Hi guys, newcomer to Diablo 2 here.

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

welcome to d2, yo

[Veristek]

Cleared Nithiak's temple. That dungeon was enormous. Probably one of the biggest dungeons I've came across so far. The first section was pretty short, then the next two took me a couple hours to do, then the final level with Nithiak himself. The 2 middle levels were huge cuz it had so many interconnecting passages and branches, plus hordes and hordes of these slow undead guys that were kinda hard to distinguish from the dungeon floor. I've noticed that the dungeons in Act 5 are way bigger than the ones from Act 1 through 4 with the possible exception of the Monastery in Act 1, and the Palace in Act 2.

Nithiak himself was a pain cuz he kept teleporting all over. Thank god I had a Mana Shrine in that dungeon level. I ran in, cast like 6 blizzards, ran back out, used mana shrine, ran back in over and over until Nithiak died. My merc had a tough time catching up to him and doing damage cuz of the teleports.

Next stop: Glacial Trail.

[FredOfErik]

Cleared Nithiak's temple. That dungeon was enormous. Probably one of the biggest dungeons I've came across so far. The first section was pretty short, then the next two took me a couple hours to do, then the final level with Nithiak himself. The 2 middle levels were huge cuz it had so many interconnecting passages and branches, plus hordes and hordes of these slow undead guys that were kinda hard to distinguish from the dungeon floor. I've noticed that the dungeons in Act 5 are way bigger than the ones from Act 1 through 4 with the possible exception of the Monastery in Act 1, and the Palace in Act 2.

Nithiak himself was a pain cuz he kept teleporting all over. Thank god I had a Mana Shrine in that dungeon level. I ran in, cast like 6 blizzards, ran back out, used mana shrine, ran back in over and over until Nithiak died. My merc had a tough time catching up to him and doing damage cuz of the teleports.

Next stop: Glacial Trail.

Great to read about your progress. Keep up the good work!

How is your gear looking?

[Veristek]

I'm still using the gear I have from Act 2. The +3 fireball staff with leaf runeword, the splint mail with stealth runeword, a 2 socket helm with 2 Tir runes for +4 mana per kill total, Bloodfist gloves, and Vidala's Fetlock boots (crazy stamina and speed). Thats pretty much about it for my major gear. I put the uniques, sets, and rares I get into GoMule stashes because they don't benefit my sorc. They're usually for Paladins, Amazons, Necros, or Barbarians. I haven't really found any significant sorcerer-benefitting Sets / Uniques other than Bloodfist gloves and the boots (both found way back in Act 1).

[FredOfErik]

How is your rune stash looking? You'll want to keep and eye out for Sols and Amns in particular. I assume you're playing with the RWM mod?

If so you need Sol for "Insight" (RalTirTalSol). Make it in a polearm as soon as you find a 4os one - which you however won't until NM. Put his on your merc for the mediation Aura. This pretty much leaves you with infinite mana. However, I almost always make "Lore" (OrtSol) in a helmet before "Insight" - in my experience chances are that you will find multiple Sols before the 4os polearm. And Lore is awesome early game - you can make this without RWM aswell.

You'll need Amn for "Spirit" (TalThulOrtAmn) in a 4os sword - this you also won't find until NM. Seriously overpowered runeword that is very much endgame worthy.

Also, when you complete the second (i think) quest in A5 you got the runes RalOrtTal. If you put these in a shield the make "Ancient's Pledge" which gives awesome resists and a bit of dmg taken goes to mana. Can be very helpful early in NM where your resists will most likely look rather bad.

Is there a reason you are still using the staff when using blizzard as a main killer? Maybe I would consider putting it on switch for your fire spells and find a one handed weapon to pair with a shield for your main switch.

[djmbbandie]

It depends on if you've already done the socketing quest or not (quest 1). Larzuk has a chance to put 4 sockets into an Exceptional Polearm (such as Bill or Partizan) but I forget the percentages. If you find a normal (white) one of those, try out the quest with it. Also, you should be looking at the sorceress only items (Eagle Orb, Sacred Globe, Clasped Orb, and Jared's Stone, and their exceptional counterparts) to find + to your skills that you are using, like blizzard (my sorceress in Act V NM is still using a Jared's Stone with +2 Blizzard).

[Fyourics]

That's a little wrong dj. The socketing recipe via the cube has a chance to put sockets in an item, capped by the total no. of sockets it can have at a certain ilvl. The quest always puts the max amount of sockets in an item restricted only by ilvl.

For eg, a halberd dropped in nightmare tamoe highland will always get 4 sockets from larzuk, and it will have a 1/2 chance of getting 4 sockets from the socketing recipe.

List of alvl which dicatates mlvl which in turn dictates ilvl
List of no. of sockets along with ilvl

[kestegs]

http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Sockets scroll down a few pages to the table. Check the ilevel in Gomule/atma and then see how many sockets it can get. Larzuk will always add the max number of sockets to a white or plain/ethereal item.


edit: filthy ninja!

[FredOfErik]

Yup, didn't mention the Larzuk quest, as I would probably save that. But yes, it's a possibility.

[djmbbandie]

Thanks guys, for the correction. This was the way my Sorceress picked up her first insight in a Bill.