How do you Sorcs solo in hell?

[Alientank]

I mean, it seems no matter what 2 trees you take, you will come up against guys who are immune to those two at some point. I see some guys on here have sorcs that plow through everything like they aren't even there. And that includes guys with resists to their 2 magic schools. How do you guys do it? I would like to make an MF sorc and was curious.

[LoVePlAyBoY]

I mean, it seems no matter what 2 trees you take, you will come up against guys who are immune to those two at some point. I see some guys on here have sorcs that plow through everything like they aren't even there. And that includes guys with resists to their 2 magic schools. How do you guys do it? I would like to make an MF sorc and was curious.

your best friend your merc, you have neglected him for too long

he helps keeps you alive and takes on the pesky immunes

orb/meteor with nice merc does very well, my second pvm choice would be blizz/es with merc.

[Alientank]

your best friend your merc, you have neglected him for too long

he helps keeps you alive and takes on the pesky immunes

orb/meteor with nice merc does very well, my second pvm choice would be blizz/es with merc.

My question is, can your merc successfully solo the monsters at hell baal with only half decent stuff? I plan to run NM meph to get lots of good gear before heading off to hell baal soloing. What level does he gotta be to be successful at Act 4 and Act 5 as far as tanking and not needing you to feed potions all the time? What type of act 2 NM merc to get to best suit you?

Also, when he is facing cold/fire immunes, do you usually use static on them to take chunks off so that its easier for him to take them down even quicker?

I will start a sorc tonight I think, I have a bit of MF gear saved on my necro. I just want to start MF'ing now, not wait around any longer.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Any dual element sorc should be able to solo hell. Pay attention to your resists. Max resists if possible. A lot of common items like tearhaunch boots, nightsmoke belt, dusk helm can be useful until you can get better gear to cover your resists. Rares can spawn with good resists and magic find.

I am partial to blizzard/firewall for the great crowd control with glacial spike and both blizzard and firewall are long range spells. Meteor-Orb is also good and is the most popular dual tree build. CL/FO requires more expensive gear.

I prefer max block to vita sorcs. I love the Whistan's guard shield for the low stat requirements and the great blocking.

Make sure you keep your merc leveled. I am partial to defiance mercs for my spellcasters and level them from normal. They make great tanks and also boost your defense enough for you to tank a bit too, if you go the max block route. If you keep your merc leveled he should be able to take care of any dual immunes even without expensive gear. If the dual immune is not lightning immune be sure to use static to help him. Plus you don't really have to kill every monster. You can always just skip him or lead him off somewhere else.

Use teleport to get you and your merc out of sticky situations and to position yourself strategically.

[Alientank]

Is there a meteorb guide on the forum here? It will be an MF sorc for the mostpart, just want her to kick *** in nm meph/nm baal and hell meph/hell baal. If you have a guide on here you know of, please tell me! I'm just starting her as of a few minutes ago.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Is there a meteorb guide on the forum here? It will be an MF sorc for the mostpart, just want her to kick *** in nm meph/nm baal and hell meph/hell baal. If you have a guide on here you know of, please tell me! I'm just starting her as of a few minutes ago.

Yes, in the guide thread stickied at the top of the forum.
http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=254070

[Alientank]

Thanks! I want to xfer stuff from my necro to my sorc. How can I do this by myself? I hear some people play in a private game (with a password) for about 5 minutes (10 to be safe) drop the items, leave, and get their other char in there to scoope up the items.

[AnimeCraze]

If you want something for cheap and you are on ladder (don't know how rich/poor you are, but I guess if you are rich, anything goes), you might want to try an Insight polearm, especially if you are having mana problems. I use it (I am poor) and it saves my behind while I am teleing and got into a mana burn pack by accident. Does decent (not absolutely great like Infinity/doom/etc.) damage enough for you to solo hell. One trick is to use telekinesis to knock the unique back on the wall while your merc waste it. (might not work with lightning enchanted bosses, the bolts might kill your merc)

As for transferring, that does work, but make sure you stay in the game long enough and don't log on/off too fast to avoid realm downs.

[Superhal]

i just ran 7 single and dual tree sorcs through hell in a row, last 4 were lightning single tree.

some things i learned:

1. skip immunes or stay in areas where there few things immune to what you have.

2. if there are immunes you must kill (council, ancients, etc.) divide and conquer. a well equipped merc can handle just about everything one on one(except cursed or extra strong). learn how to use map features to split groups.

3. it's ok to carry two weps for your merc. i usually went with insight and an obidience.

4. passion weapons are a dead end because of the lack of ar. it's better to put a few points in another tree and get the +skills. i used 1 pt glacial spike (no mastery) and it went up to +15 after skills, and it helps the merc out a lot.

5. don't be afraid of using town portal scrolls. it's faster, cheaper, and safer than using potions.

6. telekill is very effective with a merc especially if he is chilled/decrep'd, and it's a very convenient way to heal him if you have good leech.

7. the best a2 mercs at staying alive are might and holy freeze. might mercs leech the fastest, and HF mercs take damage slower.

8. energy shield will help your merc out a lot if you can afford to tank at least a little bit against the harder monsters. (what else are you going to do anyway if they are immune to you?)

#2 is by far the most important strategy to learn. simply by teleporting around (randomly if you have to, until you get the hang of it) you can make seemingly impossible monsters or groups easy to handle.

[sasja]

If you're cold/fire, remember that you can Static the monsters for your merc - makes him kill twice as fast and will often make it easy for your merc. After you've Static'ed, use Telekinesis to stun and push back.

[LoVePlAyBoY]

there many cheap alternatives for mercs

gaze/crown of theives
shaft/duriels shell
bonehew/reapers toll/some of the low lvl slow weapons

also ever try moat trick on meph ? with meteor/blizz

i suggest you pick certian areas to mf and then build your sorc around certian elements, maybe one element, block/es etc.

also why not due pits in act 1, lvl 85 places any decent merc can tank there and most items can drop there and you dont' need much killing power, duel tree would be best.