Some help please

[Demmi]

I recently took a break from wow and purchased diablo. I have been reading the forums and made a pure cold blizzard sorc. I had a blast then i got to hell. I couldn't survive to save my life.

My questions are some general knowledge questions. I don't have much gear and doing nightmare runs just isn't finding me much of anything useful.

My second sorc i did a meteor / frozen orb build. I really dont like the way meteor casts so i use fireball. i can solo a bit better in hell but i don't have the best gear i dont have the fast clicking skill in groups to pick up the good stuff that drops.

Basically, i'd like to make a class with a spec that is easier to do in hell.

My gear off the top of my head is tal rasha's mask, belt, viperskin, occulus, lidless eye. I have a +skills pendant and just some crappy rings.

My merc is a defensive merc with Insight on a poleaxe or partizan w/e.

Anyways, if i should re-roll another class that would be easier for a noob let me know. Im kinda at a standstill in the game.

Thank you in advance.

[krischan]

A single element sorc like yours cannot solve hell mode on her own without teleporting beyond a lot of important points and you will probably have no chance against the hell Ancients (I've never seen a triple with no cold immune one) which you must defeat to reach Baal. That means you need the help of a party. Once you have access to a few key points, like the Ancient Tunnels (in the Forgotten City in act 2), Mephisto and Pindleskin, you can visit them to find useful items.

[Demmi]

well yah that's why i made a meteor/frozen orb sorc this time, she is level 86 but still having a difficult time in hell.

People keep telling me to make a summon necro and i can do hell naked.

btw is that the forgotten city or lost city?

[admante]

lost city, and yes summon necro is easy.

[TheOgre]

i dont know if this will help you, but this guide helped me ALOT when i first stared playing on the ladder.

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=422336

Hope this helps:smiley:

[Demmi]

i dont know if this will help you, but this guide helped me ALOT when i first stared playing on the ladder.

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=422336

Hope this helps


awesome thank u

[Mursilis]

My gear off the top of my head is tal rasha's mask, belt, viperskin, occulus, lidless eye. I have a +skills pendant and just some crappy rings.

Sounds like a fine set of equipment, you shouldn't need anything else to finish Hell for a meteorb. Where exactly in Hell are you getting stopped/having problems?

[Demmi]

well i get almost one shotted by everything. Im wondering if it's my stats i dont know for sure but anything resistant to frost i still have trouble with cause all the mobs walk right past my meteor by the time it lands.

[jozipper]

Can you list off exactly where you have points in your skills?

Also, meteor is more of a boss killing skill. You should probally be using fire ball on packs of monsters. If your merc has decent gear you can teleport him to a point where the baddies will mob him, then they'll stand still until the meteor strikes.

With that gear you have you should be able to get to hell meph. You can then moat trick him and just fire away until he dies. This is an easy way to build up some wealth and/or find some more gear for your chr until she is stronger.

On my meteor/orb I had about the same gear and I did just this ... except I carried a 4 ptopazed armor, a 3 p topaz helm, and milegbras (sp?) shield in my inventory. Once I had meph trapped, I would just switch out the gear for a huge mf boost.

[Mursilis]

I'm then guessing your resistances are very low or in the negatives. Probably want to shop decent rings/boots/gloves to compensate. Also jozipper is right, meteor is a boss killing or stationary target skill, not for mobs. Use fireball as your main attack along with frozen orb, monsters will drop alot quicker that way. Also, teleport is your friend. Use it to give yourself some breathing room and to reposition your mercenary when needed.

[RAZARKUTTER]

Wizard spike is cheap, and will help you cast your fireballs faster and really increases your resistances. That could help. Although I would prefer Occy for the +3 skills and the teleport out of danger if you get hit mod.

If you have some resistance issues you could try placing perfect gems of the appropriate type in a socketed shield. 4 P-Diamonds in a 4 os shield would greatly increase your resistances.
When using fireball to kill, fast cast rate is your friend, the faster you kill your enemies, the less damage they do to you...rings/amulets are a great way to get this.
+ skills are any casters best friend, the more you can get the better.
Stones of Jordan/Bul Kathos rings would really help you, but if you can't get them look for fast cast rate rings with resistance or life mods.

Charms that increase your resistances/life should really help as well.

Other then that some common strategy tips.

Frozen Orb, Fireball, Fireball, Frozen Orb, Fireball, fireball
Spam your spells in that order as fast as you can. Frozen Orb deals decent damage to many opponents, and slows them for a brief second, Fireball does much better damage and cast's much more quickly.

When monsters start crowding you back up with teleport and start spamming again.

Use your merc to shield you from archers/ranged attacks and to aggro melee monsters in close proximity of one another to catch the most monsters in blast radius of your fireballs.

Use narrow bottlenecks in geography to your advantage...if monsters are forced to come down one walk way (Arcane Sanctuary for example), use the area to force monsters to clump together allowing your fireballs to hit more monsters/casting.

Pay attention to immunities, if they are immune to one element don't bother using that element at all.

Make sure Merc has max resistances to keep him alive, as he helps keep you alive. If he dies go resurrect him. 50k is much cheaper then dieing and losing much more then that in money and experience.

Items that will help but are really costly and will need to be worked up to.
Infinity polearm for merc - will help break some immunities and make your spells do more damage to non-immunes
Chains of Honor armor for you - high resistances and +2 skills in addition to other cool mods.
Stone of Jordan X 2 - more mana and + skills, what's not to love?
Tal Rasha Amulet - with other Tal Rasha pieces it is very good

Also make sure you know which areas spawn certain immunities, or don't spawn immunities so you know where to run.

Hope that helps...just my 2 coppers worth.

[Demmi]

thank you, this is helping alot. I am doing hell tunnelz quite easily meph is owning. I can down andy in hell but she destroys my merc.

WHat is the moat trick, meph kills me everytime.

[krischan]

Lure Meph to the moat, then teleport to the other side and kill him from a safe distance. He will try to approach, even though he could attack you with his spells, but he is too stupid to run around the moat. Do the moat trick without a merc, as he is as stupid as Meph, so he will try to approach him as well which will trigger his spells.

[Bongstrocity]

You haven't mentioned what mercenary you have, that could possibly make or break you depending on what build you use and area you're running

[Demmi]

im using the defensive merc with insight from act2

i tried but i cant get through the council members...and meph was hitting me with lightning across the moat

[krischan]

im using the defensive merc with insight from act2

i tried but i cant get through the council members...and meph was hitting me with lightning across the moat

If you position your sorc here for the kill, you won't encounter the Councils and Bloodlords 3/4 of the time:

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9161/screenshot004sb2.jpg

Teleport to there from the bottom to check if the place is safe. Even if they notice you, if you have a Rising Sun amulet, you can have a bath in the hydras, firewalls and meteors, they will even heal you. Only the fireballs can become dangerous. If you can deal with the situation (pure cold sorcs will have a problem with bloodlords and cold immune Councils bosses), lure Meph to the place showed in the screenshot and kill him from there with you favourite long-range spell. Fireballs don't work very well, as most will miss and the range of FO is too small to hit him with the ball. Meteor, blizzard and firewall are excellent attacks.

Don't use a merc, he will stir up the monsters around and run towards Meph, who will attack him with his spells and kill him - or you if you are at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[BlargX]

What do you do with your merc then, just put him someplace and let him get killed?

How long is he available to rebuy, if you "downsize" him?

[Demmi]

that link to the picture doesnt work right

[Mursilis]

Yup, basically kill off the merc. You can resurrect him at any time, with all of his equipment. Personally I try not to close DII without my merc being alive.

[krischan]

that link to the picture doesnt work right

Argh, the typical cut and past problem when marking links with "..." in it. :rolleyes:

Now it works :wink3: