Looking for help with Sorceress

[Goomba]

Hello,

I am new to the forums and just started playing D2 Resurrected a few weeks ago. I made a frenzy Barbarian but got stuck on nightmare with him being too weak and not being able to find any good gear due to not finding anything with good MF. So now I am using a sorceress whom I've gotten to hell and am completely stuck. I started with a fireball sorc and did a respec to a frozen orb/fireball and think I made a bad decision. I am absolutely awful at killing and slow at magic finding. I cannot kill anything on hell and am slow at MF on nightmare. I actually needed to do nightmare with other people because I would get slaughtered on the ancients and Baal. Is MF on nightmare even worth the time? I haven't found anything good to improve my sorc yet and have played quite a while.

My sorc current gear:
Right hand: Spirit in crystal sword
Left hand: Ancients pledge in kite shield
Body: Stealth
Helm: gemmed 3 topaz crown for 72% mf
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: crappy magic belt with light resist
Boots: crappy magic boots with small resistances
Rings: Both Nagelrings for MF
Amulet: magic amulet with 10% fcr and 77 to mana

My merc (act 2 nightmare holy freeze) current gear:
Weapon: Insight in a partizan
Armor: Silk of victor ancient armor with 489 def
Helm: Nadir in a crown

I haven't found any good charms...literally nothing good.

For skills I have maxed out frozen orb and fireball and +1 into all pre req. I also did +1 to fire and cold mastery, and +1 to warmth, telekinesis, teleport, and frozen armor. I am level 64 and actually have 18 points left over because I am not sure what to put them in. This build kills so slowly, even if I put my remaining 18 skills into ice bolt, idk how much that 2% gain per level would help frozen orb. I have not put points into meteor and its pre reqs for fire yet because I'm not sure if I should prioritize that or frozen orb/ice bolt. The only fire skills I have are fire bolt, fireball, mastery, and warmth. And what about the fire and ice mastery? How many points to put in those?

I have spent so much time trying to find the best build for me and am really struggling. Which hybrid is the best? I've read that lightning is awesome but ONLY with the correct gear (which I'll never find). Are some builds better for console than others since I play on Xbox? I've read that frozen orb is better than blizzard due to easier aiming but I am really unsure.

I see all these articles and videos of soooo many different builds and variations, but everyone always has the best or really good gear. For example how in the world would I get an infinity on my merc? Even finding Tal Rasha's items would greatly help I'm sure. How do I find good items when I cannot farm on hell and care barely farm well on nightmare? The catch 22 is that you need high MF to find gear with good MF so how do you get the good gear in the first place in order to survive/farm hell?

<snip>

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[NorthDakota]

I think your build is good, your gear is certainly not bad, you're right on track. For hybrid builds some folks use fireball, however I've always personally like the meteor forb build. The first thing I'd do is dump my 18 free points into meteor. This synergizes your fireball, and also gives you meteor, which is big damage. I think generally people go frozen orb unsynergized and then pump into the fire tree as the main tree. This build clears the game, using fire damage for most things and frozen orb for the fire immunes.

It's very normal to struggle in hell at level 64. I like to level to at least 70 in hell. If you're in offline mode, I like to do eldritch on /players 8 since he's an easy target which meteor will wreck, and you can easily get to 70 just doing those easy quick runs. (just realized you're console, so no /players settings ) If you're in online (sounds like maybe you are?) possibly some nm baal runs will sort you out right.

I imagine your merc is dying? He will be crucial for you. He needs a source of life leech.

Which brings me to nm mephisto - nm mephisto can drop a great many things that will improve your build, vipermagi, occulus are two big ones, he'll drop armor/helmets with life leech for your merc. You can use moat trick and drop meteors on him to afk farm him.

 

[Cattleya]

NM Mephisto is the first MF shopping point for sorceresses. So, I'd spend some time there.

I might consider swapping the Ancient's Pledge for a Rhyme shield. You'll lose some resists, but gain some magic find. (And while the Cannon Be Frozen isn't crucial for casters, I still find it nice.) Most other upgrades will come from item drops.

Frozen Orb takes a bit of practice to get used to. It has a sweet spot where you can get the orb to explode on the monsters for maximum damage. So, you have to get used to the best distance from targets at which to fire it.

In general, your MF run speed will improve if you keep doing them. You'll pick up upgrades (even the small stuff makes a difference!) and you'll just get better at it.

Skill wise, I'd probably focus on cold mastery next. Monster resistances cap out at -100. So, for many people the first goal is to get it to 17 points (including any +skills). NM Meph has 25% cold resist, so you'll get benefit from Cold Mastery up to level 21 for him. The next popular breakpoint is 27 points (-150 resist) which will get NM/Hell Baal down to -100.

I would skip the Icebolt synergy. It's a minor increase to Frozen Orb and you'll need those points in the fire tree in Hell.

Once you've got your cold mastery to 17-21 with +skills I'd start working on the Fire tree. Using Meteor vs. Fireball is really a personal preference thing. Both work. (I'm team Fireball, FYI.)

If you do go with Meteor, you'll be putting your points in Fireball, Meteor, and Fire Mastery. The idea order depends on your +skills and if you want to focus more fireball or meteor.

If you choose to skip Meteor then your points go into Fire Blast, Fireball, and Fire Mastery. It's been a while since I've looked at the math, but if I'm remembering correctly after you've got Fireball maxed out you want to keep your total Fire Mastery (with +skills) about 10 points higher than your hard points (without any +skills) in Fire Blast for optimal damage (until both are maxed out, of course.)

 

[Goomba]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. Also, how do I avoid dieing all the time from those damn undead fast little skeleton things? I swear I've teleported into them and died so many times in the durance of hate level 2...I'm so slow at Mephisto runs and have to revive my mercenary often.

 

[DaveWThe2nd]

You mean Unndead Stygian Dolls? Yep they can be a pain. Are you farming NM or Hell Meph? NM is more suited to your level and besides NM Meph can drop really good stuff. As for the dolls, take your merc's weapon off of him while teleporting to Meph. Don't fight the dolls, that's how they get you. And get some life leech for your merc, usually found on the helm. Re- equip Insight when you get to Meph.

 

[Cattleya]

Dave's suggestion will help if the problem is the merc exploding the dolls on you.

If the problem is the dolls actually hitting you, you may need to focus a bit on tweaking your character. To some extent, it's about teleporting fast enough that they aren't getting a chance to hit you. (And that your merc doesn't get a chance to pop one and kill you with it's death explosion.) Make sure you're hitting a good FCR breakpoint. The absolute minimum breakpoint I'd want to teleport through Durance 2 would be 63%. Assuming you didn't get a low roll on your Spirit you should be hitting that with your gear. If you can get to the 105 breakpoint, though, it will be easier.

You'll also want a decent amount of FHR so that when you do get hit you aren't getting recovery locked preventing teleporting. I'd try to get at least to the 42% breakpoint. (Your Stealth armor + a 17 FHR magic/rare belt will get you to that point pretty easily.)

Finally, see what you can do about your life pool. Not only will that make you less likely to die, but it will mean you are less likely to get put into hit recovery. You could track down a 3 socket helm for some rubies and then swap it back to the topaz helm when you get to level 3.

 

[Goomba]

I forgot to mention that I also have points available to spend on either str or vit. I have 90 or so points. I've read that most people get sorc str to 156 to wear the monarch shield. I'm currently around 65 or so. How and where do I even find the monarch shield with 4 sockets?

So do I save my points and put into str or put into vit now? I'd hate to put them all into vit and then be like 90 points short if/when I do find a monarch shield.

Also, where is the best place on nightmare to level up?

 

[Babyhell]

Monarch: in Hell. But well, you can go by without it too, it is not mandatory, just more efficient. A lidless wall can do the job too, you will not be one point short for failure or success at this point. In fact a Rhyme shield is solid until Ravenfrost/Cham (yes...I dared), even if you will miss a FCR breakpoint for sure.

For sockets, either cube is your friend with some luck, or Larzuk as 4os will be given by him 100% on a Monarch (I don't see any place in Hell having ilvl too low for that?)

If you're not going to respec: put at least up to 150 in Strength including your current gear boost. If you hope to get War Travellers, then that's 10 points that will be integrated in the end, for example. Handle the possible lack of strength with charms at start, and maybe 5 points short so you are a level close to use the tool when it will drop.

At clvl 64 you can level efficiently doing Pindle/Baal runs in NM.

Targets are good when your clvl is -5 up to +5 from them. Targets level are area lvl, +2 for champs, +3 for uniques and their minions.
> Pindle is lvl 66 iirc, so he's "great until 72" - ok you'll have the xp, but it can take a while still.
> Baal waves are 69 iirc (at least Lister's pack is), and Baal 75. The boy is still worth XP until 81, but the waves don't, so apart from being an OP p1 instant waves smasher and fast p8 Baal killer, well at some point...go to Hell

As a sidenote, clvl 75 is often seen as a good point before going to Hell in HC. Going higher is not worth it apart if you really want a Lo from the Lister's team...

My two...well, four cents.

Edit: oh, and btw...you'd better target some droppers too. If you need SoJ, make your 1000/1500 Andy NM runs, etc...

 

[Triple Helix]

For monarchs, I've had some good luck finding white ones in hell Ancient Tunnels and The Pit, with Ancient Tunnels seeming to be less dangerous. I just take them to Larzuk for a guaranteed 4 sockets. I always put 156 into strength so I can wear them as soon as I make a monarch spirit shield. The rest go into vitality.

I'm also on Xbox, and really have no problem with aiming blizzard on my blizzball sorc. I like frozen orb, but prefer blizzard for its crowd control and kill speed.

 

[corale]

I've got very similar gear to you (also spirit sword and Stealth armor, but Lore helmet), probably even less MF, around 100%. I'm doing lots of NM Meph runs to level up, get cash to gamble better rares, and find cool stuff of course. Found a good upgrade fairly quickly, Lidless Wall instead of Sigon's shield. In my opinion it's going well, but it's not very optimized compared to later. I'm 20/20 in Glacial Spike and Blizzard. Here's a run on my somewhat decent (but not very good) map. Some chaos thrown in, and as you can see I clean out Council in level 3 for XP and some additional drops as well.

I gained 5-6 levels already, it's pretty fast even on p1. This run is very "dirty", you can find a better map fairly easily and make cleaner runs

 

[corale]

And just now!


Edit: Literally the next run:



NM Meph has nice things!

 

[Goomba]

God I wish I was as strong as you, even with my gear I keep dieing on the undead stygian dolls. That wastes so much time because then I have to revive my merc (not cheap) and start over. I cannot do the moat trick because it does not work with just fireball and frozen orb, and my merc keeps dieing. I broke my controller last night I got so frustrated. I can do 5-10 meph runs per hour at the most, and I NEVER find anything good.

Are there any other alternatives to meph that are just as good for leveling and MF? Pindleskin is much faster but I don't even find anything better than rare items, never a unique or set from him ever. I am beyond frustrated at this point.

 

[Miron]

Are you offline or online?

If offline I would suggest to reroll the map until you get the entrance to Meph just few teleports away (adjacent room or around the corner), this way you can skip the dolls on lvl 2.

+1 for @Cattleya suggestion about Rhyme shield. Run NM countess for runes.
+1 also for FCR break points.

I suggest to invest spare skill points in fire skill to strengthen FB (meteor and FM).

Take a look at crafted gear - caster belt, boots, rings, amulet, blood helm for merc, blood armor for merc.

I would even consider doing NM Trav runs - especially if you play online - as possible source for rare items and runes.

Try to buy a wand with charges of Lower Resists from vendors. Use on switch slot and cast on any boss pack you fight.

Gamble as much as possible for circlets, rings, amulets. At your stage I would also gamble for belts and boots.


MF is a long term goal, so don't be frustrated if you don't find anything good right away. The most important thing is to not expect anything good to drop, the game know what you want after all...

 

[Arjan]

Eldritch and the overseer at the first act V waypoint come to mind. They are fast but again you’ll have to do a lot of runs for them to drop nice stuff.

But basically if you can’t farm NM memph on your level something sounds off. How’s your life total?

 

[Goomba]

My life total is like 546. There are many times when meph only drops rare and magic items nothing else, uniques and set sometimes drop, but only lower sets and normal level uniques. Do I need a higher level to get better drops? I can't even level up due to losing exp when dieing on durance of hate when trying to teleport to meph.

 

[Babyhell]

I keep dieing on the undead stygian dolls

Hmmm.... who doesn't?

Best solution is tp away - if not possible, let the merc do the job, he is not impacted by their explosions

 

[Babyhell]

The online/offline is also a key in avoiding them (or not), as pointed.

I'll add LK running, even in Nightmare, you can get things like skillers and allres charms already, that can help a lot - but it's a lot of time. However, gold automatic pick-up makes it worth a bit more for gambling.

 

[Miron]

My life total is like 546. There are many times when meph only drops rare and magic items nothing else, uniques and set sometimes drop, but only lower sets and normal level uniques. Do I need a higher level to get better drops? I can't even level up due to losing exp when dieing on durance of hate when trying to teleport to meph.

You don't need higher level for better drops, you just need lots of runs. I would concentrate on finishing the game before doing MF runs, once you finish Hell you can change build to blizzard and start doing Pindle and AT runs while increasing MF as possible.

 

[Goomba]

Still dieing from the undead stygians, if I teleport into them I'm screwed. Am I the only one who has this many problems with them? On nightmare they should NOT do so much damage. I'm going to have to give up on meph pretty soon due to losing money from reviving my merc so often.

Idk where to start, I die very easily in act 1 in hell so until I get better gear hell is off limits for me.

Also, I play online so there is no way of avoiding them unfortunately.

 

[Maltatai]

Switch mercenary to a more careful one perhaps? How about an iron wolf?