colgate
02-12-2005, 10:07
The Colgatress.
It's use:
The Colgatress (always to be refered to with a the 'The') is a build I settled on for building up from scratch. There are many reasons that will bring you to building up some wealth and character variety from scratch: joining a different server, ladder, Real Diablo 2 (aka Hardcore), or in my case having returned from a while of absense.
It's concept:
When you look at the build I chose, you have to look at the character as practical. You aren't making a character for MFing hell Andy and Meph at turbo speed. You haven't built a character to single handedly destroy the Ubers. What you're making is a general all around utility character. My build encompasses safety (I play hardcore only because I'm not a giant ****** like anyone who doesn't), the capability to rush and the capability to start off some gear finding.
The build:
There are three main skills to be focused on.
20 in Enchant
20 in Frozen Orb
20 in Telekenesis
1+ Warmth
1+ Fire Mastery
1+ Cold Mastery
3-5+ Energy Shield
and a point in your onepointwonders (one of the armores, static, etc)
Let's break it down. 20 in enchant was my number one concern, having a personal chantress is completely money in my mind. Some of us have two computers, d2loader, some PhP server software that lets you run dual games (and if you're lucky enough to have one of these suckers that **** has no chance of being detected), and some of us just make a friend hop on our account. Now I die often, infact I'm writing this guide not 3 hours after losing an 88 sorc. Having this skill turns leveling 1-20 from half a day process to getting to 40 in 2 hours easily. Now there are like half a dozen chantress guides for some reason on the forum, but the idea of the points spent here isn't to capitalize on the skill really. Yes you're more useful to summoners and large team games, but those builds are truely just a fun novelty. No one claims they are the power gamers main character choice. So FO. This is what I'm generally spamming. It's ideal for the build because, as we all know, the orb doesn't take too much synergy to do it's job. With minimal points in Cold Mastery and none in bolt, this skill kicks *** through and through. Another important aspect in choosing the orb is that it's cold. Having the two elements makes taking down your immunes possible. The slow is nice, but only you noob faces care about that. I'm too l33t to need my enemies hindered. Next comes Telekenesis. Basically dying is lame beans, and, because you're starting from scratch, you don't have a killer shield and defence. There's quite a bit written about this sucker right now, but I had to try it to really get a feel for it. I was pleasantly suprised. What it comes down to is balance. Mana is far easier to come by. Specificaly, an Insight merc means INSANE regeneration, Frosties give you 40% more mana, and plain and simple with max Telekenesis you're converting only .75 mana per point of damage. However, going all out into Energy shield and putting it up to 95% mana gets you fried by mana burners. So what you need to do, is start to see your hp as 2 seperate bubbles. You do want that blue one taking most of the damage, because your merc keeps the bubble full easily, but you need to understand that there ARE quite a few mana burning packs, so it can't be ignored. To be honest I ran with just 1 point in energy shield and had about +6 skills. I don't feel like this is quite enough. I'd imagin 75% energy shield would be a nice figure.
Ok, so now you've got the basic The Colgatress figured out. Your configuration is up to you. You have around 70 of a possible 102ish (no you're not gonna take this char to 99, retard) points spent. Some thoughts:
My first The Colgatress ran with a +20 to Warmth type deal with a couple more in FM. This chanting focus has the advantage of decent fire damage added to your merc, and a hunk more regeneration. To be honest I'm not convinced the extra regen was that needed. I already had a decent timer on my Enchant for rushing, and, like I said, Enchant can never really be a powerhouse - especialy with such spread into all three trees. What I would recommend would be investing a decent portion of your points into your Orb's Cold Mastery. I never max this skill really, because I've read the returns kind of have a limit, but plopping a good 10+ ensures a much quicker kill. Also having maybe 5 in Energy Shield is a good way to go because leaving it at base will only give you around 50ish%, and the extra damage put taken by the pool is more efficient. Because this build was never intented to even get into its 90s (though just 90 ain't too unreasonable) you don't need to worry about doing something like maxing FM+Warmth.
Stats:
Str - to the gear req. I think 90-100 is fairly reasonable. Let's me wear Skulldures and gives a bit of flexibility in your gear.
Dex - leave it at base - without an ideal shield I don't believe it's worth its salt.
Vit - this comes back to the balance issue. You want a decent portion of points here to last through some beats. The regen a combat+insight merc gives to your life is decent, but you definitly need a buffer to keep yourself from wearing those brown robes in the chat chan. I recommend ending up with AROUND 230.
Energy - depending on what level of Energy Shield you're going with might affect how many points you put here, but remember Insight is seriously keeping your bubble up. I think 160 is alright with my Frostburns.
Generally I leave a bunch of my points unused for a good amount of time in my 80s so I can allocate into energy and vitality as I feel is needed.
What you're up to when it's all said and done:
The Colgatress' main purpose is MF. You want to build up a wealth safely. At first things are pretty slow (maybe I was getting used to the build, maybe it just really strenghens as it finishs) but after a while of running NM Andy/Meph I started clearing out those two fast enough to get myself restricted for lookin like a bot. Clearing out Meph first is a good idea because you don't want to be chanted for teleporting through all those dolls. Get yourself a bit of CB on your merc to speed up the process. NM Andy and Meph are a really good place to MF for starts because a) you just aren't geared to do Hell -> I don't care what build you are b) NM Andy has highest chance of dropping SOJ (which I've found 2 of off her in no time really). A couple lucky drops can trade into a serious increase in your MF speed. Dedicate a good portion of your initial findings to this char so as to ensure her safety and so you can get more stuff faster. Once you've got a little goin for you, you also have a great char for squeezing out new ones on the double.
A special note on Insight:
This sucker is seriously cheap. Right now it costs dirt, and you're getting really nice mana and life regen. He makes for perma teleportation and a MASSIVE tanking increase for YOU (because of the shield). I'm not sure this build would be complete without it to be honest.
On the subject of your gear:
Jesus did you think I was going to write out your "end game, mid, new" gear? Man you're a noob. I hate that portion of any guide - it's always the same ****. All gear on all guides is the same. You want gear advice? Get a Leaf staff because they are cool. The char I lost a few hours ago died because she was holding an Occulous, but get that anyway cause it kicks my ***. (and bargain with the line "buddy that thing is NOT used in hardcore (yes say hardcore - if you aren't playing hardcore you aren't allowed to use my guide) because it gets you killed" that way you can score maybe a Skulldurs/Occy/somethingcrappy for an Um like I did)
Now go my children.
It's use:
The Colgatress (always to be refered to with a the 'The') is a build I settled on for building up from scratch. There are many reasons that will bring you to building up some wealth and character variety from scratch: joining a different server, ladder, Real Diablo 2 (aka Hardcore), or in my case having returned from a while of absense.
It's concept:
When you look at the build I chose, you have to look at the character as practical. You aren't making a character for MFing hell Andy and Meph at turbo speed. You haven't built a character to single handedly destroy the Ubers. What you're making is a general all around utility character. My build encompasses safety (I play hardcore only because I'm not a giant ****** like anyone who doesn't), the capability to rush and the capability to start off some gear finding.
The build:
There are three main skills to be focused on.
20 in Enchant
20 in Frozen Orb
20 in Telekenesis
1+ Warmth
1+ Fire Mastery
1+ Cold Mastery
3-5+ Energy Shield
and a point in your onepointwonders (one of the armores, static, etc)
Let's break it down. 20 in enchant was my number one concern, having a personal chantress is completely money in my mind. Some of us have two computers, d2loader, some PhP server software that lets you run dual games (and if you're lucky enough to have one of these suckers that **** has no chance of being detected), and some of us just make a friend hop on our account. Now I die often, infact I'm writing this guide not 3 hours after losing an 88 sorc. Having this skill turns leveling 1-20 from half a day process to getting to 40 in 2 hours easily. Now there are like half a dozen chantress guides for some reason on the forum, but the idea of the points spent here isn't to capitalize on the skill really. Yes you're more useful to summoners and large team games, but those builds are truely just a fun novelty. No one claims they are the power gamers main character choice. So FO. This is what I'm generally spamming. It's ideal for the build because, as we all know, the orb doesn't take too much synergy to do it's job. With minimal points in Cold Mastery and none in bolt, this skill kicks *** through and through. Another important aspect in choosing the orb is that it's cold. Having the two elements makes taking down your immunes possible. The slow is nice, but only you noob faces care about that. I'm too l33t to need my enemies hindered. Next comes Telekenesis. Basically dying is lame beans, and, because you're starting from scratch, you don't have a killer shield and defence. There's quite a bit written about this sucker right now, but I had to try it to really get a feel for it. I was pleasantly suprised. What it comes down to is balance. Mana is far easier to come by. Specificaly, an Insight merc means INSANE regeneration, Frosties give you 40% more mana, and plain and simple with max Telekenesis you're converting only .75 mana per point of damage. However, going all out into Energy shield and putting it up to 95% mana gets you fried by mana burners. So what you need to do, is start to see your hp as 2 seperate bubbles. You do want that blue one taking most of the damage, because your merc keeps the bubble full easily, but you need to understand that there ARE quite a few mana burning packs, so it can't be ignored. To be honest I ran with just 1 point in energy shield and had about +6 skills. I don't feel like this is quite enough. I'd imagin 75% energy shield would be a nice figure.
Ok, so now you've got the basic The Colgatress figured out. Your configuration is up to you. You have around 70 of a possible 102ish (no you're not gonna take this char to 99, retard) points spent. Some thoughts:
My first The Colgatress ran with a +20 to Warmth type deal with a couple more in FM. This chanting focus has the advantage of decent fire damage added to your merc, and a hunk more regeneration. To be honest I'm not convinced the extra regen was that needed. I already had a decent timer on my Enchant for rushing, and, like I said, Enchant can never really be a powerhouse - especialy with such spread into all three trees. What I would recommend would be investing a decent portion of your points into your Orb's Cold Mastery. I never max this skill really, because I've read the returns kind of have a limit, but plopping a good 10+ ensures a much quicker kill. Also having maybe 5 in Energy Shield is a good way to go because leaving it at base will only give you around 50ish%, and the extra damage put taken by the pool is more efficient. Because this build was never intented to even get into its 90s (though just 90 ain't too unreasonable) you don't need to worry about doing something like maxing FM+Warmth.
Stats:
Str - to the gear req. I think 90-100 is fairly reasonable. Let's me wear Skulldures and gives a bit of flexibility in your gear.
Dex - leave it at base - without an ideal shield I don't believe it's worth its salt.
Vit - this comes back to the balance issue. You want a decent portion of points here to last through some beats. The regen a combat+insight merc gives to your life is decent, but you definitly need a buffer to keep yourself from wearing those brown robes in the chat chan. I recommend ending up with AROUND 230.
Energy - depending on what level of Energy Shield you're going with might affect how many points you put here, but remember Insight is seriously keeping your bubble up. I think 160 is alright with my Frostburns.
Generally I leave a bunch of my points unused for a good amount of time in my 80s so I can allocate into energy and vitality as I feel is needed.
What you're up to when it's all said and done:
The Colgatress' main purpose is MF. You want to build up a wealth safely. At first things are pretty slow (maybe I was getting used to the build, maybe it just really strenghens as it finishs) but after a while of running NM Andy/Meph I started clearing out those two fast enough to get myself restricted for lookin like a bot. Clearing out Meph first is a good idea because you don't want to be chanted for teleporting through all those dolls. Get yourself a bit of CB on your merc to speed up the process. NM Andy and Meph are a really good place to MF for starts because a) you just aren't geared to do Hell -> I don't care what build you are b) NM Andy has highest chance of dropping SOJ (which I've found 2 of off her in no time really). A couple lucky drops can trade into a serious increase in your MF speed. Dedicate a good portion of your initial findings to this char so as to ensure her safety and so you can get more stuff faster. Once you've got a little goin for you, you also have a great char for squeezing out new ones on the double.
A special note on Insight:
This sucker is seriously cheap. Right now it costs dirt, and you're getting really nice mana and life regen. He makes for perma teleportation and a MASSIVE tanking increase for YOU (because of the shield). I'm not sure this build would be complete without it to be honest.
On the subject of your gear:
Jesus did you think I was going to write out your "end game, mid, new" gear? Man you're a noob. I hate that portion of any guide - it's always the same ****. All gear on all guides is the same. You want gear advice? Get a Leaf staff because they are cool. The char I lost a few hours ago died because she was holding an Occulous, but get that anyway cause it kicks my ***. (and bargain with the line "buddy that thing is NOT used in hardcore (yes say hardcore - if you aren't playing hardcore you aren't allowed to use my guide) because it gets you killed" that way you can score maybe a Skulldurs/Occy/somethingcrappy for an Um like I did)
Now go my children.