kamikaze sorceress?

[agelordzudo]

*WARNING*
do not attempt unless ur very rich

ok, so i was thinking of building a tank sorc
im at lvl 22 now and on act 5...but im going to remake

------skills-----
15 points frost armor
15 points freezing armor
15 points chilling armor
5 points energy shield
20 points ice mastery
10 points frozen orb
3 points warmth
1 point teleport
1 point charged bolt (pre req)
1 point telekenesis (pre req)
1 point lightning (pre req)
1 point chain lightning (pre req)
1 point ice bolt (pre req)
1 point ice blast(pre req)
1 point frost nova(pre req)
1 point glacial spike(pre req)
1 point blizzard(pre req)
<skills at lvl 90...78 with skill quests done>
-----stats-----
str- about 103 so i could use an archon plate
dex-lots of dex here, i know it may be unknown by some to be blasphomy to put dex into a sorc, but the whole point is defense (200-250)
vit-ull need a bit, but not too much, as most of the damage ull be taking will hurt ur mana, not u
eng-the rest

--gear---
this is wat always gets me, im really looking for some advice on this part becuz, well...i haven't even seen a guide for a build even close to this

helm: nightwings veil
the +2 skills helps as u probably wont be getting many of those and u got ur bonus in ice skill damage which will really help, not to mention the dex boost, which can only be a good thing

armor-bramble (runeword)
two words...thorns aura, not only that but this also provides great res and the mana regen helps as well as the max mana

main weapon-ice (rune word)
the -ice res is beautiful, plus the boost in ur own ice skills is also a positive, then u got holy freeze to top it off...add in the cold facet like effect and this is a must

seconday weapon-insight(runeword)
meditation...only use when ur low on mana or just wanna be a sloth for awhile, when ur ready to start really killin, switch back to ur main weapon for happy times

gloves-frostburn(ironic huh?)
great for it's mana boost and fairly high def, the only reason it outdoes magefist is that *gasp* this sorc build doesn't need fcr, but u still might want to have it as a backup in ur inv (if u have rooom) to switch to when u use ur insight to recharge

boots-silkweave
perfect for it's extra mana boost and fairly high defense (the mana after kill doesn't hurt either)

belt-arachnid mesh
its good for its +1 skills and max mana boost, not to mention the slowing should u decide to throw a punch every now and then (which u probably wont)

ammy-metalgrid
i know..i know...why pass up the almighty maras? ill tell u y...the defense bonus is fantastic and it adds res (can be higher then maras) and finally (although some may not see this as a good reason) it comes with iron maiden charges as well as iron golem

ring 1-soj
the +1 skill is ideal for a ring and better than BK for this char since u really need the +25% max mana as well

ring 2-soj
ditto, no questions asked

charms...
+9 cold gcs (maybe try to get a little mana in each one)
+9: 5 res all scs
anni
sorc torch
(not as much gcs if u want to do the magefist/frostburn trick)


--------merc-----
get an act 1 merc (some of ur saying WTF?!?!?!?!)with cold arrows

and heres wat gear it needs:

weapon- Ice (runeword)
nice...2x the -res means -40 Ice resistance!!! plus the enemies r taking damage from both sides with holy freeze

armor-fortitude (runeword)
the 300% extra damage is great but the massive defense is even greater, the added bonus is that u have a 20% chance of chilled armor and since ur merc will be ranged, once that happens the fun will begin, plus u got res (which is not that important on a merc)

helm-blackthorns face
this strays a bit from the pure ice form but it still causes slow which is good and prevents monster heal (which isn't really that big of a deal though)

-----side notes-----
this is an EXPERIMENT
i dont want to hear u whine and complain about how much i "suck at d2"
or how "ur grandma could make a better build"
and another thing to remember
DO NOT use ethreal armor, it seems like the right thing to do wat with the extra def and all but when it's dead (which will inevitably happen with this build) it stays dead, that means no charsi bringing ur eth bramble back to life...no ral runes to save your dying eth nightwing...when its done its done
so i repeat NO ETHREAL ARMOR...save it all for ur merc (fort, Ice, blackthorn)
i hope u enjoyed my guide and ill post updates for you all...im on uswest if anyone wants to help me speed things up via powerleveling

my account name is:
agelordzudo

if u cant get ahold of me try me on my alt acc:
iam_sin
ask for zudo because its a shared account and it might not be me on there

[ProfessionalBerg]

What exactly is the killing style and way of survival of this build?

Also, if you insist on using Ice on your merc, why not go with some better weapon for yourself? The -res is not needed, since you will have level 38 CM (assuming 9 skillers, nightwing, 2 soj's, arach, torch and anni). Thorns on Bramble sucks, because you have to take damage for it to work, and sorcs NEVER work well when they are based around taking damage.

Why such fixation on armors? I really doubt you will pack very much defense, and the only synergy armors provide to each other is duration and cold damage (or freeze length, in case of Frozen Armor).

Besides, -res on your merc's Ice does not work on you. If anything, a Holy Freeze mercenary with an Insight/Infinity stick will work much better. Conviction won't break most CI's, but it will further lower enemy cold res, in case -205% from CM isn't enough for you (which should bring every non-immune enemy down to it's knees).

You lack FCR in your gear, I don't see how you will teleport.

Your sorceress seems to be a weird combination of melee/ranged combat, caster (FO) and a martyr (or whatever it's called), based on killing melee physical attackers with IM/Thorns. Not taking into account the ridiculousness of such a sorceress, high defense and damage reflecting skills don't go well together.

Hate to bust your bubble, but this build is not viable in Hell in the tiniest way.

Of course, I may be GRAVELY wrong, so I will wait for the Sorceress gurus to post their opinions.

[AnimeCraze]

I think the intent is to use the armor damage to kill their opponents. Of course, the only problem is that armors reflect pitiful damage even at +20 skills (782-880 for shiver and 490-571 for chilling). If it is about suicidal builds, I would rather use facets.

[agelordzudo]

facets...thats a great idea...and as i said before, this is an experiment, so im going to try it out, probably wasting my time...but the idea here is to be able to tell if this is going to work or not, who knows? this may be the next trend...just as smiters were to 1.11
*crossing my fingers*
(okay now im just exaggerating with the smiter remark)

[agelordzudo]

oh btw...the intent is to keep them as slow as possible to expeience the lag i have (muahahaha)

[accipite]

someone has try it before. as far as i know, she doesnt perform well. the killing speed is very slow and she dies easily

[agelordzudo]

ok, well thanks for the heads up...(now i feel dumb) =(

[galzohar]

even if you get it to hit for 1500, you'll still need ~10 hits to kill hell monsters which is a lot of time and a lot of damage you're taking.

Most builds don't need to be tested to be able to tell they suck.

[Thyiad]

A gentleman of this forum who sadly has not been seen for sometime (Frostburn), actually built something like this in SP. Obviously he wasn't wandering around with Ice but I believe he did have all three cold armours maxed and no offensive spells.

I shall continue searching for the thread I am sure he made and that may assist you with gear selection. I believe he played her at least until Hell although I cannot recall which part.