Melee Sorceress

Respecced to Fire/Cold and can't decide if I like it or not

Higher defence, similar health, but ice elementals don't really offer much

Also my CTB is only 19% with baneblade active, that seems very low. 1143 dex and using T4 cloudladder

tagames wrote:Do you use d2stats, mainly the notifier?
If yes could you post setup for early mid and endgame Would be awesome for us plebs ^^

I don't use it b/c I've never been able to get the drop notifier to work with Linux. You may be able to find tips for setting up the notifier in the D2Stats thread, though.

Also, just saw this thread. It may help, too.

Vyvanne wrote:Now I"m wondering, which would be better for a mid level sword? One is 40/142, the other is 55/82. I'm currently in the full TU gear right now, MO'ed out. Grinding to lvl 115 and will start Kursast 3K to get some signets and try to find the mysteries set.

Choose the one with higher ED.

karlsson95 wrote:Respecced to Fire/Cold and can't decide if I like it or not

Higher defence, similar health, but ice elementals don't really offer much

Also my CTB is only 19% with baneblade active, that seems very low. 1143 dex and using T4 cloudladder

Ice Elementals are no good for Melee Sorcs anymore. They now need heavy investment to be worthwhile (skill synergies, minion res, minion life, etc.). If using the Cold tree, just use it for Snow Queen and leave it at 25 points (no more Life boosts after 25 points).

Your CtB is about right for that much DEX and no CtB modifier from your shield. Your CtB will rise once you get a shield with a CtB mod and some Charms with res. Then you can start replacing your p-res gem socket fillers with Amethysts/Io Runes.

why my mana always not enough.

i get all you show mid game items.....

Make sure you have 5x "Regenerate Mana" orbs on each piece of jewelry.

A question about the midgame weapon choices - I made a Khany runeword and an honorific sword, but I'm not really noticing too much of a difference. Tooltip dps for bladestorm is 1370-2700 with the Khany and 1200-1900 with the sacred honorific. I know tooltip isn't everything, and I can't really tell much of a difference when trying to attack tanky targets. Is the increased CB (doesn't work on bosses though I think now?) and EWD really taht much of a difference? The Khany can go even higher in ED if I get a nice roll and get one more level to put another 15% MO on the base before redoing the runeword to get 273 ED maximum assuming a perfect roll.

Thanks very much!

Hey I have some questions. Let me start off by saying this is the build that has given me the most fun out of MXL. I tried many druid, necro, paladin and barb builds and this one is my favorite.

There's only one problem I'm having and not really sure how to go about fixing it right now. I am level 113 and I feel super squishy. My defense is so low and I feel like I don't leech enough. I'm about to respec to get enough points to start wearing sacred str required armors but will that defense difference be enough? I'm used to characters that have 100,000k's and I don't think I can get that without going something other than fire poison.

Should I go poison cold? fire cold? Lightning? Not sure how much defense that cold skill even gives. I just don't like randomly dying to trash mobs in areas like k3k. Sure I need to get the sacred gear and equip a shield with block chance but is that going to be enough to not be squishy anymore? I will be able to find out later today when I get more time.

If I did end up going cold or lightning for more defensive options are there any of the spells there good for anything?

Also is it worth putting some points into bladestorm to reduce the magic damage so you can leech more life? Is there any point in using wraithsword ever? For some reason it seems like wraithsword > bladestorm for single target, plus more leech.

Finally I would like to say thank you for taking the time to write the guide and answer questions, really wish more people would write guides on the builds they play. Melee sorc is for sure in popular demand right now according to twitch streams and their viewers. With barb summons now following you and being more appealing to players since necro summons aren't that good right now, you'd think someone would write a guide for that.

igloosPat wrote:I followed your old guide and have pretty much done all content and it was a breeze. This really is a strong build and honestly pretty fast farmer too. I clear Fautz and Bremm in a few minutes, literally cannot die even if I just go AFK sitting there.

Once I was able to get 50% DR without the poison passive I went lightning / fire with avoid passive.

Great guide and thanks for making your old one. The perfect build for someone who wanted to just check out all the content.

Hey man, any chance you could shed some more light on your sorc stats ?

I'm 129 atm switching between elem and phys, depending on mood / for testing purposes, being at max phys reduction and above 50% block (55 if i recall correctly).
My question is, how can you breeze through Bremmtown ? Fauzt is ok for me, no real challenge there (not a breeze but defiitly not a problem either), but Bremm is one shot land :/

I play median since a while , i tried to read on forum, but i still dont understand how damage tpyes work, could someone clarify?
So Bladestorm works like this:

•What is the 35% weapon damage part of the skill that all those flying scimitars deal?

•Also, how does an "elemental melee sorceress work"?
Lets say it equips

Starhawk

Starhawk
Warp Blade (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: 49 to 86
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 400
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
Innate Tri-Elemental Damage: (45.0% of Dexterity)
Area Effect Attack
25% Chance to cast level 50 Magic Missiles on Melee Attack
+(3 to 5) to Sorceress Skill Levels
50% Attack Speed
Adds 400-500 Magic Damage
-(25 to 35)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
10% Chance to Avoid Damage
Socketed (6)

,

Trang-Oul's Breath

Trang-Oul's Breath
Mask (Sacred)
Defense: (1316 - 2256) to (1405 - 2409)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 105
Dragon Breath: Reduces Weapon Physical Damage by 25%
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
+(15 to 40)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(40 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
+250 to Mana
Maximum Fire Resist +(1 to 2)%
Maximum Cold Resist +(1 to 2)%
Socketed (4)

,

Rainbow Fury

Rainbow Fury
Bone Shield (Sacred)
Defense: (1640 - 2123) to (1902 - 2461)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 527
Item Level: 105
+1 to All Skills
Adds 25-50 Fire Damage
Adds 25-50 Lightning Damage
Adds 25-50 Cold Damage
-10% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(8 to 20) to Storm Crows
+(70 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
+(50 to 75) to Dexterity
+1 Life on Striking
Socketed (6)

, etc...
In total is so much more dmg that a pure phys dmg weapon can achieve. But still i dont see many ppl using it, most ppl want high pys dmg Warp Blade. Also paladins with similar skill Divine Judgement also use high pys dmg Hand of God, not ele dmg.
So whats the bad side of using elemental dmg? Should i use different skill than bladestorm if i'm elemental melee sorc?
Also, does spell dmg / elemental dmg % bonus boost the dmg? And does lifelech work different with ele dmg ?:)

Thanks:)

Speedpad wrote:
igloosPat wrote:I followed your old guide and have pretty much done all content and it was a breeze. This really is a strong build and honestly pretty fast farmer too. I clear Fautz and Bremm in a few minutes, literally cannot die even if I just go AFK sitting there.

Once I was able to get 50% DR without the poison passive I went lightning / fire with avoid passive.

Great guide and thanks for making your old one. The perfect build for someone who wanted to just check out all the content.

Hey man, any chance you could shed some more light on your sorc stats ?

I'm 129 atm switching between elem and phys, depending on mood / for testing purposes, being at max phys reduction and above 50% block (55 if i recall correctly).
My question is, how can you breeze through Bremmtown ? Fauzt is ok for me, no real challenge there (not a breeze but defiitly not a problem either), but Bremm is one shot land :/

My guess is that you need to farm 400 signets so you can get max block. My sorc has 5000+ dexterity, probably overkill but sounds like yours is low.

Vyvanne wrote:
► Show Spoiler
A question about the midgame weapon choices - I made a Khany runeword and an honorific sword, but I'm not really noticing too much of a difference. Tooltip dps for bladestorm is 1370-2700 with the Khany and 1200-1900 with the sacred honorific. I know tooltip isn't everything, and I can't really tell much of a difference when trying to attack tanky targets. Is the increased CB (doesn't work on bosses though I think now?) and EWD really taht much of a difference? The Khany can go even higher in ED if I get a nice roll and get one more level to put another 15% MO on the base before redoing the runeword to get 273 ED maximum assuming a perfect roll.

Thanks very much!

A couple things to consider:
The gear pieces I chose are meant to work with the other pieces in each "gearset" in a sort-of synergistic way. On their own, they may not make a difference. But when used together, they will. This is why I usually don't recommend mixing pieces from different gearsets or only using partial gearsets.

Which brings me to Khany vs. Sacred Honorific.

Never trust LCS numbers b/c you rarely get the whole story (there's a reason it's called "Lying Character Sheet"). Khany shows more damage b/c it's including the flat Lightning damage. But remember, Baneblade and Firedance won't boost flat Elemental damage, so it will only take you so far. Additionally, with the Sacred Honorific, you have "hidden" damage mods that won't show up in the LCS--such as EWD, DS, and CB.

And speaking of CB, as you said, it doesn't work on bosses. But it's still good for clearing mobs faster. Jah Runes as socket fillers would be ideal, but they increase the lvl req too much.

IOPPB wrote:
► Show Spoiler
Hey I have some questions. Let me start off by saying this is the build that has given me the most fun out of MXL. I tried many druid, necro, paladin and barb builds and this one is my favorite.

There's only one problem I'm having and not really sure how to go about fixing it right now. I am level 113 and I feel super squishy. My defense is so low and I feel like I don't leech enough. I'm about to respec to get enough points to start wearing sacred str required armors but will that defense difference be enough? I'm used to characters that have 100,000k's and I don't think I can get that without going something other than fire poison.

Should I go poison cold? fire cold? Lightning? Not sure how much defense that cold skill even gives. I just don't like randomly dying to trash mobs in areas like k3k. Sure I need to get the sacred gear and equip a shield with block chance but is that going to be enough to not be squishy anymore? I will be able to find out later today when I get more time.

If I did end up going cold or lightning for more defensive options are there any of the spells there good for anything?

Also is it worth putting some points into bladestorm to reduce the magic damage so you can leech more life? Is there any point in using wraithsword ever? For some reason it seems like wraithsword > bladestorm for single target, plus more leech.

Finally I would like to say thank you for taking the time to write the guide and answer questions, really wish more people would write guides on the builds they play. Melee sorc is for sure in popular demand right now according to twitch streams and their viewers. With barb summons now following you and being more appealing to players since necro summons aren't that good right now, you'd think someone would write a guide for that.

Again, with Poison/Fire, it's all about that aggressive playstyle and making sure you're attacking something all the time (whether that be in melee or from a distance with Fusillade). You're still "tanky," just in a different way.

You'll never get huge ACD as a Sorc, but Lightning/Cold or Poison/Lightning are gonna be your best bets if you want the traditional tanky feel.

Cold tree is only good for Snow Queen. And even then, leave it at 25 points, b/c no more Life boosts after 25 points. Lightning tree is only good for Warp Armor, but still put a point into Nova Charge for the extra NRG and occasional nova blast.

Leave Bladestorm at 1 point. Otherwise, the Mana cost is too high (+Skills/+Sorc Skills will reduce the conversion rate anyway). The LL mod is meant mostly for Fusillade so you can still leech when not in melee.

And just a quick word regarding Summoner Necro: nobody plays it b/c Necro summons desperately need a rework (it was meant to happen before Sigma's release, but the devs ran out of time). The second that rework happens, HechtHeftig will have a guide for it. And I predict Summoner Necro will be one of the most popular builds that patch.

Chrysamere wrote:
► Show Spoiler
I play median since a while , i tried to read on forum, but i still dont understand how damage tpyes work, could someone clarify?
So Bladestorm works like this:

•What is the 35% weapon damage part of the skill that all those flying scimitars deal?
Is it the 35% of the : physical dmg of the weapon ?
Is it the 35% of the : physical damage of the weapon + the flat "+added dmg" modifiers on your items?
Is it the 35% of the : phys dmg of the weapon + all the elemental , magic, and physical flat mods on weapon and item?

•Also, how does an "elemental melee sorceress work"?
Lets say it equips
Starhawk
Starhawk
Warp Blade (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: 49 to 86
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 400
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
Innate Tri-Elemental Damage: (45.0% of Dexterity)
Area Effect Attack
25% Chance to cast level 50 Magic Missiles on Melee Attack
+(3 to 5) to Sorceress Skill Levels
50% Attack Speed
Adds 400-500 Magic Damage
-(25 to 35)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
10% Chance to Avoid Damage
Socketed (6)
,
Trang-Oul's Breath
Trang-Oul's Breath
Mask (Sacred)
Defense: (1316 - 2256) to (1405 - 2409)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 105
Dragon Breath: Reduces Weapon Physical Damage by 25%
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
+(15 to 40)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(40 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
+250 to Mana
Maximum Fire Resist +(1 to 2)%
Maximum Cold Resist +(1 to 2)%
Socketed (4)
,
Rainbow Fury
Rainbow Fury
Bone Shield (Sacred)
Defense: (1640 - 2123) to (1902 - 2461)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 527
Item Level: 105
+1 to All Skills
Adds 25-50 Fire Damage
Adds 25-50 Lightning Damage
Adds 25-50 Cold Damage
-10% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(8 to 20) to Storm Crows
+(70 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
+(50 to 75) to Dexterity
+1 Life on Striking
Socketed (6)
, etc...
In total is so much more dmg that a pure phys dmg weapon can achieve. But still i dont see many ppl using it, most ppl want high pys dmg Warp Blade. Also paladins with similar skill Divine Judgement also use high pys dmg Hand of God, not ele dmg.
So whats the bad side of using elemental dmg? Should i use different skill than bladestorm if i'm elemental melee sorc?
Also, does spell dmg / elemental dmg % bonus boost the dmg? And does lifelech work different with ele dmg ?:)

Thanks:)

35% Weapon Damage means just that: it deals only 35% of your weapon's total damage. It's the last step in the damage calculation, so it affects all damage mods applied to the weapon (ED, flat Phys damage, EWD, +Phys damage, DS, damage conversion, and flat Elemental damage). So, for example, if your total weapon damage after all damage mods are accounted for is 500-1000, Bladestorm will only deal 170-350. But, you have 8(?) missiles, each dealing that 170-350 damage. This means your potential damage is still higher (which is why Bladestorm kills faster than Main Attack, or even Moonstrike).

The biggest downsides to Elemental builds are that flat Elemental damage doesn't leech, and your damage comes almost exclusively from your gear (Baneblade won't boost flat Elemental damage, nor will the +%Spell Damage from Firedance). I personally prefer Phys builds b/c they're easier to gear and you can do more with cheaper gear. But I still haven't found any end-game gear yet, so idk how Phys vs. Elemental actually performs in Sigma end-game.

Bladestorm as main, switching to Wraithsword to leech, is still probably your best bet. That said, I'm itching to try a Charged Strike build.