FD Baal Sorc

[TheDarkSide]

So Im tired of Fd'ing Meph and Im making a new FD Baal Sorc .. I want to be able to Tele WSK , have some Pdr / Dr and absorb gear on , and kill the minions and Baal solo if needed .. Ill want max block and invest as little str as possible and as much Vitality as possible ..

Im going to use Glimmers very awesome Tk / Orb build but tweak it a bit and wonder what everyone thinks ..

I will max Orb , Tk , and Teleport .
17 in CM after + skills
10 in Energy Shield after + skills .
1 static , 1 warmth , 1 shiver armor and bump these with + skills

Thats 90 skillpoints and leaves me wondering what the hell am I going to do about a back up skill ? Any idears here ? On my Meph Fd'er Im putting the rest of my points into Thunderstorm but I think I'll need something more for WSK and Throne Room Killing .. Could I get away with Fireball or would it be too weak .. I would do Firewall but I hate that skill and its timered so I want a spammer . Or maybe Charged Bolt ??

I was planning on using the following items ..
hat - Shako (sol) - Blackhorns for Teleing through WSK
sheild - Gerkes or SS (sol) - leaning towards Gerkes
armor - Vipermagi (sol)
gloves - Magefists , or Trangs
boots - Walterwalks or Aldurs
weapon - Wizard Spike (cold facet)
belt - Thundergods
rings - Dwarfstar and Raven for the absorbs and extra Dex = more vitality
ammy - crappy rare I hope to find soon or Rising Sun ( all I have atm )

Merc will be Defiance with Reapers Toll , Treachery , and Tals mask / Andariels Gaze

Any and all advice will be accepted .. Thanks in advance ...

:wink2:

[McCain123]

The sorc looks pretty solid and will be quite a tank if you beef her up with some life charms.

90 skills = level 79
How far to you plan to bring her? I doubt, that a spammable spell will do the trick with 10-15 points invested in it. Maybe max CM for faster Baalkilling, as he has 50% res IIRC. Enchant could be useful for your merc to help kill the immunes. Other than that only the unwanted Firewall comes to mind.

Some advise considering the amu. Go for +2 sorc 5%frc as you will hit the 105% breakpoint.

Sol in armor and helm is OK, although I prefer shaels for decent hit recovery and I would definatly go for Um or PDiamond in Shield.

If you have access to a decent stat torch and anni, aswell as some life charms, go with Stormshield, Shako, Waterwalks and Magesfists. You´ll get a real tank with that, that is next to impossible to kill once BOed. Nevertheless as a single element sorc things can get annoing at times, when there are a lot of coldimmunes.

[TheDarkSide]

I imagine she would top out around 90 or so , my Baal MeteOrber on last ladder ended at 92 .

I'll get 110 % Fcr with Mages / Trangs 20% , Viper 30% , Wizzy 50% , 10 % fcr rare ring . I'll scrap the Ravenfrost idea - dont need it anyways ...

I probably will end up using the SS now that I think about it , but my Ninja's gonna be pissd that Im jacking her shield ... :rolleyes: She can use the Gerkes I suppose ...

I have some 12 FHR GC's and I'll go for 42 , or is it 46 ?

Still stumped on what other skill to use .. I guess I could go with Charged Bolt as a spammer . It does decent damage at level 1 + skills on my Meph FD'er .. If I did that should I drop a point into Lightning Mastery ? Or would it even matter ...

I have a few Torches at this point but no sorc ones yet and I havent seen an Anni since last ladder , but I have plenti of life charms ...

Decisions decisions !!!

:wave:

[MrKaxe]

Still stumped on what other skill to use .. I guess I could go with Charged Bolt as a spammer . It does decent damage at level 1 + skills on my Meph FD'er .. If I did that should I drop a point into Lightning Mastery ? Or would it even matter ...

I built a Charged Boltress last season with Frozen Orb and with max Lightning Mastery, Charged Bolt and Lightning the damage was great!
With the gear you have listed you will be able to get up close and personal with no fear due to your DR etc and as you know, that's where the dmg on CB shines but the thing is, how many points will you have left roughly to allocate dude? You need a fair few to make it a decent backup skill...at least CB 10-maxed and some (1-5) into LM but it will be tight...

[TheDarkSide]

the thing is, how many points will you have left roughly to allocate dude? You need a fair few to make it a decent backup skill...at least CB 10-maxed and some (1-5) into LM but it will be tight...

Good point there I'll probably have 11 levels to play with .. I guess I could gimp tele and tk to 15 each and see how that goes . I could then take CB to 15 and put 5 in LM ...


hmmmm ....

:undecided:

[MrKaxe]

That sounds like it could work quite well, as when i had basic gear with that sorc it was decent damage but when I upgraded a few things (torch, HotO, Shako instead of Peasant lol) the damage ouptut significantly increased...as it is a backup skill for you it could be sufficient on what point allocation and gear you outlined + torch...worth checking a skill calc...

[STINGER]

Max Teleport can be nice but it is very little return for the points especially when you can have lvl 12-17 Mediation with only 1 point in it and a few + skills.

i am sure you expect to be BOed with your Barb (someone has to make the game for FD) so energy for Teleport and actually all skills is a moot point.

Max Tele is for solo Sorcs.....

[MrKaxe]

Max Teleport can be nice but...

I thought he meant max Telekinesis...am i having a blonde moment?!

[McCain123]

Seeing your gear I guess you won´t end up with many +skills so the CB would probably be pretty weak. If you hit level 90 and have 11 points spare go for 10 in CB and 1 in LM.

I went with Ravenfrost just in case I would encounter some Conviction cold enchanted pack but with e-shield you should be fine without. Reducing teleport by a few points is OK, but don´t touch TK. I wrote a thread about that, see here (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=582044).

[Edit] Seeing that your merc doesn´t use Insight, better don´t touch Teleport aswell. It doesn´t hurt if you regenerate mana while teleing.

FHR BPs for sorcs are at 30%,42% and 60%

[MrKaxe]

Aha, guess it was a blonde moment but in my defense i have never, ever built a sorc around ES and it's synergies (before anyone reads that sentence as Teleport is a synergy to ES i know it's not...)so i figured he meant Telekinesis...in previous versions I used it as a one-point skill!

I've only maxed Teleport in older versions as well...didn't think it was worth it now as per the points STINGER raised...maybe the 20 points to max Teleport use into CB and LM?

[McCain123]

A second thought:
I know, Reapors is a great weapon, if you want your merc to stay alive, but for an eshield sorc Insight on the merc is really a great thing. With better mana regeneration you could reduce your teleport investment a little ( to maybe 10 points ) and actually end up with a workable CB of 20 points and 1 in LM.

[Edit] Did you plan to go max block?
100 str and 200+ dex will make you end up with arround 800 life ( sounds little but is actually quite OK ). In that case reducing the points in e-shield a little could be good aswell.
At level 10 59% damage is redirected to mana, add in 3 +skills from Shako and Viper and we talk about 65%. If you put a +2 amu and torch on top 73% would be overkill for base mana.

[Edit2] I can´t read. You wrote after +skills. Still a little high. :D

[STINGER]

With Bo and SHout you dont need all that extra crap and I know he will be using a Barb to make the games or he is stoned!!!!!!!

Anything more than 1 in Teleport is crazy and frankly i find little need to pump ES either. I have teled Baal countless times with mediocre to great gear and never had better than 1/1/17 tele/es/tk. If you have the Light Absorb and decent life there shouldnt be anything that is going to get you in (2) man games as long as the other good stuff is covered like FHR, Block...etc.

Its a "First Dropper" so MF is definetly an "add where it can be without losses" so you can easily deck her out to survive anything with BO especially if you add Oak from say a Natures.

Having a secondary Element is a bit over rated also......its a (2) man game and your merc with any reasonable weapon is going to kill immunes with whatever little help you can provide with TK or even a weapon switch like a Fire Staff for FW or something.

If you get a bad boss spawn pull him out of the room and move on.......or if all else fails hit a TP and bring in the Barb to kill it.......Make a 1 tree mudder Fin Tank Sorc and be done with it.

[TheDarkSide]

All good points .. Im stuck on that Reapers as a weapon though after giving my Meph Fd'ers merc one he stands there and lets Meph hack on him and doesnt budge whilst I whack Meph down with Orbs ... I know Baal's a bit tougher on mercs so I think Ill stick with reapers there .. Btw - is Baal leechable in hell , I forget - I know Meph isnt ...

:laugh:

Yes my barb will be making the game and providing Bo so Im not too worried about mana issues .. I guess I can gimp Teleport and use those skills on CB ..

Yea I'll be going max block with SS so its like 200 + dex investment . I'll get +20 str from Tgods too and hopefull I can gamble a nice + str rare ring with good mods .. So Im looking at a base str of around 130 ?? :sad2: I might have to use a few charms because Id hate to go over 100 base str ...

Ali + Rhyme on swap for Mf is all I'll be using and maybe a few charms ...

:thumbsup:

[MYK]

Socialism, I think, has been playing around with a dual elemental sorceress. I haven't bugged the man about it, so, maybe he'll let loose here when he gets a chance.

[MrKaxe]

My starting sorc this season is a Chain Lightning/Frozen Orb sorc and she's doing OK in Hell with rubbish gear...as said before in this thread i never build using ES/Block though, my sorcs are Base Dex/Max Vit/FHR which seems to suit my playstyle but maybe not yours TheDarkSide so i won't start posting her stas/skills/etc...see how you get on when you manifest your thoughts on your build into a toon...tried that skill calc yet to see if CB is worth it?!

[TheDarkSide]

tried that skill calc yet to see if CB is worth it?!

No but Im already level 38 and well into the build at this point .. Im going to leave teleport at 1 and bump with + skills and use those points in CB and LM ..

Im fairly sure it will work good enough , but was curious what the HC masses thought of it ..

I'll go check that calc now ...

:grin:

[MrKaxe]

Im fairly sure it will work good enough , but was curious what the HC masses thought of it ..


Yeah dude 'tis a good idea! Keep us posted on how it's going yeah? If it's worth a bit of ES i might start using it!

[TheDarkSide]

Well I cant find a skills calculator anywhere but I'll update this coming weekend when Im at higher levels ...

[MrKaxe]

Skill Calc (http://diablo2.ingame.de/spiel/skills/calc/index.php?lang=en)

Enjoy!

[TheDarkSide]

Ok I found that one but couldnt figure it out . Will look at it again ...

:sad2:

[STINGER]

Considering Meph is Act 3 and Baal is Act 5 frankly Meph is harder on mercs IMO. Andy is the worst, and the poison that comes from Andy and Meph is what makes them nasty on Mercs. I find that even poorly equipped mercs can do well vs Baal once their lvl and leech and resists are suitable. But vs Andy and Meph they will still die due to the degen.

[MrKaxe]

Skill Points Used: 74 (including pre-req)
Skill Points Left (to 99 including quest rewards): 36

Cold Skills

Frozen Orb
Cold Damage: 310 - 326 (ø318.5) (slvl 23)

Cold Mastery
-100% Enemy Cold Resistance (I put 14 in here as you have +3 to skills)

Lightning Skills

Charged Bolt
Lightning damage: 33 - 37 (ø35), Number of bolts: 24 (slvl 23)

Energy Shield
Duration: 864 Seconds (slvl 13)
Absorbs Damage: 65%
Absorb Multiplikator: 1.93 (?)
[Synergy] Telekinesis: +6.25% Absorb multiplier (6.25% / Lvl)

Lightning Mastery
Lightning damage: +86% (slvl 4)

Gives you a fair bit of room to play around with buffing the various skills you want to choose dude...just thought that might help! Again, i no nothing of ES and synergies...

[TheDarkSide]

Skill Points Used: 74 (including pre-req)
Skill Points Left (to 99 including quest rewards): 36

Cold Skills

Frozen Orb
Cold Damage: 310 - 326 (ø318.5) (slvl 23)

Cold Mastery
-100% Enemy Cold Resistance (I put 14 in here as you have +3 to skills)

Lightning Skills

Charged Bolt
Lightning damage: 33 - 37 (ø35), Number of bolts: 24 (slvl 23)

Energy Shield
Duration: 864 Seconds (slvl 13)
Absorbs Damage: 65%
Absorb Multiplikator: 1.93 (?)
[Synergy] Telekinesis: +6.25% Absorb multiplier (6.25% / Lvl)

Lightning Mastery
Lightning damage: +86% (slvl 4)

Gives you a fair bit of room to play around with buffing the various skills you want to choose dude...just thought that might help! Again, i no nothing of ES and synergies...

Very nice and thanks !!

Btw - I'm only going to put 2 or 3 hard points into energy shield which will get me to 55 % absorb at skill level 7 .. I know I can get at least +4 skills with this set up as I have a +1 sorc skills ammy .. Im hoping that I can find / gamble a nice +2 sorc ammy and have + 5 total skills though ..

SO - assuming I get +5 skills I'll have
level 25 FO - 20 base points
level 17 CM - 12 base points
level 25 CB - 20 base points
level 15 LM - 10 base poiints - maybe less , last one I'll max
level 25 TK - 20 base points
1 point in static (6) , 2 point ES (7) , 1 Shiver armor (6) , 1 point teleport (6)

So I think that about sums it up ..

[MYK]

Why ES at all?

If you get heavily taxed by the souls you won't be teleporting away too fast(Can't remember the teleport at level 6, but it's not that cheap)

You turn any hard hitting monster into something that's mana-burn wannabe - souls/ef es frenzy dudes/whatever.
Or maybe you're just way lucky and stuff.

[TheDarkSide]

(Can't remember the teleport at level 6, but it's not that cheap)



Its about 18 or 19 IIRC and I have close to 800 mana at this point with 35 % mana regen so its not going to be an issue I dont think ... Unless I run into a mana burner but then thats why they make blue pots ..

And why ES - just a little buffer really .. I could get away with not having it at all but I already have 23 points in TK so its a must at this point ...

:thumbsup:

edit - I was reading up on Eshield and confusing myself ... Have I gone over the prescribed points required in TK at level 23 ??

Q: What does telekinesis do for energy shield?
A: Energy shield takes 2 points of mana for every point of life it absorbs. Each point you spend in telekinesis reduces this by 0,0625 point. This means that after 16 points you’re only losing half the mana compared to zero points, or one mana per absorbed life. At 20 points you’re only losing 0,75 mana per absorbed hit point.

I cant remember if Im curently at level 23 Tk or if I actually remembered and stopped at 20 ..

[McCain123]

I hope you have not invested more than one point in e-shield yet, as level 6 would be more than enough. After playing arraound with my eshield sorc yesterday, I now would definatly advise to go with Insight on the merc, otherwise Souls will be annoying as hell, not damaging you much but leaving you with empty mana pool regularly.

I just played arround with the skill calculator and assuming level 90 ( 101 skills ) you could actually come up with some suitable damage numbers for Orb and CB.

1 Warmth

20 Frozen Orb
5 prequisits
12 Cold Mastery
1 Shiver Armor
1 prequisit

1 Static Field
20 Charged Bolt
20 Telekinesis
1 Teleport
1 Energy Shield
2 prequisits
16 Lightning Mastery

Only hard skill points in Telekinesis count, so just max this one out.

[TheDarkSide]

I hope you have not invested more than one point in e-shield yet,

Only hard skill points in Telekinesis count, so just max this one out.




Yep one point invested in ES so far , and I believe I stopped TK at 20 or right at it so I could read up on it again ....

THose skills look about like what I had planned too so looks good ...

Thanks for the info and helping me make up my mind ...

:thumbsup:

[MrKaxe]

Very nice and thanks !!

Btw - I'm only going to put 2 or 3 hard points into energy shield which will get me to 55 % absorb at skill level 7 .. I know I can get at least +4 skills with this set up as I have a +1 sorc skills ammy .. Im hoping that I can find / gamble a nice +2 sorc ammy and have + 5 total skills though ..

SO - assuming I get +5 skills I'll have
level 25 FO - 20 base points
level 17 CM - 12 base points
level 25 CB - 20 base points
level 15 LM - 10 base poiints - maybe less , last one I'll max
level 25 TK - 20 base points
1 point in static (6) , 2 point ES (7) , 1 Shiver armor (6) , 1 point teleport (6)

So I think that about sums it up ..

You're welcome dude, sounds solid...what level is she now? Or does your missus give you as much playtime as mine?! (not much!)

[TheDarkSide]

You're welcome dude, sounds solid...what level is she now? Or does your missus give you as much playtime as mine?! (not much!)

The Sorc is level 52 atm and about to take on the Big Green Lizard in NM ...

:grin:

[McCain123]

Just a sidenode, but I had a somewhat similar sorc like this on HC last ladder, using a barb on the second PC to give her BO. She was wearing complete Tal´s set, Stormshield, Waterwalks, Dwarf+Raven and was very workable aswell due to the bonusses in life and mana she received from Tal´s. She is still alive, so she was a quite safe build, but I can remember, that Souls were annoying, because they would drain a lot of mana and start to hurt if my eshield went down ( lack of Thundergods ).

[STINGER]

Souls are a non-issue except when in throne as traveling to Baal should be a "hammer down" tactic as any stopping just gives you a chance to be hit. Also, if you are going with the only MF being on switch then it may be simple for you to go to the next FCR BP and if you can do that and play hammer down nothing can touch you they simply cant attack fast enuff before you are gone barring lag. He will have TGods so the light damage is simply a "kiss" barring a boss and even a great deal of them will be nearly harmless. Remember its a (2) man game he will be playing, not (8) so the possibility of bad spawned bosses will be very rare and he is designed to handle them anyway. The only thing a NASTY boss Gloam will do to him is cost him a few pots.

Remember, we have played HC in 1.10+ before Insight existed. Hell I have NEVER teled Baal "with" an Insight on my merc but I have teled him a TOn in 8 player without so it is far from a must have item.

BTW bud, when porting Baal I never even consider using Blue pots (I take them but dont use them while porting), its purple or go home you dont ever want to try and heal thru MB with Blues as they are slow, you want instant mana and then instant GTFO of there.

[McCain123]

When wearing Thundergods Souls will hardly ever scratch your life. Agreed. But with e-shield on your mana is an issue.

50% damage reroutet to mana + mana drain + base mana = often collapsing e-shield.

This is not a big issue, as you will hardly need e-shield, but it can be a life-safer if some dolls popp to close, or some nasty blood lords get some swings in, that´s why I recommended Insight.

Of course the job can be done without, but it is easier and safer with Insight. :cool:

[Edit] When playing HC, there are only purples in my belt.

[xXxfunbobxXx]

hmm with gear that adds str i some times porefer to glitch it on with charms so actually u may only need 106 str in total using tgods and if u wanna make ur life easier try getting a -15% jewel with a good second mod such as dex str or resist i may have some laying around maybe not sure but i do have a 17 stat jewel if ur interested its like 9 dex 8 str iirc

[TheDarkSide]

Sorc is coming along nicely so far . I hate the charm Str bug and went ahead and went 121 base strength . With a +15 Str rare ring and Tgods belt Im at 156 Str already .

Hit level 62 tonight and got my Shako , 34 % Viperskins , Tgods , Waterwalks , Gerkes , +1 sorc ammy , and Wizzy equipped . So far I have +4 to all skills , 110 % Fcr , max block , max resists , 1300 life / 900 mana after Bo , 230 % Mf on Swap ..

My cold skills tree is complete 24 Orb and 17 CM ..
Lightning tree has Tk at level 20 , and everything else at level 5 after skills .

I may consider using an Insight for teleporting in Hell WSK until I can find or cube a few 50 + mana grand charms . I have a 30 and a 52 mana grand on atm and my mana somtimes runs out by the time I hit the throne room ..

My mercs currently using Black Leech Blade - nice CTC weaken on it .. He tanks the Nm Throne Room with some statics and a few well placed Frozen Orbs .. ..

Im Fd'ing Nm Baal for a few levels then I'll attack Hell mode around level 70 .

:grin:

[STINGER]

Your still low lvl, I am sure as you gain more and get to Act 5 Hell things will be a bit different. Besides, nothing wrong with a row of Blues, I always have a row of blues on sorcs.

[TheDarkSide]

Well I ate it tonight rushing someone through Hell at level 79 .. I was in the Plains of Despair looking for Izual and I hit my weapon swap on accident and some GLoams roasted me . I was able to loot myself though so Im not to worried ..

One thing I noticed was my last build had a hard time clearing Baals minions in hell .. The 2nd wave spawns with magic / cold immune mods and I was having to clear them with my Barb . And then bring Sorc back for the rest and Baal .

Which leads me to thinking of what Im going to do on the rebuild . Im highly considering scraping the TK / ES route and either going with a MeteOrb build or a full synergized Charged Bolt this time ...

[MrKaxe]

My sorc bit it as well dude (see the RIP section!) and on the remake i'm gonna switch back to nice, safe, boring but easy Meteorb on the rebuild! I have a Mal from Hellforge and i'm gonna get my Pala there and see if he gets lucky with an Ist and trade full Tals set for her against Mal+Ist...there was a guy doing it the other day which i missed out on!

Charged Bolt with max Light Mastery and Max Lightning is nice but it does require at least 8+ all skills to be killer, with 4-5 it's adequate...i spam FO between CB's and its a fresh alternative to popular builds but i just need items now so personally i'm gonna go back to cheezing it up!

Good luck on the rebuild!

dk

[TheDarkSide]

i just need items now so personally i'm gonna go back to cheezing it up!

Good luck on the rebuild!

dk

Sorry about the Deeds !!!

I was having fun with mine until I got to Baal runs - all of about 12 of them I did with her ... That second wave was a killer cause my Charged Bolt was not synergyzed and she was too low on + skills (+4 ) ...

:laugh:

Im thinking about cheezing it up with a Bliz Baller or a Mete Orber this time ... I prefer mass destruction compared to what I tried on this last one .. I haven't used Blizzard in a long time so Im leaning that way .. But then again Im stuck with wave two of the throne room CI .. I guess I might have to scrap the SS and go with a Spirit shield and either Occy or Spririt sword ...

I just love Wizard Spike so much that Iv'e gone without + skills on my weapon for so long Iv'e forgot what its like to have a + skills weapon on a sorc . I dont know what Im gonna do ...

:grin:

[STINGER]

If you kill the 2nd wave dudes fast the skellies are easy to take out by teleporting onto them with your Merc and using Static. It is even easier if you can get CBF on him then he cant be slowed and chews them up nicely.

Orb isnt a fast killer, it is nice on single targets, but it is always slow vs alot of targets.

Going without Es/Tk is probably going to be a bad move.

[TheDarkSide]

Going without Es/Tk is probably going to be a bad move.

Bahh I aint scared of no Gloams !! :shocked: Im remaking my new sorc a BLizz Baller .. Im currently level 42 and in act 2 Nm .. I haven't played a Blizzard sorc in a long time and having fun so far .. We'll see what happens once Hell mode arrives ...

:laugh:

[STINGER]

Es/TK isnt for Glaoms its for other things, TGods is for Gloams or 105 FCR or more pots or whatever.

Blizz is always my choice but I also like Glacial for control, it makes Pindle a breeze and makes him even easier to identify as CI....but you arent running Pindle.

[TheDarkSide]

Yea Stinger - I was just mocking the bastards for killing my last sorc !!

Who says I aint running Pindle ?? I'll run a lot of bosses with this new sorc - Baal , Pindle , Meph , Shenk , Andy , Summoner , Countess !!!

Btw - I need at least a 10 % FCR amulet - can I get + sorc skills on a crafted caster amulet ? Or am I doomed to gambling or hoping I find one

[McCain123]

If you have a char level 93, you can craft caster amulets with a good chance to get 2 sorc skills and 5-20% fcr. If you go with a lower level for crafting you could at least hope for 2 cold +fcr.

[TheDarkSide]

If you have a char level 93, you can craft caster amulets with a good chance to get 2 sorc skills and 5-20% fcr. If you go with a lower level for crafting you could at least hope for 2 cold +fcr.

hmm ok - I think my necro is 89 - might have to level him a few more times ...

:thumbsup:

[McCain123]

Don´t know how much you are in crafting, but generally you gamble the amus yourself and need to hit ilvl 90 on the crafted amu for best results, so with self gambled your odds to get an ilvl 90 crafted amu ( needed for +2 sorc ) are
at char level 93 -> 100%
at char level 92 -> 90%
at char level 91 -> 70%
at char level 90 -> 50%
at char level 89 -> 30%

If you use amus you find at Hell Baal/Nihla/Dia you get away with a lower char level.

Char level 82 for Baal amus and char level 86 for Nihla and Dia for 100% chances.

Good luck crafting.

[STINGER]

Fire and Cold absorbs are nice but can be done without especially the raven. In your crafting/Mfin/gambling a FCR/Dex Ring could solve your issues and that could be a blue ring!

[AgentMarth]

I highly recommend Blizz/TK. It is a build I saw Socialism and Tai- using, so I decided to try it out. It completely beats out Orb in all ways.

Basically its:

20 Tk
1 ES*
20 Blizzard
20 G Spike
20 IB
~10 CM
1 Warmth
1 Armor
Pre-req's

I went with a +9 es staff on switch to save the pre-reqs for ES, but if you want the MF switch, you may have to spend the points.

IMO, you don't need a second element for Baal running as long as you have a decent Merc setup. Mine uses Duriel's/Tal's atm, both IAS'd, and Insight as he is a Prayer merc (gogo regen!). The only tough part is wave 2, which Static and a nice Merc take down fine, and then the OK's.

One of the major benefits of this build, it having a good G Spike. It is so much safer being able to freeze a whole pack of monsters. Frozen monsters means they cant attack, and when its maxed, it actually has nice damage and a decent freeze length.

Her gear is pretty basic : Nightwing's (could be Shako easily enough) Occy 15 res jewel's (ctc deeds!) Viper (Love), Up'd Eld'd Visc (Nice block/ skill), Bloodfist/Chancies (MF!) Goldwrap/Snowclash (Could use Tgods) 2 rare rings (1 FCR, other Mana) Cow kings boots (MF and ain't got much else, would like WW's or Travs) +1 Sorc 54 life ammy with res, +9 ES staff on switch, and 12/14 S torch. You can switch your gear out accordingly, but the skills are whats important. I keep the Bloodfist/Snowclach in stash for bigger games were I could use a bit more safety and damage.

Her kill speed compared to Orb is insane, I believe I am at almost 4k Blizzard, with a level 18 or so CM. Anything not CI goes down fast, and she is quite safe. I just filled her inventory with life/mana charms. Once BO'd she has ~1.1k mana and ~2k life IIRC. Hard to check since i'm currently at work.

It may be a bit late to try her out, but I highly recommend this build. Having one element isn't really that bad, I don't think I will ever do a duel tree sorc again. Investing a bit in another skill to help kill cuts down on your main attack and safety, and basically doesn't help to kill much fast then having a good Merc IMO. It's HC, i'd take the safety of TK/ES over a second element anyday, they way I look at it is that the second element will be pointless when dead.

[STINGER]

How you manage a +9 ES staff? Its probably obvious but its not coming to me.

[Tai.]

Memory with inherent +3 to eshield i think

[AgentMarth]

^Correct, its Memory

Or you can use the ghetto version, the Warpspear (I believe thats it) unique staff. Or if you are lucky to get a +3 Light +3 ES orb with Lidless/Spirit, but its still not as high, but you have a easier time switching it out for something else if need be.

The best is the ever fabled CTA in a ES/C Armor Archon staff. *drools*

[TheDarkSide]

Well I wanted a little bit more so Im making a Blizz Baller sorc . Hit level 71 last night and stepped into Hell act 1 and cruising right along . Im in a bit of a delema though . I want to use Occulus for the +3 skills but realise I cannot get to the 105 FCR break with this weapon and the other items I'm planning to use . I come up just short at 90 % ... I really need to find / craft / buy a 20 % Fcr sorc amulet .. With Occy I have + 7 skills - without IM only geting +4 so its quite a difference ...

:sad2:

[MrKaxe]

If you feel brave enought to tele without Thundergods in the WSK dude then craft a FCR belt, i swear by them!
The other day, i showed a mate of mine how to craft (he's SP and plays for leisure with what he finds so no twinking, crafting etc) as he was curious and my example turned out to be great! It was something like 5% FCR (lucky that was all that was needed for my bp's as it is the lowest roll), 10% FHR, Fire Res 24%, Cold Res 2x%, the normal pre-set +mana and regen mods were decent but it had 60 to life! Well worth it if you roll one with good mods and 10% FCR...

EDIT: Just read some comments in the Paladin forum about how crafted caster belts are considered 'budget'...Arach's must be rampant in SC then or people just don't see the magic!!

[Tai.]

Well dave, you could use Eschuta's if you're only interested in the Skills, it'll only add another 10 fcr but should be easier to find a sorc skills 10 fcr ammy than a 20

Cheers
-Tai

[McCain123]

Well dave, you could use Eschuta's if you're only interested in the Skills, it'll only add another 10 fcr but should be easier to find a sorc skills 10 fcr ammy than a 20

Cheers
-Tai


It definatly will be. Don´t expect more then 2 sorc 10 fcr, otherwise you will have to craft a lot. From my 300 crafts last ladder only one had 20% fcr and that only had +1 lightning.

[STINGER]

Its the rings.....

for max cast rate its much easier to do it with the rings, its easy to get 20 FCR on rings and you can usually add some really nice stats with them.

Raven and Dwarfs are nice but they are not must have items.

Besides, the max FCr isnt needed until you actually start running Baal, and I WARN you that if you push this little sorc to Baal and start running him at a low level you may waste your time.


Wizzy
Viper
10 FCR
TGods
Magis or Trangs

Exactly what I used doing Baals and I also used a Natures for Oak and a Whitstans. Walks, Shako, Ammy or choice.


BTW, if you do decide to do some crafting you might even consider a Safty amulet.....10% more block can be nice!


Sure +4-5 more in All skills is a big difference, but I am here to tell you that in a (2) man game you are going to kill the stuff just fine even with no +skills so dont worry about it.

[TheDarkSide]

Good advice again everyone and thanks ... I managed to gamble a 10 % Fcr / 30 Cold Resists ammy (no + skills though ) and I equipped two 10 % Fcr rings . These along with Viperskin and Magefist I am now using Occulus at 105 % fcr . :jig:

Me and my friend Dave are running Hell Baals . He has a Summoner and a Chanter and I have the Sorc and a Barb bo'er .. Hence why I wanted the extra skills from Occulus - 4 man game makes it a bit toughter with only +4 skills .. I still only have +6 skills but hoping to find / gamble / or craft a +2 amulet w/ 10 % fcr ... Im not into crafting all that much so Im probably just gonna gamble till I find one ..

Id really like to find the elusive VEX roon again so I can make a Hoto .. Im kicking myself in the arse for using that Vex I found to make a Death Phase blade .. Been trying all week to trade that Death PB for a Vex roon and no ones interested because its not in a godley Eth Zerker Axe ..

[Tai.]

Warned ya... :)

I'll probably be on a bit over the next few weeks Dave so anything I can help ya with lemme know

[TheDarkSide]

So what's the optimal merc setup for soloing Baal considering I dont have Infinity and probably never will .. I cant get him to hold still and his mana drain skill has me drinking all my purples before he dies .

Iv'e tried several combos on my merc so far and none of them seems to shine .. It seems I'm dependant upon Insight on this sorc .

setup 1 ) Obediance Cryptic Axe / Tals Mask / Shaft - works good but my mana runs out too fast

setup 2 ) Insight Thresher / Guilames / Shaft - works better on Baal but merc dont have life leech and dies all the time against the minions ..

setup 3 ) Insight Thresher / Duriels Shell / Tals mask - seems to be the best setup for minions but No crushing blow and takes forever to kill Baal ...

setup 4 ) Im thinking about making another Duress if I can find an UM and try that along with Tals mask and the Insight thresher ...

:undecided:

[AgentMarth]

Setup 4 looks the best.

I'm a fan of Insight, even moreso on a Prayer Merc, so that almost a given for me. So I tend to go with setup 3. It just doesn't have any CB. You want a few thing, Leech, Res, CB, CBF and DR% if possible.

So a good choice is Duress, and Gaze (If only you could Cham it easy, sigh). With that you get DR, Leech, Res and CB. You do miss out on CBF though, but if you don't need your Merc to kill much, ain't to much an issue.

One thing though, I use a CS Zon for FDing Baal, the major thing that makes kill Baal a cakewalk (other than CS itself) is Kelpie Snare. Once he gets poked and slowed, hes nothing. and then you can even take your time with no worries.

[STINGER]

Try Kelpie Snare if the you cant get the decrep triggers on him yet, the 75% slow is very strong vs any boss he just doesnt kill as well.

Obediance is fine, but he may be at a low enuff lvl that he jsut isnt hitting enuff and you have no slow working for you so you are both getting alot of pressure that you dont have to have.

Hell, I would put a Kelpie on any MF Merc and leave it forever........ An Eth Upped one really rocks. That 75% slow is "Slows Target By 75%", I dont even think he has to be hit, I think all he has to do is attack and miss or hit for it to trigger. Try it out......

What lvl are you and your merc right now anyway? Almost no Merc is strong vs Baal without being pretty high lvl or having things to slow him down.


Mana Drain from Baal.......With Blizzard he should only get ONE chance to drain you and that is when you static him. With Blizz you can stay out of his mana drain range, and with a slowing mod he shouldnt move much and if he does just re-establish your range.

Make sure when you port in to Static, to try and "walk" away to range so the merc can stay on him. If you port to range you pull the merc and give him a chance to start knocking him back and keeping him off him and ending the slow.

[Tai.]

Shaft as a merc Armor on Baal is silly, so discount that right away.

Anyway, I currently use Eth 11% CoT/Eth Upped Dury's/Eth Insight Thresher and he seems to do just fine, sure he isn't ridiculously fast kill on Baal, but that's why I have a Blizz Sorc she can kill him fast enough and if Merc gets the last hit thats cool too.

Are you using your second copy to BO? I'm sure you mentioned this but I'm lazy. If so, the Insight can very easily be overkill, but more importantly it means your Merc can tank Baal that much easier and you only need to worry about Baal being annoying and chaining blue mana burn spells on you. Just stand right between him and a wall and you're golden.

Cheers
-Tai

[McCain123]

I just played arround with the skill calculator and assuming level 90 ( 101 skills ) you could actually come up with some suitable damage numbers for Orb and CB.

1 Warmth

20 Frozen Orb
5 prequisits
12 Cold Mastery
1 Shiver Armor
1 prequisit

1 Static Field
20 Charged Bolt
20 Telekinesis
1 Teleport
1 Energy Shield
2 prequisits
16 Lightning Mastery


I started to build a sorc like that, except I maxed Cold Mastery and will just put as much into Lightning Mastery as I can afford. She is a lot of fun so far being level 77 and doing nm Baals. Once I hit lvl 80, I should have the gear to go for Hell Mephi, where I will spend my time until I have all the gear necessary for Hell Baals.

[STINGER]

CM for ORB can be done at a low number very well. I am sure your build will do fine but i think I would of went for 100% with +skills and put the rest into Lightning.

PDR is over rated..... Almost nothing is Physical only IIRC. I seem to recall with 1.10 basically everything brings element damages.

Whats an A2 Mercs rez at 85? isnt like 60 all or so, maybe less. A2 mercs need resists to live thru Baal far more than PDR.

[TheDarkSide]

Im guessing it was the level difference that was holding Vikhayat back . Hes now level 84 and equiped with Andariels Gaze , Duriels Shell , and the Insight Thresher and is doing much better .

I can now begin putting the rest of my points into Cold Mastery and hope I get 7 more levels to hit 17 . Im still using the crappy blue 30 CR / 10 Fcr ammy ..

:thumbsup:

[STINGER]

Take an extra ammy with ya....plain old +2 blue when you get to Baal....no need for 105 FCR vs him, only for porting.

[McCain123]

I couldn´t wait to start hell with my sorc at level 78 and made my way to Mephisto. She became level 80 in that process and has started to run Mephi yesterday without much success yet. Her merc can tank Mephi pretty well although his res is in the low 60ies, but having that sweet wand with Life Tap charges on switch makes the difference.

Her stats:
almost 1.7 k life ( after level 30 BO from barb )
750 mana ( after level 30 BO from barb )
level 4 e-shield ( including 1 level from BC from barb )
res at 75/74/75/74
33% fcr
55% fhr
no block
about 200 saved stats to fix the last
slightly above 100% mf

She has a lot of room for improvement should I find the gear for that, but is doing well against Mephi.