MF Blizz Sorc - few quick Q's: skills/gear/stats/merc

[buckies]

Hi,

I want to make an MF Blizz Sorc. This Sorc will run AT (primarily - no Cold Immunes and Good TC's here) / Pindle / Baal and Meph.

Some Q's I have are:


1. What is the preferred skill allocation? Hrus's MF guide states the following, is this proven as the best:
Blizzard Sorc - 20 Blizzard, 20 Cold Mastery, 15+ Glacial Spike, 20 Ice Blast, 15+ Ice Bolt, 1 Static Field, 1 Teleport, 0-1 Warmth
The best build for Mephisto, Pindleskin and Andariel runs. It's because high damage, large area of effect (large monsters as actbosses are hit more) and Cold mastery that lowers cold resistances. The best amount of Cold Mastery is -175 (skill level 32 with items), because it will lower the Mephisto's cold resistances to -100. (monster resistances cannot be lowered to more than -100).


2. Which gear setup should I use:
Tals Armour + Belt + Ammy, or, Skullders + Arachnids + Maras (or the blizzard belt instead of arachnids)? Or, some mix of the two?
Stormshield for the shield (with -15 req jewel) or something else?



3. For stat distribution, should I go max block, or just use SS for it's res and 30% DR, and go all vita?

4. Given the areas I am running, what Merc is best? I am thinking either Might Merc with Reaper's Toll, or, Holy Freeze Merc with a better damage weapon. Which merc is going to be more beneficial and ensure faster runs? Can shiver armour be my HF substitute so I should go with Might to boost merc damage?

If there is a guide to all this then apologies, please refer it to me and I'll consult that. I read Lorax's guide but it isn't MF focused enough to answer these Q's.

[sirpoopsalot]

1. I agree with Hrus' opinion.

For the progression, I'd start with 20 Blizzard, then ~10 Cold Mastery, then Ice Blast, then Ice Bolt, then Glacial Spike before returning to Cold Mastery.

Many people will recommend Glacial Spike sooner, but it's damage is worse than IceBlast (which will be your primary single-target attack), and IceBolt (although unused) will synergize IceBlast and Blizzard's damage. Glacial Spike will only boost Ice Blasts freeze duration, so I'd make it the last synergy. Cold Mastery, at least until you have it to level17 (after +skills), will typically provide more damage than any of the synergies, which is why I recommend some investment in the mastery before switching to the synergies.

Note: From level 6-23 you could also boost IceBlast somewhat - getting to level24 without spending much in your early skills can be painful if you don't have good gear (or are getting a rush from a friend).

Note2: Although Glacial Spike is a weaker killer than Ice Blast, it's still a little better at freezing things solid / crowd-control (the missile travels faster and has an area of effect that IceBlast doesn't), so you might want to use it on occasion. For example, on Pindleskin runs it's not a bad idea to start with 1-2 GS shots to stop the pack from charging you, then start dropping Blizzards intermixed with IceBlasts to kill things. Safe & fast.


2. I like the 3xTal's pieces myself.


3. Personally I'd much rather go with the ability to use a Spirit shield and full-vita.


4. I like the Might merc for dealing quickly with immunes. Any big-hurt weapon can work well enough on him (with a little leach). You'll have chilling with Blizzard, and you can use IceBlast/GS to freeze the dangerous monsters solid (and teleport/merc to skip/tank immunes), so in my opinion you don't need an HF merc. That's not to say the HF merc is a bad choice, but I just don't think it's as useful to a single-element coldsorc as a Might merc is.


As for a guide, in the stickied knowledge library there's a pretty comprehensive Blizzard guide. Although it's a little old, it's still pretty accurate & thorough.

[buckies]

Thanks for the prompt responses to all points.

For the skills, I read somewhere else that CM doesn't need to be maxed, but only needs to be around level 20 with all your +skills gear on, since at 20 it's -100% Cold Res and no monsters have more resistance than that. Is that true?

Is a spirit shield hands down better than Stormshield, because if so, I may as well save the additional strength requirements and put it in a less str required shield.

3 piece tals vs skullders + arachnids + maras is interesting. 3 piece tals has monster res and slighter more MF, but the skullders combo has 2 more + skills, and FCR on the Arachnids. Tals belt also has that damage to Mana, which may be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

I guess 3 piece tals is better, since the +skills loss can be made up with a few cold skill GC's, but the resistance loss is harder to make up.

Cheers.

[maareek]

3 part Tal's gives 20 FCR. For an MF build it's superior to Skullder's + Mara's + Arach's, hands down, in my, and most people's, opinion.

Monster's resistance can be reduced all the way to -100%. Level 17 CM reduces monster cold res by 100%, but most monsters have over 0% res. Baal, for instance, has 50% cold resistance. Meph has 75%. So CM will continue to help as long as you don't get to a level where the target you're running would have less than -100% res. If you plan to run Meph, however, you shouldn't worry about that because you need level 32 to reach -175%.

You can only make spirit in Monarchs, Aegises, Wards and paladin shields. The Monarch has the lowest strength requirement of those available to the sorc. For a caster, spirit is better than Stormshield by miles.

[Hrus]

I agree with Sirpoopsalot in all of the points he made.
Also I would like to point out that it's the best to invest in the last few points of Cold Mastery last. Especially in BNet with Anni, Torch and Spirit shield, it's easier to reach 32 CM (as maareek explained) without actually maxing it.

[buckies]

Man you guys know your sorc stuff. Help much appreciated.

Looks like I'll aim for this now: go 3 piece tals + shako + 'ist' occy + spirit monarch/SS (subject to running area) + war travs + chancies/trangs + SOJ + Raven.

Skill wise I'll take your advice and boost the CM initially but then max it last after all the synergies.

Thanks for all the help. Time to get cracking and build this girl.

I play SP, so I won't see no torch or anni, but via the SPF forum I can trade my existing gear to get the 3 piece Tals, which is all I need.

[Hrus]

If you play SP, you can run each target repetitively (and not get temp bans), so you can equip him differently for each target. For example for running meph I suggest Shaftstop + Kelpie Snare. For running AT/Pindle, it's more about the damage and for Baal, you will need Guardian's Angel to up his resists against souls and hydras cast by council wave.

[sirpoopsalot]

Looks like I'll aim for this now: go 3 piece tals + shako + 'ist' occy + spirit monarch/SS (subject to running area) + war travs + chancies/trangs + SOJ + Raven.

Ravenfrost isn't particularly useful for sorcs - being chilled doesn't affect your casting speeds, so runniing is the only area where it'll really help... and sorcs don't run a whole lot. If you don't have another SoJ, I'd probably pick a rare with resists/mana/FCR/whatever, or even a Nagelring, before Ravenfrost.

Also, with Occy + Spirit + 3-piece-Tals you're somewhere between 75-85 FCR (depending on the Spirit). This is enough as is, but you might want to push for 105 FCR, especially for WSK/Baal runs. So I'd likely stick with Trangs gloves over chancies, and as I said, get an FCR ring (if necessary) to get that last little bit.

[Flax]

I have to agree with what ppl have said about raven.
Either use a fcr ring to reach the 105 bp with spirit and 20 fcr gloves.
Or go for the lower bp with chance guards and nagel ring.
Its mainly a matter of personal preference.

About the merc tho.
I truly like the might merc with reapers toll.
Add a gladiators bane and a nice hat gaze/CoT etc and you are set.
He can then poke most immune to death with ease enabling you to do easy baal runs etc too.

[Scudstorm]

Tals belt also has that damage to Mana, which may be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

Damage to Mana doesn't actually redirect damage to your mana like Energy Shield does. Your health bulb will still take whatever damage you're taking, and a percentage of this damage is then added to your mana pool.

Eg:

Without damage to mana, you take 100 damage
HP: -100
MP: no change

With 15% damage to mana, you take 100 damage
HP: -100
MP: +15

As you can see, damage to mana won't harm your life or mana bulbs in any way. So while it can be utterly useless in some builds/situations, it cannot be "bad".

[buckies]

Thanks again for the knowledgeable information.

I think I will roll spirit's till I get a 20% FCR, and then use Trang Gloves and 2 x SoJ for the rings in order to hit the 105% FCR break point and maximize damage output.

As you mentioned, any frozen affects shouldn't stop casting and I'll be moving by teleporting. Also, I'd still have around 400-450% MF at this point in time, so the additional killing speed would be more beneficial than another 40-100% MF via chancies and nagels.

% to mana is in my favour :crazyeyes:. Whoops. Learn something new every day.

[maareek]

Spirit's FCR varies between 25-35%, and sirpoopsalot's point was including that variation in his math. 105 FCR will be very helpful when doing WSK/Baal runs, but is less important for the other ones.

For AT running, 63% is fine, especially if you're not trying to be really fast. Also, for AT running Might with Insight is as good as it gets. You'll gain more speed by having Insight than you'd gain by him killing immunes a tad faster. For Baal, on the other hand, you'd rather have Reaper's or Kelpie. Pindle can be whatever, but I like sticking with Insight. Focus you're merc's gear on the target: Meph is unleechable, so there's no real need for a hat with leech vs him. Kira's + Shafstop + Insight works wonders. Leech and res are really important in Baal runs, however, so Kira's + Guardian Angel + Reaper's or (amned) Kelpie does well. The others have more flexible gear, especially if you're not looking to full optimize them. If you played B.net, you'd probably want a more universally capable build, but with the ease of ATMA muling in SP and the ability to do super fast runs, focusing on using the best setup is key.

Good luck with your char.

[buckies]

Early morning post for me o_O. I mean I would keep rolling till I hit 35% FCR on Spirit.

Forgive my ignorance, but what helm's Kira's? I usually use Guillaumes (spelling I know) for my Act 2 mercs for the CB and DS, or, a Vamp Gaze if he needs his leech badly and the DR. Reapers + Guillaumes/Vamp + Glad Bane and I find he never dies against bosses, or requires the occasional pot.

For AT I'm all about the speed. Got a necro doing it now with good killing speed and MF, but can't afford Jah + Ber for Enigma with me playing SP, so I'd rather get a sorc up and running and improve my MF run times - esp since I will roll the map till it's good and then keep running it. Another Hell Forge drop couldn't hurt either.

[Scudstorm]

what helm's Kira's?

There you go (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/normal/ucirclets.shtml). :)

Your current merc setup is good enough imo.

[buckies]

There you go (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/normal/ucirclets.shtml). :)

Your current merc setup is good enough imo.
Ahh, that explains why I didn't know what it was, it's an extremely rare Tiara :scratchchin:

In all honesty I'd likely trade that on the SP trade forum if I found it, since it'd be worth a nice HR or two which I'd much prefer. Provides all the res a merc needs though and the CBF means I could change the armour from gladbane to shaft for the DR.

[Hrus]

Actually unique Tiara is quite common (it can drop from hell meph and with good odds) and it would bring you probably around 10 PGems when traded...
I've checked Bassen's prize check thread and it states 15PGems-Um dpending on resist roll. So I was not so far from the truth...

[buckies]

Damn. I've only farmed Meph for approx 1K in runs but he's never coughed it up.

Surprised how cheap Bassen rates it given the mods. Even a low res one would be good for a merc baal running, so I might go shopping on the trade forum.

I just clicked yesterday that Spirit is a ladder runeword, so, I won't be able to use it in SP and get my 105% FCR :( (as I don't intend to install the mod). May as well go Lidless Wall instead and hit the 63% BP.

[buckies]

Sorry to resurrect this. My sorc has now hit the mid 60's, and is wearing most of her end game gear.

In terms of skill placement, I've maxed blizzard, maxed glacial spike, and am now maxing ice blast. I've put about 10 points in Cold Mastery.

Question is: after I'm done with ice blast, should I max Cold Mastery or Ice Bolt first? Most guides say ice bolt first and cold mastery last. However, as mentioned here, most hell monsters have an existing cold resistance, so it would still be beneficial to max cold mastery.

alternatively, should I opt for a mix (i.e. get CM to level 20 with gear and then max ice bolt before returning to it)?

It looks like I would have to get to level 97 to max all 5, since there are 110 skill points available and I've spent 8 outside of those 5 core skills (2 to get shiver armour + frost nova + warmth + static + TK + TP + Frozen Orb (accidentally)).

Given the fact that the 90's are such a grind, I wouldn't mind getting some advice on what order would be most beneficial for Baal running.

[maareek]

The typical route is to get Cold Mastery to -100% before working on masteries. The reason being as long as the monsters resistances are positive, reducing their resistance gives more damage. After their resistances are negative (which is guaranteed by -100%; actually it's basically guaranteed lower than that but it's much easier to just say -100%), though, +% damage is more effective. So, once you get CM to level 17 after +skills, max the other synergies then finish off CM later on.

The reason synergies do more damage with blizzard is they add the same amount of damage that CM reduces resistances by. So, after the monster is in negative resists, the +%damage adds to Blizzard/whatever and is then further increased by CM, while points in CM would just increase the damage by the 5% ... at least to monsters not already at -100% resistance. With Frozen Orb, though, the synergy should be maxed last.

[buckies]

Cheers. Explanation and logic given. I'll go with the -100% before maxing ice bolt, and then come back to finish off CM.