Best sorc builds in Classic?

[CCCenturion]

Best sorc builds in Classic?

Hi all, I'm considering playing Classic again after playing LoD since, well as long as I can remember. So I really have no idea what build and gear combinations are most effective without the runewords and uniques that are available in LoD.

Specifically, my questions are

1 Is there any way to break immunities in Classic?
2 What are the best items that a Classic sorc should be looking for?
3 Is it feasible to make a pure Lightning, pure Cold, or pure Fire sorc that can dominate Hell difficulty in Classic, or without Infinity is it mandatory to go with a hybrid build?

 

[Shagura]

Re: Best sorc builds in Classic?

Hi all, I'm considering playing Classic again after playing LoD since, well as long as I can remember. So I really have no idea what build and gear combinations are most effective without the runewords and uniques that are available in LoD.

Specifically, my questions are

1 Is there any way to break immunities in Classic?
2 What are the best items that a Classic sorc should be looking for?
3 Is it feasible to make a pure Lightning, pure Cold, or pure Fire sorc that can dominate Hell difficulty in Classic, or without Infinity is it mandatory to go with a hybrid build?

1. Same ways as in expansion afaik, by Conviction aura (pala) and lower resist (necro) and those only. Some monsters have such high resistances that they cannot be broken period, the Oblivion Knights in CS being a good example.

2. In Classic it's mostly rares (apart from some uniques like Spectral Blade, frosties, sojs etc.). If you want to make a good pvm sorc you probably want to try to hit the 63% fcr and 67% fhr breakpoints. Look through this thread for a good list of items to look out for (and a lot of other stuff you need to know about classic): http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=624998 Also note that you don't need any dex for blocking in classic, but the blocking of your shield is whatever blocking it has so a good rare +20% Increased Blocking / 30% Faster Block Rate shield is golden.

3. Most sorceresses I see in classic are single element (Most are Frozen Orb, Bliz and occasionally a meteor sorc). Look through the stickies for some good guides
You actually can kill anything non lightning-immune with static field (you can static mobs down to 1hp in hell classic) and then finish them off with telekinesis, but this is really tedious and takes quite some time so I only use it occasionally when I really need to.

Please note that these are just some guidelines. It's mostly some random information you asked about, the good stuff you really need to know about classic are in the stickies in this forum.

 

[Vodage]

Re: Best sorc builds in Classic?

You actually can kill anything non lightning-immune with static field (you can static mobs down to 1hp in hell classic)

This is either completely false or unfeasable in a fast-paced CS. I find that static will not get a Hell diff. Venom Lord's hp low enough to kill it with my level 20 TS with 20 lightning mastery. However, doom knights do go down with this method. Good thing, too, as my secondary is level 20 hydra (20 fire mast)

I think that once the ladder resets I am going to make a Orb (20//20) and hydra (20//20) sorc and skip ES (i went for level 1 es on my hydra sorc-- not worth it) and go for much less str.

A dual-element sorc who skips adding to superfluous skills like cold armor, ets, can have 2 high-damage spells that will take care of anything in hell CS.

P.S. Venom Lords with foher's conviction on them will fall to static.

*Vodage
*Sir_Vodage

(UsWest)

 

[Shagura]

Re: Best sorc builds in Classic?

This is either completely false or unfeasable in a fast-paced CS. I find that static will not get a Hell diff. Venom Lord's hp low enough to kill it with my level 20 TS with 20 lightning mastery. However, doom knights do go down with this method. Good thing, too, as my secondary is level 20 hydra (20 fire mast)

No one ever said anything about a cs. I was just talking that it is possible to kill anything if you really have to like cold resistant council bosses. It will take about 2 mins maybe and a couple of tries but I haven't found a mob yet that wouldn't die from mass static and lvl 20 telekinesis.

I think that once the ladder resets I am going to make a Orb (20//20) and hydra (20//20) sorc and skip ES (i went for level 1 es on my hydra sorc-- not worth it) and go for much less str.

A dual-element sorc who skips adding to superfluous skills like cold armor, ets, can have 2 high-damage spells that will take care of anything in hell CS.

P.S. Venom Lords with foher's conviction on them will fall to static.

*Vodage
*Sir_Vodage

(UsWest)

Shiver armor and Cold armor are just 1 or 2 skill points on a total build (if you're cold anyway). You can't tell me that would prevent you from maxing a second damaging skill. Whether they are useful and worth spending points on is another question, but it's totally irrelevant for the build you choose tbh.