Enchantress Socket Question

[jblakely]

Enchantress Socket Question

My friend built an Enchantress Sorceress who uses a Demon Machine X-bow for her main weapon. Her main skills are Enchant and Static and the X-bow or her Freeze Mercenary does her killing.

Now the question is what should she socket in the bow?

She was thinking Cham (to freeze targets) or Sur (to blind targets). As is apparent from the build this character is not a power killer nor is she fast. Her main point in the socketing would be to slow and/or hinder the monsters while she and her merc picks them off one at a time. Her biggest threat in the game is getting over run while trying to kill.

We also considered a fire Rainbow jewel but since she does relatively low damage would the –5 resistance and +5 damage really help her all that much, or more importantly, help her more than socketing something to slow them down.

Is Cham or Sur a good idea? Would a Rainbow be better? Do you have any other suggestions? Please let us know what you think.

Thank you in advance for any replies



Jack :drink:

 

[Frenzied Bovine]

Shael?

I hope you're using Razortail.

 

[jblakely]

Shael?

I hope you're using Razortail.

Demon Machine has pierce, thats why she chose to use it, so no razortail is necessary. Sheal might speed things up, but since she is a sorc most of her gear is devoted to + skills, resists, fastercast, etc. Not really ever going to be a speed queen nor will she do enough damage to kill quick, so we think its more important to slow the baddies down and give her time to kill them before they can reach her.

 

[zei_incarnate]

Well, Demon Machine pierces 67% of the time, I think. And Razortail pierces 33% so together they would give her 99%. Pierce multiplies her killing speed a lot vs mobs of enemies, since it allows her to trigger multiple explosions per arrow. With Demon Machine, a sorc just needs 10% ias to get her maximum speed, should'nt be hard to do.

I think either cham or sur would be fine to help disable enemies. Nef might be good too, and a lot cheaper. Remember tho that cham works based on your character's level vs the monster's level, so if she is playing in very high level areas, it might not work all that well unless she is in the high 90's.

 

[jblakely]

Well, Demon Machine pierces 67% of the time, I think. And Razortail pierces 33% so together they would give her 99%. Pierce multiplies her killing speed a lot vs mobs of enemies, since it allows her to trigger multiple explosions per arrow. With Demon Machine, a sorc just needs 10% ias to get her maximum speed, should'nt be hard to do.

Do you remember where you heard this?? Demon Machine says pierces just like Buriza and I always thought Buriza did 95% (the top pierce allowed I thought). Also, after reading your post we watched on screen and as far as we can tell we are getting ~ 100%. Did not even note one arrow not piercing. Thanks for the ias info, we had not even thought about speeding it up, but with only 10 required we will look into it.

I think either cham or sur would be fine to help disable enemies. Nef might be good too, and a lot cheaper. Remember tho that cham works based on your character's level vs the monster's level, so if she is playing in very high level areas, it might not work all that well unless she is in the high 90's.

She thinks she is going to go with sur first since blinding glooms will help her survival alot. Also it is cheaper than a cham. We did not think nef was the best choice sense bow shoots only one bolt at a time so it would be hard to really use knockback on more than a few individual. Now if she had a multi shot or strafe option, I think nefing the bow would be both cheap and wonderful. If sur does not perform as hoped we may try nefing another bow and see hwat it does. Also, thanks for info on cham, think I heard that before but had forgoten.

Jack :drink:

 

[zei_incarnate]

This is taken from Arreats Summit:

(Note the number in parenthesis next to pierce)

Demon Machine
Chu-Ko-Nu
Two-Hand Damage: 31-137 (84 Avg)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 80
Required Dexterity: 95
Base Weapon Speed: [-60]
+123% Enhanced Damage
+66 To Maximum Damage
Fires Explosive Arrows Or Bolts [Level 6]
+632 To Attack Rating
Piercing Attack (66)
+321 Defense
+36 To Mana
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.10 or later)


Buriza has 100% chance to pierce, but its capped at 95% as you say.

By the way, forget about Nef. I was playing around and it seems knockback doesn't work with exploding arrows.

 

[Shadoway]

I suppose the Kuko bow (50% pierce) beats this xbow with ease (much faster). Just wear Cleglaw glove to have slow/knock back. Socket with 5/5 fire jewel.

 

[jblakely]

I suppose the Kuko bow (50% pierce) beats this xbow with ease (much faster). Just wear Cleglaw glove to have slow/knock back. Socket with 5/5 fire jewel.

She used a Kuko until she could switch to the Demon Machine. I think the Demon Machine does quite a bit more damage and the +AR it gives ya really make it a nice bow for a low dex build. As I mentioned we are considering a fire jewel but kind of think that the higher damage is less important than the ability to slow things down. But thanks for the suggestion and ill re-visit the Kuko to compair attack speed, maybe we are missing something here.

Jack :drink:

 

[Frenzied Bovine]

The Demon Machine's maximum speed is 11 FPA. You can't beat that with a Kuko without making a number of nasty tradeoffs for IAS gear.

You're better off with a Demon Machine. 66% piercing. With Razortail that's 99%. Against big packs, that is a RIDICULOUS amount of additional explosions, all of which gain enchant's added fire damage in their AOE.

psst: http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=35763

A reader asked how one should socket one's DM. The answer is that it depends on what other equipment one is wearing. You only need 10% ias to reach the DM's maximum fire rate, so that frees up a lot of equipment slots that people often use for ias. Personally, I socketed my DM with a +15% ias +16% fire resist jewel. That way, my ias is covered and I can use my other equipment for resists and life. Other good socketing ideas are a Nef for knockback and a Mal (if you're lucky enough to have one) for Prevent Monster Heal. It's kind of a waste to socket a DM with a Shael, since there are plenty of +15% ias jewels with other useful mods on them that one could use instead. Luckily, in 1.10, you can use the Hel + tp + item cube recipe to unsocket your DM if you later regret how you socketed yours.

 

[Shadoway]

I think you are right. DM looks better that way.

Also, Widowmaker could be a good candidate. Though you can only attack one monster with each GA, it saves you a lot of aiming, all you consider is attack speed and fhr. And since you don't need pierce anymore, you can use a different belt.

 

[FattyMcGee]

I think you are right. DM looks better that way.

Also, Widowmaker could be a good candidate. Though you can only attack one monster with each GA, it saves you a lot of aiming, all you consider is attack speed and fhr. And since you don't need pierce anymore, you can use a different belt.

maybe widowmaker on switch for bosses?

but then again, an enchantress will probably have hexfire + lidless or something on switch for the big bonus to enchant when casting.

--fatty

 

[Fable13]

How Is She Not A Killing Machine...You Can Easily Achieve 7k Enchanted Arrows Coupled With Explosives Arrows And Pierce She Should Be Ripping Apart Mobs

 

[jblakely]

How Is She Not A Killing Machine...You Can Easily Achieve 7k Enchanted Arrows Coupled With Explosives Arrows And Pierce She Should Be Ripping Apart Mobs

I think ripping apart is stretching it. She is currently at level 83 and doing well. She usually plays with my barb and the pair truely rips mobs apart. With most mosters life being halfed before i even swing a sword she has tured my barb into a real killing machine.

But when she seperates it is still a strugle. As mentioned before the main problem is crowd control, although she can deal considerable damage to one enemy, she is constantly at risk of be overran. We went with SUR for our first try and it seems to help. Not sure if we will waste a cham to experiment but we are looking for another Demon Machine to give other socketing a try. I just wish she had FA at her finger tips to get her out of tight places. Thanks for all the help and I will report on any changes as she continues to develope. She is currently very popular with parties and probably one of the most helpful team players out there, but we would really like to get her more capable of soloing some. Please continue to give advice if something comes to you that might improve her soloing perfromance.

Jack :drink:

 

[ogz]

I am always scared when soloing with my enchantress (esp since i gave her the most noobs gear haha)

but anyways, with teleport, it still becomes relatively safer, just need some patience

btw another good partner for enchantress is skelemancer
the enchant boosts the skeletons alot, and the skeletons makes the enchantress alot safer