- May 12, 2007
- 2,489
- 82
- 18
Matriarch Blova, Blizzard/Nova Sorceress
After building Frova, a Frozen Orb/Nova sorceress, I was somewhat underwhelmed because of my distaste for Frozen Orb, but Nova had certainly acquitted itself well and I felt it deserved another go. Blizzard is one of my favorite skills and one I'm well acquainted with (taking two chars to 90+ with a skill will get you familiar with it), so it was an easy pick. I took a look at Bobthewarrior's writeup for Bobtheblizznova, and definitely gleaned some wisdom from it, though I'll admit to more or less winging it. In retrospect, I probably could have done a couple things better, but we'll get to that in due time.
Stats:
Character name : Blova
Character type : Sorceress
Character level : 79
Strength : 134 (156)
Energy : 35 (55)
Dexterity : 25 (49)
Vitality : 281 (333)
Stat Points Rem : 10 (for the glorious day I can replace that rare ring with an SoJ)
Life : 913 / 720
Mana : 555 / 191
Resists: 53 fire, 69 cold, 75 lightning, 22 poison
Skills:
Ice Blast: 20 (29)
Blizzard: 20 (29)
Cold Mastery: 4 (13)
Nova: 20 (32)
Lightning Mastery: 20 (32)
Blizzard damage: 2215-2337
Nova damage: 1301-1738
1 point in required skills and utilities. No warmth, no cold armor and none saved.
This is where I think I made a mistake. When I switched to caster gear at 29, I dumped my saved points into Ice Blast to synergize Blizz, like I would with a blizz sorc. In hindsight, that wasn't such a great idea. If I did it over, I'd put maybe 10 points in there at that point, then focus on Blizzard, LM, Nova, getting CM to 17 after + skills, then finish Ice Blast (or Glacial Spike, if you're into maxing that instead, but I wouldn't advise it for Baal), in that order. I don't like upping Nova too early because you won't likely be geared to handle the higher mana cost at that point, and you don't really need the big damage from it until late NM, and the progression I suggest here ought to kick in just as you need it.
I'm not completely sure on what the best course of action is, but at the moment I'm planning on getting CM to 100% after +skills and then pumping synergies since at that point anything not CI will be in the negatives and the +5% from synergies should provide more damage than the -5% from CM. I dont' really see why this would not be so, but if I'm wrong, please let me know.
Gear:
Charms:
Pretty much the same equipment as Frova, except I added a couple of small charms to hit 60% FHR and add a little mana/res.
Leharas, Might Mercenary:
Finds:
NM Forge: Shael
Hell Forge: Lem
- Sharp (49, 8) Grand Charm of Greed (27)
- Small Charm of Vita (20)
- Sapphire(11) Small Charm of Sustenance (15)
- Eth. Blade of Ali Baba
- Arm of King Leoric
- Que-Hegan's
- Guillaume's Face
- Good amount of Rals/Sols and Pgems
Was a little disappointed in the Forges. After getting minimum in NM I was really hoping for at least a Pul in Hell, but oh well.
As for the rest, I'm quite pleased with the haul considering she teleported through most of the game.
Play:
Normal: Envy hat + jeweled sword got me to Sigon's, Sigon's got me to 1.09 Ravenclaw and Iratha's. I don't like full Sigon's, so I still have some tweaking to do with my low low level twinking. Ravenclaw + Iratha's with Twitchthroe and Treads is pretty GG, though. Got me to 29 when I turned caster and put on spirit sword, peasant crown, eye of etlitch, Skin of the Vipermagi, visceratuant, nightsmoke, nat's boots, chancies and 2 rare rings.
Ran Baal until 50 before moving to Nightmare.
Put points in utility and required skills as they became available, put a point in Blizz at 24 to kill Duriel. Dumped saved points in Ice Blast at 28 or 29 (see the "Skills" section to see why I think that was a mistake)and maxed it from there, then used Tyrael's quest reward to get CM and LM. From there I maxed Blizz and started on LM.
NM: Teleported through til Act V. Shael was a big disappointment at the Forge. Ran Eldritch til 58. Leveled to 76 (for Griffon's) in Baal runs before entering Hell. A witch in the Throne was kind enough to drop my second AoKL during those runs, which was cool. p8 was fine for everything except Baal, who I took at p5.
Hell: Let's just say Blova earned her frequent re-materializer card. Cleared the Mausoleum (found Graveyard instead of Stony Field, so I figured what the heck), AT, and RoF with her, with no noteworthy finds. Only really tough patch was saving Anya: area had CI Vipers, charging undead, and caster skellies.
Blind teleported almost on top of a pack of fanatacism vipers, but was able to cast a blizz and duck behind a wall. I stepped over to pick up whatever was dropped and saw that there was an evil urn there. We all know better than to open evil urns with a caster when we're standing right beside them, right? Apparently not dumb-dumb me. Bosspack of ES Vipers spawns right on top of me and a charge takes off half my life. Luckily, the occy saved me, and I picked off the minions and the merc took down the LE boss.
Then, 2 teleports later we were on top of another viper bosspack, this time CE/cursed. I went into super nova (heh) spam mode and took down the boss, getting cursed at the same time, and almost immediately took a viper charge that dropped my life by about 3/4ths ... really scary part being I was only at about 3/4ths my hitpoints before he hit me. Quick rejuv and we teleported to Anya, where I greeted Frozenstein with a bevy of novas and he repaid my kindness by dying at my feet. Yetis have such horrible manners.
Nothing else really proved a problem. Took the ancients down without any re-rolls. Not even 100% sure of the mods - I remember Stone Skin, Magic Resistant, and Blessed Aim and assume the rest were similarly innocuous since they went down without much of a fight. WSK gave me favorable rolls, and the Throne was a joke (Balrogs, Vipers [non-CI] and Blood Lords). Waves went down in short order, with no issues. Well, the merc died to the combination of poison + stacked hydras, but there were no issues for the sorc. Lister spawned FI/CI, so he took a little extra time and care as nova doesn't pack the punch to put him in hit recovery.
Thoughts:
Succinctly: This char rocks. She covers the aspects of FO that I found lacking while not forsaking the good aspects the other build provided (well, of course there's some tradeoff, but it's small enough that I can live with it), so, in my estimation, she's a supreme success.
Having said that, I don't think this is a build for everybody. First of all, if you're not fairly wealthy in D2 terms this build will give headaches. Underpowered FO is not really that big of a deal; it's a pretty solid killer even with few +skills. Blizzard and Nova, on the other hand, demand +skills. FO/Nova can work out alright as an underpowered build because FO doesn't really require them and it's the main skill involved, but Blizzard/Nova doesn't have that to fallback on. I'm sure somebody will make an untwinked Blizz/Nova sorc at some point, and I'm not saying it can't be done, merely that it will be really underpowered - in other words, it would get frustrating for me. Plus, the only interest for me in this build is as a Baal runner and, to do that effectively, a good bit of power is required. In short, unless you dislike FO I would suggest you go with the FO/Nova build.
I did Normal and NM at p8 (yes, I teleported through at p8, didn't really figure it would make much difference...I was right), except for NM Baal who I ran at p5 (p8 for the Waves), moving to p1 for Hell. And at p1 she's a killing machine. Kill speed diminishes quickly at higher settings, though.
I took on all the Act Bosses at p3, and only Baal took what I would consider a long time to kill. I knew Blizzard was pretty poor at killing Baal coming in, though, having a Blizz sorc that runs him.
I didn't die at all with this character. I took things a little more carefully than I normally would in Act V because of that (incredibly irritating to get that far only to die to something stupid), but I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment, considering she was teleporting through the majority of the game under-leveled.
Addendum:
I've now done 10+ runs after making her a mat, and I have to say I'm quite pleased. Timing them with the comp's clock, most of the runs took 5 minutes, one took 6 minutes, and 3 took 4 minutes (the last 3). That's without killing anything (or only one bosspack) in the actual WSK, but I was mostly concerned with how quickly she could kill the waves and Baal, at this point. As you would expect, Blizzard tears through the waves in next to no time (actually not too far off from my lightning sorcs times), but can't compete with FO when it comes to Baal. It's taking the better part of a minute to take down Baal with her, but I make that up on the waves, so I'm not really sweating it.
Of course, on the first run after matting her, she died. To Baal. Oh, the embarassment. Then she died again on run 5. The throne was packed with ~12 gloams plus mummies. I teleported onto a mummy and pegged him with an ice blast, but attracted attention from a group of gloams just off screen. The occy saved her from a concentrated pack of gloam lightning, teleporting her into ... another concentrated pack of gloam lightning. Oh well, live by the occy, die by the occy, eh?
How does she do on the dreaded 2nd wave. you ask? Splendidly. I stand on top of Baal and start laying down blizzards while Baal is laughing, normally having 3 going when they spawn, then I static away and drop another blizz on top of the mummies, normally killing most or all of them. At that point I teleport into the middle of the skellies and 9 times out of 10 (literally, so far) manage to take all of them down at the same time. Only problems are getting hit right as they spawn and having the occy jump me out of place and getting poisoned and not being able to kill all of them off quickly enough to be safe (getting poisoned means having to throw up a TP, but it doesn't happen often).
Future:
She'll definitely be handling my Baal running for awhile, since she's just about as fast as my pure lightning sorc, but packs almost twice the MF. However, the MFO is nearly upon us and I still need to work on optimizing Blizzy's run times, so I may not be doing much Baal running for awhile.
As for other D2 projects, I've got a level 91 poisonmancer I should press on to Patriarch and an IK barb in Act V Hell who I should finish up as well, but I think my next char will most likely be a new WW barb, either swinging my eth Hone Sundan or the upped Ribcracker.
I'd like to thank sirpoopsalot and his triple mat thread for sparking the interest in FO/Nova builds and Bobthewarrior for his writeup about his Blizz/Nova build. This is certainly the most engaging and enjoyable Baal runner I currently have, and I may not have come across her if not for you guys.
After building Frova, a Frozen Orb/Nova sorceress, I was somewhat underwhelmed because of my distaste for Frozen Orb, but Nova had certainly acquitted itself well and I felt it deserved another go. Blizzard is one of my favorite skills and one I'm well acquainted with (taking two chars to 90+ with a skill will get you familiar with it), so it was an easy pick. I took a look at Bobthewarrior's writeup for Bobtheblizznova, and definitely gleaned some wisdom from it, though I'll admit to more or less winging it. In retrospect, I probably could have done a couple things better, but we'll get to that in due time.
Stats:
Character name : Blova
Character type : Sorceress
Character level : 79
Strength : 134 (156)
Energy : 35 (55)
Dexterity : 25 (49)
Vitality : 281 (333)
Stat Points Rem : 10 (for the glorious day I can replace that rare ring with an SoJ)
Life : 913 / 720
Mana : 555 / 191
Resists: 53 fire, 69 cold, 75 lightning, 22 poison
Skills:
Ice Blast: 20 (29)
Blizzard: 20 (29)
Cold Mastery: 4 (13)
Nova: 20 (32)
Lightning Mastery: 20 (32)
Blizzard damage: 2215-2337
Nova damage: 1301-1738
1 point in required skills and utilities. No warmth, no cold armor and none saved.
This is where I think I made a mistake. When I switched to caster gear at 29, I dumped my saved points into Ice Blast to synergize Blizz, like I would with a blizz sorc. In hindsight, that wasn't such a great idea. If I did it over, I'd put maybe 10 points in there at that point, then focus on Blizzard, LM, Nova, getting CM to 17 after + skills, then finish Ice Blast (or Glacial Spike, if you're into maxing that instead, but I wouldn't advise it for Baal), in that order. I don't like upping Nova too early because you won't likely be geared to handle the higher mana cost at that point, and you don't really need the big damage from it until late NM, and the progression I suggest here ought to kick in just as you need it.
I'm not completely sure on what the best course of action is, but at the moment I'm planning on getting CM to 100% after +skills and then pumping synergies since at that point anything not CI will be in the negatives and the +5% from synergies should provide more damage than the -5% from CM. I dont' really see why this would not be so, but if I'm wrong, please let me know.
Gear:
Code:
Griffon's Eye
Diadem
Defense: 208
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 76
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x7abdaa02
+154 Defense
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
25% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
100% Chance to cast Level 41 Nova When You Level Up
+18% to Lightning Skill Damage
-25% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Rainbow Facet
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xd1c52425
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
100% Chance to cast Level 41 Nova When You Level Up
+5% to Lightning Skill Damage
-5% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Tal Rasha's Guardianship
Lacquered Plate
Defense: 910
Durability: 54 of 55
Required Strength: 83
Required Level: 71
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xcec8eef3
+400 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Fire Resist +40%
Lightning Resist +40%
Cold Resist +40%
112% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -60%
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
10% Faster Cast Rate
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Lacquered Plate
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x6f049851
+50 to Life
+42 to Mana
Lightning Resist +33%
Adds 3-32 lightning damage
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
10% Faster Cast Rate
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xcbf4680
+50 to Maximum Stamina
3% Life stolen per hit
+1 to All Skill Levels
+39 to Life (Based on Character Level)
War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 124
Durability: 47 of 48
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xb4352cf4
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+159% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Minimum Damage
+25 to Maximum Damage
+30 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 5
43% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Run/Walk
40% Slower Stamina Drain
Bone Hold
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x932eba0a
+12 to Strength
Fire Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +10%
Cold Resist +10%
Poison Resist +10%
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
5% Chance to cast Level 3 Chain Lightning on attack
Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth
Mesh Belt
Defense: 100
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 46
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xba95e79d
+20 to Dexterity
+30 to Mana
15% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -20%
37% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+60 Defense
10% Faster Cast Rate
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
Frostburn
Gauntlets
Defense: 49
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7468e5a2
+20% Enhanced Defense
+5% Enhanced Damage
+30 Defense
Adds 1-6 cold damage over 2 seconds
Increase Maximum Mana 40%
The Oculus
Swirling Crystal
One-Hand Damage: 18 to 42
Durability: 50 of 50
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 42
Orb Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x25abd33a
+20 to Energy
+20 to Vitality
+20% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +20
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
30% Faster Cast Rate
+5 to Mana After Each Kill
25% Chance to cast Level 1 Teleport when struck
Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 140
Chance to Block: 42%
Durability: 85 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc0da8d62
+22 to Vitality
+90 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+7 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)Charms:
Code:
Sapphire Small Charm of Good Luck
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x3317f842
Cold Resist +11%
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Ruby Small Charm of Fortune
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0xa4bd86fc
Fire Resist +11%
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Sparking Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf7c0613d
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
Sparking Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0xc652f842
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
Sparking Grand Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xd6ae2e76
+4 to Dexterity
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf1ca2ced
114% Extra Gold from Monsters
40% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Reduces All Vendor Prices 12%
Shimmering Grand Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0xec68dbc
All Resistances +14
38% Extra Gold from Monsters
Russet Small Charm of Good Luck
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xd8bdc1f7
Fire Resist +6%
6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shimmering Small Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x35d55041
All Resistances +5
Adds 1-20 lightning damage
Shimmering Small Charm of Good Luck
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x90d35ed0
All Resistances +4
6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Serpent's Small Charm of Fortune
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5969c0db
+15 to Mana
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Garnet Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x4a99e2cc
Fire Resist +8%
5% Faster Hit Recovery
Beryl Small Charm of Good Luck
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x9fde03d8
Poison Resist +4%
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic ItemsPretty much the same equipment as Frova, except I added a couple of small charms to hit 60% FHR and add a little mana/res.
Leharas, Might Mercenary:
Code:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 378
Durability: 21 of 21
Required Strength: 48
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x9f678bf5
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
Damage Reduced by 17%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
6% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Increased Attack Speed
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (1: 1 used)
Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x5161ff71
15% Increased Attack Speed
Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 702
Durability: 150 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x80c2b5dd
+15 to Strength
+198% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+98 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+79 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 0 used)
Insight
Thresher
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 68 to 692
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 108
Required Strength: 142
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0x5f0954d6
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+228% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+1 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
237% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)Finds:
NM Forge: Shael
Hell Forge: Lem
- Sharp (49, 8) Grand Charm of Greed (27)
- Small Charm of Vita (20)
- Sapphire(11) Small Charm of Sustenance (15)
- Eth. Blade of Ali Baba
- Arm of King Leoric
- Que-Hegan's
- Guillaume's Face
- Good amount of Rals/Sols and Pgems
Was a little disappointed in the Forges. After getting minimum in NM I was really hoping for at least a Pul in Hell, but oh well.
As for the rest, I'm quite pleased with the haul considering she teleported through most of the game.
Play:
Normal: Envy hat + jeweled sword got me to Sigon's, Sigon's got me to 1.09 Ravenclaw and Iratha's. I don't like full Sigon's, so I still have some tweaking to do with my low low level twinking. Ravenclaw + Iratha's with Twitchthroe and Treads is pretty GG, though. Got me to 29 when I turned caster and put on spirit sword, peasant crown, eye of etlitch, Skin of the Vipermagi, visceratuant, nightsmoke, nat's boots, chancies and 2 rare rings.
Ran Baal until 50 before moving to Nightmare.
Put points in utility and required skills as they became available, put a point in Blizz at 24 to kill Duriel. Dumped saved points in Ice Blast at 28 or 29 (see the "Skills" section to see why I think that was a mistake)and maxed it from there, then used Tyrael's quest reward to get CM and LM. From there I maxed Blizz and started on LM.
NM: Teleported through til Act V. Shael was a big disappointment at the Forge. Ran Eldritch til 58. Leveled to 76 (for Griffon's) in Baal runs before entering Hell. A witch in the Throne was kind enough to drop my second AoKL during those runs, which was cool. p8 was fine for everything except Baal, who I took at p5.
Hell: Let's just say Blova earned her frequent re-materializer card. Cleared the Mausoleum (found Graveyard instead of Stony Field, so I figured what the heck), AT, and RoF with her, with no noteworthy finds. Only really tough patch was saving Anya: area had CI Vipers, charging undead, and caster skellies.
Blind teleported almost on top of a pack of fanatacism vipers, but was able to cast a blizz and duck behind a wall. I stepped over to pick up whatever was dropped and saw that there was an evil urn there. We all know better than to open evil urns with a caster when we're standing right beside them, right? Apparently not dumb-dumb me. Bosspack of ES Vipers spawns right on top of me and a charge takes off half my life. Luckily, the occy saved me, and I picked off the minions and the merc took down the LE boss.
Then, 2 teleports later we were on top of another viper bosspack, this time CE/cursed. I went into super nova (heh) spam mode and took down the boss, getting cursed at the same time, and almost immediately took a viper charge that dropped my life by about 3/4ths ... really scary part being I was only at about 3/4ths my hitpoints before he hit me. Quick rejuv and we teleported to Anya, where I greeted Frozenstein with a bevy of novas and he repaid my kindness by dying at my feet. Yetis have such horrible manners.
Nothing else really proved a problem. Took the ancients down without any re-rolls. Not even 100% sure of the mods - I remember Stone Skin, Magic Resistant, and Blessed Aim and assume the rest were similarly innocuous since they went down without much of a fight. WSK gave me favorable rolls, and the Throne was a joke (Balrogs, Vipers [non-CI] and Blood Lords). Waves went down in short order, with no issues. Well, the merc died to the combination of poison + stacked hydras, but there were no issues for the sorc. Lister spawned FI/CI, so he took a little extra time and care as nova doesn't pack the punch to put him in hit recovery.
Thoughts:
Succinctly: This char rocks. She covers the aspects of FO that I found lacking while not forsaking the good aspects the other build provided (well, of course there's some tradeoff, but it's small enough that I can live with it), so, in my estimation, she's a supreme success.
Having said that, I don't think this is a build for everybody. First of all, if you're not fairly wealthy in D2 terms this build will give headaches. Underpowered FO is not really that big of a deal; it's a pretty solid killer even with few +skills. Blizzard and Nova, on the other hand, demand +skills. FO/Nova can work out alright as an underpowered build because FO doesn't really require them and it's the main skill involved, but Blizzard/Nova doesn't have that to fallback on. I'm sure somebody will make an untwinked Blizz/Nova sorc at some point, and I'm not saying it can't be done, merely that it will be really underpowered - in other words, it would get frustrating for me. Plus, the only interest for me in this build is as a Baal runner and, to do that effectively, a good bit of power is required. In short, unless you dislike FO I would suggest you go with the FO/Nova build.
I did Normal and NM at p8 (yes, I teleported through at p8, didn't really figure it would make much difference...I was right), except for NM Baal who I ran at p5 (p8 for the Waves), moving to p1 for Hell. And at p1 she's a killing machine. Kill speed diminishes quickly at higher settings, though.
I took on all the Act Bosses at p3, and only Baal took what I would consider a long time to kill. I knew Blizzard was pretty poor at killing Baal coming in, though, having a Blizz sorc that runs him.
I didn't die at all with this character. I took things a little more carefully than I normally would in Act V because of that (incredibly irritating to get that far only to die to something stupid), but I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment, considering she was teleporting through the majority of the game under-leveled.
Addendum:
I've now done 10+ runs after making her a mat, and I have to say I'm quite pleased. Timing them with the comp's clock, most of the runs took 5 minutes, one took 6 minutes, and 3 took 4 minutes (the last 3). That's without killing anything (or only one bosspack) in the actual WSK, but I was mostly concerned with how quickly she could kill the waves and Baal, at this point. As you would expect, Blizzard tears through the waves in next to no time (actually not too far off from my lightning sorcs times), but can't compete with FO when it comes to Baal. It's taking the better part of a minute to take down Baal with her, but I make that up on the waves, so I'm not really sweating it.
Of course, on the first run after matting her, she died. To Baal. Oh, the embarassment. Then she died again on run 5. The throne was packed with ~12 gloams plus mummies. I teleported onto a mummy and pegged him with an ice blast, but attracted attention from a group of gloams just off screen. The occy saved her from a concentrated pack of gloam lightning, teleporting her into ... another concentrated pack of gloam lightning. Oh well, live by the occy, die by the occy, eh?
How does she do on the dreaded 2nd wave. you ask? Splendidly. I stand on top of Baal and start laying down blizzards while Baal is laughing, normally having 3 going when they spawn, then I static away and drop another blizz on top of the mummies, normally killing most or all of them. At that point I teleport into the middle of the skellies and 9 times out of 10 (literally, so far) manage to take all of them down at the same time. Only problems are getting hit right as they spawn and having the occy jump me out of place and getting poisoned and not being able to kill all of them off quickly enough to be safe (getting poisoned means having to throw up a TP, but it doesn't happen often).
Future:
She'll definitely be handling my Baal running for awhile, since she's just about as fast as my pure lightning sorc, but packs almost twice the MF. However, the MFO is nearly upon us and I still need to work on optimizing Blizzy's run times, so I may not be doing much Baal running for awhile.
As for other D2 projects, I've got a level 91 poisonmancer I should press on to Patriarch and an IK barb in Act V Hell who I should finish up as well, but I think my next char will most likely be a new WW barb, either swinging my eth Hone Sundan or the upped Ribcracker.
I'd like to thank sirpoopsalot and his triple mat thread for sparking the interest in FO/Nova builds and Bobthewarrior for his writeup about his Blizz/Nova build. This is certainly the most engaging and enjoyable Baal runner I currently have, and I may not have come across her if not for you guys.
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