Need HELP with Mephisto

[Libre]

This mutha is whooping my butt.
I'm a lvl 30 sorc - with an A3 cold merc.
He gets killed faster than a bug on a windshield, with me soon after.
Static shock is no good - I have to get too close. Besides, Mephisto has some kind of cold spell he (she?) can cast across the room.
I've approached this different ways, but always the same result.
My fire spells seem to do NOTHING.
I've been chugging pots, but I loose ALL my energy in one blast from Mephisto, so the pots don't do any good.
Groan.
HELP!!!!

[Quietus]

This mutha is whooping my butt.
I'm a lvl 30 sorc - with an A3 cold merc.
He gets killed faster than a bug on a windshield, with me soon after.
Static shock is no good - I have to get too close. Besides, Mephisto has some kind of cold spell he (she?) can cast across the room.
I've approached this different ways, but always the same result.
My fire spells seem to do NOTHING.
I've been chugging pots, but I loose ALL my energy in one blast from Mephisto, so the pots don't do any good.
Groan.
HELP!!!!


Umm... level 30? Are you in NM? In norm, level 30 sorcs should be able to wipe the floor with mephisto, just bring along a pile of mana pots. As mercs go, I recommend an act 2 merc instead.

If you're in NM, forget it, you're in way over your head. You should be late norm/early nm at level 30.

If you tell us what kind of sorc you're using, we might be able to do more. If you have any points into firewall/meteor/blizzard you can even use the moat trick.

[Libre]

I'm in Normal. I have a fire sorc. I'm a nooby really, so I can't answer the super-fine points about my sorc. I found the fire wall and fire ball to be the best weapons for her. I have the teleport skill. What's the moat trick? What good are a pile of mana pots when I can't drink enough health pots to stay alive? I also have the meteor, but most monsters don't stay in one place long enough for teh meteor to hit them. I have a point in the cold tree as well. The cold merc is pretty good for that though. He's throwing cold spells faster than you can shake a stick! But he dies pretty quick when those council members near Mephisto's lair fire bomb him.

[zebulin]

For the moat trick abandon your merc. If it is an act 1 rogue or an act 3 sorc it *might* live but even then it more than likely will insist on moving into range of meph's ranged attacks and die. Just get used to doing meph runs without a merc unless you want to pay for a merc ressurection after each and every meph run.

The moat trick might be simplified as the following:


Zone into durance III. Immediately teleport beyond the wall that is above the stair that leads back to durance 2. If you don't see any council members on the otherside of that wall, creep along the wall towards the middle until you see them and attract their attention. You want to lure them into the corner so they aren't in the middle where they can monkey wrench your moat trick. Once you get them to the corner where you first teleported over the wall or if they were already there, keep teleporting in same general direction as your first teleport over the wall but path your additional teleports so you stay along the "moat" that has the portal in the middle of the level on it's far side. When you have left the central portal behind and have passed the circular platform that leads out to the portal you will surely have attracted meph's notice. At this point lure meph towards the moat on the *opposite* side of the circular platform than you were when you teleported in. In other words on your way in the circular platform and the portal were on your characters left and now on the way back to the moat with meph chasing you you want the circular platform and the portal on your left again - ie you make a big u-turn and end up on the opposite side of the moat area. When meph is clearly heading to the correct side of the circular platform (and clearly *not* heading directly out onto the platform itself) teleport directly across the moat and move to the center of the rectangular area beyond it so you now have a moat between you and meph and a moat between you and the central portal. You'll know you're at the right place when meph stops at the moat but can't reach you with any spell attacks. Rain death on meph with impunity.

If you didn't see any council members on the way in they will be near the central portal and you will probably attract their notice as you abuse meph. They'll be a serious pain if your resistances aren't that great and that's why i recommended finding them and parking them in the opposite corner before finding meph.

Also don't stray too far from the center of the rectangular area next to the moats or you will attract bloodlords and possibly a few straggler council members that hang out away from the central group of council members. These guys are an even bigger pain than the main group of council members because there will be no moat to keep them away from you. If anything move closer to the moats in fact if you successfully made sure the main group of council members was way over in the corner where you first teleported over the wall you should stand right on the moat across from the central portal to be damn sure nothing will notice you further away from the moat just off screen.

Even at level 30 you should be able to handle NM meph if you can somehow safely get to durance 3 consistantly and understand how to use the moat trick.

[ManiacalPope]

Are you playing on useast softcore ladder? If so leave account name and I can help.

[Libre]

Are you playing on useast softcore ladder? If so leave account name and I can help.
I should have mentioned I'm playing single player.
I did a search on the moat trick, and tried it, and got killed.
But, not with the detailed instructions outlined by zebulin.
I'll give it another go and report back.

[ManiacalPope]

Alright, basically best way to do it is to try and get a game spawned where the council isn't in middle thing. Durance level 3 section basically looks like this...
_l_ Bad thing to compare it to, I know. Just thing of that as the line going up as the 'bridge' thingy' that leads to the tp but stops, and the _ _ as the sides. Sometimes you'll be able to get the council to spawn on either the left or right side, and not in the bridge thing. Just tele to one side fast, if they're there then tele back to durance level 3 entrance fast, tele over to other side of room, then go up that side, then across to meph, lead him back to moat, tele across, get outta range of weapons so he's moving around on those stairs that lead into the blood water stuff, and just firewall/fireball/etc til he dies.

[zebulin]

Alright, basically best way to do it is to try and get a game spawned where the council isn't in middle thing. Durance level 3 section basically looks like this...
_l_ Bad thing to compare it to, I know. Just thing of that as the line going up as the 'bridge' thingy' that leads to the tp but stops, and the _ _ as the sides. Sometimes you'll be able to get the council to spawn on either the left or right side, and not in the bridge thing. Just tele to one side fast, if they're there then tele back to durance level 3 entrance fast, tele over to other side of room, then go up that side, then across to meph, lead him back to moat, tele across, get outta range of weapons so he's moving around on those stairs that lead into the blood water stuff, and just firewall/fireball/etc til he dies.


it depends on whether you find it easier and less stressful to move the council by luring them somewhere and teleporting away or easier and less stressful to make a new game each time they are in the wrong place and look for the entrance to durance 3 all over from scratch.

surely it's nearly always faster to do the former, and if there is worry about the risk some peace of mind can be had by placing a tp the moment you enter durance 3 so that even in the unlikely event you die moving the council you still wouldn't have to cross all of durance 2 again to return.

[Junts]

I posted this in your last thread, but I suggest you find the sorc forum and read in their sorc/mfind guides how to use the 'moat trick'. You'll only be doing it once (for now) but it is highly effective, as all the above posts reflect. You should be able to drag him up against it and drop meteors on him from so far away he can't cold-orb you.

Also, yes, screw the a3 mage mercs - use the town guards from lut gholein.

How is your skill distribution? Have you really pumped the heck out of one of your fire spells?

[zebulin]

Also, yes, screw the a3 mage mercs - use the town guards from lut gholein.



Of course the act 2 town guard mercs are enormously superior to the a3 mercs for a sorc but this self described nooby who is going after NM meph at level 30 should not have any illusions about being able to keep *any* merc from *any* act alive in their NM meph runs. It's just hopeless. I suppose use of equipment of nearly priceless quality combined with exquisitely flawless tactics *might* allow an act 2 merc to survive the moat trick but even then my bet would be on the poor merc dying nearly every time. What's worse the merc would stand a fairly high likelihood of wandering off to bring council members and bloodlords from just off screen back to the player while meph is being engaged. That's never pretty.

[Cattleya]

Of course the act 2 town guard mercs are enormously superior to the a3 mercs for a sorc but this self described nooby who is going after NM meph at level 30 should not have any illusions about being able to keep *any* merc from *any* act alive in their NM meph runs..Actually, he is trying to kill normal Meph for the first time. :smiley:

I'm ready to hear more info about your skill distribution and equipment. Let us know what level all of your fire skills are showing when you pull up the skill tree.

Also, what are you using for equipment? An ATMA dump might be useful (but really long to post) but if you just give us the main stats on all of your items that would help. I'm betting we can find a way to improve things there for you.

Edit: Some really vital info would be if you are using an orb/shield or staff. I'm sorry if you already posted this and I missed it.

[zebulin]

Actually, he is trying to kill normal Meph for the first time. :smiley:

I'm ready to hear more info about your skill distribution and equipment. Let us know what level all of your fire skills are showing when you pull up the skill tree.

Also, what are you using for equipment? An ATMA dump might be useful (but really long to post) but if you just give us the main stats on all of your items that would help. I'm betting we can find a way to improve things there for you.

Edit: Some really vital info would be if you are using an orb/shield or staff. I'm sorry if you already posted this and I missed it.


hrmm good point!

By the way, I've thought about starting a single player character but I assumed they didn't have many options for changing the equipment they use due to no trading options for legitimate gear. Have you found single player characters to be just as able to tweak their equipment through trades as battlenet characters?

[jiansonz]

I've thought about starting a single player character but I assumed they didn't have many options for changing the equipment they use due to no trading options for legitimate gear. Have you found single player characters to be just as able to tweak their equipment through trades as battlenet characters?

Trading does happen quite a bit (there´s a whole forum for it, actually!), but I think most of the Single players that twink do MF runs to find their own gear. I never twink and I always find some great stuff even with one pass through the game. Knowing what to gamble for and when, and clever use of crafting/rerolling/upgrading/socketing recipes and cheap runewords goes a long way.

What we don´t have (hopefully) in SP is large stocks of duped high runes. Anything above Gul (or Vex, since it can be cubed from Gul x2) is extremely rare. Most of the set/unique TC 87 items are "everyday" gear compared to the high runes/runewords.

[AnimeCraze]

STATIC!!!

Don't say it's no good. You have to be close, sure, but who cares? Get yourself some health and mana pots, and just drink pots while static him. Since you are playing softcore, dying is not a problem. Open a TP close to him and just get back into the fight if you die. Yes, it's cheap, but he isn't exactly being fair, is he?

[krischan]

Meph will kill your merc in a few seconds, as you already noticed, so forget him. I for myself don't like the static, die, static, die etc. strategy. Run around him in circles, cast spells on him and keep moving, so neither Meph nor the evil forces will hit you. If there are vampires, kill them first while evading Meph's attacks. If he freezes you with blizzard, teleport away and wait until you are unfrozen.

You can safely ignore the councils by going through the entryway where the big council pack is and then teleporting up. That way you won't awaken the councils in the rooms to the left and right, as they might follow you on your way to Meph.

If you still die a lot, drop all your gold in town and pick it up each time you want to buy something, as dying costs money and you don't want to run out of potions or tp scrolls when you are 80% through with him.

[Libre]

May I say, well, you're all a swell bunch of fellows and gals. Here I am, a babe in the woods (well, I've been around awhile, but I'm a babe in THIS arena) and you experts all take the time and interest to help me. In other persuits, the veterans look at the tenderfoots like they are some sort of mold growing in the shower stall or crudd on the bottoms of their boots.
I'm extremely appreciative. Thank you all.
It is also a testament to the complexity and the nature of this game, that there are so many different strategies, playing styles, and ways of approaching a problem.
I took a break from Diablo 2, and tried some FP Shooters. BOORRRRIIIINNNNGGG!!! No thinking, just point and shoot. I got tired of them real fast.
As far as my point distribution, skill trees, gear, etc, - I'm at work right now and my character is at home (couldn't teleport her into the city with me, which is a pity, but she must stay home). I'll post some details later, when I get home.

Thanks again.

[Junts]

Of course the act 2 town guard mercs are enormously superior to the a3 mercs for a sorc but this self described nooby who is going after NM meph at level 30 should not have any illusions about being able to keep *any* merc from *any* act alive in their NM meph runs. It's just hopeless. I suppose use of equipment of nearly priceless quality combined with exquisitely flawless tactics *might* allow an act 2 merc to survive the moat trick but even then my bet would be on the poor merc dying nearly every time. What's worse the merc would stand a fairly high likelihood of wandering off to bring council members and bloodlords from just off screen back to the player while meph is being engaged. That's never pretty.

Honestly Ive never had a problem because remember when you teleport your merc moves to you so when you tele back across the moat, your merc really cant get to Mephy anyway and, especially if theres 1-2 random bloodlords near you, hes probably going to go fight them since they're closer.

However, any merc use is really if she chooses not to moat him (or to buy her the time to spam 5 statics before she teles away, even if he does die), in either case, hes pretty useful.

I just ran a zealer past normal meph in sp not that long ago, on players 5 no less, first pass, my weapon was junk and my merc ended up tanking, and he did fine. Remember normal meph is leechable, 'silver voulge of the leech' and my merc did more damage/leeched better than I did, and Hratli sold it

[bedekoelle]

I'm not sure how this moat trick is pulled off, despite the detailed descriptions (guess my english is too poor, what is "a moat"?). What I do is tele straight to mephy, get him to follow me, (without being hit by his cold ball attack), and go to one of the platforms on either side of where mephy is initially situated when u enter the durance III. When mephy follows u to the platform, tele to the area directly above the landing that leads to the red portal, right in the middle of mephy's hangout really. Mephy is stuck on the platform, in the angle, where he wanders restlessly. walk close enough so u can get a "missile-lock" on him and just hammer away with any attack (I use frozen orb). Mephy just takes it without complaining or counter attacking. May by this is the moat-trick, i don't know, I found out by cooincidence.

[The Raven]

What I always do i just kill the council members and the blood lords. It takes two minutes and then meph is all alone.
Also if you have fast run/walk try and dodge his gigantic cold/lightning ball attack. It is easy and has saved me many time before.
Basically when you hear him make some loud evil hiss and lean forward with his arms together, run out of the way. This also works with Diablo.

[Libre]

Yeah, I usually try to deal with the minions before going after the main baddie. Those council members also usually drop a lot of cash too.
I realize that there is a trade-off with gear, but for a sorc, would you rather have a more powerful 2 handed weapon like a staff or a slightly less powerful 1 handed weapon so you can have a shield? I realize there are 2 different gear configurations and you can switch back and forth, I'm just asing generally. I just traded in a 2 handed staff with 3 jewels, because I found a 1 handed orb that was almost as good.
About hot-keys:
Do you have all the hot-keys set and practice with them, so you can hit them in an instant? What if you get a new skill? I have the space bar set for the health pots, I figure that's the most important one to hit in an instant.
You younger players that had a teething ring and a computer in your crib are probably all fantastic players. I can't seem to get the perfect combination of hot-keys and gear configurations.

[Junts]

Orb/shield is by far the most common setup, especially since there are many shields around that benefit casting (such as the Lidless wall of spirit runeword), though some lower sorcs use staffs.

Also, some sorcs will boost dexterity a good bit, ensuring that they have the ability to block well with their shields. If you've done this, find the highest block-rate shield you can, and use a good orb (orbs can have all the mods staves can, so unles you found a sweet unique staff, you can probably find an orb that can do what your staff does).

Here's a basic suggestion for hotkeys, though it wontw ork if you use a ton of spells (most sorcs dont, as they specialize, thats why we ask you about your setup - 1 firebolt, 10 fireball, 5 meteor is alot better than 2 firebot, 3 firewall, 2 blaze, 4 fireball, 3 enchant, 2 meteor, etc. Tell us your skill use!)

I set my primary left-click offensive spell (only direct-damage stuff can go on l-click, for you this will be Fireball if you're a fire sorc, meteor can't go there) as F1, my second (say, you have Frozen Orb for backup) as F2. If I have more, they go on F3/F4

My main 4 r-click abilities go on F5-F8. That way the two sets of F-keys are reserved for the skills on their 'side', it makes it alot easier for my brain to keep track.

Usually F3 or F4 end up acquiring spells I can only cast on r-click but don't cast during combat (for example..energy shield, battle orders, or holy shield) because I've filled up F5-F8 with stuff I use all the time and don't want to forget.

If you change your hotkeys, go to Lower Kurast and clear the whol area to practice before you try Mephisto - you dont want to almost have him and die because you had fireball on F3, moved it to F1, and got teleport instead!

[AnimeCraze]

As a sorc (unless you are a melee sorc, ie. one that uses enchant), you don't hit stuff once your main spell actually does damage. You want items that increases your skills, life, mana, resist, etc. I use a weapon + shield since spirit is just too tempting.

[Cattleya]

There are advantages and disadvantages to both the stave and the orb or sword/shield options. The one advantage of a staff for a Fire Sorc is that with a little bit of shopping and a few countess runs you can get +6 to some of the fire skills like Fireball and Firewall by using a +3 (your favorite fire spell level 18 and lower) leaf staff. Of course, this makes resistances hard to get, which can be a problem for Meph.

I always end up using a shield though. I've tried using a Staff on my casters, but I end up needing the resists (and I like blocking.) I'm thinking that in your situation, you may want to take the defensive route and use a shield.

But, you need to make sure that shield is working for you. By Act 3, your shield shoud be providing some serious resistances. An Ancient's Pledge Sheild provides nice resistances, and can be obtained by doing some countess runs. I like to put it in a kite shield and forget about blocking. (Blocking isn't as useful in normal, anyhow.) However, a lot of people like to put it in a tower shield for the better block. I'm not a fan of this option due to the strength requirement and the stamina penalty. (At low levels, teleport is limited by a smaller mana pool, and the ablity to run matters.)

[Junts]

Its actually hard to make an AP in normal because you have to cube the Ort, it becomes rather time consuming (norm countess drops up to Ral)

[Libre]

OK, here's my character. A full ATMA dump would be too much of an imposition for you guys to look at. I'll cut and paste her stats and her gear, and also her merc. Fot now, I'll omit her stash.
As you can see, she is a corpse at the moment.

Character name : Sarah
Character type : Dead Sorceress
Character level : 30
Character exp : 5420776

Strength : 50
Energy : 74
Dexterity : 40
Vitality : 66
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 230 / 201
Mana : 194 / 171
Stamina : 201 / 159

Corpse Items :

1: Glorious Full Helm
Defense: 39
Durability: 27 of 30
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0x9ee51a3e
+46% Enhanced Defense

2: Tangerine Amulet of the Tiger
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0x58f51121
+27 to Life
Lightning Resist +5%

3: Russet Chain Mail of Remedy
Defense: 72
Durability: 29 of 45
Required Strength: 48
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 22
Fingerprint: 0xd17453b6
Fire Resist +19%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

4: Shadow Band
Ring
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x5f67a87
Fire Resist +8%
Cold Resist +20%
Replenish Life +5
10% Faster Cast Rate

5: Ring of Thawing
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 24
Fingerprint: 0xbc806f84
Half Freeze Duration

6: Superior Heavy Belt
Defense: 8
Durability: 7 of 21
Required Strength: 45
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xdc6a32e3
+15% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Durability 15%

7: Demon Blazer
Heavy Boots
Defense: 12
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 4
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xb3882158
+1 to Dexterity
+20% Enhanced Defense
Heal Stamina Plus 25%
Poison Resist +8%
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

8: Coral Light Gauntlets of Thawing
Defense: 11
Durability: 6 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0x86e98c48
Lightning Resist +28%
Half Freeze Duration

9: Corrosive Smoked Sphere of the Sentinel
One-Hand Damage: 4 to 10
Durability: 32 of 35
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 24
Orb Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0xf307b6df
+16 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
+80 poison damage over 4 seconds
+1 to Thunder Storm (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Telekinesis (Sorceress Only)

10: Bone Shield of Equilibrium
Defense: 13
Chance to Block: 40%
Durability: 36 of 40
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 6
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0xbe771282
17% Faster Hit Recovery

11: Jade Clasped Orb of the Apprentice
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 12
Durability: 40 of 40
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 18
Orb Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xbd65859a
+3 to Mana
Poison Resist +21%
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Teleport (Sorceress Only)

Mercenary Items :

1: Glorious Full Helm
Defense: 38
Durability: 29 of 30
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0xf42e5dca
+43% Enhanced Defense

2: Glorious Chain Mail
Defense: 110
Durability: 45 of 45
Required Strength: 48
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0x69b8d173
+46% Enhanced Defense

3: Fine Crystal Sword of the Locust
One-Hand Damage: 6 to 18
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 15
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0x92cf23be
+21% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Attack Rating
6% Life stolen per hit

4: Shimmering Kite Shield of Health
Defense: 17
Chance to Block: 28%
Durability: 26 of 30
Required Strength: 47
Required Level: 5
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0xe51f1e54
Damage Reduced by 1
All Resistances +7

[Junts]

Ok:

Go to Lut Gholein and buy a merc! Please. Trust us. Mephisto's hgihest res is cold, and your cold-merc is just pointless against him. I can't stress how important this is. Get him a polearm with 'of the leech' on it, if he has lifesteal he'll do ok.

Your equipment's alright, your block is low with your dex so increased bloc kchance isnt that helpful. Try looking for some gear with extra light/cold rse on it you can throw on while fighting Meph - he has no fire afterall.

I'd use the +2 tele/fastcast orb all the time if I were you - the fastcast will help a great deal.

You didnt tell us yet how your skills are spent.

Generally its considered bad to raise energy - you can get it so many other ways. Next time you make a char (even a sorc, unless its an energy-sheild using sorc), don't touch energy at all. You'll be alright though, you should stock up heavy on cold resistance. Buy armor with +cold res and wear it just for Meph, you can sell it after.

PS: Half freeze duration doesnt stack (using two doesnt give you 1/4), at least to my knowledge. Ditch your half dur ring and pick up anything else, its not doing anything for you with your gauntlets (which are very nice and you should keep those)

[zebulin]

Ok:

Go to Lut Gholein and buy a merc! Please. Trust us. Mephisto's hgihest res is cold, and your cold-merc is just pointless against him. I can't stress how important this is. Get him a polearm with 'of the leech' on it, if he has lifesteal he'll do ok.

Your equipment's alright, your block is low with your dex so increased bloc kchance isnt that helpful. Try looking for some gear with extra light/cold rse on it you can throw on while fighting Meph - he has no fire afterall.

I'd use the +2 tele/fastcast orb all the time if I were you - the fastcast will help a great deal.

You didnt tell us yet how your skills are spent.

Generally its considered bad to raise energy - you can get it so many other ways. Next time you make a char (even a sorc, unless its an energy-sheild using sorc), don't touch energy at all. You'll be alright though, you should stock up heavy on cold resistance. Buy armor with +cold res and wear it just for Meph, you can sell it after.

PS: Half freeze duration doesnt stack (using two doesnt give you 1/4), at least to my knowledge. Ditch your half dur ring and pick up anything else, its not doing anything for you with your gauntlets (which are very nice and you should keep those)

half freeze duration is nice certainly but I'm not sure I see it's value for a sorc character. Whenever my sorc has had half freeze gear or even CBF gear equipped the reduction in being frozen doesn't seem to have made any difference to her survivability or effective firepower. Does it actually have some more subtle bennefit for sorcs I may have been overlooking?

[Libre]

YEAH!
The moat trick worked. I don't know if I did EXACTLY what I was "supposed" to do, but a combination of fast moving/teleportation/fire spells did the trick. I got meph in a spot where, as said, he couldn't touch me and I could fire bomb him to my heart's content. I did ditch the 1/2 dur ring, in fact, I learned a bit from EVERYBODY here - and bad old meph is DEAD!
Thanks to all.
SO, now I'm in A4, I have my cold merc (I did not use him for the meph kill), I'm at lvl 31 - I invested my last skill point in Fire Mastery - I like passive skills because they always work and I don't have to think about them. I'm putting all my points into dex now, as there seems to be nothing useful to spend them on otherwise.
I do have one skill point on the cold tree - I guess I'll need some cold spells for the fire immune monsters later on.

[zebulin]

YEAH!
The moat trick worked. I don't know if I did EXACTLY what I was "supposed" to do, but a combination of fast moving/teleportation/fire spells did the trick. I got meph in a spot where, as said, he couldn't touch me and I could fire bomb him to my heart's content. I did ditch the 1/2 dur ring, in fact, I learned a bit from EVERYBODY here - and bad old meph is DEAD!
Thanks to all.
SO, now I'm in A4, I have my cold merc (I did not use him for the meph kill), I'm at lvl 31 - I invested my last skill point in Fire Mastery - I like passive skills because they always work and I don't have to think about them. I'm putting all my points into dex now, as there seems to be nothing useful to spend them on otherwise.
I do have one skill point on the cold tree - I guess I'll need some cold spells for the fire immune monsters later on.

Congrats!

in the long term, be careful to avoid the temptation to approach maxing the cold mastery. Even though it's the most kick arse sorc mastery in general, it has a point of rapidly diminishing returns above cold mastery 17. That's including equipment modifiers of course, and it's amazing how easily late game
mid range and even entry level equipment can add up to a total bonus of 8 or more to all sorc skills to say nothing of nice specific cold mastery enhancing items like tal's orb that can bump it up even further. If later on your items end up bumping your cold mastery well above 17 you may feel you wasted some skill points in cold mastery.

Maybe for single player it would be prudent to assume you'll eventually have +10 to cold mastery from equipment alone when you equip your final gear?

[jiansonz]

Maybe for single player it would be prudent to assume you'll eventually have +10 to cold mastery from equipment alone when you equip your final gear?

Let´s see:
Orb: +2 (you´ll eventually find (or cube) an Arch-Angel´s)
Amulet: +1 sorc and some resists, etc.
Circlet: +1 sorc and some resists, etc.

I get that to +4...

(it´s just not feasible to assume a Lidless or a +skills armor or something like that for a player´s first character.)




@Libre:
If you have decided to go with the cold merc, you should at least get him some better equipment. Two items are really easy to improve on during the following acts:

* 'Stealth' armor. Find the runes Tal and Eth. Save a 2-socketed armor or go buy a 2s Breast Plate from Fara in act 2. This armor is one of the best a magic-using merc can have, because it gives +25% Faster Cast (along with faster run, which is also useful)

* Pick up everything expensive that drop and sell it. Use the money to try to gamble a Circlet with Faster Cast (preferrably +20%)

[AnimeCraze]

If you are playing runeword mod, spirit dominates. Otherwise, you will indeed be only looking at +4 skills or so until you actually attempt to find better gear.

[Junts]

If shes going to make a Stealth (which isnt a bad idea) she should probably make it for -herself- instead, the first 25-35% (with the +10 orb she has) fastcast have a fairly noticable effect, and fast hit recovery is very useful to chars with bad block.

[thegiantturtle]

I'm putting all my points into dex now, as there seems to be nothing useful to spend them on otherwise.For a sorceress, EVERYTHING is better than dex. Dex helps with the chance to hit enemies in physical attacks, but not magic attacks. You could pump Vitality for a longer life, Strength to wear heavier gear, or Energy.

[Junts]

Believe she's pumping dex because she decided to make a blocking sorc, which isn't really a horrible idea (though it'll require a good blockrate shield).

It will take -alot- of dex to make a block sorc, though.

[Libre]

Well, I don't know! That's why I'm a nooby.
I had stayed away from dex till now, but someone had mentioned the blocking aspect. Don't know if I'll ever have the required 200 they said, tho. I had thought energy was the most important for a sorc, but someone said you can get that in so many other ways (???).
Vitality is good - that's for sure. Helps with stamina too, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know, just blundering my way along, trial and mostly error - but here I am in Act 4 with a lvl 31 sorc with fire mastery. I can't be doing it ALL wrong - thanks again for all the help.

[thegiantturtle]

Believe she's pumping dex because she decided to make a blocking sorc, which isn't really a horrible idea (though it'll require a good blockrate shield).

It will take -alot- of dex to make a block sorc, though.Ah, I missed that. Dex away then.

[Paladingo]

Go back to act2 normal (Lut Gholein) and shop at Dogman. It's real easy to buy bone shields from him with 60% chance to block and every 10 times or so (save-exit/return) he will have one with 70% with faster block rate etc etc. He's a good source for blocking shields for normal diff.

[jiansonz]

Go back to act2 normal (Lut Gholein) and shop at Dogman. It's real easy to buy bone shields from him with 60% chance to block and every 10 times or so (save-exit/return) he will have one with 70% with faster block rate etc etc. He's a good source for blocking shields for normal diff.

70% is not possible in this case, unless you are a Paladin.

Bone Shields of Deflecting have 60% blocking for a sorceress, and are indeed easy to buy from Drognan. Anything higher, you have to go for Tower Shields, some of the elites, some crafted or set/unique shields.


BTW, there is no need to save and exit to refresh his stock. Just leave town (waypoint, trap door or exit (my favourite layout is the one where the exit is right next to Drognan...)) and come back.

[AnimeCraze]

I will warn against a block sorc unless you have a good idea of:
a) How block works.
b) What shield are you going to be using at the end.

[Junts]

Well, I don't know! That's why I'm a nooby.
I had stayed away from dex till now, but someone had mentioned the blocking aspect. Don't know if I'll ever have the required 200 they said, tho. I had thought energy was the most important for a sorc, but someone said you can get that in so many other ways (???).
Vitality is good - that's for sure. Helps with stamina too, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know, just blundering my way along, trial and mostly error - but here I am in Act 4 with a lvl 31 sorc with fire mastery. I can't be doing it ALL wrong - thanks again for all the help.


The dex you need to block is level-dependant, you basically need 2.5 dex per level to have block equal to the displayed blocking rate of your shield. Keep in mind this includes magical modifiers as well.

So at level 80, you probably do need 200 dex (mod), but at level 40, you need alot less than that.

You will probably kind of find that as is the case for most of us (I know it was for me) your very first character will end up irreparably flawed and not really capable of handling hell difficulty due to bad stat/skillpoint use. Don't be discouraged by this - it happens to everyone :)

[Libre]

The dex you need to block is level-dependant, you basically need 2.5 dex per level to have block equal to the displayed blocking rate of your shield. Keep in mind this includes magical modifiers as well.

So at level 80, you probably do need 200 dex (mod), but at level 40, you need alot less than that.

You will probably kind of find that as is the case for most of us (I know it was for me) your very first character will end up irreparably flawed and not really capable of handling hell difficulty due to bad stat/skillpoint use. Don't be discouraged by this - it happens to everyone :)
Yeah, I feel that way already. It's like in chess, a few bad pawn moves in the opening will cause weaknesses all the way into the endgame.
If I'm going to disregard the blocking aspect, and thus not put any more points into dex, where would you think they would do me the most good at this point?

[zebulin]

adding to vitality is pretty much the only option if you're not going max block. You'll probably want more strength later on for better gear but in the meantime you won't bennefit at all from additional points spent in strength while vitality will pay off at once.

[Junts]

What Zebulin said, yeah. I do think a block sorc can be somewhat viable if you're willing to repeat areas to get items - Whistan's Guard is a pretty easy to find set item (I've found two) and it shouldnt be too hard to find one once you can handle later nightmare (Get it from NM Mephy), and it has huuuuuge blockrate.

On the other hand, if you learn to play a sorc that isnt block, youll probably be able to at least stay alive on many kinds of chars (as you'll kind of be dead any time you get caught in too much melee without good fasthit recovery and fastcast rate)