Diablo II: Lord of Destruction 1.11

Diablo 2 - Lord of Destruction 1.11

07.10.2013 23:23:42
Tri-Element Sorceress Guide
-Diablo 2 Tri-Element Sorceress Guide (1.11)
-V1.0 (5/15/06)
-By KIRBIX

DISCLAIMER:
This is property of KIRBIX (Sean D'Hoostelaere). This may be not be
reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not
be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance
written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any
public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
In plain English, this means that it is against the law for you to copy this
guide. If you want to print it out, that's fine, but I do not permit its use
anywhere on the web or for it to be used for anything profitable.

Table of Contents
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I. Version History
II. What this guide is for
III. Overview of the sorceress (Three elements? Are you mad?)
IV. Skills
a. Ice Tree
b. Fire Tree
c. Lit. Tree
V. Skill allocation
VI. Stat distribution
VII. Equipment
VIII. How to use/Level up
IX. Mercenary
X. Contact Me
XI. Credits

I. VERSION HISTORY
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1.0 (5/06)-First edition!
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

II. WHAT THIS GUIDE IS FOR
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This guide is written to explain to proper use of the Tri-Elemental Sorceress,
a unique idea that we haven't seen properly used since the days of 1.09. By
having all three elements at her disposal, the sorceress will NEVER find an
enemy that she can't kill.

This build uses Hydra, Frozen Orb and Charged Bolt- it's meant to be a fun build
more than anything else, casting hydra and spamming orb/CBs. It's also a
fairly gear-dependent build. While you don't need great gear to use her,
the lightning and fire are pretty much pointless until you get the high-end
gear. Up until that point, it's an orb sorc who isn't really all that powerful.
So, if you don't have the money to buy the equipment I'm suggesting, stick with
Meteorb or CL/Orb.

It's also a build that uses Online-only runewords. While it can succeed without
those runewords, it will never work quite as well. So, it's not recommended for
single player use.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

III. OVERVIEW OF THE SORCERESS (Three Elements? Are you mad?)
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No, I'm not mad. I'm not crazy, either. People seem to assume that merely
because synergies have made skills *generally* useless on their own, skills are
*always* useless on their own.

:HINT: They're not.

First of all, all three trees have skills that are standalone damage dealers.
Hydra and Frozen orb, while both having synergies, get little benefit from
boosting those synergies. There's SOME benefit, but they do just fine without
them. The problem is with lightning and nova. Nova is spammable, has terrible
damage, and a RIDICULOUS MP cost. It's HORRIBLE. DO NOT USE IT.

So let's not use nova! Let's use another fun attack! Let's use charged bolt!
The damage looks really weak, right? But think of Frozen orb- it has the same
problem with an appearence of low damage on the screen while really doing some
hefty damage to the enemy.

Now, people all say "But what's the point? It still won't do a lot of damage!"
...So what? Let's say it IS a weak damage dealer. However, you come up against
a group of enemies, one of which is unique and is fire/ice immune. You wipe out
the group with fire and/or ice attacks, leaving the unique enemy to be dealt
with. Between your mercenary and your lightning attack, that enemy will go
down very quickly, right?

You can argue that meteorb or lightning or blizzard sorcs are "better" builds
than this one if you want, but if we all wanted the "best" builds, no one would
ever use the amazon or druid! (kidding- both are powerful in their own right).
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

IV. SKILLS
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You'll be investing in lots of skills, so I'm going to list them all off and
briefly explain them, after which point I'll talk about how much focus to
put into them.

A. Ice Tree
###############
The Ice tree does less damage at first (but in the end does just as much as
the others), and it freezes the enemy. It's definitely the favorite tree.

~~~~~~~~~~
~~Ice Bolt~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 1
Effect: shoots a bolt of ice at opponents, slowing the target.

Ice bolt is the first ice spell, and it's the best of the level 1 spells. It
does as much damage as the other 2, but more importantly, slows down the
target.
Early on, the sorceress learns the value of the saying "those who fight
and run away shall live to fight another day." You'll be casting spells while
fleeing for your life quite a bit before you hit level 12, and the ice spells
are perfect for that, giving you a headstart on your foe.

You can't afford more than one point in this spell. 1 is all it gets.

~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Ice Blast~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 6
Effect: Shoots a bolt of ice at opponents, freezing them in their tracks.

Ice blast is a great spell. If you have +ice blast weaponry early on, it can
be used in conjunction with lightning and firewall and you can be an effective
tri-element incredibly early on.
As was true with ice bolt, ice blast gives you a headstart on your foes as you
run, but this has another feature- frozen enemies explode, and leave no corpse.
Unless you have a necromancer in your group, this is a popular spell in
parties. There's nothing more annoying than ressurected foes. On the other
hand, be considerite of the necromancers; it drives them crazy when the
sorceresses blow up all of their corpses.

Another point as prerequsite, nothing more. With Ice bolt and blast, get your
extra points from +skill items.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Frost Nova~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 6
Effect: a ring of ice flows outward, chilling all enemies around you

Frost nova is.... meh, it's a pretty lousy spell. The damage is atrocious,
no matter how many points you put into it. The freeze time, while longer than
all other spells (except frozen orb) doesn't justify the allocation of points.

Place the point as a prerequisite and forget the spell entirely. If you feel
that it will be useful to you, by all means use it... I've yet to come up with
a good reason to bother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
German
lacial Spike~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 18
Effect: sends a spike of ice at your enemies, hitting tight clusters

Glacial spike is a less powerful ice blast that can hit groups of enemies that
are grouped together. Not much to say about it....

Place a prerequisite point. You've only got a few more levels until blizzard,
it's a waste to use points here.

~~~~~~~~~~
~~Blizzard~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 24
Effect: Ice rains down all around the caster, freezing anything in the area.

This is my favorite ice spell, and if it weren't for the fact that frozen orb
becomes more powerful, it would be my spell of choice. Blizzard does the best
damage that you've seen so far, and it drops many bolts of ice, not just 1. It
also freezes anything it hits.
This is a beautiful crowd controller; it works wonders.

However, only 1 point goes into it. You may be tempted to put in more, but once
again, this build is precise- you can't afford to waste the points.
Besides, it's easy to find a staff that will give +2 to blizzard and +1 to
all skills, and a level 4 blizzard is sufficive for protection from level
24 to 30.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Frozen Orb~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 30
Effect: Sends an orb forth, spewing shards of ice all around, chilling anything
it hits, followed by the orb itself exploding into more shards.

Here it is- the spell that you've been waiting for. Don't be fooled by what
looks like a low damage amount. It sends out roughly 50 shards of ice, each
doing as much as 500 damage (although you'll not likely see it do more than
300).
It doesn't freeze, but it chills for as much time as frost nova does. It's a
great crowd controller once you've learned how to use it. However, the skill
lies in aiming it. If you don't aim it properly, it will be a waste of the MP
it took to cast it. Used right, it will kill an enemy with each orb, while
weakening the enemies surrounding. The trick? the orb explodes into 20 bolts of
ice. If the orb explodes on top of an enemy, they take the damage from all 20
of them. It's highly unlikely that you'll meet an enemy before hell that can
take that kind of damage and survive.

Max it out, no questions asked. Odds are good that it will be your primary
attack spell when you're not dealing with immunities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Cold Mastery~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 30
Effect: lowers cold resistance of all enemies, but DOES NOT REMOVE IMMUNITIES.

Cold mastery raises the damage of your ice spells. What more is there to say?

Put 1 point into it, and wait. Once everything else is cemented in place you
can start adding more points to it. If you've got a merc with infinity, you
won't need it much, anyway.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \

B. Fire Tree
###############
Fire does raw damage, pure and simple. However, half the enemies in hell are
immune to fire. Having a fire tree sorceress that intends to play through
Diablo 2 like the rest of them is suicidal and/or stupid. Still, it's a great
backup tree, because it does great damage.

~~~~~~~~
~~Warmth~~
~~~~~~~~
Required level: 1
Effect: Increases the rate at which you recover mana

Every sorceress needs 1 point in warmth. With the +skill items you'll be using,
you'll regain MP at amazing rates. However, more than one point is an overkill.

~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Fire Bolt~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Sends a bolt of fire at the enemy

Low damage, low MP cost. Put 1 point here and never look at it again- ice bolt,
for .5 more MP, will chill the enemy and do the same damage.

~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Fire Ball~~
~~~~~~~~
Required level: 12
Effect: Sends a fire of ball that explodes into a fiery inferno.

A great skill. Does a potentially HUGE amount of damage. However, you're not
using this set of fire skills. 1 point as a prereq and forget it.

~~~~~~~~~
~
English
nchant~~
~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 18
Effect: Add fire damage to your attacks

With the +skills you're going to have, this skill actually isn't that bad. You
could use it on your merc and on your friends if for no other reason than to
give them a nice AR bonus.
1 point, and forget it.

~~~~~~~
~~Hydra~~
~~~~~~~
Required level: 30
Effect: Summon a hydra to spit fire at your enemies

This spell is EASILY forgotten by players simply because it doesn't seem like
it'd be all that good, and it's really NOT all that good. However, it does
dish out some good punishment, and it's fun as hell to let the hydras loose
while you fire off frozen orbs and lightning attacks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Fire Mastery~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 30
Effect: increases the damage of your fire spells

The effect says it all. Put as many points as you can; I'll explain later on
just how many to put.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \

C. Lightning Tree
###################
Lightning skills potentially do ridiculous damage.. and they also are
potentially useless. When the damage is 1-24000, there's a LARGE range of damage
that the spell can inflict.

Still, the fact is that it's up to 24000, and that means that, in general, it's
REALLY powerful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Charged Bolt~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Fires multiple bolts of lightning

This is it. Your only lightning spell (except the auxiliary ones, of course.)
Most people think "why charged bolt? Look at that damage!"
... Look at Frozen Orb. See the correlation? This spell is JUST like frozen
orb and has just as much potential to rip people apart. The difference is that
this skill can be spammed incredibly fast for LOTS of damage. GREAT spell. Max
it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Static Field~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: lowers enemy health by 25%

This spell is GREAT for bosses, especially in normal. 25% is a huge amount, and
by simply spamming static field, you can quickly halve the bosses HP.
DON'T IGNORE THIS SPELL. Not only are you missing out on a valuable spell, but
you'll irritate the hell out of your teammates, as any good sorceress has one
point into static field.
1 point, mind you- not more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Telekinesis~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Stuns enemies and grabs items

Oddly, this spell is quite useful. If you're fighting an enemy that is immune
to your elements, your mercenary is used to kill it. While the merc attacks it,
use telekinesis to keep the enemy from attacking consistently. It should cut
their attacks in 1/4.
It's a prereq for teleport, too. 1 point.

~~~~~~~~~~
~~Teleport~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 18
Effect: Instantly appear at another point on the screen

This is the best non-attack spell in the game, period. You can teleport to the
very edge of the screen using teleport. You can cover long distances at an
AMAZING speed, and you can bypass long roundabout walks to various places.
EVERY SORC SHOULD HAVE TELEPORT. Feel free to laugh at/throw rocks at any
sorceress who doesn't use it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Lightning Mastery~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: Increases all damage for lightning attacks.

Adds tons to your lightning damage. Put in as many as you can afford to put
in.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

V. SKILL ALLOCATION
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So, You're going to max these skills:

Frozen Orb
Charged Bolt
Hydra

TOTAL POINTS: 60

Add on the prereq points, as well as static, warmth and teleport, and you have
a total of 72 points. NOW, you'll also want 5 into cold mastery and 10 into
fire and lightning, coming to 97 points. That means you're done at level 86.
From there, alternate pumping fire and lightning mastery.

NOW, as to when to allocate. It's kind of tricky due to the fact that it's not
an incredibly powerful build until the end. Basically, put 1 point into each
prerequisite as they show up. Pump Charged Bolt, but try and save some points
along the way so that at level 30, you can do the following:

Level 30: Frozen Orb, Cold Mastery, Fire Mastery, Hydra, Lightning Mastery
Level 31: Frozen Orb, Lightning Mastery
Level 32: Frozen Orb, Lightning Mastery

As many times as you can afford. Basically, once you hit level 30, you're going
to forget Hydra and Charged Bolt until Frozen Orb is maxed out. Once Frozen
Orb is taken care of, max Charged Bolt, and then get 10 in Lightning Mastery.
Hydra comes last, maxing it and then 10 in fire mastery. Lastly, get the rest
of your points into cold mastery (up to level 5). From there, you're level 86,
and then do as I mentioned earlier and alternate fire and lightning mastery.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

VI. STAT DISTRIBUTION
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Four stats to consider: Strength, Vitality, Energy and Dexterity.

\ /\ /
Strength
/ \/ \
While is used to determine damage, that really doesn't matter much for
a spell caster; you only need strength to wear certain equipment.

Your strength is based on how good your equipment is. The highest strength that
you will ever need is 156, for a monarch shield. Monarch's are the first shield
that can have four sockets for the spirit runeword.

Take into consideration that you'll be using Annihilus and the Hellfire torch,
as well as maras and Occulus. All of which pump your stats a little bit. Don't
go over 156 WITH equipment bonuses- there's no point.

\ / \ /
Dexterity
/ \ / \
Screw dexterity- you're not gonna have max block, and you DEFINITELY don't need
attack rating.

\ /\ /
Vitality
/ \/ \
The most important of the stats- place every extra point into vitality. You'll
need the life, I guarantee it.

\ /\ /
Energy
/ \/ \
Early on, you want energy, but you're FAR better off just socketing sapphires
into your equipment and keeping base energy. You'll have a GREAT mana pool when
you're properly leveled up, and your warmth will be very high with your +skills.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

VII. EQUIPMENT
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Equipment is always a real hassle for several reasons. One, it's a very
controversial subject. Two, it's extraordinarily difficult to get the stuff you
want.

Because of the controversy over equipment, I suggest you ask the message boards
what's the best way to go. I will also not be posting WHY I chose what I chose,
simply to prevent people bothering me about it.

Early on, you want anything that gives +skills, +energy, or +%to mana. Beyond
that, there's not much to look for. +vitality and +health are good, but it's
hard to come by a piece of equipment with any decent boosts to your health.

Some GREAT middle-of-the-road armors are some uniques- Peasant Crown, Skin of
the ViperMagi, "Lore" runeword, "Rhyme" runeword, etc.
Generally, there's isn't much of a middleman with sorcs- you go from nothing to
the top. Besides, this is a gear-dependent build. You want the BEST.


HELMET
###########
Harlequin Crest (commonly known as Shako) is a GREAT cap for any and all
spellcasters. It's second to none- Get it!

\Harlequin Crest (Unique Shako)
/Required Strength: 50
\+2 To All Skills
/+ 1-148 To Life (Based On Character Level)
\+ 1-148 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
/Damage Reduced By 10%
\50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
/+2 To All Attributes

If you need the resists, Um it. If you don't, add a fire or lightning facet.

ARMOR
#########
Chains of Honor is an EXCELLENT runeword in any armor. I highly recommend it.

\Chains of Honor (4 Socket Body Armor) Dol+Um+Ber+Ist
/+2 To All Skills
\+200% Damage To Demons
/+100% Damage To Undead
\8% Life Stolen Per Hit
/+70% Enhanced Defense
\+20 To Strength
/Replenish Life +7
\All Resistances +65
/Damage Reduced By 8%
\25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

GLOVES
#########
Frostburns give a HUGE mana boost, and you'll need your mana. Use 'em.

\Frostburn (Unique Guantlets)
/Required Strength: 60
\+10-20% Enhanced Defense
/+30 Defense
\+5% Enhanced Damage
/Maximum Mana 40%
\Adds 1-6 Cold Damage, Cold Duration: 2 Seconds

BOOTS
########
Boots aren't really that important for a caster, so you might as well take
the war traveler, which is a jack-of-all-trades boot that has good MF on top.

\War Traveler (Unique Battle Boots)
/Required Strength: 95
\+150-190% Enhanced Defense
/25% Faster Run/Walk
\+10 To Vitality
/+10 To Strength
\Adds 15-25 Damage
/40% Slower Stamina Drain
\Attacker Takes Damage Of 5-10
/30-50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

BELT
######
The best belt overall is, without question, the arachnid mesh. No half-decent
caster does ANYTHING without it.

\Arachnid Mesh (Unique Spiderweb Sash)
/Required Strength: 50
\+90-120% Enhanced Defense
/Slows Target By 10%
\+1 To All Skills
/+20% Faster Cast Rate
\Increases Maximum Mana 5%
/Level 3 Venom (11 Charges)


SHIELD
#########
Spirit is an AMAZING shield for such a low cost- nothing can compare, really.
However, it IS ladder-only. If you're not on ladder, you may want to try
a lidless wall. However, I leave it up to you to find the stats for it.

\Spirit (4 Socket Shields) Tal+Thul+Ort+Amn
/Required Strength: 156
\+2 To All Skills
/+25-35% Faster Cast Rate (varies)
\+55% Faster Hit Recovery
/+250 Defense Vs. Missile
\+22 To Vitality
/+89-112 To Mana (varies)
\Cold Resist +35%
/Lightning Resist +35%
\Poison Resist +35%
/+3-8 Magic Absorb (varies)
\Attacker Takes Damage of 14

WEAPON
##########
Another place where money for runes makes you happy. Use the runeword
"heart of the oak" (Ko,Vex,Pul,Thul), on any mace, morning star, flail, or any
of their upgraded versions. It gives:

\+3 To All Skills
/+40% Faster Cast Rate
\+75% Damage To Demons
/+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
\Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal)
/7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
\+10 To Dexterity
/Replenish Life +20
\Increase Maximum Mana 15%
/All Resistances +30-40 (varies)
\Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges)
/Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
\+50% Damage To Undead


JEWELRY
#########
Stone of Jordan (SoJ) are the perfect sorceress rings. You should wear one on
each hand.

\Stone of Jordan (Unique Ring)
/Required Level: 29
\+1 To All Skill Levels
/Increase Maximum Mana 25%
\Adds 1-12 Lightning Damage
/+20 To Mana

***************

Mara's Kaleidoscope is, without doubt, the best amulet you can get. Nothing
else comes close.

\Mara's Kaleidoscope (Unique Amulet)
/Required Level: 67
\+2 To All Skill Levels
/All Resistances +20-30
\+5 To All Attributes

FINAL LISTING
#################
"Heart of the Oak" Flail
"Spirit" Monarch
"Chains of Honor" Dusk Shroud (just to pick something)
Harlequin Crest w/ um
Arachnid Mesh
Frostburns
War Traveler
SoJ x2
Maras

Total +skills- 14
Total resists- 120 (155 of the three elements beside poison)

For Charms, get your hellfire torch and anni to up your resists to the max, as
well as jumping your skills to +18.
So as to make your charged bolts even better, you'll want grand charms that
give +lightning skills, as well as whatever 2nd modifier you think you'll need.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

VIII. HOW TO USE/ LEVEL UP
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You have such a large variety of spells that it's often difficult to figure out
just what you should try to use and when before it's finally done. However,
when it's finally done, you have Frozen Orb as a primary spell. It deals a
massive amount of damage and chills the enemies. What you can more or less do
is put Frozen Orb on leftclick and just fire that off consistently. On your
right click you'll toggle between Charged Bolt, Hydra, and of course Teleport.
Lay down a couple hydras and then start spamming charged bolt. Because there's
no delay after charged bolt, you can fire off an orb and spam lightning for a
steady stream of damage.

However, we can't just ignore your leveling up "stuff", because that's where
the challenge lies! Gotta give you advice on how to do that, don't I?

Act I
------
The enemies become very strong, very fast. Take it slow, get ice blast before
you save deckard cain. Get used to running and casting- you'll be doing it a
lot. One point in ice blast with some +skills is a POWERFUL tool. You'll also
be leveling up charged bolt, although I don't think you will be very impressed.
Be prepared to use lots of potions, both mana and health.

Andariel is likely to be a REAL pain in the neck. You won't have ANY real
fire spells, and that's her weakness. Make good use of static field and whittle
her down. Using a staff with +blaze on it wouldn't be a bad idea, and you can
just run in circles using blaze until she commits suicide chasing after you.

Expected level: ~15, less if you let a group take you through.

Act II
-------
Poison is abundant here, and the enemies make act I look like a cakewalk. This
is probably the hardest stage in your game- Charged Bolt is still almost
nothing, and you don't have Hydra or Frozen Orb at ALL. Be a leech on others;
the summoning necroes are just beginning to flourish. Provide them with a bit
of firepower, but dont use ice spells! If you play it right, people will
essentially rush you through act II. It's easily the most annoying one to
complete, and people like to finish it ASAP.

If you're not playing multiplayer, you're in for a hell of a ride- bring LOTS
of healing potions; you'll need them.

Expected level:20

Act III
--------
Unless you start the game yourself, it's next to impossible to find a game that
isn't rushing through act III. Join the rushes- there's nothing of consequence
here. 0nce you've gotten Frozen Orb, come back to act III and finish the
quests. At this point, you're too weak to do it.

As with act 2, you'll need lots of healing to solo this one.

Expected level: 20, maybe 21

Act IV
-------
Another commonly rushed act. Again, go with the flow, let them rush you to act
V. It's an easy act to do on your own once you have frozen orb, so don't get
into a fluster over doing it right away. By now you'll have learned blizzard.
Get a +skills for blizzard weapon, and spam it like there's no tomorrow.
It's really powerful compared to anything else in your arsenal; just don't
get too attached to it.

Once you've got blizzard, this is a soloable act. Get blizzard, and wipe out
the opposition with relative ease. You'll need lots of mana potions, but it's
otherwise painless.

Expected level: 23-25

Act V
------
Finally, the last act, and the best place to level up. If you've been levelling
up properly, you're probably level 24 or so. Finish the ancients quest (join
a rush game, c'mon!) and move to baal. If you're level 26 or higher, the
experience you gain is UNREAL. You'll level up twice in your first run, I
guarantee it. From now on, this is your source of experience points.
Get your frozen orb maxed, and start pumping charged bolt. While it still won't
be GREAT, it'll finally be worth using. While it'll only do 30 damage against
the 200 of the frozen orb, the 20 bolts still add up to some good damage.

Basically, you'll be an orb sorc until you're toting the equipment I suggested
and have the necessary skill points allocated. Since you're maxing out charged
bolt before hydra, half decent equipment will give you a good orb and a pretty
good CB. Throw in Hydra afterwards for some fun.
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

IX. MERCENARY
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On a build like this, the mercenary is mostly a meat shield. Nothing else is
especially important... except his aura.

The "Infinity" Runeword provides the conviction aura. Having said aura butchers
the resists of your enemies and makse your job MUCH easier. Your merc should
therefore be designed to survive many hits while toting infinity. Due to the
fact that infinity is a polearm runeword, it is OBVIOUSLY designed for the
act 2 mercenaries.

Give him the defiance aura, some life leech, and infinity. He'll kick total
ass.

WEAPON:
++++++++++
Pop infinity into a cryptic axe and he'll do great damage along with providing
you with conviction.

\Infinity (4 Socket Polearms) Ber+Mal+Ber+Ist
/50% Chance To Cast Level 20 Chain Lightning When You Kill An Enemy
\Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
/+35% Faster Run/Walk
\+255-325% Enhanced Damage
/-(45-55)% To Enemy Lightning Resistance
\40% Chance of Crushing Blow
/Prevent Monster Heal
.5-49.5 To Vitality (Based on Character Level)
/30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
\Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30 Charges)


ARMOR:
+++++++++
Mercenaries always seem to have an amazing amount of resist. Guardian Angel
takes full advantage of it and makes your merc all but invincible to the
elements.

I know that people often ask "Why? Why Guardian Angel? Why not Stone?" Simple-
I'm assuming you're on ladder, so I'm assuming you can "up" the Guardian Angel
in the Horadric cube (look it up on Arreat Summit if you're confused). Since
you can do that, it'll have plenty of defense (Approximately 1500). Add on
defiance, and his defense is taken care of. His problem then becomes resists,
but look at that! Guardian Angel gives him 90 in all resists. No elemental
enemies are going to hurt THIS beast.

\Guardian Angel (Unique Templar Coat)
/+180-200% Enhanced Defense
\+20% Increased Chance Of Blocking
/+30% Faster Block Rate
\+ 2-247 To Attack Rating Against Demons (Based On Character Level)
/+1 To Paladin Skill Levels
\+4 To Light Radius
/15% To Maximum Poison Resist
\15% To Maximum Cold Resist
/15% To Maximum Lightning Resist
\15% To Maximum Fire Resist

HELMET
+++++++++
Andariel Visage is perfect for the merc. Attack speed, life steal, and the
poison nova ability doesn't hurt, either.

\Andariel's Visage (unique demonhead)
/+100-150% Enhanced Defense
\+2 To All Skills
/20% Increased Attack Speed
\8-10% Life Stolen Per Hit
/+25-30 To Strength
\+10% To Maximum Poison Resist
/Fire Resist -30%
\Poison Resist +70%
/15% Chance To Cast Level 15 Poison Nova When Struck
\Level 3 Venom (20 charges)
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

X. CONTACT ME
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
I'm not perfect, and I use a template to build all of my guides. Thus,
I'm bound to have some errors in what I've written. If you want to make a
correction to it, Email me at kirbix@gmail.com.
I'll take suggestions, but most likely throw them in the garbage. Try and
suggest, though- who knows, I might take it. If you have a good idea, I'll take
it, and I'll pop you into the credits
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
\_/\_/\_/

XI. CREDITS
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Arreat Summit - Provided all the information
I could possibly want.

GameFaqs and/or CjayC- For making Gamefaqs the #1 game site on the internet.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Sean D'Hoostelaere
 
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