ES/FO/FW sorceres Galadriel (HC) - advice needed

ES/FO/FW sorceres Galadriel (HC) - advice needed

Hello all

i want to start play my second sorc (first was my Blizzard, killed by NM Might dolsie at 61lvl), and i am planning make her way of ES.And because i dont have experience with sorcs, especially with ES, i need some advice.

First, skills:

Lightning tree

20 ES (5 Prereq)
20 TK
1 Static Field
1 Teleport

47 skill points

Cold tree

20 FO (5 Prereq)
5+ CM

30 skill points

Fire tree

20 FW (2 Prereq)
5+ FM
1 Warmth

28 skill points

Skill points together 47 + 30 + 28 = 105
This number is possible to reach at lvl 93 (105 - 12Quests), so then, not easy, but possible.

My question:Is she playable in the Hell difficulty?

Gear

I want to play her untwincked (HC), but there i have doubts and i need Your advice...Use Orbs or Staves?I think, better choice is 1h weapon with shield or 2Handed (Memory)?And what about rest of the gear?When i am using ES, i dont need any resistances except for poison?

I expect gear with 0fcr, because both spells are with casting delay...

From my opinion, this sorceres need maximum +skills as possible, and Memory should be the best...

Stat points

Strenght and dexterity just for gear, i am sure not more then 80, perhaps less...But how to split up Energy and Vitality points?Keep in mind, that this is HC character and untwincked, so she dont have vita/mana charms on the beginning...

Merc

NM Holy freeze for better crowd control or NM Mighter for faster killing?

Thank You for any advice and help, which You can give me.

RIP

 

I'm hoping someone with some experience of using ES comes along and helps here as I'm looking at making a similar character myself. A few general points that I can help with though:

Your Orb will definitely be powerful enough to clear most of Hell, don't expect to play any higher than p1 though. Fire Wall should be good enough too, you'll just need your merc to be a good tank.

I would advise using an Orb and a Shield, for +skills and fcr. A memory is good for +ES skills so if you find the runes you can put it on the switch to prebuff it.

Aim for the 63fcr breakpoint - the skills may be timered but things like TP, TK and Static aren't, you will feel a lot safer at 63 rather than 0 also.

I was always under the impression that ES sorcs ignored vit and put as much in mana as possible - I have never played one though so I also need some help here.

Definitely a Holy Freeze merc, the extra safety will be essential.

Hope some of this helps,
Milb

 

Thank You, Milb, for Your advice.

So, it is more then clear, that i forget not timered skills like teleport and telekinese - these of course need fcr and i am sure, that my sorc can reach 63 breakpoint.Also idea with Memory staff on the switch for precast ES is very good (as You said - if i find the runes).

I used today skill calculator in diablo.ingame.de and this tool gives me these values (Including +4 all skills and +4 Cold, Fire Tree skills):

Dmg Firewall:4.1 - 4.3k with 5points in Mastery
Dmg Frozen Orb:around 350 (not including mastery - monsters have resistances)

This looks enough for finishing Hell difficulty.

Idea with nearly pure Energy seems nice at the time, if i have many life small charms - but this is untwincked char, so maby spliting to 1vit/2energy points will be working?
Anyway one thing makes me little bit frightened - Ball and Sucubus Curse Blood mana, somehow i need to reach more hitpoints than mana - any advice?

And Merc, propably You have right, it is better to be safer then quicker, especially at Hell difficulty - so then i choose Holy freezer...

RIP

 

Ok, first of all, and if you haven't already, you need to read this to understand how ES and TK work together.

Definitely use an orb with a shield. The shield is especially useful for resists, +skills, FCR, etc. For an ES sorc, the switch is best for a Memory staff, which gives +6 to ES. If you can find a staff with +3 ES and make Memory in it, that will give you +9 ES, which is the highest you can pre-buff with.

That depends on what variant ES sorc you plan to build. When I say variant, I mean either pure energy ES sorc, or a more standard ES sorc.

The pure energy ES sorc puts almost all her stat points into energy. The one that I built recently had ~2800 mana and ~400 life (0 in vitality), (this was twinked with SoJs, Frostburn, Lidless Wall, etc.). For this to work properly, you need to get ES as high as possible, the target being slvl 40 which is when 95% of damage gets re-directed to mana. The remaining 5% of damage directed to life then needs to be nullified by things like DRx, MDRx, resistances, etc. The idea here is to have enough DRx and MDRx to completely eliminate any damage that might go to life. For example, if a monster hits you for 500 physical damage, a slvl 40 ES means 5% of that 500 damage goes to life, i.e. 25 physical damage. If you are using The Gladiator's Bane (say DR by 15) and Gerke's Sanctuary (say , DR by 11) then the total DR is 26, which means you sustain no physical damage thanks to DRx. The same principle applies for elemental damage. After MDRx, resistances come into play, so unless you have a lot of MDRx, you'll need good resistances. Also note that pure energy ES sorcs are usually twinked (i.e. slvl 35+ ES, DRx/MDRx gear, etc.), so it is unlikely that you can make a success of it, since you are playing untwinked.

The really uber pure energy ES sorcs are capable of tanking hard-hitting monsters like Lister and Co, or take repeated fire attacks from Council Members or Balrogs. Their playstyle tends to be more aggressive, but they also need to seriously look out for mana burners. One touch from a mana burner in Hell is often enough to empty your mana bulb, and if your ES collapses, another hit or two will kill her, given her low life. Obviously, these types of sorcs have to be very careful around mana burners, especially in HC.

The other variant is the more standard ES sorc. As you are playing untwinked, then this is the build more applicable to you. Max ES and max TK. Lets say you manage to get a slvl 25 ES, which is 80% damage is re-directed to mana. If you take 500 physical damage, that means 20% goes to life, which is 100. Since getting DR by 100 is impossible when untwinked, you'll need more life and PDR% gear. The same applies for elemental damage, in that you need more resistances and life to survive whatever elemental damage passes through to your life bulb.

The standard ES sorc is a little more defensive in her playstyle. She won't be teleporting into the middle of monster packs and spamming spells at them, since her ES is not high enough to deflect most of the damage to her mana bulb. But she has enough in ES and TK to take quite a number of hits without having to flee, as compared to a pure vita sorc with no block and no PDR% gear. Again, watch out for mana burners who will eat her.

Thus, the gear varies. Pure energy ES sorcs (with slvl 35+ ES) need lots of DRx and MDRx, and can afford to have very low life. Standard ES sorcs (with slvl 25+ ES) need more life, resistances, PDR%, and some DRx and MDRx is also nice to have.

See my explanation above. Poison bypasses ES completely. So you will need good poison resists for either ES sorc variant. Although it is possible to run around with 1 hitpoint after being poisoned (as long as you have a high enough ES, i.e. slvl 40, and plenty of DRx and MDRx, i.e. uber pure ES sorc), it is very risky and unadvisable, especially in HC.

63% FCR breakpoint for all sorcs. Period. Imo anyway.....

The + skills is mainly for your ES. You want to get it as high as possible in order to have as little damage going to your life. Which is why a +9 ES Memory staff on switch as pre-buff is a very good idea. As a side benefit, the +skills will also improve your offensive skills.

It is difficult to say, as people have different ways of playing. For example, I like to play my sorcs aggressively, so with an ES sorc, I would need more points into energy. If you are a more defensive player (i.e. you have ranged offensive spells and a strong merc), then you can spend less points in energy and more points in vitality. As a rough and general rule, I would say that you should spend at least 1 stat point per level gained in energy. Spend more if you think that you are going to get hit more. Of course, if you were twinked to the teeth, and were using Insight on your merc, you could probably get away with 0 into energy.

HF all the way. Slow mana burners = you live in HC.

As above. It all depends on your playstyle and how often (or not) you are going to take damage. For elemental damage, it also depends on how high you are going to get your resistances to.

Not really. As long as you have more mana than life, you are going to get cursed. Simple as that. Since both your spells are timered, it isn't such a big deal. It was more dangerous for my Nova ES sorc, since she was spamming Nova at 8 fpc at over 50 mana per Nova. That is over 50 life lost for every 8 frames. Pure energy ES sorcs really suffer from this. Since you are going to build a more convetional ES sorc, just keep your life bulb higher than your mana bulb. For example, 800 life to 600 mana should ensure that you rarely get cursed, as long as you make sure you keep your life bulb almost full, and that you are always casting spells to prevent your mana bulb from being full all the time.

 

@FrostBurn:Thank You very much, i cannot expect better answer then was Yours...And i think, this also can reveal other players right way, how to play this interesting sorc - it can make their decisions easier...

So, my way is very close to the middle - because i am playing untwincked, i decide to split up points between life and mana, how much - i can found in some calculator,I am sure.Only one fixed point is here - i need more HP than mana for stopping Baal Curse.And also it depends, how much dmg i receive after reducing by ES...

I can expect ES skill lvl around 25, so if i good understand, very usefull are items like String of ears and Stormshield - dmg red by %.On the highest lvl of ES (around 40) is better to use items like Gladiators bane - with xxdmg red...Thank You again for explaining ES mathematics.
Also is better to have resistances, because they are aplyed after ES...

My playing style is to be teleporting around the monster crowds and hit them by my offensive skills (FO,FW) - so this is also middle way of ES.

At the end, NM Holy freezer seems to be best choice, especially at HC.

At the case of other questions, i will send You PM :embarassed:

Again Thank You.

RIP

 

I can only speak for my sorc that uses ES, and don't agree with most of what I've seen, but I'm only one sorc. Resistances are POINTLESS to me, and I've replaced ALL charms with mana and life charms. I also see no need for FCR with your sorc. But then I play my characters pretty safely.

IMO, if you're going slow, use ONLY life/mana charms and plus life/mana/skills gear.

Edit: Blood mana won't kill you... I mean it will-- it's just your spells are timered and if you let it kill you you're a doofus. rop: