DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

[Vanicae]

DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

I've been putting all my effort into making a dual dream sorceress, and she is basically complete. I went with wearing a GA/max res, max block and no es.

My current gear:

Um'ed GA
Dream Diadem
Dream Troll Nest
Passion Phase Blade
Nosferatu's Coil
Dracul's Grasp
Treks
Highlords
Raven Frost
Rare ring (20str 14dex(I think) resists)
4x 15allres gc's =/ (what a pain to lug around)
0x lightskillers =/ (stupid res gc's taking room, and need to work up some more stuff to trade for these. Havent been mfing at all.)

I've been considering a phoenix shield for switch, but I've never used one before. And it will take a bit to afford one after getting all this other crap.

Now, the reason I'm actually making this post. This gear setup doesnt reach the +skills for 5hit zeal. It doesn't hit the 54%ias breakpoint for 9/8 zeal. No 20%fcr. I see different ways I could fix each of these problems, but not all at once, and I'm not sure which would be the best thing to go for. I could hit the IAS with different gloves... But Drac's do a fine job of keeping me alive. I could drop my str ring for a SoJ or bk to hit the 5hit zeal, but thats another 20str/14dex I have to use instead of vit, to wear my gear. I could drop nosferatu's for arachnid to hit atleast one fcr breakpoint, but there goes some more IAS.

Again on the phoenix shield, how exactly does the Redemption aura work? Kill crap, switch, wait for a pulse, get life? If its worth it, I'd be willing to drop stat points to str to wear a phoenix monarch, but I have no idea if thats a good idea =P.

I'm just looking for advice from people who have made similar characters. Also, this is PURELY for PvM, I don't care about PvP whatsoever.

Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading.

P.S. This is by far the most fun character I've played.

Van

 

[lumpor]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

Anni and a bk would help raise your zeal to lvl 4. I would switch dracs to LoH.

 

[Vanicae]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

Seems I failed to mention I'm using an anni. And a sorc torch, which of course isnt relevant to the +skills. I'll probably end up getting a BK.

As far as using LoH goes, to stay alive... drink constant pots?

Edit: Ok, I switched out Dracs for a Magefist just to see how I would do without the Dracs. Didn't feel like finding my LoH. Did a pit run (with my ~50 mf =P) and forgot to cast enchant (its way too early). Only one moment I actually almost died, due to carelessly running at a boss pack with amp damage up. So I guess the Dracs weren't as required to stay alive as I thought, hopefully it will be the same case in baal runs.

Edit2: Found my LoH. Dropped some points into str, so now I can equip a bk without my GA being too much. I'll have to grab one later. I'm still looking for advice on the phoenix shield, I have no idea how much it would help, or if its worth the trouble.

Is there any way to hit the 65ias breakpoint without highlords? My resists are maxed with the 4 15allres gc's, but seriously, carrying those around sucks. I wouldn't mind a metalgrid or something.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[MizzouVic]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

As a bear sorc for couple years, this is my 2 cents:
1) good thing u dropped Dracs, I understand there's lifetap, but it doesnt help u that much, mainly because ur damage is mostly elemental and not much physical, so you dont leech as much, same goes with all the leeches you get, u dont leech much from those.
2) I would use spider belt simply for the skill and fcr, I understand you want more ias, but you can always get them from gloves, since you now had found LoH.
3) mage fist to prebuff, nice.
4) phoenix may not help, reason being it's too heavy, so you are going to sacrifice more points into str, and also if it's on switch, you are sacrificing 2 skills from spirit that you could have for BO. not to mentioned it takes some time for that damn aura to activate...so when u switch, you are going to have to stand around for a bit for u to replenish.
5) one alternative that I could suggest (which you may not like), is not use GA, and use a COH instead, the +skills and all res. is very attractive. I understand how you wont get 90% res. across the board, and max block, but really, max block for sorc is kinda tough anyway, might as well go vita. and the 75% res. is really not that bad.. at least they are maxed out and you have room for skill gc~! u will be impress with your dmg when u have those +2 from Coh and your Gc's.

 

[MizzouVic]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

oh, may I also suggest one more thing? your merc~! blessed aim merc is a god sent.... I dont care what they say about holy freeze merc.

 

[Vanicae]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

Thanks for your input!

I wasn't really trying to stack life leech on my items, the nos belt was indeed mostly for the IAS. The Dracs definitely did leech enough to keep me alive standing in the middle of a pack of Minions of Destruction, but why do I need to do that when I can stand safely on the outside of them while they kill everyone else?

The thing about switching Arach in place of Nos, is it would drop me from 10/7 zeal down to 9/8. My guess is that probably isnt a very big deal at all. I may grab one and mess with it to see.

Of course, I'm also relying on the 15 str from nos to wear my GA currently. If I go grab another level (I'm ** so far), I'd have enough points to make up for that 15, and switch in the Arach. Not a huge deal, its a matter of losing ~31 life from not spending those 15 points in Vit (15+dream helm, i think thats 31).

I've thought about CoH instead of GA, but the fact is, I don't want to use ES, and I don't think non max block + no es is a very good idea, even with a couple hundred more life. I could drop a 15allres charm or 2 for skills, and be at 75% resists, but it seems pointless when my cap is 90. Stupid GA.

I guess I'll pass on the phoenix. Indeed the str req sucks, and it seems like too much of a pain for what it does.

Thanks for the advice. If anyone has anything else, its greatly appreciated =P

Edit: Oh, and about the BA Merc, my holy freeze merc is holding an Infinity so thats not such a big deal. I guess I never outlined my merc, He's wearing Delirium and Eth Duriels.

 

[MizzouVic]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

hah, I KNEW you would have holy freeze merc, because that's what I did too, but wait till you try a blessed aim merc that merc + enchant = kill much faster = no need for holy freeze cuz not much else is left to freeze.
I dont think u would drop your zeal rate mainly because if you use LoH, you will still have 65% ias from highlords 20%, Loh 20%, passion 25%.
I agree with you on the GA; I think GA is an armor that had been overlook ever since all these good runewords came out. if you dont mind dropping a bit of your zeal rate, I'd almsot say try socketing a 15% ias jewel in ur GA and just use Maras~!

 

[Vanicae]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

Hm, I may try a BA merc. Its not like its a huge deal to level a merc up a little. But with enchant+infinity I think my chance to hit is probably 95% on most things, I have no idea really. Maybe I miss more than I think. If BA didn't work better I could just relevel my HF merc anyways. My merc hardly has a chance to freeze anything anyways before it dies =P.

Didn't think of the 15ias jewel + different ammy. Thats not a bad idea. I'm sure I cant afford/find a 15ias/15all res jewel, but a plain one would do the trick until I could get something like that.

And yeah, I didn't realize I was at 75%ias, thought it was 65%. Definitely getting an Arach.

Thanks

 

[Cranium]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

I have a 4% bul-kathos ring in softcore useast ladder. Whisper jthemules if ur interested in trading for it.

Looks like a pretty cool setup me personally im trying to get the items to do ubers with my tri sorc caster. Still looking into what i should get. Check out the topic here.

 

[Vanicae]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

Heh, thanks, but I already got my bk (and arach). And I'm on USWL anyways.

I was sort of thinking about saying screw my res gc's and picking up a treachery for fade. It lasts 4.8 minutes, which isnt TERRIBLE, but it still seems like something I'll end up forgetting. As I'm walking back to my corpse, I'd be like 'Hey.....I forgot treachery. And BO." Anyone have experience with prebuffing fade for general play? (Ie, not just for ubers, which is one of the main places I see it mentioned, etc.)

Thanks a ton for all the advice. Its working out nicely! Baal runs are still going as smoothly as before, although I have to pop full rejuvs a little more often ><;

Everything else I've tried is just a plain joke. Meph dies in ~3 seconds after statics, pits dont stand a chance, Nihl is a gimpy necro. Fun!

But yeah... Treachery?

 

[MizzouVic]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

I wouldnt suggest treachery.... personally, I'm just not a big fan of pre-buffing... it's easy to forget, and it's just really trouble some, takes all the fun out of the built.

 

[Skagen]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

Heres a post i found most helpfull from another similar thread hope Gimmershred dont mind me copy-pasting it.

It can give you some idears on how to get all you wanted from your zealsorc

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wrote my guide in such a way that it leaves a lot of space to tinker with items and use different kind of stuff. However i see so many questions on peoples tanking problems with their zealsorc that i will just give you the strongest build imho.

You say you have trouble tanking. I can guarantee you that Guardian angel + the right combination of charms will make you the tank you want to be. First the items, after i will explain.

Items

Helm: Dream
Shield: Dream in a good baseblock shield (tower,trollnest,hyperion)
Armor: Guardian angel socketed with an ias/res jewel
Weapon: Passion PB
Gloves: Immortal Kings
Boots: Immortal Kings
Belt: Arachnid
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Soj (in big diaruns with 7 leechers on your *** switch to dwarfstar)
Amulet: Metalgrid or Mara's (i dunno but imho it's > mara's)

Switch: Cta + lidless (pdiamond it for safe long tele's)

Give your holy freezemerc a very low damage infinity since you will run areas with oblivion knights.

Stats

Strength for gear , you can use the 20 from ik-gloves to wear hyperion dream

Dexterity for 75% block, don't forget you get 20 from raven + 20 from ik-gloves

Now you will still have stats left. Stat them in Vitality and in Energy that when you will have all your gear on you will have as much life as that you will have mana.

Skillpoints

20 Lightning mastery
20 Telekineses
1 Energyshield
1 static field (good for huge mobs)
1 thunderstorm is optional
1 cold armor
20 Enchant
20 Warmth
Rest into firemastery

Charms

This is important, Make sure you get 90 allres in hell. This means you are going to need a lot of resistance charms, they are preferred with life off course. Also for pvp remember that when you die once the 30 allres from anya-quests doesn't count anymore.

Get a good torch and anni, both good stats+res is very helpfull for this build. If that's too expensive focus on the res.

Now you have a zealsorc with:

1) max zealspeed (25%ias ik + 15% ias jewel)
2) 90 allres in hell (with a free ringslot to play around with)
3) 20%fcr (40% on switch for long distance tele , block and res on switch are excellent)
4) Maxblock (no other sorcbuild has that with a dreamshield)
5) Around 60% es, with max warmth (this will really save you a lot of potdrinking and if you get manaburned you dont have any problems at all). Due to maxblock and 90 allres , es is excellent on this build.

-- Vs Elemental monsters --> who cares they drain your mana, you have 90allres
-- Vs Physical monsters --> Maxblock will ensure you wont get hit in a row often, giving your warmth time enough to regen your manapool
-- Vs manaburn --> Due to 90allres and maxblock and still a nice lifepool you will have plenty of time to either kill or get away, after wich you recast your es.

6) 42, 60 or 86 fhr. (doesn't matter that much)

For pvp keep dwarf /whisp/ angelic jewelry/ iratha amu /tgods and 2x fcr ring in stash.

I use mainly 14allres/15-20life gc's and some good sc's and i get around 1.5k life/mana after bo.
I use 1xlife/mana GC, 2x Skiller, the rest is all allres gc's with low life and 1 with fhr. In pvm i usually put the skillers in stash so i have some room to pick stuff up.

And remember, conviction aura is important, if your merc dies somehow then you should go revive him immidiately, also dont forget the shift+beltkey to give him pots when you give him a low damage infinity.

By the way here is a little example of what the sorc can tank
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VfgBFPczU

You can also see that while i get manaburned a few times at baal, the es still is up. This happens a lot with max warmth. You can also see that with the es down, it still tanks fine. Actually my merc is a bigger pussy then me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Cheers

 

[lumpor]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

hah, I KNEW you would have holy freeze merc, because that's what I did too, but wait till you try a blessed aim merc that merc + enchant = kill much faster = no need for holy freeze cuz not much else is left to freeze.
I dont think u would drop your zeal rate mainly because if you use LoH, you will still have 65% ias from highlords 20%, Loh 20%, passion 25%.
I agree with you on the GA; I think GA is an armor that had been overlook ever since all these good runewords came out. if you dont mind dropping a bit of your zeal rate, I'd almsot say try socketing a 15% ias jewel in ur GA and just use Maras~!

You need a lvl 35 blessed aim to give help the same amount with ar as a lvl 12 conviction (which you get from infinity). And that's before enchant. I think the ar bonus from enchant stacks with blessed aim, so in that case, you need an even higher level BA. Ravenfrost + passion + enchant + infinity=95% hit

 

[Vanicae]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

Thanks for the info on chance to hit. I kinda figured it ended up that way, just hadnt looked into the specifics yet.

I'm going to pass on the treachery. Its definitely something I could see myself forgetting about. I forget prebuffing all the time (luckily I rarely *need* BO. I generally remember it when I end up somewhere I think I'll need it).

The other post you quoted is based on an ES sorc. I may consider trying one of those as well sometime, I have all the items mentioned. ES is just another one of those things I tend to forget =P

What could possibly kill a max block, ES, max res sorc, with decent health and mana? Besides maybe Iron Maiden, I don't know either.

It kind of sucks that I threw my Infinity in a CV. Really, I don't run areas with IM that much, but I have joined a could chaos runs, and well....Merc sure doesnt last long. I tend to one shot myself too (In all honestly, I'm not sure what the IM curse looks like. I havent played a Nec in forever. My old main sorc was CL/FO, merc had a very low damage insight. Ill go look at arreat summit or something, again.)

I've so far wasted a 1.5x pul's worth of pgems to try rolling a 15ias/15allres jewel. I'm sure I have a very long way to go. I went to Tamoe Highland in NM and killed everything to get a jewel (TH is a level 39 area), so according to Arreat Summit, its the optimal jewel to try rolling this in. I'll waste a HR's worth of pgems, I don't care =P

Thanks guys.

 

[Rassler]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

FYI, Iron Maiden looks like little yellow fireworks that jump out of your head.. then land back into your head. Hence the whole "returning damage" idea.

You're on WSCL? I'm interested in seeing your sorc if you're free whenever I am (most likely weekend though). I'm building my own right now, she's currently Level 63 (yes.. so close, so very close) but I'm still trying to find a Caddy to put my Beast into - yes, Bearsorc. I've got a 5os Berserker Axe on standby in case all else fails.

But yeah, my sorc is going Vitaleech - max health, shael'd pb + beast caddy/zerker on switch for Light/Fire immunes, and hopefully enough physical damage to leech.

PM me when you get the chance, I'd love to see another Melee Sorcy!

*cloudnine

 

[Vanicae]

Re: DualDream Sorc almost done. Looking for some input on gear.

I probably mostly don't recognize IM because my merc obliterates himself instantly any time he gets it. I guess if my merc has it, I probably have it too and would see it, but at that point I'm usually running like hell. And on my melee sorc, I'm probably running back to my corpse by that time. I know I've been 1-2 shotted by IM a couple times, even though my physical damage is very low. No time to see what it looks like =P

Rassler, I added you to my friend list, and I'll watch for you. This sorc is on *rkinasz6

I should definitely be on during the weekends, and likely a lot until then.

Edit: I had considered making a BearSorc, but ultimately decided not to because of looks =/
Sorceress running around with a sword making things die seems cooler than a bear, although I can definitely see some benefits to using beast, such as a ton more life. I may have to try that anyways sometime.