Mana Sorceress

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Hrishi
Bone Archer
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Kinetickz wrote:guess I will benefit from a uber guide or at least a dungeon order that might make things easier will check out the guide in the comming weeks again since im a fan of the playstyle so far =)


I will be posting an update with uber bosses sometime this weekend, I've just been slammed with work this week, apologies!

Regarding tankiness, I'm not sure exactly what your stats are like, but assuming your damage is there do ensure you have solid defences from your gear. Of course physical resist helps, but 22% should be sufficient in many cases. If you're able to, upgrade over to sacred bases and MO with ED to help. If you haven't farmed Signets of Learning, definitely do so, they help mana sorcs a LOT. You can do this by killing Nihlathak over and over.
sumiyaka
Cultist
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hoanganh97 wrote:
Gunner wrote:
aamer43 wrote:Can anyone link their not armory? Would be great to see end game gear/Mo's etc. I tried looking up ladder characters but everyones melee Sorc

Wonder why. Is melee sorc better than mana sorc atm?

Mana sorc is better. Not much people play mana sorc because gears/umo are expensive



It's not just that the gear is expensive. It's that Mana Sorc, while fun and who doesn't love hurling bullet hell all over the place, is kinda like a collector's car with rare parts v/s a Honda that gets them to work. Leveling one without twinking, or a least having a secondary pile of gold for NRG MO's is kinda pulling teeth compared to other builds and I opted never to do it for a "first char" again. I started another one recently and realize that sure, ultimate clear speed at the end of the tunnel once things click is a great Pro, the cons like not having a move speed buff, power kinda tapping out earlier than some builds, and generally mediocre progression speed are enough to make this my "fun" character. I don't hate it, but the reality is I'm using 2 other characters to build it and it will sit in my "garage" as the Ferrari I wanna drive, but it's just not as good as my Maelstrom Sin or Melee sorc in any category right now.

That said I'm not here to poop on this guide or the build/class in general. It's a lot of fun! I just think a lot of people understand practical, fun and immediate access in totality are probably a bit more important than the kung fu master way of life where work equals ultimate power. I don't mind the work if it ends up worth it and this build does end up crazy.
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kombaina
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To be honest once you get valtheks staff you can level up yourself pretty darn good. When i got it and started doing k3k for some basic farm stuff i bought witchmoon, empyrean bands and it just got better and better. My gear at that moment was valtheks command, stillwater bone helm TU, queen of glass TU, eerie crafted boots, belt and gloves you can aswell choose to make them honorific if you want to, wtichmoon and two emp bands. About the charms tho.. Thats where things get rough if you dont have another char that can handle them on his own you gotta pay for them cuz some are hard to kill with a mana sorc if not geared good although i gotta say i can kill xazax and astrogha faster with my mana sorc than my hammerzon. Build has its own pros and cons. Overall like you said its a fun fast clearing build that i will always love.
Chauthe
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how would you rank celestial barrier on the shield choices?
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kombaina
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Ranked meh.. I think crafted would be better for defense
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Hrishi
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I have updated the guide to include an uber section for the Mid-game (up to level 120, really). Still working on the Late-game section for Ubers, but by that point of the guide, you'll have a pretty good idea on how to tackle them. :)


sumiyaka wrote:It's not just that the gear is expensive. It's that Mana Sorc, while fun and who doesn't love hurling bullet hell all over the place, is kinda like a collector's car with rare parts v/s a Honda that gets them to work.

I really like this part of your post as it explain how a Mana Sorc is built extremely well. We have no full set for our spec, and our gear consists of random parts from all over, assembled together. As those "parts" become better and better, your character moves towards becoming an unstoppable death machine. However, I must disagree with the notion that Mana Sorc isn't possible as a first character. Yes, you won't be able to afford all the expensive and rare gear/UMOs, but honestly, you don't need them for the majority of the game. Of course, they'll make your build even better, but if you're already able to do almost all content in the game without them, how necessary were they in the first place?


I started playing during Sigma's launch after a long time away from Median. I started as a Mana Sorc (and it was my only character all season) and I was able to do almost every uberboss in the game (I only didn't do the last few like Laz, Samael, etc). Isn't that good enough for a starting character?

Chauthe wrote:how would you rank celestial barrier on the shield choices?

It's honestly not a bad shield, but the main issue is the heavy DEX requirement to use it. So much DEX naturally would mean you're losing base NRG, which results in a lot of lost damage due to a diminished mana pool. If you aren't giving up NRG to equip it, I'd definitely give it a try, but that sounds quite difficult to do!
sumiyaka
Cultist
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Hrishi wrote:
However, I must disagree with the notion that Mana Sorc isn't possible as a first character. Yes, you won't be able to afford all the expensive and rare gear/UMOs, but honestly, you don't need them for the majority of the game. Of course, they'll make your build even better, but if you're already able to do almost all content in the game without them, how necessary were they in the first place?



You were fair to read it that way. My intentions were to explain that some people are going to pick a path of least resistance and sometimes in games like this making "that guy you like that just chews through everything so you can gear up other things" is a strategy that some adapt to, hence some people not picking mana sorc out of the box. My time has been limited this season and I get a couple hours a night, so I opted in on this path of lazyness. I'm a guy that spent ages crafting Melee sorcs and bow necros in DO2 LOD so I know all about making anything work if you really want it to or enjoy it enough in the end.

Thanks for the work on your guide :)
Gunner
Invader
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Like sumiyaka I'm finding it tough going. I thought I was probably doing something wrong until I read his posts.

My toon is level 111 and it has been very slow all the way. The only way I could get there was because of choosing ice tree for the ice elemental guys as shields. I didn't enjoy it, I was trying to empty my mana bulb and use Immersion all the way because that was the only skill that actually did anything.

I think I will park it and try something else, but thanks for taking the time to make the guide, I'm sure it will be ok for more experienced players with better gear.
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Hrishi
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One thing I do want to suggest (and should note in the guide too), is that once you have access to Nihlathak in hell, Mana Sorcs benefit a ton from Signets of Learning, much more than most other specs in the game because so much of our damage derives from base attributes. I would definitely highly suggest farming Nihlathak for a bit to get a decent number of Signets to make your life easier.
Jolly
Skeleton
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Hi. Great guide, Hrishi!

I've been a d2 player since it's release, but just started with Median and the info here has been great to get me going with this mod. I've been cruising through the game on single player using your advice and just finished up the 115 Ubers last night.

I wanted to add to your section on the legacy of blood by saying that this encounter can be cheesed by a Mana Sorc (and most likely others).

My strat for the fight was to enter the room and immediately head to the right and down. Moving quickly in this direction traps the mass of blood golems behind the central "lake" which allows me to clear the few blood golems by the door in relative peace. Once you clear the golems that spawn on the right side you can actually range the boss while being out of range of the trapped blood golem's attack. This allows you to stand in place and just spam spam spam arcane torrent until the boss drops. Easy peasy free loot.

Thanks!
Jolly

For those that are curious my important stats are:
- lvl 117
- ~6.5k hp
- 18k mana
- capped faster cast / second to last fhr bp
- 79% all res
- 31% phys res (20% passive / 10% runeword belt + 1% from oil of luck)
Some of these stats were lower at the time of completing earlier 115 ubers (all res was 77% and phys 20% for example)

Gear: One lucky drop of Witchmoon Amulet. Rings are total trash. Rest is TU4 (Stillwater helm, Narlant Orb, Lionpaw boots, Wheel of Fortune shield), Honorific Gloves, Truce belt (Vith rune), Oracle armor (Ath rune). Everything is fully MO'd prioritizing important breakpoints for cast and hit recovery, capped resistances, then base stats, then the rest.