CM vs. Eschutas for Lite sorc?

[Tarvold]

I have a Eschutas 3-19 lightning that i was planning on using for my lite sorc i am building but after reading here, some people prefer using CM. What do u guys think?

Also, what's the best shield to use for this? SS, spirit, visc, whistan's?

ps. ill be using this sorc for rushing hell mostly.

[redground]

CM is better if you can make up for the lost of the 40FCR from eschutas. So you have to use spirit, the 35FCR there is a must.

With light sorcs you need 105 (if nova or charged bolt) of 117 (if lighning or CL), but 65/78 (note sure about the numbers, check on the tables to make sure) is also a ok choice, but you loose a lot of killing power.


What is your equip now?
Something like:
Griffons 25fcr
Vipermagi30 fcr
Maras
CM
Spirit 35 fcr
Frosburns
10 fcr ring
Soj
Arachs
Treks/Travs
torch
anni
9 skillers

This way you have 120 FCR (you can replace frostburns for magefist and change the belt). If you have 120 FCR you don´t need a perfect spirit, and that is a good thing, because we all know that rolling a perfect spirit is not that easy.
you also have about -50% light resist (or more, if you get a good roll on griffons), and this is a very helpfull trhing.

the +19% from eschutas stacks on top of mastery, and that does not help you a lot. It is only god for it´s 3+ and 40FCR, and if you only need that i advise you to get HotO.

[Tarvold]

ah ok, yea u pretty much nailed my equipment. but lets look at this from the survivalist PoV, as u said if im gonna use CM i must use Spirit, and with spirit it is very difficult to reach max block, i know many people do it but i dont want to spend that many points in dexterity.

Now, ive never played anything but a max block sorc so i dont know how good max vit builds are.

[sirpoopsalot]

I prefer max-vit over max-block on sorcs for survivability (disclaimer: I play softcore). Some reasons:

1. With higher vitality you have more life, and therefore you go into hit recovery a less often. Sorcs have very slow hit recovery, and I've found that every max-block character I've played needed extra FHR equipment because of the attacks that my shield didn't block.

2. Although block-recovery on sorcs is faster than their hit recovery, it's still quite slow. I find block-lock even more irritating than the random teleport on Occulus - which is to say it's quite annoying :p.

3. Blocking gets nerfed to near ineffectiveness when you run. Maybe you teleport everwhere, but I don't - I constantly run a little bit to the left/right/up/down to reposition for maximum advantage (usually because my merc is already tanking, but I want to get a better/safer angle of attack for myself). But max-vit provides extra life, and you'll always have it when you're teleporting, running, or just picking your nose.

4. Spirit shields have such awesome stats that you're fairly compensated for the lack of blocking.

5. Generally max-block sorcs do not have FCR on their shields. Max-vit enables that, making it easier to reach high FCR breakpoints and maintain high offensive power. And most of my sorcs subscribe to the theory that the best defense is a good offense.

[Tarvold]

so...with spirit i get both better dmg and better survival than with max block. hmm tough choice :P

thanks for the answers i think ill go with CM / Spirit Monarch. none of which are expensive \o/

This is how my gear will look like, please say if u have a better idea for the slot.

Head: Griffons (facet) 25 fcr
Neck: Amu with 3 light sk and 15 str
weap: Crescent Moon
armor: Viper (um) 30 fcr
shield: Spirit Monarch 35 fcr
gloves: Magefist 20 fcr
Belt: Arach 20 fcr
Ring1: SoJ
Ring2: 12 all res 10 fcr
Boots: Silkweave

Merc:
Eth Infinity CA
Eth upped Shaft (PA)
Andys (ral)

This will give me 140% FCR

[sirpoopsalot]

Well, I find Spirit better for me. Many max-block proponents disagree.


For equipment suggestions, I would try to boost your resists a little more.

- Particularly, I'd probably drop the Silkweaves for some boots with resists... Natalya's and Aldurs set boots each have their advantages (as does Sandstorm Treks or triple-resist rares).

- Trangs gloves can replace Magefists without any significant loss for a lightsorc (basically you swap the mana regen for cold resists), or you could go with another rare pair with lots of resists but without any FCR - or even Frostburns for the extra mana. The difference between 120 FCR and 140 FCR is no difference at all.

[guface]

stormshield and CM makes a VERY nice combination imo. The 35% DR is just absolutely immense. I cannot recall how many times that has saved me on nilha runs or in WSK against some nasty gloam packs. Its also almost a most if you wish to duel at some point.

Sir poopslaot has hit the nail in terms of the advantages of spirit monarch and max vit. However I went CM/SS for my light sorc and did not regret it for a second.

CM, SS, Verdungos
Griffon or +3/20
magefist/trang
Viper 50/13/um/upped
FCR ring
20 FCR amu with +skills (rare, Ill accept)

Gives 105 rate. Add arach instead of dungos and you'll have 130

Even without the arach, you're sitting at the 78 breakpoint with ease and with -35 to - 60 ish light resists, with 50% damage reduction. What you sacrifice for damage, you gain in immense tankability.

My preferred style anyway...

theoretical best with CM and SS:

+3/20/2 (berber) hat
Arach
Viper 15@ jool with str or dex
CM, SS (ber)
20 FCR amu, +3 light skills
10 FCR ring, 20 str, 20 dex, xmana, x life, resists
magefist/trangs (total of 125% FCR)
Soj/ Raven
Random resists boots

[Tarvold]

how can i get my hands on a 20 FCR amu? they must be worth a fortune or are they craftable? :O What about Hoto btw, as sirpoopsalot pointed out i lack resists, with hoto i could easily manage to reach max resistance.

[redground]

how can i get my hands on a 20 FCR amu? they must be worth a fortune or are they craftable? :O What about Hoto btw, as sirpoopsalot pointed out i lack resists, with hoto i could easily manage to reach max resistance.

Caster Ammys
(Ith Pame + ammy) but you need a high lvl char to get the +2 skills from gambling, i dont know.. it is really hard to get, it will take a lot of time)


Hoto will give you a nice dmg boost because of the +3, but you loose the -35% resist from CM. It is all about choices, i thing that -resists is 90% of the times more effective than the dmg boost (that is why i think that the best mastery is the cold mastery)

You can get resists, FHR, MF, +skills from charms, but -%resists, PDR, MDR, FCR can only be on your equip.

[guface]

Caster Ammys
(Ith Pame + ammy) but you need a high lvl char to get the +2 skills from gambling, i dont know.. it is really hard to get, it will take a lot of time)


The formula is Pam, ral, jewel, magic amulet.

Crafting item level works out as (clvl+ilvl)/2.
Ilvl is the level of the amulet you stick in. clvl is the character level

You need more than craft level 90 for +2 skills. Gambling works out as +/- 5 levels of your clvl. Therefore the earliest at which you can gamble the amulet and still have more than 90 is character level 93. (a bit confusing, but it works out)

At character level 92, 90% of your amulets can spawn the mod.
At character level 93, 100% can spawn it. (remember it doesnt always spawn, even if you have high craft level)

If you have any amulets dropped from baal or nihlathak, you can use them. Ilvl from nilha = 95, therefore you only need character 85 to craft +2
Ilvl from baal = 99 therefore you need 81

20% FCR is very rare. The amulet needs to spawn 10% from the caster mod, and 10% from the apprentice magical mod.

[Tarvold]

Ok :D maybe i should just keep my 3 light sk 15 str to begin with and try to get extremly wealthy to buy one of those later.

[redground]

Ok :D maybe i should just keep my 3 light sk 15 str to begin with and try to get extremly wealthy to buy one of those later.

get some key sets and trade them for craft suply, after a looong time you might find one yourself....

(20FCR is rare, having it with +2 sorcs is even worst, and with another good mods, almost impossible... so.. if you make a good one.. dont keep it, sell it.. hahaha)

[sirpoopsalot]

Crafting item level works out as (clvl+ilvl)/2.


Nitpick: Actually, it's:

((clvl/2) round down) + ((ilvl/2) round down) = crafted item level.


Otherwise all of your points are correct, but this makes a difference if you're level91 and crafting a level89 amulet, for example.