lack of mana!!

[immortalballa]

well everyone keeps telling me not to put any points in energy, so my mana is like 65, and i have 1 skill point in warmth. its getting very annoying, since i have to keep tping to town or drinking tons of potions to restore mana. any tips??

[MinusDII]

If you can, get an act 2 merc and give him insight runeword. All the mana you'll ever need.

[yetidiah]

gain more levels, all sorcs (except ES variants) will have mana problems until the mid 50's unless they get insight, if all else fails, just socket armors with saphires or tir runes (or a combination of each)

[sirpoopsalot]

Another solution that everyone likes to overlook because they're hung up on +skills:

Wizardspike
Bone Knife
One-Hand Damage: 23 to 49
Required Dexterity: 75
Required Strength: 38
Required Level: 61
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xb3b646a5
Regenerate Mana 15%
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
+2 to Mana (Based on Character Level) <--- +130 for you
All Resistances +75
50% Faster Cast Rate
Indestructible

The resists and FCR are obviously very tasty too.

[AgentMarth]

Another solution, is my favorite,

Charms

You can get up to i believe 57 mana on a GC. Now those may not be to common, but getting a few 30 or so ones helps out alot. My Sorc'ies tend to get most all there mana from GC's.

Also remember, even with Insight, if you mana is low, like under 200, it will still regenerate slow. So you want to boost your mana pool as well.

[Pfft]

Personally, I like to ignore the advice of extremist-perfectionists. As long as the build is hell viable with points into energy, I'll choose a more fun and fluid game over a few measly points in vitality.

[onomastikon]

I think you people should keep in mind that the poster is probably a newcomer and low lever. You are recommending level 87 items to him that people like us cannot find. (I'm level 50 now and never seen a decent unique or good item.) Insight isnt totally easy to come by. (And it's ladder only, I think.)

I had the same problem. It got better after level 30 (when my masteries suddenly made my spells much more effective and more mana accumulation anyhow) and much better around 45.

I'd suggest the following, even if it's non-standard and un-cookie-cutter:
- find some gear with +mana and +mana after kills. I've found "damage to mana" items not to be worth it for me. One person suggested Tir runes or Sapphires, that is ok too.
- A relatively cheap rune word is "rhyme", which is awesome for a shield if you wield orbs. I am pretty sure it has mana regeneration too, in addition to fine resists.
- Another relatively cheap one is "lore", for helms, which really helps effectivity I've found. Makes almost everything more cheap, at least a little bit.
- putting a few points into Energy is what I did. I find I dont need to anymore, but I put about 15 into energy during the early levels because I was sick of running into town for pots and slurping during and after every battle. I dont care if these points will be "wasted" later, it helped me when I needed it. I will never be God of D2 anyhow, so why cry over a few points?

Hope that helps

[Borje]

Well, for a low level play you will have a (somewhat) hard time with mana, until your in your uper 30s or so. Insight is a very nice way to solve the probs, how to find the runes?

Ral + Tir + Tal + Sol: Tir runes are very easy to find, they drop pretty often and should not be to hard to find. Ral and Tal runes can either be found by running normal Countess (WP to black march in act1, level 5 tower cellar) or by rescuing the barbarian in quest 2, act 5. The Sol rune is the one that will be a bit tricky because it can not be droped by the normal countess. You will have to run NM Countess a few times to find one. Another way to do this is get three Perfect Gems, make a game in B.net named "N Sol O 3 pgems" and you will most likely get one in a few minutes. Well, since this is ladder only I presume you play B.net, if you play SP (in which case Ladder Only runewords also work) this method will not work. Good luck!

As stated before, Saphires in Helm/armour and Tir runes anywhere will help you quite a bit.

But basicly this is the way it is: from lvl 40 it will go pretty smooth most ppl simply stand the fact that you need to drink a lot of potions to manage until you get up in lvl. the reason is this will make your build better when in higher lvl, if you can't stand it put points in nrg. But my advice is: try to get by!

[Alc]

If you're intending to give up on this character before the end of hell difficulty, then sure - points in energy will help you now and you won't miss them later. If you're planning to play the game to a high level, though, putting up with pots now will pay dividends later, because hell's hard enough without missing 15+ points in vita, or lacking str or dex for equips.

If this is your first sorc, though, you might just want to experiment with skills (and trees) to see which you like - in which case, throw points wherever you feel like and build a "real" character later.

[iomanip]

for lower lvls:

frostburn +40% mana
magefist +25% mana reg
spirit +mana
stealth (Tal + Eth) +15% mana reg (+other nice mods)
1 pt warmth

SoJs? lvl 29 req; +25% mana


should do it? besides, theres no sin to drink potions from time to time. Also, teleporting before higher lvls/+skills equipment drains the blue bubble pretty fast. I personally like to use teleport as soon as i get it, but what about... running??

hmm.. dont agree with previous post though. 15 pts in energy is ok in my book, 30 extra hp (from 15 vit, before BO ofc) wont is not do or die according to me.. seriously guys, do you notice the difference?

peace!
/iomanip

[Cast_Raider]

Frostburn gloves + wizardspike dagger will just about solve any mana issues you have. Plus wizzy has the gigantic 75% resist all, which frees up your armor and helm--you can now wear gemmed armor if need be. It frees up your charm space, so now you can use + skill charms instead of resist charms. Forget about +skills, you won't miss it. Especially if your're using a skill that benefits from fast cast, like fireball. Who cares if you're doing 10% less damage per shot, if you're spitting out shots 50% faster?

And these are both cheap items too, you can trade for them with perfect gems. If you don't have perfect gems, then play act 1 NM until you do. The only thing that will maybe drain you is repeated teleporting. Honestly, with these two items and a semi-decent cheap shield, you will be able to just about breeze through NM with no other gear. Also check every blue ring and amulet you see. I just found a +115 mana ring in NM cows. With frostburns on, that becomes 161 mana.

Then of course the insight runeword, it's simply amazing for such common runes. I recently started my first ladder sorc, and it's a refreshing change to not carry blue potions any more. If you aren't playing ladder...well, you should be. Althought there are many ladder-only formulas, items, and runewords that are great, this one item alone makes it worth it, imo.

[Alc]

hmm.. dont agree with previous post though. 15 pts in energy is ok in my book, 30 extra hp (from 15 vit, before BO ofc) wont is not do or die according to me.. seriously guys, do you notice the difference?

peace!
/iomanipWell, touche - would your high lvl char ever notice the gain from adding to mana? It's about whether you're spending for low level ease or high level ease. Has your >lvl90 sorc ever had health <30? I know mine have, from time to time. If I'd invested 15 points in energy, I might have died. Ok, I'm not playing hardcore, but it's still a pain in the *** and I'd certainly rather NOT die, and if the question is whether I'd rather have more life or more mana... not much contest.

Different for ES sorcs, of course, but I can't speak from experience there.

[sirpoopsalot]

I think you people should keep in mind that the poster is probably a newcomer and low lever. You are recommending level 87 items to him that people like us cannot find.

Wizardspike can be dropped by Nightmare Baal - it's not exactly uncommon.

[BlargX]

Dunno what level the original poster is at, but I'm finding and using life leech staves on Anya in Act 1 that are letting me do a LOT of my very new meteorb sorc's killing just by meleeing. I also found an eagle orb I put some gems into for increasing damage, and several bows with sockets have dropped for my merc which I can add elemental damage to, also.

If you are at the level to do lower kurast, lots of charms drop there, and you will also accumulate gems there for trading, or socketing your/your merc's items with. And rares for selling, to keep you in potions.

I think the cold tree is really valuable for saving mana, because freezing things lets me melee them down without much danger at all. Even a pretty poor life leech weapon added to freezing enemies with my spells and having my cold rogue freeze them with her arrows means I rarely have mana problems.

[iomanip]

Well, touche - would your high lvl char ever notice the gain from adding to mana? It's about whether you're spending for low level ease or high level ease. Has your >lvl90 sorc ever had health <30? I know mine have, from time to time. If I'd invested 15 points in energy, I might have died. Ok, I'm not playing hardcore, but it's still a pain in the *** and I'd certainly rather NOT die, and if the question is whether I'd rather have more life or more mana... not much contest.

What i meant was that i'd rather have a (IMO) fun/easier way to higher lvls than be totally dependant on rushes/leeching(/potions) because of no energy at lower lvls. I can agree that my builds arent in any way perfect, but personally, i hate building a char that cant equip properly until its lvl 75 because you need the stats from torch to get the str to wear your equipment... I know this is not exactly the same as putting no points in energy, but then again, i think its more fun to be able to quest on your own, without gulping a potion after every second spell i cast. But again, thats me, call me lazy or not dedicated if you wish...

And no, i rarely die, even though i think i may have spent up to 25 points in energy on my lite sorc. Just get a higher lvl CtA ;)


peace!

[Deitti]

i agree with the poster above. my first sorceress i ever made was total failure statwise, 100 base points in Energy. yet now when she is in hell, she has no problem surviving there. sure i can't take THAT many hits, but sorcs in general can't, so it's mostly all the same :P i do sometimes wish that i had put the energy points into vitality, but all the situations ive died in currently, wouldn't have changed at all even if i had have more HP.

so IMO, unless a person is planning the character to be one of the top20 duelers in the world of diablo2, 15 or so points in energy won't make any difference.

[BlargX]

Getting a very young sorceress so she doesn't use much mana is pretty easy if you put a point in frost nova and/or get a cold rogue. Melee is so good at that point, and a little life leech or life regeneration off of slowed or frozen monsters pretty much rules Act 1. Just put all your points in strength for a while until you can wear good armor, and that will up your attack, too. Also, if you can loot or buy something that adds a point or two in frost armor, you get a nice survivability aid. Eagle orbs often have nice bonuses like that. I got one and used a life leech short staff with some bonuses to fire bolt and did very well. Also, you can often loot or buy a short staff with bonuses to warmth. Switch to it while picking up loot or running to new areas.

If you want to twink a little with a sorceress too, a little will go a very long way. Sigon's of course is tremendous, and the Arctic Gear set is wearable even young and with less stiff strength requirements. Starting at about level 9 you can add charms if you like, and virtually anything at all is a big boon.