First time in Hell - yet another plea for help

[Dark Helmet]

Hey all, been reading other posts about difficulties on Hell mode, and glad to see I am not alone.

I play Single Player (hooray for no ISP at home).

My Sorceress is currently level 64 and is specialized in Blizzard for Ice, and Hydra for secondary fire support. Resists are so-so at about 24 with fire near max thank to a pair of Infernostrides I picked up. All gear accounted for, I have a +4 modifier to all my Sorc skills curerently.

Normal and Nightmare were for the most part, a breeze. Now that I am on Hell the game has gone from "gentle" to "prison rape". My Merc is an Archer I picked up in the first act on Nightmare, and she did fairly well through out that mode of difficulty. Now that I am on Hell, I am finding it hard justifying why I need to revive her for 30,000 gold just so she will die within 5 minutes outside the Rogue camp. She does well against normals, but the moment a named appears (which is more often than not now) I don't bother to heal her, as any aid I can provide her is moot. Cold resistant enemies are now a force to be reckoned with, as my Blizzard which once was my bread winning spell, now is about as useful as a butthole on my elbow.

I have been desperately trying to diversify into another school to compensate and find I don't like a lot of the alternatives. Meteor takes too long when dealing with swarming enemies that for some reason refuse to cluster together and stand still for 10 seconds. The whole lightning school of magic seems to fickle for my tastes, any spell that begins with (1dmg -) is not a spell I am going to willingly hitch my wagon to, even if it can go up to 200dmg. Upon reaching the 5th act on Nightmare, I knew once in the Snow Caves I would be dealing with Cold-resistant monsters, so I experimented with fire and found Fire Hydra to be something I liked. Now that I am in hell I use it with a sad desperation. Hydra cannot seem to cope with more than 3 enemies at a time no matter how many I make, and my merc..well she is usually dead by then.

Blizzard is at 20 in skill level
Fire Hydra is at 11 in skill level

Is this normal for a virgin to hell-mode? I don't regret putting a lot into my Blizzard, as I believe it will still be handy later - I just need help figuring out what are solid back-up spells that can handle 4 cold-resistant mobs that doesn't involve me kiting them back to Flavie (sob) for help.

[AnimeCraze]

Just to let you know, for typical meteorb builds, you max not only meteor, but fireball as well. Fireball is a synergy to meteor and vice-versa, so you don't have to use those meteors to kill, except for moating meph. Also, which version of the game are you playing? If you are playing 1.1x, read the 1.10 guides above. If older, than I don't know.

[darksentinel]

If you are lucky to play a version before 1.10, then go Nova ;). Low damage at start but will get better and casts like mad.

One point I'd like to make is that your level is too low for hell. If you can do the Throne Room in Nightmare, then play lots of Nightmare games, type "/players8" (this simulates 8 players in the game, making the monsters way harder, but netting you heaps of experience - if you can't kill them fast enough, try a lower setting) and kill them all. This will very quickly level you and you can pick up some nice items too.

I play Blizzard sorc's and while Cold Immunes are a pain, the Blizzard does enough damage to compensate.

Telling us where your other skill point have gone might be a help if you want good advice. Per se I recommend putting a few points into Cold Mastery and at some point quite a few into Glacial Spike in order to freeze monsters and boost your Blizz damage (only do this if you are playing 1.10 or 1.11!). Since you have already put points into Hydra, you should probably go that route. To be honest I have never had any success with Hydra, but having spent 11 points into it makes it difficult to effectively use another spell.

If you're not playing 1.10 or 1.11 I recommend you have a look at the following spells: Firewall (a tonne of damage), Nova (can be cast very quickly for a lot of damage), Frozen Orb (although you already have Blizzard for the Cold Tree, Chain Lightning (good crowd controller, don't underestimate Lightning Skill damage).

Since you appear to be encountering lots of Cold Immunes, you are probably playing 1.10 or later. For this you could try (going with the skills you have):
-A few points, maybe around 10, in Cold Mastery.
-If your Blizzard doesn't do enough, try using Glacial Spike (cast a few of these to freeze crowds, cast a Hydra then use Blizzard - they can't move fast and will take a fair bit of damage; rinse and repeat).
-Maxing Hydra, then points into Fire Mastery
-Make sure you have 1 point (no more, no less) in Static Field, Teleport and Warmth in any version.

Hope that helps. More information required for more exact advice. Tell us your equipment, your style and your other skills.

Finally, try going back into Nightmare and getting a Defensive Act 2 Mercenary. He has way more life, thus doesn't die as fast and can tank better, and he has Holy Freeze which is very nice. Combined with Glacial Spike it will slow non-Cold Immune monsters to a crawl, and it even effects immunes, giving your Hydras mroe time to hit!

[jonw]

Good advice here. Level 64 is very low for Hell, unless you have great gear - hard to get in single player. I'd recommend 75 as the level to go to Hell difficulty.

Definitely ditch the Act 1 mercenary. A sorceress needs a merc to tank and take the hits. Act 2 and Act 5 mercs are usually considered the better choices, with Act 2 Nightmare (holy freeze) being the most popular.

It's hard to tell where you spent all your skill points, but fireball is a nice damage spell that you can spam at non-fire immunes while your blizzard timer resets so you can cast again. There's a guide here somewhere on the "blizzballer" sorceress.

I don't play lightning sorcs, but have heard that you need to focus on that tree to benefit from the synergies, have nice gear (griffons eye, eschutas, facets and lite grand charms, etc.) and also tons of mana.

[Evrae Altana]

Go farm NM Meph for Vipermagi, Oculus, and other goodies. That should help you tremendously.

[miSSbLizz]

Finally, try going back into Nightmare and getting a Defensive Act 2 Mercenary. He has way more life, thus doesn't die as fast and can tank better, and he has Holy Freeze which is very nice. Combined with Glacial Spike it will slow non-Cold Immune monsters to a crawl, and it even effects immunes, giving your Hydras mroe time to hit!

Correct me if i'm wrong, but Holy Freeze is an offensive aura so try and get an offensive act 2 nightmare merc.

[Evrae Altana]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but Holy Freeze is an offensive aura so try and get an offensive act 2 nightmare merc.
Actually, the Defensive one has the Holy Freeze aura :) . The Offensive one has Blessed Aim, IIRC.

[Yaneshi]

Yes defensive in nightmare for holy freeze. Offensive is might (it's blessed aim in normal and hell).

[miSSbLizz]

Actually, the Defensive one has the Holy Freeze aura :) . The Offensive one has Blessed Aim, IIRC.

lol smoked too many bowls today ... i have a holy freeze merc too lvl 87 but for some reason i coulda swore i chose offensive LOL.

:lol: my bad

[darksentinel]

Well, you were wrong and you've been corrected lol.
I'm glad someone read my post though lol.