Melee Sorceress [1.3]

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Solfege
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Jampula wrote:
Solfege wrote:The attack speed, hit recovery, block rate, and velocity boosts from Wolf Stance aren't much, but they could be useful.

Old post but this caught my eye. Speeds WS grants are very much as they are skill speeds and are counted differently. For example even 30 skill FHR makes it a joke to reach 3 frame hit recovery with a sorc, saving jewel/mo/item or whatever space.


:o O rly? I didn't know that about WS. Never really played around with skill-based speed boost beyond what Baneblade gives. How do you calculate how much they affect your character? Is there a place in Speedcalc to plug in those values? I don't have it in front of me rn to check myself.
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Jampula
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Solfege wrote:
Jampula wrote:
Solfege wrote:The attack speed, hit recovery, block rate, and velocity boosts from Wolf Stance aren't much, but they could be useful.

Old post but this caught my eye. Speeds WS grants are very much as they are skill speeds and are counted differently. For example even 30 skill FHR makes it a joke to reach 3 frame hit recovery with a sorc, saving jewel/mo/item or whatever space.


:o O rly? I didn't know that about WS. Never really played around with skill-based speed boost beyond what Baneblade gives. How do you calculate how much they affect your character? Is there a place in Speedcalc to plug in those values? I don't have it in front of me rn to check myself.

Yes it's right beside where you put the item speeds. Rapture, Mark of the Wild, Ecstatic Frenzy etc. are the same thing, useful to know when calculating speeds. Passives like barbs Immortal doesn't work that way though.
monkey1234
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Solfege wrote:
► Show Spoiler

The image you post shows that a rune word weapons with double orbs effect!

How can you did that?

Is it still valid in median 2017?
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mahitovec
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no
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Solfege
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monkey1234 wrote:
Solfege wrote:
► Show Spoiler

The image you post shows that a rune word weapons with double orbs effect!

How can you did that?

Is it still valid in median 2017?


As Mahi said, no. You can't make Dark Exile (or any RW weapon) like that anymore.

That image was just used to show how ridiculously high repair costs for Elemental RWs were back in XVI.
SlugInfinite
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I'm playing as this build and I gotta say, I love it! I'm having a bit of trouble farming though, do you have any recommendations for me? I'm currently just running terror Kurast, as it's the only place I can clear with reasonable ease (~2 deaths a run max) for abandoned shrines and sacred rares. I've made it to A5 Dest, but I'm not really able to progress past the first quest without major deaths. I haven't played Median for over 4 years, and even then I was never that great, so looking for any tips you can give me.

I'm currently using a crafted Diadem, Erawan (Nih) armor, Wall of Fire (on) shield, and the rest t6 uniques from this guide. Everythings orbed according to the guide as well.

I've been searching and searching for a Warp Blade (sacred) for either crafting or Xar/On RW, but I feel like class specific items are exponentially rarer than others.

Is there anything I could do better or a different place I should be looting for a warp blade? I feel kind of stuck (even though I feel like I have a chance of upgrades dropping, so not too too bad), it's just I've literally been rocking the same gear searching for even a grey/blue warp blade for 2 days now. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Oh, and thanks for the guide Solfege, you rock! Really in-depth for a newbie like me.

EDIT:
I forgot to add details about my merc. I know you said they're not required, but do you think they give a noticeable increase to anything? I'm currently using a A5 merc with a Shark, Deadfall, Full plate mail (forget the name), and a +2 skills, +str, and doom ammy. It says Rogues and Iron Wolves are most useful to melee sorc, any certain procs you want on their gear? And why are they better than the A5 merc? Sorry if these are dumb questions, just really want to learn more about this build and Median in general.
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Solfege
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SlugInfinite wrote:I'm playing as this build and I gotta say, I love it! I'm having a bit of trouble farming though, do you have any recommendations for me? I'm currently just running terror Kurast, as it's the only place I can clear with reasonable ease (~2 deaths a run max) for abandoned shrines and sacred rares. I've made it to A5 Dest, but I'm not really able to progress past the first quest without major deaths. I haven't played Median for over 4 years, and even then I was never that great, so looking for any tips you can give me.

I'm currently using a crafted Diadem, Erawan (Nih) armor, Wall of Fire (on) shield, and the rest t6 uniques from this guide. Everythings orbed according to the guide as well.

I've been searching and searching for a Warp Blade (sacred) for either crafting or Xar/On RW, but I feel like class specific items are exponentially rarer than others.

Is there anything I could do better or a different place I should be looting for a warp blade? I feel kind of stuck (even though I feel like I have a chance of upgrades dropping, so not too too bad), it's just I've literally been rocking the same gear searching for even a grey/blue warp blade for 2 days now. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Oh, and thanks for the guide Solfege, you rock! Really in-depth for a newbie like me.

EDIT:
I forgot to add details about my merc. I know you said they're not required, but do you think they give a noticeable increase to anything? I'm currently using a A5 merc with a Shark, Deadfall, Full plate mail (forget the name), and a +2 skills, +str, and doom ammy. It says Rogues and Iron Wolves are most useful to melee sorc, any certain procs you want on their gear? And why are they better than the A5 merc? Sorry if these are dumb questions, just really want to learn more about this build and Median in general.


Hmm...where to begin... :)

Weapon:
Sacred Warp Blades are unreasonably rare (this needs to be fixed IMO). I'm on to testing the last few end-game Ubers, and I've only ever found 2--neither was Rare and both of them were dropped in T-Cows. So maybe just try running T-Cows until you find one. Then, either make
Khany
or
Gehenna


Gehenna
Weapons

'ChamOhmLo'
Runeword Level: 83
20% Chance to cast level 32 Frozen Crown on Melee Attack
15% Block Speed
15% Hit Recovery
Adds 94-125 Cold Damage
Adds 150-200 Poison Damage over 1 seconds
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Damage
+25% to Cold Spell Damage
-25% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+25% to Poison Spell Damage
-25% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Maximum Life +5%
Maximum Mana +(23 to 28)%
Requirements -33%
and see if that doesn't help your Terror Shrine farming. The other option when you find one is to use Charsi's imbue to make it Rare and use whatever shrines you have to get the best blade you can. Balefire is a great proc for Uber bosses, but Flamefront is better for farming (I used a Flamefront proc Crafted Warp Blade made with Fascinating and Hidden Shrines for Shrine farming T-Fauzt. It didn't give amazing clearspeed, but it got the job done). Eventually, you'll want a properly crafted one, though.

Body Armor+Shield:
Same concept as weapon. RWs are meant for Shrine farming in Terror. I was lucky and found enough Abandoned+Creepy shrines to make half-way decent gear, but it's more important to get a good crafted shield with +2% CtB and 10% DR than crafted body armor. The highest grade Sorc body armor I found for crafting was a Kazarghand. I'm still using only a Kazarghand for
Hellfire Plate

Hellfire Plate
Body Armors

'IgnJahGurRhal'
Runeword Level: 115
+1% Innate Elemental Damage per 250 Strength and Dexterity
15% Chance to cast level 9 Life Spark on Melee Attack
20% Attack Speed
+250 Fire Damage
-(11 to 15)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
Maximum Life +(3 to 5)%
Maximum Elemental Resists +(1 to 2)%
Fire Resist +(10 to 20)%
Lightning Resist +(10 to 20)%
Cold Resist +(10 to 20)%
Poison Resist +(10 to 20)%
Physical Resist (7 to 10)%
.

Helm:
Your helm is the least important craft, since the second you find
Witchhunter's Hood
Witchhunter's Hood
Cap (Sacred)

Defense: (2136 - 2611) to (2161 - 2642)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength:
250
Item Level: 1
+(80 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
10% to Strength
10% to Dexterity
Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
Elemental Resists +(31 to 40)%
Physical Resist 5%
(16 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)

Witchhunter's Attire
(Assassin Claw Set)
or
Royal Circlet
Royal Circlet
Tiara (Sacred)

Defense: (1740 - 1957) to (1968 - 2214)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 392
Item Level: 105
+2 to All Skills
+50% Damage to Demons
+50% Damage to Undead
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to All Attributes
Elemental Resists +(25 to 30)%
Physical Resist 5%
(21 to 25)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)
, it's going to be replaced.

Belt/Gloves/Boots:
I didn't swap out my TU pieces until end-game, so those should still be fine.

Mercs:
The right mercs can make a HUGE difference--especially for farming. I use an A1 Priestess in the beginning b/c she stays out of my way, makes things easier to kill with Tremor, and her Vindicate curse keeps me at full health. But when the time comes to farm, I use an A3 Abjurer. That little powerhouse can clear things out so much faster than you ever could alone, even with garbage gear (especially TA and Cows). A5 merc AI is just dumb as a box of rocks. I used one during Chaos Season and it just didn't work out. For other builds, he's great--just not for this one.

For cheap gear for your A3 Abjurer, get him TU Long Sword, TU Ancient Armor, TU Tower Shield, and TU Belt. The rest can be Honorifics. First, orb all his gear with +LSD and fill sockets with Ort Runes (Lum Runes for TA and Cows). Then, orb his weapon with FCR and his armor with ED/TCD. The rest is up to you, but FR/W, FHR, Phys/M Spell Damage, and +Resists are helpful.
SlugInfinite
Cultist
22 | 0
Thanks for all that info! Really really appreciate it. I suppose I'll update a bit with my progress, hope that's okay :).

I found a Rare Sacred Warp Blade ! I found it running terror Nithilak (I accidentally got the WP my first run through without realizing the portal disaspears, is that only wanted/needed so you can kill that first elite pack or is there other benefits I'm not seeing?). Was super stoked, although I'm having terrible RNG when it comes to getting either proc (Balefire/Flamefront), so it's just sitting in my stash until I can upgrade my Khany (found a grey warp blade in tcows) I crafted life steal jewels, and one life on attack jewel (which I'm thinking to just replace w/ a life steal one, my health drops down too often for me to be comfortable :( )

My new farming run is as follows: K3K clear, Mephisto, then Nithilak, as long as I keep that up I should be steadily progressing for a bit.

Thank you again for this awesome guide, Melee sorc gameplay is super fun IMO.
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Solfege
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SlugInfinite wrote:Thanks for all that info! Really really appreciate it. I suppose I'll update a bit with my progress, hope that's okay :).

I found a Rare Sacred Warp Blade ! I found it running terror Nithilak (I accidentally got the WP my first run through without realizing the portal disaspears, is that only wanted/needed so you can kill that first elite pack or is there other benefits I'm not seeing?). Was super stoked, although I'm having terrible RNG when it comes to getting either proc (Balefire/Flamefront), so it's just sitting in my stash until I can upgrade my Khany (found a grey warp blade in tcows) I crafted life steal jewels, and one life on attack jewel (which I'm thinking to just replace w/ a life steal one, my health drops down too often for me to be comfortable :( )

My new farming run is as follows: K3K clear, Mephisto, then Nithilak, as long as I keep that up I should be steadily progressing for a bit.

Thank you again for this awesome guide, Melee sorc gameplay is super fun IMO.


Yes, please do keep me updated on your progress. I want the guide to be as beginner-friendly, informative, and easy to understand as possible, so reading progress reports from users following the guide helps me a lot.

Getting the right proc and decent stats on a Craft is a pita. If your kill speed is decent with
Khany
, but survivability is the issue, try focusing on using your Abandoned Shrines to craft a 2% CtB/10% DR Dex Shield and see how far you get with that.

It's fine if Nihlathak's portal disappears. Having it just makes it easier if you wanted to come back later and farm Jitan for a perfect Charm/Trophy, that's all.

Life Leech is tricky with a Melee Sorc using Bladestorm b/c there's so much working against you: the 1/15 effectiveness penalty in Dest, the high Magic damage conversion of Bladestorm, the 100% Lightning damage conversion with Stormblast, etc. But with Moonstrike's massive new damage buff, LL may be the better option. I may have to revisit the Jewwlcrafting section after I do some calculations.
monkey1234
Destroyer
7 | 0
Can you give me guideline to cube the Trader's Chest?
The guideline I found make me so confuse. :(

Also, is the maximum damage of warp blade capped at around 18x to 36x?
And what do you think of Death Star and ATM proc on a warp blade?
It seems that Balefire proc is not that high damage..... :facepalm: