Melee Sorceress [1.3]

Thanks for the feedback. Let me try to take your points one at a time...

keithioapc wrote:I used [the guide] and got through to Destruction Baal no problems. Even did most of the ubers you marked green and blue. Toraja, Triune, Bremmtown & Belial are giving me a bit of trouble, I'm at the point where I guess I should farm something, but I'm not sure what. I think Nihlathak & TA are my best bets for farming?

Duncraig is the ideal farming spot, but not really for a Melee Sorc (then again, who knows. She may be able to handle Dunc farming just fine now with the damage tweaks. I didn't make it that far). Otherwise, TA is probably your best bet if you can clear it quickly.

keithioapc wrote:I'm using the Druid set belt Marchosias' Hatred, which I feel is quite good and maybe worth mentioning as a gear option?

There are so many gear/spec combinations that can lead to success. I wanted to keep the guide simple for new players, so I only focused on some fairly mainstream gear choices. The goal of the guide wasn't to just say "get this gear, use these skills, and raep all uberz," I wanted to give people a basic understanding of what a Melee Sorc is so they can come up with their own variations.

keithioapc wrote:All your advice on specs is a bit confusing, but I've found lightning/ice to be my best bet.

Could you be more specific about what was confusing so I can possibly tweak things?

keithioapc wrote:The offensive bonus from flamefront is additive with other stuff so not as big as I thought it would be, hardly worth the bother.

Also I found points in Frozen Elementals (or their synergy) are a waste... the little buggers die like flies even with them. I found that my points were better invested in the Blade Elementals, which scale quite nicely with hard points. I'm smaxing them, so they have like 35k hp and almost never die. With them as my backbone meatshields I find it easy just to keep 1-2 frozen elementals alive. This is coming at the expense of familiar, which I only have 4 points in.

Do you mean Living Flame rather than Flamefront? If so, it really needs to be paired with Snow Quenn's +%Life to maximize it's potential. Otherwise, it's basically just a source of life regen. As to Ice Elementa's survivability, again, that's where the Living Flame/Snow Queen synergy comes in. They've got much lower overall stats than Blade Spirits, so without a source of life regen, they'll die off quickly. As for Blade Spirits, they've always been tanky, so the fact they rarely die is really no surprise.

keithioapc wrote:I was wondering what mystic orbs I should use on my witchhunter's hood helm & dragon's breach shield - also is it worth is to use MOs to get 100% reduced curse duration? I used my crafted gloves and boots to get that, I hope that wasn't bad.

MOs are merely supplements to make up for what you're lacking, so it just depends on what you need. If your defense, resists, and summon survivability are all good, throw on some +DEX orbs for more damage or even just use MF orbs.

keithioapc wrote:Is there some secret to getting sacred warp blades? I'm still using my TU weapon, feels like I might be stuck with it forever. Also, is there some secret to getting etheral items? They seem more rare than I remember them being.

Duncraig has a Sacred drop bias. Otherwise, it's just RNG. I never saw a Sacred Warp Blade drop once during the few days I was playing this ladder, but then, I've never had good drops.

keithioapc wrote:I'm really impressed by how good the Abjurer mercenary is - I've got mine equipped with TU longsword and TU ancient armor, but I can't seem to find any good budget (IE TU or runeword) shield or helm options for him. For the longest time I had a shield on him that made him cast bloodlust when he killed an enemy... but after some testing I don't think that kind of item works on mercs (or at least not on this one).

Abjurer merc is really good. You basically geared him the way I do. TU Tower Shield is also good. Otherwise, just give him Honorifics or Ornate Crafts orbed with +LSD, defense, and MF. On-kill procs won't work for him b/c only WDM and Poison skills will trigger them.

As an aside:
For now, the guide is still basically the old XVI version, just updated for M2017. It's nowhere near what I want it to be yet. There were some subtle changes to a Melee Sorc's damage mechanics that are really having some profound effects on what she can do. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to test all these different things b/c Summertime=12-14 hour workdays for me 6 days a week, so I apologize if my advice/suggestions are a bit vague. I know it's not fair to people using the guide, just know that I'm trying to get the rework done as fast as I can.

Cheers.

keithioapc wrote:Thanks for the guide!

I used it and got through to Destruction Baal no problems. Even did most of the ubers you marked green and blue. Toraja, Triune, Bremmtown & Belial are giving me a bit of trouble, I'm at the point where I guess I should farm something, but I'm not sure what. I think Nihlathak & TA are my best bets for farming?

I'm using the Druid set belt Marchosias' Hatred, which I feel is quite good and maybe worth mentioning as a gear option?

All your advice on specs is a bit confusing, but I've found lightning/ice to be my best bet. The offensive bonus from flamefront is additive with other stuff so not as big as I thought it would be, hardly worth the bother.

Also I found points in Frozen Elementals (or their synergy) are a waste... the little buggers die like flies even with them. I found that my points were better invested in the Blade Elementals, which scale quite nicely with hard points. I'm smaxing them, so they have like 35k hp and almost never die. With them as my backbone meatshields I find it easy just to keep 1-2 frozen elementals alive. This is coming at the expense of familiar, which I only have 4 points in.

I was wondering what mystic orbs I should use on my witchhunter's hood helm & dragon's breach shield - also is it worth is to use MOs to get 100% reduced curse duration? I used my crafted gloves and boots to get that, I hope that wasn't bad.

Is there some secret to getting sacred warp blades? I'm still using my TU weapon, feels like I might be stuck with it forever. Also, is there some secret to getting etheral items? They seem more rare than I remember them being.

I'm really impressed by how good the Abjurer mercenary is - I've got mine equipped with TU longsword and TU ancient armor, but I can't seem to find any good budget (IE TU or runeword) shield or helm options for him. For the longest time I had a shield on him that made him cast bloodlust when he killed an enemy... but after some testing I don't think that kind of item works on mercs (or at least not on this one).

Thanks againt for the guide!

That's awesome dude - I use the build mostly as a framework/reference, too. There's stuff that worked very well for me and stuff that I didn't like. I had the same problem with the Ice Elementals - and i actually solved it the same way you did!

They just kept dying on every single occasion ever - and then i used the swords as a meatshield and it worked out really well!
I also had "problems" with the somewhat early switch to fire/Frost. Thunder/Frost is certainly the more defensive build, most of the time you don't actually need the additional damage from firedance. But when you finally get some good SUs and your survivability improves you can easily make the switch. (especially when you get adamantite which gives you the Warp Armor skill - and no, haven't gotten it yet)

€: Btw solfege i'd like to get your take on the Xis' Runewords. Do you think they're worth it? Especially

Brocken (Xis)

- i farmed all the materials for it, so now i have the decision to make, if I would like to use this one or get the crazy %life boots.

Can any of those weapons even compete with

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)

?

I mean, you basically get a decent amount of damage, a minion which buffs bloodlust (so you can equip another shield than akarats - preferebly with more block), a neat sounding ctc (It's really hard to guess the usefulness of those ctcs) and tons of %def

Crema wrote:Btw solfege i'd like to get your take on the Xis' Runewords. Do you think they're worth it? Especially
Brocken (Xis)
- i farmed all the materials for it, so now i have the decision to make, if I would like to use this one or get the crazy %life boots.

Can any of those weapons even compete with
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)
? I mean, you basically get a decent amount of damage, a minion which buffs bloodlust (so you can equip another shield than akarats - preferebly with more block), a neat sounding ctc (It's really hard to guess the usefulness of those ctcs) and tons of %def

Xis RWs...I don't like them. They're expensive, can't be orbed, and if you fuck it up, you're sol. IIRC, Chuck recommends Brocken for one of his guides, so it's likely a decent choice, but that Protector Spirit is a pita b/c he won't follow you. I just like other weapons like Dark Exile better. Used that in XVI for awhile, but it cost more than 4 million gold to repair and couldn't be made indestructible. Things are different now, so looking forward to trying it again.

The more I play, the less necessary Starhawk seems (that's a good thing). I also don't much care for Akarat's Crucifix and personally never use it, but it's moderately useful with high damage weapons.

Solfege wrote:
Crema wrote:Btw solfege i'd like to get your take on the Xis' Runewords. Do you think they're worth it? Especially
Brocken (Xis)
- i farmed all the materials for it, so now i have the decision to make, if I would like to use this one or get the crazy %life boots.

Can any of those weapons even compete with
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)
? I mean, you basically get a decent amount of damage, a minion which buffs bloodlust (so you can equip another shield than akarats - preferebly with more block), a neat sounding ctc (It's really hard to guess the usefulness of those ctcs) and tons of %def

Xis RWs...I don't like them. They're expensive, can't be orbed, and if you fuck it up, you're sol. IIRC, Chuck recommends Brocken for one of his guides, so it's likely a decent choice, but that Protector Spirit is a pita b/c he won't follow you. I just like other weapons like Dark Exile better. Used that in XVI for awhile, but it cost more than 4 million gold to repair and couldn't be made indestructible. Things are different now, so looking forward to trying it again.

The more I play, the less necessary Starhawk seems (that's a good thing). I also don't much care for Akarat's Crucifix and personally never use it, but it's moderately useful with high damage weapons.

Makes a whole lot of sense - especially if you consider, that

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)

and

Dark Exile

are one of the few ways to actually decrease the enemies resistences in median 2017. Now that im thinking about it

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)

and

Dark Exile

are more offensive options while

Brocken (Xis)

is a rather defensive choice.

I guess I'm gonna build myself some

Epicenter (Xis)

boots, because moar life is always good

Thanks to your guide! It is really noob-friendly.

I'm having a bit of trouble getting some of your core gears. Could you recommend some gears that doesn't require shrine crafting? Abandoned shrine drops rarely and farming Fautz with MeleeSorc is really slow.

I'm currently farming Terror TA (7th run btw) for mid-game gear and gear sets drop frequently. What gear set should I keep? Elemental Children? or none at all?

Also @keithioapc's post fix some of my problems(tanky mobs). Spending some points on blade Spirits instead of frigid sphere is really a good idea. I think it's better to use some points on Moonstrike instead of Fusillade. As a Fire/Ice user, I rather have a Boost damage every 3 secs instead of some damage every 9 secs. Doing Firedance then Fusillade might be really good idea but since you always move, you can't always have a firedance buff on your side IMO.

Aslaii wrote:Thanks to your guide! It is really noob-friendly.

I'm having a bit of trouble getting some of your core gears. Could you recommend some gears that doesn't require shrine crafting? Abandoned shrine drops rarely and farming Fautz with MeleeSorc is really slow.

I'm currently farming Terror TA (7th run btw) for mid-game gear and gear sets drop frequently. What gear set should I keep? Elemental Children? or none at all?

Also @keithioapc's post fix some of my problems(tanky mobs). Spending some points on blade Spirits instead of frigid sphere is really a good idea. I think it's better to use some points on Moonstrike instead of Fusillade. As a Fire/Ice user, I rather have a Boost damage every 3 secs instead of some damage every 9 secs. Doing Firedance then Fusillade might be really good idea but since you always move, you can't always have a firedance buff on your side IMO.

Well, I don't know if there are any other great options, but that's kinda how it works.
You start off with TU items, get some Rare Sacred items and start shrine crafting and then you can switch them out for SU items. There's a lot of farming involved.
If you run a lot of fauzt for shrines - you could always trade those that you don't need for abandonded shrines.

Crema wrote:
Aslaii wrote:Thanks to your guide! It is really noob-friendly.

I'm having a bit of trouble getting some of your core gears. Could you recommend some gears that doesn't require shrine crafting? Abandoned shrine drops rarely and farming Fautz with MeleeSorc is really slow.

I'm currently farming Terror TA (7th run btw) for mid-game gear and gear sets drop frequently. What gear set should I keep? Elemental Children? or none at all?

Also @keithioapc's post fix some of my problems(tanky mobs). Spending some points on blade Spirits instead of frigid sphere is really a good idea. I think it's better to use some points on Moonstrike instead of Fusillade. As a Fire/Ice user, I rather have a Boost damage every 3 secs instead of some damage every 9 secs. Doing Firedance then Fusillade might be really good idea but since you always move, you can't always have a firedance buff on your side IMO.

Well, I don't know if there are any other great options, but that's kinda how it works.
You start off with TU items, get some Rare Sacred items and start shrine crafting and then you can switch them out for SU items. There's a lot of farming involved.
If you run a lot of fauzt for shrines - you could always trade those that you don't need for abandonded shrines.

Trading will not work for me because I don't play in Realm. As I said before, farming in fauzt doesn't work me.

Aslaii wrote:
Crema wrote:Trading will not work for me because I don't play in Realm. As I said before, farming in fauzt doesn't work me.

I was having similar problems wiht my melee sorc. When i reached Dest my dmg just seemed too low and it was pretty annoying. To make things worse, sacred rare wrap blades just won't drop, so crafting wasn't an option. The solution i found was to farm Unformed Land. Turns out it's pretty easy if you take it slow. Let the summons tank, get a merc to help with dmg (got an act3) and do hit and runs. Should be pretty easy, i managed to farm 6 earth to make

Shattered Stone

. You could also farm the ice level but it seems a little harder.

Anyways, one you get that your damage gets a good boost, especially if you can get a few good procs on the rest of your gear. In the meantime,

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%

can also help, but it makes farming the ice level of UF kinda hard.

GrosFif wrote:
Aslaii wrote:
Crema wrote:Trading will not work for me because I don't play in Realm. As I said before, farming in fauzt doesn't work me.

I was having similar problems wiht my melee sorc. When i reached Dest my dmg just seemed too low and it was pretty annoying. To make things worse, sacred rare wrap blades just won't drop, so crafting wasn't an option. The solution i found was to farm Unformed Land. Turns out it's pretty easy if you take it slow. Let the summons tank, get a merc to help with dmg (got an act3) and do hit and runs. Should be pretty easy, i managed to farm 6 earth to make
Shattered Stone
. You could also farm the ice level but it seems a little harder.

Anyways, one you get that your damage gets a good boost, especially if you can get a few good procs on the rest of your gear. In the meantime,
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%
can also help, but it makes farming the ice level of UF kinda hard.

I'm using

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%

in a Scared Crystal sword as an alternative. I'll try farming in the UF.

Aslaii wrote:I'm using
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%
in a Scared Crystal sword as an alternative. I'll try farming in the UF.

Crystal swords are kinda bad though, T6 warp blade might even be better. But sacred wrap blades are incredibly hard to find, only got one so far... i feel your pain. Anyways you have to be careful on the elemental levels of UF (and use a physical attack for the first one), but the stone one is very doable. Also check your attack rating, at first i had like 60% chance to hit so it made it a lot slower.