View Full Version : Someone Please cover this Shield Question!
What shield offers the most advantages for a full tals Meteororb sorc who is for mfing?
Mossers? Good resists, ok blocking
Rhyme? In a troll nest? Made for mfers it seems.
Stormshield? Granddaddy of non-pally def.
Spirit Monarch? I keep looking at this as my sorc levels up.
Someone please help me out.
Don't point to the guides as they're early 1.10 and therefore don't mention spirit.
Rhyme (MF, Resistance, block) and Splendor (Skill, Mf, Mana) are good choises i quess, and are pretty cheap to made. Why not go for Liddles Wall with a perf diamond in it?
Spirit monarch is a nice shield yes, but remember it requires high strength, and as a sorc you must try to keep that as low as possible. More vita (or mana when using ES) is far more important.
bluedragoon
22-01-2006, 17:33
do u want max block or not ? if u do u should really use a stormshield or a mosers, else spirit or lidles wall are good options
roomonfire
22-01-2006, 20:52
do u want max block or not ? if u do u should really use a stormshield or a mosers, else spirit or lidles wall are good options
i agree, it all depends on whether you've got enough dex for max blocking or not... if you don't have high dex, then % chance to block on a shield is a lot less significant than it would if you had high dex
in my opinion block for a sorc is a great waste of stat points.
Actually, I think max block is great in the current laggy environment
Sorcs will never have enough life to 'tank' so blocking is the next best thing.
And yes, I want max block with mossers I think.
Less investment than ss or spirit.
StewieGriff_XLT
22-01-2006, 21:35
Actually, I think max block is great in the current laggy environment
Sorcs will never have enough life to 'tank' so blocking is the next best thing.
And yes, I want max block with mossers I think.
Less investment than ss or spirit.
ES sorc = tank sorc, who needs life when you can have mana?? :grin:
CJ :mask:
PhatTrumpet
22-01-2006, 22:26
Moser's is more for when you need blocking and resists. If the chance to block is what you're after, you'd be better off just using Whitstan's. Even an upgraded Moser's with 2x Eld runes isn't much better than Whitstan's. Although Moser's with 2x Ist runes... :evil:
'Rhyme' is a really nice balance of block, resists, and mf, and even gives CBF (not all that important) and some mana regen. Either make it in a Heater or a Grim Shield; there's really no reason to go as high str as a Troll Nest or Hyperion, and Heaters automatically get 2 sockets from Larzuk.
I think the investment needed for max block with SS is well worth it. The dr and block are really amazing, and you should already have enough life with full Tal's and a few charms. But to each his own.
'Spirit' with it's skills, FCR, FHR (sometimes underrated), vit, and mana is also well worth the str investment, but only for a base dex build.
AnimeCraze
22-01-2006, 22:47
I would say SS or spirit. Spirit beats lidless over and over again, and SS beats other block shield because of the DR and such.
Spirit is by far the superior shield for no blocking.
Stormshield is also by far the superior shield, but for blocking.
After building numerous sorceresses, I found that blocking is the way to go. The +2 Life per point on a sorceress is not strong enough to persuade me going for full vita.
Spirit is by far the superior shield for no blocking.
Stormshield is also by far the superior shield, but for blocking.
After building numerous sorceresses, I found that blocking is the way to go. The +2 Life per point on a sorceress is not strong enough to persuade me going for full vita.
I totally agree with you. Full vita is a waste on a sorc, so... what's the problem in pumping str to use storm and dex to maxblock with it? Remember that 1 sc 20 life equals 10 points spent in vitality...
I've even tried a mixed setup with 50% block with spirit and it's not bad... but still nothing compares to maxblock with storm.
Tin
AnimeCraze
23-01-2006, 10:45
Other than reduced kill speed. Spirit users are not looking for survivability. They (we) believe that our char is good enough to survive in most situations, and simply look for ways to increase FCR and/or kill speed.
Yokomohoyo
23-01-2006, 11:06
blocking with a sorc? whats that?... no really a sorc should not be their to get hit but if she is then why have spells on your list that your not gonna use... es is a 1 point wonder (5 point wonder if you include the prespells needed) with an average of say +12 to skills (in armor weapons and gc's) you could have a 65% absorb (or chance to deflect damage to mana) wich is ruffly the precent to deflect that one wants from a shield anyways right? and the good part is that you dont have to worry much about lowering your killing speed since you wont be sacraficing the good gear you have for a non skill giving gear... anyways its an option :grin:
ES sorc = tank sorc, who needs life when you can have mana?? :grin:
CJ :mask:
If I use energy shield, that's 5 extra skill points that aren't put into offense.
You talk about killing speed?
I put 5 more points into cold mastery so I can max block and use ss.
You get your measly 2 points from spirit, you don't get max block and my small life scs more than make up for your extra vita from spirit.
Go check out the tals set guide. Masteries contribute even more than plus skills to the entire package.
And last but no least, in case you forgot from the first post, this is an mf sorc.
Usually alone with no back up except for a semi-retarded merc, you do the math...:laugh:
how much Dex does a sorc need for maxblock with SS?
I think it's something like 200 but I'm probably wrong.
I'll find out by tonight and edit or someone else will post.
205@ lvl 85
216@ lvl 90.
There is a calculator on the front page (at the top) of www.diabloii.net
AnimeCraze
23-01-2006, 18:45
You talk about killing speed?
I put 5 more points into cold mastery so I can max block and use ss.
You get your measly 2 points from spirit, you don't get max block and my small life scs more than make up for your extra vita from spirit.
Go check out the tals set guide. Masteries contribute even more than plus skills to the entire package.
your comparison isn't even fair...... First, life sc's, although not very expensive, ain't the cheapest neither. It took me a little while to get ~300 life worth of sc's for my trist pally. Also, you can never "make up" life when using a block sorc, since a vit sorc can use the same sc's and get even more life. It's just that with block sorc + sc, your life should be at a comfortable lvl for teleing and not die to souls.
I just know 2 things when I use spirit:
1. A 35 spirit lets you reach the 105 BP, which does wonders when teleing hell Baal. I don't get help from anything except merc since I usually do hell Baal alone.
2. I am going to lose 1k fireball damage (from 7.3k) if I use SS, which is a bit much for me......
No ES, no block, and no vit sc's when I tele/mf. I need the space to pick up junk. Also, 1 point ES is just suicide, I found that out personally with my enchantress.
My setup is just:
Full Tal's (2x ptopaz, fire resist jewel in weapon)
Magefist
Travs
Ravenfrost
Nature's peace
35 Spirit
3 unique grand charms (all self found)
SoH (just there for the heck of it)
I don't want to turn this into a block vs no block thread, but...... You DO lose kill speed if you are blocking, and there is nothing you can do about it. It is your choice to decide whether it is worth it to lose that.
Yokomohoyo
24-01-2006, 11:55
ok i said 1point es for the fact that if you have say +12 or above in +skills you can reach 65% or more in absorb that combined with your shield and some damage reduction equipment can help on a tight spot... but remember the more point in es the better for it...
AnimeCraze
24-01-2006, 17:35
The problem is that you have no TK, and will get your mana burned out in a second. If you do......, you are not building a meteorb right.
Yokomohoyo
25-01-2006, 11:08
The problem is that you have no TK, and will get your mana burned out in a second. If you do......, you are not building a meteorb right.
correct me if Im wrong but isnt tk a prerequisit of es? if it is that means that your +12 will help your tk and your es... even though it wont give full mana buffer it will give some...
Just my opinion, but for a meteorb mf sorc, versatility is the key. You have to be able to handle nearly any situation while teleing to whatever act boss or superunique you're killing, and during that killing period as well.
That's why i like blocking over vit; even with the 105% bp, your tele sometimes can't be fast enough to jump out of some fanat Xfast frenzytaur pack, or something of the sort. Especially due to lag, sometimes server-side (which you can do nothing about). With block, you'll more likely get out alive. This increase in your survivability therefore increases your mf efficiency with fewer deaths.
But that is just my opinion, as i've played some of each and i find block sorcs faster/better for me. Anyway, on to the actual question instead of my rambling...
SS is probably the best choice for a block meteorb sorc. However, my first meteorb sorc i played untwinked, as she was my first char. So putting that many points into str when she didn't have good equip would have been suicide for sure: i had to spend more points on vit and dex. That is why i went with a pdiamond/eld moser's and (eventually) full tal's set. If i had spent the 156 Str and 215 Dex to get max block w/ SS, I wouldn't have even made it to hell mode to begin with, because i would have died in one hit with all my starting (crappy) gear :rolleyes:
But now i solo hell baal fairly easily and quite quickly, and haven't died once from it... as well as doing key runs and meph runs and the like with her. She's the most versatile mf char I've created, and moser's works like a charm to keep her res at max in hell w/o charms, and gives enough block to get out of sticky situations.
So, in my experience, SS would probably be the best choice, but moser's really isn't a bad choice at all... the DR of SS is more icing on the cake than a necessity.
-f
correct me if Im wrong but isnt tk a prerequisit of es? if it is that means that your +12 will help your tk and your es... even though it wont give full mana buffer it will give some...
he means without the TK synergy your mana will run out in no time, because of the way dmg is calculated in 1.10/1.11 as opposed to 1.09 with ES. The +12 skills does not increase the synergy in any way: only hard skill points do that. So with 1pt in tk and 1pt in es... even with +lots of skills, you'd probably still get schooled trying to hell baal mf, or other more difficult things.
-f again
killian27
26-01-2006, 22:19
Max block for meteorb with stormshield.
No-block vita light sorc with infinity merc wears spirit.
Meteorb is safer... sorta... light sorc is safe as well since nothing lives long enough to get past merc.
Yokomohoyo
27-01-2006, 10:01
he means without the TK synergy your mana will run out in no time, because of the way dmg is calculated in 1.10/1.11 as opposed to 1.09 with ES. The +12 skills does not increase the synergy in any way: only hard skill points do that. So with 1pt in tk and 1pt in es... even with +lots of skills, you'd probably still get schooled trying to hell baal mf, or other more difficult things.
-f again
thnx I didnt know that tk bounis was from hard skill points :grin: guess whos remaking their es sorc :P
but anyways I normaly solo with her and can run almost anywhere with her and her infinity merc... with over 250 points in energy and my infinity merc I have no problem taking 1 or 2 blows to the shield... its just those damn mana burners that mess me up.
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