How to make Energy Shield work for you

[renegademaster]

This guide is made up of 4 sections:
Part 1: Tips and Strategies
Part 2: 3 different Energy Shield Setups and how to make the most of them.
Part 3: Integer Damage Reduction
Part 4: The Equipment List.

Acronyms:
ES is Energy Shield (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/sorceress-lightning.shtml#energyshield)!
TK is Telekenisis - Energy Shields' Synergy.
MDR - Magic Damage Reduced by X
PDR - Physical Damage Reduced by X
FHR - Faster Hit Recovery
%DR - Percentage Damage Reduction
OW - Open Wounds
CB - Crushing Blow

Part 1: Tips and Strategies for Effective Energy Shields

Warmth:

Warmth (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/sorceress-fire.shtml#warmth) will of course recharge your Energy Shield, this is great for Enchantress’s!

Mercenaries:

The Act 2 Prayer (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/paladin-defense.shtml#prayer) Merc (Combat - Normal or Hell) carrying Insight with its Meditation Aura (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/paladin-defense.shtml#meditation)is very popular with Energy Shield users. Prayers boosts your Life, whilst Insight boosts your Mana. Some people prefer the defence bonus of an Act 2 Defiance (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/paladin-defense.shtml#defiance) Merc.

Alternatively a Pheonix Shield with Redemption Aura (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/paladin-defense.shtml#redemption)converts corpses into Life and Mana.

Pre-Buffing:

Energy Shield generally has a good duration, so you can swap a few bits of equipment out to give you more ES, or Lightning Skills, cast ES then replace your equipment. The most famous for this is a Memory (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords-original.shtml) Staff. Try and find a 4 Socket Staff with +1-3 ES and place Lum + Io + Sol + Eth in it yielding +7-9 Energy Shield!

Kyrandia pointed out that if you really dont want to invest in all those Pre-requisites for Energy Shield the Memmory Staff can be used instead! Telekenisis has no Pre-requisites so you can still have an effective ES.

For a full ES you need to reach level 40 (95% effectiveness) there is no benefit past level 40. For Dreamers and Lightning Sorcs, enough +skillers mean you can reach Lv40 without having to put max hard points into ES.

Caster with ES and the Blood Mana Curse

'Succubi and Baal cast a special curse. This curse causes you to do damage to yourself when you cast spells. For skills that require more mana, you will take more damage. This even includes such spells like Teleport but doesn't include Thunderstorm or Energy Shield because you have already have cast them. Whenever this curse is cast on you, stop casting spells until it's worn off, click on a Shrine to counteract it, or go back to town and have it removed. Blood Mana only affects you if you have more Mana than Life. If you have at least as much max Mana as max Life, you can be cursed.' From the Act V Bestiary on the Arreat Summit. (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/monsters/act5-succubus.shtml)

If your spamming, Fire Ball, Chaining Lightning or Frozen Orb this can be a pain! A Prayer Merc will be invaluable!!

Mana Burn

This is a big worry especially for Full Energy Shield users. There are two types of Mana Burn, the ranged effect that tracks you as you move (the red blobs), and the Melee effect that Bosses and Super Uniques spawn with. The Melee effect does far more damage.
The answer is too keep away and teleport around to confuse the seeking ranged effects. This is obviously a problem for pure melee sorcs. Enchant (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/sorceress-fire.shtml#enchant) users can switch to a Demon Machine crossbow (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/exceptional/ucrossbows.shtml), its explosive arrows will carry your fire damage to your target then explode around them.

Mana Leech and % Damage Taken Goes To Mana

Sorcs don't usually do enough physical damage for Mana Leech to be an effective way of regenerating your ES.
'% Damage Taken Goes To Mana' happens after damage is diverted to the ES so usually only returns a few points of mana.

Part 2: 3 Different Energy Shield setups and how to use them
I am going to break it down into 3 types of ES and compare their effectiveness, Budget ES – 0 to 2 skill points, Partial ES – 16 to 20 skill points, and Full ES 30-40 skill points.

Assumption 1: For Budget and Partial Energy Shield I am assuming you have enough +skills to reach around 75% Damage sent to Energy Shield.


Budget ES:

1 Point Energy Shield prebuffed to 20
1 Point in TK (pre-requisite)

75% Damage Converted
200% Damage to Mana

the 200% Damage to Mana is harsh meaning you take 2 mana for every point of damage.

However if you have 2 SOJ 25% Mana bonus each, Frost Burns 40% bonus, and Silkweave boots 10% Mana bonus. You have a total of 100% extra mana. This balances out the 200% penalty, making your investment in Energy equal to your investment in Vitality when it come to taking damage.

However you cant just buy energy since you take damage to both Life and Mana. The Ratio in this example is 25% Life and 75% Mana, you want both to decrease at about the same rate, or if anything your mana to run out before your life does (the Energy Shield will go down).

Example
You take 100 points of damage

You take 25 life

And 75 points is sent to Energy Shield
75 * 2= 150 mana

this is a 1:6 Ratio of life to mana with equipment

e.g.
300 life : < 1800 mana

which is equivalent to 1200 actual life.

Budget ES works for everyone, just pick up a Memmory Staff and you have an ES.

Partial ES

“Each point in Telekinesis makes Energy Shield's damage absorption more effective. By default, for each point of damage absorbed by Energy Shield, 2 mana points are deducted - a 200% ratio. Each hard skill point in Telekinesis makes Energy Shield 6.25% more effective. For example, with 8 points in Telekinesis, 1.5 mana points are deducted for each point of damage absorbed - a 150% ratio. With 16 points in Telekinesis, one point of damage absorbed equals one point of mana loss - a 100% ratio.”
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/sorceress-lightning.shtml#energyshield

16 Points in TK
1 Point ES prebuffed to 20

75% Damage Converted
100% Damage to Mana

So here the 100% Damage to Mana doesn’t look so bad, since allot of people don’t like Frostburns, lets just use 2 SOJs = 50% bonus to Mana

This makes buying Energy a better investment than buying Life since you effectively get 3 mana per point in Energy compared to 2 life per Vitality

Example
You take 100 points of damage

You take 25 life

And 75 points is sent to ES
75 * 1 = 75 mana mana

Again you need to balance your buying of life and mana so the go down at about the same rate.

e.g.
500 life : < 1500 mana (with equipment)

equivalent to 2000 actual life. This is allot more equivalent life, and you have more choice of gloves. You other equipment choice really doesn’t need to change, making this a really good option. You could of course max TK, and use Frost Burns for tanking it.

Poison and Resists

Energy Shield is applied before resists so the mana damage effectively has Resist 0 for Fire, Lightning and Cold Resistance. Poison goes straight through ES, so a good poison resistance / some Antidote potions are essential. Andariels Vissage is an excellent way to get a strong Poison Resistance, allowing upto 85% Poison Resist.


Full ES

The details of ES are explained here http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=564 and http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=549

ES prebuffed to 40
20 TK

95% Damage Converted
75% Damage to Mana

This requires a large investment in skill points but changes the nature of the damage you take.

You are actually taking 25% less mana damage than the damage inflicted.

Example
You take 100 points of damage

You take 5 life

And 95 points is sent to ES
= 95 * 0.75 = 71 mana

You don’t need to put any points into Vitality, just put everything spare into Energy. Why? Because of…

Part 3: Integer Damage Reduction

Some Equipment has Damage Reduce by X, or Magic Damage reduced by X, where X is an Integer (whole number).

This is not Damage Reduced by 35% like a Stormshield for instance (Percentage Damage Reduction).

So if you take 5 points of damage and you have Damage Reduced by 10 you take no damage!

Note that Damage Applied to Energy Shield is applied before Resistances. Poison and Open Wounds will only take you to 1 Life, so don’t need to worry about them either. In fact you can run around in Hell with just 1 Life, this is a rush but not safe!

Therefore your equipment choice changes, you are no longer looking for resists and Damage reduced by X%, but instead for Damage Reduce by X, or Magic Damage reduced by X.

Crushing Blow is the one you do have to worry about especially when duelling, it goes past ES entirely, but as it is a percentage of life, you still don’t need to buy more Vitality.

You will die eventually when your mana reaches zero and your ES goes down.

Energy Shield Damage Map:

Physical Attack -> AR vs Armour -> %Block -> % ES -> PDR -> %DR -> Life

Lighting, Fire, Cold, Magic ->% ES -> MDR -> Resists -> Life

Poison -> % Resist -> Poison Length Reduced by x% -> Life

Open Wounds, Crushing Blow -> Life

Faster Hit Recovery

Because the Integer Damage Reduction should have reduced your damage to less than 10% of your life, the Faster Hit Recovery animation shouldn't be triggered.

A Note On Dueling
Energy Shield is great for duels, it is considered bad form to drink potions whilst dueling, but you don't have to drink a pot for your ES to regenerate (go Warmth!).
This can give you quite an edge.

Rickster has been giving me some tips on dueling setups. Since your life won't regen you still need as much as you can get (still base Vitality however), so Life/Mana charms are good. Call To Arms is obviously great. Damage whilst dueling is much higher than PVM, things dont usually last long, so Integer Damage Reduction is off less importance, and Max Block significantly more important.

Open Wounds is also a problem whilst Duelling. Open Wounds doesn't occur in PVM but does in PVP and goes straight through your ES. It will leave you on 1 Life making you very fragile.

Part 4: Equipment - Where to get Integer Damage Reduction
You should aim for 15-20 Damage Reduced in both Magic and Physical.

Runes (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runes.shtml)
On Amour / Shields:
SOL provides Damage reduced by 7 - lv 27
MAL Magic Damage reduced by 7 - lv 49

Magic (Blue) Items (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/magic/suf.shtml)
Amulets and Circlets can have the Suffix:
'of Everlasting Life' which offers Damage Reduced by 10-25 (lv 45)
thanks to mephiztophelez for that one.

Crafted Safety Items (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafted/safety.shtml)
All recipes have 1-4 MDR and 1-2 PDR a nice bonus but nothing significant. Try crafting Faster Cast Rings, Boots with Poison Resists and MF, and Amulets - A +2 Sorc Skills Safety Amu with mana would be 'leet!

Major Sources:


Gladiaors Bane lv 85:
Unique Wire Fleece
150-200% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+50 Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Poison Length Reduced By 50%
Attacker Takes Damage Of 20
Damage Reduced By 15-20 (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced By 15-20 (varies)

The Cannot Be Frozen, 30% Faster Hit Recovery and Poison Length Reduced by 50% make this armour awesome for ES.


Iron Pelt lv33
Unique Trellised Armour
+50-100% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+ (3 Per Character Level) 3-297 Defense (Based On Character Level)
Damage Reduced by 15-20 (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced by 10-16 (varies)
+25 To Life

Gladiators Banes little brother...


Gerke’s Sanctuary Shield lv44:
Unique Pavise
+180-240% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+30% Increased Chance of Blocking
All Resistances +20-30 (varies)
Replenish Life +15
Damage Reduced By 11-16 (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced By 14-18 (varies)

Looks great, but i find it lacks Faster Block % , giving it a 9 Frame / Block speed, putting a SHAEL in it takes it 7 F/b but its still slow.


Arkaine’s Valor lv 85
Unique Balrog Skin
+150-180% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+1-2 To All Skills* (varies)
+ (0.5 Per Character Level) 0-49 To Vitality (Based On Character Level)
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Damage Reduced By 10-15 (varies)

The +Skills, FHR are nice but has 165 Str Required, i suppose the Vitality bonuse makes up for it. A 'Requirements Reduced by 15%' jewel takes the Str requiremnt to 141, which isnt so bad.


String of Ears lv29
Unique Demon Hide Sash
+150-180% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+15 Defense
6-8% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
Damage Reduced By 10-15% (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced 10-15 (varies)

Goes well with Arkaines Valor.


Skin of the Viper Magi (Lv 29)
Unique Serpent Skin Armour
+120% Enhanced Defense
+1 To All Skills
30% Faster Cast Rate
Magic Damage Reduced By 9-13 (varies)
All Resistances +20-35 (varies)

Fast Cast, +skills and good MDR. Put a MAL in it and your MDR is sorted. Would go nicely with a magic Amulet 'of Everlasting Life'.


Prudence Armour (Mal Tir) lv 49
+25% Faster Hit Recovery
+140-170% Enhanced Defense (varies)
All Resistances +25-35 (varies)
Damage Reduced by 3
Magic Damage Reduced by 17
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
+1 To Light Radius
Repairs Durability 1 In 4 Seconds

FHR , good MDR,and a little PDR. Can be made in Ethereal Armours, great if you use an Act 2 Defiance Merc.

Talrasha's Guardianship
Lacquered Plate Armour
+400 Defense
Requirements -60%
Magic Damage Reduced By 15
Cold Resist +40%
Lightning Resist +40%
Fire Resist +40%
88% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items

nice MDR, with the Amulet and Belt from this set (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/sets/sets7.shtml#talrashas) you get 163-168% Magic Find. A circlet of 'of Everlasting Life' would give you the PDR you need. Or you could socket the complete set with a couple of SOL runes.

Vampire Gaze lv 41
Unique Grim Helm
+100% Enhanced Defense
Adds 6-22 Cold Damage - 4 Second Duration
15% Slower Stamina Drain
6-8% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
6-8% Mana Stolen Per Hit (varies)
Damage Reduced By 15-20% (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced By 10-15 (varies)

Good MDR, Duel Leech and %DR too!


Dwarf Star Lv 45
Unique Ring
Fire Absorb 15%
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
+40 Maximum Stamina
+40 to Life
100% Extra Gold From Monsters
Magic Damage Reduced By 12-15 (varies)

Keep one of these in your stash if your taking allot of Magic Damage.

Natures Peace Lv 69
Unique Ring
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace*
Prevent Monster Heal
Poison Resist +20-30% (varies)
Damage Reduced by 7-11 (varies)
Level 5 Oak Sage (27 charges)

If you cant get your PDR anywhere else, or need a top up. The Poison Resist is nice too

Minor Sources
Some of these minor sources, combined with Runes, or Natures Peace can work together.

Crescent Moon
Unique Amulet
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Radiance Helm (Nef Sol Ith)
Magic Damage Reduced By 3
Damage Reduced By 7

Lore Helm (Ort + Sol)
Damage Reduced by 7

Hwanins Splendour
Set Grand Crown
Magic Damage Reduced By 10

Spirit Shroud Armour:
Unique Ghost Armour
Damage reduced by 7 -11

Fortitude Armour (El + Sol + Dol + Lo)
Damage Reduce by 7

Bone Armour (Sol+Um+Um)
Damage Reduce by 7

Enlilghtenment Armour (Pul +Ral + Sol)
Damage Reduce by 7

[renegademaster]

Please post constructive criticisms, and equipment that i have missed that provides integer damage reduction.
thx

[stephan]

I'm not a big fan of ES but still a nice write up. I'd recommend 20 TK for the partial ES setup though. Those last 4 points relatively do a lot.

It seems you missed baby Gladiator's Bane AKA Iron Pelt. :)

[renegademaster]

read this Farproc

[Kalkanor]

nice this is a good simple guide ty^^
always wanted to try a max ES sorc

[Robobaby]

This is a pretty good guide. However, if you want to prebuff Energy Shield to level 40 on most setups you don't need anywhere near 20 hard points in Energy Shield.

My old Melee Sorc for instance only had +8 skills (coh, arachs, highlords, torch, anni) and +9 lightning skills (9x light gcs) on gear and only need 14 hard points invest to get a level 31 Energy Shield. You could add another 6 points to make its level 37 but if you are going to prebuff to level 40 theres no point. Either way you are going to prebuff using Memory (up to +9 Energy Shield).

My current light sorc has +22 skills and thus only needs 9 hard points in ES and a +9 buff from Memory to get it to level 40.

The only time I guess you want to max it completely is if you can get a level 40 ES without prebuffing at all. i.e. you want something like CTA permanently on switch and dislike the idea of prebuffing from stash. That is especially annoying in PvM where mana burn is going to instantly down your ES.

[sirpoopsalot]

Another nice guide.

Considering all of the times that I've hated ES when I used it, I really should've figured out the logic of applying the damage-breakdown ratios to my own life & mana pools (:banghead:). I might have to revisit ES now and try some of this just to see if I still dislike ES because of it's weaknesses, or if it's my own faulty planning that exacerbated the some of those weaknesses in my past attempts. (I'm guessing it's some of both, to be honest).


One suggestion for future revisions perhaps: a "minimum feasibility breakpoint" for each category.

For example, if you only have 400 mana, obviously a high level of ES isn't going to work well for you, since your mana pool just isn't big enough to sustain ES for long.

But likewise, my Full-ES sorc (PvM, with an Insight merc) found virtually no difference between having ~2000 mana and ~3000 mana - her mana was adequate in both cases. However being strong enough with the smaller mana pool meant she had much more flexibility in her equipment (read: Frostburns weren't needed, she could drop a few Serpents charms and add skillers, etc.)


So it could be nice to know before hand that if I plan for 500 life / 2500 mana that low-investment ES is tolerable, but if I can only plan for 300 life / 1800 mana, that might be a little too low for ES and a pure-Vita build would probably make more sense for me.

... just a thought. :wave:

[SeCKSEgai]

Definitely informative. It's too bad I hate pvp in d2 otherwise I'd probably be utilizing the information religiously =)

[renegademaster]

Its a good idea SirPoopsAllot, i'll have to check my accounts to find what i've used personally perhaps we could get some feedback from other players about life and Mana.

[stephan]

You are still missing Iron Pelt. :p

[renegademaster]

Hey Stephan,
I have it listed as Gladiators Bane at the top of the Major Sources section, is Iron Pelt the old name for it?

>Gladiaors Bane lv 85:
>Damage Reduced By 15-20
>Magic Damage Reduced By 15-20

[sirpoopsalot]

Nope, it's completely different from Gladiator's Bane:

Iron Pelt
Trellised Armor
Defense: (234-528) - (311-605) (varies)(Base Defense: 138-153)
Required Level: 33
Required Strength: 61
Durability: 157
+50-100% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+ (3 Per Character Level) 3-297 Defense (Based On Character Level)
Damage Reduced by 15-20 (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced by 10-16 (varies)
+25 To Life
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)


The biggest advantage being it's very cheap to trade for and relatively easy to find, and the required level is lower than almost every other viable solution... it may not be the best, but it's a solid option (especially for poorer players).

[renegademaster]

oops my mistake, i'll add it!

[stephan]

Sorry for the confusion. I call Iron Pelt "Baby'" Gladiator's Bane because they almost do the same thing, except Gladiatior's Bane has a little more MDR and def, and CBF at the cost of some life.

[Kyrandia]

Nice guide. I'll definitely be putting the information to practice some time soon. Thanks. :)

[NoisemakerArrow]

Duskdeep has Damage Reduced by 7.

[Raspeh]

I have a question. Say I put points into TK, but invest no skill points in ES (there's a lot of prereq I'd like to skip), only have it as a skill from a +ES staff with some + skills. Will the ES get the benefit of my TK synergy?

[Kyrandia]

Yes it will. I am currently making an ES sorc with no points in ES, using a 'Memory' staff, and it works fine.

[Ghoulz]

I made a dream ES melee sorc. But I was wondering, what's a very good skill to use with this kind of build for pvm? I had orb maxed and light mastery + dual dream, but she kills way slower than my bearsorc. I suppose dmg is the price for invunerablility.

[mmmpld]

The unique Gothic Staff 'Warpspear' is interesting as a baby-memory.+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
Ignore Target's Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missiles
+3 to Teleport (Sorceress Only)
+3 to Telekinesis (Sorceress Only)
+3 to Energy Shield (Sorceress Only)

[Kyrandia]

Yes it will. I am currently making an ES sorc with no points in ES, using a 'Memory' staff, and it works fine.

See the result here (http://forum.diii.net/showthread.php?t=727081)

[renegademaster]

Kyrandia, glad to see i inspired you to make EtaCarinae (nice name too!) I added your tip about prebuffing with Memmory to the guide!

I made a dream ES melee sorc. But I was wondering, what's a very good skill to use with this kind of build for pvm? I had orb maxed and light mastery + dual dream, but she kills way slower than my bearsorc. I suppose dmg is the price for invunerablility.

I am building an Enchantress / Dual Dreamer. Fire and Lightning Melee damage should be outrageous. You can use a Demon Machine X-bow for range attacks too - the explosive bolts work with Fire Damage...

20 Warmth
20 Enchant
20 Fire Mastery
1 Fire Ball
1 Fire Bolt
1 Frozen Armour
1 Static Field
1 Teleport
20 Lightning Mastery
18 Telekenisis

At Lvl 90

Pre Buff with Memmory for partial ES!

[mephiztophelez]

small quibble, you forgot to list the main source of iDR: The Of Life Everlasting suffix (up to 25idr), available on magic amulets and circlets. like, for example, THIS ONE (http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5151/ccoleap8.jpg)

otherwise, very nice write-up. if you don't mind, i'll add a link to this guide in my guide to fire sorks. (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=705248)

[renegademaster]

Thanks mephiztophelez for the Magic Item tip, i've added it. And thanx for the link too!

[mephiztophelez]

no worries! thanx for saving me the effort of trying to make ES comprehensible!

[skyjuice]

Whats the optimal form of ES mode i should go for using a bearsork as an example?

[MoonUnit]

I guess it would depend if you were using dual dreams and/or enchant.

[skyjuice]

I guess it would depend if you were using dual dreams and/or enchant.


Definitely with 2 dreams and enchant to boot. :wink:

[MoonUnit]

Definitely with 2 dreams and enchant to boot. :wink:

Probably could do:

Max enchant, fire mastery, warmth.
Max light mastery.
16 points in telekinese

Memory staff with +3 energy shield (prebuff)

Rest points into energy shield.

It'll be "finished" at lvl 90+ probably.

Otherwise I guess you can cut fire mastery a tad and dump the points into ES.

[skyjuice]

Probably could do:

Max enchant, fire mastery, warmth.
Max light mastery.
16 points in telekinese

Memory staff with +3 energy shield (prebuff)

Rest points into energy shield.

It'll be "finished" at lvl 90+ probably.

Otherwise I guess you can cut fire mastery a tad and dump the points into ES.

Sounds like the partial ES mode. I assume you have a similar build? Any comments on this mode of ES with ~500 mana? I would rather sink Spts in some cold armor instead if the low mana doesn't justify the amount of skills allocated for tk.

[MoonUnit]

Sounds like the partial ES mode. I assume you have a similar build? Any comments on this mode of ES with ~500 mana? I would rather sink Spts in some cold armor instead if the low mana doesn't justify the amount of skills allocated for tk.

I tried something similar a long time ago but it didn't go too well, since I didn't have very good gear.

Basically with warmth maxed, you'll have a massive amount of mana regen, that should hopefully keep up with a mid to high lvl on ES.

[melianor]

Stickied for a bit and will add it to the library.

[nulio]

Amazing guide! Really, many thanks!

If you want, if you ever come to Lisbon you just have won a free lunch! :P (or when I visit London again)

I'm trying to decide from a max damage fireballer or a max damage ranged enchantress and if I decide to go for the second then I'll have to decide if I want to max light mastery, add some light damage charms and use ES or go to the FO way.

This guide really helped easily and quickly understand how ES works. :)

I just have two questions.
1- The TK skill level only counts when casting ES or does it count always? (after casting when we switch back if the TH level drops so does the damage to mana ratio)
2- When casting ES and since TK is a synergy it only counts the "real" Skill points right? (I remember reading somewhere that synergy bonus doesn't count with +SkillPs but I'm not sure)

[sirpoopsalot]

TK counts at all times. But the part that counts is ONLY the actual skillpoints you've spent into TK. No amount of +skills or +telekinesis from items will affect how your TK helps ES - ONLY actual skillpoints.

This behaviour is true with every "true" synergy (fire/cold/lite mastery are sometimes considered synergies too, but these actually do get benefits from +skills, so it isn't entirely accurate to consider them as a synergy at all).

Example: adding a +3 Firebolt staff won't ever increase your Fireball damage.

[nulio]

Thanks :)

I've decided to try an ES Enchantress :D As soon as I decide the exact build I'll be killing stuff with a Golben Orb in my head.

[gabrielop]

I have been building a Frozen Orb/Energy Shield Sorc--I started off laboriously attached to the guide that appears on another thread here until level 50 and then basically was on my own. I am now in Act V of Nightmare at Level 64 and things are getting difficult. My mana tends to run out quickly now, whereas up until this act, I could basically blast my way through anything on Frozen Orb and whatever little damage I took, was absorbed by Energy Shield and deflected to my mana. I took a quick run through one of the side-portals in the Arreat Summit (I think it was Abbadon) and got completely hammered because the harpies all had cold immune and ate what was left of my mana--because I couldn't freeze everything, my merc had a terrible time of it and died three or four times before I got out of there completely. Here is my full build, equipment and stats---if anyone could give me advice on how to proceed, what equipment to look for, etc., I would be grateful. Thanks!


FROZEN ORB/ENERGY SHIELD SORCERESS BUILD

Character Stats:
Level: 64
Strength 55(78) Frozen Orb Damage: 267-282
Vitality 37 Stamina: 193 Life: 259
Dexterity 33(45) Attack Rating: 183 Defense: 598 (2093—with defensive aura from Merc)
Energy 280(296 Mana: 728

Fire Resistance: 84
Cold Resistance: 54
Lightning Resistance: 70
Poison Resistance: 75

Skill Levels:
Fire Skills:
Warmth: 3
Inferno: 3
Meteor: 3

Lightning Skills:
Charged Bolt: 3
Static Field: 6
Telekinesis: 3
Lightning: 3
Chain Lightning: 3
Teleport: 5
Energy Shield: 21

Cold Skills:
Ice Bolt: 3
Frozen Armor: 3
Frost Nova: 3
Ice Blast: 3
Glacial Spike: 3
Blizzard: 3
Frozen Orb: 20
Cold Mastery: 20

Equipment:
Ghoul Whorl Clasped Orb:
One hand Damage: 5 to 12
Durability: 40 of 40
+16 to Energy
+6 to Life
Cold resist +20%
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+2 to Teleport
+2 to Meteor
+1 to Energy Shield
7% Damage Goes to Mana
Level 1 Teleport (33/33 charges)

Ancients’ Pledge Kite Shield:
Defense: 24
Chance to Block: 28%
Durability: 30 of 30
+50 Enhanced defense
Fire Resist +48%
Lightning Resist +48%
Cold Resist +43%
Poison Resist +48%
10% Damage taken goes to Mana

Nokazan Relic Amulet:
Fire Resist 50%
+10% to Maximum Fire Resist
Adds 3-6 Fire Damage
+3 to Light Radius
20% faster Hit Recovery

Faithful Mage Plate of Equilibrium
Defense: 435
Durability: 60 of 60
17% Faster Hit recovery
+192 to defense (Based on Character Level)

Armageddon Horn Circlet:
Defense: 28
Durability: 35 of 35
+9 to Life
+4 to Minimum damage
All resistances +16
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
Level 1 Twister (22/22 chrages)

Corpse Grasp Chain Gloves
Defense: 13
Durability: 16 of 16
+38% Enhanced Defense
Posion resist +18%
67% Extra Gold from Monsters
14% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
12% Chance to cast level 4 Charged Bolt when Struck

Bladebuckle Plated Belt:
Defense: 53
Durability: 24 of 24
+5 to strength
+10 to dexterity
+93% enhanced defense
+30 Defense
Damage Reduced by 3
Attacker Takes Damage of 8
30% Faster Hit Recovery

Havoc Nails Chain Boots
Defense: 12
Durability: 16 of 16
+2 to dexterity
+25% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +8%
Poison Resist +26%
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Fortuitous Ring of Chance:
19% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Doom Grip Ring:
+2 to Life
+13 Mana
Lightning resist +12%
Cold Resist +15%
+5 to Light Radius
Half Freeze Duration
5% Bonus to Attack Rating

Charms:
1. +19 to Life, +16 to Maximum Stamina
2. + 13 to Maximum Stamina
3. 10% Extra Gold from Monsters
4. +3 to Strength, Fire Resist 10%
5. +5 to Defense, +4 to Strength
6. + 5 to Strength
7. Adds 2-3 Fire Damage, Lightning Resist +26%
8. Poison Resist +7%
9. +12 to Life, +2 to Mana
10. + 1 to Strength, Poison Resist +7%
11. +17 Defense, +5 to Strength
12. +14 to Life, +30 to Mana

[gabrielop]

OK, maybe I reacted a little too quickly. I think my trouble was really just because those damn harpie like creatures in the pit-run of Abbadon were cold immune. I just finished the Frozen River quest and had no problem with it---but since I am here . . . what is the best option when I am not FOing people right and left? Meteor is not that strong at that level nor is Chain Lightning?

[scottee]

@gabrielop: looks like you need a bit more focus for your build. You've got skill points scattered all around, too many points in cold mastery, and no decent backup for cold immunes. Not to mention, FO is not very powerful once you hit later acts in hell.

I'd suggest trying a Nova/FO build- max Nova, LM, FO, Telekinesis, 10ish in CM, rest in ES. With good +skills and lightning skillers in your inventory, you'll have a decent ES. Full Tals wouldn't be a bad gear choice for this build, so it can be done relatively cheaply.

[sirpoopsalot]

I agree with what scottee said about having things scattered around too much. Even the best backup attacks with good gear are going to need a minimum of 15 points (you really want more though) - and you don't have those points, nor do you have the "best" backup attacks.

I'd definitely recommend a rebuild. However... if you want to try to salvage what you have, and seeing you're only level64, that does leave some time to make this viable (read: not great, but viable)...

My advice for the moment in fighting cold immunes is to use Static Field first to remove 66% of the monster's life (in NM - it's only 50% in Hell), then try to position the monster between you and the merc - at that point you spam telekinesis (pinning the monster against your merc) while the merc gets the kill.

Otherwise, it's not great, but you may consider returning to Act2 Normal, purchasing a "gray" 2-socket staff with +3 Firewall from Drognan, and making a 'Leaf' runeword. +6 Firewall isn't quite enough to be "reliable", but eventually you can kill things with it.

And working with what you already have, Lightning will be better than Chain Lightning... not that you've got enough points for either to really be worth a damn.


Going forward, with the points you have available in the future, I'd recommend you put a point into Fire Mastery and dump everything else into Firewall. It's not the best skill to aim, but the damage is very good for a small number of skillpoints. Basically, Firewall and Frozen Orb are the two best skills for spending only ~20-30 skillpoints in - almost all of the others will need at least a maxed mastery and ~40+ skillpoints into that tree to be strong enough to kill in Hell. Considering what you've already scattered around, I can't see much else that will work, to be honest (err... unless you just teleport past all cold immunes in the future and only use Static+merc to kill the ones you need to - not a bad idea, actually).

[gabrielop]

Thanks guys. I only set up the build the way I did, because that was the way the guide set the build up (the next skill to pump up to 20 was telekenesis for its effect on ES). When I ran through the Frozen River--any one who got close to me died pretty quickly and my mana was fine. I think the only reason I had a hard time in that one pit run was because I was surrounded by champion and regular harpies that were all cold immune. I really only put points in FO, ES, and CM--most of the rest of my points came from added bonuses to sorc skills. Admittedly, I think the build is meant more for magic find than anything else, so that at higher levels you can easily get into some decent drop areas with little difficulty. For instance, I just ran Pindle for the first time in Nightmare and I obliterated the whole field in about five seconds. I know, by the time I get to Hell, I am going to need a lot more damage power, but it seems like the only thing I have to worry about are cold immunes.

[Kyrandia]

I think the reason why you run out of mana so quickly is because you maxed ES before TK. I personally would have done it the other way round.

Note that on page 1 of this thread renegademaster mentions 3 possible builds: 1 ES + 1 TK, 1 ES + 20 TK, and 20 ES + 20 TK (prebuffing not taken into account). You appear to be working towards the latter setup, but your current (intermediate) state is not recommended in the guide, and I assume the mana issue is exactly the reason. With 20 ES + 1 TK you deflect a maximum amount of damage at the highest possible mana cost. Unless you have a really big mana pool thanks to good gear, this setup will leave you quite vulnerable.

[alphaz]

I think maxing tk before es is better?

[renegademaster]

Try getting hold of a Gerkes Sanctuary shield, this will provide the damage reduction to your energy shield.

FO and ES buils is really for Duelling, as there lots of cold immunes out there that cannot be broken even with Infinity Runeword (it has a conviction aura).
Either try a duel element build as SirPoopsAllot Suggests, or go Pure Lightning and get an Infinity polearm for your merc. Whilst Inifinity is expensive the build is very powerful and can go anywhere, and excellent at magic finding.

[gabrielop]

Kyrandia---how big is "big" when it comes to Mana Pools??

[Kyrandia]

It depends. My ES sorc (http://forum.diii.net/showthread.php?t=727081) had a pre-buffed lvl17 ES and 20 points in TK, so I cannot speak from experience. But you can do the calculation: if a monster does ~100 damage in Hell, and you have a lvl 40 ES but only 1 point in TK, then it will cost you approx. 184 mana (0.95*100*(2.0-0.0625)). Taking into account that you might get hit by 5 gloams at the same time, you're already talking ~1000 mana just to survive being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then you want to have something left for casting spells... well, you can make your own estimation.

I was quite comfortable with the ~2000 mana I had, but that was with 20 points in TK and a lower lvl ES. A monster doing 100 dam would only cost me 54 mana (and 28 life, most of which was cancelled by PDR/MDR gear).

[mephiztophelez]

Kyrandia---how big is "big" when it comes to Mana Pools??

you sometimes hear PvP es sorks claiming 4.5k+ mana.

that's "big".

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

Question on balance (I bookmarked good links back in 2008 in case I'd ever need them, but alas I deleted them; search function isn't bringing up good results):

I know people spend hours figuring out a good life/mana balance with ES, so if any of you out there can answer, it'll be great. In general (if that's even possible), what life/mana ratio am I looking for:

Partial ES
- PvM
- PvMelee
- PvCaster
- PvA

Full ES
- PvM
- PvMelee
- PvCaster
- PvA

Assuming I can get my hands on some GG items.

[Kurumi]

Forget balance. For fun and ADRENALINE FILLED PVM...go base vita as much as you can into ENergn sorc.