nightmare mfing sorc

[jrmunch]

nightmare mfing sorc

I would like to build a sorc that runs nm andy, countess, meph. I am thinking one with a fire based attack would be best. I am not concerned about bringing her into hell. I would bring her to about lvl 45-50 before starting to use her.

20 fireball
1-20 firemastery?
1-20 meteor?
1-?? fire bolt?

Would I get higher damage by putting one in firemastery and 20 in meteor? meteor adds +14% per level damage to fireball while firemastery after lvl one seems to add only 7%...Is it that simple or am I missing something? If it is that simple then if I have points after meteor they should go to fireball then?

I plan on putting one point in static, teleport, warmth and frostnova.

With my current gear for her I can expect about +3-4 skills.

I will be teleporting directly to bosses - should I bother with block?

thanks in advance

 

[Lord_Shinnok]

Well it seems like your going with a pure fire sorc and i'll give you what advice i can with the one i made.

I went max block (my first time doing that) and i never regretted it. In hell, i find myself being the only sorc alive when lister's pack comes out immune. So max block is definatly a possibility.

As for skills, here was my set up:
Max Fire Bolt
Max Fire Ball
Max Fire Mastery
Max Meteor.
1 in Tele (and telekenisis pre-req)
1 in warmth and enchant (warmth a must and enchant i find helpful in parties and with mercs)
1 in the first frozen armor (i can't remember the name of it exactly, but the first one)
1 in static


With that set up i have no worries in hell so nightmare should be no problem.

You should also invest into a merc. Either defensive aura or frost if you want the freezing factor. For nightmare, even an ok merc equip will suffice.


I hope this helped. Good luck mf hunting! :xcool:

 

[Liliel]

If you have at least +8skill from your gear, then you should put 1 into FM and max Meteor.

IF you have any remaining points after max meteor, then roughly split them evenly between FM and Firebolt. If you have really huge amounts of +skill (like 15 or more) then put more into Firebolt than FM.

 

[prion]

one thing you can do to finish faster with no "waste" of prereq points is just make a straight up fireball sorc:
20 firebolt
20 fireball
warmth, TK, tele, static, frozen armor, frost nova
rest in fire mastery--after one point at level 30, work on this last
that's 47 points to start and you can finish the build at level 43 before going to act 2 NM
You are correct that after the initial point in Fire Mastery, synergies add more damage to fireball than the mastery

meteor of course is more powerful and probably best to use on meph/council, but I think you could get by with just fireball in solo 1 player game. the trickiest part being the council, you will need good resists because you will have to tele around and static them all

if you make the build I just proposed and decide, after several dozen runs, you want to advance farther, theres three things you can do: add a secondary attack in the form of frozen orb, add hydras, or add meteors

 

[Jek]

If you're not deadset on making it a fire sorc, maybe make a cold sorc - then you can add Diablo too (running NM diablo with a cold sorc is so easy).

 

[darzog]

First, your comment about 14% from meteor and 7% from FM is slightly off.... Synergies are only calculated based on the base skill damage but FM is added after all synergies, so once you get fully maxed skills, FM is more effective. At mid-level rangfe not sure which works better. Try a skill calculator and see.

Also, you might try a Meteorb sorc. When I've made them, they breeze through NM with no troubles. Your fire damage isn't as high as going pure fire obviously, but you get max orb +7 or so CM and the rest into fire skills. You end up with more "wasted" skill points but FO in NM is outstanding. When I rush people through NM my Meteorb (lvl 79) is better than my pure Bliz (lvl **). Once you're in hell it's different, but Meteorb is great in NM.

_________________
Darzog

 

[seeth3r9]

i have one question, how much mf and what lvl will get decent unique items from nm running

 

[jrmunch]

Thank you all very much for your help.

Too answer your question seeth3r9, I am pretty poor now coming back to d2 last playing in 1.09. I will probably be wearing things like a 4 ptopaz gothic plate and rhyme shield until I can upgrade my gear a bit. I will be starting off my runs with ~200% mf and seeing what I can add/trade from there.

 

[Black_Rose]

If you happen to play on Europe realm ladder, I'd be happy to supportu you with an Oculus and some straight mf gear, like nagels, goldwrap, mf amu.

seeth3r9: the items that drop don't depend on your level. Also, mf has very diminishing returns. With 250% you have +125% chance towards uniques, with 1000% its 200%. The increase is not that great, is it? I'd say 300-400mf is fine for everybody.

Also, I agree with adding a secodary attack later in the game, like frozen orb. When you get yourself some items you'll probably want to bring that sorc of yours into hell.

 

[rg_22uk]

Why not try getting rushed through hell in public games and then join some baal games to leech exp. You should be able to get to at least level 75-80 with little problems. Then you can go back to nightmare difficulty with higher skill levels and stats and should be able to breeze through any mf area. You will also have the option of picking up the hell hellforge rune as well.

 

[jrmunch]

If you happen to play on Europe realm ladder, I'd be happy to supportu you with an Oculus and some straight mf gear, like nagels, goldwrap, mf amu.

Thanks for the generous offer...but I am on USEast ladder

 

[Bugzy]

Get through nightmare and normal as quick as possible. Hell is where you want to MF. Join some games - get through the acts and then join a baal game to make pat/mat.

Nightmare mfing is useless - the mobs will drop preety poor items compared to what you can get in hell (war travs most useful in nm imo). Hell running should include pindle, maybe meph, pits and countess. Being on bnet, 50 countess runs a day could make you rich. With a possibility of dropping up to lo, hell countess is as good as source of making profit as pindle and meph.

Andy should be left alone. She drops well in nm but in hell her drops dont compete with pindle and co.

Also iirc meph has a high resistance to fire. Cold is much better for nm because the damage and freezing is fairly nice. But if you do decide to go to hell then fire is just as good because the resistance is easily outdone by the huge fire damage.

As for leveling your skills:
Start with fireball, get it to 20 asap.
Next start with meteor. It is a great second attack. The delay on each meteor is enough time for 2-4 fireballs (maybe more depending on fcr).
When level 30 put a point into fire mastery asap the first point gives alot of extra damage compared to the points after it.
Firebolt should be maxed after you've maxed meteor.
And fire mastery 2-20 in the end.

Energy shield is quite useful and you could get away with 5 points in it and +5/10 from equipment and skillers.
Resistances arent as needed in nm as in hell but in hell they are critical.
Get a might merc imo and give him an independant set of items. Let him take the aggro, run in, static, static, static, move out, meteor, static, static, static. Usually if you stand too close to the boss, its AI will take on the role that although your merc is doing damage, you are closer and you are an actual player therefore you should be disposed of.

Block is very handy for mephisto. NM /players 8 mephisto hurts a lot with his chain lightning and 'ball' attack. Having a high block rate reduces the amount you have to run about meaning you can sit there and fireball/meteor him whilst the merc attacks from the side.

 

[seeth3r9]

well the problem is i only have 1 other charcter liek a lvl 40 barb, so i wouldnt be able to do hell runs because id have real terrible equipment and i assumed doing nm meph runs might help me get some items to start off...

 

[jrmunch]

well the problem is i only have 1 other charcter liek a lvl 40 barb, so i wouldnt be able to do hell runs because id have real terrible equipment and i assumed doing nm meph runs might help me get some items to start off...

Don't be sad, I am right there with you.

My sorc is now at lvl 41, I am still in normal leveling my merc a bit. Damage is great so far 1300-1800 max fireball damage depending on whether I use leaf or not.

I agree with you seeth3r9 that nm meph runs are good to start off with - I was running nm meph with my hammerdin that I am building and got a titan's revenge and a lidless (i think that was from meph). But I kept dying running past all those stygion thingies, prompting me to build this sorc to tele past them and hopefully not die.

Thanks for the input on block bugzy...I will try to max mine...