Micah the Great
05-07-2009, 11:50
Welcome to my guide for the Fireball/Blizzard sorceress! The whole idea behind this sorceress is that you are using 2 elements (fire and cold) so you can tackle almost any monster in the game. I'm not saying this is the best build in all of Diablo 2 but I think it is the most efficient as far as MFing goes. One thing about this sorceress is it is decently expensive (around 50 high runes as of July 2009). If you don't have that kind of money, don't fret, around 10 high runes will give you a decent MFing character who doesn't need an infinity.
__________________________________________________
Table of Contents
__________________________________________________
I. Skill Point Allocation
II. Stat Point Allocation
III. Understanding Breakpoints
IV. Gear Setup
V. Inventory
VI. Tal Rasha's Wrappings
VII. General Fighting Strategies
VIII. Mercenary
IX. Helpful Posts
X. Thank-yous
__________________________________________________
I. Skill Point Allocation
__________________________________________________
Fire: 46 points
20 - Fireball
20 - Fire bolt
05 - Fire mastery
01 - Warmth
Cold: 45 points
20 - Blizzard
20 - Ice blast
01 - Ice bolt
01 - Frozen armor
01 - Frost nova
01 - Glacial spike
01 - Cold Mastery
Lightning: 3 points
01 - Static field
01 - Telekinesis
01 - Teleport
Total Skill Points: 94
This skill build can be finished at level 82 if you count the 12 points from skill quests. I can't suggest either way to spend leftover points, because it can depend heavily on your playing style. If you tend to lean toward using blizzard to kill, then leftovers should go into Cold Mastery. I use more fireballs so I put points into Fire Mastery. One terribly overlooked suggestion is getting hydra. with 5 +Fire skill GCs, your hydra (level 1) will hit 1.7ks. Not bad, eh?
__________________________________________________
II. Stat Point Allocation
__________________________________________________
Strength - 55 or 90
Dexterity - 25
Vitality - Rest of points
Energy - 35 [BASE]
Your equipment will give you high enough mana, and maxing block is out of the question due to the extreme loss of life. The reason I give two different numbers for strength is because I recommend two different armors for this build. If you are using an Archon Plate Enigma or Chains of Honor, you will need 90 strength, but if you use a Mage Plate Enigma, as I recommend, you will only need 55 strength.
__________________________________________________
[B]III. Understanding Breakpoints
__________________________________________________
It is important to reach certain "Breakpoints" in FCR (Faster Cast Rating) and FHR (Faster Hit Recovery). These breakpoints will help to ensure safety while teleporting, as well as teleporting and slinging fireballs faster. Here are the breakpoints we will be shooting for in this guide.
FCR - 105% \ 8 frames
FHR - 60% \ 8 frames
I know most guides you've read have probably said to go for the 86% FHR breakpoint, but I am sacrificing a bit of FHR for damage. The gear mentioned in the guide will reach the FCR breakpoint, and be 5% short of the FHR breakpoint. There are Faster Block Rate breakpoints but they are not mentioned in this guide because frankly, they are completely useless for
this build.
__________________________________________________
IV. Gear Setup
__________________________________________________
Helmet: Shako | Nightwing's Veil | Tal's Mask
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope | +3 Cold/Fire skills | Tal's Amulet
Body: 'Enigma' | 'Chains of Honor' | Tal's Plate
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh | Snowclash | Tal Rasha's Belt
Weapon: Eschuta's Temper | Death's Fathom | The Occulus | Tal's Orb
Shield: 'Spirit' | Lidless Wall | Sigon's shield
Gloves: Magefist | Trang's claws | Frostburn
Ring: Stone of Jordan | Nagelring | 10 FCR ring
Ring: Stone of Jordan | Nagelring | 10 FCR ring
Boots: War Travelers | Sandstorm Treks | Waterwalks
Switch
Weapon: 'Call to Arms' runeword
Shield: Lidless wall | Sigon's shield | 'Splendor' runeword
Explanations
Helmet: Shako gives +2 to all skills which will greatly up your damage, as well as some life/mana, and some MF.
Amulet: Mara's gives some nice resistances and +2 to skills.
Body: Enigma gives great strength bonuses and MF, as well as small
resistances and life.
Belt: Spider is the only belt with +1 to skills, as well as 20% FCR.
Weapon: Eschuta's gives 10-20% Fire skill damage, and +3 to sorceress skill levels. You can use a Death's Fathom because
it's just like an Eschuta's, but it gives 15-30% Cold skill damage, and only 20% FCR.
Shield: Spirit is the only +2 to skills shield, as well as giving 55% FHR, and 25-35% FCR.
Gloves: Magefists give +1 to Fire skills, with 20% FCR.
Rings: SoJs and BKs are the only rings that give +1 skills, and SoJs give 20% maximum mana, making them the obvious choice. If you want MF you can use Nagelrings.
Boots: War Travelers give the standard FRW, and 10 Strength and Vitality along with 30-50% MF makes these boots the stand
out winners.
Totals from gear:
Sorceress skills: +14
Magic Finding: ~160-340%
Faster Cast Rating: 125-135%
Faster Hit Recovery: 55%
__________________________________________________
V. Inventory
__________________________________________________
Sorry for not implementing this earlier, but you need to know what goes in your inventory. I usually keep 6x fire grand charms and 3x cold, with a sorceress hellfire torch and an annihilus. The GCs are comepletely up to you, but I prefer beefed up fireball damage with a bit of help to blizzard. While MFing, you may find it useful to leave behind a few GCs to hold items. That's fine, but you also may want to keep some for times when you need them (PvP, especially hard boss fights). You'll notice with the inventory I recommend, you'll have spots left over for small charms. I recommend small charms with life, resists, faster hit recovery, or strength.
Grand Charms: 9 skill GCs, fire or cold, or a mix. Your decision.
Small Charms: Life, Resists, Faster Hit Recovery, and Strength are all great options.
Other Charms: Annihilus, and a Sorceress' Hellfire Torch.
__________________________________________________
VI. Tal Rasha's Wrappings
__________________________________________________
A lot of people out there suggest using a full Tal Rasha's set for a sorceress. I'm not going to argue with them, because it is a comepletely legitimate set. I figured since this is a very common, effective, and cheap set, I'd add a section with information on Tal Rasha's Wrappings. Here are the stats for each piece of Tal Rasha's set, as well as the set bonus per number of items.
Thanks to Scudstorm for sparking this idea.
Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye
Swirling Eye
Damage: 18 To 42 (30 Avg)
Required Level: 65
Durability: 50
Base Weapon Speed: [10]
(Sorceress Only)
20% Faster Cast Rate
+77 To Mana
+57 To Life
+10 To Energy
+1-2 To Lightning Mastery (Sorceress Only) (varies)
+1-2 To Fire Mastery (Sorceress Only) (varies)
+1-2 To Cold Mastery (Sorceress Only) (varies)
+1 To Sorceress Skill Levels (2 Items)
-15% To Enemy Fire Resistance (3 Items)
-15% To Enemy Lightning Resistance (4 Items)
+15% To Cold Skills Damage (Complete Set)
-
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 99-131 (varies)(Base Defense: 54-86)
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 55
Durability: 20
10% Life Stolen Per Hit
10% Mana Stolen Per Hit
All Resistances +15
+45 Defense
+30 To Mana
+60 To Life
-
Tal Rasha's Guardianship
Lacquered Plate
Defense: 833-941 (varies)(Base Defense: 433-541)
Required Level: 71
Required Strength: 84
Durability: 55
+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
+10% Faster Cast Rate (2 Items)
-
Tal Rasha's Fine-spun Cloth
Mesh Belt
Defense: 95-100 (varies) (Base Defense: 35-40)
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 47
Durability: 16
16 boxes
Requirements -20%
37% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+30 To Mana
+20 To Dexterity
10-15% Better Chance Of Magic Items (varies)
+60 Defense (2 Items)
+10% Faster Cast Rate (3 Items)
-
Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
+2 To Sorceress Skill Levels
Lightning Resist +33%
Adds 3-32 Lightning Damage
+42 To Mana
+50 To Life
+10% Faster Cast Rate (4 Items)
-
Set Bonuses
Partial Set Bonus
Replenish Life +10 (2 Items)
65% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items (3 Items)
25% Faster Hit Recovery (4 Items)
-
Complete Set Bonus
+3 To Sorceress Skill Levels
Replenish Life +10
65% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Hit Recovery
+150 To Life
All Resistances +50
+50 Defense vs. Missile
+150 Defense
Display Aura
__________________________________________________
VII. General Fighting Strategies
__________________________________________________
Left-click: Fireball
Right-click: Blizzard
Set your buffs to however they work for you, but this is how I do mine.
F1: Battle Commands
F2: Energy Shield
F3: Frozen Armor
F4: Battle Orders
Apart from that, your hotkeys don't matter, but try to make it a habit to keep your buffs organized like that. The reason I do them in that order is so that the skills will recieve the buff from Battle Commands before they are casted. Apart from having Battle Commands first, the order doesn't really matter.
Drop blizzard on the monster(s) you're fighting and spam fireballs until you can recast blizzard. I'm sure many of you are looking to make a sorceress for the MFing factor, so here is how I do my MF runs.
Countess: You can only do countess if you have a strategy to fight that doesn't use fire or cold spells. Alternatively, you can use an infinity runeword on your mercenary to reduce the Countess' resistances to cold and fire.
Andariel: There isn't much to explain about Andariel, pretty straight-forward and easy.
Summoner: Again, not much to be said here, just spam fireballs at him.
Mephisto: Mephisto isn't immune to anything, and there are two strategies to kill him. You can either stand across the river from him and drop blizzards and hurl fireballs at him. The other strategy, and my personal preference, is to teleport to the portal that leads you to Act 4, and walk toward him.
__________________________________________________
VIII. Mercenary
__________________________________________________
Act: 2
Type: Defensive
Helmet: Andariel's Visage | Any
Body: Fortitude | Stone
Weapon: Infinity | Insight
I know some of you out there are wondering "Why do I need a Mercenary?" Mercenaries can take a lot of damage, deal a lot of damage, and equip weapons with important auras like Infinity and Insight. While costing about 10 high runes, it considerably lowers the monsters' resistances, thus increasing your damage and making it even easier to deal with fire and cold immunes.
__________________________________________________
IX. Helpful Posts
__________________________________________________
Page 1: Scudstorm, sirpoopsalot
__________________________________________________
X. Thank-yous
__________________________________________________
Socialism: Special thanks to him for getting me thinking on unique builds, and I sort of jacked his layout. Sorry
Soc.
DIII.net: Special thanks to DIII.net for all their resources and providing me a canvas on which to paint my... Well... Guide. *Failed Epic Sentence*
If anybody needs anything just add me in game, USWest Non-Ladder Expansion, MicahD
__________________________________________________
Table of Contents
__________________________________________________
I. Skill Point Allocation
II. Stat Point Allocation
III. Understanding Breakpoints
IV. Gear Setup
V. Inventory
VI. Tal Rasha's Wrappings
VII. General Fighting Strategies
VIII. Mercenary
IX. Helpful Posts
X. Thank-yous
__________________________________________________
I. Skill Point Allocation
__________________________________________________
Fire: 46 points
20 - Fireball
20 - Fire bolt
05 - Fire mastery
01 - Warmth
Cold: 45 points
20 - Blizzard
20 - Ice blast
01 - Ice bolt
01 - Frozen armor
01 - Frost nova
01 - Glacial spike
01 - Cold Mastery
Lightning: 3 points
01 - Static field
01 - Telekinesis
01 - Teleport
Total Skill Points: 94
This skill build can be finished at level 82 if you count the 12 points from skill quests. I can't suggest either way to spend leftover points, because it can depend heavily on your playing style. If you tend to lean toward using blizzard to kill, then leftovers should go into Cold Mastery. I use more fireballs so I put points into Fire Mastery. One terribly overlooked suggestion is getting hydra. with 5 +Fire skill GCs, your hydra (level 1) will hit 1.7ks. Not bad, eh?
__________________________________________________
II. Stat Point Allocation
__________________________________________________
Strength - 55 or 90
Dexterity - 25
Vitality - Rest of points
Energy - 35 [BASE]
Your equipment will give you high enough mana, and maxing block is out of the question due to the extreme loss of life. The reason I give two different numbers for strength is because I recommend two different armors for this build. If you are using an Archon Plate Enigma or Chains of Honor, you will need 90 strength, but if you use a Mage Plate Enigma, as I recommend, you will only need 55 strength.
__________________________________________________
[B]III. Understanding Breakpoints
__________________________________________________
It is important to reach certain "Breakpoints" in FCR (Faster Cast Rating) and FHR (Faster Hit Recovery). These breakpoints will help to ensure safety while teleporting, as well as teleporting and slinging fireballs faster. Here are the breakpoints we will be shooting for in this guide.
FCR - 105% \ 8 frames
FHR - 60% \ 8 frames
I know most guides you've read have probably said to go for the 86% FHR breakpoint, but I am sacrificing a bit of FHR for damage. The gear mentioned in the guide will reach the FCR breakpoint, and be 5% short of the FHR breakpoint. There are Faster Block Rate breakpoints but they are not mentioned in this guide because frankly, they are completely useless for
this build.
__________________________________________________
IV. Gear Setup
__________________________________________________
Helmet: Shako | Nightwing's Veil | Tal's Mask
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope | +3 Cold/Fire skills | Tal's Amulet
Body: 'Enigma' | 'Chains of Honor' | Tal's Plate
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh | Snowclash | Tal Rasha's Belt
Weapon: Eschuta's Temper | Death's Fathom | The Occulus | Tal's Orb
Shield: 'Spirit' | Lidless Wall | Sigon's shield
Gloves: Magefist | Trang's claws | Frostburn
Ring: Stone of Jordan | Nagelring | 10 FCR ring
Ring: Stone of Jordan | Nagelring | 10 FCR ring
Boots: War Travelers | Sandstorm Treks | Waterwalks
Switch
Weapon: 'Call to Arms' runeword
Shield: Lidless wall | Sigon's shield | 'Splendor' runeword
Explanations
Helmet: Shako gives +2 to all skills which will greatly up your damage, as well as some life/mana, and some MF.
Amulet: Mara's gives some nice resistances and +2 to skills.
Body: Enigma gives great strength bonuses and MF, as well as small
resistances and life.
Belt: Spider is the only belt with +1 to skills, as well as 20% FCR.
Weapon: Eschuta's gives 10-20% Fire skill damage, and +3 to sorceress skill levels. You can use a Death's Fathom because
it's just like an Eschuta's, but it gives 15-30% Cold skill damage, and only 20% FCR.
Shield: Spirit is the only +2 to skills shield, as well as giving 55% FHR, and 25-35% FCR.
Gloves: Magefists give +1 to Fire skills, with 20% FCR.
Rings: SoJs and BKs are the only rings that give +1 skills, and SoJs give 20% maximum mana, making them the obvious choice. If you want MF you can use Nagelrings.
Boots: War Travelers give the standard FRW, and 10 Strength and Vitality along with 30-50% MF makes these boots the stand
out winners.
Totals from gear:
Sorceress skills: +14
Magic Finding: ~160-340%
Faster Cast Rating: 125-135%
Faster Hit Recovery: 55%
__________________________________________________
V. Inventory
__________________________________________________
Sorry for not implementing this earlier, but you need to know what goes in your inventory. I usually keep 6x fire grand charms and 3x cold, with a sorceress hellfire torch and an annihilus. The GCs are comepletely up to you, but I prefer beefed up fireball damage with a bit of help to blizzard. While MFing, you may find it useful to leave behind a few GCs to hold items. That's fine, but you also may want to keep some for times when you need them (PvP, especially hard boss fights). You'll notice with the inventory I recommend, you'll have spots left over for small charms. I recommend small charms with life, resists, faster hit recovery, or strength.
Grand Charms: 9 skill GCs, fire or cold, or a mix. Your decision.
Small Charms: Life, Resists, Faster Hit Recovery, and Strength are all great options.
Other Charms: Annihilus, and a Sorceress' Hellfire Torch.
__________________________________________________
VI. Tal Rasha's Wrappings
__________________________________________________
A lot of people out there suggest using a full Tal Rasha's set for a sorceress. I'm not going to argue with them, because it is a comepletely legitimate set. I figured since this is a very common, effective, and cheap set, I'd add a section with information on Tal Rasha's Wrappings. Here are the stats for each piece of Tal Rasha's set, as well as the set bonus per number of items.
Thanks to Scudstorm for sparking this idea.
Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye
Swirling Eye
Damage: 18 To 42 (30 Avg)
Required Level: 65
Durability: 50
Base Weapon Speed: [10]
(Sorceress Only)
20% Faster Cast Rate
+77 To Mana
+57 To Life
+10 To Energy
+1-2 To Lightning Mastery (Sorceress Only) (varies)
+1-2 To Fire Mastery (Sorceress Only) (varies)
+1-2 To Cold Mastery (Sorceress Only) (varies)
+1 To Sorceress Skill Levels (2 Items)
-15% To Enemy Fire Resistance (3 Items)
-15% To Enemy Lightning Resistance (4 Items)
+15% To Cold Skills Damage (Complete Set)
-
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 99-131 (varies)(Base Defense: 54-86)
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 55
Durability: 20
10% Life Stolen Per Hit
10% Mana Stolen Per Hit
All Resistances +15
+45 Defense
+30 To Mana
+60 To Life
-
Tal Rasha's Guardianship
Lacquered Plate
Defense: 833-941 (varies)(Base Defense: 433-541)
Required Level: 71
Required Strength: 84
Durability: 55
+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
+10% Faster Cast Rate (2 Items)
-
Tal Rasha's Fine-spun Cloth
Mesh Belt
Defense: 95-100 (varies) (Base Defense: 35-40)
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 47
Durability: 16
16 boxes
Requirements -20%
37% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+30 To Mana
+20 To Dexterity
10-15% Better Chance Of Magic Items (varies)
+60 Defense (2 Items)
+10% Faster Cast Rate (3 Items)
-
Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
+2 To Sorceress Skill Levels
Lightning Resist +33%
Adds 3-32 Lightning Damage
+42 To Mana
+50 To Life
+10% Faster Cast Rate (4 Items)
-
Set Bonuses
Partial Set Bonus
Replenish Life +10 (2 Items)
65% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items (3 Items)
25% Faster Hit Recovery (4 Items)
-
Complete Set Bonus
+3 To Sorceress Skill Levels
Replenish Life +10
65% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Hit Recovery
+150 To Life
All Resistances +50
+50 Defense vs. Missile
+150 Defense
Display Aura
__________________________________________________
VII. General Fighting Strategies
__________________________________________________
Left-click: Fireball
Right-click: Blizzard
Set your buffs to however they work for you, but this is how I do mine.
F1: Battle Commands
F2: Energy Shield
F3: Frozen Armor
F4: Battle Orders
Apart from that, your hotkeys don't matter, but try to make it a habit to keep your buffs organized like that. The reason I do them in that order is so that the skills will recieve the buff from Battle Commands before they are casted. Apart from having Battle Commands first, the order doesn't really matter.
Drop blizzard on the monster(s) you're fighting and spam fireballs until you can recast blizzard. I'm sure many of you are looking to make a sorceress for the MFing factor, so here is how I do my MF runs.
Countess: You can only do countess if you have a strategy to fight that doesn't use fire or cold spells. Alternatively, you can use an infinity runeword on your mercenary to reduce the Countess' resistances to cold and fire.
Andariel: There isn't much to explain about Andariel, pretty straight-forward and easy.
Summoner: Again, not much to be said here, just spam fireballs at him.
Mephisto: Mephisto isn't immune to anything, and there are two strategies to kill him. You can either stand across the river from him and drop blizzards and hurl fireballs at him. The other strategy, and my personal preference, is to teleport to the portal that leads you to Act 4, and walk toward him.
__________________________________________________
VIII. Mercenary
__________________________________________________
Act: 2
Type: Defensive
Helmet: Andariel's Visage | Any
Body: Fortitude | Stone
Weapon: Infinity | Insight
I know some of you out there are wondering "Why do I need a Mercenary?" Mercenaries can take a lot of damage, deal a lot of damage, and equip weapons with important auras like Infinity and Insight. While costing about 10 high runes, it considerably lowers the monsters' resistances, thus increasing your damage and making it even easier to deal with fire and cold immunes.
__________________________________________________
IX. Helpful Posts
__________________________________________________
Page 1: Scudstorm, sirpoopsalot
__________________________________________________
X. Thank-yous
__________________________________________________
Socialism: Special thanks to him for getting me thinking on unique builds, and I sort of jacked his layout. Sorry
Soc.
DIII.net: Special thanks to DIII.net for all their resources and providing me a canvas on which to paint my... Well... Guide. *Failed Epic Sentence*
If anybody needs anything just add me in game, USWest Non-Ladder Expansion, MicahD