Help me build a cheapie zeal enchantress

[droid]

She's a side project, not looking to buy her anything over pul-ish value....

Here's what I'm thinking

Guillaumes with a 15% IAS jewel, Treachery MP, Spirit Monarch, Frosties, Gloomstrap, Gores, Eye of Etlich, Raven, Nature's Peace, and a Passion PB.

With that I should hit the 4fps breakpoint on zeal with 85% total ias, have 50% CB and 30% DS, 105% FHR, +3 to skills, 55% bonus mana, 5% ML and 3-7% LL depending on the Eye.

She's a straight up zeal/ES build, so max enchant, then max warmth, then max ES and TK, then max FM, and going for max block. I'll prebuff the enchant/ES as much as I can afford to, of course...leaf in a +enchant staff, memory in a +ES staff, etc.

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Im wondering if I can change anything around and still keep the 5-hit zeal, but all I can think of is to use a Que-Hegan instead of Treachery, but then I lose the 45 IAS and the 4 frame zeal breakpoint, and in that case I might as well go with a 0WS weapon with more damage instead of the PB, since its the same slower BP on zeal either way. Maras, anni, CoH, SoJ, BK, arachs etc are obviously out of the mix.

I'm also wondering about the Spirit...its +2 to zeal and a hefty FHR and the poison res is nice, but its going to take a buttload of dex to get max block on it. Visceratuant wouldnt boost my zeal, though, would it?

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What do you all think? Go with it like it is?

Suck it up and drop the Spirit for Visc? Or a Mosers with 2x15% IAS for 5 frame zeal with a passion zerker axe?

Drop the Treachery and PB and go with Guardian Angel (does the +1 pally help sorc's zeal from passion?) and passion zerker axe and deal with the slower zeal but better damage?

Any other improvements anywhere else you might see?

edit: oh, if i go with GA instead of Treachery I can stick another IAS jewel in, cant I? :P so a Guillaumes 15%, GA 15%, and a Mosers 30% with 25% from passion would be 85% IAS and keep me at 4 frame breakpoint...is that the way to go then? I could switch Gloomstrap for a Nos, lose the ML but get 10% IAS which'd let me drop one of those IAS jewels and keep the 4 frame BP....

Gah too many variables!! *frazzle* :)

[sirpoopsalot]

I've done something close to a "budget" meleesorc using Enchant + Passion + ES + maxblock. Although my budget was a little larger than yours (Sanctuary, Highlord's Wrath, etc.) there wasn't any room to spare on equipment & skills. I wish you lots of luck, because it's going to be a tough trip at times.


For Equipment:

- Spirit sucks for melee sorcs, especially if you want to block anything (the lack of FBR is another problem, on top of the low block %). With ~150 in Str, max-block will leave you with basically base-Vit and base-ENE (that's a bad idea for a melee-ES sorc). I'd definitely choose almost any other shield. Visc. wouldn't boost Zeal, but it'd still be better. Whistan's (for the block) or Moser's (for the sockets) would probably be what I'd choose.

- I don't know what a shako costs, but I think they're pretty cheap - at least, they're damn hard to beat for what they do cost. Guillaume's is nice too, but I think you want/need the extra +skills from your helm, and the other stats are nice too.

- Drac's for gloves. My meleesorc went with ES and without Dracs and it was a mistake. A big mistake. You'll loose less by dropping Frosties than you will Drac's (and +mana is much easier to make up).

- Your physical damage is going to suck entirely no matter what you do with this build (unless you start adding items like Fortitude armor), so leech has very little benefit. Lifetap on Drac's, and an Insight+Prayer merc will keep your bulbs fuller than any amount of leech.

- Instead of Gloomstrap, have a look at String of Ears or even Tal's Belt. MDR is nice with ES. So is DTM. Further limiting your mana can be a problem, but I'd still consider the others better than Gloom's.

- Treachery + Passion PB = max zeal speed. You don't need IAS elsewhere, and I'd keep the armor for that very purpose (+Fade is cool, and the FHR & Venom won't hurt).

- Don't skimp on your FHR. You'll appreciate it around manaburners (and every time something gets past your shield-blocking). 30 FHR minimum, and not a breakpoint less. I'd prefer 60 or 86, but that'll be hard to get without good charms (or a Spirit, but Spirit's not worth it).

- Maybe 'Telling of Beads' instead of Eye of Elitch for the amulet? I can't remember if there are any other +all skills amulets in the set items, but you might want to have a look.

- Weapon switch = +skills & FCR. You'll want it for teleporting. I'd actually consider Occulus for the random teleport, probably paired with Whistan's so you don't get completely hosed by your low FCR around fast attackers.


For Skills:

- I don't know if you'll want to leave FM low until the end - it gives a double-boost to your fire damage in melee, and that's not something to overlook. Two options I'd consider:
1. ~10 FM, ~10 ES for hard points. An attempt at balance, although I've never like a medium-investment ES.
2. Don't spend hard points in Enchant and use Demon Limb. The problem with this is you're stuck with level23 Enchant, but at least it's fully synergized. In fact, if you use a skill calculator and compare this with skimped synergies, you'll actually get better damage with this approach.

<--- I'd actually consider option #2 the favourite. It would take a lot for me to skimp on FM with a melee enchantress. I'd rather drop Warmth, TK and ES first, and come up with a different approach to defense & fire immunes.


By the way, you're going to have a hard time with Fire Immunes. Crushing Blow, +damage, whatever... it won't matter. Your non-fire damage is going to be quite low. The +Berzerk on the phaseblade might actually be your most reliable backup, since monster's magic resistance is typically nil.

[Robobaby]

You absolutely cannot max block with a spirit. You would need hundreds of points in Dex and on an eshield build you need hundreds of points in energy instead. You can't do both.

I think you are also way too fixated on IAS. Its definitely important for sure but you also need to keep your attack rating as high as possible. The easiest way to do this on the cheap is with a pair of angelic rings. They give up to something like 2,400 AR which is absolutely huge. You should be hitting 15k AR with those. Anything less than 5 or 6k with a Blessed Aim Merc and you are going to have alot of problems hitting stuff.

You also seem to have mixed up FCR and FHR? FHR breaks are 86% and 142% and for that you need fhr charms which can get expensive.

FCR is not a huge consideration for a melee sorc since the only thing it will be used for is teleport. That has a breakpoint at 105% but you'll have to pardon me since I see no gear that you have that gives FCR and I feel like it would be a bit of a waste anyway.

I'm not sure if its possible to build a truly budget melee sorc. Mine is dual dream and the dreams contribute the vast majority of damage I do. I do barely any physical dmg and about 400 - 50k in lightning damage.

For a fire build you would probably need dual dragon or dragon hoj. But since hoj is so slow, its better to stick it in a bow and roll a bow enchantress instead. I cant see any melee sorc builds working without holy shock or holy fire. At the very least you have to see what a dual dreamer does to get where I'm coming from.

I would also contend that the dreams are siding on the more inexpensive side of the build. Its the charms I have a problem with.

[Gimmershred]

This can wbe fun.

immortal king weapon (1shael in it) , gloves, boots, belt, armor.
On switch a demon machine crossbow.
amulet highlords
ring ravenfrost+dualleech ring or life/manaleech if dual is too expensive
helm rockstopper.

20 enchant, 20 firemastery, 20 warmth, 1-20 light mastery, 1-20 cold mastery.
1 es, coldshield, static field, teleport etc.

enchant leaf in stash for prebuff.

get a defiance merc with that.

[lumpor]

Robobaby the fire damage from enchant is easily sufficient for hell, although immunes are a pain

[Inda]

Hmm, I've been playing a very similar build for a while now here's my build:

Skills:
- 20 Enchant
- 20 Warmth
- 20 Fire Mastery
- 20 TK
- 1+ ES
- 1 pt wonders (Static, TP, cold armor)

I did max Fire Mastery right away - it makes a HUGE difference in your damage which makes tele-bashing all that more enjoyable. I left ES for last since you can make a Memory fairly easily and that's always good for 9pts in ES...

For equipment:
- Guil's Helm
- Iron Pelt (have a Gladiators Bane waiting for her)
- Gerke's Sanct
- Ik Belt
- Natures Peace / Dwarf Star
- Raven Frost
- Gore's
- Ik Gloves (Laying of Hands eventually)
- "Passion" Berserker (Will upgrade to a PB eventually - they are so much faster)
- Highlord's Wrath for an amulet.

I have fairly large negs for my resists in hell (see below) at the moment, but don't really have any issues with it since I have ES and some significant iDR and MDR on her. Eventaully I will put on the G.Bane and socket it with either a Sol or IAS jewel (depending on the breakpoint / my iDR). I will probably scavenge a few charms off my other chars to bring her resists up to at least 0 or low positives..

Here are my resists in hell at the moment:
-15
-27
+26
-47

Damage at Level 78:
1801-2793

She's a blast to play.

~I