Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by Neksja on Nov 28, 2008:

Matriarch Mona, ES/Orb/FW Sorceress (#34)

Meet Mona, ES Orb-FW sorceress. She's my 34th character to kill Hell Baal (13Mats, 18 Pats, 1 Guardian)


Character name : Mona
Character type : Sorceress
Character level : 81

Strength : 149 (156)
Dexterity : 25 (32)
Vitality : 15 (44)
Energy : 306 (313)

Life : 594
Mana : 2018

Resists : 36/48/75/75

Skills:

20 (32) Frozen Orb
20 (40) Energy Shield (that 40 is when using Memory Switch)
20 (33) Telekinesis
13 (26) Firewall (maxing next)
5 (17) Cold Mastery
1 in prereqs and wonders

Damage:

Frozen Orb 570-597
Firewall 4406-4461

ES absorb: 95%

Gear:

Harlequin Crest (10all res)
Mara's 29
Death's Fathom (26poison res/14 life)
ES Ormus' Robe (Psapphire)
Spirit Monarch
Magefist
2x Stone of Jordan
Arachnid Mesh
Silkweave

Readouts:
Code:
Harlequin Crest
Shako
Defense: 135
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x4f108378
+2 to Strength
+2 to Energy
+2 to Dexterity
+2 to Vitality
Damage Reduced by 10%
All Resistances +10
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
+121 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+121 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x85cb48d
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +29
+2 to All Skill Levels

Death's Fathom
Dimensional Shard
One-Hand Damage: 30 to 53
Durability: 50 of 50
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 73
Orb Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xe62415f2
+14 to Life
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +38%
Poison Resist +26%
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
20% Faster Cast Rate
+15% to Cold Skill Damage
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Ormus' Robes
Dusk Shroud
Defense: 381
Durability: 19 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 75
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x1e7f691f
+38 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 11%
+14 Defense
20% Faster Cast Rate
+3 to Energy Shield (Sorceress Only)
+14% to Fire Skill Damage
+11% to Lightning Skill Damage
+13% to Cold Skill Damage
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 137
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 85 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xe9cbb372
+22 to Vitality
+107 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
28% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+8 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x1ef9fe2d
+27% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
+10 Defense
Adds 1-6 fire damage
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Fire Skills

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x55cbe89d
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x4c544a7b
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 126
Durability: 11 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x912c7f7f
+100% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Slows Target by 10%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

Silkweave
Mesh Boots
Defense: 121
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0x46c9bd0
+171% Enhanced Defense
+200 Defense vs. Missile
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
30% Faster Run/Walk
+5 to Mana After Each Kill

Memory
Gnarled Staff
'LumIoSolEth'
Two-Hand Damage: 13 to 14
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 37
Staff Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x68a4b85d
+10 to Energy
+10 to Vitality
+50% Enhanced Defense
+9 to Minimum Damage
Magic Damage Reduced by 7
Increase Maximum Mana 20%
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
33% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Static Field (Sorceress Only)
+3 to Energy Shield (Sorceress Only)
+3 to Energy Shield (Sorceress Only)
-25% Target Defense
150% Damage to Undead
Socketed (4: 4 used)


Mercenary Items :
Code:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 378
Durability: 21 of 21
Required Strength: 48
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x8f63da3d
+100% Enhanced Defense
+1 to Minimum Damage
Magic Damage Reduced by 14
Damage Reduced by 20%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
8% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Increased Attack Speed
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (1: 1 used)

Fortitude
Archon Plate
'ElSolDolLo'
Defense: 1587
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3bebbbe2
+200% Enhanced Defense
+300% Enhanced Damage
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +28%
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Cold Resist +28%
Poison Resist +28%
Replenish Life +7
+1 to Light Radius
25% Faster Cast Rate
12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
20% Chance to cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+81 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Insight
Cryptic Axe
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 174 to 760
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 93
Required Strength: 155
Required Level: 59
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x19dd962b
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+238% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
215% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 12 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

Charms:
Code:
Azure Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x173119b5
Cold Resist +5%

Tangerine Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xfd9e9f53
+6 to Life
Lightning Resist +3%

Serpent's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x51a6dbca
+27 to Life
+54 to Mana

Shimmering Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x746bdb69
+18 to Life
All Resistances +14

Shimmering Grand Charm of Shock
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x83771893
All Resistances +15
Adds 1-3 lightning damage

Serpent's Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x24e1fb2e
+40 to Life
+52 to Mana

Serpent's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x15ec1bd9
+30 to Life
+58 to Mana

Serpent's Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xeb5b58d7
+40 to Life
+50 to Mana

Lizard's Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x95811f73
+19 to Life
+5 to Mana

Shimmering Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xd05b9909
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0xdf1bdeab
All Resistances +5

Jade Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x8d20d198
+15 to Life
Poison Resist +9%

Sparking Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x20696702
+16 to Life
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)

Gameplay

Basically, she's just a basic Orb/FW-sorc. Orb everything, when there's CI's, show some Static and use FW if Merc didn't kill monster(s) yet. With high ES and big mana, I was able to do some tanking myself too, so aiming with the FW was easier. At least, now I can aim FW semigood :)


Energy Shield

I've never built an ES-sorc before, so it was about time. And I wanted to do it big time. 20 TK, 40 ES and >2k manapool was the only way for me and it worked very well. I died once, in NM Diablo. Ventar was Manaburn, it burned my ES away and forgot to recast it before Diablo. BUZZZ and dead 😁


Finds

Practically nothing. Hell HF was IO and the best monster drop was 9dex/3maek jewel and I doubt I'll ever have any use for it.


Next?

Leveling my SC Singer at Mausoleum
Tornado Furydruid
Summoner Furydruid

that's what I have in my mind, but I'm waiting that Pindlethon which will give me a break from new chars :)

-Neksja
 
Originally posted by @nepeta on Aug 22, 2005:

Matriarch felis

Hoping to get it jotted down quick enough for it to get right on top of the other two matted sorcs :p Must be sorcs weather btw...

felis_nepetam:

L87 Meteorb sorc

Skills:
FB: 20/38
MT: 20/38
Fb: 20/38
FM: 3/21
FO: 20/33
CM: 1/14

Gear:
Shako (Ptopaz)
Arkaine's Valor
Magefist
Rare boots (30%FR, 40%LR, 20%FRW, 10%FHR)
2x SoJ // +2 sorc skill +res ammy
Thundergod's Vigor
4x Fire skiller
Res charms

fire switch: HOTO 38% - Spirit Monarch ||| FB: 9204-10005, MT: 19-20K
cold switch: Death's Fathom (4/5) - Spirit | FO: 603-632

Res: 74,75,85,73 (Hell, bot switches)
Stat: 167,57,327,56 (wearing gear)

Willing as, playfull as a pussycat, due to:

Merc:
Upped Eth Duriel's Shell
Crown of Thieves
Insight Thresher

never out of gas.


This lady rocked the boat. Played her on P8, until A5 Hell, I got sick of it, rushed her in 30 mins to matdom, schluss. I still think it's a pity I don't have enough HOTO's and SoJ's to equip all my chars properly. Pardon this twinked *** *****, started her to alleviate boredom procured from my untwinked Sin, but she went so smooth I finished her first :x

Coming up: Blizz sorc ;) (MA sin)
 
Originally posted by nilynrae on Feb 18, 2008:

Introducing Matriarch Medusa....

...and Patriarch Necrophobe, my hubby's first Pat... ever. 😁 I've got him into the habit of MFing now and he's loving it! (Standard fishymancer build.)

Just a little background first - this was a character I started about a year ago alongside an amazon but never matted either until I picked up the game again recently. I've patted two characters but this is my first ever Mat away from Bnet... and I started her only because I managed to complete Tal's set. 😁


The elderly Sorceress sat facing the fire, the back of her chair blocking his view. It irritated him when she ignored him like that. Impatience got the better of him.

"I said.." he started.
"I heard what you said brother and the answer is still no. I'm retired remember? And so should you be. We're too old for this kind of thing."

He wandered around to catch a glimpse of her. It had been a while since the days of Diablo and Baal. Back then they had been both young and foolish... and it had nearly cost them numerous times. He still shuddered when he thought about Fireeye and the Shimmering Portal... though he suspected that her memories were not quite the same as his own. The seemingly innocuous zombies that had attacked them, back when they were barely old enough to remember it. Perhaps she didn't remember it?

He cringed when she peered sideways at him, letting the warmth of the fire leave one side of her face for a moment.

"The years haven't been kind to you, sister."
"You're the one who's spent most of your life staring at the dead, dear brother. You're looking a trifle pale yourself."
"That may be so... but I hear that Baal has returned once again. We have work to do.... or are you going to keep up this endless feud with the daft zombie that guards a now empty temple?"
"Ah... again you amuse me. Aren't you the one who refuses to believe that Nilathak still resides there? You're the one with the feud brother."
"Sister, I see you still have that vendetta against the walking dead... does that old zombie hiding in one of the old rogue's huts still bother you?" He bit his lip, attempting to hide both a smile and the hint of sarcasm.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She muttered as she rose carefully, wishing for a moment that she had a staff to lean on. "I'll just go get my armour on then, shall I?"

He nodded. She remembered alright.

----

Matriarch Medusa
Level 85 Meteorber

Stats (base): 146 / 139 / 195 / 35
Skills (base): Fireball (20), Meteor (20), FM (9), Fire Bolt (7), Warmth (1)
Static Field, TK, teleport (1 each)
Frozen Orb (20), CM (8)

And the equipment:

Code:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 129
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x44673d25
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Tal Rasha's Guardianship
Lacquered Plate
Defense: 887
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Strength: 83
Required Level: 71
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x2fc9c685
+400 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Fire Resist +40%
Lightning Resist +40%
Cold Resist +40%
112% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -60%

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
10% Faster Cast Rate
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Socketed (1: 1 used)

Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye
Swirling Crystal
One-Hand Damage: 18 to 42
Durability: 50 of 50
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 65
Orb Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x99e5e558
+10 to Energy
+57 to Life
+77 to Mana
15% Extra Gold from Monsters
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Lightning Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Fire Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Cold Mastery (Sorceress Only)

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
-15% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-15% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+15% to Cold Skill Damage
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Socketed (1: 1 used)

Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x5709b89c
+50 to Life
+42 to Mana
Lightning Resist +33%
Adds 3-32 lightning damage
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
10% Faster Cast Rate
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth
Mesh Belt
Defense: 98
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 46
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x77265307
+20 to Dexterity
+30 to Mana
14% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -20%
37% Damage Taken Goes to Mana

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+60 Defense
10% Faster Cast Rate
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 127
Durability: 48 of 48
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xfa7d1f75
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+166% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Minimum Damage
+25 to Maximum Damage
+30 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 7
44% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Run/Walk
40% Slower Stamina Drain

Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 91
Fingerprint: 0x2f320814
+26% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
+10 Defense
Adds 1-6 fire damage
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Fire Skills

Nagelring
Ring
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0x8498ac49
+63 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Attacker Takes Damage of 3
29% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf9fd30cd
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 146
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 71 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x9df52d04
+22 to Vitality
+103 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
29% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+8 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Wizardspike and mosers were in switch but never really needed either past level 71. Ran max block also (using Whistan's Guard) until I Matted and began Pindling... . Back up rings were Raven Frost and Dwarf Star as necessary.

Charms: 120/38/14 Gheeds, +1 Fire skills, few small res charms, 2x7% MF and 1x6% MF

Merc was the standard Act 2 HF.

Equipment:

Code:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x73c40e2f
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 10
Damage Reduced by 15%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
8% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (1: 0 used)

Shaftstop
Mesh Armor
Defense: 614
Durability: 45 of 45
Required Strength: 92
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xab58798b
+60 to Life
+187% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Damage Reduced by 30%
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Thresher
'HelKoThulEthFal'
Two-Hand Damage: 84 to 991
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 84
Required Strength: 112
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xb1d73bd0
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+370% Enhanced Damage
+207 Defense
All Resistances +25
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
Requirements -20%
40% Faster Hit Recovery
-25% Target Defense
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
30% Chance to cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill an Enemy
-25% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)
Fairly standard build but my first sorc in years and a lot more fun that I expected it to be - especially playing MP far, far away from Bnet. I just didn't expect to Mat her before the Amazon who is firmly parked en route to the Pits. :laugh:
 
Originally posted by Ohomemgrande on Apr 10, 2009:

Matriarch Orbhydra: The Frozen Orb/Hydra Sorceress

I know, clever name.

A couple of people have asked about this one since I'm running her in Baalathon so here's a Mat thread for my Frozen Orb/Hydra sorceress.

This sorceress was born after I made my ES special chest runner. The first iteration was ES/Nova/FO and she did great for what she was designed to do - run special chests and not die. But, I decided that Nova and FO took too long to kill the random boss packs in the River of Flame. So, my next iteration was ES + a stronger Frozen Orb. That build turned me on to the wonders of Frozen Orb.

I was starting to get bored with my pure Blizzard sorceress running AT and decided that I wanted a Baal-runner for MF purposes. First I tried a Bliz-baller but didn't like that one too much - not enough skill points to get anything really great (I was still in the Blizzard is the best camp). With the scarcity of skill points, I thought, "how about using Frozen Orb as my cold spell? That doesn't take much to be good and then I can get some nice fire damage too." So, I build a FO/Fire Ball sorceress. She did pretty good and became a Mat around level 73 or so. But, when I started running Baal, I decided that I didn't like chasing down the cold immunes to blast with my Fire Ball. Next thought was, "How do I kill the cold immunes without wasting too much time? Nova would work but that would still require some hunting of individual monsters. Hmmm, I've never tried Hydra before. It's annoying to me in the 3rd wave, I wonder if it can be equally annoying for my foes."

The other thing I noticed about the "traditional" fire/cold sorceress in SPF is that it focuses most of the damage on the fire side and goes with a 20 point FO + minimal Cold Mastery. A lot of people also complain about how FO starts to "under-perform" in Hell. But, I like the cold spells and have done a lot of researching on cold mastery so I would not fall into that trap. I'm going "all-in" with my Frozen Orb!

The first thing to know is that for Baal running, Baal, Lister & Friends all have 50% cold resistance. With the exception of the 2nd wave skeletons, all other waves have less than 50% cold resistance. The 2nd thing to know is in order to attain maximum damage with Frozen Orb, the -5% to enemy cold resistance ramps up damage much, much faster than the 2% synergy bonus. In fact, there are no cases where you would gain more damage by putting a point into the synergy over the mastery unless you had already driven the monster to -100% cold resistance (don't believe the LCS). Therefore, I want my Cold Mastery to be at -150% for Baal which is a displayed skill level of 27. With this in mind, I had a build: max Frozen Orb, dump the rest into Hydra + a balance of Fire Mastery/Hydra synergies.

Of course since this is a dual-tree sorceress that wanted to MF at Baal, the only equipment that makes sense is full Tal's.

These days when i make a sorceress, she follows the basic premise in dune's old quest for Ber thread - go as fast as you can. So, after a couple of hours, I was in Hell wondering where I could level efficiently!

Skill progression went something like this:

single point in all prereqs until level 30
From level 30 until I ran out of saved points, add one point to FO and one to CM
Once I ran out of extra points, finish maxing FO
Get CM to at a level where my +skills would get it to 27 (-150%). In my case it was 14 at the time. It would be 13 now (found a new cold skiller)
Max Hydra.
Max Ice Bolt (FO synergy)
Optimize Fire Mastery/Hydra synergies

The optimal balance between Hydra synergies and Fire Mastery is when the displayed Fire Mastery skill level is 15 or 16 points higher than the total number of hard points invested in Hydra synergies. Currently I have 25 displayed skill level so I should have 9 or 10 hard points in Fire Ball and Fire Bolt. I have 9 so my next skill point at level 93 will go to Fire Ball. After that, I'll alternate to Fire Mastery and so on.

Name: Orbydra
Class: Sorceress
Experience: 2062730931
Level: 92

Stats
Naked/Gear
Strength: 85/95
Dexterity: 25/48
Vitality: 405/415
Energy: 35/55
HP: 981/1392 (2174 after BO)
Mana: 217/597 (845 after BO)
Stamina: 554/614
Defense: 6/1324
AR: 75/75

Fire: 150/110/50
Cold: 150/110/50
Lightning: 189/149/89
Poison: 110/70/10

MF: 360 Block: 7
GF: 184
FR/W: 25
FHR: 25
IAS: 0
FCR: 80

Skills:
Hard points/Skills after Battle Command and equipment

Fire Bolt: 1/14
Warmth: 1/14
Fire Ball: 8/21 -future points here alternating with Fire Mastery
Enchant: 1/14
Fire Mastery: 10/25 -future points here alternating with Fire Ball
Hydra: 20/33 - ~1100 LCS damage

Static Field : 1/11
Telekinesis : 1/11
Teleport : 1/11
Lightning Mastery : 0/12

Ice Bolt : 20/32
Frozen Armor : 1/13
Frost Nova : 1/13
Ice Blast : 1/13
Glacial Spike : 1/13
Blizzard : 1/13
Frozen Orb : 20/32 - ~715 LCS damage or 1430 after Cold Mastery/shard
Cold Mastery : 14/28 - oops, I found another skiller after I got to 27

Equipment:
Code:
Tal Rasha's Guardianship
Lacquered Plate
Socketed: Perfect Topaz

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Socketed: Perfect Topaz

Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet

War Traveler
Battle Boots

Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth
Mesh Belt

Magefist
Light Gauntlets

The Stone of Jordan
Ring

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring

Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye
Swirling Crystal
+2 to Fire Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Lightning Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Cold Mastery (Sorceress Only)
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items - didn't have a spare Ist when I did this :(
Socketed: Jewel of Prosperity (10%)

Splendor
Bone Shield


Weapon Switch:

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
+3 to Battle Cry
+4 to Battle Orders
+5 to Battle Command
+1 to All Skills

Lidless Wall
Grim Shield

Chilling Grand Charm of Shock
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xf0c7609
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+1 - 2 Lightning Damage
+1 to Cold Skills (Sorceress Only)

Chilling Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xae7f9acb
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+1 to Cold Skills (Sorceress Only)

Burning Grand Charm of Dexterity
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x74ffd5d5
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+3 to Dexterity
+1 to Fire Skills (Sorceress Only)

Burning Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xe0a68837
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+18 to Life
+1 to Fire Skills (Sorceress Only)

Bronze Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0xed47edc8
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+4 to Attack Rating
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Ocher Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x4af25284
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Lightning Resist +6%
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0xd7269868
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Required Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x2b98bb1
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
134% Extra Gold from Monsters
35% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Reduces all Vendor Prices 12%

Shimmering Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0xee0a1464
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x25221e95
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x22125dae
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x3f0bb9f4
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Snake's Large Charm of Life
Large Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x455685b2
Item Level: 78
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+10 to Life
+22 to Mana


Mercenary:
Guardian Angel
Templar Coat
Socketed: Sol Rune

Kira's Guardian
Tiara
All Resistances +64
Socketed: Sol Rune

Kelpie Snare
Stygian Pike
Two Hand Damage: 149 - 652
Durability: 24 of 35
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 158
Required Dexterity: 87
Fingerprint: 0x132d67db
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+10 to Strength
179% Enhanced Damage
+30 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
Fire Resist +50%
Required Lvl +7
Slows Target by 75%
115 to Life (Based on Char Lvl)
Ethereal
7% Life stolen per hit
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune

Name: Zanarhi
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Comb-Normal - maybe I'll change this to something different at some point
Experience: 86588078
Level: 92 - If you're paying attention, you'll wonder, "how did you get a merc higher than you?" - I'm level 92 now and I've changed gear since I took the character dump
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 202/212
Dexterity: 164/164
HP: 2110/3030
Defense: 1503/2435
AR: 1272/1272

Fire: 273/233/173
Cold: 223/183/123
Lightning: 223/183/123
Poison: 223/183/123


So, how does she do? Well, I'm having fun with her in Baalathon. I've been running 1/1/3 since I'm only there for the drops and probably doing between 4:00-4:30 runs. I've tried her on 1/8/3 and she did OK but probably in the 5-7 minute range. The worst wave is the 2nd wave since the Unravelers tend to spread out so I have to do some good aiming with the Frozen Orb to get them before I start the Hydra wave. That's the wave where Blizzard has a distinct advantage. For the other waves though, Frozen Orb is wonderful. Wave 1 dies as it lands, Since I already have Hydras up and running, the Council is gone by the 2nd FO. Waves 4 & 5 swarm to the merc-meat-shield in front of the stairs so that's where the FO sweet spot is. Everyone goes down very quickly. P3 Baal generally goes down in about 15 orbs I think. This is definitely where FO has an advantage over Blizzard. If Baal is sitting still (and why wouldn't he with my merc using that beautiful Kelpie?), I just find the FO sweet spot and down he goes.

For the throne room before the waves, it really depends on the spawn. The worst is OK groups because I have to use both FO and Hydra. But if the groups are anything else, I either hunt with Frozen Orb or start the Hydras up. Either way it's fairly safe and I can handle extremely full rooms without too much trouble. The only deaths have come from dolls.

For the waves, my method is:
wave 1: I stand off to the left of the landing area for the first few waves. Frozen Orb as they land. If I time it right and get lucky on the aim, it takes only 1 shot but usually a 2nd orb is required to clean up the mess.
wave 2: Once wave 1 is down, I start up the Hydras while Baal is laughing. This isn't necessary but I've found that a lot of times it does speed up the run. I place the Hydras on the opposite side of where the group will be from me when they spawn. Once Baal "throws" them, I start using Static until the Hydra timer is done and I can use FO. I use FO to get the Unravellers and then start up the Hydras again to clean up the skeleton mages.
wave 3: I keep the Hydras going while Baal laughs and try to position them again opposite of where I am so that the council members are stuck between Hydras on one side and Frozen Orb on the other. When Baal throws them, it's a couple of Statics and then Frozen Orb. They usually take about 2 orbs to finish off.
wave 4: I move to the top of the stairs. As Baal tosses this wave, I throw an orb and then use static as the timer expires. Lather, rinse, repeat.
wave 5: See wave 4. If Lister spawns cold immune, I kill his minions from the stairs and then lure him out of range of Baal's decrepify to let the merc finish him off.

The last two waves are pretty easy.

Speaking of my merc, he's pretty hardy now that I've put Guardian Angel and Kira's on him. Every once in a while he gets swarmed by Lister's pack when they have a nasty mod and I'm not paying attention but most of his deaths are to IM. I also remember to take advantage of Enchant on him.

My major gripe with this build is that Hydra and Frozen Orb share the same timer but overall, it's a fun build.
 
Originally posted by Oscar on Nov 10, 2004:

Matriarch Hope

This is my second character to beat hell. I started her about six months ago to do MF Meph runs, which is why she has taken me so long to complete. Hell was no problem with her though sometimes cold immunes were a pain, as I find meteor to be slow and boring to use. The Hell ancients were surprisingly easy and I killed them first time, even though my merc died instantly. I must have been lucky on their stats though I am not sure what they were as I just ran and spammed spells until they died. The only annoying part, apart from Baal dropping me crap, was that most of the monsters would chase me and ignore my merc. I mean why am I paying him as all he does is stab them up the *** as they run buy him and chase me instead. Should have worn the armour of invisability my self.

Matriarch Hope
Level 84
S 85/97
D 165/182
V 160/172
E 100/112
Resists all 75 in Hell

Skills
Static 1/9
Tele 1/9
FO 20/28
CM 20/30
Warmth 3/11
FB 4/12
Meteor 20/28
FM 16/25

Gear
Harlequin Crest
Skin of the Vipermagi
Mosser's Blessed Circle/Rhyme Tower Shield
Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye/Blade of Ali Baba
Frostburn
War Traveler
Arachnid Mesh
Tal Rasha's Amulet
Stone of Jordan
Ravenfrost

Merc
Act 2 Defense
Tal's Mask
Shaftstop
Hone Sundan

All items, except the Harlequin Crest, were self found thourgh she was twinked at low levels but replaced her gear as I found it.
 
Originally posted by pancakeman on Mar 17, 2007:

Yay, my First Mat!

Everyone, I am pleased to introduce you to FindersKeepers, my first Matriarch.
She is a pretty cookiecutter build, Meteorb, but I enjoy MFing with her and that is all that matters 👅

Anyway, here are the stats, and the figures, and the itamz, and the Jello Pudding Pops.../badCosbyimpersonation.

Level 86
Strength 104
Dexterity 25
Vitality 351
Energy 40.
Life: 1269
Mana: 580

Resistances:
9/9/53/-31

Skills:
Meteor-20/28
Orb-20/28
Fireball-20/28
Cold/Fire Mastery-9./7
15 into prereqs, 1 into Frozen Armor, Enchant

For equipment, I decided to go with a bit of fcr and defense for survivability, rather than the planned maximum MF. Actually worked out pretty well.

Shako (Will be socketed later)
Tal's armor (ditto)
Occulus
Lidless Wall w/ Perfect Diamond
Chance Guards
Waterwalks
Dual Nagelrings
Tal's belt
Tal's ammy

This provided me with more life and mana, at the cost of magic find. However, my recent finds have hinted that maybe that extra MF was not needed.

Mercenary- Reaper's Toll w/ ED jewel, Eth Lionheart Cuirass, and Vampire Gaze.

She did much of Normal and Nightmare in p8, but when I got to Hell I found that the immunes involved constant switching, and I didn't want to take 15 minutes to kill a pack of monsters. Hell was done on p1.
Leveling wasn't a problem because of this, however, since MF runs in Lower Kurast and Pindle's Garden sent my bar shooting up. Some nice finds include every item I have posted in the Item Find Thread, there are too many to name.
Finders was a fun character to do, mainly because watching a Meteor smash into a group of monsters and kill them instantly is fun, and never gets old.

I think that's everything, thanks for reading!
 
Originally posted by pedu on Nov 29, 2006:

Matriarch Vehicle

Yep, finally matted my meteorber. Went pretty good. The reason it took so long was because i stopped and harvested meph for a while.
Only problems i had was in the beginning before insight. No memories from normal duriel so i guess he was pie. When i got frozen orb nightmare went in a couple of hours on p8 and the levels just kept rambling in.
Had to reroll the ancients with only one guy left. He was fire&cold immune and i thought my merc could handle him. Turned out he couldnt.
The baal fight wasnt as hard as i though it would be. He summoned his clone a couple of times and the triangle of death gave me a couple of close calls.
The minions wasnt even hard. I think Listers pack somehow bugged and hit my merc only once even when he was surrounded. I think that saved me. Other than that, it went smoothly.
Got mal from hell forge and i think i got hel from nightmare.
Notable drops is the shako that meph dropped me in the first runs and the skullder that diablo dropped as his quest drop.

Stats and equipment

Lvl 79
Resistances: -44/-24/35/8
Fcr: 70

Base stats:

Strength 156
Dexterity 34
Vitality 260
Energy 35

Damage:

Fireball 3374-3725
Meteor 7546-7905//746-796
Frozen Orb 399-419

Skills:

9 Fire Bolt
20 Fire ball
20 Meteor
1 into warmth, mastery, inferno, blaze, firewall.

1 into static field, telekinesis, teleport

1 into ice bolt, ice blast, glacial spike, nova, blizzard
8 Cold Mastery
20 Frozen orb

Equipment:

Shako
Tal Rasha amu
Tal Rasha belt
Skullders
Spirit crystal sword, spirit monarch (both with 30 fcr)
Chance guards
Rare boots and rings:

Bitter Band
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xcac9f3e9
+10 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +9
Replenish Life +9
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Raven Turn
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x33472c44
+2 to Strength
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
Fire Resist +21%
Cold Resist +12%
Poison Resist +6%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Brimstone Greaves
Heavy Boots
Defense: 12
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xe4e5fc01
+5 to Dexterity
+76% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +38%
Poison Resist +38%
12% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Faster Hit Recovery

On switch an orb with 1 to chilling armor.
Merc has an eth insight partizan, tals mask and Rock Fleece field plate.


Well dammit. Forgot to take a screenie on the screen after the video. I said to myself that i will do it on every char i mat/pat on sp. But nooo...
Heres a screenie from inventory and the char screen

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/pedu/Vehicle.jpg

Dont have any other screenies. Except on a failed uniqe serpentskin armor that dropped in den of evil. The nearest ive come to a Skin of the vipermagi...
 
Originally posted by Rapha on Aug 9, 2008:

Matriarch Sairina

Sairina is my first character since I restarted playing a few weeks ago after a long hiatus. (Here's my introduction thread for those who're interested.) Even though I have kept my 1.09 stashes, I decided to restart fresh and therefore I wanted a build which could beat Hell untwinked, and which could serve as primary MF character afterwards. I settled for a rather cookie-cutter Blizzard/Fireball sorceress, which was convenient as sorceress has always been my favorite class.

The journey was fairly uneventful but enjoyable. Sairina suffered a few deaths, mostly because I was being careless and impatient, but also because of her abysmal equipment. (Got to love fighting Gloams with negative lightning resistance and low health pool.) Actually, most of these deaths happened in Nightmare; Hell was arguably easier because I farmed Mephisto for a while before progressing further. I didn't have to skip a single monster, as Blizzard/Fireball/mercenary could take care of any combination of immunities. I did reroll the Ancients a few times however, since the mercenary kept dying and leaving me with dual cold/fire immunes. The Worldstone Keep and Baal were complete pushovers.

Loot wise, I didn't get very lucky during my questing, except with mercenary weapons. I found a Kelpie Snare right before fighting Nightmare Baal, which helped immensely. Later on, I obtained a Bonehew which was pretty quickly replaced by an ethereal Reaper's Toll. Lucky mercenary! Other than that, I got a Mal from Hell Hellforge and a Lightsabre from some random monster, and that's about it.


Attributes and Skills

Note that Sairina actually Matriarched at level 84, but I printed this information after playing some more. She needs 156 strength for the Spirit shield; right now Duriel Shell supplies 15 strength, but eventually I will need to find another solution or invest more attribute points. Also I'm unsure as to where I should spent my skill points; either Cold or Fire Mastery I suppose.

Level: 86
Strength: 141
Dexterity: 25
Vitality: 299
Energy: 35
Unspent: 20
Life: 1052/763
Mana: 520/205
Resists: 30/75/75/42

20 Blizzard
20 Glacial Spike
5 Cold Mastery
20 Firebolt
20 Fireball
1 Warmth
1 Fire Mastery
1 Telekinesis
1 Teleport
1 Static Field
1 Prerequisites
4 Unspent


Equipment

Farming Nightmare Mephisto filled some holes, but overall Sairina's gear is still lacking. I have to admit that double Spirit helps immensely though, especially to reach 105% fast casting. None of the gear is socketed as I don't want to waste my socketing quests yet.

Spirit Sword
Spirit Shield
Duriel Shell
Rockstopper
Magefist
Nightsmoke
Natalya's Soul
Manald Heal
Rare ring with resists and FCR
Rare amulet with resists and FCR
Some +life/mana charms, no skillers yet

Switch: Skull Collector for the MF


Mercenary

Here again I went the cookie-cutter route with a Holy Freeze mercenary. In hindsight, I'm wondering whether Defiance would've been a better choice, as it would improve his survivability and I don't really need the freeze.

Andariel's Visage
Duriel Shell
The Reaper's Toll / Kelpie Snare


What's next?

I've already started running Mephisto and Pindleskin, and I'm planning to follow with Baal soon after. My Grail list is shrinking rapidly; not that I'm actually going for the Grail, but it's nice to see so much progress at the beginning. As for other characters, I'm going to start either an amazon or a barbarian next, depending on what items I come across during my farming.
 
Originally posted by Reborn2k on Nov 18, 2005:

Tasmana, lvl 99 Meteorb

Finally my meteorb sorc Tasmana got lvl 99! In 1.09 of course! :p Last night at 4 pm the last few cowruns were done togehter with Jbbto and finally NorthStarZon (he came when 180k exp were left ^^). Thanks!

Skills:

Meteor 20 (29)
Firemastery 20 (29)
Warmth 20 (29)
Firewall 10 (19)

Frozen Orb 20 (28)
Cold Mastery 5 (13)
Shiver-Armor 1 (11)

Static Field 1 (9)
Energy Shield 1 (11)

Equipment:

Harlequin's Crest (PTopaz)
Vipermagi +32 (+15 allres jewel, thanks to Ryondaahl for this and sorry again that the armor wasn't perfect!)
Maras +29
Silkweave
Nightsmoke
Magefist
Manald Heal

+

Skull Whorl
Jared's Stone
One-Hand Damage: 8 to 18
Durability: 50 of 50
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 42
Orb Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0x3c162866
+12 to Life
+4 to Mana
Fire Resist +10%
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+2 to Shiver Armor (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Thunder Storm (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Energy Shield (Sorceress Only)

This was ok, because I was using Shiver Armor and Energy Shield. But I'd have preferred an Oculus. I found many Swirling Crystals on my wy, even a Tals Orb, but unfortunately no Occy... :(

Eagle Spiral
Ring
Required Level: 41
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0x614f3f9e
+9 to Strength
+58 to Mana
+9 to Maximum Stamina
Damage Reduced by 2
Cold Resist +9%
Replenish Life +6

Mainly for the +mana, I don't have SoJ/Bul's in 1.09 anyway...

Merc:

Tal's Mask
Hone Sundan (AmnShaelShael)
Duriel's Shell (Ancient's Way, Eldritch/Schenk)
Shaftstop (cowlvl)

My charms were a few large Charms with resists and the rest was +mana/life, because I don't have skillers in 1.09 (at least not the right ones). ^^

Well, this was a remake of my very first D2-Char I made in the summer last year. I then MPed from time to time and got to lvl 94 that way. When I got lvl 95 just by shuttling a friend on a LAN, I finally decided to go for lvl 99! It took me two weeks, since I can't play every minute, but it was a LoD of fun! :) Because I couldn't open the cow lvl anymore, I did AW + Bloodruns (kindof the same exp, I tested it), but soon discovered that Eldritch + Schenk give me exp much faster. I then switched on Skullders/Chancies/Goldwrap for MFing purpose and found some ok items. From 98,5 on I wore battle equipment again to speed things up.

Well, so far so good! I will probably go for another soon, but at first it's called "Back to 1.11!!!!!". :D
 
Originally posted by RedArchon on Jan 21, 2006:

Matriarch Bubbles!!

Sorceress Bubbles
Level 76

Str - 97/97
Dex - 125/140
Vit - 198/218
Eng - 35/55

Stamina - 337/397
Life - 491/583
Mana - 185/432

Cold Skills:

Frozen Orb 20
Cold Mastery 6
Prereqs 5

Fire Skills:

Fireball 20
Meteor 8
Fire Mastery 20
Warmth 1
Prereqs 4

Lightning Skills:

Static Field 1
Teleport 1
Prereqs 1

Items:
Helm - Crown (3 ptopaz)
Amulet - The Rising Sun
Weapon - Oculus
Armor - Vipermagi
Shield - Whistan's (pdiamond)
Gloves - Frostburns
Belt - Goldwrap
Boots - Waterwalks
Ring 1 - Rare ring (mana boost)
Ring 2 - Magic ring (mana boost)

Merc Items:
Vampire Gaze
Kelpie Snare
Junk magic armor

Well this is my 2nd Mat/Pat. First was a Fishymancer that I didn't feel like posting about since he's nothing special.

I started earlier this evening in Act 2 Hell. Archie joined the game and together we made it to the end together. Act 2 wasn't much of a problem. Act 3, Durance Level 3 in the main large room gave us some trouble. I think I had trouble in this area in all 3 difficulties. Got to Act 4 and did Izual and Hellforge with only one problem, my Hellforge dropped an Io rune which is the same thing I got from my NM forge. In the Chaos Sanctuary, when we opened the top and right seals, the unique and packs that spawned gave us a little trouble. Diablo wasn't all that hard. In Act 5 Ophelia and someone else joined up with us. (Sorry I forgot your name since you left early.) We killed Ancients without much of a hassle. Ophelia died right as the last Ancient was killed. We ran into a little of a road block in WSK level 3. There were about 3-4 packs of the Temptresses backed up by a champion group. Numerous deaths followed upon running into them. I decided to tele to the entrance to Throne and bypass the rest of the headache. Throne contained gloams and more deaths followed. Finally we made it to where the minions spawned. The first two waves of minions gave us quiet a fight with multiple deaths following but we prevailed and whipped the snot out of the final 3 waves and Baal.

Now that I've Matted this character I'll be looking to do Baal runs and upgrade her equipment because as you can see it's not very good (some of it is just left on there from where I was magic finding and didn't have anything better yet to replace it with). Archie gave me a 10% ED 4os Eth Partizan and I crafted this for my merc:

Insight
Superior Partizan
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 189 to 396
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 57
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 27
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd318e565
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+244% Enhanced Damage
+10% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+3 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
180% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

This saves me from having to eat all those blue pots. This is the first sorceress I've ever made with base energy. I didn't quiet like having to swallow potion after potion at level 76.

Don't really know what I'll make after this. I think I'll just work on finishing this character up and my necro.
 
Originally posted by RGValdearg on May 28, 2009:

Introducting my first ever mat!

After a long wait, I finally get to announce my first ever Matriarch, as well as my first ever SPF character, Matriarch OrbLady!

She is basically a cookie cutter Meteorb build, and I pretty much played with no rules, aside from those set aside by the SPF. I did spend some time doing MF runs and farming in order to get relatively decent gear, but all in all, it was a fairly straightforward character to play.

I went with an Vit-Focused Build, and ended up with +7 Skills on all items.

LCS + Cold Skills

LCS + Fire Skills

Character Stats
Character name : OrbLady
Character type : Sorceress
Character level : 83
Character exp : 931310635

Strength : 156
Energy : 45
Dexterity : 25
Vitality : 279
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 828 / 720
Mana : 494 / 219
Stamina : 531 / 425


Skills:
Frozen Orb 20/27
Cold Mastery 10/17
Meteor 20/27
Fireball 20/27
Fire Mastery 11/18 <- Would max this one, next

1 point in Prereqs and Static Field and Teleport.

My Items:
Code:
17: Peasant Crown
War Hat
Defense: 108
Durability: 8 of 12
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 28
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x1adb55b3
+20 to Energy
+20 to Vitality
+100% Enhanced Defense
Replenish Life +7
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
15% Faster Run/Walk
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used) <- Perf Topaz

18: Beast Collar
Amulet
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0x9f033796
+2 to Strength
+16 to Maximum Stamina
Fire Resist +33%
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
10% Faster Cast Rate
Half Freeze Duration

19: Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 21 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x2e0faed1
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 9
All Resistances +24
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used) <-- Perf Topaz

20: The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xf715bc01
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

21: Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x199f5e83
+40 to Life
+40 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
100% Extra Gold from Monsters
15% Fire Absorb

22: Goldwrap
Battle Belt
Defense: 83
Durability: 14 of 18
Required Strength: 88
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x36292edb
+42% Enhanced Defense
+25 Defense
60% Extra Gold from Monsters
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius
Required Level +5
10% Increased Attack Speed

23: War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 122
Durability: 46 of 48
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x8fed2301
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+155% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Minimum Damage
+25 to Maximum Damage
+30 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 9
39% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Run/Walk
40% Slower Stamina Drain

24: Frostburn
Gauntlets
Defense: 49
Durability: 8 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x4afb6c62
+20% Enhanced Defense
+5% Enhanced Damage
+30 Defense
Adds 1-6 cold damage over 2 seconds
Increase Maximum Mana 40%
36: OrbLady's The Oculus
Swirling Crystal
One-Hand Damage: 18 to 42
Durability: 50 of 50
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 42
Orb Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 51
Fingerprint: 0xa0f7ce79
+20 to Energy
+20 to Vitality
+20% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +20
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
30% Faster Cast Rate
+5 to Mana After Each Kill
25% Chance to cast Level 1 Teleport when struck

37: Moser's Blessed Circle
Round Shield
Defense: 169
Chance to Block:  57%
Durability: 57 of 64
Required Strength: 53
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xa88be3cb
+203% Enhanced Defense
+25% Increased Chance of Blocking
All Resistances +63
30% Faster Block Rate
Socketed (2: 2 used) <-- 2 Perf Diamonds

Mercenary Items :
Code:
1: Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 634
Durability: 27 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xf779d065
+15 to Strength
+162% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+103 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+83 to Life (Based on Character Level)

2: Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 23 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x516dd7bd
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 20%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
6% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain

3: The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 35 to 418
Durability: 50 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3d824bb8
+197% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 1 seconds
11% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking

I also had a few charms, mostly minor MF Charms, and a 12% resist all Grand Charm.

Observations
I do remember having a few deaths here and there from any combination of stupidity, stubbornness, or just rookie play, but I got a hang of it pretty well.

I think a few major turning points in the way this character handled was:

1. Finding an Occy in the Tomb Of Tal Rasha in Nightmare. Haven't used anything else since. (Though I am keeping my eye out for Eshuta's!)

2. Finding Reapers Toll and Vamp Gaze wile running Hell Meph for my Merc. Made a HUGE difference in his survivability and tanking ability.

3. Finding Moser's Blessed Circle from Hell Meph. My original Goal was to find a 4OS monarch for Spirit, but who am I to argue with 63% resist all?

My Hellforge was an IO

And I beat the ancients in only two tries, although it took some creative mana conservation, as well as finding some hiding spots so my merc could recover life after I ran out of potions.

Baal & Co were surprisingly easy to beat. Not easy enough to make it boring, but I didn't have any NDE's against them.

Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. I wanted to be as descriptive as possible for my first ever Write up for my first ever Matriarch for my first ever SPF Character!

Thanks to all of those who have put together all of the amazing resources on the SPF, as well as those of you who offered Advice along the way!

Edit: I just noticed I totally spelled "Introducing" wrong in my Subject.. >< (Perfectionism Fail)
 
Originally posted by RobbyD on Apr 28, 2010:

Matriarch ClimateChange - MeteOrb Sorc in 1.09

I would like to present Matriarch ClimateChange, a MeteOrb Sorceress in 1.09. My 4th Mat/Pat and first Sorceress. I built her strictly to Sasja’s MeteOrb guide (3rd Edition) with the exception of pumping Fire Mastery before pumping Fire Ball (since Fire Ball gives no synergy bonus in 1.09) and I relied on Thyiad’s Twinking Tips for the very early game. Major thanks to both Sasja and Thyiad for those references.

The gear ClimateChange used was pretty much all collected by my original Pat, RobbyD, the now MFing Frenzy Barb, with some items also found by WildBetty (notably, one of the SoJs) picked up doing Countess runs for Vex (still no Vex from Countess, in case anybody is following that).

ClimateChange is meant to be a 1.10s Hellforge collector based on Nightfish’s MF Oddballs comparison of builds that run the River of Flame well. I only found out about the major imbalance of 1.10s Cold Mastery (from Steven Q Urkel) after I was well invested in this character, so I realize she might struggle – but I still plan to give it a try.

So, without further ado, I present ClimateChange’s stats, skills, and gear:

Char Screen - Matriarch ClimateChange – Sorceress
Level 82
Stats:
Strength: 108/189 (how's that for gear bonuses?)
Dexterity: 190/199
Vitality: 167/209
Energy: 35/74
Resists: 63/75/78/57

Skills:
Fire:
Warmth: 1/11
Fire Ball: 12/22
Meteor: 20/30
Fire Mastery: 20/30
Prereqs: 1/11

Cold:
Frozen Orb: 20/29
Cold Mastery: 8/17
Prereqs: 1/10

Lightning:
Static: 1/10
Teleport: 1/10
Telekinesis: 1/10

Gear:
Helm: Shako (Topaz)
Ammy: Rare (+14 Strength, +17 Energy, 21% FR, 32% CR, +1 Sorc Skills, MDR 3)
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi (28% Res @)
Belt: Thundergod’s Vigor
Rings: 2x SoJ
Gloves: Magefist
Boots: Rare Chain Boots (+7 Dex, 30% LR, 23% PR, 30% FRW, 10% FHR)
Weapon/Shield 1: The Oculus/Stormshield (pDiamond)
Weapon/Shield 2: Wizardspike/'Rhyme' Heater

Charms: Combo Resist/Str SCs, SCs of Vita, Ochre GC of Sust (18% LR/35 life), Sparking GC of Life (16 life), MF SCs

Merc End-Game gear:
Act 2 Holy Freeze Merc "Razan"
Helm: Vampire Gaze (MDR 11, PDR 19%, 6 LL)
Armor: “Smoke” eth Dusk Shroud (1225 def – not bad for 1.09)
Weapon: Hone Sundan (AmnAmnShael) – standard issue for all my A2 mercs

Progression:
Normal, NM, and most of Hell done on P8. Hell Bosses on P1, Acts 4 and most of 5 on P3, finally dropped to P1 for Hell Ancients’ Way to Baal.

Early twinking consisted of socketed weapons with jewels of Envy, spamming Cold Bolt until Level 6, then Frost Nova, and swinging the weapon in hand (Envy Short Sword, then Envy Crystal Sword) until the General’s Ta Di La became available, and then at level 27 my original Barb’s ‘Honor’ Knout, which absolutely DESTROYS at that level! Level 30 brought FO, so she went to pure skills from that point out with one exception.

She did get drafted to run Hell Countess for a while since she has a pretty sexy Countess Map (Monarch/Luna rack and a Russet Armor rack), and I was able to farm a nice collection of socketed Monarchs and a Blackoak Shield from that, but gave up before the Russett Armor rack coughed up a Skullder’s Ire. Countess running is a bit of a challenge for her – 1.09 Countess is CI/FE and, like all bosses in 1.09, is very often PI. Add a crew of FI goatmen in her room on a fairly regulary basis, and it’s often tricky to keep the Merc alive. I ended up finding a spot outside the door to the Countess’ room to stand at and drop Meteors on her and keeping the merc outside.

Notable Drops:
Bane Ash

Death's Gloves

Rixot's Keen

Lenymo

Gull Dagger

Ribcracker

Moser's Blessed Circle

Lum Rune

Butcher's Pupil

Iron Small Charm of Inertia

Blackoak Shield
(from the Countess Tower Luna/Monarch rack)

Wizard Spike

Lem Rune
(Countess running, not questing)

Thundergod's Vigor

Knell Striker


... And for those who have never seen it,

This is your brain on Blood Mana

Notable observations:
Even without a single point in Energy, she had issues with Blood Mana in Normal and NM Act 5. Apparently 2xSoJ applied to the various mana and energy bonuses and the +17 to energy from the ammy outpace life if you pump Dex for blocking. I didn’t find it THAT bad, but I did end up stuffing her inventory with SCs of Vita to tip the scales.

Uses for Wizzy – I found that capping resists helped a lot in Hell Chaos Sanctuary, and she did run across a FI/CI OK that the merc had fits with. She ended up switching to melee and stabbing him with the Wizzy to take him out.

Deaths:
Exactly 1, and it was completely unnecessary – she died to a FrenzyTaur in NORMAL Abaddon because I wasn’t paying attention. I was very afraid of the Hell Ancients battle, but it turned out to be a piece of cake. Her endgame power on P1 was phenomenal. The frozen tunnels of Act 5 were a piece of cake – Meteor decimated all those CIs on P3, but the Frozen Tundra type areas were a pain since they are full of FIs and FO suffers some on P3.

Play Style – She worked as a true MeteOrb since Fire Ball does jack squat in 1.09 – get the merc in the thick of things and drop meteors on him to take out the monsters that have grouped around him – FO anything FI. Static the big guys when needed.

Retirement Plans – Conversion to 1.10s for Hellforge collections and, perhaps, some Pit/AT running for items not findable in 1.09 (1.10+ uniques and TC90 items).

General Comments - I found the Sorc hard to get used to. This casting-based attack is very different than the melee builds I've done, and the strategy is significantly different. This build truly relied on the Merc to a much greater extent than any other character I've built. He was integral to her attack strategy, and needed to be, and thankfully was, very tough. 'Smoke' Dusk Shroud was put on the Merc to start Hell and the maxed resists and high defence came in very handy. Frenzytaurs, OKs, Conviction, and Fana boss packs took him out, but very little else.

My plans – Currently working on developing Schaefer (currently a Slayer), a 1.09 Fanatical Zealot with plans to swing (and personalize) that Scheafer's Hammer that my Zon found in the Act 5 Chrystalline Passage. He's now attacking NM on P8 with Hand of Blessed Light and HoZ.
 
Originally posted by Rynda on Aug 4, 2005:

Matriarch Rynda!

After my post yesterday, I'm sure many of you aren't surprised... I finally beat Hell Baal today and made my first ever Matriarch! She's a bit what you guys would call 'cookie-cutter', so maybe you aren't interested, but she was fun for me :)

Details:
Level 84 Meteorb Sorceress

Base Stats:

Strength: 105
Dexterity: 55
Vitality: 265
Energy: 85
Life: 943
Mana: 598

Damage:

Meteor: 9155-9580
Fireball: 3248-3605
Orb: 390-410

Build (minus gear):

20 Fireball
20 Meteor
20 Frozen Orb
12 Fire Mastery
10 Cold Mastery
1 All pre-reqs, and Warmth, Static, Telekinesis, Teleport

Gear:

Head: Shako
Weapon: Oculus (with a Wizardspike on switch for resistances)
Shield: Lidless Wall with PDiamond Socket
Body: Ormus Robes with +3 Meteor
Belt: Tal Rasha's
Hands: Magefists
Feet: Tearhaunch Greaves
Ring1: Dwarf Star
Ring2: Raven Frost
Amulet: Rare amulet with +20 resist all and a few other (unimportant) random stats
Charms: Mostly +resist, but also a Gheed's Fortune (39% MF) that I picked up in Act III :-D

Holy Freeze Mercenary
Gear:
Helm: Wormskull Bone Helm
Weapon: Kelpie Snare
Body: Skin of the Flayed One Demonhide Armor

Some notes:

Hell forge dropped a Mal. Baal dropped a Spire of Honor.

The main thing I realized while going through Hell difficulty is that I am in NO WAY ready for Hardcore play right now. Rynda died so many times through Hell difficulty, it was rediculous. Act II seemed to be the biggest problem for me. I didn't have the right Merc and those snakes kept surrounding me and killing me, while all those non-leachable skele's were bad as well. Nhilathak's temple was pretty bad too, with all the poison snakes. But I have learned a lot and am slowly getting more proficient.

Right now I plan to use her for MF. Some of the other "cookie cutter" builds look fun also... Like I want to make a true Windy Druid (my first Druid was a mess), a Trapsin and a Bonemancer. I also would love to try the Tri-Elementalist build that someone posted here awhile ago, after I get a little more skill under my belt.

Anyway, thanks so much for putting up with all my questions along the way. 👏
 
Originally posted by San on Apr 23, 2007:

Matriarch LogicalNoodle

The third Matriarch of the Noodle series! :prop: I still ❤ sorcs, even though I've fiddled around with a couple of Druid and Paladin builds in the meantime.

Level (when Matted): 81

Str: 75
Dex: Base
Vit: 360 -> max life: 1016
Ene: Base -> max mana: 504

Skill distribution:
20 Fire Ball
15 Fire Bolt (more points will go here if I get past 94, rofl, as if)
1 Fire Mastery
1 Teleport, Telekinesis, Static Field
1 Frozen Armour, Frost Nova, Blizzard, Ice Blast, Glacial Spike
20 Frozen Orb
17 Ice Bolt (to be maxed next)
10 Cold Mastery (following points)

Equipment:

Death's Fathom
Dimensional Shard
One-Hand Damage: 30 to 53
Durability: 50 of 50
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 73
Orb Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x7a34bcc1
Fire Resist +30%
Lightning Resist +27%
Adds 24-38 cold damage over 0 seconds
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
20% Faster Cast Rate
100% Chance to cast Level 43 Frost Nova When You Level Up
+30% to Cold Skill Damage
-5% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Pwn stick.

Moser's Blessed Circle
Round Shield
Defense: 178
Chance to Block: 57%
Durability: 64 of 64
Required Strength: 53
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x42a8a297
+219% Enhanced Defense
+25% Increased Chance of Blocking
All Resistances +25
Adds 48-76 cold damage over 0 seconds
30% Faster Block Rate
100% Chance to cast Level 37 Blizzard When You Die
+10% to Cold Skill Damage
-8% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Harlequin's Crest
Vipermagi 34%
Magefists
Arachnid's Mesh
Natalya's Soul
SoJ
Wisp Projector (both rings stolen from my Light sorc)
Rare ammy (+1 sorc, 20 all res, 10 MF, 10 str) (should be swapped for a Mara's)

Gheed's GC
Chilling GC +11 life
Burning GC +6 dex
Amber SC, 11LR
Amber SC of dex, 10 LR, 1 dex
SC of Good Luck, 7% MF *4

Moron (act 2, defiance): Leharas

Insight
Partizan
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 186 to 390
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 57
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 27
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x421d43c7
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+249% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+1 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
233% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

Gloom
Great Hauberk
'FalUmPul'
Defense: 1432
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Strength: 118
Required Level: 56
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x5e178952
+10 to Strength
+201% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +45
-3 to Light Radius
10% Faster Hit Recovery
5% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Half Freeze Duration
15% Chance to cast Level 3 Dim Vision when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Stolen from old Frenzy barb. Might make a better one for him, if I feel like it.

Crown of Thieves
Grand Crown
Defense: 499
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Strength: 93
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6ce23b4c
+25 to Dexterity
+50 to Life
+35 to Mana
+192% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +33%
11% Life stolen per hit
98% Extra Gold from Monsters
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

I was thinking about upgrading this thing, now that the eth bonus doesn't disappear from armours when upgraded.

Well, this one was much by far the most enjoyable of the Noodle sorcs so far. I really should make more of these dual-tree sorcs, they just are so versatile. And I'm slowly starting to have the items required to make them inflict some damage at the same time.

I'm somewhat annoyed that I didn't invest more in strength, because I would now like to have a Fire Ball switch, with a 'Spirit' Monarch and a Fire Faceted Occulus or Eschuta's.

Frozen Orb damage so far: 763-800

There's still some room for improvement here. The amulet, two sockets, in the helm and armour, and more skillers will make the damage go higher.

Fire Ball damage: 2460-2704

There ya have it. 😃 Questions?

Hellforge in Hell got me an Io :largeannoyed:
 
Originally posted by Shannon on May 28, 2007:

Matriarch Shae - Blizzball girlie!

Finally got around to taking Shae to see Baal. After finally getting some good gear for my merc (Pindle was generous enough to drop a shaftstop), the Ancients and WSK were much easier than I had anticipated. This is my 2nd Mat/Pat after switching to SPF (first was Fishymancer in SPUMF tourney)

She's currently level 85...with a pretty cookie cutter build:

Max meteor
Max fireball
Max blizzard
Max glacial spike (don't regret choosing this over ice blast...great for freezing Pindle and friends...saved me more than once!)
1 each prereqs
1 teleport, static, telekinesis
1 fire mastery
2 cold mastery (future skill pts go here for a while)


Skill Pts (base, not with gear):

Str: 95 (for War Travs)
Dex: 192 (max block!)
Vit: 193
Enrg: 35

Equipment:

Had found an Oculus during the SPUMF and later found a Visceratuant. Decided to spend the runes to up the Visc and was thrilled with it. Had gotten an Um on my NM forge (naturally, got a Hel on my Hell forge). Had found a Viper with +33 resists and debated whether to go ahead and socket the Um in it or try to find a perfect one. Finally decided to socket it and things got much easier after that...I obviously made the right decision!

Helm: Crown socketed with 3 Ptopazes (never found anything I liked better!)
Armor: Viper +33 socketed with Um
Weapon: Oculus
Shield: Upped Visceratuant with PDiamond
Belt: Upped Goldwrap (still looking for Snowclash!)
Boots: War Travs (+49 MF!)
Amulet: Rare with +1 skills and resists
Ring1: Nagel +27 MF
Ring2: Nagel +25 MF
Gloves: Magefist

I also had a Gothic Plate w/ 4 Ptopazes and a +36 MF chance guards I switch into from time to time on MF runs (when I don't need the resists or + skills from Viper & Magefist).


Merc: Holy Freeze merc Level 85

Helm: Guillaume's Face (got just recently from Meph, YAY!)
Armor: Shaftstop (with perfect ED% - if only it were eth!)
Wpn: Eth Insight CV (he had used a non-eth insight thresher for most of the game, but then I found this Eth CV and with gear he had the strength to use it. Helped a lot with the Ancients, I noted!)

I haven't socked anything in my Oculus, or in my merc's armor or helm. Just indecision on my part. I did find 39% ED and 35% ED jewels....and I am open to suggestions!

--Shannon
 
Originally posted by Sid on May 12, 2009:

Matriarch Alandra

Matriarch Alandra

Class: Sorceress
Build: Meteorb
Level: 86

Stats
(Nekkid / With Gear)

STR 130/151
DEX 130/133
VIT 165/177
NRG 70/116

Unused Stat Points: 25

Skills
Fireball 20/31
Meteor 20/31
Fire Mastery 17/28
Frozen Orb 20/28
Cold Mastery 7/15
Warmth 1
Teleport 1
Prereqs 10

...and because I suck at clicking... :<
Charged Bolt 1

Unused Skill Points: 0

Damage
Meteor Damage 11,956-12,498
Meteor Burn Damage 1380-1458 per second
Frozen Orb Damage 384-403
Fireball Damage 5001-5496
Charged Bolt Damage 7-9

Resists
Fire 68
Cold 72
Lightning 75
Poison 71

Defense 1254/4514 (w/ Defiance from merc)
Block
Life 588
Mana 509

Gear
Weapon: Eschuta's Temper (+3 skills, 12% Fire Damage)
Shield: Moser's Blessed Circle (w/ 2 PDiamonds)
Armor: Que-Hegan's Wisdom (w/ 1 Thul for 30% Cold Resist)
Helmet: Harley Crest (w/ 1 PTopaz)
Boots: War Travs (perfect 50% MF)
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Ammy: Rare (Lightning Resist 51%, All Other Resist 15%, +34 Life, +2 Fire Skills)
Ring 1: Carrion Wind
Ring 2: Bul-Kathos Wedding Band
Charms:
Gheeds (29% MF, 113% GF)
Sapphire GC (Cold Resist 26%)
Russet GC of Strength (Fire Resist 20%, +6 STR)
Russet GC of Craftsmanship (Fire Resist 18%)
Amber GC of Balance (Lightning Resist 27%, 12% FHR)
Shimmering SC of Sustenance (All Resist 4%, +14 Life)
Shimmering SC of Inertia (All Resist 4%, 3% FRW)
Russet SC of Life (Fire Resist 7%, +5 Life)

Switch Weapon for Questing/Leveling/Countess Runs: Spectral Shard (for fast teleporting)
Switch Weapon for Meph Runs: Gull (w/ 10% MF Jewel)
Switch Shield: Lidless Wall

Merc: Act 2 Defiance

Merc Gear:
Armor: Gladiator's Bane
Helmet: Andy's Visage
Weapon: Bonehew (w/ 2 x Amn)
Defense: 10,965 (w/ Defiance)
Damage: 546-2079 (22% life leech)

Progression:
Normal and NM: /p8, all quests and WPs completed, minimal rerunning, some full clears and side areas completed, no runs
Hell: mostly /p1, some /p3 and /p5, all quests and WPs except Halls of Pain, some full clears and side areas, ap. 1K meph runs, ap. 150 Countess runs, maybe a dozen Baal runs, no Pindle runs (yet)

Deaths: Yes

NM HF: Hel
Hell HF: Pul

Rune Finds: Gul, Mal (from chest on a Meph run), Pul, Lem, Ko x 2, Lum x 2, Io



Unique Finds:
Harley Crest x2
Andy's Visage
Steel Shade
Dracul's Grasp
Ormus Robes
Sprit Shroud x 2
Que-Hegan's Wisdom
Stormshield
Head Hunter's Glory
Marrowwalk x 2
Sandstorm Trek
Arachnid Mesh
String of Ears x 3
Thundergod's Vigor
Hellslayer
Runemaster
Razor's Edge
Eth Edge
Wizardspike
Baranar's Star x 4
Demon's Limb
Windhammer
All Unique Crossbows (including Buriza x 1 only, Hellrack x 2, Gut Siphon x 1)
Bonehew x 4
Reaper's Toll x 2
All Spears except Steel Pillar
Boneshade
Arm of King Leoric
Bul-Kathos Wedding Band
Dwarf Star
Raven Frost
Carrion Wind
Wisp Projector
Gheeds x 2
Chromatic Ire x 2
Gimmershred
Eye of Etlich
Cat's Eye
Crescent Moon
Seraph's Hymn
All normal and exceptional swords
Djinn Slayer
Bloodmoon
Flamebellow
Rainbow Facet x 2
Lycander's Flank
Thunderstroke
All Assassin Claws
Arreat's Face
Wolfhowl
Demonhorn's Edge
Jalal's Mane
Alma Negra
Herald of Zakarum x 3

Set Item Finds:
Bul-Kathos Sacred Charge
Aldur's Advance
Aldur's Rhythm
Hwanin's Full Set
All IK except armor
All Tal's except armor and ammy
Orphan's Call Full Set
Sander's Full Set
All Trang-Oul's except Guise and Girth
All Natalya's except Mark
All Disciple except Telling of Beads
Griswold's Heart x 3
All Classic Full Sets except Arcanna's (need Sign)

Items I haven't found yet but would like to find:
Occy
Skulder's Ire
Sorc Skillers
Eth Bonehew (for merc)
Tal's Ammy
Any Elite Unique Bows
Witchwild String
Bul-Kathos Tribal Guardian
Arcanna's Sign
Telling of Beads
Waterwalks
Duriel's Shell
Perfect MF Chancies
Any Unique Necro Heads
SoJ
Maras
Any Unique Circlet



Comments:
This is my 2nd Meteorb. My first was lost a year or so ago on an uninstall (thought I had her backed up - I didn't). So I needed a new MF'er.

Normal: No troubles on p/8. Twinked some, but not a lot, and not early.
Wasted my socket quest on my (twinked) Gull dagger because I had a brainfart and thought I could put a PTopaz in it for MF. Heh. Oh well, I now have a 110% MF Gull. I'll consider putting an Ist in it if I ever find a couple Ists.

NM: Twinked some stuff my previous sorc had found to Alandra. I didn't bother running NM meph. Frozen Orb made NM relatively easy on /p8. Accidentally wasted a skill point on Charged Bolt somewhere along the line.
Used my socket quest on my Que-Hegan's and put a rune in it for cold resist (which I needed).

Hell: I decided to go 'pure' meteorb, and used Meteor and FO primarily through Hell. I found Meteor to be easier to use questing than people make it out to be. The merc tanked and I rained death from the heavens.
I wore Venom Ward through act 2, and so did my merc. We laughed at poison.
Paused for a while after act 3 for some Meph running.
Used my Hell socket quest on my Harley Crest for MF.
The ancients gave me troubles. I experimented with gear, and even emptied a pair of Marrowwalks of Bone Prison charges (fun, but not incredibly effective). Poison vine from Carrion Wind slowed them down some, which gave me time to do damage. Took me over half-dozen attempts, but I finally defeated them. Didn't die at all to Baal.

Overall a very versatile and enjoyable character. Meteorbs are underrated for running Countess. I read a Countess guide that kind of poo-poohed meteorbs. I disagree. Even though the Countess herself is immune to Fire/Cold, I can kill everything else in the tower almost effortlessly (since countess is run on /p1) and my merc drops the Countess in three or four swipes of his Bonehew. Quick and easy.
 
Originally posted by silospen on Oct 27, 2004:

Matriarch BlueSteel

Hurrah! My first SP Mat. Her stats:

Lvl 81 Meterob (bring on the cookie cutter ;) )

Str - 140
dex - 203
Vit - 120 (603)
En - 90 (790)

Res - All 75

Equiptment:

Wizspike
Mosers (2 pdiamond)
Shako (ptopaz)
Goldwrap
Chance guards
War Travs
Ravenfrost
Nagelring
Tals Ammy
Que Hegans Wisdom (+ 11 all res jewel)

Charms - 3, 7 and 5 chance of finding magical items charms.


Alternative: Smoke, 4 ptopaz armour, Gull, Rhyme.

Now, can you guess what she's going to do now?

Skills:

16 Fire Mastery
25 Fireball (dmg 2564 - 2861)
25 Meteor (dmg 6118 - 6445)

13 Cold Mastery
25 Frozen Orb (dmg 340 - 357)

Baal dropped goblin toe. Nice drop...

Best find was from a nm council minion - Tals ammy 👍
Very happy about that.

Thanks to sasja for the great guide and everyone who donated items in the giveaway threads :)

Si

Edit: Forgot my ever faithful merc:

lvl 81 act 2 HF merc

Bonehew
Tals mask
Godly loricated mail (thanks 2excess!)

def - 3311
dmg - 574 - 1870
 
Originally posted by SimontheBulletFreak on Jun 27, 2005:

Matriarch PandorasRevenge

Hello all. Here is character number 5 in my quest to mat/pat all classes, my meteorb sorc.

Matriarch PandorasRevenge
level 78

max Fireball, Meteor, Frozen Orb, Fire Mastery (not quite maxed all the way yet)

stats with gear:

str:92
dex: 89
vit: 340
ene: 67

resists in hell: 43/32/50/50
FB dam: 4578-5031
FO dam: 435-456
Meteor dam: 11K

Gear:
Occy with fire rainbow facet
Upped Skin of the Vipermagi
Harley with cold rainbow facet
"Um" Lidless Wall
Frostburn/Silkweave
Gloom's Trap
SOJ/Raven Frost
Volcanic Amulet of the Giant (+3 fire skills/14 str)

Charms:
Gheed's and two Cold skillers w/11%GF and 4 dex
rest of charms added:
190 life
152 mana
other in resists and random stats

Holy Freeze merc
Vamp Gaze
Duriels
eth Spire of Honor

I've read a lot of mat threads for this build and I will personally attest now to their truth. Very easy build once you get past the early levels where you struggle for mana. The rest of the game is a picnic save for the Ancients who took me a while to beat but I eventually rolled some vulnerable stats.

I was robbed in the extreme as far as drops went. My Hell hellforge drop was a Lum. :mad: The only drop I think I kept were a pair of eth Ghoulhides for my ethereal grail dropped by Diablo.

That's five down and two to go; assassin and amazon. I had begun a dual claw venom 'sin but am not so sure if it is viable with the limited 'sin gear I've found. So, can any of you 'zon and 'sin fanatics out there give me your most viable twinked build? I was thinking of a trapper for the 'sin and I'm undecided on the zon...maybe jab/light fury(?).

So far I have:

Paladin: (Frost Zealot) Solomon's Knight
Barb: (Conc/Berserk) DrBannerLives
Necro: (Fishymancer) GoblinMaster
Druid: (Fury) JanosSkorzeny
Sorc: (Meteorb) PandorasRevenge
 
Originally posted by Sir Lister of Smeg on Nov 30, 2006:

Matriarch Snowstorm

I just finished taking my blizzard/firewall sorc through hell (including cows), so here is the obligatory mat thread. All was done at players 8, with two exceptions: hell countess and hell ancients (for normal ancients I usually don't bother lowering the players setting, whereas for nightmare I tend to forget doing so, and this time was no exception). I think I would have been a level higher had I not died so often in hell act V. I more or less followed this guide, but did at some point put one more point in fire mastery instead of working toward glacial spike. (See the comment by the writer of that guide later in that thread)

In general this character was easy to the extreme, with a hammerdin one needs at least to aim hammers, and with a fishymancer one needs to make that first kill. Players 8 made things interesting though. I was relying on my walking aura/meat shield/decoy to keep my mana up (insight polearm), and keeping him alive was often quite a challenge. If there were no cold immunes, I could do without him just drinking potions, but otherwise, I needed to be able to place the firewalls so that they would damage monsters, and he was an excellent decoy. The most problematic monsters were cold immunes that ran away, some zealot types, archers, and casters, including oblivion knights, additionally I had a hard time in act V hell with spike fiends, some ere cold immune, some not, and they don't tend to run away, but they tended to put me into hit recovery continuously. Frenzytaurs were a laugh, especially the earlier ones that would be frozen by ice blast. I did full clears of most level85 areas, except for the throne of destruction, which is probably a first (I always clear it when questing). The reason for the latter was an extremely nasty combination of monsters, succubi (the cold immune version), gloams, and oblivion/doom knights. With both the succubi and the oblivion knights running/flying away, I found myself constantly in the firing range of yet another pack of oblivian knights/gloams/succubi and having to go and revive my merc yet again. In the end I killed what was necessary and left both the sidearms alone. One of the wsk levels spawned gloams as well, but there they were no problem due to a different combination of other monsters.

The hell ancients were not a real problem, although two were cold immune of whom one was dual immune, if I would have failed to keep my merc alive I'd of course have had to restart, but with quite a few potions he stayed up. As I've noticed quite a few times lately, the real problem in the chaos sanctuary is not Diablo, but the ordinary monsters that come before, and of the seal bosses only The Infector Of Souls (although before they nerfed De Seis to have only doom knights as minions and no potion steal ability anymore it was different). This time however, even he was just a minor problem.

Nihlatak (always cold immune in hell?) took a lot of time due to his teleporting, but since I'd twinked on Nature's Peace in place of Raven Frost, he was not very dangerous. I even managed to keep my merc alive on that level in spite of the vipers. Baal's minions were no real problem, of course the cold immune mages on the second wave were annoying, but once there were few enough for my merc to survive their attacks, he could engage one, while I took down the others around with firewall. Baal himself took time, as usual, but did not cause trouble, after he drained my mana it came back quickly enough not to bother. I also went into the moo moo farm (which I often skip), also at players 8, and that was easy as well, there were a few dual immune bosses, but since their minions would go down quickly from blizzard, they were not dangerous. I even managed to keep my merc alive. Still, a few times I did teleport instead of blizzard and vice versa, which once lead to an nde (in the middle of about twenty cows while cursed is not nice), but I managed to escape.

Still, it was good I did not play hardcore, although upto hell act V all was fine, I did die, once in hell catacombs level 3, once in claw viper temple level 1, and once in chaos sanctuary. In addition, I'm quite sure I died once somewhere earlier, in nightmare or normal, but since I continued this character from somewhere in nightmare act II a short time ago after a hiatus of several months, I don't remember. In hell act V, things were different, very different. My killing power was fine, the thing was that my too be killed power was fine as well. I started of by being killed by a spike fiend boss pack a couple of times in the bloody foothills, and that was the harbinger of things to come. After recovering the corpses and finally killing that bosspack, I teleported through straight to Shenk, stopping only for Dac Farren, then went backwards until I levelled (before dying I'd been close to levelling, and I did not want to leave the foothills without doing so) and then continued in the frigid highlands. There, as well as on the arreat plateau, I had no serious enough troubles, the next death was, again twice, in the frozen river, thanks to gloams, the second death was trying to recover my corpse, and was a one hit kill, so I exited and restarted from the crystalline passage, I think I restarted a couple of times due to not feeling like killing very many cold immunes. In the end the inital extra fast frenzytaur bosspack did give me the trouble of killing my merc, but I managed to get away alive, and then come back and kill. That time I did have enother death in the frozen river, this time a succubus bosspack, but this time I managed to recover. For a change I went into al the infernal areas in act V, I did have a little trouble some times, but at least did not die. Death returned in the ancient's way, of course spike fiends. I tried to go back to recover my corpse, but teleporting through half the frozen tundra since I had not yet found the ancient's way waypoint, resulted in yet another death. Again I restarted a couple of times in order not to have too many (annoying, frozen creepers and drifters are fine) cold immunes in the ancient's way, and then finally got through. After that there were no more deaths, although quite a few nde's.

As to finds, I'd hoped to find a lot since I was playing at players 8. I did find a lot, just not very interesting stuff until hell moo moo farm. The most interesting finds beforehand were many, many gems and a few skill grand charms. In addition, this sorc really was turned on by medium sized rods, she found many unique scepters (a few multiple times), unfortunately I did have all of them already. The highest rune was a fal from nightmare hellforge, followed by a io from hell hellforge. In nightmare she did find quite a few thuls to shaels as well. The other most interesting drops were a stormshield from hell mephisto and silks of the victor in hell lower kurast, both of these were interesting only since they were a confirmation of the fact that once you find your first item, you start finding many. The first (nonethereal) of both of these I found a month or two ago during many pindle runs. She also found many plague bearers, I think that was the last unique sword I was missing until I found the first one several months ago, apart from the grandfather which I still don't have. There was one drop that really impressed me though due to it's rarity (unfortunately I did not take a screenshot): two unique items from a hidden stash in the ancient's way (the items in question were the mandatory scepter in the form of stormeye, and wall of the eyeless).
The only really interesting find was, as mentioned, in the moo moo farm, it was a grailie, in the form of Spirit Keeper, completing my set of druidic items.

I had to use telekinesis to enter the hell `destruction's end' portal. I don't know what went wrong, but I could not walk into it, even after teleporting on top of it, this in an area with ground and no obstacles.

Stats et cetera:

Character name : Snowstorm
Character type : Sorceress
Character level : 88
Character exp : 1396382501

Skills:
Ice Bolt 1
Frost Nova 1
Ice blast 20
Glacial Spike 5
Blizzard 20
Cold Mastery 15
Static Field 1
Telekinesis 1
Teleport 1
Warmth 1
Inferno1
Fire Wall 20
Fire Mastery 11

Strength : 86
Energy : 35
Dexterity : 170
Vitality : 189
Stat Points Rem : 50
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 813 / 545
Mana : 427 / 209
Stamina : 382 / 340

Harlequin Crest `Perfect Topaz'
Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Skin of the Vipermagi `Perfect Topaz'
Dwarf Star
String of Ears
Natalya's Soul
Death's Hand (for poison length reduction)
Raven Frost
Death's Fathom
Moser's Blessed Circle `Perfect Diamond Perfect Diamond'

Emerald Small Charm
Ruby Small Charm of Life
Cobalt Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm of Vita
Coral Small Charm
Small Charm of Fortune
Large Charm of Greed (apparently I'd overlooked this, should not have been there)
Ruby Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm of Fortune
Shimmering Small Charm of Strength

weapon switch was not used

Mercenary:
Mizan (defensive normal (defiance))
Experience: 75820624
Level: 88
Strength: 195
Dexterity: 158
Hitpoints: 1950
Defense: 2447
Resistances: 155

Mercenary equipment:
Shaftstop
Vampire Gaze (Ethereal)
Insight Giant Thresher
 
Originally posted by sirpoopsalot on Oct 31, 2007:

FrigidBridgett - Frost Nova Matriarch

Earlier today finished another 'off-the-beaten-path' sorc. This time it was Frost Nova / Firewall.


The Usual Stuff:

FridgidBridgett, level83
Life: 1482 (with BO)
Mana: 978
Resists: 75/75/75/49
Favourite Cereal: Cap'n Crunch

Frost Nova Damage: 1169 - 1319 (at 8-frames, before CM)
Firewall Damage: 6488 - 6543

Stats:
Str: 158
Dex: 58 <--- change of plans at level79
Vit: 300
Nrg: 40


Skills:
20 Frost Nova
20 Frozen Orb
20 Blizzard
20 Firewall
1 Teleport
1 Static
1 Warmth
1 FM
1 CM
1 Warmth
1 Shiver Armor <--- wasted points
1 prereqs

+ 21 Cold skills
+ 14 Fire
+ 13 Lightning


Equipment:
Death's Fathom (17%, +3/5 facet)
Nightwings (11%, +5/3 facet)
Vipermagi (50 res all)
Spirit Monarch (35 FCR)
Mara's (25)
Magefists
Arachnid's Mesh
2xSoJ
Rare boots (30 FRW, 22 FResist, 32CResist)
7x Chilling GC's
life, mana, resists SC's

Switch: CtA + Spirit


Merc: level83
Normal, Prayer merc
Insight eth CA
Duress AP
VampGaze


Finds:
About the time I found three nice(ish) items and a Hel rune within about 10 minutes in NM, I decided to be a little more thorough on tracking my finds, so I actually kept a stash. Of course, that pretty much jinxed me and the rest of my drops weren't really anything to brag about.

- Ambergris (28) Jewel of Freedom
- Ocher (8) SC of Life (6)
- Volcanic Circlet
... those were the 3 items
- Ginther's Rift
- Laying of Hands
- Ravenfrost
- Tal's Belt
- Skin of the Vipermagi (20)
- Fungal GC of Dexterity (4)
- ethereal Gorefoot
- ethereal Stoutnail
- Hellforge: Sol/Ko <--- :rolleyes:

... and (normal) Ormus actually gave me a decent twinking ring:

Rune Coil
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x6172a208
+2 to Energy
Fire Resist +11%
Lightning Resist +5%
Cold Resist +24%
4% Life stolen per hit
10% Faster Cast Rate


Progression:
I was going to go for Wizardspike & 200 FCR again, but messed up my stat points (not enough dex without Mara's and not enough FCR with it - poor planning, ftw). Then I was talking with Darkoooo and he mentioned Nightwing's, plus I'd been using Death's Fathom (gotta love the +Cold Damage), so that sealed her fate as a 105 FCR sorc. Of course this decision was after I traded for a sweet circlet with Joosh, but hey, what can you do? In the end, I'm happy with the choice, and I have plans for the circlet anyways.

Normal & Nightmare were played like a standard FO sorc. Melee early on, 1.09 Ravenclaw until 30, blah, blah, blah. She did 98% of it solo, but I've been helping rush Darkoooo's new PvP char, so I think we did a few quests together at one time or another. Skill points were scattered throughout whatever utility skills while I was leveling, so my Firewall was the last thing that I spent points into.

Once I hit level73 (late NM) I twinked on the full gear for Frost Nova and realized: "holy crap!!! Frost Nova absolutely obliterates anything that isn't cold immune!!!" (here's a short, poor quality video of some of my progress through the river of flame in Hell - you'll see what I mean). After that it was a fair bit of rushing Darkoooo and doing a few NM Baal runs. My plan was to hit level80 before entering Hell (for Arachnid's), but I realized at level79 that I'd messed up the dexterity points, so I swapped the Nightwings for the circlet, and decided to tackle Hell.

Hell was done entirely solo, and with Nightwings it was really a cakewalk - but only against things that weren't CI. I had waited too long and my firewall wasn't that powerful when I got there. However, put me in an area without any cold immunes and it's just a pleasure to waltz through and mow down the baddies. Against densely packed monsters I'd say that FN is the fastest mass-killer in the cold tree (I haven't tried a GS/IB specialist yet, but because of spamming FN is sometimes/often a lot faster than FO or Blizz).

Acts1, 2 and 4 were mostly done on /players3, not that I realized it most times. In the first two acts it was 2-3 hit kills of non-CI monsters (even on /players3!). Act4 was slower, but I didn't have any real difficulties. Act3 had a lot of mixtures of FI and CI monsters early on, and I hate that act, so it was done on /p1. Act5 kept giving me CI monsters everywhere (IIRC, Bloody Foothills and Frigid Highlands were the only two areas without at least 2 cold immune monsters - Crystaline Passage and Frozen River were entirely CI).

Speaking of Frozen River, I encountered, I think, the worst quadruple boss pack of Sirens ever (or whatever those **** things are called - the ones that are CI). I didn't have time to check all the mods, but I know for sure there were at least two groups that were extra fast, there were fanatic, conviction, and holy freeze aura's, and I was perpetually cursed. With the HF aura, it sure didn't matter to my merc - he died in about 0.2 seconds before he could take a step. I have no real idea about the rest of the mods, as I was too busy teleporting and trying to lay down a few firewalls (fyi firewalls don't work on waterways, so everytime a Siren would hang out over the river I had to use teleport to try to lure it ashore - not fun). The battle took 11 of the 12 Full Rejuv's I had stashed and 3 merc ressurrections, but I managed to squeek through without dying. And I don't think I went around the corner until just before the last boss died though - that one was CI/FI cursed, so the merc had to do the work.

Ancients were my first and only death (at least, a death that didn't involve trans-atlantic-MP-lag-with-Darkoooo; that's my story, and I'm sticking to it 👅). They kept spawning 2xCI, my merc was a little too fragile to take on two at once, and I was a little too slow feeding him a rejuv - and then I tried to take down the CI/FI whirler with Firewall. For some reason that didn't work too well. I realized the enormity of my brilliance after I died. :rolleyes:

WSK, the Throneroom and Baal were pretty easy - except for another nasty group of Sirens at one point.



Other Stuff:
1. One thing that's very nice about this sorc is the often-annoying monsters that she does very well against. Gloams, leapers, dolls, and OK packs, Ventar, Lister, are almost fun. Almost. You still have to be careful of doll explosions, but if you see them coming you can just spam FN and watch them get stuck in hit recovery at the edge of your FN radius.

2. This sorc is just a mana-hungry as any (lightning) nova sorc I've ever tried.

3. +skills and +cold damage are pretty huge.

4. ... and I'm thinking of trying this untwinked with the purpose of writing a guide. I might try a TK/ES variant too and give a little PvP a chance, just to see if it can be done feasibly and reasonably.
 
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