low lvl mage fragile..duh :D

[HegemonKhan]

since, i've messed up, with making an mp character-game so i can play sp character-game on nm and hell difficulties, i've been working on a mp game-character sorcerer. been putting all my stats into magic. being a sorcerer, low lvl (~clvl 16 ? if i am rembering right), base vit, and hardly any good gear, i die very easily and frequently. it's a lot harder in mp with monsters having double life and no save. any unique monster can pretty much kill me in only a few hits if not 1 hit. i often think i can kill them, but they take much longer than i thought to die (mp=double life), and they kill me. its hard with u and monster having the same walk speed. i try to shoot n retreat, shoot n repeat, but its hard to do, especially when i get hit and also trying to heal myself, switching between spells and etc... and archers are death-warrant with no gear or life. in sp i can load and save and pause, but thats not the case with mp...and i have died so many times.....

i guess, i'm saying that a battlemage type is the way to go for me in the beginning at least. the problem is i don't ahve the str, life, or gear (not that i have the str to wear it anyways) to be-play as a battlemage. i'm currently playing as an artillarymage but its really hard and i die easily

any help or suggestions?

i'm aware that i might have to just keep re-doing the dungeons that i can do until i get enough decent gear (need +str gear as well to wear the gear. all stat pts went into magic, so i got base str) and i don't die

OR

is it best just to buy mana shield scrolls (i don't have it as a spell yet). will having mana shield completely solve my problems of dying easy ?

also, if anyone have any tactics to use?

also, what magic spells shoul i use? infravision or whatever for tactics or to plan tactics (hopefully, i understand the spell right) ??

also one last thing: what happens exactly when u die? it seems u lose some of your gold amount as punishment. anything else ? (i know u drop all your equiped gear and some of your gold)

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

You'll want Fireball and Chain Lightning as soon as you can get it, and obviously Mana Shield. Mana Shield will solve a lot of your problems, yes, because if you've been putting all your points into Magic as you say (and you should) you'll already have a fairly sizable amount of mana, and that means when you do get hit you won't take much damage so you won't get stun locked. For faster enemies that like to chase you, try a Stone Curse. Golem is also good at taking some aggro off of you. I've always felt this game has a difficulty curve that's like this: Warriors are easy in the beginning, difficult in the end. Sorcerors are difficult in the beginning, easy in the end (Advocates notwithstanding). Rogues are medium all the way. So once you build up a good arsenal of spells and have a deep mana reserve, which (obviously) comes with levelling, the game will get a lot easier. And yes, learning Mana Shield is a HUGE turning point for the Sorceror.

[Lanthanide]

If you recognise that part of the problem is that you have rubbish equipment because you have no str, wouldn't the sensible thing to do be to put more points into str so you can fix up your gear? Having 300 mana doesn't help if you're dead when you still have 180 left.

Also learn to use lightning, that's one of my mainstay spells in the Cats, because it does quite good damage and doesn't use much mana like Fireball does (which also moves very slowly at low slvls).

I'd typically try to find a staff with mana shield charges ASAP, up until you can get a book. IIRC the books cost 16,000 gold which is kinda costly for that clvl, and they don't drop too often in the dungeons, but you'll get one eventually.

[HegemonKhan]

yep both of u guys pretty much "spelled out" my problems :D

unfortunately, i'm stuck with OUT any of the more advanced spells (only got weak page 1 of the book spells. NO fireball, lightning, chain lightning, or even mana shield or teleport. GRRR) and without any gear, EVEN IF I HAD the str to wear the gear (but i don't even have the gear).

do higher lvl spell books drop in dungeon or become available in town stores (the witch store. forgot her name, adria?) ??

and yes books are quite much too expensive for me right now. i've been jsut buying cheap books within at most 5k gold trying to raise my lvl 1 and 2 spells up to 15.

my gold is dwindling more and more as i use it for lvl 1 and 2 books and losing it from all the times i am dying...

mp is much harder to get gear for my weak sorcerer because to get gear-item drops in mp, your only source is special monsters...but with mp's double life and no powerful spells no life or mana shield or gear or str, those special monsters easily kill me first.

i'm stuck in dlvl 6-7 (catacombs) at clvl 16 and am not getting any experience anymore, and going lower is too dangerous for my sorcerer. i'm having enough trouble in dlvl 6......sp is much easier... this double monster life is much more challenging :D which i like but also causing my sorcerer headaches as u can see :D

and yes, i'm realizing that all into magic IS good for a sorcerer, BUT u NEED MANA SHIELD !!!

until u have mana shield its probably been beter to put into str so i could wear gear to keep me safe.

...i jsut need to get mana shield obviously :D

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

Rather than looking for high AC gear, try to find gear that has damage reduction on it. Even 3 or 4 DR can make a huge difference that early in the game. And remember that Adria keeps refreshing her inventory every time you leave town and come back, so you can just keep popping in and out of town until she finally coughs up a book of Mana Shield (just make sure you have the cash first ;) ). You might consider running levels 3 and 4 again for extra cash, as well you can probably find some Creepy Shrines to boost your Str or Enchanted Shrines which are a godsend to ANY magic using character, and you're likely to find a fair amount of low-level books so you won't have to waste cash on them. You'll also get a decent amount of money for running the dungeons and the chance of you dying is slim.

[Lanthanide]

I don't think I've ever had the problems you're having. But it seems to me that a big part of your problem is that you don't have any decent spells.

So, stop wasting your money on buying crappy firebolt, charged bolt or holy bolt books. A lightning book only costs 6,000 gold, so just save that amount up and keep running to Adria until she sells you one. You'll want to get it up to about slvl 3 or 4 fairly quickly, so the more gold you have, the better. Lightning books start to drop about cats dlvl 5, so if you're running 5 and 6 frequently you really should be getting some if you're doing full clears and getting libraries. Alternatively you could try and buy a staff of firewall/fireball/lightning, but I'm not sure if Adria sells plain white staves or not. Firewall is also a decent spell worth having especially if you're having difficulty staying alive (cast it in a corridor then run away and close the door), although lightning is generally more useful.

I also don't know why you claim you haven't found any good equipment, unless you simply sell everything that has too high a str req for you to use and so are kidding yourself into thinking that you haven't found anything good. You can get magical items off any monsters, not only bosses, not to mention chests as well. No one is expecting you to have obs/zod type of stuff, but you should definitely have 2 rings and an amulet by now (they could easily be very crappy and marginally useful, like +13% fire resist), and probably be wearing gear that is like +20 hp or +20 mana. But in any event, as a sorc equipment shouldn't really be a big concern anyway.

[HegemonKhan]

i really have so far (i haven't done many runs yet) NOT gotten much gear at all. i do have a decent armor that dropped. decent AC and good resists (at least for now). the problem is life or no mana shield and melee monsters or archer monsters or any special monster. but really not any other gear. maybe i'm jsut really unlucky (or i jsut need to start doing lots of runs)

your probably right that i need to build up my gold (since i'm near broke right now) and than keep runing the shops until i get good spells-books or even gear if need be.

i know the lvl 1 spell book buying is pretty stupid, but at this time (with all my short comings i have already listed) it was a way for me to do more damage (and cheaper spells in terms of mana), and i need more damage since the mp monsters with double life don't exactly die like they do-did in sp...especially the special monsters....dangerous...shivers...died so many times trying to take them on...

[Flux]

my exp with low level sorcs is that it's all about mana shield and some good spell books. Books seldom drop from monsters, which is why those bookshelf rooms in the church and cats are awesome. Other than that, Adria is your friend, and once you've got 6k or 8k or 11k, it's time to spend some boring time walking to and from her until you get a lighting or fireball or chain lightning book. spells don't scale up very evenly in D1; level 1 fireball is worth what, level 12 or 14 firebolt?

And yeah, books are expensive, but you don't need to buy them all, since most spells are useless. Eventually you buy them since you've got nothing else to spend gold on, but early on just buy firebolt, lightning, holy bolt. maybe charged bolt if you get a few levels of it, but if you're really skimping on gold you can get by with town portal scrolls.

Use staves too; if you find one with some useful charges, burn them up and recharge the staff. You get a staff with 60 or 70 charges you can get hundreds of casts out of it, saving you liters of mana potions, over time.

[jimbtx]

I'd do some serious harvesting. That is, to repeat the first 1-6 levels where Books and shrines are more prominent. I don't know if you're playing with HF or not. But, once you've seriously harvested the earlier levels and spells. I'd concentrate heavy on getting the spells mana shiled,Stone curse, Teleport,Firewall,etc.

I found that whenever you have a hall or door blocked with Barrels. Don't break them!!! Port over them and lure bad guys to them and port back over them. This is especially great for the heavy weights like the rhinos and such.

Actually. If you have them penned up this way. You can save mana by whacking them with a bow. I suggest a bow with speed(puts them into hit recovery time) or knockback to keep them away.

With all the areas where you have things like fences and lava streams. The bow can be a cheap way to lure baddies to select spots and then use a combo of bow and magic as needed.

Note. using a bow is another reason I allways go with Zodiacs plus a resist for jewelry.You get some serious needed stats and better gear qualifications.

Likewise. Stone curse a baddie in the doorway. Then toss firewalls and Guardians into the room for the rest.

Large area damage spells like Firewall,chain lightning,etc are your best friends when you have large groups of monsters in a tight fitting area like the doorway to the Chamber of bone.

there are so many in there even my Warrior likes to use Chain lightning to speed up the fighting. Hope that helps.

[Lanthanide]

I don't think I ever bothered trying to use a bow with a sorc after the church levels, it just wasn't worth it after then.

[V12V12]

If you're playing HF (HellFire) just keep doing dungeon runs till you get up to around clvl10-15. Yeah starting off with a mage is the ROUGHEST of all chars. Only until you get to much hire clvls (15-20) will you start to really leave other chars behind, with the right choice of spells of course.

The thing that irks me about the game as a whole, irregardless of char, is the lame gold requirements and Grizwonk's horrible gear matching (or lack thereof)! Honestly give The Dark Mod a try; the gear is MUCH more robust, the spells are mod'd and useful. It's a much better game with the mod Vs reg Vs HF. Esp since you can do MF runs in norm/NM/Hell w/o having to do MP etc...

[Lanthanide]

The spells are a big failure in D1. Most of them are pretty useless - Elemental, Bone Spirit, Blood Star, Nova (since it's only on staves/scrolls), Flame Wave, Flash etc

[V12V12]

The spells are a big failure in D1. Most of them are pretty useless - Elemental, Bone Spirit, Blood Star, Nova (since it's only on staves/scrolls), Flame Wave, Flash etc

AGREED! Jeeesh I look through all my offensive-spells and note that I use about 2-4 at the very most. The rest are just eye-candy you can put outside a box and sell... "oooooooooh FLAMEWAVE" = yeah but it's weak as ish! And in The Dark mod, most of the mid-upper lvl monsters = resistant to multiples. I'm so frustrated by this lack of *effective* spells when you really need them concerning non-extreme-of-center chars. My Bard has some STOUT arse gear and I could barely finish The Nest quest w/o tele'ing around like a clown, avoiding swarms of monsters! W_t_F?!

Getting humiliated by these Blood orb witch things that could take life or mana shield down regardless of my shield?? It was insane, locust sized groups all turning the fire on soon as 1 spots you! No melle char can handle that cept a tank-barb. Arrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

[jimbtx]

There are a few fringe bennies in some of the lower spells. It appears that the skill level on your Guardian actually only effects Its DURATION. I read that the Guardians Firebolt damage is actually based off of the your Firebolt spell.

Appearantly, the concept for Synths in D2 started in D1. So, a really good Firebolt level will boost your Guardian.

But, I agree that some of the range monsters like the Liches are so powerful. That it really does take some Guerilla tactics to deal with them. I found quick that my best tactic was to lure them around a tight corner and take a few extra steps, then turn and let loose with a bow as they turned the corner.

The winged hussies were the final straw for my warrior.The way they would literally walk from one end of the level and back.But, they won't stand and fight.

I found that the only way to walk them down was to not follow directly behind them. But, to move a step or 2 to one side and then walk them towards a corner. Then nail them as they had to stop enough to turn. And, you needed a very fast weapon to put them into HRT.

In the end. I found that the rogue was the best character. Her only fallback was Big D himself.

[V12V12]

There are a few fringe bennies in some of the lower spells. It appears that the skill level on your Guardian actually only effects Its DURATION. I read that the Guardians Firebolt damage is actually based off of the your Firebolt spell.

Appearantly, the concept for Synths in D2 started in D1. So, a really good Firebolt level will boost your Guardian.

But, I agree that some of the range monsters like the Liches are so powerful. That it really does take some Guerilla tactics to deal with them. I found quick that my best tactic was to lure them around a tight corner and take a few extra steps, then turn and let loose with a bow as they turned the corner.

The winged hussies were the final straw for my warrior.The way they would literally walk from one end of the level and back.But, they won't stand and fight.

I found that the only way to walk them down was to not follow directly behind them. But, to move a step or 2 to one side and then walk them towards a corner. Then nail them as they had to stop enough to turn. And, you needed a very fast weapon to put them into HRT.

In the end. I found that the rogue was the best character. Her only fallback was Big D himself.

WT!F Yeah the Bloodstar Witches they are so overpowered AND faster cast and turn response. They can literally walk-turn-SHOOT in an instant before you even stop to swing?! How come these melle chars were not made much more innately resistant? You cannot block the stars, so what do they expect you to do? Tele-around like a helpless wussy? I had to do it, there was no possible way in The Nest, and this is in NORMAL, INSANE!

Shows the lack of development in monster AI. 1 sighting and you're fighting 20 of them; each one running away like a roach! It makes me so mad, esp since this is just normal mode and Grizzy isn't turning up jack for swords! I've got unique Helm, Armor, Shield, Ring... and some +6all sword, but very low dmg lvl so it's more like a wizards sword. I need a set of 2 serious swords and the King/Jester/Peril's/Civerb's aren't even showing; might be diff in The Dark Mod (?). Neither are their much for 3-5% mana leech swords; blood also. Of the one's that I've see, then are solely for leech with no prefixs and low dmg. So underpowered...how?

[Lanthanide]

In the end. I found that the rogue was the best character. Her only fallback was Big D himself.
The Rogue is definitely the most fun, but I think you'd have a hard time getting people to pick the Rogue over the Sorc for sheer power.

The sorc's only disadvantage is the triple immunes in Hell, but they can be stoned and CC'd to death, or even just ignored. The Sorc's killing speed against tri-immunes can be made up for with their killing speed of everything else (well, dlvl 16 does take them forever in Hell diff - but it's better just to stop after killing Laz anyway).

[V12V12]

Haha touche on that one... Sorc + Teleport = complete lopsided advantage Vs other chars. I was thinking about an ability the Barb should have = CHARGE or RAM! Where you either cast it (It's unique to him b/c of size) or it become available after a time period. You can literally RAM your way through a hoard/swarm so long as you have say a min amount of starting distance away from them. You'd take a little dmg (depending on AC/mod rolls) and just plow through them while inflicting damage on them. That would surely give the Barb his own mimic of Teleport...

I'm not sure about how other chars would balance this out with their own unique, rapid transportation ability. Sorc just has too many out's.

The Rogue is by far the most challenging char, since she's no faster moving than anyone else = Such BS. Bow Rogue = VERY difficult past Normal w/o the top gear. I challenge that b/c I currently had top gear and still barely made dents in NM.... So I just gave up and moved on to The Dark Mod...