Ladder 1.11 Melee Sorc (Tyrannis)
Introduction
I've tried various builds of the melee sorceress, and many have left me with something to be desired. I built a Bodom Sorc and quickly found myself tweaking various aspects of that build until I ended up with something different, unworthy of the former title. This guide attempts to outline a build that finally satisfied me. I call her Tyrannis.
Skills
Tyrannis does not use any truly active skills. Instead, she relies on a dual mastery and aura setup. Built properly, she will have a level 30 Holy Fire and a level 30 Holy Shock aura, both accompanied by high levels of elemental mastery. She uses all 110 possible skill points to achieve her raw power.
Fire Tree
42 Skill Points as follows:
Fire Bolt - 1
Warmth - 1
Fire Ball - 1
Enchant - 19
Fire Mastery - 20
Cold Tree
1 Skill Point as follows:
Frozen Armor - 1
Lightning Tree
67 Skill Points as follows:
Charged Bolt - 1
Static Field - 1
Telekinesis - 20
Nova - 1
Lightning - 1
Chain Lightning - 1
Teleport - 1
Thunder Storm - 1
Energy Shield - 20
Lightning Mastery - 20
Maxing out her Fire/Lightning masteries and Energy Shield/Telekinesis skills is essential. The point into Static Field is very helpful for bosses. Thunder Storm will do reasonable damage for a 1 point investment as well, having 30+ Lightning Mastery and a base level of 10+. All remaining points go towards Enchant, which will come slowly after you reach level 90+. Energy Shield.
Equipment
The helm, weapon, armor and shield are the necessary pieces of equipment to make this build work. Using anything else will not give Tyrannis the dual level 30 aura setup.
Main Setup
Helm - Dream Bone Visage - Requires 106 Strength
Weapon - Hand of Justice Phase Blade - Requires 136 Dexterity
Armor - Dragon Archon Plate - Requires 103 Strength
Shield - Dream Troll Nest - Requires 106 Strength
Gloves - Upgraded Frostburn - Requires 110 Strength
Belt - Arachnid Mesh - Requires 50 Strength
Boots - Sandstorm Trek's - Requires 91 Strength
Ring 1 - Raven Frost
Ring 2 - Stone of Jordan
Amulet - Mara's Kaleidescope
Using frostburn gloves will give Tyrannis a lot of extra mana. Since her Energy Shield is absorbing most damage, this is a major boon. Also, higher mana levels make her mana regeneration rate go up, so she won't need to invest a lot into Warmth or an Insight mercenary weapon to keep mana flowing. The Arachnid Mesh and Stone of Jordan both give +1 skills and a mana increase. The Mara's Kaleidescope will give her much needed resists, skills, and attributes.
Weapon Switch
Weapon - Call to Arms Flail
Shield - Spirit Monarch - Requires 156 STR
Using these weapons gives you an extra +3 to skills for prebuffing. The Dragon armor gives you an added .375 STR per level, so the 156 STR requirement isn't hard to meet with minimal stat investment.
Attributes
Being a melee sorceress with a high level Energy Shield requires a lot of mana. Tyrannis already has items that gives her 75% more to mana, so make use of this. She will only need as much Strength and Dexterity to wear her equipment. Deficiencies in Strength and Dexterity can be made up for with large charms where necessary.
Tyrannis needs 136 Dexterity and 156 Strength minus the bonuses from items.
These pieces of equipment have attribute bonuses to Strength and Dexterity:
Dragon Armor - 3-5 All, .375 Strength per level
Ravenfrost - 15-20 Dexterity
Sandstorm Trek's - 10-15 Strength
Mara's Kaleidescope - 5 All
Annihilus Charm - 10-20 All
Hellfire Torch - 10-20 All
In a perfect world, this means that she receives 45 extra Strength and 65extra Dexterity from items without requirements to wear.
For the Phase Blade she would need 136-65 base Dexterity (71)
For Sandstorm Trek's she would need 91-45 base Strength (46)
She can now wear the Dragon Archon plate, which if level 99, bring hers to 148 Strength and 141 Dexterity. Since she only needs 136 Dexterity, this requirement can drop from 71 to 66. The weapon switch Spirit Monarch needs 8 more Strength still. This makes the bare minimums for Strength and Dexterity in a perfect world 54 and 66 respectively. Realistically, depending where you sacrifice attributes and probably not being level 99, you will need considerably more stats invested; however, before you do so, remember that stat large charms can be used while searching for that perfect world in the meantime.
I have found that adding 50 or so into Vitality is plenty when coupled with a good Call to Arms.
Everything else should go to Energy. Vitality can be raised more if you feel she needs more life.
Ideal Attributes
Strength - 54
Dexterity - 66
Vitality - 60-150
Energy - All else
Resists
One drawback to this build is lower resists, but this can be accounted for by realizing which element is causing the most problems. Wearing a Raven Frost absorbs 20% of cold damage, so having a lower cold resist won't hurt. Tyrannis is susceptible to Poison damage, but her Sandstorm Trek's help out here, having 40-70 Poison resist. Lightning resists will be needed to avoid being killed fast by Black Souls and Multiple Shots, Lightning Enchanted bosses.
To maximize Hell resists, she will need 175 to all resists.
How does she get there?
Mara's Kaleidescope - 20-30 All
Dream Helm - 5-20 All
Dream Shield - 5-20 All
Sandstorm Trek's - 40-70 Poison
Annihilus Charm - 10-20 All
Hellfire Torch - 10-20 All
Anya Quests - 30 All
80-140 All
110-210 Poison
Also, Dragon Armor gives a +5% max Lightning resist
Depending upon your luck and wealth, you may need a lot of resist all small charms (5% each) or just a few resist lightning small charms (11% each).
Charms
9 Sparking Grand Charms (+1 to Lightning Skills)
1 Hellfire Torch (+3 to all Sorceress skills, 10-20 Attributes, 10-20 Resists)
1 Annihilus Charm (+1 to all skills, 10-20 Attributes, 10-20 Resists, 5-10 Experience gained)
10 small charms of your choice, depending on what the Sorceress needs most after rolling her runewords and buying other items like her Annihilus and Hellfire torches.
The +1 Lightning skill charms will bring your damage to insanely high levels. Tyrannis does around 6k-52k damage right now, destroying most everything in her path.
Mercenary
The perfect companion for your melee sorceress is a Nightmare Act 2 Defensive mercenary. He will come with a Freezing Aura that is great for slowing down the enemy, helping her mitigate much potential damage.
Equip your mercenary with an ethereal elite Infinity weapon. This will break most lightning immunities, allowing speedy dispatch.
Also give him an ethereal Fortitude and Andarial's Visage. This will allow your buddy to deal out 1k-7k+ damage with ease. Andy's will improve your mercenary's aura and give him life leech, making him a force to be reckoned with.
Tactics
Prebuff
Switch to your Call to Arms/Spirit and buff you skills first with Battle Command. Then hit your Enegry Shield, Frozen Armor, Thunder Storm, Enchant, and Battle Orders. Switch back to your Hand of Justice/Dream.
Fighting
Have teleport in your right skill box. Teleport will save you from mana burners and allow you to catch up to minions who try to run away. It also helps you place your mercenary friend in superior position to harm those who oppose you. Teleport and swing your weapon, watching as the Hand of Justice slices through all in your path. It has Ignore Target's Defense, making quick work of any garden variety foe.
Bosses
Ignore Target's Defense will not help you here. Instead, you can switch to your Call to Arms/Spirit combination and hit the boss with a quick Battle Cry, then switch back. This will cripple his damage, and make him much more vulnerable to your attack. Your mercenaries conviction aura will help here as well.
For all situations, I usually keep a slot of Full Rejuvenations, incase I get mana burned, then 1 slot of Heal and 2 slots of Mana potions.
PvP
This character is really designed for PvM; however, if you want to PvP, get an angelic amulet and two angelic rings. This will add about 2250 to your base attack rating. Put on Enchant and watch it double. This should give you an okay chance to hit another player, but don't be afraid to teleport around with your dual auras/thunderstorm running trying to gain better position. Those auras will whittle down most players and if you see a chance, go in for a quick sword strike. If you hit, you may just kill your opponent instantly.
Conclusion
This is my first guide, so I'm open to criticisms and suggestions to make it more helpful. I appreciate your feedback, and hope you enjoy Tyrannis as much as I have.
Introduction
I've tried various builds of the melee sorceress, and many have left me with something to be desired. I built a Bodom Sorc and quickly found myself tweaking various aspects of that build until I ended up with something different, unworthy of the former title. This guide attempts to outline a build that finally satisfied me. I call her Tyrannis.
Skills
Tyrannis does not use any truly active skills. Instead, she relies on a dual mastery and aura setup. Built properly, she will have a level 30 Holy Fire and a level 30 Holy Shock aura, both accompanied by high levels of elemental mastery. She uses all 110 possible skill points to achieve her raw power.
Fire Tree
42 Skill Points as follows:
Fire Bolt - 1
Warmth - 1
Fire Ball - 1
Enchant - 19
Fire Mastery - 20
Cold Tree
1 Skill Point as follows:
Frozen Armor - 1
Lightning Tree
67 Skill Points as follows:
Charged Bolt - 1
Static Field - 1
Telekinesis - 20
Nova - 1
Lightning - 1
Chain Lightning - 1
Teleport - 1
Thunder Storm - 1
Energy Shield - 20
Lightning Mastery - 20
Maxing out her Fire/Lightning masteries and Energy Shield/Telekinesis skills is essential. The point into Static Field is very helpful for bosses. Thunder Storm will do reasonable damage for a 1 point investment as well, having 30+ Lightning Mastery and a base level of 10+. All remaining points go towards Enchant, which will come slowly after you reach level 90+. Energy Shield.
Equipment
The helm, weapon, armor and shield are the necessary pieces of equipment to make this build work. Using anything else will not give Tyrannis the dual level 30 aura setup.
Main Setup
Helm - Dream Bone Visage - Requires 106 Strength
Weapon - Hand of Justice Phase Blade - Requires 136 Dexterity
Armor - Dragon Archon Plate - Requires 103 Strength
Shield - Dream Troll Nest - Requires 106 Strength
Gloves - Upgraded Frostburn - Requires 110 Strength
Belt - Arachnid Mesh - Requires 50 Strength
Boots - Sandstorm Trek's - Requires 91 Strength
Ring 1 - Raven Frost
Ring 2 - Stone of Jordan
Amulet - Mara's Kaleidescope
Using frostburn gloves will give Tyrannis a lot of extra mana. Since her Energy Shield is absorbing most damage, this is a major boon. Also, higher mana levels make her mana regeneration rate go up, so she won't need to invest a lot into Warmth or an Insight mercenary weapon to keep mana flowing. The Arachnid Mesh and Stone of Jordan both give +1 skills and a mana increase. The Mara's Kaleidescope will give her much needed resists, skills, and attributes.
Weapon Switch
Weapon - Call to Arms Flail
Shield - Spirit Monarch - Requires 156 STR
Using these weapons gives you an extra +3 to skills for prebuffing. The Dragon armor gives you an added .375 STR per level, so the 156 STR requirement isn't hard to meet with minimal stat investment.
Attributes
Being a melee sorceress with a high level Energy Shield requires a lot of mana. Tyrannis already has items that gives her 75% more to mana, so make use of this. She will only need as much Strength and Dexterity to wear her equipment. Deficiencies in Strength and Dexterity can be made up for with large charms where necessary.
Tyrannis needs 136 Dexterity and 156 Strength minus the bonuses from items.
These pieces of equipment have attribute bonuses to Strength and Dexterity:
Dragon Armor - 3-5 All, .375 Strength per level
Ravenfrost - 15-20 Dexterity
Sandstorm Trek's - 10-15 Strength
Mara's Kaleidescope - 5 All
Annihilus Charm - 10-20 All
Hellfire Torch - 10-20 All
In a perfect world, this means that she receives 45 extra Strength and 65extra Dexterity from items without requirements to wear.
For the Phase Blade she would need 136-65 base Dexterity (71)
For Sandstorm Trek's she would need 91-45 base Strength (46)
She can now wear the Dragon Archon plate, which if level 99, bring hers to 148 Strength and 141 Dexterity. Since she only needs 136 Dexterity, this requirement can drop from 71 to 66. The weapon switch Spirit Monarch needs 8 more Strength still. This makes the bare minimums for Strength and Dexterity in a perfect world 54 and 66 respectively. Realistically, depending where you sacrifice attributes and probably not being level 99, you will need considerably more stats invested; however, before you do so, remember that stat large charms can be used while searching for that perfect world in the meantime.
I have found that adding 50 or so into Vitality is plenty when coupled with a good Call to Arms.
Everything else should go to Energy. Vitality can be raised more if you feel she needs more life.
Ideal Attributes
Strength - 54
Dexterity - 66
Vitality - 60-150
Energy - All else
Resists
One drawback to this build is lower resists, but this can be accounted for by realizing which element is causing the most problems. Wearing a Raven Frost absorbs 20% of cold damage, so having a lower cold resist won't hurt. Tyrannis is susceptible to Poison damage, but her Sandstorm Trek's help out here, having 40-70 Poison resist. Lightning resists will be needed to avoid being killed fast by Black Souls and Multiple Shots, Lightning Enchanted bosses.
To maximize Hell resists, she will need 175 to all resists.
How does she get there?
Mara's Kaleidescope - 20-30 All
Dream Helm - 5-20 All
Dream Shield - 5-20 All
Sandstorm Trek's - 40-70 Poison
Annihilus Charm - 10-20 All
Hellfire Torch - 10-20 All
Anya Quests - 30 All
80-140 All
110-210 Poison
Also, Dragon Armor gives a +5% max Lightning resist
Depending upon your luck and wealth, you may need a lot of resist all small charms (5% each) or just a few resist lightning small charms (11% each).
Charms
9 Sparking Grand Charms (+1 to Lightning Skills)
1 Hellfire Torch (+3 to all Sorceress skills, 10-20 Attributes, 10-20 Resists)
1 Annihilus Charm (+1 to all skills, 10-20 Attributes, 10-20 Resists, 5-10 Experience gained)
10 small charms of your choice, depending on what the Sorceress needs most after rolling her runewords and buying other items like her Annihilus and Hellfire torches.
The +1 Lightning skill charms will bring your damage to insanely high levels. Tyrannis does around 6k-52k damage right now, destroying most everything in her path.
Mercenary
The perfect companion for your melee sorceress is a Nightmare Act 2 Defensive mercenary. He will come with a Freezing Aura that is great for slowing down the enemy, helping her mitigate much potential damage.
Equip your mercenary with an ethereal elite Infinity weapon. This will break most lightning immunities, allowing speedy dispatch.
Also give him an ethereal Fortitude and Andarial's Visage. This will allow your buddy to deal out 1k-7k+ damage with ease. Andy's will improve your mercenary's aura and give him life leech, making him a force to be reckoned with.
Tactics
Prebuff
Switch to your Call to Arms/Spirit and buff you skills first with Battle Command. Then hit your Enegry Shield, Frozen Armor, Thunder Storm, Enchant, and Battle Orders. Switch back to your Hand of Justice/Dream.
Fighting
Have teleport in your right skill box. Teleport will save you from mana burners and allow you to catch up to minions who try to run away. It also helps you place your mercenary friend in superior position to harm those who oppose you. Teleport and swing your weapon, watching as the Hand of Justice slices through all in your path. It has Ignore Target's Defense, making quick work of any garden variety foe.
Bosses
Ignore Target's Defense will not help you here. Instead, you can switch to your Call to Arms/Spirit combination and hit the boss with a quick Battle Cry, then switch back. This will cripple his damage, and make him much more vulnerable to your attack. Your mercenaries conviction aura will help here as well.
For all situations, I usually keep a slot of Full Rejuvenations, incase I get mana burned, then 1 slot of Heal and 2 slots of Mana potions.
PvP
This character is really designed for PvM; however, if you want to PvP, get an angelic amulet and two angelic rings. This will add about 2250 to your base attack rating. Put on Enchant and watch it double. This should give you an okay chance to hit another player, but don't be afraid to teleport around with your dual auras/thunderstorm running trying to gain better position. Those auras will whittle down most players and if you see a chance, go in for a quick sword strike. If you hit, you may just kill your opponent instantly.
Conclusion
This is my first guide, so I'm open to criticisms and suggestions to make it more helpful. I appreciate your feedback, and hope you enjoy Tyrannis as much as I have.