PvM Blizz Sorc

[Retawd]

Hey im making a blizz sorc thats strictly for pvm. Im wondering if cold mastery is a MUST... Is it better to max out all the synergies or max out 2 of the synergies and max out cold mastery? (i know in the end u can max them all but thats not the point)

If cold mastery is a must explain why because i read somewhere that it does not lower a monsters res if it is not resistant to cold... as well as it cannot lower monsters res below 0.

Thanks in advance.

[goomba]

my understanding of the elemental masteries, is that one wants to get to lvl 17 after items for pvm and maxed for pvp

[PhatTrumpet]

There's already a sticky about this at the top of the Forum, but I'll bite. :tongue:

Slvl 17 is the minimum, but more is not necessarily a bad idea.

The lower-end cap on any resistance is -100%. Slvl 17 Cold Mastery lowers enemies' cold resistance by 100%, meaning that monsters that start with 0% cold resistance will be lowered to the lower-end maximum of -100%, but monsters that start with more than 0% cold resistance will not have their resistance lowered by the maximum amount possible. Until you hit that magic -100%, points in Cold Mastery tend to be more effective than points in synergies.

If you go higher, any points invested beyond slvl 17 will go to waste against those monsters with 0% inherent cold resistance, but they will not go to waste against the remaining monsters that start with more than 0% cold resistance.

Ultimately what you should do is take a look at the stats of the monsters you intend to kill the most and make a decision as to what slvl Cold Mastery would be optimal. If you're primarily killing Hell Meph, whom I believe has 50% cold resist, you'd ideally (not that it'd be very practical) get your Cold Mastery to slvl 27 so that his cold resistance is lowered by 150% all the way to -100%. OTOH, if you're just doing general PvM, a good chunk of the monsters will either be immune to cold or will have 0% cold resist. Therefore you might want to just stick with slvl 17. Having a Conviction Pally or LR Necro in your party all the time would also affect your decision.

[tdlofcc]

Just fill it up ... I notice quite a difference in CS with my Blizz Sorc.

She's lvl 83 atm ... filled up Blizz, Mastery and 2 synergies full. In the process of adding the last synergy points. About 10 points I think it was now.

And I do (after the happy little baba screams his lungs out) a little over 2700 damage :)

Almost 2500 with out the baba. Mind you I only have 1 tele ... rest is all cold/synergies. No static etc, altho she doesnt really need it with these kinds of damamge.

[Palm]

Cold Mastery has already been explained how it works. I'd just add that quite a few normal monsters in hell have some cold resistence without being immune such as the venom lords in CS. So, I would recomend maxing. On the official site you can check monster resistences.

Another thing to think about is energy shield (ES). I know alot of people dont like ES with Blizz because they want the maximum dmg but the thing is it makes a big difference in survivability PvM wise. Playing hardcore I'd take ES (and overall I think you gain more than you lose with it), in softcore maybe not though. If you go with ES you should fully synergize it and add some points to energy; also consider using nightsmoke belt over the typical rare belt...

You might wana take a look at my guide to the Blizz sorc, its in the guide sticky.