nepeta
Diabloii.Net Member
Guide: Lower Kurast running Sorceress by nepeta [v3]
Lower Kurast Sorceressversion 3
Since the discovery of 'easy' Ber runes at Lower Kurast, many hours have been spent in what otherwise would have been just another stretch of land on the road to the Lord of Terror. Many different character builds have been commissioned, the intent of this guide is to present the ultimate Lower Kurast running Sorceress, for faster, safer, easier looting, for glory!
Every item in this guide being available at Hell Mephisto or for perfect gems at the trade forums, this guide is for everybody. More expensive items will not make it any better, expensive charms will only decrease the sorceress' ability to cary large amounts of cargo and reduce her effectiveness. But let this introduction be; the build:
Contents
Lower Kurast Sorceressversion 3
Since the discovery of 'easy' Ber runes at Lower Kurast, many hours have been spent in what otherwise would have been just another stretch of land on the road to the Lord of Terror. Many different character builds have been commissioned, the intent of this guide is to present the ultimate Lower Kurast running Sorceress, for faster, safer, easier looting, for glory!
Every item in this guide being available at Hell Mephisto or for perfect gems at the trade forums, this guide is for everybody. More expensive items will not make it any better, expensive charms will only decrease the sorceress' ability to cary large amounts of cargo and reduce her effectiveness. But let this introduction be; the build:
Contents
- What you get
- 105% faster cast rate
- almost maxed resistances to all elements
- max block
- 50% damage reduction
- free teleporting
- 40 square cargo hold
- Skills
(lvl 90: 101 skill points)
Ice Bolt 17
Glacial Spike 1
Frost Nova 1
Frozen Armour 1
Blizzard 20 2268 - 2417 (ø2343)
Ice Blast 20
Cold Mastery 20
total cold skills 81
Static Field 1*1
Telekinesis 1
Teleport 17
total light skills 19
Warmth 1
total fire skills 1
*1 May be skipped, advised for questing.
A blizzard sorceress? Of course. Guide by nepeta: Blizz sorc. Also there are no inherently cold immune monsters in Lower Kurast, it is a powerful spell for leveling, what else could one want? In comparison to the other cold skills and certainly to the other elements, Blizzard shines supreme.
Teleport, 17 points?
17 points in teleport? Yes. Running Lower Kurast does not mean killing monsters and then, blizzard is a pretty strong skill when there are no cold immunes in the area that do not run away, save the occasional Cold Enchanted unique. 17 points in teleport gives a level 22 teleport including +skills, it enables the Lower Kurast runner to teleport 'for free', as the mana regeneration equals the mana consumption per unit of time. The maths are below, it's scarier than it looks though.
Is it necessary? No, running Lower Kurast will have you standing still from time to time to sort out the loot, overdosing on mana potions, but I just had to put it in to ridicule the Insight polearm.
fcr faster cast rate
fpc frames per cast
slvl skill level
25 frames per second
1 frame = 0,04 seconds or 40 milliseconds
105 fcr = 8 fpc = 320 milliseconds
3,333333 (3[1/3]) or [10/3] teleports per second: [10/3]*(24-slvl) = mana/second
regenerate mana on equipment is + 25%
lvl 80: 531 mana, slvl 6 warmth or 90% regenerate mana
Equation teleport_mana/second = mana regeneration:
[10/3]*(24-slvl) = 25 * [[256 * 531 / (25 * 120)] * (115/100 + 1] / 256
Or: German calc says: 9 mana/sec regen at lvl 80, 531 mana, lvl 6 warmth and 25% regenerate mana.
lvl80
3[1/3]*X = 9 X=2,7 rounded down gives X = 2
lvl90
3[1/3]*X = 10 X=3
lvl99
1[1/3]*X = 10 X=3 - Stat points
(lvl 90: 460 stat points)
Strength 126/76*2
Dexterity 210 for max block
Vitality 124/159*2
Energy 0
*2 The first number will let you equip the Stormshield without strength-bugging, the second requires a bugging setup. - Equipment
You will have 4 socketable items, 3 socket quests available. As you can see in the table, the character is very low on Faster Hit Recovery, a wise choice may be a Shael rune somewhere, table below. For kicks, laughs, and further damage reduction, Sol runes may be added at will. Notice that these options do not include the weapon socket. Another option is using the sockets to maximize resists or mitigate the effects of lower stats on gear.Code:
DR res hp mana stat skill fcr fhr Mreg*5 Head Harlequin Crest 10 0 1,5lvl 1,5lvl 2 2 0 0 0 Neck Mara's Kaleidoscope 0 20-30 0 0 5 2 0 0 0 Torso Skin of the Vipermagi 0 20-35 0 0 0 1 30 0 0 Right Arm Wizardspike 0 75 0 1,75lvl 0 0 50 0 15 Left Arm Stormshield 35 *4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Right Ring 10 fcr 0 10 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 Left Ring 10 res all ring 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Belt String of Ears 10-15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Verdungo's Hearty Cord 10-15 0 30-40 0 0 0 0 10 0 Feet Marrowwalk 0 0 0 0 *1 0 0 0 10 Gloves Trang-Oul's Claws 0 *4 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 TOTAL 50+ 130 *2 *3 7 5 110 10 25 *for items with variable stats, rounded up averages were used for totals. *1 Marrowwalk has 10-20 to str, 17 dex, also +10% mana regeneration *2 Depends on belt and clvl *3 2,25 clvl *4 Other resistance on gear: fire cold light poison Stormshield 0 60 25 0 Trang-Oul's Claws 0 30 0 0 Anya's quests 30 30 30 30 subTOTAL 30 120 55 30 TOTAL 145 235 170 145 TOTAL perfect gear (PG) 170 270 195 170 total in Hell difficulty 45 135 70 45 total in Hell difficulty PG 70 170 95 70 *5 Mreg is extra mana regeneration
The Stormshield must be socketed with a Hel rune for greatest effect, see:
An optional switch, for faster running could be a Crainte Vomir or a Harmony bow, for faster run/walk from the ship of Meshif to the Way Point.Code:block dex str totstat pts sav Stormshield 73 67 179 156 335 +eld 74 163 156 319 -16 +hel 67 179 133 312 -23 Stormshield 80 67 195 156 351 +eld 74 178 156 334 -17 +hel 67 195 133 328 -23 Stormshield 90 67 217 156 373 +eld 74 198 156 354 -19 +el 67 217 133 350 -24 Stormshield 99 67 237 156 393 +eld 74 216 156 372 -21 +hel 67 237 133 370 -23
Hit Recovery Rates - Sorc and conveniently Act 2 merc's. (Faster Hit Recovery / Frames per Hit-recover)
table courtesy of RTBCode:FHR 0 5 9 14 20 30 42 60 86 142 280 FPH 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
Final note: This gear is not an actual build-breaker. Lower Kurast is one of the easier areas in the game, especially after you have killed the High Council at Travincal; half of the Kurastians will run at the sight/smell of you. You are free to take this 'guide' as a character report with a ludicrousity tumour, I will not be offended. It is more or less my take at a specific problem, combined with a tad of a tendency to write things up. - Mercenaries
A2 or A5
Helmet: Delirium runeword. Chance to cast Confuse and Mindblast: love it.
Armour: Gloom runeword. Chance to cast Dim Vision, 45 res all: love it too.
Weapon: Kelpie snare. Slow monsters 75%: love it also.
Weapon: Any sword with damage and leech: you're safe enough anyway.
Any level 90 mercenary will be able to handle Lower Kurast, this is just overkill, but what the hell... Safest merc setup for the price. For A2 mercenaries I assumed the aura would not activate (consistently) during a run, so pick your pick (normal merc for better stats), maybe something nice for questing or multiplayer. - Lower Kurast: The Deal
So, what is so special about Lower Kurast? As mentioned in the foreword, it is a prime place to find high runes. Ber being the highest rune being available from objects (chests, corpses, stashes, logs) in Lower Kurast, many people have done 'chest runs', to get some peculiar results.
Check out the Item Generation Tutorial by Warrior of Light and Urlik's Rune Finder's Guide for details on the mechanics of item generation in general, chest drop mechanics in particular, for the here and now let it suffice to state that certain drop patterns get favored by superchests. Superchests being special objects which drop large amounts of items in a single drop, they can be found in Lower Kurast in the area by the campfire. It is possible to get a map with 2 campfires, so with the static maps in Singleplayer, that is what you should be looking for.
Screenshots from deadbob (Ber), Phosheez (Lo)Code:Rune pX Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 3 [URL="http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/7930/deadbobberkm0.jpg"]Ber[/URL] p8 Arbalest Gothic Plate Full Helm Vambraces Sur p8 Grand Crown Studded Leather War Axe [URL="http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5678/screenshot038tz1.jpg"]Lo[/URL] p3 Balanced Axe Vex p8 Crossbow Large Siege Bow Throwing Spear War Sword Ist p8 Broad axe Highland blade Hyperion spear +2 more Ist p8 Balrog spear Glaive Helm +4 more
As you can see, should you see an Arbalest accompanied by a Gothic Plate and a Full Helm, look for the Vambraces and a Ber. There is some evidence the [/players X] command influences rune drop patterns, therefore it is advised you run on [/players 8]. A Lo rune has been found on [/players3]. With the massive Lower Kurast running done at the Single Player Forum from diabloii.net there has been no sighting of a Lo from superchests on [/players 8] although with the low odds for runes, the evidence is not yet conclusive it cannot happen.
Also note that Ist has 2 different drop patterns. There is reason to believe the number of drop patterns increases as rune value decreases, as Io has 14 reported drop orders. - Lower Kurast Running: The Process
Get a map with two campfires, then hit the superchests, save and exit. Options you have are to hit the Way Point and go to A4, to be closer to the starting Way Point in the next game. Do not neglect the other objects (normal chests, stashes, logs, corpses) either, as they can drop runes too, as well as charms, jewels and flawless gems. Your runtime should be <1 minute, from the moment you hit the “Single Player” button until the “Save and Exit”. A wise man once said: “Don't expect Ber in 10 runs.” and he was right. Expect about 7 000 runs before anything significant shows up. That's a lot of time spent, high runes are not for the lazy.
On a sidenote, with a grand total of 50 MF and little killing power, combined with the horrid drop tables of the monsters in Lower Kurast, it is not worth your wile to kill them. Leave them alone, only take snapshots, on your way out please do not forget the tourguide.
Now you should be good to go, Good luck, Soldier! - Credits
- RTB for the FHR table and the idea to use an A5 mercenary. Subsequent thanks to him for suggesting using Lawbringer runeword, which has no enhanced dame, nullified leech, thereby the merc
- The Sorceress forum at diii.net for providing RTB's table.
- Jaedhann for the faster run/walk tip.
- Damnatorius for pointing out a missing vital part, leading to the chapters “LK: The Deal” and “LK running The Process”.
- Everyone who commented on the guide.
- Mephisto for the items.
- RTB for the FHR table and the idea to use an A5 mercenary. Subsequent thanks to him for suggesting using Lawbringer runeword, which has no enhanced dame, nullified leech, thereby the merc
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