The Bodomsorc - An Enchantless Meleesorc

[BodomSaint]

The Bodomsorc


Introduction

Creepy fog is slowly floating above a silent lake. Not a single star in a total blackened sky shines above this tainted place. This gloomy lake seems like the gate to a dark endless abyss. Something wicked slowly arises from the center of the waters. A maiden drowned in this unhallowed floods, cold, silent and dripping like the lake itself she rises from her wet grave to hunt living sacrifices for lake Bodom’s endless thirst for blood…

For several months I have been into Meleesorcs. My first attempt was an Executress but with the arrival of the new runewords one of them really caught my eye:

Dream

3 Socket Helms/Shields
Io + Jah + Pul

10% Chance To Cast Level 15 Confuse When Struck
Level 15 Holy Shock Aura When Equipped
+20-30% Faster Hit Recovery (varies)
+30% Enhanced Defense
+150-220 Defense (varies)
+10 To Vitality
Increase Maximum Life 5%
+0.625-61.875 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
All Resistances +5-20 (varies)
15-25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (varies)

Level 15 Holy Shock aura?! Paired with Lightning Mastery this should be very lethal… Oh wait a minute, with two Dream runewords equipped the levels of the two auras add to each other, in other words the two level 15 HS auras become one lvl 30 HS aura.

So I once again grabbed my sword and prepared to slay some monsters… Tesla-style…

Floating above lake Bodom her tainted soul slowly awakes from it’s one-thousand year long slumber. AS she opens her eyes the lake starts bubbling as if it boiled. Lightning bolts crash into the forest protecting the lake. A vortex of water surrounds her undead body and within a blink of an eye the stands at the shores of lake Bodom ready to conquer the world of the living…



Pros and Cons


Pros:

- Obscene max damage
- Nearly invincible
- Excellent crowd control
- Strong against single tough enemies
- No need for resistances
- No AR problems at all


Cons:

- Very item dependant
- Expensive
- Poison and manaburn become very dangerous
- Horrible min damage




The Bodomsorc

The drowned mistresses of lake Bodom sold their lives to become as the lake itself Cold, merciless and immortal they annihilated whole armies of mortals and demons alike.

Arcane Battle Studies (The Skills of a Bodomsorc)


Way of the Efreet (Fire Tree)

01 Warmth

That’s it. The mana reg coupled with Meditation should supply our mana pool sufficiently enough to keep ES fueled.

The Sorcs of Lake Bodom dedicated their art to the waters of Bodom where even the Efreets cannot prevail.


Gifts from the Abyss (Cold Tree)

01 Shiver Armor
20 Frozen Orb
17* Cold Mastery
*with +skills from equipment

Frozen Orb will be our first Crowd control spell as well as our LI killer. Cast it on every non CI mob to slow them down and eventually thin down their lines before charging into the fray. A slow enemy can’t hit you very often.

Shiver Armor has the nasty habit to freeze every force that tries to harm you. For this effect to trigger the enemy doesn’t even have to successfully land a hit on you. The attempt itself is enough for it to trigger. This spell is very handy when facing a numerical superiority of monsters or when teleporting through a field of enemies. This can be a lifesaver and well worth a point.

Cold Mastery reduces the enemies cold resistance and hence your damage. Always get it at least to slvl 17 with +skills from items. At slvl 17 it reduces enemy cold resistances by 100. Since negative resistances are capped at -100% PvM and PvP and many non CI monsters have zero cold res, slvl 17 is the best bet, since after slvl 17 the diminishing returns begin, since damage done only rises against monsters with positive cold resistances. In my case, I have +7 to cold skills, so 10 points are good to go for me, for you, this might be too high or too low.

The Order of the Bodomsorcs was given the ability to call the icy waters of Lake Bodom to protect them in a whirlwind of razor sharp, frozen shards from this unholy waters.
The endless Abyss blessed the Battlesorcs with a frozen sphere to baptize the Battlesorcs’ victims in Lake Bodom’s floods


Maelstrom Arts (Lightning Tree)

01 Teleport
20 Lightning Mastery
20 Energy Shield
20 Telekinesis
01 Static Field

Teleport and Static Field are no-brainers.
Lightning Mastery in order to enhance Lightning damage above all reasonable amounts. Lightning mastery, when used in melee combat is calculated twice the formula to calculate your lightning damage along with lightning mastery looks like this:

Lightning Damage * (1 + lightning mastery%) * (1 + lightning mastery%)(thanks to IceFires, Melianor and Uzziah for telling me how to correctly calculate LM dmg here (http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?p=3043512#post3043512))

This leads to very high lightning damage, enough to slay nearly every non LI monster in very few hits.

Energy Shield and Telekinesis for severe protection
Energy Shield and Telekinesis greatly reduce the damage you take. Energy Shield redirects damage taken to your mana pool. So you lose mana instead of life. The higher your Energy Shield slvl is, the more damage becomes redirected. It is capped at 95% damage redirected.
However, for every 1 point of damage redirected, you mana suffers not one but two points of damage. This is where Telekinesis enters the field. TK is a synergy for Energy Shield, every point spent in TK reduces the multiplier raising the damage/mana loss ratio. With no points in TK every pont of damage redirected to mana will cause two mana points lost. With TK at lvl 20 for every point of damage redirected you only lose 0.75 mana.


Being as twisted as the Bodomsorcs are, they even gathered control over the almighty Maelstrom itself. This enables them, to channel the Maelstrom’s wrath onto their helpless prey as well as creating a force field that makes it nearly impossible to even scratch a Bodomsorc’s drowned skin


Powers of the drowned (Stat Point Allocation)


Strength

Enough for your equipment. If you follow my recommendations to the letter, you’ll need 111 str in order to wear your heaviest item, Gladiator’s Bane.


Dexterity

Again enough for your equipment. If you follow my guide, you’ll end up needing 136 dex for your phase blade.


Vitality

For every 2 – 3 points in energy put one here. It’s complete preference if you rather keep your life low and mana high, or evenly.


Energy


Ditch every available point into energy to gain a massive mana pool for your ES to work with, but life is very important, too. I guess it’s just a personal preference, I hate getting Blood Mana cursed and Poison damage is really pesky when not having a lot of resistances and low life.

[BodomSaint]

Treasures of the endless floods (Equipment)


Ok, so in order to create a Bodomsorc, we need a Dream Helm and Shield. But what about the rest of the equipment?



Head

Dream of course.

Helms to make Dream in include Bone Visage, Tiara or Diadem. That’s just a matter of preference, but keep the str requirement as low as possible.

Alternatives:

none. Sorry but without a Dream Helm, you’re no Bodomsorc ;)
If you only have access to one dream and using it in your shield slot aim for Griffon’s Eye for the –Enemy lightning res,
Shako for skills and a healthy boost of life and mana or
Andariel’s Visage for IAS and skills

The unholy relic given by the almighty Maelstrom. The Crown of Chaos


Amulet

Tal Rasha’s Adjudication

This amulet has everything we need as a Battlesorc. It grants massive Life and Mana, +2 Skills and lightning damage. Neat!

Alternatives:

Mara’s Kaleidoscope is the usual suspect. A nice rare amulet might even be better than Tal’s if it has +2 Sorc skills, +str and/of +dex and +Life and/or +Mana.


Shield

Dream again

Shields for dream include any 3 open socket shield you can find. Remember, we don’t aim for Maxblock so block-% doesn’t matter at all, just like defense rating because Dream adds quite a bunch of def and defense is not that important as well. Once again, aim for the lowest requirements possible. I for myself use a 3 OS Kite Shield Dream.

Alternatives:

see Helm ;)
If you only have access to one dream and using it in your helm slot aim for anything with + skills or Stormshield. Though it has horrible str-reqs, putting str. to 156 makes you able to use a spirit on weapon switch. But my clear recommendation goes to Dream.

Another gift from the twisted Maelstrom. The Wall of Disorder


Boots

No real champion here, but quite some possibilities.

Aldur’s Advance
These boots add quite a lot of life as well as very nice 40% FRW

Sandstorm Trek
A good option as well: FHR, FRW, nice Strength boost as well as a healthy dose of poison res

Sander’s Riprap
Nice Stat bonuses and FRW

Nice Rare Boots are always a good option as well


Rings

Stone of Jordan

Every Sorceress’ Dream. And the Bodomsorc is no exception. Massive amounts of mana helps our Energy Shield, +1 to all skills is just awesome and even the 1-12 lightning damage mod is useful to us. Godly

Alternatives:

Dwarf Star for the nice MDR
Wisp Projector if you fear lightning
Manald Heal for a little life boost and mana regeneration
Ravenfrost mainly for the Dex boost
If you can’t get any of the above, then look for +Mana above all else with your rings.


Belt

Arachnid Mesh

+1 to all skills, 5% more mana. Exactly what we want

Alternatives:

Nosferatu’s Coil for the 10% IAS it grants
Thundergod’s Vigor for a little Lightning absorb and stat boost
Credendum gives a nice stat boost
Hwanin’s Blessing adds some lightning damage but you’ll already have enough of that and it only has 12 potion slots
Trang-Oul’s Girth is an awesome alternative, granting huge life, CBF, and mana


Gloves

Bloodfist

10% IAS, Massive Life

Alternatives:

Lava Gout, Laying of Hands, anything with IAS works



Armor

Gladiator’s Bane

Why the hell Gladiator’s Bane? Because this piece of Armor makes us invincible. 20 PDR and 20 MDR doesn’t seem to be very powerful at first glance, but those trigger after Energy Shield and there are little to no monsters, that damage you at all after ES and Glad Bane (as long as your Energy Shield remains active of course). And on top of that we get CBF (no Ravenfrost needed) and a huge FHR boost. Godly, just godly.

Alternatives:

Iron Pelt for some PMD and MDR



Weapon

It might sound strange but:

Eth-Eth-Eth-Eth-Shael-Shael Phase Blade

With this little gem and 10% IAS from anywhere else (e.g. Gloves) you’ll hit the last IAS BP and your attack rating becomes irrelevant, since the 4 Eth runes completely nullify the enemy defense of any foe. It even works afaik in PvP (correct me please, if I’m wrong, I don’t PvP so I don’t know if –xx% enemy defense is capped anywhere).

This weapon makes a Bodomsorc strike with a deadly accuracy and at demonic speed

Alternatives:

Well, anything fast with –enemy def works. ITD is good, too however, it does not work on bosses or PvP:

Grief, Death Cleaver, Fleshripper, BotD, xxx of Piercing magic/rare weapon, Lightsabre etc.


Weapon Switch

Weapon

Call to Arms

Godlike! +1 Skills, massive life and mana boost for both, you and your merc


Alternatives:

Energy Shield prebuffing equipment like

The Oculus
Mang Song’s Lesson
Memory socketed in a +2 or +3 to ES Staff
Any rare with + to ES


[highlight]Shield

Anything with +skills work, for example

Sigon’s shield
Lidless Wall
Splendor
Visceratuant
If you are using Stormshield then Spirit is the shield for you to switch




[highlight]Charms

Get yourself as much Lightning Skill grand charms as possible, to reach slvl 35+ ES. Also every +skill greatly increases your damage. Apart from Light skill GCs get some small vita charms, preferably with mana as well and if you can afford it, an Annihulus.

[BodomSaint]

The Hatecrew (Mercs)


Mourn for the woe of those not being sacrificed but being forced to become a slave of the ghosts of Lake Bodom

Since we have no maxed Warmth like Enchantresses we need something else to keep our Energy Shield up and our mana bulp full. Once again, the new runewords blessed the Bodomsorc with an infernal tool.

Insight

4 Socket Polearms/Staves
Ral + Tir + Tal + Sol

Level 12-17 Meditation Aura When Equipped (varies)
+35% Faster Cast Rate
+200-260% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+9 To Minimum Damage
180-250% Bonus to Attack Rating (varies)
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
+75 Poison Damage Over 5 Seconds
+1-6 To Critical Strike (varies)
+5 To All Attributes
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

A little comparison:

A slvl 12 Meditation Aura (worst possible roll) boosts the mana regeneration rate by 575%. This is about as much as slvl 46 (!!!) Warmth would grant (slvl 46: 570%)

A slvl 17 Meditation Aura (best possible roll) bosts mana reg rat by whooping 700%. This is about slvl 57 (!!!) Warmth (slvl 57: 702%)

So a slvl 12 Meditation aura is comparable with slvl 46 Warmth and a slvl 17 Meditation aura with slvl 57 Warmth


The right merc

This being said, there can only be one choice for your Merc: Act 2 Desert Sons.
He is the only one capable of using Insight, since he’s the only one that wields Polearms.
There are several different classes of them:

Normal/Hell Defensive, the Defiant Warrior
This merc uses the Defiance aura, but since defense is no important mod, he is useless for our means.

Another unworthy walking sacrifice…


Normal/Hell Offensive, the Blessed Aimer
This merc, using Blessed Aim is even more useless for us, since our weapon ignores any defense rating rendering AR useless for us

Not even worth commenting


Normal/Hell Combat, the Healer
The first useful merc. His Prayer aura restores life lost in combat. Along with Meditation there’s a little bonus. Prayer synergizes with Meditation, the result is life regeneration at twice the pace.

A worthy slave…


Nightmare Defensive, the chilling Desert spawn
This is a crowd control merc, slowing every monster down, even cold immunes. Combined with Confuse from your Dreams and Frozen Orb, nearly no one will ever dare to touch you.

With his aura of frozen doom he is a worthy apprentice of the lake of silence…


Nightmare Offensive, the Mighty
This slave can inflict some serious damage on his own. Though his native aura does not help you much.

He might be strong, but a slave is a slave for serving it’s master…


Nightmare Combat, the walking revenge
His thorns aura is utterly useless. We use crowd control spells to reduce combat damage taken to a minimum but his native aura needs us to get hit often and hard and even then, the aura is not very effective.

A drowned creature does not get hit often, out of my sight, sacrifice…


There is no best merc for the Bodomsorc, it’s all up to playing style and preferences. The Holy Freeze merc and the Prayer merc are equally beneficial to us, so I’ll let you decide whom to take.

The Slaves’ Rags (Merc’s Gear)

Weapon

Insight

Weapons to make Insight with contain every 4 socketed elite polearm weapon. Preferably ethereal, but since those weapons cost a fortune, a non ethereal fits as well. Especially Great Poleaxe, Thresher and Giant Thresher are good choices, since they are reasonably fast, too.


Armor

Chains of Honor

Godly resistances and life leech makes this a great armor. On top of that, it adds a great deal of strength adding damage to his attacks and makes it easier for him to wear his Insight and damage to demons. Awesome, but quite costly.

Alternatives:

Naj’s Light Plate for +1 skill and resistances
Skin of the Vipermagi for the same reasons
Stone for major defense, FHR and resistances
Tal Rasha’s Guardianship for resists and a little MF
Shaftstop for big %PDR and life
Duriel’s Shell for str boost, life boost, resistances and CBF


Head

Delirium

Only if you can manage life leech on his Armor. Delirium greatly increases the chances of Confuse triggering and reduces the pressure you and your slave will face.

Alternatives:

Andariel’s Visage For IAS, Life Leech and Str boost. Watch his fire resistance though
Vampire Gaze for %PDR and life leech
Tal Rasha’s Horadric Crest for life leech, resistances and life boost


Desperate attempts at finding a weakness in her defenses (Resistances and Energy Shield)

As you might have learned when reading the equipment part, one normally very major concern while creating a new character was completely ignored: Resistances

Due to a major overhaul on how Energy Shield works, it now completely ignores your resistances when taking mana damage. Resistances only apply to the little part of damage, that actually hurt your life bulb. Since this damage got severely reduced by ES it’s not worth the effort of squeezing resistances into your equipment.

A little example:

A monster hits you with a fire missile inflicting 500 damage (though this amount is way too much for PvM)*. Your fire resistance is -50% and your ES is slvl 40 absorbing 95% of damage taken, your TK is slvl 20

First, ES absorbs 90% of the fire damage by using your mana.

500 * 0,95 * 0,75 = 356,25 mana lost

The rest goes to your life bulb:

500 * 0,05 = 25 damage taken

Now lets say you wear a Gladiator’s Bane with 20 MDR:

25 – 20 = 5 damage taken
5 * 1,5 (negative res) = 7,5

And now without Gladiator’s Bane, but with 50% positive fire res:

(500 * 0,05) - 20 = 5 damage taken
5 * 0,5 (positive res) = 2,5

so 100% more resistances would reduce the damage in this example by 5 points.

This applies with every single elemental damage. The only exceptions are Poison and open wounds (PvP)

In this example, you might lose more HP the ES route, but remember that it’s nearly impossible to squeeze a lot of resistances into your gear without sacrificing anything vital for it. The main point is, that you mostly get many hits of low damage, not single big punches.

This is where ES really shines in comparison to resistances.

*) Since Baal’s melee attack does 166-210 damage in Hell I think 500 damage per attack from a normal monster is way exaggerated, if anyone has in deep knowledge about PvM enemy elemental attacks please PM me, so I can add a proper example here.

Another example

A monster hits you with a physical blow inflicting 500 damage (though this amount is way too much for PvM see above). Your ES is slvl 40 absorbing 95% of damage taken, your TK is slvl 20

First, ES absorbs 90% of the damage by using your mana.

500 * 0,95 * 0,75 = 356,25 mana lost

The rest goes to your life bulb:

500 * 0,05 = 25 damage taken

Now lets say you wear a Gladiator’s Bane with 20 PDR:

25 – 20 = 5 damage taken


The main point is, that you mostly get many hits of low damage, not single big punches.

As a rule of thumb, if you get hit by a physical (or elemental if your resists are at zero) attack lower than or equal to 400 and your wearing a 20/20 Gladiator’s Bane, along with a slvl 40 ES, you don’t lose any HP at all.

So as long as your mana does not run out, no monster can harm you.


Seeding fear and chaos in the hearts of thy enemies (Crowd control and tactics)

Frozen Orb is our first Crowd control spell. It is capable of freezing entire screens full of monsters. Frozen monsters are slowed in both walking and attacking speed and Frozen orb greatly helps keeping the damage taken as low as possible. Always begin the skirmishes with a Frozen Orb right into the middle of a monster pack. Once all or at least a majority of them is frozen, charge into battle and slay them.

Frozen Orb can be exchanged by a merc using Holy Freeze (the chilling Desert spawn), however, you still need Frozen Orb to deal with lightning immune monsters but with a Holy Freeze merc you don’t need to cast Orb so often.

Our Dream items have a nasty chance of casting Confuse if someone dares to touch us. This is our last resort if we get hit too often or when facing ranged attackers.

The unholy mistresses of Bodom are a fearsome sight, twisting the minds of those daring to strike against her fate and watching into the abyssal, empty eyes of a drowned one…




My personal Bodomsorc (Screenshots)

Here you can have a look at the prototype of the Bodomsorc.

coming soon

[BodomSaint]

My personal Bodomsorc (Screenshots) coming soon…

Here you can have a look at the prototype of the Bodomsorc. Coming soon…


Appendix and Greetings

A big Thanks (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/sounds/npc-voices/barb-help.wav) to the following people


IceFires, Melianor and Uzziah for teaching me how to calculate and understand melee lightning mastery.

My buddies Moff and Pi for reading and commenting this guide pre-release

Children of Bodom (www.cobhc.com) for their great music and giving me the inspiration for the Sorc’s name and flavor text

Useful Information

Energy Shield Explained (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=564)

Sorceress guide library (http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=166829)




That’s it for the moment, now I’m waiting for constructive criticism and feedback.

Something wild has survived...

[hamena314]

Very exact guide. I'll read and ... uhm ... check ( ;) ) it
Well done! :thumbsup:

HAVE PHUN!

[BodomSaint]

Very exact guide. I'll read and ... uhm ... check ( ;) ) it
Well done! :thumbsup:

HAVE PHUN!

thanks Pi :D

[Phaeax]

Good guide, as I've been interested in this ever since Dream was announced.

One (possible) change... from what I've read in Zarhrezz's ES Sorc guide (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=549), DR and MDR are applied before resists. In the case of a 20 MDR Gladiator's Bane and -50% resists, that fire damage would do...
500 * 0.05 - 20 = 5 damage taken before resists
5 * 1.5 = 7.5 damage after resists

[BodomSaint]

Good guide, as I've been interested in this ever since Dream was announced.

One (possible) change... from what I've read in Zarhrezz's ES Sorc guide (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=549), DR and MDR are applied before resists. In the case of a 20 MDR Gladiator's Bane and -50% resists, that fire damage would do...
500 * 0.05 - 20 = 5 damage taken before resists
5 * 1.5 = 7.5 damage after resists

thanks for the input, i must have overread this point.

*changed*

[urkel181]

cool guide. I might have to start playing ladder to try it out :thumbsup:

A few questions though:
-about how much lightning damage can you expect with optimal gear?
-how does it do pvp?

again great guide, a real winner for those sick of cookie-cutter builds :D

[Gaza0469]

Nice Guide :)

All the extra detail is what makes this guide stand out more from the rest :)

I would also go enchant a few points - with plus skills ( and or a quick pre-buff ) u could have like a level 10 or so enchant :

This would give you a 101% bonus to your attack rating. ( if u need it? a lil extra AR never hurt I reckon anywayz

I would be inclined to have 2 different builds of BodamSorc

One Fire/Lightning ( this would replace orb with Warmth, and CM with FM )

My only concern with the lightning / orb version is that small amount of warmth, I find a level 30 ES needs a lot of maintenance and u really need excellent regen to keep it up.

Thats only a concnern though - it may not happen? Have u built one yet?

I only have the runes for one dream, not 2... still hunting

Im definately interested in making something like this though :)

[jordy666]

too bad dream costs a jah :(
what about using a cresent moon phase as a weapon, it has ITD and -35 lighting res.
and it hits 12 fpa with no Oias, but if you slap on a pair of IAS gloves it gets to 11 fpa.
BUT if u smack a ias jewel in glad's bane, u will hit the 10 fpa bp.
imho much better then a 6 sock phase.

But overal nice guide :D

-jordy :rolleyes:

[Liquid_Evil]

Eth-Eth-Eth-Eth-Shael-Shael Phase Blade

With this little gem and 10% IAS from anywhere else (e.g. Gloves) you’ll hit the last IAS BP and your attack rating becomes irrelevant, since the 4 Eth runes completely nullify the enemy defense of any foe. It even works afaik in PvP (correct me please, if I’m wrong, I don’t PvP so I don’t know if –xx% enemy defense is capped anywhere).

Eth's are halved in PvP, from 25% >> 12.5%

I liked the commentary throughout the guide, sets it apart from others.
What kind of life/mana/dmg does your sorc get? I didn't see you list anything for people to compare with. In short, the guide is a refreshing change (style it was written and idea in general), masterfully done hero.

[BodomSaint]

cool guide. I might have to start playing ladder to try it out :thumbsup:

A few questions though:
-about how much lightning damage can you expect with optimal gear?
-how does it do pvp?

again great guide, a real winner for those sick of cookie-cutter builds


Stats and Lightning Skills (unbuffed) (http://img212.exs.cx/img212/6421/bodomsorc18ek.jpg)

as you can see, i have put only one point in LM so far, maxed, the Lightning Dmg will acchieve more than 50k if i calculated right.

Regarding PvP: i don't know, since i don't PvP, but since the Eth runes only work 50% in PvP it might become hard to hit the enemy.

Nice Guide

All the extra detail is what makes this guide stand out more from the rest

I would also go enchant a few points - with plus skills ( and or a quick pre-buff ) u could have like a level 10 or so enchant :

This would give you a 101% bonus to your attack rating. ( if u need it? a lil extra AR never hurt I reckon anywayz

I would be inclined to have 2 different builds of BodomSorc

One Fire/Lightning ( this would replace orb with Warmth, and CM with FM )

My only concern with the lightning / orb version is that small amount of warmth, I find a level 30 ES needs a lot of maintenance and u really need excellent regen to keep it up.

Thats only a concnern though - it may not happen? Have u built one yet?

I only have the runes for one dream, not 2... still hunting

Im definately interested in making something like this though

Thanks for the cheer

Well since you completely ignore target's defence, AR is useless, you'll hit everything in PvM with a 95% chance no matter hao high or low your AR is

Warmth: Well, of course more points in warmth would be nice, but that's what Insight is for. It grants us a great mana-regeneration though this means we'll have to rely on a merc. I think Insight is outstanding, since it saves us many skill points normally going into warmth to maintain ES, all that at the cost of a few low-mid runes

too bad dream costs a jah
what about using a cresent moon phase as a weapon, it has ITD and -35 lighting res.
and it hits 12 fpa with no Oias, but if you slap on a pair of IAS gloves it gets to 11 fpa.
BUT if u smack a ias jewel in glad's bane, u will hit the 10 fpa bp.
imho much better then a 6 sock phase.

But overal nice guide

-jordy :rolleyes:

those two Jah runes are still less, then Jah, Ber, Vex, Pul for a hammerdin (Enigma and HotO) but you're right, it's a gear based and therefore expensive build.
Cresent moon is a very good weapon (and i wonder why i forget to mention it). Only disadvantage over the Phase Blade would be that you couldn't hit any boss due to very low AR. On the other hand the -35 Light res is nasty

Eth's are halved in PvP, from 25% >> 12.5%

I liked the commentary throughout the guide, sets it apart from others.
What kind of life/mana/dmg does your sorc get? I didn't see you list anything for people to compare with. In short, the guide is a refreshing change (style it was written and idea in general), masterfully done hero.

Thanks for feedback and pointing the Eth issue out :)

I didn't list my stats yet, because my sorc is not completely done, but i can give you some insight of how far i am atm:

Stats and Equipment (buffed) (http://img224.exs.cx/img224/9811/bodomsorc27oc.jpg)

She still misses Glad Bane and Arach due to her lvl. Energy Shield is @ slvl 36 (buffed) and maxes out @ slvl 38. After that, I'll start putting my points into LM.

retrospectively i recommend putting more points into Energy and less in vita, but this sorc is still just the prototype, and it won't be my last BodomSorc ;)

[Zigot_HD]

Well done!! Good guide!

Like someone did mention, a variation on this cold/lightning build with Fire/lightning using warth/enchant combine with Infinity rw on merc.

Btw, hs aura from dream doesn work with range attack ? ( yea, yea... been discussed else where but i need to re-confirm since this is first real Dream build )


Zigot_HD

[BodomSaint]

i just tested it with a Widdowmaker and HS also applies with ranged attacks, though the melee bonus of LM does not apply (it only gets calculated once). also you cannot equip a shield while being ranged. Nevertheless, my sorc did 18x - 7,5k damage ranged

[tweety]

Eth against act bosses is also only -12.5%, so you might have troubles hitting them without any other source of AR.

[Av3nger]

What about passion? wouldn't zeal be nice...

[RetroStar]

I couldn't stop laughing from the name Bodomsorc.

Good work.

[RetroStar]

What about passion? wouldn't zeal be nice...

That would require a lot of AR to hit and I dont think this build has that much AR unless it sacrfices the ring/ammy slot for angelics.

[SevenSirens]

this is a great build for sorc. i love it. when i saw this post i trashed/traded everything i had on all of my sorcs and got myself 2 dream and start building my very own bodomsorc. the funniest thing happened from lvl 64-65.... after i put my dual dream on my dmg just went crazy... monsters that was hard for me to kill now just die as i walk by.... i think someone said it b4 but 4eth2shael pb doesn't work on bosses... i had a really hard time to hit bosses even w/ max enchant...(i took enchant instead of frozen orb, b/c i dun solo and the other players can take care of the LI) i still take a whole lot more dmg then i expected... maybe i should have max out TK and ES first..... anyway i'm gonna rebuild her and turn her into a werebear w/ 6shaels PB for the heck of it.... then passion for zeal and so on.... nice guild bodomsaint ;)

just a thought....
w/ the new runewords u could ya 3 holy aura on at the same time... all 3 would give u a lvl 44 holy fire!!!!!!!!! i dunno how much dmg that would do but wouldn't that be damn fine w/ enchant and fire mastery? the runewords are Hand of Justic(weapon) which give a lvl 16 HF and Dragon(amor/shield) which give a lvl 14 HF.... these runeword are freakishly expensive for what they're worth but it might be a fun char to build if u're rich and wanna try it out.....FYI i think each of the runeword require 2 high rune to make and then so... so it's like 15-17 Ists.....give or take...

[illa]

I've made my one own build which I thinks works better and is cooler :)

Basically I've been playing around with different builds and the one that works out best for me is the following:

20 warmth
20 fire mastery
20 enchant
20 lightning mastery
Teleport
Static (only used on baal etc)
rest in the second frozen armor

I use Beast/Spirit to buff armor, enchant and turn into a bear, then I switch to a 95% ias phaseblade with a Hel rune in it to lessen dex reqs. This DOUBLES my health and makes me have around 2 to 2.5k health without BO. If I use CTA I can get up to 4k+. You can use a phaseblade with 15ias/15 res jewels and have max res if ur rich enough.

I have around 20k ar with a Blessed Aim merc with Infinity with Angelics Amu Ring and Ravenfrost. I do 3-4k to 40k dmg.

This build works great and is a lot of fun. :thumbsup:



(Btw a suggestion to your guide is to use Passion with the Berzerk skill, it gives instant knockouts in PvP (if you can hit em without them blocking you, having too high defence))

[darzhar]

[size=3][highlight]Weapon Switch

Weapon

Call to Arms

Godlike! +1 Skills, massive life and mana boost for both, you and your merc


Alternatives:

Energy Shield prebuffing equipment like

The Oculus
Mang Song’s Lesson
Memory socketed in a +2 or +3 to ES Staff
Any rare with + to ES


Why not use Beast instead of Call to arms???

Lvl 9 Fanatism gives
Party Damage: +93 percent
Your Damage: +186 percent
Attack Speed: +29 percent
Attack: +80 percent

40% Increased Attack Speed
+240-270% Enhanced Damage (varies)
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
+25-40 To Strength (varies)
+10 To Energy
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5 Charges)

+3 To Werebear and +3 To Lycanthropy gives
Life: +80 percent
Duration: 120 seconds
Damage: +64 percent
Defense: +35 percent

I think this will be a much greater weapon change or why not just use it to cast Warbear and then change to your first waepon???

[Uzziah]

i just tested it with a Widdowmaker and HS also applies with ranged attacks, though the melee bonus of LM does not apply (it only gets calculated once). also you cannot equip a shield while being ranged. Nevertheless, my sorc did 18x - 7,5k damage ranged

Lightning mastery only gets applied once in ranged damage 7.5K is possible with 1 dream 10K+ is possible with the double dream setup.

Try using throwing weapons and razortail, pierce with a ranged weapon on a dual dream sorc. Works well I bet.

Oh and just from my memory bank reduce defence by % IE the 25% from Eth is based on the characters based defence so if your facing an Iron Barb which has 30K defence 20K+ of which comes from ironskin and shout the reduced defence will only effect the remaining 10K- so if becomes much less effective against defence boosters. Ironskin, Shout, defiance, Stoneskin, etc.

I would use a passion blade zeal with a bit of OIAS works really fast on a sorc.

You could even have beast on the switch and go bear sorc if you wanted to, transformations hold during weapon switch.

[Dragonlancers]

:thumbsup: cool giud, i want to make this lady myself now, but sad to say i don't have d2-lod i play classic d2, so can i make this girl of yours and how would she do in classic and what gear do i need. can u let me kmow, right now i got a lvl20 sorcs started with 21 skill points saved up, str 30, dex 25, vit/energy 60,

:worship: thanks :worship:

[Pherdnut]

I think that's the first heavy twinkage guide I've enjoyed. Very well thought out. Except the bit about Eth polearms being expensive. For someone who can afford two pieces of Dream? Did I miss something? :) Or do I need to unsocket that insight Eth Collusus Voulge that is too heavy for my wussy merc ('DOH!) and check the trading values again?

Have you considered trying Passion with this build? You'd need to get the AR from elsewhere and the 25% fear thing is annoying, but it would probably make for a nice weapon to have when getting swarmed by the little people.

[coblin]

Jah - Ignore Target's Defense

I'm not quite sure about the differences between 4 Eth and Jah.

If I was rich, would Jah be a better alternative, since I have 3 slots for other things? If so, what?

[coblin]

Jah - Ignore Target's Defense

I'm not quite sure about the differences between 4 Eth and Jah.

If I was rich, would Jah be a better alternative, since I have 3 slots for other things? If so, what?


From the statistics board, I hear that ITD would be just as good, except on bosses, the effect would be nothing, instead of halved effect. However, you would prolly have a 5% chance to hit either way, so you'd just tank and orb the act bosses.

So wouldn't it be better to make a runeword with ITD? (or Jah,Shael,Shael,Light Facetx3)

... actually, Cresent Moon does all that... so wouldn't you use that? (swap Tal Ammy for Highlords maybe)

Hmm... Or use another R/W, Like Grief.

[sheepe2004]

Maybe useing a demon limb for enchant could help boost ar for act bosses and pvp?

[Meteor_strikester]

Statistics:

I recently made a sorc that followed this exact build. Im level 68 and my damage is 300ish - 34k. my frozen orb damage is around 400 per bolt.

my gear is as follows:

4 eth 2 shael phase blade
28 maras
bloodfists
sandstorm treks (these help with poison, a lot)
string of ears
2 sojs
spirit kite shiled
spirit great helm

no armor, thats right none. ive been looking for an iron pelt but no one has one. I still manage to tank anything ive encountered so far cept mana burns.
The only other problem i have encountered is that i can't hit any of the bosses. I just normally orb them while my merc takes them down. So I'm asking if there is any better solutions other than orbing the bosses.

[Shlongor]

What about substituting enchant with some synergies for frozen orb? You lose crowd control but your damage will laugh at most monsters.

[coblin]

What about substituting enchant with some synergies for frozen orb? You lose crowd control but your damage will laugh at most monsters.

You need an anti-LI tool, which is what FOrb is for.

------

Possible weapon choices... someone please work with me here, coz I am highly undecided. Also please tell me the difference between ITD and -% Target Defense.

I present you with a list:

6 Socket Phase Blade
Fury
Crescent Moon
Grief


6 Socket Phase Blade
Jah-Shael-Shael-Facet-Facet-Facet
Ignore Target's Defense
40% Increased Attack Speed
+15% to Lightning Skill Damage
-15% to Enemy Lightning Resistance

The Phase Blade appears to be very balanced, all in all. It is a customized weapon, after all. It increases your lightning damage alot, which is probably what we want, however, the light facets will end up costing alot more than a good Grief - pun intended.

Fury
+209% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
66% Chance Of Open Wounds
33% Deadly Strike
Ignore Target's Defense
-25% Target Defense
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
6% Life Stolen Per Hit
+5 To Frenzy (Barbarian Only)

This seemed good because it has 40IAS and ITD. It also has Prevent Monster Heal. I guess the only highlight of this weapon is Prevent Monster Heal, and the Gul and Eth rune, which will help against Bosses if you have Demon Limb on swap to gather some decent AR.

Crescent Moon
10% Chance To Cast Level 17 Chain Lightning On Striking
7% Chance To Cast Level 13 Static Field On Striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed (But we need 20% more!)
+180-220% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
-35% To Enemy Lightning Resistance
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+9-11 Magic Absorb (varies)
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (30 Charges)

The highlights of this weapon is -35% Lightning Resistance. We still have ITD, but we are lacking 20IAS. Dunno, is it even important? See for yourself. You could generate 20IAS from a Jewel and Laying of Hands, or replace Tal Ammy with Highlords.

Grief
35% Chance To Cast Level 15 Venom On Striking
+30-40% Increased Attack Speed (varies) (We can use Laying of Hands if the IAS isn't perfect)
Damage +340-400 (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
-25% Target Defense
+1.875 (per character level)% Damage To Demons (Based on Character Level)
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
-20-25% To Enemy Poison Resistance (varies)
20% Deadly Strike
Prevent Monster Heal
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
+11 Life After Each Kill

My recommendation: I recommend using Grief. Grief will give decent Physical Damage for the rare CI/LI monster. The Poison damage sort of replaces Prevent Monster Heal, and can also be treated as an alternative source of damage.

It seems like a fight between my version of the Phase Blade, and Grief.

Hmm.. so it is a tough choice. Any weapon experts, please pick out my flaws, and help me deduce, and maybe introduce better choices even. Please tell me the difference between ITD and -% Target Defense.

[Shlongor]

How much fire damage does synergized enchant add? That would handle lit immunes if it were enough.

[illa]

The build i wrote in here works with lightning immunes and does around 2-3k fire dmg at 4fpa. Why isnt anyone interested in that build? I guess its too expensive or exotic but imo after testing out all other options its the best,,,

[coblin]

I've made my one own build which I thinks works better and is cooler :)

Basically I've been playing around with different builds and the one that works out best for me is the following:

20 warmth
20 fire mastery
20 enchant
20 lightning mastery
Teleport
Static (only used on baal etc)
rest in the second frozen armor

I use Beast/Spirit to buff armor, enchant and turn into a bear, then I switch to a 95% ias phaseblade with a Hel rune in it to lessen dex reqs. This DOUBLES my health and makes me have around 2 to 2.5k health without BO. If I use CTA I can get up to 4k+. You can use a phaseblade with 15ias/15 res jewels and have max res if ur rich enough.

I have around 20k ar with a Blessed Aim merc with Infinity with Angelics Amu Ring and Ravenfrost. I do 3-4k to 40k dmg.

This build works great and is a lot of fun. :thumbsup:



(Btw a suggestion to your guide is to use Passion with the Berzerk skill, it gives instant knockouts in PvP (if you can hit em without them blocking you, having too high defence))

What's your stat placement?

The only gear difference is +Beast and in the 6soc PB, 4Shael, 1x15ias/res (or shael) + Hel.

[Kourt]

Hey, I was thinking about doing an enchant bow sorc, I would be using widowmaker along with a dream helm

this would allow me to have holy shock, and enchant, which would allow me to do large amounts of damage in pvm, and mby have that demon cb for pvm

now im not quite sure how to do stat placement but I was thinking about doing this

20 warmth
20 enchant
20 fire mastery
20 lightning mastery
1 telekensis/teleport/coldarmor

the 20 points into lightning mastery would increase my shock damage correct? or would it not because i'd be using a ranged attack

if someone could tell me that'd be great

[Liquid_Evil]

I have a few questions about a PvP Bear Dream Sorc

I was thinking about standard skills...
20 Lightning Mastery
20 Fire Mastery
20 Enchant
20 Warmth
rest into ES, telekinisis, and a frozen armor

I was thinking about this setup for gear...
Dream Helm (bone visage)
Dream Shield (troll nest)
4 Shael, 1 15% IAS jewel, 1 lightning facet phase blade
Shaftstop s/ Cham
Angelic Amulet
2 Angelic Rings
Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Bloodfist
Silkweave (for mana ES) or Immortal Kings (for AR and life)
Charms would consist of FHR, FRW, life, and steel.

Prebuff gear
Beast
(optional CtA, demon limb, and +9 Energy Shield Memory Staff)

This setup gives cannot be frozen, 40-45% Physical Damage Reduction, 5 frame attack speed, 7 frame FHR (could easily get 6 frame with some small charms), decent life and defense, acceptable AR and an enormous amount of damage.

However, the block rate on elite sheilds for druids and sorcs is about 40-42% meaning youll hafta spend a lot of points in dex to achieve max block. Blocking is usually necessary in PvP but with 12 Frame Block Rate I think more time would be spent recovering from attacks than actually attacking. So, I was thinking about leaving dex/block alone and just concentrate points into vita/energy in about a 1:4 or 2:3 ratio and rely more on a buff'ed energy shield to help absorb blows.

Has anyone had experience in PvP with one of these? How do they do? What gear works for you? Do you block? What are the downfalls of this sorc?

[LorveN]

Hey, I was thinking about doing an enchant bow sorc, I would be using widowmaker along with a dream helm

this would allow me to have holy shock, and enchant, which would allow me to do large amounts of damage in pvm, and mby have that demon cb for pvm

now im not quite sure how to do stat placement but I was thinking about doing this

20 warmth
20 enchant
20 fire mastery
20 lightning mastery
1 telekensis/teleport/coldarmor

the 20 points into lightning mastery would increase my shock damage correct? or would it not because i'd be using a ranged attack

if someone could tell me that'd be great

Lightning Mastery would increase your shock damage, yes. Better idea would be (expensive though) to fire a bunch of arrows with the widowmaker, then switch to seconds weaponswitch where you have a dream shield, simply doubling the lightning damage outcome, and adding a chance to block on your char ;)

[SecretOfSilence]

K hows Bout this.

20 Warmth
20 Enchant
20 Fire Master
20 Light Master

Dream Helm
Drean Shield
--------------
= lvl 30 Holy Shock

Dragon Armor
Hande Of Justice Sword(or whatever wepon u want to put it in)
--------------
= lvl 30 Holy Fire

Angelic Ammy
Angelic Ring x2
---------------
+ Enchant= Pretty damb good AR

Beast for Switch
----------------
=Turn into Bear and kill

The Belt and Gloves and Boots are up in the air.
---------------

This sounds Really good tome but let me know what u guys think

[cheesypotatoes]

Awesome guide :thumbsup: just 1 thing for boots u might want to mention silkweaves for the mana. but besides that its pretty good.

[k3mikal]

Excellent guide, two thumps up.
very original and innovative.
rarely we see this much replies of suggestions/recommendations/comments on builds, you have done a very good job!
will definitly be trying it out, and might get other people to do so as well. thanks again.

[ReignOfSorcs]

K hows Bout this.

20 Warmth
20 Enchant
20 Fire Master
20 Light Master

Dream Helm
Drean Shield
--------------
= lvl 30 Holy Shock

Dragon Armor
Hande Of Justice Sword(or whatever wepon u want to put it in)
--------------
= lvl 30 Holy Fire

Angelic Ammy
Angelic Ring x2
---------------
+ Enchant= Pretty damb good AR

Beast for Switch
----------------
=Turn into Bear and kill

The Belt and Gloves and Boots are up in the air.
---------------

This sounds Really good tome but let me know what u guys think


The holy fire isnt worth it... a lvl 30 holy fire only adds 261-273 dmg... even with fire mastery its not that impressive... it's not worth the sacrifice on the weapon and armor which are very important

[SecretOfSilence]

The holy fire isnt worth it... a lvl 30 holy fire only adds 261-273 dmg... even with fire mastery its not that impressive... it's not worth the sacrifice on the weapon and armor which are very important

I Think it's worth it. Hand of justice is at least worth try just by itself.

100% Chance To Cast Level 36 Blaze When You Level-Up
100% Chance To Cast Level 48 Meteor When You Die
Level 16 Holy Fire Aura When Equipped
+33% Increased Attack Speed
+280-330% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
-20% To Enemy Fire Resistance
20% Deadly Strike
Hit Blinds Target
Freezes Target +3

Those are some pretty decent mods. -20 fire res when ur using 20 warmth 20 Enchant 20 Fire Matery. The ITD will make sre your hiting everything(except act bosses and pvp, but thats why u wear Angelic). I just think its a good option. The dragon armor isn't the best

[Drogan_Veratos]

I have just built this sorc and i can see alot of pvp potential.By maxing enchant using angelics beast on switch i think i should be able to get a very high ar to hit in pvp then switch to a 6 shael pb.You have any thoughts on a pvp application for this?

[Dad Daniel]

I HAVE NO WORDS!!!
AMASING WORK!
GENIOUS IDEA!!!! I have named it
- MULTI-IMPROVED-ELEMENTALISTIC-AURA-ENCHANTING-WEREBEARSORC
(some people give to humanity the ideas, the rest content theirselves in trying to find out what is the proper name of the invention)....
I can sujest only few add in this impressive work and here comes word about the merc - The Infinity - IS "VERY-MUST" for this type of character (no such other thing like conviction aura is existing in this game (-xx% enemy def and res), BUT that what is missed up now is the merc armor -
IF you want to make from this peace of art a PvP killing machine , equipe your merc with Bramble armor (15-21 lvl THorns aura when EQUIPED!!!!).
CHEARS!!!

[Gimmershred]

The holy fire isnt worth it... a lvl 30 holy fire only adds 261-273 dmg... even with fire mastery its not that impressive... it's not worth the sacrifice on the weapon and armor which are very important

And above that fire mastery is less effective as light mastery. For example:

Light mastery lvl 35 when using melee weapon :916% light damage
Fire mastery lvl 35 when using melee weapon: 536% fire damage

Although your ar will improve and your minimum damage will be better using hoj+dragon+dragon.

[deadbeater]

Hmm.. so it is a tough choice. Any weapon experts, please pick out my flaws, and help me deduce, and maybe introduce better choices even. Please tell me the difference between ITD and -% Target Defense.

ITD have absolutely no effect vs bosses/uniques or players. -Target Defense does, completely vs bosses, half that vs players.

Using Jah on weapon without making runeword=waste.

My paladin uses a 4 eth phase blade, and has a listed 556 attack rating. A 556 attack rating. With the Gore Riders damage triad, and Duress and Guillaumes, I kill Hell Baal in less than 15 seconds. Try that with the jah sword.

[Papasmurf90]

Bodom!? I thought that I was the only one that liked Children of Bodom. Make sure you check out Kalmah too, very good stuff. Well...I'm starting to ramble again...

[Sechler]

Most of the posts on this thread talk about how cool this build looks, but does it work? Keep in mind that the biggest staple of this build is Energy Shield. I've made a similar build, but haven't decided on high mana/ES or High Vit. I have put about 200ish in vit so far, but I'm reserving lots of stats and skill pts to dump in mana/ES/TK if I get some proof that this idea works. There are several other guides for similar builds that say that the Energy Shield set up doesn't work in melee due to the all the mana burners in hell and elemental hits draining ur mana orb in one blow (a bug I guess).
They talk about it in this thread. (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=549)
I don't have all my enchantress' info in front of me, but this is roughly what I got going. Currently lvl 72.
Dream Grand Crown
Passion Phase Blade
Sigs Glove and Shield (+1skill pt for Zeal, 10% LL, 30ias)
War Travs (phys. dmg/ str)
Tgods
Cat's eye, Raven, BK
Stone Sup. Scarab Husk (+1800def)
2x fire skillers w/ life
Several str charms w/ res
Several dex lcs w/ res
2 x 5all res scs
Various mana/life scs
On switch...
Demon Machine (soon to be shaeled)

I have arachs which will quickly find it's way to my waist once i hit 80.
I keep a wizzy and some fcr rings in my inventory if I need to tele long distance.
With items my stats are close to, but don't quote me...
Str 130
Dex 165 (blocking is around 68%) (ar is approx 4500)
Vit 200ish (current life w/ charms and gear is around 550)
Ene base ( i wanna say i'm around 400 mana)

Skills: max enchant, max warmth, max FM, 1 teleport, 1 static, 14 LM, 1 frozn armor.

My current damage reads 11k, thats with maxed enchant (& synergys) and lvl 14 light mastery. With zeal....I jack up cows, frenzytaurs even minions, but I'm fragile as hell. I take one hit and I'm tele'ing the hell outta there. Although, I still die...a lot. The low amount of phys. dmg I deal really hurts this build as you leech very little. Haven't tried dracs yet, but my zeal is so slow that it'll be once in a million that lifetap activates.

So anyways... back to my original question. Does Energy Shield work in a melee build or should I just pump Vitality and get +life items ?
Also, I'm having trouble finding the right merc. I've tried everything except might (my usual), and they all die before they're of any use. Advice here would be nice too.

[Dad Daniel]

Most of the posts on this thread talk about how cool this build looks, but does it work? Keep in mind that the biggest staple of this build is Energy Shield. I've made a similar build, but haven't decided on high mana/ES or High Vit. I have put about 200ish in vit so far, but I'm reserving lots of stats and skill pts to dump in mana/ES/TK if I get some proof that this idea works. There are several other guides for similar builds that say that the Energy Shield set up doesn't work in melee due to the all the mana burners in hell and elemental hits draining ur mana orb in one blow (a bug I guess).
They talk about it in this thread. (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=549)
I don't have all my enchantress' info in front of me, but this is roughly what I got going. Currently lvl 72.
Dream Grand Crown
Passion Phase Blade
Sigs Glove and Shield (+1skill pt for Zeal, 10% LL, 30ias)
War Travs (phys. dmg/ str)
Tgods
Cat's eye, Raven, BK
Stone Sup. Scarab Husk (+1800def)
2x fire skillers w/ life
Several str charms w/ res
Several dex lcs w/ res
2 x 5all res scs
Various mana/life scs
On switch...
Demon Machine (soon to be shaeled)

I have arachs which will quickly find it's way to my waist once i hit 80.
I keep a wizzy and some fcr rings in my inventory if I need to tele long distance.
With items my stats are close to, but don't quote me...
Str 130
Dex 165 (blocking is around 68%) (ar is approx 4500)
Vit 200ish (current life w/ charms and gear is around 550)
Ene base ( i wanna say i'm around 400 mana)

Skills: max enchant, max warmth, max FM, 1 teleport, 1 static, 14 LM, 1 frozn armor.

My current damage reads 11k, thats with maxed enchant (& synergys) and lvl 14 light mastery. With zeal....I jack up cows, frenzytaurs even minions, but I'm fragile as hell. I take one hit and I'm tele'ing the hell outta there. Although, I still die...a lot. The low amount of phys. dmg I deal really hurts this build as you leech very little. Haven't tried dracs yet, but my zeal is so slow that it'll be once in a million that lifetap activates.

So anyways... back to my original question. Does Energy Shield work in a melee build or should I just pump Vitality and get +life items ?
Also, I'm having trouble finding the right merc. I've tried everything except might (my usual), and they all die before they're of any use. Advice here would be nice too.

Man, this build cannot work effectively without using a Dream shield.
The stone armor is not compareable as well with the old good "Shaft". The lack of dmg res % is making your character so fragile. You can use one ETH Shaft and you can upgraded it as well. Now the def will be really good due to the fixed bug in 1.11.
Remember - as many +lighting mastery skill as much stronger you will be. You need only high end Lighting skillers/3x-4x life. 14 lvl lighting mastery is a joke here.
On switch you need "call to arms + Spirit shield" combo. Nothilg else. You need good life/mana boost to survive - remember - this a MELEE type of character.
If your attack rating is too low use angelic rings/amu combo. It will be increadibly boosted by the enchant.

[Sechler]

Man, this build cannot work effectively without using a Dream shield.
The stone armor is not compareable as well with the old good "Shaft". The lack of dmg res % is making your character so fragile. You can use one ETH Shaft and you can upgraded it as well. Now the def will be really good due to the fixed bug in 1.11.
Remember - as many +lighting mastery skill as much stronger you will be. You need only high end Lighting skillers/3x-4x life. 14 lvl lighting mastery is a joke here.
On switch you need "call to arms + Spirit shield" combo. Nothilg else. You need good life/mana boost to survive - remember - this a MELEE type of character.
If your attack rating is too low use angelic rings/amu combo. It will be increadibly boosted by the enchant.

Remember this guy was in progress. I'm now wearing archs which gets my tele to a more efficient brkpt. Also using highlords instead of cats eye. LM is now maxed. With enchant and dream helm I do 21k dmg zeal. I'm in great shape until I get to worldstone or throne where I get punished due to the big crowds of high dmg, high life monsters and demons. More Life leech would help, and I'm thinkin I might try my fort on her to increase physical dmg. I've put all my remaining stats towards life. I get plenty of AR from enchant. During duels i switch to angelics, which by the way I own. One hit from me and everyone is dead. I just tele on top and start swinging. As long as I get first hit, I win. The stone comes in handy here too w/ the def and fhr. Sorry can't afford a cta or another dream at this point, but I'm still lvl 82 and I have the possibitlity of putting an additional 55 pts in vitality seeing as I'll finish this build at 90 and haven't done any esen stat pt quests. I'd like to get more fire skillers to bring a better balance between enchant dmg and light dmg. The main things buggin me about this build still are the lack of life leech and the slow zeal fpa.

[Doobie]

lol, a bit of a children of bodom fan? You used alot of their song names in this guide like "lake bodom". Good guide but kinda corny =p I would definitly give this build a try. Nice work.

[slimejocke]

Anybody have a PvP Version of this?

[ThatWasShockin]

Yes, takes out the normal people you don't need ar to hit very easily, but then barbs/pallys are harder. For those I also maxed frozen orb tho and use that on chars That are to hard to hit.