Sorc critique/help please!

[Raeg]

I recently ( yesterday ) got back in to d2, and my friends who have been back in to it for a few weeks ( and are some-what well off already ) are helping me rank up in the world. I'm making a zmiter to do the ubers, though it occurs to me that I really should have a sorc to do all the dirty work, and MF on the side, too.

Sorcs are far superior for gathering the keys, which have apparently quite low drop rates.

SO, I just wanted to run a few things by, because my knowledge of d2 is a little outdated right now and I'm not too familiar with 1.10-1.11 just yet.


Assuming the sorcs role is going to be keyrunner, rusher, MFer... I have a few questions!

1) Do you prefer to severely sacrifice your sorcs survivability and utility for MF? I mean, you can have 500-600 fairly easily, but because of diminishing returns, I would kind of prefer to have a very usable/effective sorc with lower MF.
-Shako is good for MF or PvM so it can stay on at all times.
-Vipermagi is a nice, cheap chestpiece.. but it could be replaced by Tals or Skullders, sacrificing FCR and +res, and in Tals case, +1 skills for MF. What would you prefer?
-Rings can be nagels for now, until the wealth grows and SoJs can be purchased for PvM
-Occy, like Shako, provides nice bonuses that are welcome any time.
-Boots.. War Travs are nice, though obviously I don't have a pair, and also don't know how much even a low % go for now... Besides that, Silkweave are all I can think off of the top of my head for a 'sorc boots' role... Though I HAVE been out of it for awhile.
-Gloves... chanceguards are a decent source of MF, though my sorc may be a lot better off with Frosties or Magefist... This is one of those situations where you can choose utility over MF... comparing the bonuses of MF to helping your sorc run smoothly... Hmmm...
-Belt... Personally, I like tals armor + ammy + belt combo for MFing... it gives decent bonuses and you can still use occy and shako. Arachnid for PvM ( though something leads me to believe these are quite rare/expensive now :/ )
-Ammy.. like I said.. Tals is good, Mara's is good for PvM too, but it seems that's another item whos value has gone up while I was out of it...
-Shield.. I really found it's a lot easier to keep 2xPDia Whistan's ( that's the shield I'm thinking of, right? ) equipped ( when I used to run meph, atleast ) for the huge resistance bonus. That or Spirit, which seems like a huge bargain for Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn, to me atleast.


These are just my basic outlines for myself... I have nothing to start off with, hopefully my buddies can help me start up my Pally and Sorc atleast to a point from which I can further support myself ( and reward them, too, etc ).

I'm looking for comments and suggestions... and also I have another big decision to make which I could use criticism on... ( does that even make sense? )



The skill allocation.

I was a huge fan of Frozen Orb, and I'd like to use it again.
It has 1 synergy, so I could invest points in to that, too.

So already my skill outline looks like
Max FO
X in to CM ( I've recently read that level 17 is the desired level to reach for CM as it provides -100% - the cap ), where X would be 17 - gear bonuses? Maybe a little room to play in there.
Here's the thing: My old sorc was FO/nova - and as it turns out, nova sucks the big one now.

So, if FO is still viable, what would be the best supplementary non-cold skillset to go with? I'm thinking meteor... Meteor + Fireball for synergy ( back up left click when Cold Immune ). I'm also seriously considering FW + FM, though, as I would be filled with that sense of unfulfillment if I used a skill with 1 synergy but not the other... like I'm not using it to its full potential...

Is FO + FW a viable PvM / MF / keyrunning sorc?




Please help me fine tune this, as every good account should have a sorc ;-)

Thank you, Sorc forum.

[WhiteAlien]

1) Keys drop rate is not affected by MF percentage. It stay @ 1/12 rate.
2) Lightning/Chain lightning sorc is best for keyruns as Countess and Nihlathak minions are cold imune. Summoner often is surrounded by cold/fire imunes. Orbmeteor simply wont cut for keys.
3) If you think to do more MF runs to mephi, then Orbmeteor or pure Blizzard sorc will be best choice as you can do decent dmg and still have a lot of MF%.
4) Gear choice seams very good for MF sorc.
5) FW sucks in many ways. Use Meteor, it is superior.

[Raeg]

1) Keys drop rate is not affected by MF percentage. It stay @ 1/12 rate.
2) Lightning/Chain lightning sorc is best for keyruns as Countess and Nihlathak minions are cold imune. Summoner often is surrounded by cold/fire imunes. Orbmeteor simply wont cut for keys.
3) If you think to do more MF runs to mephi, then Orbmeteor or pure Blizzard sorc will be best choice as you can do decent dmg and still have a lot of MF%.
4) Gear choice seams very good for MF sorc.
5) FW sucks in many ways. Use Meteor, it is superior.


What would you suggest for a keyrunner + MFer skillset?

And, isn't the key droprate like 1 in 31?


Also, thanks for the help :)

[WhiteAlien]

What would you suggest for a keyrunner + MFer skillset?

And, isn't the key droprate like 1 in 31?


Also, thanks for the help :)

No, key drop rate is 1/12.

Without twinked gear it is very hard to suggest something.

Acutally I'm looking at your gear and I remember that I had Blizzard sorc with total of +600%mf and similar gear and I could do key runs too, but you will need decent mercenary who can take care of all cold imunes. Usually you can use static to get them down to 50% and after just rely on merc. I could do prety fast Nihlathak runs, if he himself didnot spawn cold imune. Of course you will not be as fast as Enigmadin or Ifinity L/CL sorc, but you will do the thing :smiley:

Blizzard sorc does very well against Mephi too.

Just my 2 cents :wink3:

[Raeg]

No, key drop rate is 1/12.

Without twinked gear it is very hard to suggest something.

Acutally I'm looking at your gear and I remember that I had Blizzard sorc with total of +600%mf and similar gear and I could do key runs too, but you will need decent mercenary who can take care of all cold imunes. Usually you can use static to get them down to 50% and after just rely on merc. I could do prety fast Nihlathak runs, if he himself didnot spawn cold imune. Of course you will not be as fast as Enigmadin or Ifinity L/CL sorc, but you will do the thing :smiley:

Blizzard sorc does very well against Mephi too.

Just my 2 cents :wink3:


You mean no orb? :'(


Thanks for the info, mate.

[McTCM]

you can CL/Orb

I heard they were good

[Dawnmaster]

Meh Key drop rate is something like 1/55 for Countess, 1/50 for Summoner and 1/60 for Nihlathak, which I find very high to be honest :tongue:

(numbers might be of 1 or 2 though)

[Anddacin]

I use a Light Sorc for Rushing, MFing, Keyrunning.

Level 85, str for gear, zero dex, a lot of vit, and enough energy to be comfortable.

MF/Keyrun I do Countess, Summoner, Meph, Nihlathak in that order. I run at ~400 mf with the following:

Build:
Prereqs
20 Lightning
20 Chain Lightning
20 Lightning Mastery
20 Nova
1-20 Charged Bolt

MF/Key Gear:
Ist'd Occy
PTopaz Skullders
PTopaz Shako
Splendor Shield
Tal Ammy
30 Nagel
Rare 10 fcr/resist ring
40 War Travs
Goldwrap
Frosties

NM Act 2 Merc:
Infinity CV
PRuby Leviathan
PRuby Vamp Gaze

My Stats unbuffed:
+9 skills (cant afford +skill charms yet)
1100 health
1000 mana
400 MF
Decent Resists

For Rushing, I use:
Occy/PDia Lidless
Shako
Tal Ammy
Nightsmoke
Silkweave
Rare +Mana/Resist Ring
Rare FCR/Resist Ring
Vipermagi w/ resist jewel
Frosties

I'm not rich by any means but I can solo pretty much anything. I use nova for normal and most of nightmare, Chain/Lightning for Hell.

[Anddacin]

Meh Key drop rate is something like 1/55 for Countess, 1/50 for Summoner and 1/60 for Nihlathak, which I find very high to be honest :tongue:

(numbers might be of 1 or 2 though)

No it isnt, its between 1/12 and 1/14 for all 3 keys.

[kuafu]

Meh Key drop rate is something like 1/55 for Countess, 1/50 for Summoner and 1/60 for Nihlathak, which I find very high to be honest :tongue:

(numbers might be of 1 or 2 though)
The numbers you gave are for each drop pick, each of the three will drop more than 1 item for each run, so the drop rate for each run (instead of each pick) is around 1/12.

[Raeg]

anddacin, don't you run in to difficulties with only single tree skills?

[Anddacin]

anddacin, don't you run in to difficulties with only single tree skills?
Nope, conviction on merc breaks 90% of the light immunes I encounter, and any that are still immune are taken care of by the merc. The only things I have difficulty with are phys immune and high light immune (above 116).

[WhiteAlien]

Nope, conviction on merc breaks 90% of the light immunes I encounter, and any that are still immune are taken care of by the merc. The only things I have difficulty with are phys immune and high light immune (above 116).

The guy actually was looking for budget keyfinder/MF coz he just started ladder and you are proposing him to make light sorc with infinity mercenary which is a key factor for effective light sorceress. If chests in Blood Moor would be full of Ber runes it would not be a problem :smiley:

Keys are droping by 2 sometimes. My best score have been 5 destr keys in 14 runs :azn:

The worst I think was 1 key in 27 runs :undecided:

[Raeg]

Anyways, CL or Meteor for a secondary skill tree, supplementing orb?

[Anddacin]

The guy actually was looking for budget keyfinder/MF coz he just started ladder and you are proposing him to make light sorc with infinity mercenary which is a key factor for effective light sorceress. If chests in Blood Moor would be full of Ber runes it would not be a problem :smiley:

Keys are droping by 2 sometimes. My best score have been 5 destr keys in 14 runs :azn:

The worst I think was 1 key in 27 runs :undecided:

:shrug: I got my infinity for a non-perf eschutas.