Account help hell mode

[Lintlicker45]

Hey guys. I have a level 67 frozen orb sorc and can solo all of hell (merc does during last wave of Baal monsters). Tried my luck with hell act 1 and I have a hard time right out of the gate. Problem is can’t kill anything but they dont say cold immune? I Play on ps4 if that helps.

Using spirit weapon, sanders gloves, smoke armor, fiend shell large shield, soul trample and some increase cast rate rings. Kind of crappy but works for now.

Build is currently without skill bonus from items: MAX frozen orb, MAX ice bolt, 1 cold mastery, 1 static shield, will max telekinesis, MAX energy shield and some pts into warmth.

Stats are: 55 star, 25 def, 32 vitality, 360 energy.

My question is, should I have roughly 10pts into cold mastery to kill anything in hell? Or maybe go meteor/frozen orb? Would like to avoid respec if perhaps cold mastery might work. Any suggestions would help.

Played D2 way back in the day and I remember smoking hell with my orb sorc but cannot remember the exact build. Thank you in advance.

 

[jrt055]

If you're not dying, I would put more points in cold mastery, probably max it.

If you are dying, get Ancients' Pledge, it gives you tons of All res if your resistance is low.

 

[HanShotFirst]

The major issue that I'm seeing is that you'd get a lot more return on investment maxing Cold Mastery instead of Ice Bolt. Maxing both Cold Mastery and Ice Bolt is a perfectly reasonable thing to do ... but I'd have maxed Cold Mastery before putting additional points into Ice Bolt.

The other thing about your build that stands out is your choosing to max Energy Shield. I prefer to max Telekinesis, making Energy Shield more effective (less mana deducted per damage taken), and keep Energy Shield more as a one point wonder ... or maybe put a few skill points into it depending on +skills and items available for prebuffing.

I also started D2R with a Frozen Orb Sorceress, my build, in the order in which skill points were placed, is:

20 Points Frozen Orb
20 Points Cold Mastery
20 Points Telekinesis
20 Points Warmth
6 Points Teleport <-- Future skill points going here. Ice Bolt could have been just as worthy ... but extended teleporting was the only thing that was taking a bite out of my mana, so I put points here to get to 'infinite' teleporting (teleporting without mana loss).
and,
1 Point Static Field
Energy Shield as a one point wonder (currently being cast at level 7 with plus skills).

I haven't encountered any problems with this build. The merc, backed up by Static Field, handles cold immunes ... and actually ... Cold Mastery can currently break cold immunities in D2R ... so all the more reason to max Cold Mastery a.s.a.p. Cold Mastery breaking cold immunes is seen as a bug, so it may be patched ... but even so, you can certainly play through Hell with only Frozen Orb/Cold Mastery and the merc.

Oh, also. Putting stat points into Energy is another pretty non-standard choice. I have the minimum strength and dex required for the items I want to equip, and then everything else in vitality ... no points in energy. I was using Insight on the merc for mana until I was able to farm up my endgame items (Harlequin Crest, Wizardspike, Spirit Shield, etc). With those items, and 20 points in Warmth, I have what I would consider 'infinite' mana, even without Insight on the merc. Lots of stat points in Energy could be a good idea ... I don't know, I've never tried it ... I just wanted to point out that it isn't necessary to have all the mana you could ever need, even when running Energy Shield (though again, that's also probably a function of putting points into Telekinesis instead of Energy Shield).

Just my two cents ...

 

[Lintlicker45]

The major issue that I'm seeing is that you'd get a lot more return on investment maxing Cold Mastery instead of Ice Bolt. Maxing both Cold Mastery and Ice Bolt is a perfectly reasonable thing to do ... but I'd have maxed Cold Mastery before putting additional points into Ice Bolt.

The other thing about your build that stands out is your choosing to max Energy Shield. I prefer to max Telekinesis, making Energy Shield more effective (less mana deducted per damage taken), and keep Energy Shield more as a one point wonder ... or maybe put a few skill points into it depending on +skills and items available for prebuffing.

I also started D2R with a Frozen Orb Sorceress, my build, in the order in which skill points were placed, is:

20 Points Frozen Orb
20 Points Cold Mastery
20 Points Telekinesis
20 Points Warmth
6 Points Teleport <-- Future skill points going here. Ice Bolt could have been just as worthy ... but extended teleporting was the only thing that was taking a bite out of my mana, so I put points here to get to 'infinite' teleporting (teleporting without mana loss).
and,
1 Point Static Field
Energy Shield as a one point wonder (currently being cast at level 7 with plus skills).

I haven't encountered any problems with this build. The merc, backed up by Static Field, handles cold immunes ... and actually ... Cold Mastery can currently break cold immunities in D2R ... so all the more reason to max Cold Mastery a.s.a.p. Cold Mastery breaking cold immunes is seen as a bug, so it may be patched ... but even so, you can certainly play through Hell with only Frozen Orb/Cold Mastery and the merc.

Oh, also. Putting stat points into Energy is another pretty non-standard choice. I have the minimum strength and dex required for the items I want to equip, and then everything else in vitality ... no points in energy. I was using Insight on the merc for mana until I was able to farm up my endgame items (Harlequin Crest, Wizardspike, Spirit Shield, etc). With those items, and 20 points in Warmth, I have what I would consider 'infinite' mana, even without Insight on the merc. Lots of stat points in Energy could be a good idea ... I don't know, I've never tried it ... I just wanted to point out that it isn't necessary to have all the mana you could ever need, even when running Energy Shield (though again, that's also probably a function of putting points into Telekinesis instead of Energy Shield).

Just my two cents ...

I see what you’re saying and all valid points, “theoretically” if she has a huge energy pool and telekinesis and energy shield are maxed, damage would be pulling from there, I’ll probably respec and get some points into cold mastery, or keep leveling and throw another 5-10 pat in CM and see how she does in hell. Respec if I need to.

So forgive me if I’m reading this wrong, if my merc has a shako, does that mean it gives me the +2 skills as well? What do you mean infinite mana pool? I’m just getting back into D2 after a long time so forgive my noobness

 

[Lintlicker45]

If you're not dying, I would put more points in cold mastery, probably max it.

If you are dying, get Ancients' Pledge, it gives you tons of All res if your resistance is low.

I do die once they’re cold immune and can schwack me a few times, otherwise I kill everything…or so it appears…pretty well so far out of the gate

 

[HanShotFirst]

I would suggest using a respec and maxing Frozen Orb and Cold Mastery. Past that I'd say everything concerning skills is personal preference.

Also, perhaps I could have used better punctuation. The Harlequin Crest, Wizardspike, and Spirit Shield is on the Sorceress. Not the merc. Those items on the Sorceress create a sufficient mana pool and rate of mana regeneration that I can cast any skill as much as I want and not see a decrease in my mana pool. (Regeneration is greater than use ... I shorthanded that to 'infinite mana'). Until you can find items that let you do that I was suggesting using an Insight (runeword) polearm on an Act II Desert Merc. That would also give you all the mana you'd need for skills and running Energy Shield.

Hope that helps clear things up.

 

[Lintlicker45]

Thab

I would suggest using a respec and maxing Frozen Orb and Cold Mastery. Past that I'd say everything concerning skills is personal preference.

Also, perhaps I could have used better punctuation. The Harlequin Crest, Wizardspike, and Spirit Shield is on the Sorceress. Not the merc. Those items on the Sorceress create a sufficient mana pool and rate of mana regeneration that I can cast any skill as much as I want and not see a decrease in my mana pool. (Regeneration is greater than use ... I shorthanded that to 'infinite mana'). Until you can find items that let you do that I was suggesting using an Insight (runeword) polearm on an Act II Desert Merc. That would also give you all the mana you'd need for skills and running Energy Shield.

Hope that helps clear th

I would suggest using a respec and maxing Frozen Orb and Cold Mastery. Past that I'd say everything concerning skills is personal preference.

Also, perhaps I could have used better punctuation. The Harlequin Crest, Wizardspike, and Spirit Shield is on the Sorceress. Not the merc. Those items on the Sorceress create a sufficient mana pool and rate of mana regeneration that I can cast any skill as much as I want and not see a decrease in my mana pool. (Regeneration is greater than use ... I shorthanded that to 'infinite mana'). Until you can find items that let you do that I was suggesting using an Insight (runeword) polearm on an Act II Desert Merc. That would also give you all the mana you'd need for skills and running Energy Shield.

Hope that helps clear things up.

Thanksfor the help man, and yes it surely does! I’ll give it a go and see where we get