Taking Her To The Next Level

[NBarnes]

Taking Her To The Next Level

My CL/Orb sorc just hit 76. This is where my Meteorb sorc stalled out in Ladder 4; moving into Hell is something I've found very difficult.

I don't have any trouble farming NM Meph and Baal in good time and have been doing that a while, but I'm just not sure what to do to be able to shift into Hell difficult content.

HEAD: Peasant's Crown
CHEST: Vipermagi w/ PTopaz
WEAP: Eschuta's +3 skill
SHIELD: Rhyme
GLOVES: Chancies at the moment, though I am considering the merits of Magefist or some good rare
BOOTS: Rare 30% RW, 20 LR, 20 PR, 17% MF
BELT: Rare 8 str, 24 life, 3 mana, 12% PR
RING1: Nagelring
RING2: Rare 4 str, 2 en, 21 mana, 17 CR, 21 LR
AMULET: Rare 10% FCR, 23 str, 7 dex, 11 resist all

What I see here is that I need a second caster ring instead of an MF ring, and could use better cast rings in general. Replace the Chancies with something that helps kill. Better Amulet would also be nice.

On a related note; I've been using +str gear and charms to wear my gear while keeping my points spent into vit. But it seems to me that sorcs have really lousy HP returns from vit, but the same str->gear rewards as any other class, and so I'd be better served by having enough str to wear my gear with no buffs and then having more HP on my gear and charms instead of str. Is this something everybody else already knew?

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: Taking Her To The Next Level

I didn't add up your resistances, how are those? As a minimum, I aim for these resistances: 60+fire / 25+cold / 75+ lightning / 0+poison.

As you can see, fire and lightning are the most important resistances, and you can skimp a little on cold & poison (if you need to). More is obviously better, and once you're at that minimum, I'd focus on Lightning, Fire, Cold, then Poison... in that order.


Next up is your equipment: You're close enough to push to 105 FCR pretty easily, without really sacrificing anything too big. That's where I'd start, which would mean Magefists (or Trang's gloves... possibly Trang's for the cold resists) would replace Chancies in a heartbeat.

Belt... your's kindof sucks. I know you need the +str at the moment, but this should be upgraded. Again, to help your FCR you might want to look at crafting a 'caster' belt. Cheap & easy, some guaranteed FCR, and you might get a few other useful things too. If you crafted 10 belts I'd be surprised if you didn't get one that was better than what you currently have.

Yes, you might want to upgrade your Nagelring to something that fills more of your survival needs. As a temporary measure, since your strength might be a little low, you can get quite a bit of +strength from this slot... if you want to change your current belt but still need its +strength, sacrificing the Nagel seems like something to consider. But over time, look for a good rare with resists, mana, life, FCR, etc.

Amulet = +skills. It's a great item slot to get +skills from, so that's a good focus.

Finally, some people get hung up on Eschuta's thinking it's fantastic damage. It isn't, because the +damage stacks on top of your mastery. So it's like a 'magic' quality orb with +2 Lightning Mastery, 1-3 skills and good FCR... big whoop. As an alternative, have a look at WizardSpike... more FCR to work with (if you're having trouble finding other equipment to get to 105 FCR), and INSANE mana and resists. To me, it's simply better than the Eschuta's because it provides so much, that you can use the other equipment it frees up to focus on the little bit of damage you lost (and Wizzy's probably cheaper to trade for).

<and if you can get a Shako for a helm, do it. They can't be too expensive.>


Lastly, the stat points: I'm a fan of just spending the necessary points into strength and being done with it. As you said, sorcs don't get that great return for what they spend in Vitality, so having a few extra in strength isn't going to be a huge problem - and it'll allow you more equipment flexibility... it's no fun finding a nice item that you want to use, but having to wait a few levels to be able to equip it, or having to 'downgrade' another item slot so you can find something with good +strength.

 

[NBarnes]

Re: Taking Her To The Next Level

fire 55, cold 44, lightning 68, poison 75 in NM

The problem that I have with Wizardspike is the dex requirement. I'm not building towards 75% block, so that dex seems like a big investment compared to using Eschuta's or an Oculus.

Crafting up a Sharkskin caster belt does sound like a really good idea.

 

[Tarantella]

Re: Taking Her To The Next Level

In your shoes I would shop for a belt with up to 100 life and a 30 resist, shop for a pair of boots with up to 40 frw and 40 resists and replace the rhyme with a 3 pdiamond shield or a socketed/artisans chromatic grim shield/gothic shield.

Crafting can be a very lengthy business but gambling for rings and amulets will eventually improve your gear. Then gambling for a better circlet all the while hoping for a mosers/shako or similar to drop.

 

[Rhiana]

Re: Taking Her To The Next Level

I moved on to Hell at level 71 with my CL/FO sorc, and didn't have any problems, aside from my merc getting raped by Amplify Damage mobs or Iron Maiden/Thorns ones.

I use dual spirits
+2 light rare circlet
Mahim-Oak ammy
Raven Frost
Rare 10% fcr ring with light resist and some other minor bonuses
War Travelers
Frostburn
IK belt.
[email protected] viper

It's rather crappy, but it works just fine so far, until I can get enough wealth to complete the Tal set I'm aiming for.

If low on resists, use an Ancient's Pledge shield? It has almost double the res of Rhyme, although it lacks the other bonuses.

 

[redground]

Re: Taking Her To The Next Level

In your shoes I would shop for a belt with up to 100 life and a 30 resist, shop for a pair of boots with up to 40 frw and 40 resists and replace the rhyme with a 3 pdiamond shield or a socketed/artisans chromatic grim shield/gothic shield.

Crafting can be a very lengthy business but gambling for rings and amulets will eventually improve your gear. Then gambling for a better circlet all the while hoping for a mosers/shako or similar to drop.

you can aways get a spirit sward and get more fcr and still have +2skills

 

[Tarantella]

Re: Taking Her To The Next Level

Quite so, Im running an orber (10 in orb/5 in mastery) through act5 nm at the moment with an eth longsword 33% fcr on primary and a plain crystal 29% on swap. Hitting nm countess has given this character a surplus of runes ral-hel but I've yet to drop a 4 socket eth exceptional or elite polearm.

Running notwink and assuming a good shield doesn't drop I'll plump for one with resists of 57% or more for hell, dump the 55 or so spare skill points into the chain lightning tree and start running the hell countess at lvl 75.