====================================
PvP Sorceress Guide by Jowy Atreides
====================================
Author : Jowy Atreides
Date : 31 Dec 2003
Version : 2.02
Patch Version : 1.10 (!)
Legal stuff :
Copyright 2003 Jowy Atreides.
You may make copies of this for personal use.
You may publish this guide on non-commercial sites, as long as the guide is
not edited in any way. Permission is not necessary, as long as I'm credited
as the author of this guide.
You may not use this guide in any way to make money, publish it in magazines,
commercial web sites without my permission.
You may not edit the guide in any way.
With that set aside, let's get on with the guide.
---------------
Version history
---------------
28-9-2003 - First version completed.
29-9-2003 - 1.01, minor spelling errors corrected, some information added.
3-10-2003 - 1.02, added some information in the Sorc Vs Necro section.
9-10-2003 - 1.03, added some minor info, rewritten a few sentences.
10-11-2003 - 1.20, updated for patch 1.10.
12-11-2003 - 1.21, corrected some spelling errors, added some stuff.
20-11-2003 - 1.30, added information in most sections, added a new section.
26-12-2003 - 2.00, added TvT section, corrected some spelling errors, and
added information in the class specific section.
27-12-2003 - 2.01, corrected some spelling errors.
31-12-2003 - 2.02, added some information in most class sections.
=================
Table of contents
=================
0) News
1) Introduction
2) Stat distribution
3) Skill distribution
4) Equipment
5) General strategies
6) Class specific strategies
7) Team vs Team strategy
8) Some formulae
9) Appendix
10) My 1.10 Sorc
11) Closing words
12) Credits and thanks
=======
0) News
=======
Oh wow, 1.10 is finally here, and it's had some very significant changes
for PvP. Some of the things I've found I'll list here.
1) The PvP penalty for spells is 1/6 instead of 1/4 now.
The appendix has an article about this, and 2).
2) Cold Mastery works as straight subtraction instead of taking a
percentage of the total, this is good and bad. Read Skill section
for explanation.
3) 110-114% double-cast problem seems to have been fixed.
4) Bug! The timer on Frozen Orb seems to be linked with other spells
sometimes. Skill section for details.
5) Amazons can "dodge" spells now. Bad, Blizzard.
6) +% Mana items such as Frostburn and Soj don't give their Mana
boost to +Energy from items and Mana based on clvl items. This
is why Sorcs "lost" Mana during the transition from 1.09 to 1.10.
Hopefully Blizzard will regard this as a bug, and fix it.
===============
1) Introduction
===============
Hello, this is Jowy Atreides, welcome to my PvP Sorceress Guide. I post as
JowyBlight on the Gamefaqs.com forums, and roam the Battle.net Realms as
*Jowy. This guide is intended for Sorc PvP play on the Europe realm, patch
1.09, following the German Duellliga and PostReality/Euro PvP rules.
If you play on other realms or leagues, information in this guide may not
be useful or applicable, because of different Physical Damage Reduction
caps, or other prohibited items.
If you plan to use this guide, I will assume that you have no problem with
PvM and are moderately wealthy in terms of equipment. Furthermore you need
a stable connection. If you plan to play PvP Sorc, having good "ping" is
essential. The delay time between your in-game action and the server
noticing it, is measured in Ping, in ms. So if you have a delay of 2000 ms,
you have a delay of 2 seconds. Of course this makes even normal PvM play
unpleasant. You can check your Ping in-game with the command FPS (press
enter, type "/FPS" as if you were saying it, hit enter again).
For good Sorc play, a constant ping of around 100 or lower is necessary.
Some terminology :
Sorc = Sorceress
Barb = Barbarian
Nec = Necromancer
ASN = Assassin
Pal = Paladin
Zon = Amazon
STR = Strength
DEX = Dexterity
VIT = Vitality
NRG = Energy
PvP = Player vs Player
TvT = Team vs Team
Clvl = Character Level
Slvl = Skill Level
FPS = Frames Per Second, Frames Per Shot
FPA = Frames Per Attack
FPC = Frames per Cast
FHR = Faster Hit Recovery
FBR = Faster Block Rate
DTM = Damage to Mana
FO = Frozen Orb
CM = Cold Mastery
TS = Thunderstorm
LM = Lightning Mastery
ES = Energy Shield
SF = Static Field
TK = Telekinesis
LR = Lower Resistances
Conv = Conviction
PDR = Physical Damage Reduction
MDR = Magic Damage Reduction
Def = Defense
DMG = Damage
Wiz = Wizardspike
Ocu = Oculus
SvS = Sorc vs Sorc
SvZ = Sorc Vs Zon
SvN = Sorc vs Nec
====================
2) Stat distribution
====================
Here I'll describe what I think is the ideal way to distribute your character's
stat points.
-Strength :
This should be kept low. With my build, you won't need much more than
60 Strength whilst equipped, to be able to wear a Frostburn. Strength doesn't
boost your damage in any way as with physical attackers, so more points in it
is useless.
You may want to raise your Strength to 70 with equipment on to be able to wear
a Gothic Plate, but I don't recommend it, I'll explain later why.
1.10 : You may want to keep this even lower now, because the unique
Small Charm Annihilus adds +10-20 to all stats. Keep in mind that the armor
Ormus' Robes requires 77 Strength, if you intend to wear it.
-Dexterity :
Dexterity is used to be able to wear items, and to increase your chance to
Block. Your highest Dex requirement item is Wizardspike, which requires 75
Dexterity. To get 75% chance to Block with a Whitstan's Guard at clvl 99,
you need 186 Dex.
1.10 : See above.
-Vitality :
Vitality increases your character's longevity, because you can sustain more
damage. Each point in Vitality gives your Sorc 2 Life (which is further
increased with the use of Jah Runes).
This is the Stat you'll be boosting the most, 300+ is recommended.
*1.10 : My current Sorc only has about 200 Vitality, because she has much
higher base Energy than the old Sorc. The new PvP penalty of 1/6 instead
of 1/4, and the higher % ES absorbing makes up for the loss of Life
though.
-Energy :
*1.09 :
(Keeping this as low as possible is advisable. Yes, you need Mana to cast
spells, and to absorb damage with your Energy Shield, but you want to pump
your Vitality, not your Energy. The reason for this is because there are so
many Mana boosting items in LoD.
Even with base Energy you can get 1400+ Mana using Oculus, and 2000+ with
Wizardspike.
But still, if you have alot of plain Life or Skill Charms, you might want
to consider putting some points into Energy to get a decent Mana pool.
Alot of people say that base Energy is necessary, but if you run out of
Mana during play, you're as good as dead, so if you don't have a steady
Mana pool with base Energy, putting points in it isn't a bad idea.)
*1.10 :
I feel you need to put quite a bit of points in this now, to be effective
as a Sorc. The main reasoning behind this, is that Sorcs "lost mana" in
the transition from 1.09 to 1.10. For example, my own Sorc had 1839 Mana.
Now she has 14xx with the very same setup, not an item changed. I believe
this might be because Blizzard changed something about how +% Mana items
work, such as Frostburn.
(update : the reason Sorcs' Mana total lowered is because +% Mana items
such as Frostburn don't give their Mana boost to items with +Energy
or +Mana based on clvl anymore)
Besides that, Energy Shield absorbs *much* larger portions of the damage
now, it goes up to 80-90% now I think, so if you try to play with an 1.09
Sorc, you'll be out of mana after 1-3 good hits.
You might want to get around 100 Energy, to keep enough Mana to fight
after taking hits. Nothing as annoying as having your Sorc yell out
"Not enough Mana!" when you see 3.5k Damage Bone Spirits guiding
towards you.
On the other hand, Energy Shield now has a synergy with Telekinesis.
In 1.09, for each point of Life you lose, you lose 2 Mana. With extra
points in Telekinesis, this can be brought down to a 1:1 ratio in 1.10.
More detailed information about this in the Skills section.
With a high Telekinesis, you might not need such high base Energy.
=====================
3) Skill distribution
=====================
The Sorceress has many elemental skills at her disposal, but many of them
are useless because they deal low damage, or are ineffective at hitting your
opponent. I will describe the most common template, the FrozenOrb/Thunderstorm
Sorc.
-Why Frozen Orb?
*1.09 :
Frozen Orb is easy to aim, because it covers a very wide area, so you can
cover a screen easily and surround your opponent. It does over 500 damage per
shard at higher levels (38+) and is nigh unresistable due to Cold Mastery.
-------
*1.10 :
Frozen Orb in 1.10 has a VERY big bug. The cast delay is linked with other
spells, even spells that have *no* cast delay. (i.e Teleport)
You can view this by putting FO on the left button, and Teleport on the
right. Hold down the FO button, and see what happens to the right button.
Pretty bad, isn't it? This is a very significant bug, because it makes
you stuck in place after throwing an orb, about half the time.
I have e-mailed Blizz tech support about this, but haven't had a reply yet.
But besides that, Frozen still deals great damage, and is one of the better
offensive skills out there.
------
-Cold Mastery
*1.09 :
Cold Mastery lowers your opponent's resistances by a percentage. At slvl 38
this lowers your opponent's Cold Resistance by 95%. Maxing this is important,
to get the best performance out of your Frozen Orb. Besides that, if you have
a low level Cold Mastery, you're in trouble if people have stacked Cold Resist
alot (400+).
------
*1.10 :
Cold Mastery works different now. In 1.09 it took a percentage of the total.
Example, enemy has 300 Cold Resistance, you have 95% Cold Mastery (slvl 38).
300 * (300 * 0.95) = 15% Cold Resistance remaining. Not much, for such high
Cold Resistance.
For 1.10 it's :
300 - 205% (slvl ~40) = 95%(!) Cold Resistance remaining. This is capped
off at 75%, without Cold Resistance maximum raising items, but can be brought
to 95% if your opponent tweaked himself to be anti-Sorc.
What does this tell us? In both situations your enemy has 300% Cold Res.
But in 1.09 you do :
100 - 15% CR = 85% of your Damage.
In 1.10 you do :
100 - 95% CR = 5% damage.
In this "worst" scenario, you do s e v e n t e e n times less damage than
in 1.09, and *then* you get the 1/6 PvP penalty instead of 1/4.
Anyway, if your opponent has this kind of Cold Resistance and some Life
Replenish, it's impossible for you to kill him.
Although, there is a good side about this too. Cold Mastery can lower
enemy Resistance below zero now. Of course it couldn't do this in 1.09,
because it took a percentage of the total.
Quick example :
Enemy has 150 Cold Resistance, you have 205% Cold Mastery.
150 - 205 = -55% Cold Resistance.
This increases your damage by 55%, which somewhat makes up for the 1/6
penalty.
Some tests about this can be read in the appendix.
-Why Thunderstorm?
*1.09 :
(Thunderstorm is a passive skill, that does around 2000 listed damage at
slvl 30, and 3000+ at slvl 40. The main use of this skill is to get you out
of blocklock. If you are close to your opponent, and you get blocklocked, TS
might put your opponent in hit recovery, meaning he won't be shooting arrows
so you have time to teleport away.
Also, since Frozen Orb has a casting delay of 1 second, you cannot cast
another timered spell during that period. TS is passive, so you don't have to
worry about that.
Lightning Mastery is maxed out along with this, to make it deal as much
damage as possible.
Note : You cannot pre-cast Thunderstorm with items on your Weapon Switch that
boost Thunderstorm, the skill level will drop to your current Level once you
change back to your normal Weapon slot.)
--------
*1.10 :
1.10 introduced the "synergies" : By putting skill points in a skill that has
a synergy bonus for another skill, it will enhance that other skill. This
Sorceress build has 2 notable synergies.
Note : You *only* get the synergy bonus if you put actual skill points into it.
+Skills from items don't add the synergy bonus, but you still get the normal
bonus for having extra skill points in a skill.
*Ice Bolt : Each point in this, adds 2% damage to your Frozen Orb. This may
not seem much, but every little bit of damage helps.
*Telekinesis : Telekinesis reduces the amount of Mana lost with Energy shield.
With 0 points (theoretically, since you can't get ES without Telekinesis) this
is a 1 : 2 ratio, 2 Mana per Life point. With every point spent in Telekinesis,
this amount is lowered by 6.25% (taken from the Arreat Summit). So with 16
points in this, the ratio is dropped to 1:1. Of course, this is a very useful
skill, and needs skill points. Wheter you can make it go even lower than
a 1:1 ratio, by putting over 16 skill points in it, is unknown as of now.
So, you need extra skill points to put in these skills, where do you get them?
I think it's time to abandon Thunderstorm. The reasoning for this, is that the
new PvP penalty is 1/6 now, instead of 1/4. This has put a significant drop
in Thunderstorm damage. And on top of that, Amazons can avoid it now, as if
it were a physical attack.
It does very little damage now, and is dodgable. Not worth the 40 Skill points
anymore, in my opinion. Although, you may want to put just one skill point in
it, to get the dodge animation on Amazons, this puts them in place for a
moment.
It'll make it easier for you to land an Orb hit.
With the 40 points from TS/LM free, you have plenty to put 16 in Telekinesis,
and 20 in Ice Bolt.
--Other skills :
**Energy Shield :
This spell allows you to reduce a percentage of the damage you take in your
Mana. A simple example :
You take a hit of 1000 damage.
Your Energy shield absorbs 50%.
You will lose 500 Life, and 1000 Mana (you lose 2 points of Mana for every
lifepoint you lost).
If you have damage to mana % items :
37% Damage to Mana (Tal Rasha's Belt) : (500 * 0,37=185) 500 Life lost,
815 Mana lost.
If you have Physical Damage Reduction (PDR) % items :
10% PDR (Harlequin Crest) : 450 Life lost, 900 Mana lost.
With both 37% DTM and 10% PDR you get :
450 Life lost, 733 Mana lost.
As you can see, the Mana loss is quite high, so you need ways to regain Mana
fast so you can keep fighting. That means you have to pump Warmth and Teleport.
Note : you cannot pre-cast Energy Shield with equipment on your Weapon Switch
that boost Energy Shield.
1.10 :
You may want to put more points into this than just one, because of the huge
damage reduction you get from it. If you get it really high though (75%+),
you practically *need* those 16 points in Telekinesis and a high Mana
pool to be effective.
A problem with Energy Shield is that the Mana loss is calculated before
Resistance with the new PvP damage resolving order in 1.10, which means
you lose over 4 times as much Mana than you would in 1.09.
In 1.09, Energy Shield was applied after all the other factors were
resolved. But still, Energy Shield is a *very* useful skill in 1.10,
because it increases your effective life by alot, as long as you are
careful around elemental attackers.
For physical attackers it doesn't matter much, because Sorcs were
only allowed to use 10% PDR max, so the increased Mana loss is
negligable.
**Warmth :
This spell increases the rate your Mana regenerates with. It sounds useful
on paper, but if you have a low Mana pool to begin with (1000-1300) it's
better to leave this low and increase Teleport instead. 1 to 10 points in
this skill is recommended, depending on your Mana pool. If you have high
Mana (1800+), put more in it, otherwise go for Teleport.
**Teleport :
This is the skill that makes the Sorceress, and gives her an edge over
other characters: Instant transportation, anywhere, anytime. This skill
starts at a hefty 24 mana per cast, which is alot if you cast it 3 times
per second. At slvl 24 this spell costs 1 Mana per cast, which pretty much
makes it free. Putting points in this is good, because you can regenerate
more Mana while you teleport, instead of losing Mana.
I feel that gaining Mana while teleporting is essential to Sorc play, and the
more you get the better. All the spare points should go here, and a base level
of over 8 is recommended.
**The Cold Armours :
Personally I don't use these. They inflict some minor Cold Damage to your
opponent, and boost your Defense. This might make that one Multishot or
Whirlwind miss, but wheter it's worth boosting is debatable. Zero points,
or 1, and let your equipment boost it.
As for the skill distribution :
Frozen Orb - Maxed out
Cold Mastery - Maxed out
Thunderstorm - Maxed out
Lightning Mastery - Maxed out
Teleport - 8+
Warmth - Rest of the skill points
Pre-reqs
This should be attainable by clvl 85 or so, higher levels just makes it easier.
1.10 skill point distribution :
-------------------------------
(Disclaimer : I haven't actually tried this build in PvP, nor have I built it
on the closed realm. I have made some tests with it on Open, that's all.
So wheter this is a "useful" or the "most effective" build is debatable.)
Update : I've built the Sorc on closed Europe with the template below, and
she's at clvl 87 now, and doing great. Mana isn't a problem anymore, and
her killing power is much greater compared to my 1.09 Sorc.
Anyway :
Maxed skills :
-Frozen Orb
-Ice Bolt
-Cold Mastery
Rest :
-16 in Telekinesis
-1+ in Energy Shield, depending on your Mana pool, and how often you get hit.
-You may want more points into Warmth than Teleport now, because your Mana
pool will most likely be higher than in 1.09. This makes Warmth more effective.
============
4) Equipment
============
Ah yes, your equipment. The Diablo series have always been highly reliant of
equipment, and this especially holds true for PvP. Although the Sorceress is
arguably the least item-dependant character, having a good set of equipment
is still essential for success.
I will list what I think is the ideal item for each slot, and give some
cheaper alternatives if I can. I will not list any 1.08 items, since you can
no longer find them, and most of them are duped.
-----
1.10 notice : I have made a test build on open with some of the 1.10 items,
but I'm still unsure which of the new items I like, so I will leave this
section in it's 1.09 state.
Most of it will remain the same anyway, the biggest changes would be :
-Arachnid Mesh unique Spiderweb Sash belt. +1 Skills, 20% FCR, 5% to max
Mana, this will probably be the new "best" Sorceress belt.
-Rainbow Facet jewels, with + to Cold Skill Damage/-Resistance. Improves
your damage, so it speaks for itself.
-Death's Fathom unique Dimensional Shard : +3 skills, and up to 30% Cold skill
damage increased, this adds ALOT of damage. Unfortunately, it's a Ladder-only
item.
-Ormus' Robes adds 10-15% to Fire/Light/Cold Damage, and +3 to a random
Sorc skill. Warmth or Teleport is good to have here, along with a high
percentage on Cold.
-Heart of the Oak runeword Flail. This opens up new possibilities because
it has the same skill bonus as Oculus, but 10% more FCR. This means you can
get 9 FPC with just the Flail and Vipermagi and leaves the Gloves and Belt
slots free. Very nice indeed.
-----------
Helm slot :
-----------
Harlequin Crest
Shako
Defense: 98-141
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 50
Durability: 12
+2 To All Skills
+ (1.5 Per Character Level) 1.5-148.5 To Life (Based On Character Level)
+ (1.5 Per Character Level) 1.5-148.5 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
Damage Reduced By 10%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 To Strength
+2 To Dexterity
+2 To Vitality
+2 To Energy
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
No competition here. The massive Mana boost is great for us base-Energy
Sorcs, and the Damage Reduction, +Skills and extra Life just makes it more
attractive. There's no reason you should use anything other than this
(now if only it were a Circlet ..).
**Socketing options :
*Jah Rune :
This increases your Life total by 5%, and is my preferred option, since
you'll want as much Life as possible. The drawbacks are that Jah's are
quite expensive, and that the 5% life boost doesn't get boosted in
conjunction with a Barb's Battle Orders.
*Perfect Ruby :
This adds 38 Life, and is a cheaper option than the Jah Rune. The
difference between the two isn't that much, but you'll want to move up to
Jah eventually, to squeeze as much Life out of your Sorc as possible.
*Dol Rune :
This adds 7 replenish Life, which is always handy, and can be the
difference between winning and losing a fight. Note that Replenish Life
is capped at 20 in Duellliga, and at 15 in Euro PvP/Postreality for Sorc.
*Perfect Skull :
Same idea, but a bit less Life replenish, but some Mana Regeneration
to make up for it.
*Resistance Jewel/Um rune :
This adds 15% to all your Resistances, a Sorc generally doesn't need
this though. With Wizardspike you instantly have 75% Resist All on Normal,
and that's where duels take place. If you use Oculus, you could consider
using an Um rune then, but the options listed above are better.
*Lo Rune :
+5% to Maxmimum Lightning Resistance
Lowers enemy Sorc TS resistance, good if the opponent has 40+ Thunderstorm
level.
*Damage to Mana Jewel :
You can get 7-12% DTM on a Jewel with a Dun prefix, this is useful on any
item to lower Energy Shield Mana losses.
-------------
Armour slot :
-------------
*Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279.4 (Base Defense: 127)
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 43
Durability: 24
+120% Enhanced Defense
+1 To All Skills
30% Faster Cast Rate
Magic Damage Reduced By 9-13 (varies)
All Resistances +20-35 (varies)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
This is the most common piece of armour you'll find on Europe Block Sorcs.
The most important mod on this is the 30% Faster Cast Rate (FCR). The +1
Skill and Resistances are useful too.
*Que-Hegan's Wisdom
Mage Plate
Defense: 628.8-681.2 (varies)(Base Defense: 262)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 55
Durability: 60
+140-160% Enhanced Defense
+1 To All Skill Levels
+3 To Mana After Each Kill
20% Faster Cast Rate
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Magic Damage Reduced By 6-10 (varies)
+15 To Energy
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
The mods that stands out on this armour is the 20% Faster Hit Recovery.
Socketed with a Shael Rune that gives an additional 20% FHR, just by
wearing this armour alone speeds up Hit Recovery from 15 frames, to
10 frames. Having decent FHR makes Trappers alot easier to fight.
*Twitchthroe
Studded Leather
Defense: 57-60 (varies)(Base Defense: 32-35)
Required Level: 16
Required Strength: 27
Durability: 32
+25 Defense
25% Increase chance of blocking
20% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Increased Attack Speed
+10 To Dexterity
+10 To Strength
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
The important mod on this armour is the 25% increased chance of blocking.
You may consider using this to save on Dexterity, but personally I don't
use it, because it has no Faster Cast Rate, which means you'll have to
use Wizardspike. Along with the loss of +1 skill on Skin of the Vipermagi,
you'll lose a total of +4 to all Skills.
*Arkaine's Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1295-1450.4 (varies)(Base Defense: 518)
Required Level: 85
Required Strength: 165
Durability: 30
+150-180% Enhanced Defense
+1-2 To All Class Skill Levels* (varies)
+ (0.5 Per Character Level) 0.5-49.5 To Vitality (Based On Character Level)
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Damage Reduced By 10-15 (varies)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
This armour is no good in my opinion. I see some Europe Sorcs walking
around with this, and I wonder, why? My biggest gripe with it, is the
165 (!) Strength requirement. That means you have to waste over 100
more Stat points on Strength to be able to wear this. The armour
only gives 50 Vitality at clvl 99, so you'll still lose 50 Vitality
in the big picture. All that, for just +2 to all Skill Levels and 30%
FHR and a high Defense rating.
Since we're playing Euro PvP/Duellliga rules, you can't wear a
Stormshield, which would have been the only reason to get your
Strength that high in the first place.
Also, the armour doesn't have any Faster Cast Rate, so you'll
have to make up for that somewhere too (ex : you have to wear
Wizardspike + Magefist, where you lose +3 to all Skills already).
Avoid at all costs.
*Jeweler's Gothic Plate of the Whale
'JahJahJahJah'
Required Strength : 70
+20% to maximum Life
+100 to Life
This armour dons a massive life boost (I gain about 300 with it). The
drawbacks are that it has no FCR, and requires 70 Strength. The main use
for this is against Sorcs, where the extra Life comes in handy, but if you
use this armour, you'll be forced to teleport at 9 Frames Per Cast
(I'll explain Cast Rates later in this guide). I feel this is too slow
sometimes, to Orb-trap other Sorcs.
Limited use, and 4 Jah Runes are expensive.
**Socketing options :
Because Runes and Jewels get the same bonuses in helmets and armour, I'll
briefly list the options from the helm slot again.
*Jah Rune :
+5% to maximum Life.
Again, the Life boost is nice, there aren't much better options than this.
*Perfect Ruby :
+38 Life, the cheaper alternative to Jah.
*Dol Rune :
7 Replenish Life.
*Perfect Skull :
Replenish Life and Mana.
Um Rune/Resist Jewel :
15% Resist All.
*Lo Rune :
+5% to Maxmimum Lightning Resistance
Lowers enemy Sorc TS resistance, good if the opponent has 40+ Thunderstorm
level.
*Damage to Mana Jewel :
You can get 7-12% DTM on a Jewel with a Dun prefix, this is useful on any
item to lower Energy Shield Mana losses.
-------------
Weapon slot :
-------------
This is where the eternal debate of "Oculus or Wizardspike?" comes in.
I will list both options, and give my opinion about when to use which.
*The Oculus
Swirling Crystal
One-Hand Damage: 18 To 42 (30 Avg)
Required Level: 42
Durability: 50
(Sorceress Only)
+3 Sorceress Skill Levels
+5 To Mana After Each Kill
All Resistances +20
25% Chance To Cast Level 1 Teleport When Struck
30% Faster Cast Rate
+20 To Vitality
+20 To Energy
+20% Enhanced Defense
50% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
This piece most importantly adds +3 to Skills, which the Wizardspike
lacks. But, Wizardspike has 30% more Faster Cast Rate than Oculus,
which in turn makes it easier to get a 9 Frames Per Cast Rate.
The Oculus also has a 25% chance to cast Teleport when struck, this
can get you out of blocklock sometimes, which is useful, but sometimes
it only gets you into more trouble. Also, along with War Traveler,
this is the most misspelt unique item name.
* Wizardspike
Bone Knife
One-Hand Damage: 23 to 49 (36 Avg)
Required Level: 61
Required Strength: 38
Required Dexterity: 75
Base Weapon Speed: [-20]
+ (2 Per Character Level) 2-198 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
50% Faster Cast Rate
Regenerate Mana 15%
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +75
Indestructible
(Spawns In Any Patch)
This weapon gives an insane Mana boost, and good Faster Cast Rate
and Resistances, but lacks Skill Levels. The high Mana, Cast Rate
and resistances make this ideal for Sorc vs Sorc matches.
So, to summarize :
*Oculus :
Pro :
+Skill
+Chance to cast Teleport when Struck
Con :
-Less Cast Rate than Wizardspike
-Low Resistances
-Chance to cast Teleport when Struck
*Wizardspike :
Pro:
+Huge Mana boost
+Faster Cast Rate
+Resistances
Con :
-Lacks Skill Levels
*Suicide Branch
Burnt Wand
One-Hand Damage: 8 To 18 (13 Avg)
Required Level: 33
Required Strength: 25
Durability: 15
Base Weapon Speed: [0]
150% Damage To Undead
+1 To All Skills
50% Faster Cast Rate
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
All Resistances +10
+40 To Life
Attacker Takes Damage of 25
This is a good alternative for Wizardspike, for when you need the
Faster Cast Rate, but don't need the Mana boost. It dons a nice
+1 Skill and 40 Life.
**Socketing options :
*+9 Strength/Dexterity/Faster Hit Recovery/Replenish Life Jewel :
Lots of mods, and the +Str/Dex will allow you to save on stat
points, and replenish Life is always welcome. A very nice,
albeit expensive option.
*Ko Rune :
+10 Dexterity
This will allow you to put less into Dex, so you can get more Vitality.
*Fal Rune :
+10 Strength
Same reasoning.
*Lum Rune :
+10 Energy
Yup, you know what.
*Io Rune :
+10 Vitality
Yawn.
*15 Resist Jewel :
Extra Resistances may come in handy if you need 75% Lightning Resistance
on Hell, but there are better options than this.
*Damage to Mana Jewel :
You can get 7-12% DTM on a Jewel with a Dun prefix, this is useful on any
item to lower Energy Shield Mana losses.
The best Sorceress Shield to fight physical attackers with. The massive
Increased Chance to Block mod saves alot of Dexterity, which in turn you
can put in Life. You should always use this when you need to Block attacks.
A decent choice for the +1 Skill, but it has less Chance to Block than
Whitstan's Guard, so you have to invest more into Dexterity. It blocks
just as fast as Whitstan's though.
*Moser's Blessed Circle
Round Shield
Defense: 156.8-179.2 (varies)(Base Defense: 56)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 53
Chance to Block: Pal: 67%, Ama/Asn/Bar: 62%, Dru/Nec/Sor: 57%
Durability: 64
Paladin Smite Damage: 7 To 14
+180-220% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+25% Increased Chance of Blocking
30% Faster Block Rate
All Resistances +25
Gem Sockets (2)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
This is useful when you need the Resistances, since it has two open
Sockets, you can socket it with Perfect Diamonds or Um Runes to
increase the Resistance bonus even further.
*Lidless Wall
Grim Shield
Defense: 271.8-347.3 (varies)(Base Defense: 151)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Chance to Block: Pal: 50%, Ama/Asn/Bar: 45%, Dru/Nec/Sor: 40%
Durability: 40
Paladin Smite Damage: 14 To 20
+80-130% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+1 To All Skill Levels
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+3-5 To Mana After Each Kill (varies)
+10 To Energy
+1 To Light Radius
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
The Shield to use when you don't need to block physical attacks.
The biggest drawback on this is the bad Block rate, so don't try to
use it versus physical attackers, since it requires a humongous
amount of Dexterity to retain 75% Block with it at high levels.
**Socketing options :
*Jah Rune :
+50 to Life.
Useful to get as much Life as possible, but if you use your Weapon
Switch often, the extra life will be lost when you switch back
(ex : you have 1700/1700 life, you switch, and drop to 1650/1650,
you switch back, and you'll have 1650/1700).
*Shael Rune :
20% Faster Block Rate
If you put this in Whitstan's Guard, it should speed up your
Block Rate from 6 Frames to 5. Wheter this has any practical
use, is uncertain.
*Dol Rune :
+7 Replenish Life
Extra Replenish Life never hurts, unless you're over the cap.
*Um Rune/Perfect Diamond/Resist Jewel :
Extra Resistances, not much to be said about it.
*Lo Rune :
+5% to maximum Lightning Resistance :
This is a very nice socket for Lidless Wall in my opinion, it
lowers enemy Sorc Thunderstorm Damage by 20% if you go from
75% Light Resistance to 80%.
Ko/Fal/Io/Lum Rune :
+10 to one Stat, useful, but there are better options.
*Damage to Mana Jewel :
You can get 7-12% DTM on a Jewel with a Dun prefix, this is
useful on any item to lower Energy Shield Mana losses.
*Sur Rune :
This adds +50 to Mana when socketed in a shield, useful if
you suffer from Mana problems.
------------
Amulet slot:
------------
*Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
+2 To All Skill Levels
All Resistances +20-30(varies)
+5 To Energy
+5 To Vitality
+5 To Dexterity
+5 To Strength
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
Good all-round amulet, but nothing spectacular.
*Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
+2 To Sorceress Skill Levels
Lightning Resist +33%
Adds 3-32 Lightning Damage
+42 To Mana
+50 To Life
A better option than Mara's Kaleidoscope, this adds more Life/Mana than
Mara's. Along with the Belt from this set, it adds a nice 10 Replenish
Life.
Preset Mods:
4-10% Regenerate Mana
+10-20 Mana
Faster Cast 5-10%
This recipe can net you an amulet with:
+2 to Sorc Skill Levels
+60 to Mana
+50 to Lightning Resistance
+60 to Life
+10-20% Faster Cast Rate
+20 to Strength, or Dex/Energy
Of course it's near impossible to get an amulet with ALL of those mods,
but as long as you have several of them, the amulet is nice. Tal Rasha's
will be better in most cases though, unless you really need the Faster
Cast Rate.
Note : the 20% Faster Cast Rate is only possible on a Crafted Amulet,
not on a Rare Amulet.
-----------
Ring slots:
-----------
*Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
+1 To All Skill Levels
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
Adds 1-12 Lightning Damage
+20 To Mana
(Spawns In Any Patch)
The best legit Sorc ring, this adds alot of Mana, and +1 skill.
Generally you'll be wearing two of these all the time, but in some
situations you may want to wear something like :
*Crafted/Rare/Magic Ring :
+60-120 Mana
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+40 Life
+Resists
+Replenish Life
For some fights you want to get 8 Frames Per Cast instead of 9, and
you have to use a Ring like this.
Note : the +120 Mana prefix only spawns on Magic Rings.
-----------
Belt Slot :
-----------
*Gloom's Trap
Mesh Belt
Defense: 90.2-102.5 (varies)(Base Defense: 41)
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 58
Durability: 16
16 Boxes
+120-150% Enhanced Defense (varies)
5% Mana Stolen Per Hit
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
Regenerate Mana 15%
+15 To Vitality
-3 To Light Radius
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
Mana and Life bonus, nothing spectacular though.
*Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth
Mesh Belt Defense: 35-40
Defense: 95-100
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 47
Durability: 16
Requirements -20%
37% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+30 To Mana
+20 To Dexterity
10-15% Better Chance Of Magic Items
This is my belt of choice. Along with the Amulet from the same set,
you also gain 10 Replenish Life. The Belt generally has nice mods,
and the 37% Damage to Mana is just plain neat. The drawbacks are
that it doesn't have any Life or Faster Cast Rate.
*Trang-Oul's Girth
Troll Belt Defense: 134-166 (varies)(Base Defense: 59-66)
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 91
Durability: 18
+75-100 Defense (varies)
Requirements -40%
Cannot Be Frozen
Replenish Life +5
+25-50 To Mana
+30 Maximum Stamina
+66 To Life
A nice Belt with high Life/Mana, and some Replenish Life, but again,
no Faster Cast Rate.
*Crafted Belt :
Caster Belt Recipe:
Magical Light Belt
or Sharkskin Belt (Excep)
or Vampirefang Belt (Elite)
+ Jewel (any)
+ Ith Rune (#6)
+ Perfect Amethyst
Preset Mods:
4-10% Regenerate Mana
+10-20 Mana
+5-10% Faster Cast
Other mods you want on a Belt like this :
+Faster Hit Recovery
+Life/Mana
+Str/Dex
+Resistances
+Replenish Life
These belts have the possibility to be the best Sorc belts in the
game, but it may take many tries to get a good one with alot of
the mods described above.
-----------
Glove slot:
-----------
There are pretty much only two choices on what to wear in the Glove slot :
*Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 24.4-25.6 (varies)(Base Defense: 12)
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 45
Durability: 18
+20-30% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
+1 To Fire Skills
20% Faster Cast Rate
Regenerate Mana 25%
Adds 1-6 Fire Damage
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
The mod that stands out on this pair of gloves is the 20% Faster Cast Rate,
but it has some minor other bonuses too, such as +1 Fire Skills and Mana
Regeneration. This is generally used to get 8 Frames Per Cast
(explained later).
These Gloves increase your Mana greatly, 40% is added to your base Mana.
These are good to have a 9 Frames Per Cast setup with a high Mana pool with.
-----------
Boots slot:
-----------
And lastly, the Boots. I don't feel there are many options here, the best
option for a Sorc is a pair of Waterwalk. These boots have the following
mods :
*Waterwalk
Sharkskin Boots
Defense: 112-124 (varies)(Base Defense: 40)
Required Level: 32
Required Strength: 18
Durability: 14
+180-210% Enhanced Defense (varies)
20% Faster Run/Walk
+100 Defense Vs. Missile
+15 To Dexterity
+5% Maximum Fire Resist
Heal Stamina Plus 50%
+40 Max Stamina
+45-65 To Life (varies)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
The highlights are the 15 Dexterity, and 65 Life on a perfect pair.
65 life equals 32.5 Stat points, together with the 15 Dexterity,
that's a higher Stat boost than you can get on any other boots.
*Silkweave
Mesh Boots
Defense: 112.5-130.5 (varies)(Base Defense: 40)
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 65
Durability: 16
+150-190% Enhanced Defense (varies)
30% Faster Run/Walk
+5 To Mana After Each Kill
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+200 Defense VS. Missile
Some people swear by these, but I feel they aren't very good, and
FAR inferior to Waterwalk. 10% Mana added to your base pool isn't
much, and it has few other useful mods.
*Aldur's Advance
Battle Boots
Defense: 39-47
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 95
Indestructible
40% Faster Run/Walk
+180 Maximum Stamina
10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
Heal Stamina Plus +32%
+50 To Life
Some people like to use these for Sorc vs Sorc because they have
high Life and some Damage to Mana, but I feel the Strength requirement
is too high, and the DTM is minimal. A better source for DTM is the
Tal Rasha's belt, or Jewels.
A typical PvP Sorc setup is :
Harlequin Crest
Skin of the Vipermagi/Ormus' Robes
Weapon Switch 1 : Heart of the Oak/Oculus/Whitstan's Guard
Weapon Switch 2 : Wizardspike/Lidless Wall
Tal Rasha's Belt/Crafted Belt/Arachnid Mesh
Tal Rasha's Adjudication Amulet/Mara's/Crafted
Waterwalk
2 Stones of Jordan
Magefist/Frostburn
------
Charms
------
Your inventory needs Charms. Skill Charms grant a significant damage
boost, and you should have 8 to 10 of them. You can fill the row below
the Skill Charms with Small Charms with Life/Mana, preferably both mods
on one Charm. The charms are :
*Chilling Grand Charm of (suffix) : +1 to Cold Skills. These boost your
Frozen Orb damage, and your Cold Mastery level, so of course they are
incredibly useful. You'll want +30-45 Life on these Charms, but those
are hard to come by and very expensive, plain Skill Charms are fine if
you can't afford the ones with Life. Skill Charms with FHR are nice too.
*Sparking Grand Charm of (suffix) : +1 to Lightning Skills, these boost
your Thunderstorm damage to ridiculous levels, and lowers your Teleport
Mana Cost. It's up to you to decide wheter you want to use Cold or
Lightning Charms, or a mixture of both. As with the Cold Charms, extra
Life or FHR is nice on these, albeit expensive.
*Serpent's Charms of Vita : +17 to Mana, +20 to Life on a perfect Small
Charm, 34 Mana, 35 Life on a Large Charm, 59 Mana, 45 Life on a Grand
Charm. These provide a very nice boost to your Life/Mana, they can be
essential if you use Oculus.
*Amber Small Charms of (suffix) : These add 9-11% to Lightning
Resistance, you may need these to retain maximum Lightning
Resistance on Hell difficulty, where Sorc vs Sorc takes place.
Good suffixes for Charms like these are +life, FHR.
===================
5) General Strategy
===================
Phew, the Equipment section sure was a long read (and a long write, for me).
Here I'll give some general tips for Sorc play.
-Know your Faster Cast Rate breakpoints. There are two major breakpoints
that Sorceress' use. The first one is 63%+ to 104% Faster Cast Rate. This
nets you a Cast rate of 9 Frames per Cast (FPC).
Diablo 2 runs on 25 Frames per Second, this means you can teleport
25/9 = 2,8 times per Second.
This setup is easily reached with :
*Oculus (30%),
*Skin of the Vipermagi (30%)
*and a Caster Belt/Amulet (3%+)
Or just :
*Wizardspike (50%)
*Skin of the Vipermagi (30%)
1.09 :
(The other breakpoint is 105%+ Faster Cast Rate, this will let you teleport
at 8 FPC. There are some problems involved with this though, you need 114%+
Faster Cast Rate, or some of your spells will fizzle and you'll only get the
cast animation client side, which means that to other people it seems you're
not casting anything at all. With 8 FPC you can cast teleport 3,125 times per
second. The difference between 8 and 9 is significant.)
***Note***
This problem with 105-114 FCR seems to have been fixed. At least, I tried
teleporting around with 110% FCR on several occassions, and I didn't
experience the "double-cast" effect.
To get 8 FPC easily, I like the setup :
*Wizardspike (50%)
*Skin of the Vipermagi (30%)
*Lidless Wall (20%)
*Magefist (20%)
This setup gives you 120% Fast Cast, a steady 8 FPC, high Mana because you
have Wizardspike and two Stones of Jordan.
-----
*1.10 :
This could be an easy way of getting 8 FPC in 1.10 :
*Wizardspike (50%)
*Skin of the Vipermagi (30%)
*Lidless Wall (20%)
*Arachnid Mesh (20%)
Or :
*Heart of the Oak (40%)
*Ormus' Robes (20%)
*Lidless Wall (20%)
*Arachnid Mesh (20%)
*Amulet with 5%+ FCR
This leaves both ring and glove slots free, where you can change for a
setup that has block. For example, by wearing Whitstan's Guard instead
of Lidless, and using Magefist.
8 FPC isn't necessary in most fights though, and requires good ping
to be effective with. I prefer to play with 9 FPC in most fights, and
get a few more skill points or extra Mana. The setup I use is :
*Heart of the Oak (40%)
*Ormus' Robes (20%)
*Arachnid Mesh (20%)
This gives me 80% FCR, which is over the 63% breakpoint, so I get 9 FPC.
On my weapon switch I have :
This is 110% FCR total, or 8 FPC. I can switch between these during
battle if I need extra speed/Mana, or don't need block in a certain
situation.
-Frozen Orb has a timer of 1 second, this means you can Teleport roughly 3
times before you can throw another Orb, you can use those teleports as a
guideline. That means you get a pattern of Orb, Teleport, Teleport, Teleport,
Orb, Teleport ..etc.
(notice : this doesn't hold true in 1.10, because of the "timer" bug, where
every skill button is redded out sometimes after you cast a timered skill,
in this case Frozen orb. Hopefully this will get fixed soon)
-Level more. The higher level you are, the more skill points you have to
spend on Warmth and Teleport, and you'll get more Mana/Life from
Harlequin/Wizardspike, which in turn is boosted again by Jah's, Frostburn,
Stones of Jordan, etc. The higher level you are, the easier it is to stay
alive as a Sorceress.
-Have a steady Mana pool. You don't want to get drained empty in one attack,
or lose Mana while Teleporting - that's a definite no-no. To prevent this,
make sure your Teleport and Warmth are at a decent Skill Level, and have a
sizable Mana Pool.
-Cold Charms or Lightning Charms? What do you want to be? A FO/TS Sorc, or
a TS/FO Sorc? I will list the Pro's and Con's on both types.
(this is 1.09 information, as Thunderstorm is MUCH less useful in 1.10)
FO/TS
-----
Pro:
-FO is harder to negate than TS.
-More range than TS.
-With the high level FO, pretty much every shard will put low life
(1000-1200 life) characters inhit recovery.
Con:
-You have to actually aim your FO.
TS/FO
-----
Pro:
-If you are in TS range, and get blocklocked, the TS will pretty much
*always* get you out of blocklock by putting your opponent into hit recovery
due to your high level TS.
-You don't have to aim TS, so it's easier to use.
-Lightning Skill Charms will also boost your Teleport level, which makes
it easier for you to keep a steady Mana pool.
Con:
-A 40 TS Sorc can kill a 75% Lightning Resist Amazon with average Life with
3-4 TS alone, but if your enemy is prepared(95% Light Res, Absorb, etc)
you're in trouble, because your main source of damage is nearly negated.
-If you get blocklocked outside TS range, you're in big trouble as well,
but that also holds true for the FO/TS build.
-People will complain about your high TS, and say it requires "no skill".
Well, onto the next point.
-Explore the map before a duel. You'll want to know where the corners, the
walls, and the houses are, because knowing the terrain gives you an edge over
your opponent. You have an idea of where they can be approaching from, and
where the safety points are. In the Blood Moor area, there are often big
"blocks" on the map. If you put your cursor completely against the edge of
your screen, you can teleport to the other side.
Some stupid art to make it more clear :
X<--opponent
|---------------------------|
| the block |
| |
|___________________________|
X<--you
This can be a good surprise attack, if you see your opponent is on the other
side of the block, you can "appear out of nowhere" and hit him with a
Frozen Orb and immediately teleport away after that. Don't do this too often
though, since it will get very predictable, and the next time you try it, he
might have a surprise waiting for you.
You can also teleport over a river using this same method, if you are on a
bridge map.
-Next point, know the range of your Frozen Orb, and of your Thunderstorm.
Know from which angle your Frozen Orb will do the most damage. Try to aim
your Orb in a way, so that when the "ball" part of the Frozen Orb will
explode directly on top of your opponent. A hit like this is called a "full
Orb"
and can easily take over 1000 life off your opponent.
Try to aim these Orbs where you think your opponent is going, instead of where
he is standing, if your opponent is running.
-You can turn Frozen Orb invisible, by teleporting in, throwing an Orb,
and then teleport off-map range before the Orb is finished. With off-map I
mean that you cannot see your opponent's name on the map anymore. When you
do this, the Orb and it's shards will become invisible. You can use this
to lay traps where you think your opponent is going, this is especially
useful in Sorc vs Sorc.
-Don't be overly aggressive, or extremely passive, but find a road between
the two. Being overly aggressive usually means you'll die, unless you're
extremely lucky, or exceptionally skilled. While being extremely passive
makes fights long, boring, and tedious for your opponent. There are times
to attack, and moments to run away. Practice to know when to do which.
-Avoid teleporting predictably as much as possible. Bad Sorcs always
Teleport predictably, good Sorcs do it less. The better you are, the
more refined and seemingly random your teleport pattern is.
It's important to avoid teleporting in a circle pattern up close,
because it's VERY predictable, and your opponent will just camp the
next spot you'll teleport to, and you'll be in trouble.
If you're on one side of a corner, and your opponent is half a
screen away on the other side of it, you can expect him to be
attacking that spot, waiting for you to teleport into it.
More fancy art :
Z3
|
Block | Y X < enemy Z2
|
--------------------
you X | --> Z1
It is predictable for you to teleport into spot Y, so he'll probably
camp it, by constantly shooting arrows in that spot for example. It's
better to teleport to spot Z1, and then attack at spot Z2 or Z3, while
your opponent is camping spot Y. You can also teleport into the
forementioned spot Y, if you did spot Z several times, to keep
your attack patterns random.
-Practice alot. Becoming a good Sorc player doesn't come instantly
(for most of us, at least) and with practice you'll become better.
Do Sorc vs Amazon 30 times against the same opponent for example,
and if you find yourself doing bad, try to figure out why or where
you die, and try to find a different solution to that problem in
the next fight.
-A simple explanation of the mod "Absorb" is that it "absorbs"
an amount of damage, thus that part of the damage is negated,
and on top of that it also heals your character for the same
amount of damage. An example : Raven Frost has 20% Cold Absorb,
this means 20% damage is absorbed, and 20% is healed, and your
Cold Damage is effectively lowered by 40%. That's why
Necromancers with two Raven Frosts are so tough. Also, the
first hit(target has full life) you deal doesn't seem to take
the healing part in account.
This doesn't really matter with Frozen Orb because it deals
small amounts of damage with each shard, but launches
many shards, but with attacks that do alot of damage in one
hit, it's a nice advantage.
-And lastly, try to be nice. The last thing B.Net needs is
another noob-calling machine that makes up excuses with every
loss. If you lose, don't blame it on "LAG" or "LOL DESYNC",
just try to do better next time, or even compliment your
opponent on a match well-played. Cough.
================================
6) Character Specific Strategies
================================
-------------------
Sorceress Vs Amazon
-------------------
The Amazon, the most prominent class in dueling games. Easy
to use, hard to master. Because there are so many of them,
alot of them aren't very good. Your average Amazon has 1000
to 1600 Life, 85% Lightning Resistance, and 2800-4500 maximum
Guided Arrow Damage. This means they can kill you in 2-3 shots,
so you should proceed with caution.
I recommend using 9 FPC against Amazons, because 8 FPC requires
you to use a Wizardspike, which means your attacks will be weaker,
and you might have to give up a Stone of Jordan too, in favour of
a 10% Fast Cast Ring, which weakens your attack further.
The golden rule in Sorc vs Amazon is :
***if she is running, she is NOT shooting***. Watch carefully wheter
your opponent is moving or not. Take cover behind walls,
corners, or in houses.
If you find the Amazon shooting a continuous stream of Guided Arrows
against the a wall, of which you are on the other side, she must be
crazy to expect you to teleport into it.
Let her shoot, she'll waste precious Mana and Arrows. Your average
Amazon has 250 to 450 Mana, and shooting continuously like this is
very taxing for her. It's just a bit of psychological warfare, if
you don't attack, she'll become more careful and waste arrows less,
which gives you more room to move.
In 1.10 this got even better, because Amazons can't leech much
Mana back now. :)
With a good hit, they get ~10 Mana maybe, which is almost nothing.
You can also teleport to the other side she's camping, as
described in the General Strategies part. Mixing both
strategies of waiting, and attacking is perfect.
-Avoid teleporting in circles up close, don't be a clocksorc!
This is VERY important. If you teleport in circles from up close,
it's VERY easy for the Amazon to camp the location you'll teleport
next to, and you'll be stuck in blocklock, this means game over
most of the time.
Circle Teleporting(circleporting after this) from far away
(1.5-2+ screens) is fine, because arrows won't lock very
often from that far, you just have to watch out not to
teleport exactly into a stream of GA's.
Mix up your Teleport pattern, do a 180 grade half circle pattern,
and then back to your starting spot for example, and next time
do the 180 grade pattern, but instead of going back to your
starting location, teleport behind your opponent for a good
hit, or teleport out. The possibilities are infinite.
Know the range of your Frozen Orb. There are generally two
kinds of Orbs you'll be throwing :
-Chipping Orbs
-Full Orbs
"Chipping" is the art of teleporting from about 1.5 screens
away around your opponent, and surrounding him with Orb Shards.
You'll slowly take away his Life, with little risk to yourself.
Chipping is an art of pressuring your opponent, this will make
your opponent run, or he will take damage.
That brings us back to the golden rule, when your opponent is
running, he isn't shooting. That's a perfect oppertunity for
you to give chase, and follow up with a "full Orb".
If you're going in for the full Orb, try to make sure you
have at least a few Orb Shards flying towards your opponent also.
These shards will put your opponent in hit recovery if he stops
to shoot you, while you are up-close positioning yourself for the
full Orb. That way blocklock will be prevented, since you can
Teleport away while he is in hit recovery.
If you do happen to get blocklocked after all, you *should* be
at the proper distance to get that full Orb off. With some luck
you'll be able to cast an Orb (hold down the mouse button).
After this the Amazon has the choice of keeping her blocklock,
or moving. If you did position yourself properly, the Amazon
will take massive damage from standing in the full Orb, get
put in Hit Recovery, and you'll be able to Teleport away.
If she does move, then constant stream of arrows blocklocking
you will stop, and you'll be able to Teleport away also.
Being able to chip effectively* makes a Sorc successful against
Amazons. Try to surround her as much as possible with Orb Shards,
so she has few places to move to without taking damage, and then
go in for the full Orb. If you only cover one side with your Orb
Shards, the Amazon will run to the opposite side, and be safe while
she can retaliate, this is a situation you should prevent, by
following up and casting Orb shards on the other side also.
*It's hard to chip in 1.10, because of the nasty bug with Frozen
Orb I described in the Skill section. You Orb, pause, teleport,
Orb, pause, Teleport, etc. This seriously needs to be fixed.
-Another important aspect of Sorc vs Amazon is to watch your
opponents arrows. If you see arrows curve into your direction,
Teleport behind a wall, corner or into a house immediately, and
let the arrows collide against the wall. Don't try to finish your
pattern, the arrows might turn invisible, and while you're up close,
they all collide, and you'll take damage, or be put in blocklock.
Both are fatal.
-Again, be unpredictable. If you do half-circle Teleports finishing
with teleporting behind your opponent alot, chances are that he'll
shoot behind his back the next time. Stay on the same side once in
awhile to confuse him, instead of teleporting behind him every time.
-Be wary of opponents who "wallhug", i.e, they stay against a wall,
or in a corner the whole time. If they do this, they force you to
be passive, try to chip them, and wish you were born as a Hydra Sorc.
-If you are namelocked, teleport off maprange, and your opponent
will lose his namelock. You can tell you're namelocked if every
arrow curves into your direction.
-Lastly, Sorc vs Amazon requires alot of practice, since it's
one of the harder match-ups for a beginning Sorc, but later on,
it turns out to be quite easy versus the majority of Amazons.
*1.10 :
Amazons in public games are much easier now, because of multi-socket
unique items gone, and GA/Pierce bug gone. On top of that, they
can hardly leech Life/Mana, and do less damage too. Furthermore,
you can't get blocklocked for whole seconds, like in 1.09. You can
pretty much Teleport away immediatly, even if the Amazon hits
you continuously with arrows.
But they are able to "dodge" all your spells now. This is good
and bad. The good part is that it puts them in the dodge animation,
so they can't move for a moment. The bad part is that you don't
do the damage.
The strategy remains the same though.
Small update : I've seen Amazons dodge whole full Orbs without
taking a scratch, but they can't shoot either during that
period, because they're busy dodging. Very awkward, Blizzard.
------------------------
Sorceress vs Necromancer
------------------------
This match-up is very similar to Sorc vs Amazon, so most of the
Sorc vs Amazon strategies apply here too, but there are
some differences :
-Bone Spirit travels alot slower than Guided Arrow, but is
unblockable, and turns invisible easily due to it's slow speed.
A good Necromancer can set traps for you like this.
-Necromancers also have Poison Nova, a deadly ring that can take
off quite a bit of damage if you're not careful. Try to chip him
if he uses Poison Nova alot, but you should go in for a full Orb
once in awhile too, to keep him on his toes.
-While Necromancers have a weaker offense than Amazons, they last
ALOT longer because they are allowed to use two Raven Frosts, which
provide 20% Cold Absorb each, which means your Cold Damage is
lowered by 80%. If you're not careful, they might outtank you, so
be cautious and try not to lose too much life during shootouts.
-In this fight you do not need Block, so just use the 120% Faster
Cast Rate setup, which lets you Teleport at such speeds that Bone
Spirit will never catch up, unless you teleport into a trap. But
still, if you have alot of Bone Spirits following you, Teleport
behind a wall and let them collide there before continuing
the fight.
-The key to winning against Necromancers is to be able to chip
effectively. Try to stay within "full Orb" range all the time,
and surround him as much as possible, while teleporting
unpredictably to avoid getting hit. Don't get *too* close,
because if he shift-clicks right next to his feet, the Bone
Spirits will track from there, and you WILL get hit if you're
that close.
*1.10 :
Necro strategy remains the same too, but : Necro's do ALOT
more damage now. Their Bone Spirit can go over 3500 damage.
Poison Nova does VERY high amounts of Damage too. 1 hit
from a Nova could drain you to 1 Life very fast.
Either carry Antidotes (cough), or stay out of Nova range,
or have some +Max % Res / Length reduction items.
Furthermore Bone Spear does alot of Damage too now. If
you get namelocked by it, don't underestimate it, but
Teleport off-map to get rid of the namelock. Likewise with
Bone Spirit. Other than that, the fight isn't particularly
hard against the majority of Necromancers, because you
plainly have more mobility than them.
Funfact : I've fought a Necro in a public game with my Barb,
with his freshly made Breath of the Dying Colossus Blade.
My barb : 4700 Life, 4600 max Whirlwind, with DS from Gore
Rider and Highlords Wrath.
I run up to the Necro, use the "dance of death" triangle
pattern whirling on him. He casts "Weaken" on me, and
holds down the button with Bone Spirit, and doesn't move
an inch. Guess who dies?
Yup, that's right. Me.
He was pretty easy for my Sorc though, couldn't have had
alot of Cold Resistance. If they do have high CR, it's
a near lost cause.
----------------------
Sorceress vs Barbarian
----------------------
This can be a very long fight, because your typical Barbarian
has 4000-5000 Life, and a Raven Frost along with a Thundergod's
Vigor. A good Barbarian isn't offensive, but instead he is
cautious and defensive, and will try to make you chase him.
This means you have to play quite offensively, but try to
keep a decent amount of distance between you and him when
you're not attacking, so you have time to react to sudden
changes in his running direction.
Try to chip him, and aim Orbs where you think he'll run to,
instead of directly at him. Avoid teleporting directly in
front of him, the Barb is CLOSER than he looks!
-If the Barb is a thrower, or a Hybrid, treat him like a
Bowazon with a lesser offense, but higher Life total. If
you are stuck in blocklock, do NOT try to teleport out of
it, instead, *walk*, not run a few steps until you're not
blocklocked anymore, and then swiftly teleport away to
recover, since he'll most likely have gotten a namelock
while you were blocklocked. (if you run instead of walk,
your chance to block will drop)
Also, with Duellliga rules, Barbarians are allowed to use
an amulet with Teleport Charges, and the Sorc is allowed a
maximum of 40% chance to Block on her Shield. This gives him
a VERY big advantage. If he gets a namelock on you with Teleport,
he'll directly Teleport to where you are, and follow up with
a Whirlwind (think Dragon Flight, only better).
Along with the 40% Block, 1 Whirlwind can easily spell death for
you, so against Barbs like this you have to be very passive, try
to chip them offscreen, and if you do happen to teleport close to
them, never stay on their screen for long.
*1.10 :
Very little change, Barbs really got the bad end of this patch.
Their damage is lowered, and they gained few bonuses. Although,
Barbs can pretty much Teleport unlimited now, thanks to the
Runeword "Enigma". And, they last longer because of the
new 1/6 penalty.
With the 1.10 Sorc build, these are generally no danger.
This is because they can hardly damage you due to your high
ES absorbing. Whirlwind attacks do very little damage most
of the time, what *does* do damage is the "Open Wounds" mod.
This can easily drain 500 Life off you when your opponent is
high enough level, and the bad part is that it's unresistable
in any way.
--------------------
Sorceress vs Paladin
--------------------
Paladins usually try to attack Sorcs with Fist of the Heavens (FoH).
Alone this attack does very little damage, even when it's at high
levels (35+), it'll do less than 100 damage, and you can recover
from it easily. The sucker is that when you have Conviction on, the
green aura, it can lower your elemental Resistance over 250%, which
effectively means your Lightning Resistance is -100%. And *then*,
he can kill you in 3-4 FoH's.
So, what does this tell us? Don't attack the Paladin if you have
Conviction on. You can be aggressive with close range chipping, and
full Orbs, but when Conviction happens to stick, Teleport out
immediately, and do offscreen chipping, or recover somewhere out of
range until it is gone.
Some Paladins will also try to use Charge, or Smite against you,
these are generally no threat in 1v1, since they just won't catch up.
(this doesn't hold true in 1.10, because Charge is so fast that you
can *see* the Paladin Teleport whole screens. If they get a
Chargelock, either take the gamble of orbing in front of you and
Teleporting away, repeat. Or Teleport behind a wall/house)
This fight isn't particularly hard, but can be VERY long, if the
Paladin has 2.5k+ Life, huge Cold Resistance, and plays passive.
Using the 120% Faster Cast Rate setup in this fight is recommended,
to avoid getting namelocked with FoH as much as possible.
1.10 :
It seems like all the 1.09 Amazons went to playing Paladin.
They've gotten some huge boosts in their skill.
The two important ones :
-Charge is *really* fast now, and still desyncs as much as before,
maybe even more than before. Once he gets a click-lock on you, you
should Teleport behind a wall.
-Fist of the Heavens is easier to aim now. The Paladin doesn't
Need to get a namelock like in 1.09, when he clicks in a certain
radius around you (about the range of the Iron Maiden curse) the
FoH will be cast. Once you get on the Paladin's screen, he will hit.
And this drains your Mana very fast with the higher Energy Shield
Damage reduction.
Besides that, when Paladins use Salvation, they get huge Cold
Resistance, this makes them real tanks.
A very hard match-up now.
Update : I've fought some of these with my 1.10 build Sorc.
Thanks to the increased damage from the Ice Bolt synergy and new
items, it's a much more even match-up now. Paladin still has the
advantage though. A well-built Paladin can drain a 1.7k Mana pool
with 3-4 FoH, without even having Conviction locked on. This is
one of the hardest fights any Sorceress will come across, along
with the Trapper.
There's not much you can do about it, because it's so easy to
hit with FoH. Get as high Light Resistance as allowed, and high
Mana so you can regenerate faster. (I have 2.2k Mana when I fight
FoH'ers in 1v1 with ~200 Light res stacked)
---------------------
Sorceress vs Assassin
---------------------
The Assassin, this can be quite a hard fight, but again, if you know
what you're doing, it should be no problem. First you have to make
sure what kind of Assassin your opponent is. There are three general
types :
*Martial Artist : These use a big claw, and have a base level Trap to stun
with.
*Hybrid : Like the Martial Artist, but with a higher level Trap.
*Trapper : These only use Traps, you can usually tell an Assassin
is a Trapper if she dons a Wizardspike.
The Que-Hegans armour socketed with a Shael (40% FHR) is a very handy
tool in this fight. With the armour your hit recovery is lowered from
15 to 10 Frames. This means you can almost get out of any Trap.
Approach the Assassin like you do against an Amazon, chip her, and
try to get a full Orb in once in awhile. If you get Mind Blast on
your character, Teleport out. If you have Mind Blast on, any attack
that hits you will put you in Hit Recovery. Normally you only get put
in Hit Recovery if an attack does more damage than 1/12 of your Life
total.
This means you'll be stuck, doing your Hit Recovery animation over
and over while the Assassin refreshes her Traps and Mind Blast, or
takes a few swipes at you with her Claw.
So, wait til the Mind Blast effect (the stars over your head) is
gone before you attack again. If the Assassin uses Dragon Flight
on you, and puts you in Blocklock with her Claw attack, don't panic
and Teleport like a madman. Instead, walk one step out of claw
range, and then Teleport away. The reasoning on this is that the
Assassin can attack with a speed of 7 Frames Per Attack, whereas
your Cast Rate is either 8 or 9 frames. Theoretically this means
your Casting animation is cut off at the last or second last
frame, every time. Of course this doesn't always hold true, because
of lag, or missed swings, etc.
The same thing goes for Traps; if you happen to get locked down by
the Assassin and are getting pummeled by Traps, *run* out of the
danger zone, and try to time it so, that just before the trap is
about to hit you again to Teleport away. You should Teleport off
map-range after this, because the Assassin still has a namelock,
so you need to get rid of that.
120% Faster Cast Rate is recommended in this fight, so you can
Teleport fast and avoid namelock as much as possible.
1.10 :
Had the chance to fight some more Trappers now. They are very
popular nowadays, because Lightning Sentry damage can go over
12000 max. Coupled with the timer bug (unable to Teleport
after casting a timered spell), this is a very hard match-up.
This is because 1 hit from LS could take away half your
Mana pool, and you get hit alot due to the timer bug.
The match-up is near impossible with an Orb Sorc, because
you have to be quite close to hit with Orb, and once you've
casted an Orb, you have a good chance of the Teleport
button turning red too, which cuts off your escape route.
I generally walk a few steps after I cast an Orb, and then
try to Teleport instead of trying to Teleport immediatly.
High Mana and 8 FPC is recommended here.
On the other hand, MA/Hybrid sins are weakened quite a bit,
due to their 100% chance of critical with one point in weapon
mastery being fixed, and leech nerfed. On top of that, they
can't use Dragon Flight to teleport to you, unless you are
on their screen.
Which makes their mobility very limited. Formerly a very
hard match-up, but it's mostly low-threat now. Of course
there are still good players out there that can play a MA
sin very effectively.
------------------
Sorceress vs Druid
------------------
This generally isn't a hard fight, but make no mistake, there
are some very deadly Druids out there. The most common build of
Druids is the Werewolf, these are high speed characters with
alot of Life.
They don't pose much of a challenge most of the time due to
their inability to hit you, but if they are very passive, they
can put you into blocklock with a shift-attack while you chase
them. This is a situation you should and can avoid, by keeping
at least half a screen distance between you and him. This is
close enough for a full Orb, but too far for him to hit you.
Be careful though, they usually equip a big Polearm with
range 5 on their Werewolf, which has a deceptively large
amount of range.
There are also Werebear Druids, these sometimes use Shockwave
to stun you (similar to the Assassin's Mind Blast). But, this
attack doesn't have much range, and can be avoided pretty easily.
And their main attacks also lack range, so they shouldn't pose
much threat.
I prefer 9 FPC with as high skill level as possible in this
fight, so you can kill the Druid as fast as possible.
*1.10 :
Armageddon seems to do quite a bit of damage now. It can be
deadly if the Druid uses Teleport, since the effect travels
with him, but if he doesn't : easy to hit him. Since your
attack plain has more range than his.
People use the Hurricane/Tornado attacks too. I don't think
Hurricane does much damage, but Tornado hurts. The attack
has *very* little range though, so you won't get hit by it
unless the Druid uses Teleport.
Cyclone Armor is a force to be reckoned with now. It can
absorb over 1000 damage I think, and they can recast it
indefinitely. This means you have to be hurting the Druid
constantly, or he'll just recast it and take zero damage.
The shapeshifters haven't change much, but the Werewolf
"Rabies" is a very dangerous skill. If it hits, it drains
a couple hundred Life per second, and can do over 1000
Damage over time. *and* it kills you when you're low on
HP, unlike Poison. When you get struck by Rabies, the
fight is pretty much over. So you have to be very careful
against a Werewolf Druid that utilizes this skill. Keep
your distance.
----------------------
Sorceress vs Sorceress
----------------------
Ah, a mirror match! This can be one of the most fun, and at
the same time, one of the most boring and long fights you'll
have to participate in. It all depends on how the other Sorc
plays. Some Sorcs are very cowardly : they Teleport away
as soon as they see you on the map, so the chance of you
hitting them is minimal.
These are called passive Sorcs, and
generally not worth fighting, because a defensive Sorc always
has an edge over an offensive Sorc, and a Sorc that is
defensive all the time, and does this well, is nearly
unbeatable. You'll take damage while attacking the other
Sorc, but she is perfectly safe.
One thing you can try, is to stay off his maprange, and throw
Orbs where you think he'll teleport to, and generally be throwing
Orbs all the time, to increase the chance of her teleporting into
invisible Orb Shards. But with that, you've become a passive
Sorc yourself. Great.
In "normal" Sorc Vs Sorc, it's a match of wits, who can attack
better while taking less damage at the same time? Never try to
Orb where you see your opponent, because he'll always Teleport
to another spot. That's why you should try to Orb where you
think he's going, instead of where he is.
Try not to be overly aggressive, because this will cost you
Life, but attacking once in awhile doesn't hurt. You should be
throwing Orbs pretty much constantly, to maximize the chance
of hitting your opponent.
If you are chasing a Sorc (BAD idea) throw Orbs directly in front
of you, if he keeps Teleporting in the same direction, he'll
teleport directly into it, which is, ouch.
This fight can take over half an hour, so having good Replenish
Life is a good idea to regain Life during the fight.
Make sure you have 8 FPC and a high Mana pool also, 9 FPC can
be too slow to set Orb traps, or escape from an Orb
trap yourself.
*1.10 :
Mana is a very big issue now. Thunderstorm takes large portions
of Mana if it does hit, which is bad. For SvS you practically
*need* a new build with high Telekinesis or Mana.
1.10 Sorcs don't really use Thunderstorm anymore. What you see
now are mostly Fireball or Orb Sorcs. Fireball is dangerous
because of the amount of damage it deals, and 1-2 hits of a
strong Fireball takes all your Mana. I don't have much to say
here, besides that you have to practice dodging attacks.
And if you get hit by one and lose your Mana, walk a few steps
away and then Teleport away, instead of holding down the
mouse button with Teleport with 0 Mana while he pummels you
with more attacks.
=========================
7) Team vs Team strategy
=========================
Team vs Team (TvT) is a pretty big part in most of the league
train games. Of course, all of the strategies against other
classes still apply, but sometimes the situation is
different, because you have to mix strategies to fight two
classes at once, or some classes become more dangerous
because their partner supplements them.
In balanced TvT both teams have Battle Orders or neither
team has it, but sometimes there is only one Barb in the
game and the fight turns out to be non-BO vs BO. This gives
you a signifcant disadvantage, especially if you're against
other Sorcs.
With BO you can be much more aggressive than without, because
you have more Life/Mana which allows you to take more hits, and
the bigger Mana pool makes it much harder to run out of Mana
due to a higher Mana regeneration rate.
Generally in TvT one team starts from Cold Plains, and the other
from the town entrance. Exploring the map before the fight
begins is a good idea, so you have an idea of which way the
enemy might be approaching from.
When you explore during battle, try to travel in areas that
are not likely to be "camped". For example, Teleport near
the walls to avoid getting hit by stray projectiles.
Or if you start from town Teleport near the walls, far away
from the other team to avoid them seeing you on their mini-map,
and then attack them from behind, from the side they started.
They most likely expect you to be attacking from the town side,
since that's where you started. This can be a good first attack.
Also, this puts them in a pincer-like attack. Your team is on
the town side, and you're at the Cold Plains side, and the
enemy is between you two. This means that some of the fire is
not directed at you, or, it gives your team a better chance to
attack because you're distracting them.
Furthermore, half the key to success is to find the weakest
link. If you see a target separated from the rest of the party,
don't hesistate to take him down quickly, so the full team
is weaker. This is especially nice if you manage to take
down one of the supporters, so it's easier to rush them.
The other half is to play *with* your team. For example, if a
Barb or Amazon is attacking an enemy, rush in to help. You don't
really have to worry about your own safety if it's two against
one, because your target will mostly be running instead of
attacking.
Likewise, if one of your party members is separated and getting
ganged up on, rush in to help. Or if it's a hopeless cause,
try to find the other part of the team that's not rushing,
and see if you can make a trade. One of your team members'
life for one of theirs.
That's pretty much all I have to say about general TvT strategy.
There are some character combinations that are especially
dangerous, which you have to keep in mind when you attack :
--------------
*Barb / anyone
--------------
This means the team has Battle Orders, and over
twice as much Life/Mana as usual. Every good team should
consist of a Barb. (well, not anymore perhaps, with the Call
to Arms runeword ..)
On a sidenote, the Druid's Oak Sage gives a similar Life
bonus but no Mana, and the Oak Sage ghost is killable.
A good level Conviction lowers target resistance by 150%.
This means *alot* of increased damage, and with skills
like Fireball often a one hit kill. When you're the one
with a Conviction Paladin in the team, make sure you're
with him when he rushes into the enemy team, so his
sacrifice isn't wasted.
It's very easy to destroy a whole team with just you and
the Conv Paladin with a good rush, a deadly combination.
Both Necro and Paladin have a way to increase the damage
an Amazon deals. Necromancers through Amplify Damage
or Decrepify, which lower your PDR by 100% and 50%
respectively.
Paladins have damage enhancing auras. When these two
are combined, it means the Amazon can kill you in 1-2
shots, and you have to be very careful.
Common tournament TvT teams are Barb/Nec/Zon/Zon or
Barb/Nec/Pal/Zon or Barb/Pal/Sorc/Sorc, for the reasons
mentioned above.
Expect to see more Trappers in there in 1.10, and less
Amazons due to lack of leech.
I'm most likely forgetting some combinations, I'll add
more if I can think of it.
================
8) Some formulae
================
Ice Blast : 91-100 damage, vs target with 0% Cold Res.
Cold Mastery : 100%
Damage : 31, 32, 34, 31, 32, 32, 33, 34, 33, 33.
Conclusion : Cold Mastery can lower below 0%, even to -100%.
Now for the real test :
Ice Blast : 91-100 damage, vs target with 175% Cold Res.
Cold Mastery : 100%
Damage : 4, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4.
Arreat Summit says :
"If a target has 75% Cold Resistance and you use Skill Level 1
Cold Mastery, the target's resistance will be 75 - 75% * 0.20 = 60."
With that formula, the result would be like this : 175 - 175 * 1 = 0.
Obviously, looking at the damage, it's MUCH lower than when my
test object had 0% Cold Res. (test 1 and 2)
The effect is : 175% CR - 100% CM = 75% CR remaining, so the Ice
Blast only does 25% damage, and the numbers support that.
Now, look at this :
175% - 100% = 75% res. That makes more sense, and it's correct.
2-4 damage * 4 = 12-16, which brings us back to our original damage.
This means that, Cold Mastery is straight substraction, not taking
a percentage of the total, as listed by the Arreat Summit.
One more test for the heck of it:
Ice Blast : 91-100 damage, vs target with 175% Cold Res
Cold Mastery : 175%
Damage : 16, 15, 16, 16, 16, 16, 14, 15, 16, 16.
This brings up back to our original damage, as seen in test 1.
"175% CR - 175% CM = 0% CR"
This means that if the enemy has no Cold Res, your cold attack
can do up to double damage compared to 1.09, even before the Ice Bolt
synergy. But on the other hand, if they do have mass cold res (300+),
your FO will do very little damage, because it can be reduced up to
95% with CR + CR Max raising items.
This is significant for PvP, as CR needs to be capped in PvP
dueling circles.
Thanks for reading.
================
10) My 1.10 Sorc
================
Here I'll list the stats of the Sorceress I'm currently working on,
for those who are interested. She is doing quite well in public
games, as the PvP leagues are somewhat closed right now, because
they have to make new rules to adjust to 1.10.
Anyway :
Base stats :
60 Str. (I have an Annihilus, and I have 77 Str whilst equipped -
enough to wear Ormus' Robes)
120 Dex. (165 while equipped, enough for max Block with Whitstan's)
189 Vit. (a bit low, in favour of higher Mana)
150 NRG. (yup, that's right. 1.10 Sorcs need high Mana, 150 may be
a bit too high though, if you don't have good Charms your
Life total will suffer)
I'm at clvl 87 right now. I plan to get clvl 90, and put the
3 skill points in either Energy Shield or Telekinesis, or in a
combination of both perhaps.
*Stats equipped :
15xx Life
17xx Mana
9 FPC : Slvl 40 Orb, 960 Damage per Shard with 40 Cold Mastery.
8 FPC : (weapon switch) Slvl 38 Orb, 910 Damage per Shard, and
2000 Mana.
With these stats I can take alot of Damage if I play carefully,
and most of it is absorbed through Energy Shield into my Mana.
With the high base Mana and Warmth, I can replenish that
Mana quickly so I can keep fighting. This build has proven
to be quite effective so far, although I miss the sound
of Thunderstorm striking someone.
=================
11) Closing words
=================
Well, that's it for this guide, I hope you found it useful,
and if you managed to read this far : cookie for you. If you
have questions or comments, you can send them to
Jowy@S-mail.com , try to put "PvP Sorc guide" or something
similar in the header, so I won't delete it as spam.
The guide is updated for 1.10 now. The Team vs Team section
is up also. I'm currently working on a Sorceress that uses
Blizzard as her main attack. I'll probably add the build and
strategies later.
So, happy hunting, and good luck.
======================
12) Credits and thanks
======================
Me - For writing this thing.
Blizzard - For creating this god-awfully addictive game.
DiabloII.net - For some Skill/Stat information.
Battle.net - For item statistics.
Tharn - For showing me the new PvP damage order.
Nemdra - Not playing much, are you?
Nec - A splendid example of a Skill-Over-Items player, and
you're a great person.
Sanna - Um, for making unusual builds work, and you're
fun to talk to.
Aeren - Grumpy as usual, but still, that's you.
Whizz - Good luck with stuff, I'll miss ya.
Phil - Another one of the quitters?
Kazzie - Or should I say troll that PKS in ladder games?
Astro - You're crazy, but still fun to hang around with.
Oh and: PS2 >> Xbox.
Wheres - Heads up, man. Sweden isn't THAT far away.
Other OT - Hi, I'm probably forgetting alot of you here.
My Planloses Pack team - We should get the team ready for 1.10 TvT. O_O
Dawg - You play too much.
Rest of you - <3
