Stormshield and Strength Help Please

[torsoboy]

Hi, I just made a new sorceress, and got a stormshield. The problem is I'm at only 110 base str or so, and I need 156 to us SS.

What I did was put on Face of Horror and +23 str belt to equip it, then let the +30 str from the shield make up for it, and took off both of them. The only problem is when I die, I can't pick up the stormshield, so it goes to my inventory or stays on the body.

1) Pre-1.10 I know this was bad because you would pop if you died again. But now, with multi-bodies, is this a bad thing to rely on?

2) If it is, what should I do to get my str up? Pump it? Use lots of items?

3) What should be the highest my base str should be?

Thanks a bunch!
-Torsoboy

[FrostBurn]

1. It still is a dangerous thing in v 1.11. Although body-popping has been eliminated, if you have multiple bodies lying around, and then save and exit, the body you get back in the next game will be the body with the most expensive (in terms of gold) equipment. Most of the time, this will be your first body. But there can be times when it won't, so you stand the chance of losing some valuable items.

2. If you die, re-equip your str pre-buff gear. If you pick your body up with that pre-buff gear on, everything is re-equipped, except for the stuff that the pre-buff gear took the place of, which goes into your inventory, or lies on the ground if your inventory is full.

3. Enough to equip SS after +str gear. Obvious statement. There is no easy way out of this. You can use +5 str large charms in your inventory. If you aren't planning on using pre-buff str gear, you will have to take str to 156. Or socket SS with a Hel rune (or -15% req / other mod jewel) to bring str down to 133.

[torsoboy]

Thanks for the reply.

What would be more efficient: Using a -15% req jewel in the storm, or socketing it with p-diamond for resist and putting those points into vitality?

156 strength is a lot and I don't really see any sorceress gear that will bring my strength up that high (besides enigma which I can't afford). If anyone knows of a good sorc item with strength, please tell.

-Torsoboy

[AnimeCraze]

Suck it up and put the str in. Other than enigma, there isn't really any good str items that I can think of that gets that far.

[torsoboy]

Okay, I just wanted someone to confirm that it wasn't stupid to drop so many points in str. If I ever do get enigma I can rebuild a character I suppose.

[FrostBurn]

What would be more efficient: Using a -15% req jewel in the storm, or socketing it with p-diamond for resist and putting those points into vitality?
Depends on your other gear. Full Tal's set, and if you use a Torch and Anni would probably mean you have near maxed resists. If you use unique items, your resists could be lacking more.

Even if you didn't use a -req jewel, you spend an extra 23 stat points into str to bring it up to 156. Two small charms of vita (+20) and you've almost made up for that loss in vitality. You can then socket SS with a jewel, gem or rune of your choice.

Bear in mind that if you use full Tal's, SS will give you max CR and LR.