Blizzballer MF Sorc Qs

[TheLegendary]

Hey all,

I'm a D2 vet that just recently got back into playing D2 recently. I'll try to keep this short. I just have a few questions about my equip setup as an mf blizz-ball sorc. I try to mf Countess, Andy, Summoner (mainly for keys), Meph, Pindle, Throne. I am just looking for suggestions on my equip.

1) Any suggestions for upgrades on my own equip?

P Topaz Shako
Tal's Armor, Ammy, Belt
Occy
Lidless
2x Nags
Chancies
War Travs

2) Any suggestions for upgrades on my MERC's (A2 NM, Holy Freeze) equip? I want to try to make him a bit tankier since he goes down easier than I would like

Andy's Helm (as soon as we both get to lvl 82)
Shaftstop
Insight Cryptic Axe

3) Any general suggestions for who to mf and how much mf to have? I currently have 414% mf, but I feel like the drops aren't falling for me as much as they used to...

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[chenw]

If it was me:

I'd swap out Occy and Lidless for Wizardspike and Spirit Monarch (the Spirit has to be perfect FCR), for the 105% FCR BP and resists. I personally really hate the Occy's chance to cast level 1 teleport, killed me more times than I want to count.

Why Wizardspike? Because I find resists are more important than skills when it comes to MF, especially against those gloam type enemies. If you don't MF those, the faster teleport with 105% fcr is both speed and safety.

BUT! If your lag isn't good enough (IE, if you find yourself teleporting to the same spot twice in a row, despite clicking elsewhere), then stick with your current setup. But I'd still go for a Spirit Monarch instead of Lidless (Resists and extra skill), just any will do. Also, if you find +3 Eschuta, use it.

TLDR:

Occy + Lidless -> Wizardspike + 35% fcr Spirit monarch (survival setup, good lag)

or

Occy + Lidless -> +3 Eschuta (or Hoto is good too, but it's much smaller upgrade) + any FCR Spirit (just a general upgrade)'

A General rule of thumb with MF is: As much as you can squeeze in without sacrificing your overall killing rate of your intended MF target.

But as I mentioned before, this are my personal recommendations, and are based on SINGLE element sorcs rather than dual element, so perhaps someone with more experience with dual elements than I do would be able to give you a better advice

[TheLegendary]

If it was me:

I'd swap out Occy and Lidless for Wizardspike and Spirit Monarch (the Spirit has to be perfect FCR), for the 105% FCR BP and resists. I personally really hate the Occy's chance to cast level 1 teleport, killed me more times than I want to count.

Why Wizardspike? Because I find resists are more important than skills when it comes to MF, especially against those gloam type enemies. If you don't MF those, the faster teleport with 105% fcr is both speed and safety.

BUT! If your lag isn't good enough (IE, if you find yourself teleporting to the same spot twice in a row, despite clicking elsewhere), then stick with your current setup. But I'd still go for a Spirit Monarch instead of Lidless (Resists and extra skill), just any will do. Also, if you find +3 Eschuta, use it.

TLDR:

Occy + Lidless -> Wizardspike + 35% fcr Spirit monarch (survival setup, good lag)

or

Occy + Lidless -> +3 Eschuta (or Hoto is good too, but it's much smaller upgrade) + any FCR Spirit (just a general upgrade)'

A General rule of thumb with MF is: As much as you can squeeze in without sacrificing your overall killing rate of your intended MF target.

But as I mentioned before, this are my personal recommendations, and are based on SINGLE element sorcs rather than dual element, so perhaps someone with more experience with dual elements than I do would be able to give you a better advice

This was really helpful- thanks a lot! I was leaning towards replacing Lidless with Spirit in the first place. Using Wiz instead of Occy is an interesting idea. Considering that some of my resis are negative in Hell, it might be a switch that really helps me out.

Any advice on beefing up my merc a bit, taking into consideration that I'm not that rich yet? It could just be the fact that he's not 82 yet and cannot use Andy's Helm, but I just feel like he goes down a bit too easily for my liking. Maybe I should lvl my sorc a little bit and things will get easier...

Regardless, thanks a bunch!

[zaphodbrx]

Just go Full Tal's. It's amazing.
P.S. Wizardspike is just silly. Completing the Tal's set gives you as much resistances and much more.

[TheLegendary]

Just go Full Tal's. It's amazing.
P.S. Wizardspike is just silly. Completing the Tal's set gives you as much resistances and much more.

I was considering this as well. I never actually played with a full set even though I was (relatively) rich when I used to play in my heyday. Decisions, decisions... Thanks for your input!

[chenw]

Trying full Tal's set wouldn't hurt, you already have the expensive parts.

Again, a perfect spirit is needed for the 105% fcr BP with Tals set and Magefist.

[Pyrotechnician]

For dual element builds full tals is hard to beat, but your setup currently has pretty much the optimum amount of Magic Find that you are going to get without sacrificing something. If I had to change one thing it would be the lidless to a spirit, but keep in mind this will probably require you to make a rather large strength investment as it will most likely be the heaviest thing you have to wear. That would provide you a nice boost to your resistance and then fill in the fire resistance gap with charms (or switch the travs for aldurs and fill up with mf charms).

I personally though don't recommend Wizzy, or Eschutas. Especially for a MF based build, you may gain fcr or a little extra damage, but the tradeoff really isnt that great, you lose the 50% mf boost by switching to wizzy, and you lose the resistance boost by switching to Eschutas. The 68 fcr breakpoint (where you're currently at) should be more than sufficient. You may shoot off one more fireball by doing so, but blizzard is a timered skill and I never really saw a truely noticable difference in my run times (you take a shorter time to get there, but longer to kill due to lower skills).

Also, I don't know what your switch setup is but I know on my Full blizz sorc I use an Ali baba (MF based on level, socket with ists for more mf) (could use a gull dagger, works just as well) paired with a Rhyme shield (25 mf). Just do a quick weapon swap near the time the boss is going to collapse and magic, an additional 100+ mf with your kills, this is great for boss running, but a little trickier with area running.