The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

[Beeds]

The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

Hi all, well I posted back here a while ago about suggestions for staying alive in the throne room when running baal runs and grinding exp. I have finally come to what I think is a very nice setup and I have not even dipped below half-life on the souls, stygian dolls, or baal.

First off, most of the games now are run by runners and yea it sux, but you gotta join these baal sequential-run games. The good news, you don't have to teleport there, just be ready for entering the TP.

Ok, simple things to remember about this room. Some people say to play it safe and wait for the runner to say that the room is clear. Hogwash! With this gear, you won't ever have a problem.

THE OBVIOUS
1. Make sure your sorc is at max resists (more explained later)
2. Make sure you have a minimum of 1k life - I run at 1300 life
3. Make sure you always have Energy Shield up
4. Make sure you always have Shiver Armor up
5. Make sure you have your mouse or finger-trigger on teleport as you enter the TP.

THINGS TO BE READY FOR
1. Souls
2. Undead Stygian Dolls
3. Stunning mobs
4. Mana-draining mobs - or just be aware that with EShield your mana might go to zero quickly
Remember that souls send off lightning and vanish and appear and can kill the normal geared sorc in one shot. The dolls I believe explode and use Fire damage. Those two type of mobs are the most vicious and are what most people die from.
This brings us to gear...

THE GEAR FOR BAAL'S THRONE ROOM

1. Helm - First choice is Shako, second would most likely be a rare circlet with resists and life. The shako is good because it adds life, mana, has +2 to attributes and also 10 percent DR.
2. The Weapon - This is very subjective, some people like the death fathom, and some use wizzyspike, and some like tals orb (if used with the full set). I prefer Wizzyspike for the resists - you get +75 resists and a ton of mana benefits such as mana regen and more mana.
3. The Shield - Stormshield - socketed with PTopaz. Okay, you get 35% DR, you get Fast Blocking, and 25% increased chance to block, and some added defense. The topaz is for lightning and lightning is one of the two killers for this build. IMO, there is no second choice here.
4. The belt - Thundergod's Vigor. Ok with this belt you are getting an extra 10 percent added to your LR, you get +20 to Lightning absorb, you get +20 to both vitality and strength, which is important in order to use the SS as your shield.
5. The boots - I could not think of anything other than treks for this build. Any ideas, let me know. Others might be Marrows or some rare boots.
6. Gloves - Frostburns - yea yea yea, most people will disagree, however you get a lot more mana and remember your purpose for being here. You don't want to die, therefore the more mana you have the less chance it will be taken away from you completely if you need to teleport.
7. Ring1 - I use Raven Frost - this gives you up to 20 to dex, remember dex is important to blocking and also so you use the wizzyspike.. I highly recommend it. Other recommendations which I have not really tried out for a long time are wisp rings and the nature's peace.. This works for me.
8. Ring2 - I use Dwarf Star - this has the added Fire absorb of 15% - those dolls use fire - this helps. It also adds in 40 life.
9. The ammy - If you are low on resists, then get maras, if not, just use tals ammy. Tals gives you 33 percent LR which is the key and +50 life and plus mana as well.
10. Armor: I use an UPPED Vipermagi with 32 resists. Being upped just added some defense and it was not expensive.
11. Get an anni charm - with most of the gear listed above you probably won't require super high attrib or resists, but try to find one with +10 to exp. As you level up over 94, it will make a difference.
12. Get your Storch - I only use a 13/13 (attrib/resists) you don't need perfect or near perfect. You can always find a small LR or FR charm and not have to spend a ton of money on a great storch.

Note: i have no charms at all other than my anni or storch. If you need them for some life or dex, use a few to help you get your gear on.
Note: You can socket your helm or armor, but I am max resists so I have yet to put anything in them. If you are low on resists and have an extra UM rune laying around, that should help with resists.

THE PLAYSTYLE
You only need to think about a couple of things while grinding experience..
1. Teleport. Set your key to tele always when you enter the room. If you are moving you won't be hit by souls. Also, tele can get you away from baddies very fast.
2. Make sure you have a TP - check with Malah every so often and replenish them. When you get in the portal and find any place safe, throw down a tp, then back to tele mode. If you ever die, you at least have a tp and can bring in friends if need be to your game to help get your body. Chances are if you have actually died, then the runner and others have died or left the game. Remember, if you die at level 96 or so, you lose around 25 million I think, and that is approximately 75 runs+ to catch up. Get your body. Have a TP UP at all times.

DO NOT GO AFK EVER!
I learned this the hard way. You can be in any game even with a full group of level 90+s, and if the runner leaves the game, everyone will. Sometimes the runner might DC, or you never know how Lister migth react. DO NOT EVER GO AFK. Keep aware of your surroundings...Some people like to move around and accidentally or intentionally bring monsters from the room before the throne room into you. Be alert.

BAAL
Baal gives good experience so partake in killing Baal. With this gear setup, you won't get hurt. You might get thrust back, punted, lose your mana, but I have never fallen below half health on even the nastiest of baals. Tele in do your static part then just sit there, because your damage is going to be bad compared to the others in the room and also, most people use pickit or some cheats anyways, so you won't get items. Not worth it. Just static then tele to a safe place

Ok, that's all for now. I am writing this up mainly because of some of the great feedback I got from others, and I know there are a lot of people always asking me how I stay alive so easily running baal games. Feel free to throw in anything you agree with or think should be modified. I have no ego here.
I hope this helps and also hope someone else has not posted this before me lol.

IN CLOSING
This setup is NOT very expensive either. This setup is also not for MFing or general game-play. It is only to be used for running baal games and possibly for rushing people.

Beeds

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

This is an interesting take on things... I agree with many of your points, but in many regards the playstyle seems vastly different than what I experience in single player (since I have to make my way down and kill everything solo - and I get to hog all of the drops ).

Here's my thoughts:

1. I could be mistaken, but I think that Dolls death-explosion damage is 50% fire and 50% physical.

2. Speaking of Dolls, generally I find them to be the most dangerous threat - even more-so than Burning Souls.

However, some sorceresses have some skills that work very well against them. In particular, both of the Nova skills (Nova & Frost Nova), can really make Dolls a complete non-threat... simply teleport a medium distance away (~1.5 screens) and spam (Frost)Nova and watch the Dolls get stuck in hit recovery at long range once they try to charge you. Keep spamming your Nova, and they stay stun-locked at long-range until they die. My FrostNova sorc completely owned dolls.

3a. For Souls, I've gotten into the habit of running 90-degrees from whatever direction my merc 'charges' after a teleport. This will allow you to side-step a lot of their attacks. So I teleport, and immediately the merc starts running "North". I simply run a short distance "East" and the Souls will focus on attacking my merc (and as a result, their attack will miss me).

3b. Another tactic that I often follow with Souls is simply a shoot-and-run. Cast your spell once, then run about ~1/5th of the screen sideways from what you're attacking. Cast your spell again, and run another 1/5th of the screen. If you do this right, by the time a Souls' attack reaches you, you've already moved out of the way and are attacking again. Repeat until the Souls are dead. This tactic works even better on things like Hell Witches or the Hydras cast by the 3rd wave (though I usually just tank those to help my merc out).

(sidenote: I'm not sure how points 3a and 3b will work if you have a lot of lag. That's obviously not an issue for me in SP )

4. For equipment, a Call-To-Arms on weapon switch is an invaluable tool. Even with poor equipment and a bad roll you can still get a 40% increase to life & mana, which is a very useful thing for keeping you alive. With great gear and a good roll, you can (almost) double your life & mana. And, as a caster, the BattleCommand will increase your attack power too. Not bad for a weapon-switch, eh?

5. In regards to "stunning mobs", my tactic is simply to focus on keeping a safe distance from them by using teleport - first & foremost. Attacking is always secondary. If I get stunned, drink potions to stay alive and try (repeatedly) to cast teleport to get away.

6. I don't like Energy Shield and don't use it on my Baal runner. Also, I do use a mercenary that wields an 'Insight' polearm. Combined, that means that mana is NEVER a problem for me. When I see manaburn on a boss-pack I'm thankful, because it means these monsters aren't particularly dangerous. That's part of the reason I hate ES - it makes your sorceress significantly less safe against some otherwise "routine" monsters.

 

[Beeds]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

Hi Sirpoop... Thanks for chiming in. Yea, I do agree that CTA is a great weapon however it is expensive. My build however is not even meant for attacking any of the mobs at all in the throne room. I don't even have a merc since a merc can actually bring new mobs to you sometime. The idea behind this build is simply to stay alive, remember the palis that are running baal are doing almost all the damage.

Yes I believe you are right and I forgot about the 1/2 physical and fire damage by the dolls. But the good thing about this build is you have both. You have DR with the stormshield and shako, and you have fire absorb with the ring.

As you enter the room, there is always a runner in the room - such is the nature of what we have come to now on these baal games. It is not at all how I remember it like 3 years ago when I use to play lol. But, once you enter that tp, all you have to do is tele usually just once, cast a tp, then be ready at all times to tele again.

Just today, at level 96, I withstood 5 souls on me, which actually felt kinda good. As an experiement I actually didn't teleport for a few seconds just to test out the absorb. I also have had no issue with the dolls as well, so far... Knock on wood.

Anyone else have suggestions or experiences to share re: staying alive on baal runs? Gear differences? Thanks again. Beeds

 

[stephan]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

About dolls:

In my limited experience it is better not to teleport with Dolls around, unless you exactly know where you are going. I always happen to teleport right on one, which my merc then kills, which on its turns gives me a lot of trouble.

 

[Beeds]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

I agree Stephan, however with this setup, I have stood for several seconds and not been affected by them. I still think teleporting is the safest since they cannot hit you while you are teleporting. If you do land on one and it shoots, if you have the absorb and max resists you should be okay. This is just my experience as well too I might add, my recent experience with this gear.

 

[elponeis]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

When running in areas with dolls or gloams, I usually don't go teleing all the way. (except of course in durance when running meph) Also, pressing alt while zapping is another habit, so I don't accidentally click on something that interrupts the tele.

 

[Akse]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

For baal give your merc a weapon with slow x%.. i had kelpie today when I killed him even when he made the clone it was easy since the real baal teleported away from the clone quite fast.

Just today, at level 96, I withstood 5 souls on me, which actually felt kinda good. As an experiement I actually didn't teleport for a few seconds just to test out the absorb. I also have had no issue with the dolls as well, so far... Knock on wood.

with my ama I had tgods so i was at 80 or was it 85 light res and some absorb.. souls didn't hurt me anymore.. but if you have ES your mana is drained anyways

 

[DH Amazon]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

Kelpie is very good. Act2 mercs are best, but after 5-10 baalruns it gets killed quite certainly. Energybunny rogue-merc keeps going run after run.
So another alternative is rogue merc.

Only one bow (luckily nef=knockback can be used) and one helmet has slow effect. So its easy to pickup gear for her.

Rogue merc (cold one) is another good source for slow. And those survive run after run, so no need to rehire.
Blackhorn's face (Slows Target By 20%,+20 Lightning Absorb) and Riphook (Slows Target By 30%, nef for knockback). Threachery is good enough armor for her. Shoots faster, so more knockbacks and slow-effect is delivered faster.

She pushed dolls away, so explode don't hurt. Non-upped riphook does so little damage that dolls is pushed back before it get killed.

She slows down so much that even fastest monsters are easy to avoid/static. She slows Baal etc.. monster before you start to static, so less change that twin never appear.

Souls cant kill her, so there is always meatshield next to you.

Keeps those mana burning monsters away too with knockback.

You can tele near extra-fast monster to slow it down, so other players can kill it faster/safer. Keeping all chars safe, keeps you safe too.

You can stay little further away and still help party a little. With open wounds,poison,slow,knockback,cold damage=even hardest monster are easy to kill.

Extra: works in chaos runs too, if you join those too. One of the best merc to do meph/andy, so no need to change merc for mf-runs.


Tip: Use nature piece ring, and cast oak sage in town before entering portal.
Repair cost is 1-2k per charge, so you can make those as often you want. If you stay little further, that oak sage survive whole run. More life to other chars=better meatshield for you.

 

[Beeds]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

Yep, all good stuff for actively participating in killing the minions and baal, however realize this is a build that can be used without a merc in an 8 player game. The idea is stay alive, nothing more... There is no killing involved here. This build was created for those who simply are joining baal run games and basically leeching experience while the main killer is usually a paladin. So far it is working pretty well.

 

[Socialism]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

Dollpops are 100% physical.

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

... The idea is stay alive, nothing more... There is no killing involved here.

In that case, I'd consider Guardian Angel for the armor. +max resists and +block are nice, to be sure, and vipermagi's benefits can be made up otherwise.

However, this (instead of Vipermagi) would likely mean swapping some FCR in somewhere... I suspect you'd still want at least the 63 FCR breakpoint to keep your teleport speeds reasonable. The rings and/or amulet would probably be my first choice.


@socialism, I didn't know that, but judging on what they do to many of my characters, that makes a lot of sense... usually my fire resists are pretty close to max, but those buggers still hurt a lot. Thanks.

 

[McCain123]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

Ok, here is my 2 cts.

For Boots I like Waterwalk alot. 65 life ( that is Bo-able ) is like 6.5 levels all in vitality. The fhr on Treks is nice though.

For Gloves and Amu you go purely on max mana and resist. Well, if you have to tele yourself, fcr will be important aswell, as you hardly ever get hit at 105% and you archive that if you take Magefists and a crafted amu with 5% fcr ( any ). Wizzy (50) + Viper (30) + Magefist (20) + Amu (5+).

You need fhr aswell so socket your stuff with Shaels, exept Wizzy. Here I like allres jewels for obvious reasons.

Regular Souls don´t hurt at all if you wear Thundergods. Boss ones will, but eshield helps a bit with these.

For dolls there is a simple formula. The higher your eshield, the less they hurt. My 95% eshield sorc can stand in the middle of 5 exploding dolls while being amped and will loose half of her life. Try that without eshield. But eshield has a drawback. Souls and physical damaging manaburners will always be a threat. Give your merc an Insight so when your mana pool gets emptied it will recover fast.

 

[Beeds]

Re: The Baal throne room sorcy survival tip guide

Yea, good point on the Eshield. That is the one key elements to staying alive as a sorc. I considered actually shaftstop and vamp gaze, however I think the key elements here to survival are:

1. Max resists - whatever that means in your build.
2. DR (in my build with shako and SS - you get a lot and nice bonuses with the SS)
3. Energy shield - I have always put points into that one (as long as you have good mana regen you should be fine... Remember I wear frostburns (huge mana pool) and Wizzyspike (tons of mana as well.)

@Socialism - I have always read and thought myself that these dolls ONLY do physical, however I have been told by numerous people they do fire as well, after searching again they appear to only do physical, but I don't know.

@Sirpoop - I agree, there are a variety of changes that can be made to keep the overall build strong. You can always put on a kiras to help for resists, or the GA, whatever it takes. I have found the vipermagi (30+ and upped) and the shako a nice balance with good resists and some DR and life.

One thing to remember that can be extremely important: If you have a super-powerful weapon on your merc, you might want to change that out for a lesser one for running baal runs... The reason being is that if your merc can kill an undead doll in one hit (I think they have like 2k hps) if he kills them, they will explode and you could die without great gear.

I have run over 1,000 runs with this build and never had any issues at all with teleporting...have had 5 or so dolls on my butt and also had 4-5 souls attacking me. The souls will not hit you while teleporting, but the explosion from a doll can. I believe the range is fairly short on that explosion so a single tele away is good.

Just remember this build is not for everyone... so many people enjoy actually doing some of the killing and some people might even do baal runs for charms and items. If you are doing that, this build is not for you. After you have leveled past 94, you get tired of killing and in some ways its kinda nice to simply go into a portal and let the palis just take care of everything else lol. I have not had a merc since level 94.75, and I am now half way through level 96, so..

If anyone has any questions or wants to try out this build after getting to 94+ or so, you can always contact me in game *beebee.