Whitstan's Guard/Random Sorc Q's

[MrZip]

Hello everybody. I'm currently working on a FO/Firewall (or Meteor, haven't decided yet, only 1pt in firewall so far) and I have a question about socketing Whitstan's Guard.

First things first, I play HC, so not dying is of extreme importance and trumps everything else. Second, I just switched to HC and am not very wealthy, so telling me to grab a spirit monarch or ss doesn't really help me.

I'm going max block, no energy, low str (60 maybe? haven't decided) and everything else to vita. I'm trying to make a sorc that can run NM mephy and I want to socket whitstan's with either a pdiamond or an eld. Does anyone know (or know where I can find out) how many points of dex an eld would save me? Or is that a ridiculous idea and a pdiamond would be a much better choice?

Either way, any advice is welcome as I'd like to socket it sooner rather than later. If anyone has any advice on firewall vs meteor (with meph in mind) pls let me know. (and I know blizz would have been a better choice but I just really don't like blizz)

Thanks!

[PhatTrumpet]

I find Firewall tedious and clumsy. I'd strongly suggest building your Sorc based on sasja's Meteorb Guide stickied at the top if you want her to be able to handle general PvM, however if she's only meant for Meph runs you'd be much better off making a pure Cold Sorc (a search in the HC Forum should turn up some results).


Information you need to calculate dex required for max block:

Whitstan's shield block = 87%
'Eld' Whitstan's shield block = 87 + 7 = 94%

Chance to block = ([shield block] * [dexterity - 15]) / ([character level] * 2)


As you can see, it's base on level, so you'll first have to figure on what level you'll be while doing these Meph runs.

[Dennis_KoreanGuy]

Regardless of your build, PDiamond > Eld.

[MrZip]

I figured I'd be doing them around 75 (I don't want to take her into hell). At that level an eld would only save me about 10 dex points, so I went with the pdiamond. Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

[Thyiad]

Blocking/Dex Calculator (http://dpw.bounceme.net/block_calc.html). There is also a comparison on shields in one of the Guides.