Starting my 1st pure lightning sorc... just asking for general advice

[Conanbarbarian]

Hi guys,

Going to be starting my 1st pure light sorc so like the title says just looking for general advice on the build. She will be purely PvM. I have no gear that will make her overly powerful or anything like that but I guess I'll cruse through normal and NM easy enough. An act 2 merc would be best I guess... I have a barb with my blizzballer and he has been a refreshing break from the sluggish Act 2 guys. But infinity is a must even though it may take me a while to get the runes. Is a might merc what peep recommend?

Any other basic/beginners advice for a pur ligh sorce would be much appriciated

[Conanbarbarian]

Hi guys,

Going to be starting my 1st pure light sorc so like the title says just looking for general advice on the build. She will be purely PvM. I have no gear that will make her overly powerful or anything like that but I guess I'll cruse through normal and NM easy enough. An act 2 merc would be best I guess... I have a barb with my blizzballer and he has been a refreshing break from the sluggish Act 2 guys. But infinity is a must even though it may take me a while to get the runes. Is a might merc what peep recommend?

Any other basic/beginners advice for a pur ligh sorce would be much appriciated

[Justa]

Infinity definitely isn't a must, although it does make things incredibly easy.

My lite sorc handles p8 baal runs quite well (provided the merc can kill lister if he is LI) and under 4 minutes is quite common.

Even with underpowered gear you will have small issue running hell countess for runes, and if you pack enough FCR (105 for teleport) you should be able to run LK as well for those runes you seek, just don't expect anything fast, although if your lucky you can find a lightning skiller.

Some key items for this build have to be Skin of the Vipermagi, arachnid mesh, 35 fcr spirit shield, and a shako (although griffons may up your kill speed its a bit expensive and shako --> mf --> more wealth)

If you don't have at least 2 of those items I would try using your blizzballer to run andy/meph for a few of these bits. Mephy will gladly drop arachnid mesh, shako and vipermagi, and if your very lucky a maras and some sojs.

As for the build your best bet is to aim for 117 FCR which is an important FCR breakpoint for lightning. This can be done quite cheaply with spirit-35 / viper-30 /mesh-20 / magefist-20 / weapon-the rest, If you can get a weapon with over 40 FCR (eschutas/hoto/wizspike) you can replace magefists with chance guards and boost your MF. I would also recommend an act 2 merc so that you can use Insight for the meditation aura, if you use the RWM. Holy freeze is good for safety especially for baal runs, and prayer is nice for the HP regen, which is good in general.

[Tubba Blubba]

Don't forget Crescent Moon runeword.

[Rawness]

Holy freeze: More recommended, or a prayer w/ insight.

1pt warmth.

Cheap gear: Ort Ral(lore) Spiritshroud, Eye Litch, Lazarus Spire, Spirit sword, Lidless, Vischy shield,

Reach 117% FCR.

Select a cold % def skill thingie.

Use static against all bosses (in normal the skill drops em to a very low% life but is nerfed in nightmare, and even more in hell (only 33% iirc )

[Conanbarbarian]

@ Justa

Wow thanks for the indepth advice I have a few of the item you recommended plus a very nice rare circlet with + res all and + skills to sorc.

I've been playing D II on and of for years and I've always had the same char so a change in a light sorc I am very much looking forward too :-)

Reading about the build it seems her killing power can be truely immense however there is the issue of LI....

[frozzzen]

LI monsters are problem for pure LI sorceress. Infinity helps alot here, but obtaining runes for it is another story...

So you want cheaper option?
Get lvl3 Lower resist wand ( -41 LR ), cheap Griffon ( -20 LR with facet ) and crescent moon ( -35 LR ). For total -96 LR. Infinity gives -85.

Wand is for switch, and seing that crescent moon gives you no bonus FCR, you won't have any problems maintaining FCR on switch.
Griffon ( 25fcr ), Skin of Vipermagi ( 30 fcr ) Spirit ( even non perfect would do so let's say 30 fcr ), Arach (20 fcr), Trang gloves (20 fcr)= 125 fcr, so we reached 117 fcr breakpoint for Lightling while maintaining solid resist with vipermagi and spirit.

Rings and amulet would be best going for good LR or SoJ. Maras is also good amulet option.

Only thing that this build lacks is MF, what can be obtained with charms. And Griffon
is not easy to find... you can rotate items to hit that 117 fcr breakpoint with rings and amulets to see what setup is best for you.

Hope this helps.

[Tarantella]

If trying to solo past the ancients with a single tree sorceress you will need a well equipped (and highest level) mercenary.Therefore a delayed progress is best with levelling in suitable areas recommended .The Arcane sanctuary is excellent between level 78-83 for this for lightning skills (no lightning immunes apart from odd unique) an easy boss who can drop keys (for trade) and a map layout that lines the monsters up for you for easy area clearances.

More keys can drop off the countess but LI archer packs with ferocious mods in close attendance can protect her and one shot your merc.

[sirpoopsalot]

Please don't post the exact same thread asking for the exact same advice in two different forums. That's spamming.

I've merged the two threads together.

[USEast Tristan]

When infinity is out of your price range, you do the "ladder reset" strategy: obtain the cheapest, but most powerful, components. Occy, shako, and vipermagi are cheap: do your forges and trade the runes for them. Insight, as well, can come even earlier than these three.

Holy freeze and Might have their own strong points, and are interchangeable. Once you have obtained an infinity, holy freeze definitely wins out because at that point you can lean as hard as you want on your lightning damage and be well-protected by the freezing aura.