2-Hand Melee Sorc: Energy Shield?

[Sixstringer]

Following my pally's death, I'm playing a sorc in a single player tournament that only allows for two-handed swords (no shields). It's tough, I know, but that's the rules. You probably know this, but we're talking PVM here.

So . . . as I have no knowledge of sorcs whatsoever . . .

should I use energy shield at all? Should I go the 1 pt/ 20 tk route?

If I use energy shield, should I invest more points in energy?

[sirpoopsalot]

Don't be a wuss - to heck with Energy Shield. ;)

Seriously though, if you go with ES and an investment into Energy, that means your life will probably be low enough that many/most hits from manaburn monsters will force you into hit recovery. And hit-recovery + shieldless sorc + low(ish) life from ES = a really bad time and/or a really quick death.

On the other hand, if you invest heavily into Vit you can hopefully avoid most forms of hit recovery when you get hit - and therefore have an easier time escaping dangerous situations immediately instead of waiting for your hit recovery animation to complete.


By the way, I took a 2-handed-weapon melee sorc through the game once. The key to her survivability was actually that she used an Act3 Iron Wolf (cold) merc. Enemies that are frozen solid are pretty safe, afterall. The only problem with the merc was that he couldn't kill - at all - so I needed a 2nd damage type on my sorc beyond Enchant. But a two-handed melee sorc + Iron Wolf merc gets you automatic style points. :grin:

Still, no matter what you decide upon for the merc or the skills or anything else, you'll need strategic use of guerrilla tactics and teleport to safely make your way past many enemies. Good luck.