Solo Baal Running

[junglejunkie]

Hey -- been playing d2 for years, and sorcs are by far my favourite characters. i've been damn near every variation, but i usually like to stick to specialized sorcs (pure light for keys, pure blizz for andy/meph/pindle, etc.).

now i want on that can own solo baaling. i'm on ladder, so i can't really afford an infinity light sorc, so i'm thinking about going meteorb.

will this be viable for solo hell baal runs? as you can imagine, building single element sorcs has probably spoiled me as far as killing speed goes, and i realize i'll lose some of that, but will it be frustratingly slow?

i'll use mf gear:
shako
occy
(probably vmagi here)
(either ss or spirit depending on whether i go block/vita)
chancies
2x30 nagels
upped gwrap
war travs
(+2 sorc / 28mf ammy)

looks like i'll be low on resists, too.

thanks for any input.

[jonw]

Hey -- been playing d2 for years, and sorcs are by far my favourite characters. i've been damn near every variation, but i usually like to stick to specialized sorcs (pure light for keys, pure blizz for andy/meph/pindle, etc.).

now i want on that can own solo baaling. i'm on ladder, so i can't really afford an infinity light sorc, so i'm thinking about going meteorb.

will this be viable for solo hell baal runs? as you can imagine, building single element sorcs has probably spoiled me as far as killing speed goes, and i realize i'll lose some of that, but will it be frustratingly slow?

i'll use mf gear:
shako
occy
(probably vmagi here)
(either ss or spirit depending on whether i go block/vita)
chancies
2x30 nagels
upped gwrap
war travs
(+2 sorc / 28mf ammy)

looks like i'll be low on resists, too.

thanks for any input.

Read this thread:

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=391727

The short answer is yes, I have a meteorb and do solo baal/meph/andy all the time.

Greer
US West

[junglejunkie]

Cool, thanks -- read the other post too..

time to start runnin trist :D

[jake007]

With your lowish fcr and low resist you will have a hard time teleporting to durance 2.

Baal's minions aren't easy to beat either...

Use a wizardspike, magefist +whatever to up your fcr to 120 and max resist.

[Alexander~The~Great]

With your lowish fcr and low resist you will have a hard time teleporting to durance 2.

Baal's minions aren't easy to beat either...

Use a wizardspike, magefist +whatever to up your fcr to 120 and max resist.

What's wrong with using your pure blizz sorc for Baal? My merc uses an Obedience Cryptic Axe, Duriels Shell (not up'd yet), and tal's mask and can take care of any cold immunes and he still has room for improvement. Personally, I think the difference of what you can and can't do is in the defense aspect of it. I always go for Max DR/Block, make up the life in charms and it still leaves room for quite a few +skills.

edit: sorry, I qouted the wrong person.

[yelopen]

With your lowish fcr and low resist you will have a hard time teleporting to durance 2.

Baal's minions aren't easy to beat either...

Use a wizardspike, magefist +whatever to up your fcr to 120 and max resist.

What do you mean?

30 FCR Occy
30 FCR Viper
25-35 FCR Spirit
_________________

Thats 85-95 FCR. I'm pretty sure it will work ok.

[McCain123]

To make some short statements:

Meteorb can solo Baal.

Blizzard can solo Baal.

Both need a good equipped merc, as he has to do the tanking and kill the immunes. The differences are:

Meteorb merc must be better in tanking, as pure Blizzard kills faster.

Blizzard merc must be the better killer, as mages of wave 2 are alway cold immune and lister regularly spawns will immunity to cold or even both cold/fire.

[AnimeCraze]

Just to note, meteorb does relatively poorly with the last 2 waves. Lister pack is always fire immune and Ventor pack has high fire resist. I guess a light or FO/CL sorc would be the best, then. However, FO/CL doesn't kill bosses as fast.

[Adrock]

I run baal with a FO/CL sorc and it works quite well. Killing speed is a little slower but it's not slow enough to become boring. I use an act V merc. He's got a flamebellows sword and can take care of almost any light/cold immune I've ever come across. I'm untwinked so my gear is not the best. I use a ryhme shield and wizardspike. My helm is a Harlequinn shako. The rest is not worth mentioning.

Anyway, the FO/CL build is quite effective for baal runs solo.

[jonw]

I run baal with a FO/CL sorc and it works quite well. Killing speed is a little slower but it's not slow enough to become boring. I use an act V merc. He's got a flamebellows sword and can take care of almost any light/cold immune I've ever come across. I'm untwinked so my gear is not the best. I use a ryhme shield and wizardspike. My helm is a Harlequinn shako. The rest is not worth mentioning.

Anyway, the FO/CL build is quite effective for baal runs solo.

Yup, orb with cold mastery, combined with static, is fine against the last two waves. Dual element is the smart way to go. My blizzard sorc (lvl 88) was actually not as good at solo Baal runs as my meteorbs. If the monsters stayed in place, blizzard missed half the time. If they split up and ran around the room, things got ugly and I wished had orb.

I'd save blizz sorcs for Meph runs and group Baaling; build meteorbs for general use, recognizing they take another 10 seconds or so on Meph kills.

For bosses except Diablo, meteor is fine. Diablo is so vulnerable to cold that static and orb take him down fast.

[buish]

any tips on beating lister. i'm a blizz-fireball sorc and when lister spawn with fire and cold immune, my merc is too weak to kill it. i'm level 86 and so is my act5 merc. he's equipped with azurewrath, vampire gaze, and either duriel's shell or shaftstop. he does about 1000-1600 damage. i would static lister to half his life points, and i watch pathetically as my merc does battle. lister pretty much regenerates his life to full and my merc doesn't do any damage. i play 1.10 vanilla, and don't have any fancy runewords.

any tips on where to put stat points for my sorc? i have 169 points. my strength is 95, dexterity is alittle bit above 200, and vitality and energy are still at base level.

[AnimeCraze]

How does one manage base vita? Sink it all in there, assuming you already have max block. Also, can't you blizz the pack? One thing you can do is the dance (teleport around them to break the group and dodge their attacks), then kill them when they are separated.

[weas]

any tips on beating lister. i'm a blizz-fireball sorc and when lister spawn with fire and cold immune, my merc is too weak to kill it. i'm level 86 and so is my act5 merc. he's equipped with azurewrath, vampire gaze, and either duriel's shell or shaftstop. he does about 1000-1600 damage. i would static lister to half his life points, and i watch pathetically as my merc does battle. lister pretty much regenerates his life to full and my merc doesn't do any damage. i play 1.10 vanilla, and don't have any fancy runewords.

any tips on where to put stat points for my sorc? i have 169 points. my strength is 95, dexterity is alittle bit above 200, and vitality and energy are still at base level.

Either park Lister or get an A2 holy freeze merc and put a Reaper's Toll on him. As for the 169 points, dump it all in vitality. You don't need any more str or dex, and assuming you don't need mana help, you'll need life.

[FathomFear]

If you don't have one already, try to get your hands on a Kelpie Snare, a unique Fuscina. Give it to your Act2 Merc before facing Lister & Baal--both Lister (if he happens to spawn cold immune) and Baal will be rendered entirely helpless (they will be slowed by 75%). I used to have some trouble against these two monsters before...but not since I learned this trick. I don't need to heal myself...or my merc. I don't even have to move! (I prefer it over the Decrep granted by Reaper's because the life on the Decrep is very short and sometimes Baal can teleport away as it runs out.)

[buish]

i was reading the sorc guides and they say stat points in vitality is weak. so i never bothered to put them in there. my sorc is currently a max block character. i used to put points into energy for my past sorc, but i realized later, that in late game, energy wouldn't be a problem as early game.

i began running baal with roughly 300 life, but have added a bunch of sc of vita and other things, so i around 430 now.

i do blizzard the pack, but at the end, it was 1v1, lister vs my merc. well, i can beat lister now. i just switch to weapon and help my merc hit lister. still searching for stormshield and tal rasha armor to see if they make any difference in my setup.

is there any weapon that isn't a runeword that is better than azurewrath to use for my act5 merc? i tried act2 merc before, but i don't really find the aura useful.

[AnimeCraze]

The guides are saying:

Because vita to life is a bad deal, therefore block, NOT because vita to life is a bad deal, don't add vita. Besides, there are quite a few of us who build vita sorc as well. Regardless, you have maxed block, and no need for any other stuff, so all into vita.

[yelopen]

any tips on beating lister. i'm a blizz-fireball sorc and when lister spawn with fire and cold immune, my merc is too weak to kill it. i'm level 86 and so is my act5 merc. he's equipped with azurewrath, vampire gaze, and either duriel's shell or shaftstop. he does about 1000-1600 damage. i would static lister to half his life points, and i watch pathetically as my merc does battle. lister pretty much regenerates his life to full and my merc doesn't do any damage. i play 1.10 vanilla, and don't have any fancy runewords.

any tips on where to put stat points for my sorc? i have 169 points. my strength is 95, dexterity is alittle bit above 200, and vitality and energy are still at base level.

Static him a couple times, then telekinesis the rest of the way to stun him and let merc do the rest. I suppose the merc can EVENTUALLY take down Lister.

[Über]

I hate meteorb

I was skeptical about the damage, and still am. Too achive a decent 5k fireball you would have to be ~clvl90. The orb kills considering it all goes into 5 monsters. But when you have 5-10 souls, your screwed. To think of it 5k FB damage isnt so hot either, heh. You would have to spam it to kill.

For those who have had extensive experience with this sorc, you may disagree, but thats my opinion...

[jonw]

I hate meteorb

I was skeptical about the damage, and still am. Too achive a decent 5k fireball you would have to be ~clvl90. The orb kills considering it all goes into 5 monsters. But when you have 5-10 souls, your screwed. To think of it 5k FB damage isnt so hot either, heh. You would have to spam it to kill.

For those who have had extensive experience with this sorc, you may disagree, but thats my opinion...

Hmmm... Souls are VERY vulnerable to fire - those and hell witches fall fast. Even in 8 player, I still end up killing a lot of them. Fire immunes are harder - Death Lords and and Knights, and obviously the minions in the throne.

I don't know, uber. Max fball/meteor/mastery, put some points in firebolt, pick up some easy gear (magefists, weapon with +2 skills, +3 skills ammy) and you're gonna be tough.

YES, you spam fireball - that's where fcr pays off big time. In fact, more fcr is a sweet way to up your damage. And meteor, which gets above 15K very easily, is like a tactical nuke if your merc can keep those monsters at bay.

Not convinced at all, bro ... try harder! ;)

Greer
US West

[AnimeCraze]

I hate meteorb

I was skeptical about the damage, and still am. Too achive a decent 5k fireball you would have to be ~clvl90. The orb kills considering it all goes into 5 monsters. But when you have 5-10 souls, your screwed. To think of it 5k FB damage isnt so hot either, heh. You would have to spam it to kill.

For those who have had extensive experience with this sorc, you may disagree, but thats my opinion...5k is not hard to reach with full Tal's + spirit even with no charms. With SS, you might need a charm or 2 (or not, since I never have the luxury of having SoJ's). And yes, you do spam those fireballs, and it should not be a problem with insight. In a 1 player game, 5k kills stuff pretty fast. Most enemies goes down with a few fireballs at most.