Blizzard PvM sorc guide
- Thread starter lorax
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Shanksie1337
New member
Nice effort
a few points tho
1. Static is a must for pvm, you will encounter many CI's and being able to static them down to half health speeds things up no end. Already mentioned i know, but i can't stress how useful static is, it gives you another elemantal attack of sorts.
2. "Cold GC: +1 to all sorceress cold skills in a grand charm with either life or mana bonuses. Else clean ones also works" afaik you can't get +mana on a skiller, and ofc +str is helpful for both pvm and pvp, and +dex is useful if you go the maxblock route.
3. No mention of Full Tal's set anywhere which quite frankly is a disgrace, ok there may be better options for pvm, but if you are mentioning "lesser" gear like the Pelta Lunata, then Tals must be worthy of a mention. Personally i use full Tals over any of your suggestions, but it's personal preference. There was some very long thread somewhere containing facts & figures comparing full Tals to the various unique wearing builds, if you can find it then i suggest you have a read. Better yet, make a sorc and put Full Tal's on her and see how she does.
EDIT - LOL it's stickied "The truth about Tals Set" have a ganders
4. Merc weapons: Bonehew / Reapers Toll / Cresent Moon Polearm are all excellent choices, but anything will do, my blizz sorc's merc used a Hone Sundan until he was ~lvl 91 or so, with no problems. BoTD & Doom are extreme overkill imho for pvm.
5. FCR - I know they can be found elsewhere, but including the table of FCR bp's would be an improvement. (For Ice Blast -or whatever spell u spam in the delay- & Teleport).
6. "The Damage" section, nice idea, but surely any facets or +%Cold damage will invalidate your figures? It also could be interpreted that 9680-9996
was the max blizzard damage possible, which isn't the case. Most ppl know a link to a skill planner (the ones you can't usually link to on these boards, but a simple google search will find one).
7. With the greatest respect, why did you put a PvP section in a PvM guide when it's clear that you have very little pvp experience? Imo leave pvp guides to those that pvp. (Not that i do pvp often/well, but surely better tactics than "well there’s not much you can do here flee and blizzard. And try NOT getting hit." exist?).
8. If you are going to use lots of skillers (and have a large number of +skills), then getting CM maxed isn't really needed for PvM. Iirc lvl 32 CM = -175% Cold res and that will reduce monsters with +75% Cold res down to the minimum of -100 res. Anymore is just as waste, or overkill imo. For PvP maxing CM is more important as players will stack there Cold res.
looking forward to the next version.
a few points tho
1. Static is a must for pvm, you will encounter many CI's and being able to static them down to half health speeds things up no end. Already mentioned i know, but i can't stress how useful static is, it gives you another elemantal attack of sorts.
2. "Cold GC: +1 to all sorceress cold skills in a grand charm with either life or mana bonuses. Else clean ones also works" afaik you can't get +mana on a skiller, and ofc +str is helpful for both pvm and pvp, and +dex is useful if you go the maxblock route.
3. No mention of Full Tal's set anywhere which quite frankly is a disgrace, ok there may be better options for pvm, but if you are mentioning "lesser" gear like the Pelta Lunata, then Tals must be worthy of a mention. Personally i use full Tals over any of your suggestions, but it's personal preference. There was some very long thread somewhere containing facts & figures comparing full Tals to the various unique wearing builds, if you can find it then i suggest you have a read. Better yet, make a sorc and put Full Tal's on her and see how she does.
EDIT - LOL it's stickied "The truth about Tals Set" have a ganders
4. Merc weapons: Bonehew / Reapers Toll / Cresent Moon Polearm are all excellent choices, but anything will do, my blizz sorc's merc used a Hone Sundan until he was ~lvl 91 or so, with no problems. BoTD & Doom are extreme overkill imho for pvm.
5. FCR - I know they can be found elsewhere, but including the table of FCR bp's would be an improvement. (For Ice Blast -or whatever spell u spam in the delay- & Teleport).
6. "The Damage" section, nice idea, but surely any facets or +%Cold damage will invalidate your figures? It also could be interpreted that 9680-9996
was the max blizzard damage possible, which isn't the case. Most ppl know a link to a skill planner (the ones you can't usually link to on these boards, but a simple google search will find one).
7. With the greatest respect, why did you put a PvP section in a PvM guide when it's clear that you have very little pvp experience? Imo leave pvp guides to those that pvp. (Not that i do pvp often/well, but surely better tactics than "well there’s not much you can do here flee and blizzard. And try NOT getting hit." exist?).
8. If you are going to use lots of skillers (and have a large number of +skills), then getting CM maxed isn't really needed for PvM. Iirc lvl 32 CM = -175% Cold res and that will reduce monsters with +75% Cold res down to the minimum of -100 res. Anymore is just as waste, or overkill imo. For PvP maxing CM is more important as players will stack there Cold res.
looking forward to the next version.
Black_Rose
New member
I like your guide very much, but I also agree with Shanksie in a few of his points:
1. Reaper's Toll is a great mercenary weapon.
2. Tal Set, even with a single element build, is just great. You concentrated mostly on pvm killing part, not including the magicfind tactics, for which Tal Set provides a good combination of mf + defense + skills.
3. Static Field is very important, though many people before have said so.
4. Cold Mastery for pvm is good at level 17, even better at 32, no need to give more.
Otherwise, good job
1. Reaper's Toll is a great mercenary weapon.
2. Tal Set, even with a single element build, is just great. You concentrated mostly on pvm killing part, not including the magicfind tactics, for which Tal Set provides a good combination of mf + defense + skills.
3. Static Field is very important, though many people before have said so.
4. Cold Mastery for pvm is good at level 17, even better at 32, no need to give more.
Otherwise, good job
bartekwoda
New member
Ok, here are a few comments I'd like to make.
First of all, I'll say this again: you NEED static. Precisely because you want to help your merc kill faster.
After that, I'd go for max block even in pvm. My blizz sorc has a max block even though I almost never do pvp. But max block is great for a blizz sorc for one reason: you can actually TANK (yes, tank) monsters and cast blizz on them when they are not moving. It's much easier to hit them when they stand and try to hit you (and you block 3 out of 4 times) then when they move while chasing you. I did a lot of baal running some time ago, and I was saved by max block sooo many times. Someone would give a really nasty tp in the middle of a bunch of a death lord boss pack, I would go in and....I would survive and kill the boss pack because I could block their hit and kill them fast with blizz.
Also, about the shield, I hate lidless. I hate that shield so much because it has nothing that in my opinion a shield should have. It has neither resists nor higher block. I guess it depends whether or not you want to go for max block, but sanctuary is soooo much better. Granted, lidless gives you one to skills, but with blizz you will do huge dmg anyway and the fcr is only useful for teleporting and ice blast (which you won't use so often).
And finally, about duelling melee characters. Well, here's what I do. If you have max block (as I think all blizz sorcs should), you just stand in one place, cast a blizz on yourself and when the melee character approaches, ice blast the hell out of them. Don't try to aim blizz on them, coz it probably won't work. Even if they somehow manage to survive your ice blasts and the blizz that you initially cast, you can block their hits and finish them off with ice blast. Once an enigma ww barb tried to kill. He whirlwinded through me 3 times and did ZERO damage, because I blocked everything. Eventually, he died from ice blasts.
First of all, I'll say this again: you NEED static. Precisely because you want to help your merc kill faster.
After that, I'd go for max block even in pvm. My blizz sorc has a max block even though I almost never do pvp. But max block is great for a blizz sorc for one reason: you can actually TANK (yes, tank) monsters and cast blizz on them when they are not moving. It's much easier to hit them when they stand and try to hit you (and you block 3 out of 4 times) then when they move while chasing you. I did a lot of baal running some time ago, and I was saved by max block sooo many times. Someone would give a really nasty tp in the middle of a bunch of a death lord boss pack, I would go in and....I would survive and kill the boss pack because I could block their hit and kill them fast with blizz.
Also, about the shield, I hate lidless. I hate that shield so much because it has nothing that in my opinion a shield should have. It has neither resists nor higher block. I guess it depends whether or not you want to go for max block, but sanctuary is soooo much better. Granted, lidless gives you one to skills, but with blizz you will do huge dmg anyway and the fcr is only useful for teleporting and ice blast (which you won't use so often).
And finally, about duelling melee characters. Well, here's what I do. If you have max block (as I think all blizz sorcs should), you just stand in one place, cast a blizz on yourself and when the melee character approaches, ice blast the hell out of them. Don't try to aim blizz on them, coz it probably won't work. Even if they somehow manage to survive your ice blasts and the blizz that you initially cast, you can block their hits and finish them off with ice blast. Once an enigma ww barb tried to kill. He whirlwinded through me 3 times and did ZERO damage, because I blocked everything. Eventually, he died from ice blasts.
Shanksie1337
New member
For PvM, why not just use your merc to keep the enemies still :scratch: , that way you can have both - stationary monsters & lots of life
, plus you are not getting hit 1/4 of the time.bartekwoda
New member
Your merc can only be in one place at a time and in open areas such as far oasis, kurast bazaar or plains of despair you tend to get swarmed by monsters coming from many directions.
Also, the I think the gain in life is not worth the reduction in the times you will get, in my opinion. At level 80 you need about 200 dex to achieve max block with a shield that has 60% block. So you basically need to actually put about 150 points into dex (you get some from your gear usually). That translates into 300 life. But with max block you will avoid getting hit so many times that you will have to swallow pots much less often then if you have that 300 extra life.
Also, the I think the gain in life is not worth the reduction in the times you will get, in my opinion. At level 80 you need about 200 dex to achieve max block with a shield that has 60% block. So you basically need to actually put about 150 points into dex (you get some from your gear usually). That translates into 300 life. But with max block you will avoid getting hit so many times that you will have to swallow pots much less often then if you have that 300 extra life.
Black_Rose
New member
Now that I have built a blocking sorc, a rebuild of my vita sorc (full blizz only)... I see all the advantages of blocking. I had ~1200life and now I have ~850, but I survive much more. And tanking duriel myself is really funny.
Never had trouble with getting my merc to block monsters from 'all directions', but I prefer this build now.
Never had trouble with getting my merc to block monsters from 'all directions', but I prefer this build now.
bartekwoda
New member
Black_Rose said:
Exactly!!!
Let me explain it this way:
Let's say you have 1200 life but no blocking or something like 5%, which doesn't really matter.
Now let's say that you have 800 life but max block. You only get hit 3 out of 4 times. That's almost like having 4 times more life: 3200.
EDIT: And yeah, I know what you mean about duriel. He can't do anything: you just stand there and cast blizz and he dies in a few seconds (teleporting is very very buggy in tal rasha's chamber).
Black_Rose
New member
Yeah, they probably didn't want anybody to catch a spot where you can actually hit Tyrael's chamber when Duriel's alive :lol: like those blind spots behind walls in act2 & 5
melianor
D3 Wizard Moderator
bartekwoda said:
I think thats a bit overemphasized? You dont get for 800 points all the time! Though Blocking is still an advantage
I think like Black_Rose mentioned this is a thing you have to try out for yeourself. Before i made my first blocking Sorceress i had Vita builds allover.
ebyworx said:
well you can take it anywhere... but i would choose before you get in lvl 11 so that you can static andy..
btw.. i have run a bit tired in D2 so this slows up the makeing of the upgraded version of this guide, so i will try getting my mate reading your postes and then rewriting it...
space_loner
New member
woot! time to make a cold sorc
unfurtunately id probably expect 5k dmg at most
edit: oh yeah, enemy resists woudl be negative 100+ cool
unfurtunately id probably expect 5k dmg at most
edit: oh yeah, enemy resists woudl be negative 100+ cool
This is a PvM build right? (as the title says)
Yet, you said the MF on an occy is useless...just kind of strange, I don't understand how MF on a PvM build can be useless.
Also, a question about blizz: Since the cooldown for blizzard is shorter than the duration of the spell, you can have 2 blizzards going down at the same time. When you have two blizzards on top of each other, does the damage stack (multiply itself by 2)?
Yet, you said the MF on an occy is useless...just kind of strange, I don't understand how MF on a PvM build can be useless.
Also, a question about blizz: Since the cooldown for blizzard is shorter than the duration of the spell, you can have 2 blizzards going down at the same time. When you have two blizzards on top of each other, does the damage stack (multiply itself by 2)?
Black_Rose
New member
Each blizzard shard gives separate damage. Its like two different spells active, each with its own properties and damage. Nothing stacks, they just both do harm.
AnInsaneBanana
New member
Since you will be using shiver/frozen armor, isnt the defense from defiance negatiable and youd be better off with a might merc?
w-igor said:2nd question: why ice bolt before glacial? Im SURE glacial is better then ice bolt... so why inwest bolt first?
btw. Ive forgotten to say: that article is REALLY good. Big thx for that, im doing that sorc man! Lv 55 now
There is a simple reason for ice bolt before glacial spike. While both give the same damage to blizzard, Bolt increases damage to ice blast, spike only increases its freeze length.
He should not have to write out every little detail. If you don't know where to find these things, you shouldn't be making a specific build like this.Shanksie1337 said:
I pvp with blizzard constantly and it works very well. One of the best tricks is straight out of old school zon dueling. Corner shooting with blizzard will get you many kills. One strategy against arrow/dodge happy bowazons is to tele in a radial pattern, thus avoiding arrows, and position your last tele so you are just close enough to corner blizzard them. GG
CM doesn't work in the normal sense. For example, I have 240% CM which puts people well below the "supposed" low cap of -100. But with conviction or lower resist, even lower damage is achieved.