Blizzard Guide/Sorc Blues

Blizzard Guide/Sorc Blues

Welp...here I go again...

To be up front, I hate the Sorceress...always have, always will...but I can't deny they make probably the best MFers overall. Supposedly.

I've so far made both a Chainorb and a Meteorb...both clvls 80+ with decent gear...the Meteorb having possibly the best gear for an MFer. Typcally, Shako, Tal armor, belt, ammy, Chances, Travs w/ Occy/Lidless and Gull on the switch. She's all decked out and has good mf and her skills are tight. Chainorb's got decent mf gear, and skills are equally as tight.

So why do they both suck eggs when it comes to Meph runs? Orbing Meph takes forever, and if I'm not dead on the way down, by the time I get Meph to a hairline, he usually kills either sorc. They're both broke, and with little to show for it because they both never survive long enough to claim a drop. I had one actually kill Meph with a sliver of life to her name...no heal pots left, and just as she was about to claim her prizes, one of those pop-up demons sneezes on her and she's in the dead zone. Gods how I hate sorceresses...but I gotta make this work somehow. So....

I've resigned myself to a Blizzard sorc, since most folks on this forum seem to think it's the best build for running Meph. I'll take you at your word and start a Blizzardess, but ugh...I hate starting over and again, this is my third sorc...anyone on US East non ladder feel like helping me out starter-wise, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Anyways..I need someone to post the standard Blizzard build...what to max first, how many in CM etc etc.

Also, I hear there's a Blizz/Firewall variant...if so, I'd like someone to post this as well.

I searched for a Blizzard guide, but couldn't find one...any and all help is appreciated...thanks for bearing with my rant.

-X

 

I play US East non-ladder Pm me later if youre interested and have you tried the moat trick with your meteorb, as long as you have no merc its a guaranteed easy kill

 

No one answered your question so here is a quick answer w/o in depth explanations.

Skills
MAX Blizzard
MAX Synergies (Ice bolt, Ice blast, Glacial spike)
MAX Cold Mastery
1pt Static Field
1pt Teleport
1pt Warmth

1pt Frost Nova (prereq)
1pt Telekinesis (prereq)

She is done at level 94. Max ice bolt last.

 

Erm, you make both a Meteorb and a Chainorb sorceress, and then you start killing Meph with Orbs? You seriously misstook the guides. The Orb is a backup, not the main killing spell. You're better of with either Meteor, Fireball, Chain Lightning or Lightning, because these are the spells that have the synergies full.

Meteorb can do Meph with ease, allbe-it not as superfast as Blizzard. But again, Blizzard build has all synergies and is therefore that powerfull. Any cold immune will be a difficulty then. Just try the Meteor or Fireball out on your Meteorb sorc and see how fast it goes.

 

Thanks for the responses guys...

owned- I'll pm you in a bit to possibly hook up with ya on east. I need to make room for the new Sorc first, and xfer stuff over to her so she's not a complete newb starting out.

Alfons - thanks for the breakdown...wow...done at 94? Yikes...

What about that Blizz/Firewall build? Can someone post that as well? I can't imagine a Pure Cold Sorc being able to complete quests very well...which is impotant to me.

I did some testing on SP with vs Hell meph, and wow...Blizzard really does own Meph. 2-3 blizzards, and a couple of statics and he's done. My merc even survives the battle, so now I'm psyched. can't wait to start my Blizzardess and can't wait til she's finished...

-X

 

Stie - I did the Orb because it seemed to do damage faster and easier than the fire or lightning skills...Meph's got 75% resist to both elements, and with CM, orb lowers that to -100%. Seemed an obvious choice to me.

I'll have to try the meteorb/moat trick if I can keep the Bloodlords from coming at me while dogding Meph's attacks from across the moat.

Thinking Blizz might be the solution...as I tested it recently without doing the moat trick and he goes down easily every time.

-X

 

Orb's a better skill for a CL/Orb against Meph but Meteor should be better for killing Meph, IMO, assuming you have the synergies maxed and such.

 

You can save yourself the time of creating a new sorc if you practice using your orb on meph. The trick is to get at just the right distance so that your orb explodes on top of him. With a few quick statics to 50%, you can easily kill him in 3 or 4 max orbs.

It is easier to do this with a merc that can hold meph in place for you. Just level one up, max his resists, and let him tank.

Without a merc, it is not as easy but definetly doable. This takes more practice but when Meph comes out, wait for him to launch an attack(ball, lightning, etc.) and immediately teleport. This give you a 1-2sec window to line up and orb him. Always keep your distance - avoid melee range at all costs. After a while, you'll be able to judge your distance and nail him with perfect orbs almost every time.

Both of these techniques take practice but once you're good at it, orb is a really easy and fast way to kill meph next to Blizzard.

 

Trust me when I say that I've learned how to orb Meph...keeping my distance, timing the FO so that it lands on top of Meph...which isn't always easy, as he seems to be alot more mobile in v1.10...tping when I need to, and tping to keep the merc alive when that becomes an issue...which it almost always does, given that mercs can't leech of act bosses.

The problem for me is avoiding his ranged attacks...when I static him, I have to be fairly close, as either chainorb or meteorb don't allow for much +skills in Static to increase the range much. That and standing there spamming Static usually earns me a Blizzard or a Cold Ball in the face.

I think my main problem lies in the fact that despite it's great output for damage, FO isn't working fast enough. I've already started my blizzie...thinking I might go Blizz/Firewall for a bit more flexibility in questing etc.

So what do I pump first? Glacial Spike? or should i save ponts til clvl 30 and then pump Blizz/CM, and then synergies?

When's the best time to pup Firewall then...if I were to go that route?

thanks for the insights,

-X

 

Go pure Blizz if you want to do Meph alot.

Go in this order:

20 Blizzard
10-15 Cold Mastery (depending on how many +skills)
20 Glacial Spike
20 Ice Blast
20 Ice Bolt
Finish off Cold Mastery

I advise AGAINST using firewall together strongly 'cause Blizzard will lose its effectiveness since you'll need 40 points for Firewall to be effective (somewhat ?)

 

My concern for using Firewall is to be able to complete vital quests like Anya and Lam Esen's for vit and resists. I can get this char rushed, np, but questing is usually done on my own. Yea I know, I should quest with friends, but I don't have many on US east non ladder...so thereya go.

Another question about this build...to SS or not to SS? I have lidless, 2 Pdiamond Moser's and a perf Diamond Whitsan's. I also have a Rhyme which I'll probably use on a switch with Gull...but is it worth it to pump Str for a SS?

I ask beause SS I believe will require less dex to max block...so maybe there's the trade-off? Any insights folks?

-X

 

Why even static Meph lol, a full CM ORB/Blizz sorc kills meph *really* fast, plus meph has so much light resis that static hardly phases him (you have to cast about 7 of them, which in that amount of time allows you to get smacked a few times.) i also reccomend MAXING cold and light resis, what i mean by max is 90% in both, if you get that, meph cannot TOUCH you, youll only need health potions for those dumb evil forces that pop up (annoying ...)
and on that off chance hell trap you and melee you

 

Here's my Blizzard/Firewall mf sorc. I play hardcore so obviously she hasn't died yet. She's now level 90 (almost 91). I only mf Mephisto and Ancient Tunnels.

Skills:
20 Blizzard
20 Ice Blast (I prefer this over Glacial)
20 Ice Bolt
20 Fire Wall
10 Cold Mastery (~level 19 with items. Rest of my points will go here)
1 Fire Mastery
1 Shiver Armor (the middle one)
1 in the usual utility skills (no Energy Shield) and prereqs.

I have ~1150 life and ~1050 mana. All resistances maxed. MF is something like 430% on switch (still missing another IST from Ali-baba). My other gear is Shako, HOTO, Sanctuary, TR armor + amu + belt, WT, Frostburns, Ravenfrost and a rare ring with fcr, mana and res.

Regards,
Liessa

 

My Blizzard/FW sorc is very close to the one posted above.

I am currently level 89. I may be off a point or 2 below but you get the idea.

20 blizzard
20 glacial spike
10 ice blast
8 cold mastery

20 fire wall
5 fire mastery
1 warmth

1 teleport
1 shiver armor ( i think.. )

My equip:

Main Weapons/Shield
Occy/Rhyme for main and MF +3 skills
Wizspike/lidless for teleporting

Shako with PTopaz +2 skills
Chance Gaurds 40%
Rare boots (20% mf, resists)
ViperMagi (Ptopaz) +1 skills
Mara's Ammy +2 skills
SOJ +1 skills
NagelRing (29%)
Rare Rast Cast Ring as needed to get 115+% fast cast


Anni charm +1 skill
2 COLD Gc +2 skill

Total = +12 skills

I also have 7 or more small mf charms (6%) and a few resist charms.

WIth my merc and FW, I have no problem with fire immunes.

I can do meph and andy runs all day long and very easily. Never die to either.

For meph, I either do the moat trick or hit him head on. Either way works. But I kill Meph first, then work on the council if I even do them at all.

Getting good fast cast makes it very easy to get to meph without taking much damage. I never fight my way there any more at all.

 

My tactic with Meteorb for meph allows me to kill him within 30 to 45 secs i think (i havented timed it), and its very similar to everyone elses moat tactic. When i enter level 3 of durance of hate, i teleport up the middle or along the right side (between brem and the other guy) depending on location of brem, then when i hit the area you have to stand to activate the bridge that lets you enter the portal, i walk north usualy for about a second until i can target him, then i hit him with one of my level 3 lower resist wand charges, at this point he is usualy walking towards me and with the lower resist on him i can static him pruty fast to 50%, then i go moat him with meteor, im not sure wut my skill is but i have a 10,000-11,000 meteor which will finish him in 5 meteors. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks everyone for posting their builds and responding to my questions. I'm so very tempted to go all Blizzard on this build, since once this sorc is 'finished', I won't be using her for anything but meph runs, or perhaps party play where someone needs a cold sorc. So working on Firewall might be a mistake if I'm never going to use it. And I have a Chainorb and a meteorb (debating whether or not to delete on) that I can use for general playing with...

just will be hard finishing certain quests in Hell with a cold only sorc...so...I'll give FW some serious thought.

Thanks again,

-X

 

Eh, my question is, if the sorc isn't your favorite char, why do you keep building her? What your third build now is it? If you want a char that can kill Meph fast, and I mean really fast, and can also do pits, baal runs, etc, build a jav zon with maxed Charged Strike, Powerstrike, and Lighting Fury. But then the problem is not killing meph but getting to meph, which is easily solved with Enigma. Enigma armor isn't all that expensive these days so if you can get hold of one, go javazon.

P.S. to kill meph faster than (or almost as fast :evil: ) as a blizzard sorc, max Charged Strike and its synergies and get a Thunderstroak jav. I can kill meph in under 5 seconds with my valk, merc, and me pounding on him. And tanking him is not a problem with a sanctuary shield. I never have to use a potion. O, and I still have over 300% MF which is plenty imo. :flip:

 

Got a javazon in the works as we speak, but using her for meph runs isn't very likely, as I don't have enigma, or anything of any real value to trade for one, hence my need for a good meph runner.

I have all the sorc gear I need to equip a good meph runner, just need to level her up to speed, so it's easier to go the sorc meph runner route than a jav meph runner.

Yes, I do dislike sorcs for the most part...but I think that dislike comes more from my lack of success with them...and the frustration that ensues as a result. I guess some people just have a certain feel for certain chars...for instance, I LOVE my Bonemancer and I can pretty much rock any area of the game with him because I just have a feel for that char.

Still...I'm a stubborn sort, and am determined to make it work with at least one of my sorceress's and so far, things seem to be working well with my Blizzardess. Having a bit of success with my Chainorb as well, since I started her on Pitruns. So who knows....there's maybe hope for me and the sorceress char yet...

-X

 

My favorite option for a Meph killer is an ES/Orb sorc.
TK 20
ES 20
FO 20
CM 18
SF 1
Warmth rest

Strength 111
Energy rest

With gear Orb is slvl 33-35 or thereabout, -175 from CM, slvl 40 Energy shield. In 3 player SP and a quick map (2-4 teleports to entrance to lvl 3) I can start the game and kill Mephisto in 1 minute, that is 1 minute from selecting character, loading game, killing Meph, quiting game. The nice thing about the character is that she won't lose life to Mephisto, nor will he break down the Energy Shield before you killl him. So never any cost in potions. Downside is limited mf on gear...but seeing how quickly you kill him and the diminishing return on mf%, I never saw the point in getting more than 200-300% mf on a character.

 

I'm not sure what your merc is like gear wise, but I find that teleporting right on top of meph, static him from there, then take a few steps to the side blast him with orbs (20 FO 15 CM 8 IB - skills not to tight), he's dead within 10 castings at the most. Seems he's more interested in the merc than myself. A few health pots and the odd rejuv inbetween castings does the trick.

Just thought I better mention, add 6 +skill points to those mentioned above.