Insight + Energy Shield

[StLife]

Is the mana regen decent enough to not worry about running out of spells to cast in tight situations? I'm making a meteorb sorc and was thinking about dumping a point into ES.

[dafux]

I think you will find that a merc with Insight has trouble keeping up with the amount of mana you will be losing in Hell.

I can tell you, for example, with the sorc I currently play I have about 750 mana, a merc with Level 17 Meditation (which I believe is max), and somewhere around 14 points in Warmth. I am using Tal's belt which has 37% damage goes to mana, and ES around level 14 as well, which gives somewhere around 67% I believe. Now I don't know exactly how these add up, though I am sure there is a guide on here somewhere.

I have found on numerous occasions, most prominently teleporting through Hell Catacombs, that I get a hit a time or two, mana goes to zero and I panic. Fortunately, mana recovers almost instantly to a point where I can TP away, but it can get a little hairy. Maybe I need better gear, but with merc's defiance I am around 5.6k, which I think is acceptable for now.

Anyways, hope that helps :thumbup:

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

One point in ES is not optimal, but it can work (especially with plenty of +Skills and perhaps a "Memory"). However, you need to max Telekinesis. If not, expect your mana bulb to fall to zero very easily.

As long as you synergize with Telekinesis, your shield will be fine, except against Mana Burn packs, which can leave you very vulnerable.

[sirpoopsalot]

Personally, every time I've tried 1-point ES, I found it a complete and absolute waste... I'd get hit once or twice and even if it didn't drain all of my mana, I'd often run out while casting my spells after that, because the burden on my mana pool was just too much. Then any mana-burn monsters I faced would usually collapse the shield in a heartbeat and require me to recast ES (making any prebuff a pain).

I wouldn't bother with a Meteorb, since you also have the 3 prerequisites (ChargedBolt, Lightning, CL) that you wouldn't need otherwise. In my opinion, it's not worth those 4 points that could be spent boosting your fire or cold damage.


Also, keep in mind that without points spent in Telekinesis, it can be argued you're increasing the damage you receive by having ES active. For example, you have level7 ES (50% absorb), only 1* in telekinesis, and assuming 0% resists:

Without ES: 10 points of damage = 10 points of life lost = 10 total damage (only to your life pool)
With ES: 10 points of damage = 20* points of mana lost, 5 points life lost = 25 total damage (spread between mana and life).

* slightly flawed numbers, since my example assumes 0 points in TK, when you're actually forced to have at least 1 in TK. I was too lazy to figure out if it's actually 19 or 20 damage to your mana pool, because that's peripheral to the point I'm trying to make.

[StLife]

Thanks for your inputs.

I'm aware that she would have here mana supply drained pretty quickly when hit but I thought maybe Meditation could make up for it quickly enough to teleport to safety and perhaps snipe from afar?
A memory staff on switch is a nice idea though.

[sirpoopsalot]

I'm aware that she would have here mana supply drained pretty quickly when hit but I thought maybe Meditation could make up for it quickly enough to teleport to safety and perhaps snipe from afar?

Every time I've tried it, the answer felt like ~90% no / 10% yes... It felt like I was always out of mana, and because I was always out of mana, I couldn't (easily) use teleport to escape danger, or maintain my attack. So the complete lack of mana removed much of my offense and defense. And those disadvantages never came close to compensating for the damage reduction provided by ES.

A few others may feel different, but that's my opinion.


... as for "sniping from afar"... you're a sorceress, not a sorcbarian - sniping from afar should be your strategy 99.9% of the time anyways. If you stick to that strategy, I doubt you'll find having ES will improve your survivability at all.

My own experience was that it made virtually no difference most of the time, and made me less safe some of the time (read: around manaburners). The only exception I can recall were the sorcs designed with tanking as an explicit part in the plan (read: melee sorcs - not your Meteorb :p).

[Dusty]

It really depends what you want out of it.

As to the question of if your mana will recover quickly, the answer is yes. You will be less than 10 seconds away from a full mana bulb regardless of how much max mana you sport.

However, when you are being hit in late hell the regen isnt even close to enough to maintain the shield for very long at all, unless you have extreme amounts of mana (thousands) and even then its still not enough.

Stil, I find a 75% shield, an insight, and iDR/MDR a great set of props in some areas of hell. These areas of course do not have mana burn monsters. This affords the opportunity to do much of the tanking, with teleport on right click when the bulb gets low.

[guface]

To use ES, you need to tune your skills towards the build. TK maxed is a must, and its better to get at least ~25 points with items in ES. This means you have to go pure energy, no vita. And this means, you can get a nice build and take some damage but mana burn will still destroy your bulb in a single hit.

The thing about insight is that its not an emergency shield. If you get hit 4-5 times on hell, your mana bulb goes to 0, and the insight will not cushion you enough if you are beign again, eg in a melee swarm or ranged situation. Therefore, go vita and get some %DR instead. ES builds are too dangerous with the prevalence of mana burners about.

[leifper]

Personally, every time I've tried 1-point ES, I found it a complete and absolute waste... I'd get hit once or twice and even if it didn't drain all of my mana, I'd often run out while casting my spells after that, because the burden on my mana pool was just too much. Then any mana-burn monsters I faced would usually collapse the shield in a heartbeat and require me to recast ES (making any prebuff a pain).

I wouldn't bother with a Meteorb, since you also have the 3 prerequisites (ChargedBolt, Lightning, CL) that you wouldn't need otherwise. In my opinion, it's not worth those 4 points that could be spent boosting your fire or cold damage.


Also, keep in mind that without points spent in Telekinesis, it can be argued you're increasing the damage you receive by having ES active. For example, you have level7 ES (50% absorb), only 1* in telekinesis, and assuming 0% resists:

Without ES: 10 points of damage = 10 points of life lost = 10 total damage (only to your life pool)
With ES: 10 points of damage = 20* points of mana lost, 5 points life lost = 25 total damage (spread between mana and life).

* slightly flawed numbers, since my example assumes 0 points in TK, when you're actually forced to have at least 1 in TK. I was too lazy to figure out if it's actually 19 or 20 damage to your mana pool, because that's peripheral to the point I'm trying to make.

It may be im just tired, But isnt the math in you example wrong?

you would lose 50% of 10 damage *2, so 10 mana lost, not 20, and 15 "damange" taken in total life and mana.

And if you max tk (which i believe is a must if you go es), then you would loose 50% of 10 damage *0,75, which is 3,75 mana lost, and 5 life lost, for a total of 8,75.

If you have 85% es you would lose 1,5 hp and 6,3 mana from a 10dmg hit.