Andrew's Ultimate Lightning Sorc

[A|fzZz]

Yes, this is the legendary sorceress that has over 45000 damage, and can solo every boss without any trouble at all! The word here to fit it perfectly, is "Overkill"!

I am finally releasing the build for the people, though, it's a pretty damn expensive one to get and make if you're on ladder I think.

Anyways, I must let people know that this may not be a perfect PvP build, because I really havent tested it much at all in PvP since Ladder Season 1 ended, however, I have tested this sorc on PvM, most particularly, bosses, and she can take care of all of them very fast, and solo with her barb merc.

Keep in mind, I did not use perfect equipment, I just got what had the +skills I wanted, and has good enough resistances. Therefore, many things can still be done better, but almost entirely on the exact same items (just perfect versions of them heh)

Also, before anything else, I must remind you that this is an extremely hard build to make and perfect, you need the items in advance, because mana costs are just too high on this sorc without skills items, I found this out when I tried to make this sorc build again on ladder #1
This also includes dying often, so I strongly discourage anybody from attempting this build on Hardcore mode, unless the player is extremely talented, has help, and can handle losing items to very stupid deaths. In this case I also advise using a shield and having good dexterity.

Instead of just using a LONG list of text, I decided it's only appropriate to show you every item along with listing the best stuff!

Starting from Head to Toe, here are the exact items my own sorceress uses (I've listed all of the proposed perfect versions, and other alternative items afterwards!):

Helm and Amulet


*Staff and Armor (no shield OMG! :boggled: )


Weapon and Shield (weapon switch)


Left Ring and Right Ring


Gloves And Belt

[A|fzZz]

Boots (yes they are rare, NO they are NOT dupes, too bad eh? heheh)


Big Charm(s) and Small Charm(s)


Annihilus


Essential Merc Weapon (this I found extremely useful VS the ever annoying wisps, it's entirely solved the problem, and this also means you need a barbarian mercenary for this item)

(don't consider using Templar's Might, its just something I had lying around so I just threw it on the merc.)

Item List
Helm
Harlequin Crest
(the helm can be debatable, because Griffon's Eye has good -% enemy res to lightning, and 25% FCR)

Armor
Chains Of Honor

Weapon
Mang Song's Lesson
*(Ok, it has come to my attention that the Ladder Runeword, Spirit can give +2 to all skills, although I havent tested it with this build, I can say it could be a decent alternative to Mang Song's Lesson if you cannot find it, and as for a weapon, I would go with Oculus, to help get some extra mods like life and mana as well as resists, keep in mind however, that because Spirit requires a Monarch or better for a shield, you will need to have 156 STR, and this is pretty bad if you want to save your stats for vitality and keep strength to a minimum...)

Gloves
Magefist

Belt
Arachnid Mesh

Boots
Rare with Res to Cold/Lightning/Fire and +20%MF or better

Amulet:
Magic +3 Lightning Skills with 45Life or more (a Mara's Amulet would be very nice as well, at the cost of about 2000-2500 dmg)

Rings:
2x Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band Rings (I prefer more life over more mana)

Charms
10x Lightning Skills Grand Charms
Annihilus
Life SCs

Weapon Switch
Call To Arms Caduceus
Lidless Wall

Skills List
Max Lightning
Max Chain Lightning (CL)
Max Lightning Mastery
Max Charged Bolt
Max Nova (I didn't max this out on my own sorc yet)

+1 to Teleport
+1 to Static
+1 to Warmth

Optional skills to have +1 would be
Thunder Storm
Energy Shield
(I took these, but found they arent very useful)

Stat Points
===STR
ONLY needed for whatever armor the COH is made from and perhaps any other item's costs, I personally like heavy armors only because they look better, otherwise i suggest something like an Archon Plate or a Dusk Shroud
===DEX
should not be needed unless the CTA item you chose requires it
===VIT
pour everything into vitality after your STR is exactly what you need it to be
===NRG
None


My Own Sorc's Current Stats

(note that I haven't even maxed out Nova yet, so the damage can still get higher!)

First of all, the reasons for Lightning instead of Chain Lightning...

CL does about 16000 DMG per hit, with up to 14 hits, but it costs 55Mana each time...
Although the potential to do just under 224000 Dmg altogether sounds nice, it may not do all the damage where you want it to go, since it chooses which targets it wants to hit, and can even miss the initial target altogether if theres a big enough crowd in the way...
Meanwhile with Lightning, its a single, direct shot that costs only over 30Mana, but unlike CL, Lightning has 100% pierce. That's right, it will cut a straight path whereever you aim it, meaning, giant crowds wont matter at all, that lightning is going where you point it without any monsters to stop it, not to mention, the range on that shot is extremely good, maybe 2 screens long if I remember correctly.
In addition, and this is a rumor at this point, Lightning is said to have the potential to hit a single target up to 5 times on a single cast, meaning a potential 230000 Dmg all at once, on the occasion, I myself have noticed the odd 2 hits on one cast, but not 5 hits... so who really knows how it works

As for the items
One important thing I've noticed on this build, is that +skills matter more then +% Light dmg, you can get like 2000-3000 more lightning dmg per +1 to all skills, while getting maybe 500 or less from 5%more light dmg.
For example, and I have tried this, I have used a Griffon's Eye and a Shako on my sorc, and i got about 2000 more damage with shako, even tho the griffons eye had like 11% more Light Dmg and +1 all skills.

The charms are where I personally didn't care at all, however, any charms with res or life are EXTREMELY useful, then youd want to get lightning skills with over 30+ life, hope for 20/5res SCs and even a perfect res Annihilus
If I cared, my res would easily be more then maxed without a Mara's amulet

as for perfect items... A mang songs staff can be dealt with two ways, either get a Perfect -15%Light one and stick in a perfect Light Facet in it, OR go another way and get a very very hard to get +3Light Skills, +3Light Mastery, +3Lightning magic staff and hope for a good # of sockets, then stick perfect facets there.

A Perfect CTA would be in order, like a +6BO one would be nicer then my +4

A Perfect Amulet would be good too since +100HP is supposedly the best a magic amulet can get with the +3 lightning skills

Gloves... I found the gloves would be nice as Magefists for the FCR and the Mana Regen, both are helpful, but I think Trang-Oul's gloves would also be a decent choice, for 40% cold res instead of Mana Regen.

The BK Rings... everybody questions it and tells me SOJs are the way to go on a sorc... however, I found the added HP is a lot more useful then having extra mana, because of the fact that you can not only buy mana potions after 1.10, with all the lightning skills, Teleport costs 1Mana only to use.
Not to mention, with under 46000 DMG you can kill almost anything in one, maybe two hits at most, using a lot less mana then you would think... It all seems to work well, trust me.

About the boots, those boots I found just before ladder #1 ended, and waited to identify them after it ended heh, turned out amazing, 3 excellent RES, and 20%MF to boot (sorry for the pun...) and since R/W doesnt matter at all on a sorc with a practically free teleport, why not

And finally, the big cheeze, why the hell did i use a staff instead of an orb... there are a few reasons why I made that decision... some maybe people wont agree with...
First of all, I like the look of staves more then I do orbs, I hate being just like every other sorceress out there, its terrible.
Second, you get more respect from a player if you can beat them with a stave and no shield, theres nothing better then knowing they still couldn't own you even when you have a "dissadvantage".
Third, it is my opinion that Mang Song's Lesson is the best caster item in the game, nothing else compares to it, +5 to ALL skills for any character, thats insane, has the potential to have -15%Res to ALL 3 Elements, And even has FCR 30% which is excellent (I wanted this item since the Beta 1.10 was out, because I knew it would prove extremely powerful), you may sacrifice like a good 100% res (from a jeweled occy and good res shield), but with the rest of the build, you can still have maxed out res, and more stacked in hell with good charms, along with a total 70%FCR which makes you cast Lightning and even Teleport very quickly.

What my Sorc can do in hell mode
Ok, I've talked about what she's got, but now what I've done with her.

I'll just be very direct in what she's capable of...

She can kill Andariel in a few seconds or less
She can kill Duriel in a few seconds or less
She can kill Mephisto in a few seconds or less (all because of the immense damage and -19% to lightning res)
She can kill Diablo in a few seconds or less (he's very weak to lightning, but you need a merc to kill the grand vizier)
She can kill Baal in maybe... 20 seconds or less, depending on your luck with the 7-46000 dmg :laugh:

She one hit kills Pindleskin almost every time (even with 30000 dmg)
She one hit kills Eldritch almost every time
She one hit kills Shenk almost every time
She can kill almost all of baals minions in a few hits or just one
She can kill Lister in a few hits, very quickly
She can kill Hephasto in a few hits

(I never used Static Field for any monsters, ever)

(I must continue to remind, that its all depending on when you get high dmg or low dmg due to the fact it could be 7 or 46000, and despite what most people think, you do closer to your maximum dmg a lot more often then your minimum dmg, I know this first hand and from tons of experience)

With her barbarian mercenary using Azurewrath, Wisps anywhere in the game, immune to lightning, are killed almost in one hit, due to Sanctuary being extremely powerful VS the undead

One more thing, I have NOT had any good chances to attack Uber Diablo (or DClone) with this sorc, I do not know her potential VS him, but I'm thinking it would work extremely well...

Final Info
This sorc does 46000 Damage, with -19% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
100% Pierce, 70% FCR, 1500 HP, Teleport that costs 1 Mana, Nearly Maxed Res in Hell

Anyways, this is all I can think of for now, please leave any feedback, I'd love to hear it


I take no credit
Originally posted by Andrew at RPGforums

[Obfuscate]

WOW! Thats alot of damage. I agree with you on the mang song staff. I was looking through the uniques earlier today and came across it and I was thinking "WTF! Why isnt EVERYONE stock their sorc's with this bad boy!?!?".

But anywho I can not find any fault in the character. If it works it works. I hope I get rich enough for that kind of a build someday.

[Silver Ice]

lets see......... how many things can i ridicule in this guide?????
*counts* one...... two....... three....... four..... five..... six..... seven.
1. shako is a shitty helm regardless of the um rune ur better off using a sorc circlet
2. coh armor on a sorc? and what is this? "i like heavy armors cause they look cool" doesnt matter what you look like if you suck. u might as well wear thorns for all the good it does, 2 to all skills and some resists doesnt do shit, why not try +3 to lightning 5/5 ormus
3. a cta cacedus? what the hell is that. ever heard of a flail? a flail will make 5 sockets too and it doesnt require you to get 70 dex. plus i really dun see your need for dex since you have no shield.
4. lets all use mangsongs lesson because it has 1 more skill then a lidless wall does on nl. lets all be super slow and have 17% light pierce because staffs just look cool. lets all be super slow and expect to pose a threat in duels. lets not.
5. how about getting a max resist anni?
6. lets use a +3 to lightning skills ammy because it gives a bit more dmg. heres an analogy for people. 2 people are in a weapon fight. 1 person carries a pistol, the other carries a machine gun. which person has a better chance of hitting you? more fcr=faster firing.
7. sojs seem to do better on a sorc even though teleport costs 25 or so mana, 1 pt in warmth will help that.

please either a) rebuild your guide... b) laugh at this one c) duel this one d) recommend this person be locked up. or e) just walk away.

and sinnner: people have better things to do then use a useless staff

[A|fzZz]

Bah....its not mine anyway

[xell]

My half made sorc on NL would rape you with your slow fcr, and she only does 26k light damage. Regaurdless she still tanks like a mother. Remake and then talk, your sorc looks pretty helpless against most other builds.

[lukedawg99]

Can neone Give me A real Good Build ^^

[A|fzZz]

DUN flame over here xell...Firstly its not MY build...
Second dun give negetive remarks about people's build...