Bear Sorc Concept Build

[Jaquiezz]

This is well known as a forum that embraces different ideas, so I have one that is not so off the wall, but is definitely different.

The Damage To Mana Bear Sorc

I wanted to use Damage to Mana as the focus of an ES build, but couldn't really figure out where it would be useful, as most sorc's don't take huge amounts of damage or have huge mana regen. I needed a sorc that got in the fray and was swapping lots of damage for this to work, so I decided on a bear sorc, simply because I love shape shifters, and I don't like zeal sorc's.

Note that I haven't made that, I might at some point if I accrue some wealth after restarting, but not in the next couple months at least.

The main idea here is to use Damage goes to Mana items to keep an ES sorc's blue bulb full at all times. The only problem it seems is that the higher the level the ES, the less effective damage to mana gear is, a sort of diminishing returns, So a balance is needed. That balance is achieved by using low levels of ES (50%,67%,75% etc...) combined with a calculated amount of DTM (100%, 200%, 300% etc...). Based on the rarity of DTM, 300% and up is unachievable, while 200% is difficult, and 100% is not bad at all.

I am going to mix this in with my Physical Damage Thief Sorc, also a bear sorc, as their goals are extremely similar.

Gear:
Dream Tiara
Dream Grim Shield
Gris Caddy
Naj's Light Plate (Ith'd)
Angelic Ammy
Angelic Ring
Carrion Wind
Nightsmoke
Frostburns
Treks

This set up gets 140% DTM, 5 frame attack, stacked psn res, tons of light damage, and lots of other yummy stats. This coincides to a 58.33% ES, which is level 10.

Stats:
Strength for gear
Dex for gear
Life And Mana: With the above gear and ES, about a 2:1 ratio after gear such as frostburns and the bear bonus will do- you want extra life to ensure safety- if you hit mana burners, your shield collapses or you get hit with massive poison damage (vipers anyone?).

A Prayer Merc Wielding an insight would give massive regen for both life and mana, but is not integral to the build, yet would make it much stronger.

I might experiment with this char sometime in the future and then release a full fledged guide based on experiments.

Open to questions, comments and criticism.

[Nimbostratus]

Interesting idea. Though it'd be a good idea to list what skill setup you plan on using. It's probably easy to guess, but stating it can't hurt. Also, I'm assuming this is PvM, though you didn't specify that.

Stacked poison resist: I don't think stacking is really needed. The damage those vipers do is actually physical; their melee attack damage is added to the poison (each frame!), which is why the 'poison' is so powerful. To negate it, you need PDR, not poison resist.

Other resists: Don't ignore these. Pure ES sorces get away with it since they're only taking 5% damage anyway. You're taking ~40%.

[Jaquiezz]

Thanks Nimbo, I did this last night and I was half awake, I probably missed tons of stuff.

The resists I wasn't too worried about except poison, I just wanted 0 resists- other wise you would amplify the damage you take. If you have greater then 0 resists, you take less damage, thus less back to mana. So ~0 resists is good. I know this means you will be taking some damage, but most builds manage to go through hell without maxed resists, and the nature of this build is that you get a sort of 60% resist all through your ES.

If you use PDR/DR then you take less damage, which messes up the balance- DR is nice, but you have to compensate by having more DTM.

Some things I forgot last night:

Skills:

20 Light Mastery
20 Enchant
20 Warmth
20 TK
Rest in Fire Mastery

Items:

Prebuff: If you get your hands on a +3 enchant memory staff you get a prebuff staff that gives you +6 ES/+6 Enchant. If you manage to get a torch and anni, or use some +skills gear to prebuff your ES, you don't have to put a single point in ES. The base staff can be shopped in A2 Normal in about 15 minutes if your not unlucky, and the runes are extremely cheap. Throw this in your cube in your inv. to recast as needed.

Also, Beast...

TK:

Dumb of me, I just remembered TK and its effects, and how that would affect your DTM. I didn't take into account last night the .75 damage take to mana through TK, meaning one can have an even higher ES, or less DTM- I would go with the former, as ~60% ES just doesn't quite cut it, and the gear seems well balanced. I have to go, but when I get back I will post a formula for calculating your ES% based on your DTM and TK.

Keep em coming!!