Sorc soloing baal, can it be done?

[Demonic Angel Rules]

Sorc soloing baal, can it be done?

Ive tried over and over but I keep getting my arse handed to me everytime I try to tele down to baal. Ive got 75% res to all in hell and i do just a little under 4000 damage with blizzerd (btw im a pure blizzerd sorc) Ive tried to kill my way down there and I do great. I dont even get hurt from souls. But when i hit cold immunes in the trone room i die over and over. My merc for some wierd reson cant kill them and dies after 2-3 hits. Heres what i got.

Helm: Shako with Ptopaz
Wepon: Oculus
Armor: Tals with a Tal rune i think. Its the one that gives + to light res
Shield: Spirit in a Monarch
Belt: Tals
Boots: Magic boots with +mf
Gloves:trang when teleing/Chance Guards when killing act boss
Ammy: Tals
Rings:2 perfect Nagelrings
Charms: No hellfire torch:sad2: but i got a bunch or res sc.

And my merc has got insight,Corpsemourn, and tals helm

Me and my merc r lvl 84. He is a act 2 mite merc and does about 5000 damage with his arua.

Heres my 2 questions.
1) I'm I doing something wrong. Like is there a way to make my merc kill those immunes with or without my help. I dont care if I have to use a runeword that lets me give him a arua that helps him kill. Btw cost is not an issue.
2) Is there a better build for doing baal runs. If there is ill make one and try it. Ive heard the meterorbs do good down there but i dont want to waste time making one if they cant.

 

[Xenon[XoA]]

Ditch the oculus for a wizspike i would. Allows for greater control + mana. or Hoto. I hate getting locked by occy tele. Especially if you're trying to herd packs.

Ort gives light res, Tal gives poison res.

Might merc seems kinda wasted on a sorc. Holy freeze (freezes CI's too) or prayer + insight merc, for mad regen. Pick up an anni + torch too, if cost is not an option.

Altho, i've done hell untwinked on all 3 sorc trees, so it definitely is possible with that setup. If you cant kill the minion waves, lure them out the entrance far enough and baal'll spawn the next wave.

 

[Mcsaladshaker]

I have a pure blizz sorc also that can solo baal in full games. I think the difference is in the merc setup. I have a might merc with eth insight thresher, eth fort great hauberk and andys helm socketed with a cham (Cannot Be Frozen is a must)

 

[Mcsaladshaker]

I have a pure blizz sorc also that can solo baal in full games. I think the difference is in the merc setup. I have a might merc with eth insight thresher, eth fort great hauberk and andys helm socketed with a cham (Cannot Be Frozen is a must)

 

[Demonic Angel Rules]

I would have got a Hellfire torch but no one has a sorc one. Ive looked and looked. So im just trying to get my own using my smiter but im missing life tap right now. once i get that im ready to kill the ubers.

Ya i guess the stuff on my merc is pretty crapy. Ill upgrade him and try him out again. I dont like using a HF merc cause if i wanted everything to be chilled I would use Frozen orb but then i guess chilled CI's would help out a lot.

As for the the ocules switch with a wizerdspike ill try that but i kind of like the %chance to tele. Saves me when i getlocked in a big groups of monsters. Hoto would work and i think i got one on my hammerdin, but he sucks i think i made him wrong.

Ya sorry i tought it was ort=poison and tal=light res but i guess not.

Thx guys this will help out tons.

 

[WrathTalon]

I have a pure blizz sorc also that can solo baal in full games. I think the difference is in the merc setup. I have a might merc with eth insight thresher, eth fort great hauberk and andys helm socketed with a cham (Cannot Be Frozen is a must)

I second Mcsaladshaker here: with proper gear, your merc shouldn't normally have too much trouble in the throne room. My recommendations:

Andy's Visage helm. Cham is indeed good. Personally, though, I prefer a 15-IAS/40-ED jewel. Merc weapon speed is affected by IAS just as ours is, and the 35% IAS he'll get from an Andy's socketed with an IAS jewel will really help him hit more often (and thus leech more, and stay alive).

I also recommend CoH if your merc is having trouble staying alive. Fort does give higher defense, and the ED does help your merc kill slightly faster too. But on the other hand, CoH gives them an additional 8% life leech, which I find seems to help them stay alive better. Not to mention the 8 PERCENT PDR on CoH (unlike Fort's, which isn't percentage-based but straight, and thus far less good). And the plus-2-skills from CoH will increase your merc's Might or Holy Freeze level by 2, which does help boost his damage a little too. If you're rich, you can try both armors; but my experience is that CoH seems to keep my A2 mercs alive better than Fort does.

As for weapon: whatever runeword you give him, try to get it in a Thresher or Giant Thresher, or if that's not possible, a Great Poleaxe. Because these all swing faster than Cryptic Axes and Colossus Voulges, they actually do more damage over time (even if their base damage is a little lower), they activate the various mods (such as CB or CS or DS) of the runewords more often, their attack is less likely to be interrupted, and--crucially--they put monsters in hit recovery more often.

With this gear, your A2 merc should not have too much problem staying alive in the Throne Room. Baal may kill him occasionally (and so will the Maiden of Oblivion Knights in Chaos). But the Throne Room itself will be fine. The only possible danger here is Lister's mob. If they spawn right on top of him and mob him, he'll go down in a second. But if you make sure he doesn't get mobbed (just pull him back by teleporting when necessary), he won't have a problem. :smiley:

 

[MageChick]

I will say that doing baal runs with a straight blizzard sorc is kinda ineffecient. Just relying on your merc always seemed like a pain to me. Sure you can do it, but not as fast as some other builds. I don't think you need to rebuild or anything - just realize your char's inherant strenghts and weaknesses. You can probably meph run faster than just about anyone. But solo baal runs will go much slower. Maybe join some public baal runs or team up with someone else.

If you really want to focus on baal running, then blizzballer is probably the most effecient sorc build (excluding infinitly/lightning builds), followed by meteorb. Straight blizzard runs a 3rd place finish.

 

[WrathTalon]

If you really want to focus on baal running, then blizzballer is probably the most effecient sorc build (excluding infinitly/lightning builds), followed by meteorb. Straight blizzard runs a 3rd place finish.

Amen to this. If--as you say--cost is not an issue for you and you can afford an Infinity, you'll probably find a pure-lightning/Infinity build to be the most ridiculously powerful sorc build imaginable. You'll remove the immunity to lightning of every normal monster, and drop them like flies. And if the odd unique spawns with lighting immunity you can't break, you have the merc... It's just sick. Meph, Diablo, Baal... All will go down in seconds to your lightning.

 

[melianor]

Your problem is not your resistances. Your FCR is lacking.
You already have Tal Armor and Amulet. Wear the full set, equip Mage Fist and have a 35FCR Spirit oder 30FCR + 10FCR Ring.

Now you have 105FCR and reach the next frame, which will allow you to tele alot faster, meaning you can easily escape any of your foes. In addition to your FCR have some full rejus for the cases where you encounter some bad boss groups.

Also get your FHR to 86% or above. So you can recover at a decent frame rate, should you get hit. THis way you can escape possible additional hits faster.

With these adaptions you should have no trouble with teleporting down to Baal.

My merc has nothing special and survives just well: Insight in Colossus Voulge, Tals Mask, Griswold Armor with some junk in the sockets.

Sorceress and Defiance Mercenary are both lvl85.

Also i think you are focusing to much on MF. Have some more useful rings in your setup. Full Tals with PTopaz in armor already gives nice MF. Just have a Alibaba/Gull and Rhyme on switch and you have enough MF for the last hits when you kill Baal.

survivability > killing speed/power > MF

 

[MageChick]

Back on your first post I should have asked what the FCR on your spirit is? I think occy is 30% and spirit varies from 25-35% so, you'll need at least 33% from your spirit to hit the 63% breakpoint. This is really the minimum that any socr should play at. But the 105% breakpoint is easily reachable with a good spirit shield and is hightly recommended.

I can't belive a missed a chance to recommend a full tal set up. For the unbelievers - read the truth about tal set, stickied in the sorc library.

 

[melianor]

Back on your first post I should have asked what the FCR on your spirit is? I think occy is 30% and spirit varies from 25-35% so, you'll need at least 33% from your spirit to hit the 63% breakpoint. This is really the minimum that any socr should play at. But the 105% breakpoint is easily reachable with a good spirit shield and is hightly recommended.

I can't belive a missed a chance to recommend a full tal set up. For the unbelievers - read the truth about tal set, stickied in the sorc library.

You missed out another thing
The setup includes Tal Ammy, Armor and Belt. So 65% FCR is covered through set bonuses. I also wonder why you didn't mention that. Seems you are out of Tal "Spamming" bounce with your new family duties *ducks away grinning*

 

[Demonic Angel Rules]

Ya i got a perfect spirit and trang gloves. I know magefist is better but ive just been trying to get to baal so i can get some nice items. I tried wizspike and hoto out but i like ocules better.

Melianor r u sure that the whole tals set is that good? Ive used it and its ok and all, i mean I can kill anything with it (exept CI's Ubers and maybe the clone). But I find useing a set makes me feel like im stuck on it. And i thought I got all the fcr out of it ill have to recheck that. But if its as good as you say it is ill use the full set and and change my rings to something like SOJ or just fcr rings. As for changing my merc I changed his wepon from a insight to a bonehew. And soced it with 2 Pskulls. Now finnaly i can kill cold immunes with him. And he can take on baal without dieing as long as I keep him next to baal. Im still looking for tomb reaver because it has ias and thats always useful. Thx for the info

 

[Noodle]

My full Tal's Blizz sorc has no problem doing solo Baal runs. I keep the /players setting at 1 through the second wave, and have Bonehew on switch - the Corpse Explosion charges take out the CI mages very quickly. I pump up the /players setting to 3, 5, or 8 after the second wave, depending on my mood. Baal is a pussycat after I swap out my merc's Reaper's for an upped Kelpie.

- Noodle

 

[essquire]

Probably the reason why you're merc keeps dying is because of items, not enough life leech, or he has been cursed by Iron Maiden.

I have soloe'd Baal before with my Meteorber, with no merc. So yes, it can be done.

 

[aman]

Use bonehew on switch for wave 2(charges of corpse explosion) kill the big non immune monsters first and it should be easier

I have not tried this method but alot of people use this over at the single player forum and one person even used it to baal his way to level 99

Edit : I really should read the whole thread before posting

 

[melianor]

Ya i got a perfect spirit and trang gloves. I know magefist is better but ive just been trying to get to baal so i can get some nice items. I tried wizspike and hoto out but i like ocules better.

Melianor r u sure that the whole tals set is that good? Ive used it and its ok and all, i mean I can kill anything with it (exept CI's Ubers and maybe the clone). But I find useing a set makes me feel like im stuck on it. And i thought I got all the fcr out of it ill have to recheck that. But if its as good as you say it is ill use the full set and and change my rings to something like SOJ or just fcr rings. As for changing my merc I changed his wepon from a insight to a bonehew. And soced it with 2 Pskulls. Now finnaly i can kill cold immunes with him. And he can take on baal without dieing as long as I keep him next to baal. Im still looking for tomb reaver because it has ias and thats always useful. Thx for the info

Well now you are stuck on the unquies you have
I don't think you are stuck on it. Once you can afford CtA, CoH, HoTO, Shako, Maras and so forth you can still switch. Until you have all those items the full Tal set is your best options, since together with perfect Spirit you get, tons of life, good amount of mana, high FHR breakpoint, high FCR breakpoint, maxed resistances, MDR, MF, .....

Occy really hampers you due to the random teleport. Some are lucky with those teleports, but most just scream in panic when it happens. So you if you can just replace the Occy that will also be an improvement, but then you loose other stuff aswell.

See how it works with the full Tal setup and then decide if you rather want to exahcnge different items and stick to a better unique/runeword setup.

 

[bohooho]

I have no problem killing baal with my pure blizz sorc. Here's my setup:
Helm: Nightwing (cold faceted)
Ammy: Maras
Armor: Vipermagi (topazed)
Weapon: Death fathom (cold faceted)
Weapon2: Cta + Spirit Monarch
Shield: 35% fcr Spirit Monarch
Belt: Snowclash
rings: 2x Sojs or 2x high nagel rings for mf
Gloves: Magefist or high chance guards for mf
Boots: high War travelers
Charms: Annihilus, Storch, Gheed's

Am currently doing 10k-11k Blizz dmg and around 4k-4.5k Ice blast dmg. It only take seconds until baal is down. however, Cold immunes and Oblivions are my only problem. Especially if they spawn inside the throne room. When that's the case, i just remake another game.

 

[kuafu]

I solo with my meteorb, so I don't know exactly how blizz sorc will handle baal runs, but here're a list of CI monsters that you'll encounter in the throne:
- Hell witch
- Blood lord
- OK mage
- Second wave
- Some random boss, including Lister in some cases
The first two should be easy for your merc, as long as he's strong and the throne is not too crowded.
OK mage is always a pain with IM curses, and you can't really do much about that besides teleporting away when your merc is cursed.
I've no idea how you'll handle the second wave. CE does sound like a good option, but the strength requirement of bonehew is just too high (i guess you'll need to double Hel it?). I suppose another option is to give your merc a Dream/Delerium helm for good crowd control.
For random CI boss, use telekinesis to help your merc after you kill all the minions.
Also worth mentioning is the frenzytaur, which apparently has "Cannot be Frozen" even though not CI. So a HolyFreeze merc will help in this particular case to slow them down, especially when facing a fana-enchanted boss pack with frenzy activated.
Edit: with regard to Occy, it's not that bad as long as 1) you don't play HC, and 2) you're not planning to solo to lvl95+. It might get you killed in like every 10-20 games, but it may also save your butt sometimes. Its price totally justifies its usage after all. Before you can afford better options like Hoto or Fathom, Occy is always a feasible choice. Of course, full tal set is always a solid choice too.

 

[MageChick]

Bonehew isn't that hard to wear after you use a leviathon or andy's helm. They both come with lots of + str. (The same can be said for a runeword CV - and they are still real popular)

Also remember to static the CI's. This can really help your merc.

 

[Demonic Angel Rules]

Dang your right I used the full tals agian and I killed faster with it then if I used occy and shako. I guess I just thought it killed faster. Im trying to get everthing you said but thats not going to happed overnight. And with me merc using bonehew he kill those dang CI's so i can finally give baal the butt kicking he desrvers. Thx people for all the help.