Meteorb Guide (3rd ed)

[Aioria]

Just wanna ask how much points should I put into Strength, vital and dex?

I got 105 into energy, guess I put a little too much...

And what merc is better? the one with defiance aura or the freezing aura?

[ivasar]

Read the guide, and make your numbers. You want to go for max block? Full vita? Which will be the most stregth demanding item of your gear? And, to be honest, those are too many points on energy yes; so many that I, personally, would reconsider rebuilding the sorc (but that might be just me ) About the merc, my choice usually is freezing aura, but you also have a whole guide stickied on top of this Sorc Forum to help you on your choice.


On another topic, I would like to make a comment here. Firstly, I don't know if it's been told already (checked the last page, but not the whole thread), but have you considered the new runewords' impact on this build. For example, Infinity on your merc (yes, expensive, no doubt) with it's level 12 conviction aura grants a -85% to maximun resistances, thus lowers the Cold Mastery requirements to achieve the maximun -100% resistance cap.

Also, the new Spirit shields (monarchs) look like the best choice for most of the sorcs, included this build, because of the +2 skills instead of the +1, the FCR, Vitality, FHR, resistances... Only missing magic find, but in my opinion gives so many adventages compared to the magic find granting shields that is better use Spirit and re-adjust the other gear to increase mf (unless, of course, the plan is going the full mf way ^^)

[danc133]

I wish the new runewords would work in SP I gave up on cattlenet a long time ago. The a thought of a sorc soloing with a merc with conviction. Thats just sick damage indeed and definitely overkill. I sure hope someone can clear up that question on cold mastery.

Thanks D!

[sasja]

Sorry for the delay in answering

Hi,

I have a request for your guide. Because of the new runewords, I think it'll be a great idea to complete the shields table. I'm asking you this becase, as far as I know, your guide contain the most comprehensive table of shields comparison for sorc.

Totally forgot: your guide is one of teh best (if not the best) guide out there. Thanks for the great job. :clap:

Thank you! I haven't had the time to play around with the new runewords that much, but I plan to add them, of course!

I've been building a sorc around this build lately, and have run into some trouble with especially act bosses and dual fire/cold immunes:

To start with act bosses, how do you keep your merc alive? I only read today that they don't leach from bosses, so I discarded the life steel equipment in favour of life regeneration equipment. Still, against hell Mephisto my merc is dying too often. Earlier on I tried running Andariel, in Hell, as in nightmare difficulty were I also tried it (but that's a few levels ago), both my merc and my sorc get killed very quickly, but it's before I started act II that I tried last.

It's very improtant with a high level for the merc, as he'll be hit a lot less the higher level he is. Otherwise, the secret to surviving Mephisto is getting him so close that Mephisto will only (or at least mostly) use his melee attack and be well prepared for that: High damage reduction, high defense, high level. I'd definitely choose Shaft over Duriel's for Mephisto runs, and a Gaze would be nice, too.

If you want your sorc to tank, the most important bit of gear is the Stormshield. When I use it, my sorc just never dies. The max block, dr and resistance just makes her invincible (I also use a Dwarf Star so I can stand in a bunch of Hydras and take no damage, but that's a personal preference)thing).

Another option is to use the moat trick - I use that a lot when starting a new batch of chars: In level 3, from the stair tele directly north, across the lava, and the east to the round seal in the floor. Waith a few secs until Mephi has spotted you, then tele south-east across the lava on the other side of the portal. If you're far enough south, he can't hit you, but you can take him down with Meteors and Fireballs. This should be done without merc.

Be sure to have your +mf shield and weapon on switch and switch from shield/Wiz to Gull or Ali Baba/Rhyme just before the kill.

Concerning the dual immunes, use the merc to take them down. Telekinesis is invaluable - not because of the 6 damage, but because it stuns, so your merc won't take hits and be trapped in hit recovery. Also remember to use Static first - it will take half the enemy's hps very fast.

Hey sasja, et al :

I've just recently found an Ormus' Robe with +3 meteor and, although it doesn't grant good resistances (and it not nearly as good as the two listed runewords - I play single player so the runes are very much more difficult to get my hands on), boosts the damage of Meteor and Fireball by the thousands (at higher levels). With that in mind, I'm having trouble deciding on which equipment set I should use :

Armor : Ormus' Robes (12%+ Fire damage, +3 Meteor)
Shield : Sanctuary or Stormshield (<- another question. The Sanctuary would definitely cure the resistance problem presented with Ormus' Robes)
Weapon : The Oculus
Boots : Waterwalks
Helm : Harlequin Crest
Gloves : Magefist
Belt : Arachnid Mesh
Amulet : Mara's Kaleidoscope
Rings : 1x Raven Frost, 1x Rare +mana, +resists, +fcr

-or-

Armor : Tal Rasha
Shield : Sanctuary or Stormshield (<- another question)
Weapon : Tal Rasha
Boots : Waterwalks
Helm : Tal Rasha
Gloves : Magefist
Gloves : Tal Rasha
Amulet : Mara's Kaleidoscope
Rings : 1x Raven Frost, 1x Rare +mana, +resists, +fcr

That's my first question. My second is : would you use Stormshield or Sanctuary with this type of build?

If you don't have Tal's ammy (your second setup also lists Mara), I'd go with the first option. Otherwise, the full Tal is a very nice balance of power, mf and survivability - if you have both setups, I'd suggest you try both out for a bit and see which you prefer.

Sanctuary or not is really a question of max block or not, and that's a question of personal taste. If you're not extremely happy with max block and the pdr of Stormshield, it's very expensive in dex and str, and you'll miss out on a lot of nice sanctuary mods. I still think I'll be using Stormshield, though, but that's just me

I remebered this guide and after careful searching to remember where I saw it last was overjoyed to actually find it again...I started working on this build before the ladder reset and never finished so I am building it now (a little twinked on the mf gear)...the problem I run into is figuring out what weapon to use on my act2 nm merc for MF? I have seen the MF on a Tomb Reaver Polearm and thought "there's the ticket" but have debated on whether the variation from low end damage to max damage would work on boss runs (ie: Andy, Meph, Council)...I haven't come across any other MF weapon that he can use with the options of the TR and was wondering what some of the ppl here use as a possible MF weapon on an act2 merc?

You can always find this thread via the sticky "Sorc Library" thread. The Tomb Reaver is your best bet, but I personally find it too much trouble to make sure the merc gets the kill - so I just dress him up for survival and wear the mf gear myself. I'm not sure what this bit means: 'whether the variation from low end damage to max damage would work on boss runs'.

The question I had was concerning cold mastery and it's effects. I have heard and read somewhere that cold mastery has no effect against monsters that have 0% cold resistance. If this is the case would it not be more beneficial to boost orb sooner and wait on puting more then one point in mastery until after more cold resistant monsters come into play? The reason for my question is that the guide makes a comparison on orb damage against monster with 0 resistance.

Thanks in advance.

There's a very thorough explanation of the effect of CM in the guide - but let me repeat myself and say: CM works on all monsters except cold immunes, but it can never lower a monster's cold resistance more than to -100%.

[danc133]

Thanks Sasja

I appreciate you clearing that up. I had read somewhere (wish I could find it) that cold mastery had no effect on monsters with 0% resistance ex: normal act V enslaved. I'm going to try a naked meterorb staff only HC SP and I wanted to make sure.

[ivasar]

I was hoping for some comments on my thoughts about new runewords, Sasja. You short on time, or just don't want to comment? Not trying to push you or anything, just wanted to comment how the new RWs could enhace the build, since I'm on it at ladder currently

[sasja]

I was hoping for some comments on my thoughts about new runewords, Sasja. You short on time, or just don't want to comment? Not trying to push you or anything, just wanted to comment how the new RWs could enhace the build, since I'm on it at ladder currently

Yeah, short on time, sorry! I look forward to playing around with them. I can't really give you any more advise than the most obvious:

The most obvious thing, of course, is Infinity with its level 12 Conviction aura - that's just awesome. Whether you should put fewer points in CM if you plan on an Infinity merc - well, that depends on your playing style and whether you solo more than you play in groups or vice versa. I'd say, yeah, put those extra points in Bolt

For untwinked players, the Insight runeword will help a lot with the mana hurt.

Spirit is of course a great sorc runeword, but not if you want maxblock (which you all know I love). Maybe I'll try a new non-block sorc just to try it

Thanks Sasja

I appreciate you clearing that up. I had read somewhere (wish I could find it) that cold mastery had no effect on monsters with 0% resistance ex: normal act V enslaved. I'm going to try a naked meterorb staff only HC SP and I wanted to make sure.

Ok np
It used to be like what you say in patch 1.09.

[Oddity]

Hey pretty sweet guide, but I'm not going to play Hardcore, and it seems like this build is geared towards more surviving in Hardcore land, what with the max blocking. I completely understand that, as before I stopped playing last year I had a hardcore sorc w/Storm, and blocking is so important. However I'm not going to play HC, so I thikn I"ll just put those points into something else like energy or something, I use teleport alot. I dunno. (I also use Energy Shield)

[sasja]

Hey pretty sweet guide, but I'm not going to play Hardcore, and it seems like this build is geared towards more surviving in Hardcore land, what with the max blocking. I completely understand that, as before I stopped playing last year I had a hardcore sorc w/Storm, and blocking is so important. However I'm not going to play HC, so I thikn I"ll just put those points into something else like energy or something, I use teleport alot. I dunno. (I also use Energy Shield)

Thanks! Feel free to play around with different ways of playing the sorc. After all, that's what keeps this game so fresh. But I haven't played much HC myself (because I enjoy playing with others and the drophacks make that too hard in HC), and I've regretted each time I've gone with a high vita build. I just love being able to be in the front row when grouping, and when soloing, the block is even more useful as you're always in front there, and the ability to take a few hits mean that you can often just stand your ground and kill stuff and then move on, instead of running out or teleing (and move your meatshield back at the same time). People have different playstyles, and it definitely suits me best with a more aggressive one. But try and see for yourself

[sasja]

PS. Energy is really a waste of points if you're twinking. A lot of the best sorc gear has +mana, and with a blue potion now and then you don't need more unless you're relying on one of the mana hefty lightning attacks.

I strongly recommend not using ES - see the guide for a longer explanation. If you do use energyshield, I'd go for a totally different build. Pure Orb'er is your best bet, but if you want dual tree, go FW/Orb. Be sure to max TK.