Zeal Sorc Gear Guidance

[JME]

Yes, I read the guide.:thumbsup:

First of all, I'll tell you the build variation I decided on:

20 Light Mastery
20 Enchant
20 Telekenisis
15+ Fire Mastery
15+ Warmth
4 One point wonders (1 Static, 1 Tele, 1 Eshield, 1 shiver armor=4 total)
6 Prereqs (Firebolt, Fireball, Cold Armor, Charged Bolt, light, chain light)

With the skills placed as such, I would be done at level 89 with the rest going into warmth (leaning toward warmth as opposed to FM for better enchant and mana recovery).

I'll use a holy freeze merc wielding infinity. On myself I plan on using COH for the 8% DR, strength, and of course resists. The other obvious gear choices will be dream helm/shield, passion PB, and a CTA on switch. I had also thought I'd be using 1 soj and 1 raven (for the dex to help meet reqs, AR, mana, cold absorb & CBF). However, my true dilemma comes when choosing my gloves, belt, amulet, and boots because I would like to have at least 20 fcr and 30ias to hit decent breakpoints. I see a couple of ways to do this:

Option 1
Nos coil=10ias (also 15st and 10% slow)
Nice Crafted/Rare Gloves with 20ias and other good mods
+2Sorc/20fcr/other mod rare amulet

Option 2
Death Gloves/Belt=30 ias (also cannot be frozen, 50PR, 15 res all)
+2Sorc/20fcr/other mod rare amulet
*With this option I could sub out my raven for another soj but at the cost of some dex, AR, and cold absorb).

Option 3
Arachs= 20 fcr (also +1 skill, 10% slow, and +5% max mana)
Bloodfists=10%ias (also 40 life and 30% fhr)
Highlords =20%ias (also +1 skill, 35%LR) *Cat's eye would also work here although less desirable

Option 4
Magefists 20 fcr (also +1 fire skill and 25% mana regen)
Nos Coil= 10%ias
Highlords =20%ias (also +1 skill, 35%LR) *Cat's eye would also work here although less desirable

I've also looked a little bit at demon limb for prebuff. A level 23 enchant would provide a nice benefit and last a good amount of time while saving me 20 skillpoints. I suppose the question is, how much would I lose by not investing in enchant and...what am I really saving? Where would those points go otherwise? All of this is from a PvM standpoint only.

Also, what mana/life numbers should I be shooting for after all my gear and BO...1000/3000, 1500/2000 etc. Keep in mind I don't really need mana for much so if my Eshield goes down it's not necessarily the end of the world.

*I almost completely forget to readdress my boots issue, but it seems to be independent of most of my breakpoint desires for fcr and ias. I was basically thinking treks, waterwalks, aldurs, or just some random rares.
*Also note I count on a bare minimum of +9 all skills and +6 light skills, so I will have at least a level 16 Eshield if not level 20.

Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions.:wave:

[bubux]

My 2c, correct me if i'm wrong.
1) As you will be melee fighting with energy shield on, 8% damage reduced from COH is useless. Most of the damage will be going to your mana, so 8% of a little is almost nothing. Check blue sorc guide and you will see why DMR > %DMR.

2) You will need alot of mana and mana regeneration wich warmth will never provide enough. Consider using FrostBurn gloves and maybe items that have damage-taken goes to mana.

3) Energy shield is not for melee builds as those take too much damage.

4) Your best friends, in order of priority:
Damage Reduced and magic Damage Reduced (not %'s)
Damage taken goes to mana
Max mana

4) Consider having max block.

Final note: You don't need resistances at all since you will be using energy shield and that works like if you had 0 resists all time.

I'm glad if I helped.

[JME]

Although I appreciate your input, I'm not sure you understand this build at all.

It doesn't matter if my mana goes down because I'll have a high level teleport and cheap attack due to zeal. Also because you get more points of mana per point energy than you do life for points in vitality, energy shield is definitely for this build. In fact, it's recommended for this build even if you don't max telekinesis. Basically, if Eshield goes down it doesn't matter because you barely need mana for the skills on this build.

Using frostburns will drastically hurt my chances of hitting a decent attack rate or cast rate. I will need 30%ias to hit the desired frame rate for zeal.

Damage to mana doesn't work very well...at all.

Max block with a dream shield isn't feasible without sacrificing my fcr, my ias, and a lot of other things due to drastic gear substitution.

I have no desire to make a blue sorc, I want to make a zeal sorc using dual dreams which I described in detail in my post.

Thanks anyway.

So.....

Anyone have any suggestions on what gear to select for the boots, belt, gloves, and amulet or thoughts on my other questions?

[Azuremen]

Look at the clip of the Dual Dream sorc stickied. No ES. Don't bother with it, you'll be recasting it constantly. You also get 2 points of Life per point Vit and 2 points Mana per point Eng.

Save those 20 pts and put them in Firewall. You will then have an awesome attack to cook things while you tank them. Killing things faster means they can't hit you, period. Best defense is a good offense IMO.

Otherwise, build is solid. Though I think you need Ice Bolt and Blast for Shiver Armor.

You could consider the demonlimb option, and invest the points in fire mastery and warmth to syngergize it.

[JME]

Look at the clip of the Dual Dream sorc stickied. No ES. Don't bother with it, you'll be recasting it constantly. You also get 2 points of Life per point Vit and 2 points Mana per point Eng.

Save those 20 pts and put them in Firewall. You will then have an awesome attack to cook things while you tank them. Killing things faster means they can't hit you, period. Best defense is a good offense IMO.

Otherwise, build is solid. Though I think you need Ice Bolt and Blast for Shiver Armor.

You could consider the demonlimb option, and invest the points in fire mastery and warmth to syngergize it.

Hmm, you are correct that the distribution is 2/2 per attribute point, although per level effect is 1 life and 2 mana. Just from leveling and at least 1 soj I'm going to have a rather large mana pool. If I don't use Eshield, pretty much all of that mana is completely wasted because I won't ever be using it.

I suppose I should make it clear that my goal is not to do the ubers, nor to make dreamofwinter's sorc, which is a good build. This (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=471447) is the guide that I'm relying on although I picked the variant which most appealed to me. I may take another look at Eshield but I've heard a ton of people swear by it for this build.

The main thing is, I'm still unsure of what would be the best boot, glove, belt, amulet combination for this specific build.

[Azuremen]

Well, I'll give you my thoughts on those.

Option 1 - Nosfertus is basically good for some IAS and life, as the %DR is pointless with the eShield. Good gloves would be nice and can beat any unique for this type of build I would say. Now, the ammy would be hard to find seeing as how it it will have to be crafted. Not a bad option if you can get the ammy.

Option 2 - Bleh, 8 slot belt? No thanks. While the mods of Death's Set are awesome, the belt is a killer. Plus you still have to find that Ammy.

Option 3 - Arach mesh is great, as is Highlord's and Bloodfist (I love these gloves because they are cheap and awesome). To me, this looks like the best choice outright, though some rare gloves with IAS and leech might be handy.

Option 4 - Probably what I will use, now that you have suggested it, as I do not have an arach mesh, but I do have tons of magefist. Plus a 40 Vit 15% DR Nos... so this would be my pick till I got ahold of an Arach :p

Hope that helps some.

[JME]

Thanks for the input.

I was a bit wary of option 2 myself, due to the limited belt slots...if only set items could be upped.

Option 4 also seems more like a budget choice and probably what I will use until I find something better (although it does work really well on paper). These leaves me with options 1 and 3. I think I'll try to go with option 3 until I find/craft some really nice gloves and amulet. I'm sure after a while, I'll end up going with option one.

Thanks again Azure for the comments.
Any further thoughts on using demonlimb? I was really hoping for this to be a strong melee character, although I never thought about firewall as you suggested. I suppose the main thing is, nothing should really take more than a couple hits and so I'm unsure how much firewall would benefit me and how much AR/fire damage I would lose on my melee. The tradeoff is if I would rather have the higher melee fire damage (and AR) from enchant or the extra ability of firewall. I just hate the idea of using charges on an item as an integral part of my build. :undecided:

Also, any other thoughts on Eshield from some other posters? I guess at this point I'm taking a poll. For the record though, it would be a 1 point eshield (15-20 after +skills) with telekinesis to reduce mana cost. So not exactly a huge investment and it allows me to use my, otherwise usless, mana.

I'm also thinking about using Fort to save a few points for the cold armors. My focus really isn't on physical damage so the 300%ED I doubt will do me much good. However, I just realized (for the first time) that fort has 25% fcr (I usually never care about fcr on melee characters). This could help ease my choices a good amount or simply let me hit an even higher fcr bp for when I tele. It also has some straight DR and +life so I'll have to take a closer look at using fort. Less resists may or may not be a problem depending on whether or not I use eshield.

[Azuremen]

Well, if you do use eshield, Res is pretty much pointless as eShield absorbs all elemental damage if I recall correctly.

Fort has a certain appeal to it, that is certain. Though it also lacks + Skills... but that is not major is you are using Dual Dreams for damage (24% increase from light mastery) Speaking of which, I have 3os Troll nest if you need a shield for Dream (assuming you are USeast Ladder)

Crescent Moon you may want to consider as a back up. The -35% res is brutal, as it effectively adds 35% damage to the displayed light damage. Though you would not have Zeal with it, I still think it could be interesting at times, more so against highly light resistant enemies.

I also am against having to use a charged item for Enchant. My current sorc will max Enchant. She is a Hybrid though, as I am also maxing Orb for a back up skill/crowd slower. Left over points will be dumped into Light Mastery if I do get a Dream on an off chance.

I am considering using the full Disciple Set just to see how it feels, but will likely down grade to just the Gloves and Belt for a while. The Extra damage to demonds is helpful if you are using leeching alot. Ring wise probably going for a RavenFrost and a Dual leech FCR ring. HighLord's Ammy, Not sure on final armor, and probably a random Circlet that benefits the build.

Later on, when I can afford dual dreams, will probably Max light mastery, Enchant, Fire Mastery, Firewall, and then Warmth. Firewall is just kind of an Idea i had to end annoying bosses lives quicker, etc. Might as well add several thousand dmg per second while you Tank Meph, etc ;)

[scottrick49]

I am kinda having the same debate about a very similar sorc i am thinking about making. weapon, helm, shield, and armor and all easy to pick out, but tough for the rest. One thing, I think you need 65% IAS on a sorc wit ha phaseblade to hit the fastest breakpoint, which means you need 40% additional, not 30%. Unless you are only aiming for the 54% breakpoint, which i would advise against. Since you are doing so much elemental damage per attack, i'd think it would be ideal to attack as fast as possible? its only 10% more after all.

[scottrick49]

and in kinda of a continuation of my last post...

I wouldn't go with fort. 300% ED is useless, it has less resists, no DR, and no +2 skills.

what i'm leaning towards in my setup, is highlords (+1, ... you know the stats), any 20% IAS gloves. I was actually thinking about lava gouts and saving myself some skill points but i think the level of enchant is too low if i want good fire damage. since you want some FCR, i'd stick with ARACH. as for boots i'd probably grab some waterwalks or treks.

just my 2c

[JME]

and in kinda of a continuation of my last post...

I wouldn't go with fort. 300% ED is useless, it has less resists, no DR, and no +2 skills.

what i'm leaning towards in my setup, is highlords (+1, ... you know the stats), any 20% IAS gloves. I was actually thinking about lava gouts and saving myself some skill points but i think the level of enchant is too low if i want good fire damage. since you want some FCR, i'd stick with ARACH. as for boots i'd probably grab some waterwalks or treks.

just my 2c

Well, I'd say the 300% ED will have little effect due to my low physical damage..but I'm not sure I would go so far as to call it useless. Also, it could save me points in the cold tree due to the inherent chilling armor which I may decide to go with over shiver (that would save me 4-5 skillpoints). The 25% fcr frees up some of my other gear and therefore makes it easier to hit a higher zeal speed if I chose to get that extra ias for the next bp, as you suggested.

Also, fort does have DR (7 straight DR), which in all honesty is frequently better than % DR point for point. Most monsters in hell do less than 100 damage per hit, they just swing fast and come in large groups so it seems they do a lot more. Even blood lords, some of the hardest hitting enemies in the game, do 76-115 damage (an average of 95.5). Again, this means for 7 straight DR (fort) they would then do 88.5 average and for 8% DR (COH) 87.86. In other words, for some of the hardest hitters, the damage is comparable. However, lets compare for the majority of monsters. The Abominable monsters in act 5 do 72-105 or 88.5 average damage. This means with fort it would be 81.5 average damage and for COH it would be 81.42. Even more comparable but again I compared another hard hitter (and keep in mind I was using only 7 straight DR against 8% DR). Point for point, straight DR is far superior. Lets look at the common archer which does 57-86 damage per hit or an average of 71.5, 64.5 after fort or 65.78 with COH. For a fallen it is 70.5 avg, or 63.5 with fort and 64.86 with COH. Keep in mind that when I say "fallen" or anything like that, I actually mean the hardest hitting type of that class monster, for fallen it is a "warped one." In other words, in almost every case even 7 DR is better than 8% DR and point for point straight DR is even better. Look up guides on how DR works and you may be suprised. When you factor in the possible use of energy shield the damage received gets low enough that straight DR becomes far better than %DR. Skills such as decrepify, weaken, energy shield, and battle cry allow a great mod (straight DR) to not only beat the competition (%DR) but blow it away. So anyway, that lengthy discussion covers that particular attribute.:wink3:

Now, the loss of +2 plus skills is unfortunate and will have to be thought of, although I'm not sure it will actually hurt me that badly. This leaves me with fort giving +life which is vital (no pun intended), 25% fcr (opens up gear), 300%ED (mildly useful), chance to flee (crowd control), DS (meh), 30 resists, and chilling armor (saves 4-5 skillpoints). In fact, the more I look at it the better fort looks. I will have to think about those 2 +skills, although azure pointed out that that aren't extremely vital to this sort of build. In addition, I need to think of how to make up those 35 resists (athough, again, if I use eshield that resist gap won't matter). I'm really leaning towards fort now, even though I was set on COH before. I also think I've decided against demon limb for my source of enchant and I think I will shoot for gear that will help me hit the highest zeal speed (now that my fcr dilemma is eased).

This leads me to:
#1- Bloodfists (10% ias), Nos (10%ias), Highlords (20%ias) or
#2- 20%ias rare/crafts, highlords (20%ias), and arachs.

With the second setup, I can hit not only the the highest attack bp for this build but I can also hit yet another fcr bp. As far as I know I can't get a +2 sorc amulet with ias and I can't get ias on boots (someone please tell me if I can) and so the second seems to be my best choice. I'm thinking about using tri resist boots with fhr or treks for the fhr, frw, vita, and to save on st points. I'll probably end up with the treks.

Thanks for all the points and suggestions.:thumbsup:

[Gimmershred]

Hi,

good to see someone else build a nice meleesorc, now here is my 2cents.

Aim for the 40% offweapon ias breakpoint, the difference between 7 and 8 frames is pretty big.

now, i tested and played pretty much zealsorc and currently i use this setup wich works very well.

Passion pb
Dream tiara
Dream Hyperion
Guardian angel socketed 15ias/allres jewel
Mara's or Metalgrids
Ik gloves
Ik boots
Arachnid mesh
Ravenfrost
Soj

I use around 6x 15allres gc's. some with a bit of life and 1 with fhr to reach the 60 breakpoint. For the rest i use 1x life/mana gc, 2life/mana sc's, and the rest life sc's, torch and anni. I keep 8 spots free and carry 2 books. The Gc's in combination with guardian angel let's me easily hit 90 allres in hell, i also use guardian angel for reaching max block with the hyperion.

Hyperion has good def, highest blockrate on a shield and is a medium shield, so it beats trollnest or Tower shield. You use the 20str from the ik-gloves to reach the str for it.

skills are following.
20 lightmastery, 20enchant, 20 warmth, 20telekineses, 1tele, 1cold armor, 1 static field, rest in fire mastery.

Statpoints.
Basestr = 110-str anni-str torch
BaseDex @ lvl 85 = 215-20raven-20ikgloves-dex anni-dex torch

The rest of the points you throw in vitality and energy around 1:1.

This sorc works wonders. Tanks all, and kills all. With decent charms but not godly you'll reach around 1.4k life and mana after your bo with a 59% es.
Vs elemental chars you got 90 allres. Vs meleechars you got max block, and energyshield is an excellent freebee with maxed warmth.
With metalgrid you reach 9k ar, With mara's around 6k. I am a bit of an ar freak so i use metalgrid although mara's probably suits this build better.

If you want to stick to your coh then i suggest you use your setup2: Highlords+rare stat-res-mana 20% ias gloves combined with arachnid, i'd use waterwalks or aldurs with that for the huge life on it.

why not your setup 1? 0%fcr --> Small games are easy anyways, the challenge lies in big player games. Often you find big groups of monsters on wich you want to use your 1 point static fast before you hack and slash. 20%fcr helps a lot, also tele with 0% is just freaking annoying.

ps. dont worry to much about the loss of skills. Although each skill means 2kmax damage added, they really aren't that important for a dualdreamsorc.

If you don't want maxblock then the armor i always like is a simple upped vipermagi socketed with an ias/res jewel. Clears a lot of room, since you have 30fcr, 15ias, and up to 50res right there. It is the armor of choice if you really want to use death gloves+belt and dual soj.

[Azuremen]

I disagree on the Hyperion being better than a Troll Nest...

The nest requires 21 less STR, is Light, and has on average 40 more def. Only downside is a 4% less chance to block.

He is planning to use Fort as his armor, thus 25% FCR from that. I think you are relying too heavily on charms for res, but thats just me.

JME, sounds solid I think. My enchant sorc just hit level 33, upgraded to a Hexfire for the time being. Doing over 800 damage now, with the ITD and 2000 AR already, manages to hit fairly often in the WSK. One hit kills most things. Have a pretty ghetto setup, with a fire skils circ, Cathan's ammy and ring, Vipermagi, Hexfire, Vescruant, Aldur's boots, a rare FCR ring, and Sigons's gloves and boots. Debating on sticking a Shael in the Hexfire and going for 50% IA on a -10 speed weapon, or using Ginther's till I hit 54. The Hexfire just seems like a solid weapon though, with Cold steel if I need slow a mob quickly.

Very fun build to play and level though.

[scottrick49]

i forgot about block earlier when i made that post. i have to agree with glimmershred and recommend GA now. the loss of resists isn't a big deal since you can grab charms, and the benefits of max block are huge, specially for melee chars. 90% resist all is very sexy too.

Which shield to use is pretty much just a preference. the blocks are very close. i'd prefer hyperion though cause i like how it looks compared to trolls nest. (2 years of using lidless on sorc's will do that i suppose).

i'm still going to have to respectfully disagree with you about fortitude :P but too each his own.

[scottrick49]

One other thing: why not just use a plain old tower shield? 44% blocking, but just less defense. who cares though really; there's hardly any ED on dream shield and its not like you are going for def. only 75 strength req. i know its heavy, but that really doesn't matter when you are high level

[Doppel]

Just had an idea, upped skin of the vipermagi socketed with a 15ias/res jewel

This will get you medium def, 1 all skills, 30% faster cast rate, magic damage reduction and average of 45 all res.
Plus you can reach 40% ias bp without a ias belt (thus having a bit more room in that area, for example using arachnid mesh or verdungo)
I also agree that a hyperion looks much better then a troll nest (looks ;)) but str is a problem, maybe i'm even gonna use a scutum cause it looks so damn sexy (and its annoying to have good block but at a slow speed)

I also like the Guardian Angel idea, although it needs much tweaking to reach 90 all res on your character.

(btw duriels shell can be something too, but i don't like the looks of it on a soso)

[Gimmershred]

i picked the hyperion because i need 118 str for the guardian angel, and i use ik-gloves and boots, they require 110 str and give 20 str, so using hyperion doesn't cost me any extra str.

Tower shield or trollnest will just work fine too. Although i liked my shield to be strbugged so i really didn't want to use the tower. It's ashame you can't keep your pb dexbugged on this build, so it won't be a " punching sorc"

Also i think if you can afford 2x dream and cta then getting 5-6x 15allres gc shouldnt be that big of a problem.

Blockrate with guardian angel is no problem at all (30%faster block rate) ,zeal being an uninteruptable attack only contributes to that.

Forti has nice stats, but i just hate physical damage since important run areas are chaos sanctuary and ws keep +throne. Iron maiden just becomes really annoying with forti on.

[JME]

I did look at GA as an option and it would definitely be a safe oriented build with max block, eShield, and high resists at the sacrifice to a lot of +skills (even more when the resists are made up with GCs). However, this also means my attribute points would have to be split 3 ways and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this.

As of right now I'm still planning on using fort and aiming for the rest of my gear to help me hit the best attack bp, which I agree is something I should strive to do with this build.

As a result, my gear selection at this point looks like: Fort (25%fcr), 20%ias rare/crafted gloves, tri resist boots with fhr or treks depending on needs, highlords (20%ias), soj, ravenfrost, and arachs (20%fcr), dream helm/shield, and passion PB. My skillpoint setup will be as I originally described, minus the cold armor and prereqs for it.

Gimmershred's setup does sound intriguing however. :undecided: I may have to build two.

As for shields, lets see there is the Hyperion (44% block, 127st, 119-135def), troll nest (40% block, 106st, 158-173def), grim shield (40% block, 58st, 50-151 def) and the tower shield (44% block, 75st, 22-25def). Going with Gimmershred's other gear setup, hyperion would be best since the st req on IK gloves is already high. For a non-max block setup, I think it's a toss up between a troll nest or a near perfect grim shield. In the end, it would probably depend on if a MP or an AP was chosen as my fort armor. If AP then troll nest, if MP then high grim shield (~150). Then again, a perfect troll nest dream shield would have 445 defense I think, while a perfect tower shield dream would have about 253 defense. In the end, that bit of defense won't really matter but if you have the strength for that other gear you might as well get the heavier and better shields (troll or hyperion).

@Doppel: Scutum has horrible block (34% per Arreat Summit)

[scottrick49]

yeah i really like gimmershred's setup as well, and that probably what I am going to do with my guy. just gotta wait a bit while rune prices fall lol

[ruvae]

Gimmershred, do you find the ES on your build useful in PvM, given that you already have 90 res all and max block?

What do you think of your build with a FCR ring instead of a SoJ (to hit the 63 FCR BP with CTA + Spirit on switch when teleporting around) and then either a cold armor, or max fire mastery.

[Gimmershred]

Gimmershred, do you find the ES on your build useful in PvM, given that you already have 90 res all and max block?

What do you think of your build with a FCR ring instead of a SoJ (to hit the 63 FCR BP with CTA + Spirit on switch when teleporting around) and then either a cold armor, or max fire mastery.

yes, the es certainly is good. If i get manaburned it's not a problem. If monsters like souls drain my mana fast it's no problem also since i got 90 all res. And it makes you drink much less pots, since it simply regens quickly. Can't say negative things about es really. The fact that you have 90allres and maxblock only makes it more viable, since it gives you the safety and time to let it regen.

Fcr ring is possible, but not needed imho. I like the fact that sojs gives you +1zeal, combined with arach and anni, you arent dependant of battle command to do 5 hits with zeal. Also +1skills won't hurt since you won't use skillers, because of the res gc's.
I don't use spirit by the way, it would require 26more str. I just use lidless and combined with arach i got 40%fcr on switch. The tele is safe enough.

i can show my sorc at europe scl if any1 is interested, just whisp me on *xeno113

[Doppel]

@Doppel: Scutum has horrible block (34% per Arreat Summit)

Y i know, lol.
hmm, i'm in a bit of a pickle here, if i go ES i would like to have a lot of mana and life, if i go block i loose out on es (splitting points 3 ways is a bit to much, and then the str of hyperion to think about)
So i don't know, i say either forget about block (and then choosing a low block shield won't matter much) and try to reduce damage done to you (es and damage and magical reduction gear) and get high life/mana/skills/damage/res
Or go with block and try to find a reasonable distribution between dex and vitality (not really much left for energy to make es viable)

the Guardian Angle solution is something else though and i don't know if skills are high enough to make the 15% all res max worth it.

also why put points into any cold armor?
Just hold on to a orb of somekind (could also be done with es and enchant to boost them, they last long enough)

[scottrick49]

well, you already have CTA in offhand so it would be a pain to deal with a nother weapon. also, as gimmershred said, his sorc had about 1.4k health and mana. with max block and ES, that is more than enough. even if you only have 1k health and mana, i think you would be fine with max block and es

[Gimmershred]

well, you already have CTA in offhand so it would be a pain to deal with a nother weapon. also, as gimmershred said, his sorc had about 1.4k health and mana. with max block and ES, that is more than enough. even if you only have 1k health and mana, i think you would be fine with max block and es

i'm lvl 87 now and got 1.5k life, 1.5k mana. I am an excellent tank, even in chaos sanctuary in 8 playergames. I might make a vid later on to proof it, if i can get fraps to work.

[Gimmershred]

here is some example of some solobaalrun in a hellgame with 4 other players.
it's 2 files cause i only seem to can record with fraps for 30 seconds. Can't get sound to work either.

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=CsJzuUyK3cI
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=MWtW8lAniDA

[scottrick49]

mMmMm very nice. Just curious, what level is your character in those videos? Is this ladder or nonladder? what's your actual damage?

I just started putting together the equipment I need for this and I am really looking forward to it getting completed. :)

[Doppel]

How do you get max block with 1,4k mana/life?
The most i seem to do is around 1k mana/life and half block.

[scottrick49]

keep in mind Battle Orders will add alot

[Azuremen]

Don't skip on Fire Mastery if you are relying on enchant for damage. While the synergy from Warmth is 9%, compared to FM's 7% boost, you have to remember that FM get applied twice in effect.

I've been collecting +110 AR and the like GC's, as I am finding it makes a huge different, a 100 AR here and there. Got lucky and found a prismatic, 3% LL, +44 AR ring, but I really need a RavenFrost.

At level 75, I am having some trouble in Hell, but mostly because I am using a normal, 23% Vipermagi and haven't placed my High Lord's on, etc. And my AR is still suck.

[Gimmershred]

well, i got 200vita/200mana. A bit life and mana from charms, and lvl 11bo + 200mana from soj. I got 130str, 231dex, 201vita, 204 energy atm.
Try to tweak as much as you can, my Basestr is 76 and basedex is 157.

I'd first max warmth, then work on your firemastery. Do it the way around if you don't use es. Assuming you bring your char up to around lvl 90 your fire damage will be by far enough to kill light immunes fast combined with conviction. When im'd simply switch to berserk. Berserk also does nice vs dualimmunes.

You really don't need that high ar. The conviction from infi makes your ar +-4 times more effective.

P.S i did ubers with a smiter today. I can solo Uberdia and Baal quite easily. Off course i couldn't hurt mephi, but with the pala's salvation he really didnt hurt me much either.

[scottrick49]

I've started my melee sorc and so far so good. Level 66 with a dream helm (will have shield soon) and I already kick butt. 11k max zeal is awesome, and she tanks nm baal stuff pretty well for only being level 66. I am guessing it will only get better.

Not sure if I am gonna use mara's or metalgrid, but i am going to start with metalgrid, simply because i already have one. if the extra AR is unnecessary I will probably switch to maras.

One question: on your merc, did you make infinity in a high dmg polearm, or a low damage one? my thought being that if I want to run chaos sanctuary, a low dmg one will prevent him from killing himself instantly.

[GreatZeal]

I dont have time to read it all but from what I know YOU MUST HAVE GOOD IAS AND AR.If you dont then she will be thrown like a rag doll.

[Gimmershred]

yea, i am using a low damage infinity on my merc and run cs fine. The only problem that arises for yourself and the merc is when paladins join your party with their idiotic aura's. I died in 1 zeal when i had fanacitism and a very high lvl concentration from 2 pala's running with me. If it's only a concentration paladin you won't die immidiately but you still have to switch to berserk to attack, or wait till it's gone.

Most of the time when my merc has been im'd i tele just in front of the oblivion knight very fast to keep your merc from attacking until another curse triggers.
Without ed% aura's active and with bo on, he can take at least 5 hits Although your merc doesn't do any physical damage i still suggest you give him some lifeleech. Since with the pala's aura's he will leech nicely. Also get him 75allres , then focus on dr%.

Every area will be quite simple to run with this sorc, although the vipers @ nihlatak can be a pain in the ***, but that goes for all diablochars. I mostly do diabloruns with low lvl's, cause i simply find that area a good challenge with fast-paced play.

[Hymn]

My last melee sorc didn't use ES and only 1 dream with an SS for blocking. She could stand in the middle of baals minions taking minimal damage IIRC, killing them in about 4-5 hits each. She dropped baal in 15 hits.


I know its very hard to swing, but also consider Tyrael's Might.

Defense: 1322-1502 (varies)(Base Defense: 487-600)
Required Level: 84
Required Strength: None
+120-150% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+50-100% Damage To Demons (varies)
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+20-30 To Strength (varies)
All Resistances +20-30 (varies)
Cannot Be Frozen
Requirements -100%
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Indestructible

The free strength gives you about 60 more life (before %life). You also get a lot more mods that are considered hard to find (CBF, SMRiP) so you have more leniency on your other gear. Not to mention the huge armor bonus and +30 res, and the ability for the armor to be socketed. The only downfall is the armor is ridiculously hard to find unduped.

Haha, and the funny part is, Slain Monster Rests in Piece + holy shock = all monsters around you don't leave bodies. Necros will ***** about this until the end of the day.

[scottrick49]

My sorc is at level 87, with every piece of gear except my CTA, following gimmershred's guidelines. she kicks a ton of butt. only problem is getting hit alot, but max block and ES help alot. my guess is that with CTA for extra survivability and leveling her to 90 or higher, will make a huge difference in survivability.

Very fun though and i'm glad i built her