Diablo IV, Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 Forums - Diabloii.Net
Need lots of advice on an Energy Shield and Chain Lightning sorc!
I am very intrigued by Zarhrezz's Energy Shield Sorc guide and I want to build one myself. The gist of the build is to dump all your stat points into Energy, use a very high level Energy Shield, wear lots of Damage Reduced By X and Magic Damage Reduced By X items, and tank anything that doesn't Charge or have mana burn :smug:
Zarhrezz's guide leaves it up to the reader to decide which offensive spells to use for the build. I've decided I want to use Chain Lightning as my offensive spell. I've always wanted to build a Chain Lightning Sorc and CL seems fitting for this build because I will be heavily invested in the lightning tree prereqs for ES anyway. I've got a number of questions for you all:
1) First and foremost, has anyone tried any variant of Zarhrezz's ES build before? Has anyone tried Zarhrezz's ES build using Chain Lightning? What did you think of the build?
2) I will need 20 hard skill points in Telekinesis and Energy Shield. That leaves approximately 50 skill points to spend elsewhere. I took a look at the synergies for Chain Lightning and saw that Lightning Mastery gives a much better bonus to CL damage than any of its synergies. My plan is to max CL and LM and put any leftover points into Lightning. I'll have approximately 6 points in Lightning by level 90. Will Chain Lightning do enough damage with only half a synergy and fully maxed LM?
3) Is CL effective against bosses?
4) Is it worth it to spend the extra point in Nova and the extra point in Thunderstorm just to acquire TS?
5) How much FCR is adequate for Chain Lightning? I've included the breakpoint chart below for reference:
Lightning / Chain Lightning / Inferno Faster Cast Rates
FCR % FPC
0 19
7 18
15 17
23 16
37 15
52 14
78 13
117 12
194 11
6) For those who have played this build before: how much DR and MDR is necessary?
7) The popular consensus in the guide's comments section is that blocking of any kind would be bad for this build because this sorc will have a slow block rate. But Gerke's Sanctuary and Lidless Wall are so tempting...:jig: Plus she'll have an incredibly low chance to block anyway since I'll be leaving Dex at base. What do you think?
8) I'm having a hard time deciding what to use in the weapon/shield and armor slots. Here are some possible configurations I came up with:
9) For the other item slots I'm going to go with
I am very intrigued by Zarhrezz's Energy Shield Sorc guide and I want to build one myself. The gist of the build is to dump all your stat points into Energy, use a very high level Energy Shield, wear lots of Damage Reduced By X and Magic Damage Reduced By X items, and tank anything that doesn't Charge or have mana burn :smug:
Zarhrezz's guide leaves it up to the reader to decide which offensive spells to use for the build. I've decided I want to use Chain Lightning as my offensive spell. I've always wanted to build a Chain Lightning Sorc and CL seems fitting for this build because I will be heavily invested in the lightning tree prereqs for ES anyway. I've got a number of questions for you all:
1) First and foremost, has anyone tried any variant of Zarhrezz's ES build before? Has anyone tried Zarhrezz's ES build using Chain Lightning? What did you think of the build?
2) I will need 20 hard skill points in Telekinesis and Energy Shield. That leaves approximately 50 skill points to spend elsewhere. I took a look at the synergies for Chain Lightning and saw that Lightning Mastery gives a much better bonus to CL damage than any of its synergies. My plan is to max CL and LM and put any leftover points into Lightning. I'll have approximately 6 points in Lightning by level 90. Will Chain Lightning do enough damage with only half a synergy and fully maxed LM?
3) Is CL effective against bosses?
4) Is it worth it to spend the extra point in Nova and the extra point in Thunderstorm just to acquire TS?
5) How much FCR is adequate for Chain Lightning? I've included the breakpoint chart below for reference:
Lightning / Chain Lightning / Inferno Faster Cast Rates
FCR % FPC
0 19
7 18
15 17
23 16
37 15
52 14
78 13
117 12
194 11
6) For those who have played this build before: how much DR and MDR is necessary?
7) The popular consensus in the guide's comments section is that blocking of any kind would be bad for this build because this sorc will have a slow block rate. But Gerke's Sanctuary and Lidless Wall are so tempting...:jig: Plus she'll have an incredibly low chance to block anyway since I'll be leaving Dex at base. What do you think?
8) I'm having a hard time deciding what to use in the weapon/shield and armor slots. Here are some possible configurations I came up with:
- Eschuta's Temper, Gladiator's Bane, Lidless Wall (a balance between offense and defense)
- Eschuta's Temper, Que-Hegan's Wisdom, Gerke's Sanctuary (Que-Hegan's has MDR and FHR)
- Eschuta's Temper, Ormus's Robes, Gerke's Sanctuary (probably more damage than Que-Hegan's)
- Eschuta's Temper, Iron Pelt, Lidless Wall (low str requirement. Can dump approximately 50 more points into energy, which translates to about 200 extra mana after +% to mana bonuses. A bit less DR and MDR than Gladiator's Bane)
- Eschuta's Temper, Gladiator's Bane, Gerke's Sanctuary (lots and lots of MDR and DR)
- Memory, Gladiator's Bane (no shield)
- Memory, Iron Pelt (no shield, less DR and MDR, but more mana)
9) For the other item slots I'm going to go with
- Head: Griffon's Eye (if I can ever get one :rolf
or rare Circlet. I strongly disagree with the guide's assertion that Harlequin's Crest is the best helm for this build. The only mods of use on Shako are the +2 skills and the bonus to mana. We can get that and more from a good rare Circlet or something entirely different and even more useful from Griffon's Eye. - Amulet: Caster amulet
- Gloves: Frostburn
- Rings: SoJ x2
- Belt: Arachnid Mesh
- Boots: Silkweave