Melee Sorc and DW Barb Build?
Just got back into Median XL and boy has a lot changed. Playing multiplayer via IP connect with another buddy who started a barb and myself as a sorc. I remember playing through Nightmare and my fire sorc couldn't do jack against mobs with the resists so I'm switching not to melee. Anyone got a build for melee sorc and my buddies barb? He is looking to stay dual wield unless you guys can help me convince him otherwise. Would like the endgame builds and if the community is generous, give me tips on the builds we should work towards as we progress through at low levels. That's the hardest part in my opinion. Thanks guys and I hope I can get some of the answers I've been looking for since the 2013 days
Common Posting Badge
Posted over 1.000 messages
Great Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 50.000 views
Common Guide Badge
Created a complete character guide
1. Don't make a new post but edit your post to prevent double posting.
2. Read the documentation about challenges.
3. You can get most uniques from the gift box from griswold or with the item+2arcrance crystal recipe (even rings and quivers) with these tiered items you can manage most stuff
4. Dual wieder barb #4 Terrorblade in this guide viewtopic.php?p=18660#p18660
Melee sorc #15 Queen of Pain viewtopic.php?p=18661#p18661
2. Read the documentation about challenges.
3. You can get most uniques from the gift box from griswold or with the item+2arcrance crystal recipe (even rings and quivers) with these tiered items you can manage most stuff
4. Dual wieder barb #4 Terrorblade in this guide viewtopic.php?p=18660#p18660
Melee sorc #15 Queen of Pain viewtopic.php?p=18661#p18661
Chuck's giudes are ok but they might just not work for you .
My first successful Melee sorceress attempt was made using the following formula :
Trees lightning & ice +12 points into familiar for those + skills . Smax Warp armor and Ice Queen and add 1 points into skills up to Nova Charge , Ice Elementals and the skill that regenerates your mana forgot name.
For leveling during hatred you can just use a random assortments of runewords such as shark into T2-3 items just make sure to have maxed resists .
Prepare for terror with the following items (TU tier6):
TU warp blade MO with Crushing shots and perfect rainbow stones
TU Ceremonial armor for bonus stats and Spiral Dance
2x Emp bands for some extra stats and %life
Amulet with +2/3 skills can be obtained by rerolling a rare from Tran Athulua or K3KBA
TU heavy boots for those sweet stats and flat life/mana
TU heavy gloves for stun attack and glacial nova proc
TU light belt Wormtongue for lifesteal and bonus dex
TU diadem Haareis for bonus lifesteal and buff duration making glacial nova and moonstrike buff last longer
TU kite shield Banner of Duncraig for stats and useful procs
Make honorific glove/boots and use then instead of one of the aforementioned to cover your resistance needs into Terror .
After you have finished Terror search for the following : warped blade (sacred) and gothic shiel (sacred). Make following runewords to attempt to do Fauztinville challenge at 118-120 : Grace RW warp blade - use +min dmg or + lifesteal crafted jewels see cube recipes . One of the best runewords makes sure you have maxed speed even while slowed by neon fiends. Wall of Fire RW shield using - req jewels for bonus defense . You need to MO your armors to 350% defense and 180% FHR and FBR to not get animation locked .
To pass trough to Nithalak you can make a T6 or sacred short war bow Hornet runeword for Arrow Swarm . Just you can't use Baneblade and make sure to buff yourself with Moonstrike and shoot them all to not die to Steelfur Titans .
My first successful Melee sorceress attempt was made using the following formula :
Trees lightning & ice +12 points into familiar for those + skills . Smax Warp armor and Ice Queen and add 1 points into skills up to Nova Charge , Ice Elementals and the skill that regenerates your mana forgot name.
For leveling during hatred you can just use a random assortments of runewords such as shark into T2-3 items just make sure to have maxed resists .
Prepare for terror with the following items (TU tier6):
TU warp blade MO with Crushing shots and perfect rainbow stones
TU Ceremonial armor for bonus stats and Spiral Dance
2x Emp bands for some extra stats and %life
Amulet with +2/3 skills can be obtained by rerolling a rare from Tran Athulua or K3KBA
TU heavy boots for those sweet stats and flat life/mana
TU heavy gloves for stun attack and glacial nova proc
TU light belt Wormtongue for lifesteal and bonus dex
TU diadem Haareis for bonus lifesteal and buff duration making glacial nova and moonstrike buff last longer
TU kite shield Banner of Duncraig for stats and useful procs
Make honorific glove/boots and use then instead of one of the aforementioned to cover your resistance needs into Terror .
After you have finished Terror search for the following : warped blade (sacred) and gothic shiel (sacred). Make following runewords to attempt to do Fauztinville challenge at 118-120 : Grace RW warp blade - use +min dmg or + lifesteal crafted jewels see cube recipes . One of the best runewords makes sure you have maxed speed even while slowed by neon fiends. Wall of Fire RW shield using - req jewels for bonus defense . You need to MO your armors to 350% defense and 180% FHR and FBR to not get animation locked .
To pass trough to Nithalak you can make a T6 or sacred short war bow Hornet runeword for Arrow Swarm . Just you can't use Baneblade and make sure to buff yourself with Moonstrike and shoot them all to not die to Steelfur Titans .
Common Posting Badge
Posted over 1.000 messages
Common Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 10.000 views
Common Supporter Badge
Donated 1 time
bloodhatred, iron spiral and deathgaze are all bugged so I'd recommend to skip dualwielding for the time being
Common Posting Badge
Posted over 1.000 messages
Common Popularity Badge
Has a thread with over 10.000 views
Common Supporter Badge
Donated 1 time
supposed to work this way from the start 
well you've clearly made up your mind already so I'll let you think whatever you like
well you've clearly made up your mind already so I'll let you think whatever you like
Continuing post here . I had to go somewhere because RL like fucking you sometimes 
I hope you know about making double MO weapon and getting a 700% then add lifeleech for the lols . I like Grace so much for the avoid and +min dmg and the bonus to strength and dex making it easier to reach max block . I never liked the lightning dmg of say 1-50k ; i would still take 20k-20k dmg over it any day for consistency .
Ok so you are at the end of terror now . Keep your eyes peeled in areas starting act 3+ (ilvl99+) for any T6 or sacred rare War staff that you can reroll untill you get +12 sorceress skills and socket it with rare jewels with +13-15% minion life . This will be your buff and summoning staff . Also pick up any rare sorceress body armor of rare rarity from said act3+ and reroll it until you get oskill +20-25 summon Acid Fiends . Sick minion life jewels inside it too it will come in handy later and throw it in your stash. When you are lvl 105+ you can gamble T6 war staff and body armors to search for oskills too but it involves wasting time so look out for drops . If you have a required tier drop and are uncertain about the ilvl you can use affix burn and after you reach clvl 105+ and visit man's best friend Charsi to upgrade the item to rare . Charsi produces items that are ilvl equal to your character lvl +-5.
When you got enough shrines you can craft crafted gear . Your pick for crafting should be the lowest requirements boots and gloves and aim for 18-20% bonus dex after shrine bless . Also try to make a minion life bonus staff with +11-12 sorceress skill lvls . Iirc Marco removed the text from shrines i don't remember which one it was just it says "Those that are last will be the first " . Epic Cryptic Diablo 1 texts sadface
When you start farming Destruction a few MF% crafted jewels would be good to stick in as they can have more MF% and other bonuses compared to Lum runes.
When you reach destruction most of the ubers are doable because you are a summoner and your summons are tanky . I will write down some friendly reminders :
Act1 :
Duncraig - you don't do enough dmg yet need more signets and stuff needed
Astrogha - you are not a caster when are you doing here?
CoV ball is resistant to stuff and a pain to break . It becomes easy after you get a Starhawk and Comatheo RW body armor
Legacy of Blood - Easy to do ; your elementals are immune to noobs . Just beware of wychwind fields and don't stand in Cataclysm death zones
Butcher - This is hard cause elementals are too tanky with too much avoid and armor . Summon 3-5 of them and then kill some
Infernal machine - Go in avoid death . Kill enemy go out
Judgement day - Well if you use Ice elementals never in the history of ever will you get to see an avatar . So just equip your Acid Fiends armor and keep summoning . <b>WARNING</b> If you have a few jewels with FRW coupled with Baneblade and Acid Aura your character can become uncontrollable so make sure you get a steady namelock on avatars before right clicking. Both phases are doable easy enough
Act2 :
Quov Tsin : recommended Starhawk Comatheo combo + event horizon or some other source of absorb. Otherwise he will just teleport into a wall because you don't dmg him fast enough
Creature of Flame . Ok so all game long you tried your best to raise your survivability , dodge , avoid and block . SUCK IT you HAVE to get hit and stupid part is the minions might still miss you without any armor equipped and you will die a dumb and stupid death . Funny mechanics are funny tell me more about it
Tal Rasha - Morph hit recovery blows chunks . Lure them over a few at a time .
Tran Athulua is farmable . A whole room of amazons won't kill your elementals and you can just farm this area again and again.
Fauztinville is slow and painful but doable if you really want those Great Runes . Slow and steady wins the race
Act3 :
K3KBA is doable albeit slower than TA because of the totems that are hard to bring down . You also need to keep your eyes peeled because the elemental damage flying around is pretty significant so getting 83-85% resist is recommended . In other words not worth
Azmodan - AKA sometimes lucky . You search for him , you find him and the combination of elites doesn't 1 shot you for no reason
Grandma Square - Go in kill stuff , kill boss go out . At the end of this you should have 75% of you moon cookies and 5-8 elementals left
Death projector - Classic stuff run in circles . Rightclick - run - rightclick get loot
Akarat - You need 25+ summons then go inside a temple and summon them there. When Akarat and Followers are in melee the don;t always use Hammertime . This is the painful one . I remember back before Sigma Bladestorm was the only attack you could use and magic conversion means you do dick dmg to Akarat and he inner fires too . The solution was TU warp blade with Crushing blow , Banner of Duncraig and get 1-2 Fortress procs . Crushing blow and Bladestorm will eventually kill Akarat . If not rinse and repeat . Sometimes lucky
Vizjun - You run fast and are tanky . Do you have Purify ?
Act 4:
What is this ?
Act5:
Old Bremmtown - you can bait spirits with ice elementals . Get max block ( you need a shield with +1% block like Sotrmflyer or Cauldron from the meleewitch set and maybe a Lamen with good dex or beads of the snake queen amulet and 500 signets) kill them and upgrade your charm
Toraja - You can go there kill them but Lilith is another problem . She does a lot of dmg with Shower of Rocks . If you get her immunities down after you Jitan's gate on top of her you can score a frag . Sometimes lucky . Oftentimes frustrating
Khalimgrad - jut move around killing angels . Douchebag archons will have lots of fun killing your Ice Elementals . Gather and park them around the map using Blink or Jitan's gate
IoTSS - This is pretty straightforward . Rambo Malic and Lucion kill them get loots
Assault of Mount Arreat - Like Tal Rasha fighting all of them at once is problematic because of the stun and morph animations . Divide and conquer
Lord Aldric Jitan - Same old divide and conquer
This pretty much summs up what i had to say of the witch . If you only play with your friend then i think it would be funny if he went for Lion Stance + the ranged spirits and maybe 12 points into Overkill . Lion Stance and Ice Elemental aura negate each other damage reduction/amplification and you can benefit a lot from defense % from Spirit Guide and weapon damage% granted by Lion Stance and Spirit guide . Each point of + barbarian skills is 20% ewd . Pretty good if you ask me . Only problem would be dual physical and magical immunes . But with Protector spirits stunning stuff with Bearclaw and Stampede stuff should be funny and your travels trough the Sanctuary a roflstomp
I hope you know about making double MO weapon and getting a 700% then add lifeleech for the lols . I like Grace so much for the avoid and +min dmg and the bonus to strength and dex making it easier to reach max block . I never liked the lightning dmg of say 1-50k ; i would still take 20k-20k dmg over it any day for consistency .
Ok so you are at the end of terror now . Keep your eyes peeled in areas starting act 3+ (ilvl99+) for any T6 or sacred rare War staff that you can reroll untill you get +12 sorceress skills and socket it with rare jewels with +13-15% minion life . This will be your buff and summoning staff . Also pick up any rare sorceress body armor of rare rarity from said act3+ and reroll it until you get oskill +20-25 summon Acid Fiends . Sick minion life jewels inside it too it will come in handy later and throw it in your stash. When you are lvl 105+ you can gamble T6 war staff and body armors to search for oskills too but it involves wasting time so look out for drops . If you have a required tier drop and are uncertain about the ilvl you can use affix burn and after you reach clvl 105+ and visit man's best friend Charsi to upgrade the item to rare . Charsi produces items that are ilvl equal to your character lvl +-5.
When you got enough shrines you can craft crafted gear . Your pick for crafting should be the lowest requirements boots and gloves and aim for 18-20% bonus dex after shrine bless . Also try to make a minion life bonus staff with +11-12 sorceress skill lvls . Iirc Marco removed the text from shrines i don't remember which one it was just it says "Those that are last will be the first " . Epic Cryptic Diablo 1 texts sadface
When you start farming Destruction a few MF% crafted jewels would be good to stick in as they can have more MF% and other bonuses compared to Lum runes.
When you reach destruction most of the ubers are doable because you are a summoner and your summons are tanky . I will write down some friendly reminders :
Act1 :
Duncraig - you don't do enough dmg yet need more signets and stuff needed
Astrogha - you are not a caster when are you doing here?
CoV ball is resistant to stuff and a pain to break . It becomes easy after you get a Starhawk and Comatheo RW body armor
Legacy of Blood - Easy to do ; your elementals are immune to noobs . Just beware of wychwind fields and don't stand in Cataclysm death zones
Butcher - This is hard cause elementals are too tanky with too much avoid and armor . Summon 3-5 of them and then kill some
Infernal machine - Go in avoid death . Kill enemy go out
Judgement day - Well if you use Ice elementals never in the history of ever will you get to see an avatar . So just equip your Acid Fiends armor and keep summoning . <b>WARNING</b> If you have a few jewels with FRW coupled with Baneblade and Acid Aura your character can become uncontrollable so make sure you get a steady namelock on avatars before right clicking. Both phases are doable easy enough
Act2 :
Quov Tsin : recommended Starhawk Comatheo combo + event horizon or some other source of absorb. Otherwise he will just teleport into a wall because you don't dmg him fast enough
Creature of Flame . Ok so all game long you tried your best to raise your survivability , dodge , avoid and block . SUCK IT you HAVE to get hit and stupid part is the minions might still miss you without any armor equipped and you will die a dumb and stupid death . Funny mechanics are funny tell me more about it
Tal Rasha - Morph hit recovery blows chunks . Lure them over a few at a time .
Tran Athulua is farmable . A whole room of amazons won't kill your elementals and you can just farm this area again and again.
Fauztinville is slow and painful but doable if you really want those Great Runes . Slow and steady wins the race
Act3 :
K3KBA is doable albeit slower than TA because of the totems that are hard to bring down . You also need to keep your eyes peeled because the elemental damage flying around is pretty significant so getting 83-85% resist is recommended . In other words not worth
Azmodan - AKA sometimes lucky . You search for him , you find him and the combination of elites doesn't 1 shot you for no reason
Grandma Square - Go in kill stuff , kill boss go out . At the end of this you should have 75% of you moon cookies and 5-8 elementals left
Death projector - Classic stuff run in circles . Rightclick - run - rightclick get loot
Akarat - You need 25+ summons then go inside a temple and summon them there. When Akarat and Followers are in melee the don;t always use Hammertime . This is the painful one . I remember back before Sigma Bladestorm was the only attack you could use and magic conversion means you do dick dmg to Akarat and he inner fires too . The solution was TU warp blade with Crushing blow , Banner of Duncraig and get 1-2 Fortress procs . Crushing blow and Bladestorm will eventually kill Akarat . If not rinse and repeat . Sometimes lucky
Vizjun - You run fast and are tanky . Do you have Purify ?
Act 4:
What is this ?
Act5:
Old Bremmtown - you can bait spirits with ice elementals . Get max block ( you need a shield with +1% block like Sotrmflyer or Cauldron from the meleewitch set and maybe a Lamen with good dex or beads of the snake queen amulet and 500 signets) kill them and upgrade your charm
Toraja - You can go there kill them but Lilith is another problem . She does a lot of dmg with Shower of Rocks . If you get her immunities down after you Jitan's gate on top of her you can score a frag . Sometimes lucky . Oftentimes frustrating
Khalimgrad - jut move around killing angels . Douchebag archons will have lots of fun killing your Ice Elementals . Gather and park them around the map using Blink or Jitan's gate
IoTSS - This is pretty straightforward . Rambo Malic and Lucion kill them get loots
Assault of Mount Arreat - Like Tal Rasha fighting all of them at once is problematic because of the stun and morph animations . Divide and conquer
Lord Aldric Jitan - Same old divide and conquer
This pretty much summs up what i had to say of the witch . If you only play with your friend then i think it would be funny if he went for Lion Stance + the ranged spirits and maybe 12 points into Overkill . Lion Stance and Ice Elemental aura negate each other damage reduction/amplification and you can benefit a lot from defense % from Spirit Guide and weapon damage% granted by Lion Stance and Spirit guide . Each point of + barbarian skills is 20% ewd . Pretty good if you ask me . Only problem would be dual physical and magical immunes . But with Protector spirits stunning stuff with Bearclaw and Stampede stuff should be funny and your travels trough the Sanctuary a roflstomp
Edited by Xplosive 9 years.