Help with sorc for a newb

[Doomdevil]

Ok so my older brother is giving me his mule accounts which has every item cept for a few.

What is the best build (skill wise) for a sorc to do a lot of MF in hell with at least 500% mf for i think it is 246% chance for uniques. Or so i am told,

Also what would be the best for stat points, thanks much in advance for your help and response

I havent played in diablo in a long time so any help would you could provide would be great. But i ultimatly want do be able to MF in hell with no probs with dmg or res or % to mf. So i needs help

[Benalishhero]

I would start here:

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=254070


http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=127669

[sirpoopsalot]

Meteor = very good choice, but I still prefer...

Pure-blizzard sorceress:
<there's a very good guide in the 'Guides & Knowledge Library' thread, but it basically boils down to:>


Skills:
1 point: Teleport, Static Field, prereqs
20 Blizzard
~10 Cold Mastery
20 Blizzard Synergies
remaining points back into Cold Mastery

Stats:
Str: 156 with equipment
Dex: none
Ene: none
Vit: Everything else

Equipment:
- anything with +skills
- try to get a minimum total of 63 Faster Cast Rate (105 FCR is preferred)
- Spirit monarch shield/no-block
- Insight-wielding Act2 merc
- whatever else; you're not totally item-dependant

Strategy:
- You can MF three targets very, very well: Mephisto, Pindleskin, and Ancient Tunnels - focus on these (combined, they can drop almost every item in the game)
- Teleport past all cold-immune monsters you face (hence the previous recommendation for some decent FCR equipment and an Insight merc)
- Use Glacial Spike to help with crowd control
- if you want to fight a Cold-Immune monster, use static field, telekinesis, and your merc to take him down (it's easier if you can isolate the monster so that you and the merc are only facing one monster at a time).
- the build will start off a little slow (like most sorcs) if you don't have good equipment to help a starter; stick with it.

[Doomdevil]

won't i get owned in hell with the cold immune monsters with just pure cold?

[sirpoopsalot]

don't even try to fight them 98% of the time.


- Teleport past all cold-immune monsters you face (hence the previous recommendation for some decent FCR equipment and an Insight merc)

<and>

- if you want to fight a Cold-Immune monster, use static field, telekinesis, and your merc to take him down (it's easier if you can isolate the monster so that you and the merc are only facing one monster at a time).


The only ones you'll "need" to fight are:

1) zombies when doing the Den of Evil quest in Hell (but those guys are slow, use teleport to lead them away one at a time and let the merc kill them)

2) possibly some when doing the Radament quest in Act2 (same thing)

3) Oblivion Knights in Chaos Sanctuary and WSK (kill their non-FI minions first, then teleport on top of them so they cast Decrepify instead of IM, then use Telekinesis to pin them against a wall while the merc kills them.)

[Doomdevil]

i guess, what if i wanted to kill hell baal and diablo for all the runes and really elite items like windforce and grandfather

[sirpoopsalot]

Baal & Diablo aren't cold immune - you'll have no problem killing them. :neener: However, I understand your point was more in reference to getting to them quickly and safely.

That is indeed something of a problem, and if you're looking for Baal/Diablo runs, a more versatile build might be a better fit. But:

ALL of the items that Baal & Diablo can drop can be dropped in Ancient Tunnels, and it's very, very fast and safe with a blizzsorc. Pindleskin & Meph (combined) can also drop ALL of the items that Baal and Diablo can drop too (except for Tyrael's Might, which is pretty much useless anyways)... and those three are generally safer to run (therefore you can have more focus on MF and killpower, and less on survivability).

Also, fyi, someone in the single player forum took a blizzsorc all the way to level99 on Baal runs (it was tweety or grogs; can't remember which). For fighting CI monsters he used a 2xHel'ed Bonehew on weapon switch (corpse explosion charges). There are less cold immunes in CS, so Baal & Diablo runs can definitely be done with a little patience and skill.

BTW, Diablo himself can't drop Windforce or Grandfather, or any other TC87 for that matter - he's capped at TC84 items, just like Meph is capped at TC78 items.



... that said, if you want to focus on a 'go-MF-anywhere-you-please' build, then a dual-element sorc is probably a better fit for your plans. The Blizzsorc is hard to beat on some very good, but very specific, targets though.

[Davio]

I use meteorb with the following strategies:

Andariel: I just tele on top of her and fireball her to death, takes about 5 hits or 4 seconds
Countess: She is cold/fire immune, so I kill the rogues around her and let my merc, which is also lvl 93, kill her in about 5 seconds
Summoner: Tele on top, fireball, 3 seconds
Meph: Tele to him, orb once to slow him down, static 5 times to cut his health in half, let my merc tank him, meteor from safe distance, 10 seconds tops

Sometimes I do pits.

I must tell you, for all my strategies, it really helps a lot to have a merc who can tank/kill.


Oh, in reply to previous post: All the oblivion knights in CS are cold immune, doom knights & venom lords are fire immune, mana-burn things are lightning immune.

It comes down to this: If you want versatility, definitely go with meteorb; if you want specific MF-ing, go with blizz.

[ihuang]

What can andy drop? I heard she's best for unique rings and ammies? I've used a bliz sorc for while to mf and I'm building a meteorb to see what andy, the pits, shenk, and eldritch can drop.

[sirpoopsalot]

Andy is indeed a very good target for ammies & rings, but her top Treasure Class is limited to 69. So she can't drop items like: Stormshield, Kira's Guardian and The Reaper's Toll (useful items, but not that uncommon - especially from other MF targets like Meph that can drop those).


@Davio, yes, I'm aware that all OK's are Cold Immune, but there aren't a ton of them in the CS - with a little strategy, luck, and practice, a pure-cold sorc can do ~ok in the CS. Not necessarily as well as a good two-element build though - that was my point.

[Copilot]

i guess, what if i wanted to kill hell baal and diablo for all the runes and really elite items like windforce and grandfather

Windforce = 10 pgems
grandfather = 15 pgems

You don't want those 2 items to drop lol.

[Doomdevil]

What you mean heh with the gems.

I also made a build with items that has

386 magic find
15 to all skills
75 res to all in hell. if i calced it right, it would be minus 140 resistance in hell? -40 from NM, and then - 100 from hell?

would that be good???

[sirpoopsalot]

it's only -100 total to your hell resistances (-40 in Nightmare, an additional -60 for Hell).

but yeah, if you can maintain +15 skills and 350+ MF, that'll work quite well.

[Copilot]

What you mean heh with the gems.

I also made a build with items that has

386 magic find
15 to all skills
75 res to all in hell. if i calced it right, it would be minus 140 resistance in hell? -40 from NM, and then - 100 from hell?

would that be good???

I mean that those items are only worth pgems to trade, you don't want them to drop. you want the items to drop that sell for 2 high runes each.

[Davio]

Andy is indeed a very good target for ammies & rings, but her top Treasure Class is limited to 69. So she can't drop items like: Stormshield, Kira's Guardian and The Reaper's Toll (useful items, but not that uncommon - especially from other MF targets like Meph that can drop those).

@Davio, yes, I'm aware that all OK's are Cold Immune, but there aren't a ton of them in the CS - with a little strategy, luck, and practice, a pure-cold sorc can do ~ok in the CS. Not necessarily as well as a good two-element build though - that was my point.
Well, if you can't kill them yourself and have to depend on a merc who get's IM-ed every time, you have to be really patient.

Sure, it's not impossible, just very hard.

Andy dropped a HoZ for me few days ago, Jalal's 199%ed, loads of Manald Heals and Nokozan Relics (bleeeegh), lots of Ravens, Guillaumes, can't remember everything.

The thing is, if you do mf-runs of multiple bosses and thus take more time for each run, there is less chance you get the horrid temp restriction ban.

It also helps against getting bored.

[Doomdevil]

well what items would be worth 2 high runes each, i got no idea thought they were the best heh

[Alc]

Unique items worth lots:

Crown of Ages

Griffon's Eye

Tyrael's Might

Death's Web

Death's Fathom

off the top of my head, bound to be missing a bunch and prices will vary between ladder, non-ladder and realms, but those are all pretty expensive.