Building Most Durable/Efficient MF Infinity-Lite/ES Sorc-----Suggestions Please

[TraderJoes]

Hi, i've always wanted to perfect my mf sorc, and now i've come down to making my last one. My dilemma here is that i don't know which one would be the highest damaging one that can also tank a decent number of hits without dying.

My gear are as follows:
P Topaz'd shako
Mp Enigma
Soj
10%fcr ring w/ +20 str 14%fire res
30 maras
35fcr spirit monarch
40res hoto
50 travs
Magefists
Arach

Invent:
40% gheeds
+34lifer Lite gc
16/18 anni
19/19 storch
5x 20life scs with resists
6x 7mf scs with resists

Mercenary:
eth CV infinity
p Ap fort
Ral'd p Andy's helm

Breakpoints Hit:
117fcr
60fhr
75 all resists
.75 ES conversion, 88% ES absorb (described below)



AND my biggest dilemma is described below:

See... right now i have a lvl90 ES/Charged boltress and her skill placements are 20 cb, 20 lightning, 20mastery, 20telek, and working on maxing ES. She has 3k+ mana and 900 life.

While playing with her, ive come to think that charged bolt is too dangerous to use on packs of monsters (mana burn tears me up) and kills slower than lightning, and so recently ive been using lightning as my main attack. But with 8 ppl in the game, my lightning kills slow, with only a dmg of 15k.

To go to the main issue, I was considering making:

1) a ES/Vit/lightning sorceress with 20lite, 20cb, 20chain, 20telek, 1 es. With this setup, i have 75% absorb from es and an extra dmg increase from 20 to chain lightning synergy that i didnt have before on my Chargedboltress. Also, i would pump my life up to around 1.3k w/ BO. Would this increase in damage offset the less absorbption of ES?

OR

2) remake my ES/boltress with same setup and stat allocation as my last one, but with 3.5k+mana and the same 900 life. The reason i could remake this sorc is because i wasted around 50 on strength points that could go directly to my mana pool.


So my main question here is, is the Lightning from only 1 synergy (charged bolt) enough to kill, or is the more-damaging-ES/Vit/Lite sorc with chain lightning maxed and Es not maxed more worthy of my points?

Sorry if this is a little bit confusing but ill elaborate on it if you guys ask questions. Thanks!!

[brokensvt]

I recently built just what you describe for fun. I'm loving her. Gear went like this:

*Spirit crystal sword
*Spirit monarch
*Griff's
*GP Enigma(sex appeal, nothing more)
*Maras
*SoJ
*10% FCR/15 str/Resist all/Goldfind ring
*Arach
*Etreks(for MF duty, I would sub in Travs)
*Frosties(for MF duty, I would sub in Chancies)

*6BO Rune staff CTA on switch with +3 ES staffmod

You may question my use of Spirit rather than Hoto/Eschutas/Wiz/whatever. Basically, my goal was a great mana pool, great life, moderate MF, and the 142% FHR breakpoint. I know this is overkill, but I find it hilarious how quickly she escapes ANY danger. Currently she's level 90 and after BO has 1.4k life, 3k mana. She's at the 117% FCR and 142% FHR breakpoints. Her Lightning damage is 24k, Chain is 13k, CB is ~750 average damage. She uses four Lightning GC's with 25+ life and one with 12% FHR to reach the breakpoint.

I didn't invest a hard point in ES, so she's at[*ponders*] level 21 ES after BC, and does just fine.

Out of all of my Light sorcs(6 of them), this one seems to be my favorite so far. As I mentioned before she can truly escape any danger. To be completely honest, I find myself favoring CB to Lightning/Chain 99.9% of the time, even when "facing" mean packs(read: Fanat + Mana Burn + extra fast).

I think the gear setup you listed would be very nice. I would seriously consider the change to Spirit wep rather than Hoto, as the 100+ mana, 44 life, and 55 fhr are too juicy for me to pass up, and the resists from Hoto are unnecessary with an ES build. The only resist you need maxed is poison. Remember, the mana on Spirit is BO'able, whereas the % mana on Hoto isn't. The loss of a skillpoint to me in a non-issue for PvM duty, plus you already have Shako and so will have higher damage than my gal even with the "lost" skill point from Hoto.

EDIT: Oops, let me address your final question. In my opinion, maxed ES is wholely unnecessary with the +skills you have on gear, and you'll regret the loss of a synergy. This is based on my experience with the newest Sorc in my stable.

[Leohappy]

Here's the rough layout of my hugely successful pvm es/light sorc (now lvl 95 and rising):

Skills:
20 CB
20 light
20 CL
20TK
1 ES
1 Frozen armor
1 TS
1 Warmth


Stuff:
helm: griffons -24/+14
armor: enigma mp
weapon: hoto 39
amu: maras 29
belt: arachnid
gloves: frostburn
rings: 2x soj
boots: WT 49
shield: spirit monarch 34
switch: CTA 5CS+spirit

Inventory:
anni 12/20/10
torch 17/19
6x lightsk 25+
gheeds 40
5x 20life sc with second stat
5fhr/10fire res sc

merc:
infinity eth thresher
eth shaft upgraded with um
andy mask 10% ll with ral

The roundup @ lvl 95:

FCR: 119
FHR: 60
MF: 180+

LIFE w/bo: 1280
MANA w/bo: 3400
ES: 80%
DMG w/bc: 30560 lightning
RES: 72@ with 60 fire

This is a powerfull, all round sorc which can easily play in any area of the game. Chaos sanctuary is an exception because the merc dies too easily there.
I've never died with this sorc and it looks like i'm going to reach very high level with her as well.

[TraderJoes]

hm pretty nice builds you got there guys =D

just a question tho, i see you guys dont have 95es energy shields. As ive noticed with my chargedboltress, her Es didnt really start "absorbing" all or most of my dmg until recently when i got it up near 88% absorb. I'm sure if i continued it'd be a lot better absorbing my dmg so that my life bar wouldnt be harmed at all.

With the life/mana/es you guys have, do you still take some damage to life? cuz i really don't feel like depending on healing pots every game in order to stay above the halfway point in my life orb. with my new build, it would have 75% absorb, is that enough?

Oh btw, did you guys put all points into energy? cuz i really dont have enough space for any Lite lifers :P (need some room to pick up drops) i have like 4 colums of free space saved. and i really dont wanna waste unneccesary points either.

[brokensvt]

I take so little damage to life in normal play that it is insignificant. I keep an entire belt of Full Juv's and can't think of the last time I used one.

Another point is this: If your life bulb is 1500, 50% of it is alot more than 50% of 700. The point being that with sufficient life and mana, as well as balance between them, you'll be just fine with 75% ES.

You aren't building a 95% ES PvP max block sorc. Your ES is more a buffer between damage and life, rather than a way of negating all damage. I wouldn't dream of losing an entire damage synergy to buff ES for PvM. Trust me, with sufficient vita/energy investment you'll be fine.

[Leohappy]

With the life/mana/es you guys have, do you still take some damage to life?i take some damage, buut +14 life after kill from enigma takes care of it (consider it life leech for my light sorc)

95% es is useless for pvm, because you never quite take enough damage to make it viable - generally speaking, the damage taken is very low even with 80% es, and the only problem is mana burners

if you get burned, the es is sometimes cracked and you need to pull out to recast


Oh btw, did you guys put all points into energy? cuz i really dont have enough space for any Lite lifers :P (need some room to pick up drops) i have like 4 colums of free space saved. and i really dont wanna waste unneccesary points either.i've added about 100 points into vitality, the rest is energy

i only keep 4x2 slots in inventory so i can pick up any item - i find more unnecessary

[brokensvt]

I'm at basically the exact same setup as Leo above. ~100 points invested in vita, rest energy. 4x2 slots as well.

[TraderJoes]

hm alrite, i guess 75% absorb doesnt sound that bad

but is one extra synergy to lightning effective? because for my current boltress she has lightning and cb maxed which the lightning doesn't kill as fast in 8player games. by adding chain lightning, will that affect my dmg to an extent at which i can kill monsters in chaos/baal faster than i could before?

*her damage is 15k lightning

[Leohappy]

first of all, don't use charged bolts - they're funny but not that usefull (you may want to use them in wave1&2 in the throne room)

your main attack skill will be static field, followed by chain lightning to clear easier mobs, then lightning to clear the remaining tougher ones - you need to be able to switch among them with relative ease so good key placement is important

[TraderJoes]

alrite, got it =)

so my question still is left unanswered, should i move the 20 points i Would have put in ES to chain lightning as a synergy? (since its gonna be my second main attack)

and what life would you suggest i get up to for a 75% absorb ES

[Leohappy]

you take 1 ES and 20 CL

as for life? the actual amount will depend on your preference and the dmg you take with 75% ES
my guess is that it can't be significantly different over what i have (80) so you go for about 100 vit and rest energy
you also need to have a good cta

[Chasten]

Lightning without -resists and skill GCs isnt really good at all in 8 player games.

My mf light sorc:

20 lightning and all synergies except nova (still workin on it)
1 in all other useful skills

gear:
Shako + Ptopaz
Skulders + Ptopaz
spirit
occy
2x soj
arch
war travs
chances
+3 light skills ammy

Switch: cta/spirit

Invent:
1 light gc
gheeds
2x 5 all res sc
anni
torch
12x mf SCs

almost forgot merc lol
eth Infinity
eth fort
andys


Im at 450 Mf and doing 30k light.
1.5k life 1k mana

Depending on what you may be mfing on you may want to put in some dex for block, the shenk area is a pain for having range enemies.

[TraderJoes]

you take 1 ES and 20 CL

as for life? the actual amount will depend on your preference and the dmg you take with 75% ES
my guess is that it can't be significantly different over what i have (80) so you go for about 100 vit and rest energy
you also need to have a good cta

alrite, i just remade my sorc and still havent used one skill point yet (still deciding what i should do with them)

my life is at 1.1k with only gear on, and if i were to put all 419 stat points into energy, my mana would end up being 3.5k.

is that overkill on mana for 75% es?

[Leohappy]

i'd go with more life that's for sure

i recommend you don't distribute all attributes immediately, but leave like 100pts open and tweak the character to your needs as you go

[Marzuk]

Or just make your character as good as you can now, and rebuild if you feel like tweaking. If you are not making a significant effort to level past 90 its not too bad.

[Magos]

your main attack skill will be static field, followed by chain lightning to clear easier mobs, then lightning to clear the remaining tougher ones - you need to be able to switch among them with relative ease so good key placement is important


I've been playing this build since synergies were introduced. Seems its a bit of a flavour of the month at the moment.

This is the best post I've seen on a Lightning Sorc. A lot of folks, new to the build, seem to be getting blinded by the anything from 30-60k you can get with Lightning, but ignoring the fact you can pump out up to a HALF MILLION DPS with Chain Lightning. And its not just the damage numbers - it finds the mobs you can't see and is great for casting ahead to be ready for mobs.

For me CL is >> Lighting by far, for 95% of the game. In fact a lot of the time Static Field is slower than CL.

[TraderJoes]

I've been playing this build since synergies were introduced. Seems its a bit of a flavour of the month at the moment.

This is the best post I've seen on a Lightning Sorc. A lot of folks, new to the build, seem to be getting blinded by the anything from 30-60k you can get with Lightning, but ignoring the fact you can pump out up to a HALF MILLION DPS with Chain Lightning. And its not just the damage numbers - it finds the mobs you can't see and is great for casting ahead to be ready for mobs.

For me CL is >> Lighting by far, for 95% of the game. In fact a lot of the time Static Field is slower than CL.

Dang, very true though. Because i was running my own chaos games one day and my merc kept getting owned by IM while i was trying to snipe the oblivion knights from afar with lightning. THEN, i tried using chain lightning. Not only did the oblivion knights get taken down faster, but the rest of the group in front of them also fell really fast. And chain lightning really required no brain power, just fire at the closest enemy near you and it jumps to the others. The benefit of chain lightning doesn't end there either because i mean, it doesn't do horrible damage and when it jumps, it can nail one enemy multiple times in a matter of seconds. I've sort of come to use CL as more of a Main skill in chaos except when i meet those spectres i switch to Lightning to kill, because they have very high light resists.

[brokensvt]

Do a search on "4 frame penalty" and you'll find out that there are drawbacks to hitting the same enemy more than once in a given time frame, and why Lightning is superior when small groups are on the screen.

[Delreich]

Do a search on "4 frame penalty"

...or check the assassin FAQ (found through the "DiabloII.Net Links" drop down box up there) under the Q on NextDelay.
(Though there's no discussion on L/CL in particular there.)

[Magos]

Do a search on "4 frame penalty" and you'll find out that there are drawbacks to hitting the same enemy more than once in a given time frame, and why Lightning is superior when small groups are on the screen.

Yes mate, I understand that - I'm not criticizing Lightning at all. I'm highlighting the way CL seems to get overlooked a lot by folks new to the build.

Even given the penalties you mention, CL is still well worth using a lot of the time. You've even hit on one of its main strengths when you talk about mobs on the screen - it will bounce around, even off the screen, killing multiple mobs that you can't even see.

For me it really shines with Griffons and/or other neg resists happening - you can port straight into the middle of a large bunch of mobs and kill them before you've taken any damage. This reminds me a lot of playing Nova build with a Stormshield, before synergies were in the game, when you could port into the middle of a massive mob of Cows in 8 player Hell and pretty much insta kill them.

[Leohappy]

CL is very powerful when combined with static field
i have both skills set on mousewheel so i can quickly switch them around