Alright. I need some help running Nihlathak!

[MYK]

Alright. I need some help running Nihlathak!

I'll list my gear to get the ball rolling on this.
Kira's Guardian - 68 Res All "Sol"
Skin Of The Vipermagi - 27 res unsocketed
WizardSpike
Moser's Blessed Circle - "SolSol"
Angel's Amulet of Life Everlasting - +1 sorc skills, 20 pdr
Tran-Oul's Claws
Dwarf Star - (Don't happen to have a nature's peace just yet..)
Rare Ring - 10% FCR
BladeBuckle
Hotspur
Some life and FHR charms.

FHR = +60%/8 frames ( I need about 6 more to hit the next breakpoint)
FCR = 105%/8 frames
FBR = 6 frames
Total DR = 41 (This needs to be a tad higher, so either through a nice Nature's Peace, or socketing my vipermagi with a Sol)
Resists are - 90/75/75/75 in Hell.

I'm getting torn apart from the monsters down by Nihlathak, even without him making exploding guys. My Merc isn't being able to tank for much more than 10 seconds.
He's using Reapers Toll, ....errr. I can't remember the armor, and a rockstopper. I'm not having any trouble with the bugged vipers, from what I could see. It seems that the archers just tear through everything, and those flying things that shoot the red orbs of death tear him a new one way too fast. Should I keep the Act 2 guy - which aura?

If I can swing the gear I'm thinking of grabbing an act 5 mercenary, rockstopper(sol), eth shaftstop(sol), and lawbringer in some type of sword. He might need better leech, but the Aura should bounce the archers around enough to keep the heat off long enough for me to Lightning Nihlathak.

I might need to rebuild. I shot the moon with str points and it's left me pretty fagile and with lower block than 75%. About 50%ish, right now.

 

[AlabasterFilth]

You have a pretty good char there, I'm thinking you won't need to rebuild, just tweak your char a little more, or a little better. I noticed that you said you put lots of pts into strength, yet you aren't using a high-str shield (spirit, stormshield), but rather you are using a high-block shield, moser's. Why is this?

How much life do you have? Perhaps you just need some +life charms. Could you explain how a typical run goes? 10 seconds should be ample time to take out the guys/nihl with a high-level lightning/chain. Are you feeding him potions? Do you die to magic, or to physical attacks? What level are your lightning spells?

One thing you may do is re-socket your moser's to EldEld. This will bump you from ~50% to ~64%. If you're not too high a level, lvl up and add dex until you get to 75%. This will take away from your PDR, but I think the additional block will be worth it.

I think the main thing may be that you're not damaging the enemies quickly enough. Once you reach a level where your lightning/chain 'stuns' enemies, you start surviving considerably longer. If you're not doing enough damage to stun them, they'll swarm you so fast it isn't funny. Also, if you're not doing enough damage to stun enemies, then you're certainly not doing enough damage that you can aim straight for nihl and ignore the enemies completely.

 

[MYK]

I'm going to break this into pieces just to make it easier for my to respond.

I noticed that you said you put lots of pts into strength, yet you aren't using a high-str shield (spirit, stormshield), but rather you are using a high-block shield, moser's. Why is this?

I started out wanting to use Gerke's Sanctuary for the extra PDR, but it's not quite quick enough in the faster block rate to make me pick it over the Gerke's I found. So after realizing that socketing Moser's I found that it was better overall. I think if I upgraded it I could get some better blocking out of it, but that means burning another lem+ko.

How much life do you have? Perhaps you just need some +life charms. Could you explain how a typical run goes? 10 seconds should be ample time to take out the guys/nihl with a high-level lightning/chain. Are you feeding him potions? Do you die to magic, or to physical attacks? What level are your lightning spells?

I have around 600 life. I might be able to dig around for all of my spare +life charms and throw those on. Might net me a little more. The last 5 runs(I just started today) went something pretty good until I hit the area Nihlathak hangs in. I have no trouble teleporting to that place. Once I'm there I just get overwhelmed from the mass numbers of monsters in that place.

My Lightening spells aren't that high powered. I've only got about +2 skills in all of my setup, so that leaves me with level 22 Lightning, CL, LM.The rest I think I'll put into Charged Bolt to try and get some more damage out of it. Lightning does up to 4k, and CL is around 3k. That's probably pretty low.

Feeding him potions....Well, heh. I didn't even have time to feed myself potions! I can remember getting hit with a lot of cold arrows followed by a nice wave of those red orbs from those witch things.

One thing you may do is re-socket your moser's to EldEld. This will bump you from ~50% to ~64%. If you're not too high a level, lvl up and add dex until you get to 75%. This will take away from your PDR, but I think the additional block will be worth it.

I thought about that, too. Just not sure I want to do that just yet.

I think the main thing may be that you're not damaging the enemies quickly enough. Once you reach a level where your lightning/chain 'stuns' enemies, you start surviving considerably longer. If you're not doing enough damage to stun them, they'll swarm you so fast it isn't funny. Also, if you're not doing enough damage to stun enemies, then you're certainly not doing enough damage that you can aim straight for nihl and ignore the enemies completely.

About how much damage does that take? Maybe I should have gone all out offensive instead of splitting points into teleport. Seems like this really needs all of the synergies pumped or some really nice +skills that I don't have.

 

[peterpaulrubens]

Have you tried teleporting right on top of Nihl and spamming Charged Bolt? I've found that CB is a much better killer of single enemies than Lightning, especially since you haven't hit the 117 FCR Lightning/Chain Lightning breakpoint.

I never had much luck just trying to kill Nihl first. I always used a Nature's Peace to let me kill his minions first without fear of CE. I would personally only use a Lawbringer merc when running Nihl, but that's just me. If I *NEEDED* a different merc to run him, I'd go with Holy Freeze. It'd at least slow everything down and shatter some corpses too.

Have you thought of ditching the Viper, Moser's, and Bladebuckle for a Twitchthroe/Spirit/crafted belt combo? You'd have the 86 FHR BP easy and could ditch the FHR charms, and with the WORST rolls on your Spirit and crafted belt you'd stay the same on FCR. WIth decent rolls you should get to the 117 FCR Lightning breakpoint. You should still have more or less maxed res in everything, you'd get 10% more blocking, the lost stats from Bladebuckle are made up in Twitchthroe, and you're still open to some really good mods on your belt. You'd lose 14 PDR but gain a skill, the next FHR BP for sure, and probably the next FCR breakpoint as well. And you can socket the Twitch with a Sol to only lose 7 PDR.

Edit: bah. cross-posted with your reply to alabaster.

 

[MYK]

Dang! I forgot all about the different cast rate with the lightening spells! Curses!

I'm not sure if that's the right answer, either. That means I'll have to jack up more strength to wear the spirit shield, but I do get the better cast rate. Wait, that's a bad idea. The spirit + Twitch setup has no Faster Block Rate mods. So I'll cast faster, but I'd most likely getting block locked if anything swings faster than 8 frames, and if it's swinging faster than 8 frames a 9 frame block rate won't save me.

Is it worth a drop in 20 pdr to strap on 117 fcr? Grrr. There's too many puzzle pieces that aren't fitting right. I need more think and less brain!

 

[AlabasterFilth]

I have around 600 life. I might be able to dig around for all of my spare +life charms and throw those on. Might net me a little more. The last 5 runs(I just started today) went something pretty good until I hit the area Nihlathak hangs in. I have no trouble teleporting to that place. Once I'm there I just get overwhelmed from the mass numbers of monsters in that place.

hm yes 600 is a bit low, but not surprising considering you put lots of points into strength, and a good number into dex. No way to reverse this one, load up on +life charms like crazy!

My Lightening spells aren't that high powered. I've only got about +2 skills in all of my setup, so that leaves me with level 22 Lightning, CL, LM.The rest I think I'll put into Charged Bolt to try and get some more damage out of it. Lightning does up to 4k, and CL is around 3k. That's probably pretty low.

Yes that is pretty low for a pure-light sorc. Splashing some teleport is good since, being an untwinked light sorc, you want to tele safely, but unfortunately for light sorcs, they rely heavily on their synergies! Get more charged bolt pronto!

Feeding him potions....Well, heh. I didn't even have time to feed myself potions! I can remember getting hit with a lot of cold arrows followed by a nice wave of those red orbs from those witch things.

I'm pretty sure those are both blockable attacks...get your block% up as high as you can, blocking an additional 25% of those attacks is critical.

About how much damage does that take? Maybe I should have gone all out offensive instead of splitting points into teleport. Seems like this really needs all of the synergies pumped or some really nice +skills that I don't have.

Yes, you are correct, the primary stats for a good light sorc are +skills, and FCR. With gear and light skillers, light sorcs reach a 2-4 mana cost teleport with ease. That gear takes awhile to acquire, but that's the nature of the beast when using light sorcs. Should you choose to take the time to get these, your light sorc will run keys much MUCH faster, and more safely. Add in infinity, and you'll be unstoppable.

As for how much damage it'll take, I haven't done any hard testing, just get your lightning skills up to lvl 26-27 and you should fare a lot better.

 

[Socialism1]

Random setup.

30 res Anya
45 res 30 fcr Um Vipermagi = 75 res 30 fcr
75 res 50 fcr *15 allres jewel when possible* Wizardspike = 150 res 80 fcr
25 res 14 #dr Mosers = 175 res 80 fcr 14 dr
10 fcr amulet = 175 res 90 fcr 14 dr
~35 res 50 fhr 10 %dr Shael Rockstopper = 210 res 90 fcr 50 fhr 14 #dr 10 %dr
20 fcr Magefist = 210 res 110 fcr 50 fhr 14 #dr 10 %dr (Magefist > Trangs for warmth+regen)
11 #dr Nature's Peace when you get it = 210 res 110 fcr 50 fhr 25 #dr 10 %dr
10 fcr +mana Ring = 210 res 120 fcr 50 fhr 25 #dr 10 %dr
Hotspur
1 fhr gc = 210 res 120 fcr 62 fhr 25 #dr 10 %dr

Belt: Bladebuckle for %fhr, Verdungos/String for %dr, but ideally, Arachnid's Mesh so you can toss the FCR amulet/ring and hit 117% fcr while tacking on 36 #dr (Nature's 11 + 25 #dr amulet) for a grand total of 66 #dr.

You can probably ditch %dr equipment for a Rising Sun amulet if you're afraid of CE.


Personal thoughts (and I only have this in mind because I'm actually planning this build for Baaling/Keyrunning/general novelty)

Max TK/ES/Teleport/Nova sorceress to stun & run for straight keyrunning.

Self-wield Insight, jam up the FHR, max out on life.
Nova is a 'regular' spell so 105% fcr is enough.

Gear becomes a challenge. Remove Wizardspike/Mosers from previous setup:
110 res 70 fcr 62 fhr 11 #dr 10 %dr
add Insight:
110 res 105 fcr 62 fhr 11 #dr 10 %dr

To max out, you'll need 65 res from Annihilus, Torch, and charms.
Ideally some rare 10% Fcr amulet plus ~20 resistances.
Again, ideal to wear Arachnid's Mesh, to switch Magefist for Frostburn.

If you find that Insight + Magefist is enough to keep a longrunning Nova charge, even better -- keep the Arachnid's mesh, swap out the ring/amulet for PDR/res.

Low mana cost teleport FTW.

 

[Noite Escura]

From my experiences with Fireball(no calculations here), it takes at least around 2k on average to put enemies into recovery. Considering Lightning spells have next to zero min damage, aim for twice that number...

 

[MYK]

Eep! Okay.
Nova sorc....
That's a tall order, but doable, I think.
It's going to be interesting to squeeze 65 res from the inventory, but that's okay, too.
It'll just smash my piggy bank to pieces.
I think I'll try it!

 

[Socialism1]

Thanks for the suggestions.


Nobody uses nova - Are you crazy?
Have you tried this? Can't be much fun losing the wizardspike and shield for resists. How do you tackle?

Hit refresh nooblet! :>

 

[MYK]

Hit refresh nooblet! :>

These aren't the droids you're looking for...

I'll ask again. Did it work?

 

[Socialism1]

These aren't the droids you're looking for...

I'll ask again. Did it work?

Wouldn't know, haven't made it yet. I don't have much time to play; not sure if you've noticed...


..and that's probably due to how much I post on forums. Sigh. It's as theoretical as Orb/TK/Teleport once was Except this one says "NO BLOCKZOR," demands some extra FHR, and uses Energy Shield to a slightly higher degree ~60 - ~70? (I guess keep the Frostburn on, fill up with mana charms, whatever) due to the presence of Insight.

Mercenary? What mercenary? :> Possibly get an A3 Cold merc to ration out some crowd control.

1 pt in Frost Nova to slow stuff down if you gotta. Build done ~ 83 skill points anyway (without adding to warmth). Actually, probably more economical to put 10 into ES rather than 20. Use the remainder to put some points into static field and warmth. Actually, if building, I'd try with 1 pt into Energy Shield first. 50% isn't something to sneeze at. With +6 skills from annihilus/torch/arach/viper - you have 50% at 1pt ES, 71% at 10pt ES, 81% at 20pt ES. What's worth it? Play and find out!

Tactics: Teleport in, Frost Nova, Nova, Static, Static, Static, Static, Static, Nova ad infinitum.

 

[MYK]

Wouldn't know, haven't made it yet. I don't have much time to play; not sure if you've noticed...


..and that's probably due to how much I post on forums. sigh

If it don't work then you'll see me on East a little sooner. :scratch:

I thought the lawbringer merc would be nice. Just through it on the act 3 dude along with some resist stuff. The only bad things around are usually archers so those should get pushed around enough to add some safety. Maybe not.

I really wouldn't know how much you play. I mean, it's not like you would grace West with your presence or anything.

 

[Socialism1]

If it don't work then you'll see me on East a little sooner. :scratch:

I thought the lawbringer merc would be nice. Just through it on the act 3 dude along with some resist stuff. The only bad things around are usually archers so those should get pushed around enough to add some safety. Maybe not.

I really wouldn't know how much you play. I mean, it's not like you would grace West with your presence or anything.

Well yeah, that's what I meant -- A3 Cold Mercs help with crowd control with Lawbringer + Glacial Spike.

 

[Foxy Neko]

I started the D key hunt a few days ago with my light sorc lvl 88.
I am a pure light sorc without infinity on merc yet.
My gear:
Shako
Viper 31 Res (not socket not uped yet)
Spirit monarch
Eschuta +2/20light (will add a light facet soon hehe)
Tal Amu
Tal belt
Perf Chancie
War traveler i think
Nagel
Nature peace (just got it yesterday, really nice against CE)

Merc:
Insight
Tal mask
Atma Weil

When i find where Nihlathak is hidden i slowly enter the room casting CL i stay against the wall and aim where the crowd of monster should be...its not long before only 1 or 2 monster remain...
My only problem is when Viper spawned there...can get dangerous...the CL kill Nihlathak but i have to escape the viper to check if there is a Dkey waiting for me or not.

 

[AlabasterFilth]

Does mf affect key drops?

 

[Socialism1]

Schnope !