. been doing a lot of mfing lately and its time to have some fun again.

Darzog: by the way, what level is your bliz sorc? I have a 88 bliz and a 77 demon slayer zealer (could use either one dependign upon your other chars) that we could run hell baal with if you are interested.

[darzog]

My characters are:

Bliz sorc - lvl 89 - Hell MF, Hell rushing, Hell Baal - main char
Fishymancer - lvl 86 - Hell Cows/Pits/Tunnels, A4 Hell Rush
Hammerdin - lvl 79 - don't use much
LF Zon - lvl 78? - don't use much
WW Barb - lvl 79? - Hell Snake Temple, Hell Baal, don't use much
Meteorb - lvl 81 - Norm/NM rushing, random Cow/Tomb runner
Wind Druid - haven't finished yet

*Darzog or *Vaughan
____________________
Darzog

[chaca]

My characters are:

Bliz sorc - lvl 89 - Hell MF, Hell rushing, Hell Baal - main char
Fishymancer - lvl 86 - Hell Cows/Pits/Tunnels, A4 Hell Rush
Hammerdin - lvl 79 - don't use much
LF Zon - lvl 78? - don't use much
WW Barb - lvl 79? - Hell Snake Temple, Hell Baal, don't use much
Meteorb - lvl 81 - Norm/NM rushing, random Cow/Tomb runner
Wind Druid - haven't finished yet

*Darzog or *Vaughan
____________________
Darzog

Well sweet, like I said I'll try to catch you online and maybe we can do some hell baal runs.