Energy Shield

[YoungDbl]

Energy Shield

Im not really sure if I see the point.
My sorc build is the basic meteorb. I was thinking of puting 8 hard points into ES for about a 55% abosrb. I would be adding to energy alot and vitality here and there. It is a hard-core untwinked vanilla char. Now what is the point of ES if when I get hit its still going to be doing around 50% to my health. I thought the point was to have a huge mana pool to not have to worry about health. It cuts off to quick though. I was also thinking of using lightning instead of fire skills. In this case the mana cost's are a bit higher where a big mana pool would be helpfull. So what is the deal with ES? I want a big mana pool but it seems odd to disregard life for just a 55% abosrb.

 

[Deaddave]

the only way es is realy effective is with max es and max telerkensis (spell). i cant rember the exact way it works buts theres an es sheild build kickig round the forums somewhere which has indepth info on it. all i know is with propper gear set up you can be realy safe, only problem is the skill damage never quite matches that of a normal sorc build

 

[Hp_Sauce]

The more points you put into TK the less mana you lose per hit point absorbed by E-Shield.

Lets say your E-Shield is absorbing 90% of damage done to you and a monster hits you for 100 damage. Your Life bulb would take 10 damage and if your TK was at level 1 your Mana bulb would would take like ~360 Mana "damage". If your TK is at level 20 you would only take ~112 Mana "damage".

I think thats basicly how it works, the numbers might be way off though. I didn't check though. There is a thread in the sorc forums stickied FAQ that explains it quite nicely.

Basicly if your sorc is going to have lots of many and you can afford the skill points to dump into TK and E-Shield (or at least TK) then go for it. You can also just max TK and leave E-Shield at 1 and let your +skills do the rest. If you carry a E-Shield staff on switch for the "cast" it wouldn't be too bad really.

I personly don't see how a Meteorb could have enough skill points to spare to pump TK. Either your fire or Orb damage would suffer greatly.

Single tree sorcs work fairly well with E-shield. Orb for example takes like 40 skill points to "finish" so you have plenty left over to spend in TK, and even some left after that to spend in E-Shield and Teleport.

-hps

 

[FrostBurn]

Lets say your E-Shield is absorbing 90% of damage done to you and a monster hits you for 100 damage. Your Life bulb would take 10 damage and if your TK was at level 1 your Mana bulb would would take like ~360 Mana "damage". If your TK is at level 20 you would only take ~112 Mana "damage".

Each hard point in TK lowers the loss of mana by 0.0625.

Zero points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 2 mana.
One point in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 1.9375 mana.
Sixteen points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 1 mana.
Twenty points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 0.75 mana.

 

[Jaedhann]

Each hard point in TK lowers the loss of mana by 0.0625.

Zero points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 2 mana.
One point in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 1.9375 mana.
Sixteen points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 1 mana.
Twenty points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 0.75 mana.

Can i ask what counts first? Damage reduced by xx or xx% and then ES? Or is it the other way around?

 

[FrostBurn]

ES counts first.

Next comes DRx and MDRx.

Then comes PDR% and resistances.

Then the other things like % damage taken goes to mana, absorb, etc, comes in.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Mana Burn comes in after all of the above (and after you sustain damage to your life). Meaning that you will take damage to life first, and only after that does Mana Burn comes in to drain your mana bulb. The implication of this is that your ES should remain active (provided you have a big enough mana pool and good mana regeneration), enabling you to teleport away.

 

[Thyiad1]

I wouldn't touch ES unless the sorc was [highlight]built[/highlight] for it. If you have a standard meteorb, don't bother. In my experience (for what it is worth) half an ES is worse than no ES.

As for using light spells than fire, you then have to think about fcr; light is higher than fire/cold. If you are going HC untwinked, I would keep it simple and robust.

 

[trihero]

I think ES might be worth it if Blizzard changed it so that the telekineses synergy were just put onto the energy shield itself so that for a 20 point investment you get the 0.75 ratio and 75% absorb instead of having to spend 40 points for it.

If I were going to throw in energy shield as a little thing to help out on the side, what I'd do is spend 20 hard points into telekineses, and just rely on items to get energy shield, it's not worth the prereqs for it. A perfect memory staff (+9 to ES), +3 lightning ammy, +3 lightning circ, +2 from soj/bk, +1 from arachnid, and a couple of lightning skillers is +20 to ES, then you already invested 20 into telekineses so the energy drain isn't too horrific.

 

[YoungDbl]

Well I think ES is just a waste now I guess. I decided to just cut it from the build. Im still going to have a high mana pool from being untwinked I dont like to have to rely on potions to much in the heat of battle and being out of them. Ill just try and balance the health issue as well. It will be softcore now though. Also im going to use maxed lightning ,chain lightning, and light mastery. It seems good enough to run pindle with. Now to just find some one to play with me...... cough! *check the MP thread!!! Play with me!!!*

 

[Hp_Sauce]

Each hard point in TK lowers the loss of mana by 0.0625.

Zero points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 2 mana.
One point in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 1.9375 mana.
Sixteen points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 1 mana.
Twenty points in TK means every 1 damage absorbed by ES drains 0.75 mana.

Sorry guys, I was indeed a little off with the numbers. My bad.

I was thinking it was 4 mana at zero points in TK and 1.25 mana at 20 points in TK.

-hps

 

[trihero]

Ur cat scares me from playing with u! jk I'll have to check the mp thread sometime, I'm so lazy

 

[pharaoh1]

Well I think ES is just a waste now I guess. I decided to just cut it from the build. Im still going to have a high mana pool from being untwinked I dont like to have to rely on potions to much in the heat of battle and being out of them. Ill just try and balance the health issue as well. It will be softcore now though. Also im going to use maxed lightning ,chain lightning, and light mastery. It seems good enough to run pindle with.

Here's a suggestion: try ES from an item, and see if you like it. You don't need a dedicated ES build to make it useful; in some circumstances, even a minimal ES is good, especially if your other skills are not mana-intensive (that way, getting drained won't render you helpless). Also, with a build using a minimal ES, as opposed to a fully-synergized ES with the bulk of your points in energy, you will have more life (and thus, more of a buffer when the ES fails).

That said, given your proposed lightning build, that is an ideal build for an ES sorcy, as all those +lightning skills mods you're looking for will help your ES and your damage.

The basic idea behind the ES sorcy is to have a huge mana pool, 20 hard points in TK, enough total points in ES to hit level 40 (or as close as possible), and lots of PDR/MDR (the point-based kind, not percentage). Let's say you're hit for 400 damage, and your ES absorbs 90% (it'll absorb 95% at slvl 40, which is the cap). That means 40 damage gets through the ES, and you lose (400 - 40) * .75, or 270 mana. With lots of mana regeneration (an Insight staff on you or your merc, if you're playing RWM, works wonders here) and base mana (all those points in energy, and lots of +mana gear), that will regenerate very fast. As for those 40 points of damage that got through? Well, you'll be wearing gear like Iron Pelt (Gladiator's Bane at high levels, if you like), Dwarf Star, Gerke's Sanctuary, and similar items. With enough PDR/MDR, that damage will just vanish, and with your huge mana regeneration, you will recover the mana loss almost instantly.

There are a couple of drawbacks, like mana burn packs and poison damage, but for the most part, it's a very safe build. Your main concern is lack of killing power, but with a lightning ES sorcy, it's not so much an issue (though LI baddies will be).

Now to just find some one to play with me...... cough! *check the MP thread!!! Play with me!!!*

I would, but you're not playing Eastern Sun, are you?