Pvp Sorceress Guide

[Luke]

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Diablo 2- Lord of Destruction
PvP Sorceress Guide
Version: Final
FAQ started: 8/12/02
Last Update: 7/01/03
Albert Cho
E-mail: [email protected]
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--Table of Contents--
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1. Information on Sorceress
2. Version History
3. Disclaimer
4. Sites that can use this guide
5. Stats
6. Skills
7. Recommended Equipment
8. Charms
9. Role of this sorceress
10. Dueling Strategies
11. Credits
12. E-mail Policy

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--1. Information on Sorceress--
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Sorceresses are the spell casters in Diablo 2. They will always use
spells to defeat their enemy, not using hand to hand or ranged combat.
They can easily be the most powerful unit in Diablo 2. Sorceress are
also the most versatile to play and can be the best duelers. This guide
is to show how good sorceress can be in a duel and against monsters.

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--2. Version History--
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Small Update (7/01/03)- How stupid of me. I left out the section for
the amulet. Also made some minor changes here and there. Nothing big.

Version Final (9/07/02)- Finished up my sorceress guide today. It is
finally done and I might make some minor adjustments but it is done for
now. After about 1 month. Hope you find this guide useful.

Version 1.1 (8/14/02)- Finished up my dueling strategies section and
another update will come that will fix up any errors and clear up some
issues.

Version 1.0 (8/12/02)- Started my FAQ on how to make a PvP sorceress.
Will finish soon.

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--3. Disclaimer--
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This FAQ is not in anyway affiliated with Blizzard. This FAQ is
copyright 2002-2003 Albert Cho and can not be used on your site unless
you have my permission. If you want to post this FAQ on your website
then send me an e-mail telling me specific information. (URL etc.) I
will probably say yes 99% of the time if asked. This FAQ shall not be
changed in anyway. If you decide to post on your site without my
permission legal action will take place.

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--4. Sites that can use this guide--
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These are the only sites that are allowed to post my guide on their
site. If this guide is on another site e-mail me their url.

www.gamefaqs.com
www.neoseekers.com

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--5. Stats--
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Your goal for stats is to have enough strength to wear a Stormshield
and have enough dexterity to maintain a 75% chance of blocking. This
will mean if you're a high level, more then 200 on dex and 156
strength. Your mana and life will suffer greatly and this is why you
will need extra items to boost these up. You will have 505 stat points
if your level 99, counting if you did the book quest in Act3. To give
you an idea on how to put your stat points then keep this in mind. With
all your items equipped you want to have the minimum strength
requirement for Stormshield and have enough dexterity to maintain a 75%
block chance. I can't tell you where to put your stat points at what
level, because your equipment will probably be different then mine.
This is my suggestion. Save all your stat points until you can equip
all your stuff, then put stat points as needed.

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--6. Skills--
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This sorceress build needs to max certain skills in order to be
effective in a duel. I do not care what level you put what skills, as
long as you max the skills you need in the end. These are the skills
you should max before you hit level 99.

Cold Skills: The main branch you will use to defeat your enemies.
Ice Orb: Max this skill
5 Prerequisites for Ice Orb
1 to Frozen Armor
1 to Shiver Armor
1 to Chilling Armor
3 to Cold Mastery
Skill Points total=31

Fire Skills: You will not use this branch at all.
1 to Warmth

Lightning Skills: Your secondary place to put skill points.
Thunder Storm: Max this skill
Lightning Mastery: Max this skill
5 Prerequisites for Thunder Storm
2-3 on Energy Shield
1 on Teleport
Skill Points total=48-49

Skill Points used total=81

This build should be done by level 81 and this is not counting the
other Skill quests. The remaining skill points should go to Nova or you
can put a couple more on Cold mastery or Warmth.

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--7. Recommended Equipment--
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These equipment should be used to fully bring out the potential of your
sorceress.

Weapon: Wizardspike or Oculus
I prefer using wizardspike against all characters other then sorceress.
I only use Oculus against another sorceress for the + to skills. If
your dueling a Amazon then you have to use wizardspike for the high
percent of faster cast rate.

Armor: Shaftstop or Vipermagi.
If your dueling a character that uses physical damage, then use
Shaftstop, but if your dueling a character that uses magic then use
Vipermagi

Gloves: Frostburns
No competition here, Frostburns add 40% to maximum mana and that will
add huge amounts of mana to your limited mana pool.

Boots: War Travellers or Waterwalk
I personally prefer Waterwalk for the bonus to life and the +15 to
dexterity. Some people use War Travellers for the + to strength and
vitality and magic find.

Rings: 1 Ravenfrost, 1 Stone of Jordan
I would use 1 Ravenfrost for the can not be frozen mod and the cold
resist with +20 to dex is nice. Use 1 stone of Jordan for the mana
bonus and +1 to skill.

Belt: Thundergods or Tal Rashas Belt
I would use Thundergods for the + to strength and vitality with
lightning absorb. Its perfect for duels, but you can also huge Tals
Belt for the dexterity bonus with damage converted to mana.

Shield: Stormshield or Whistans Guard
If you can afford then use Stormshield, because it's a really nice
shield. It has high defense, damage reduce mod with resist and it's
indestructible. If you can't afford a Stormshield then use Whistan's
Guard for duels. You can substitute Stormshield for Lidless Wall for
duels against sorceresses.

Helm: Shako
The best sorceress helm in the game and this is one you want to get.
This helm has it all, the + to skills and huge bonus to life and mana.
(More then 100 if you're a high enough level). It also has damage
reduce to even things out and does 2 to each stats.

Amulet: Maras or nice Rare Amulet (Tal Rashas amulet will work too.)
If you need resistance then Maras is the way to go. Tal Rashas amulet
adds nice life and mana bonuses, but I would rather go with Maras.
Getting a rare amulet with +2 to skills along with magic find,
resistance, 10% faster cast rate and other bonuses is the best one you
can use.

The point of the equipment for the PvP sorceress is to have items that
boost a lot to strength and dexterity so you can have skills left over
to put on mana or life.

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--8. Charms--
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Having charms can boost your life greatly and help you out. Sorceress
were designed to have low life by only getting 2 hit points per 1 stat
point you use. In order to get 100 life you need to put 50 stat points.
That is not a lot and you will not have a lot of life. In duels you
need a lot of life in order to survive. I would say about 1000 hit
points is a good number for dueling. This is where charms solve your
problem. If you get 5 small charms that add 20 to life each then your
sorceress life will be boosted.

Your inventory has 40 spaces available. 4x10 rectangle
You should fill every available space if you want to duel. These are
the charms that I suggest you get and they can greatly help you.

2 lightning skill charms=6 spaces
2 cold skill charms=6 spaces
28 small charms that add 20 to life
This will add + to your lightning and cold skill branch and will give a
huge life bonus while filling up every space. The charms will add 560
to life and with shako and your other items you should easily get 1000
life. Your damage reduce equipment will hinder your skills a little bit
so the charms will help greatly by adding 2 to your lightning and cold
skills branch.

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--9. Role of this sorceress--
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If you make this sorceress, then you can do almost anything a regular
sorceress can do in Diablo 2. You can finish a Mephisto record quickly
and without dying. Mephisto's attacks are physically based (except for
a few) and can easily be blocked by your sorceress. This sorceress can
clear hell cow runs with ease and those cows will be doing 30 damage if
they hit you. It can kill easily in PvP duels and can take down other
characters easily while having lots of resistance with damage
reduction. I suggest making this sorceress, because its fun and you can
do anything without dying. Its perfect for hardcore characters and it
might relieve the stress of dying a little.

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--10. Dueling Strategies--
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These are the dueling strategies that you can use to defeat your
opponents.

Vs. Barbarians: Barbs can be challenging or very easy to beat. If the
barb wants to cheat and use lots of lightning and cold absorb then
there is no point in dueling the barb. I would not suggest dueling
barbarians in normal, but in hell you will do quite well. If played
right a barb can never kill you. Teleport around in a zigzag pattern to
confuse him and every now and then teleport near him and blast out some
ice orbs while thunderstorm will hit automatically. If used right, the
barb will probably be frustrated and 2 things can occur. The first
thing is that the barbarian will give up and return to town and the
second thing is that he will die.

Vs. Amazons: This is where this sorceress really shines. Amazons were
considered to be the best sorceress killers, but this sorceress can
bring down an Amazon with ease. If the amazon is using a Ballista, then
you will win unless you get stunlocked. The ballista is just too slow
for your teleport. If the amazon is using a fast bow with high damage,
then you might be in a bit of trouble. Against amazons first spread out
in a large arc so their guided arrows can not do anything. Then start
to quickly go to their side and teleport right next to them. This is
smart, because the Amazon will get hit with thunderstorm and get
stunned while you let loose an ice orb to finish off the critically
damaged amazon.

Vs. Assassins: Assassins can be very hard to duel if they are really
good. You will probably be dueling trap assassins and this is the
strategy you should use. Teleport around and never get hit with their
mind blast. Teleport next to them so they get hit with thunderstorm
then teleport away quickly. You shouldn't even get hit with anything
and if you keep doing this then the battle will go to you.

Vs. Druids: No competition, druids just don't have what it takes to
bring you down. Their fury will not last long enough to try to hit you
once. Your thunderstorm will make quick work of them and combined with
ice orb the druid is finished. The druid is the more easier character
to duel.

Vs. Paladins: Paladins that use zeal or charge can not do much against
you. Their zeal will never hit you and you can just teleport away from
their charge. If they are a blessed hammer or fist of the heavens
paladin then all you have to do is to teleport next to them and do ice
orb and thunderstorm.

Vs. Necromancers: Necromancers can be two things. They can be very hard
to duel or very easy to duel. Most necromancers will fall under the
category very easy to duel. They will probably use bone spirit, but its
really too slow for your teleport to actually hit you. Necromancers
have low life so one to two hits from your thunderstorm will kill it.
They can only be hard if they lag you with bone wall and you stand
still while getting hit from their bone spirit ;P.

Vs. Sorceress: Against other sorceress you need some basic skills. For
example sorceress will have the same spells as you and they might be
the same type of sorceress as you. I suggest wearing some resistance
items and have lots of mana. Teleport quickly away from them and put
some distance between yourself and them. Then once they are near you,
spray cold orb everywhere and wait for them to reach you. Chances are
you will hit them first and your thunderstorm will hit them and kill
them. This strategy should work against all types of sorceress.

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--11. Credits--
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1. I credit myself for making this guide.
2. I credit Blizzard for making such a fantastic game.
3. I credit gamefaqs for hosting this FAQ.

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--12. E-mail Policy--
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If you want to e-mail me and give me feedback or a tip about my site
then please free to go ahead. People that are rude while criticizing me
will have their e-mail address blocked. If you have questions about the
game then feel free to go ahead and e-mail as long as this guide
doesn't cover it.

E-mail Address- [email protected]

Copyright 2002-2003 Albert Cho

[All-Fear]

btw u wont do enuf dmg if u only put points into mastery and no synergy skills too
btw not enuf armor or energy sheild too ...

[Volcoman09]

btw u wont do enuf dmg if u only put points into mastery and no synergy skills too
btw not enuf armor or energy sheild too ...

btw...you don't know what your talking about.

[Merranvo]

I find that inferno and static feild, once the mana is up, actually do have a strong effect. Why exclude them? you can either attack an enemy for a few minutes with cold, or attack with fire and hurt them more. even hydra is good, if only for distraction.

ALSO you don't know what your talking about, spitfire, a barb can jump, he does have warcrys which can damage you, and you still don't have unlimited mana, and at that, it is not cheating to use natral resistance. second. iceorb is mainly for large groups of enemys, if you try using it on a single player it will only hit a few times and not the full dose, where is the frontal hit? third, what you set up is a slow mana recharge, what happens when you run out of mana, and have no mana bottles? fourth, ice attacks can be thawed, just stack up on thawing potions. last, supose that a nerco invested in pets instead of himself, if he has about 40 pets, your sorceress will be over run, expecally if there are a lot of dead monsters nearby. thus said, don't be biased on how people make their chars, you can always make another that can woop you previous.

[NewToDiablo]

Dude you gone nutz this is 1.09 guild.

As for 1.09 yes this is good build. But on 1.10 this build sucks. Skill such as FO and TS wouldn't even hurt on 1.10 if the dude wear item that absor and worst if he go over absor you are actrually adding life to him. BTW TS wouldn't even be able to hit your enemy if he use egnima dont even bother to put point there its useless. Ever one can teleport now. Before sor regularly is one of the best pvper in game. But now everyone have her best ability teleport there is no reason to even bother to make pvp sor because she just suck at pk

gg no re man!

[Nubli]

yes this is an 09 build as it was posted back in... august 2003? 1.10 came out in october.

[DeadFayth]

see now ur posting useless shit not me ...

[Scoobster]

anyone know where i can get good assassin pvp guides or builds or builds for other characters??

[SpreadNeedleXP]

tiger strike at lvl 20 with an assassin gives you 1400% to your damage

[Skarz]

hey i was just wondering for a sorc, what's the most powerful way i can go for lightning? i know cold is the best and that jack, but i love lightning, and my lightning staff rocks the freakin world!! Lightning is cool, but it's only a straight line. Chain Lightning is cool but it seems to weak. if anyone can help, i need some input on attacks i can use to still damage people in hell!!!

[Soldier]

u in pvp or pvm? lightning is strong if u max synergies. it will do like 30k

[Skarz]

Sorry, im newb, lol idk what PvP or PvM means!! i'm so sorry.

I don't remember the name of my staff, but it adds +1 to sorc skills, +1 to nova or something like that, +2 to chain lightning, +3 lightning. I have a ammy that adds +1 too. Lightning looks like the most fun to me.

[star69]

i like your builds and all but why do you always insist on putting hld guideds on lld treads??