Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by SunsetVista on Feb 22, 2013:

Baroness Natsume
1.09 Classic Untwinked SC Frozen Orb/Thunderstorm Sorceress

I just like the name. It isn't from anything. Classic is like a whole different game; Natsume's only companion on her journey was a thunderstorm.

Stats:

Level: 61


Strength: 75
Dexterity: 55
Vitality: 230
Energy: 35 (81 with gear)

Life: 607
Mana: 437

Resists in Hell:
Fire/Cold/Lightning/Poison: 75/71/67/41 (the Hell resistance penalty is less in Classic)

Skills:
20 Frozen Orb
14 Lightning Mastery
13 Thunderstorm
10 Static Field
3 Warmth
1 Cold Mastery
1 Teleport
1 Charged Bolt
1 Lightning
1 Chain Lightning
1 Nova
1 Telekinesis
1 Ice Bolt
1 Ice Blast
1 Frost Nova
1 Glacial Spike
1 Blizzard

Gear:

Head: Mask with 2 perfect sapphires and 1 perfect skull
Amulet: Rare with +1 sorc, energy, fire resist
Body: Heavenly Garb (mana and resists!)
Belt: Rare with mana and resists
Gloves: Rare with resists and magic find
Boots: Rare tri-res mf fhr frw boots!
Ring 1: Rare with fcr, mana, resists
Ring 2: Rare with mana and mpk
Weapon: Rare Wand with mana, resists, fcr
Shield: Tower Shield with 3 perfect diamonds

Switch: Uh, no. This is Classic.
Charms: Absolutely none! This is Classic! My inventory was full of mana potions and Full Rejuvs.

Gear Printouts:
Code:
-----
Gemmed Mask
Defense: 13
Durability: 11 of 20
Required Strength: 23
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0xb0487ed1
+76 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 19%
Replenish Life +5
Socketed (3: 3 used)
-----
Grim Heart
Amulet
Required Level: 34
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0xa9a21db
+17 to Energy
+3 to Maximum Damage
Damage Reduced by 4
Fire Resist +10%
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
-----
Heavenly Garb
Light Plate
Defense: 218
Durability: 45 of 60
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 29
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0x1d6edf20
+15 to Energy
+100% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
All Resistances +10
50% Damage to Undead
+100 to Attack Rating against Undead
-----
Grim Lash
Plated Belt
Defense: 8
Durability: 16 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 13
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x4c5e0079
+1 to Life
+18 to Mana
Fire Resist +21%
Lightning Resist +13%
-----
Bone Grip
Leather Gloves
Defense: 6
Durability: 7 of 12
Required Level: 12
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x8d33b46a
+33% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +8%
Cold Resist +15%
66% Extra Gold from Monsters
21% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Half Freeze Duration
-----
Beast Slippers
Boots
Defense: 2
Durability: 6 of 12
Required Level: 13
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0xd85c95b5
Fire Resist +25%
Lightning Resist +19%
Poison Resist +24%
16% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Faster Run/Walk
10% Faster Hit Recovery
-----
Skull Master
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xc83523fa
+12 to Mana
+2 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +22%
Cold Resist +17%
10% Faster Cast Rate
Half Freeze Duration
-----
Doom Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 22
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x8ebbb9bd
+6 to Life
+52 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Cold Resist +6%
+1 to Mana After Each Kill
-----
Corpse Wood
Burnt Wand
One-Hand Damage: 8 to 18
Durability: 45 of 45
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 26
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 36
Fingerprint: 0xa9c89674
+14 to Energy
+32 to Mana
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +16%
6% Life stolen per hit
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Life Tap (Necromancer Only)
+1 to Bone Wall (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
-----
Gemmed Tower Shield
Defense: 24
Chance to Block:  44%
Durability: 48 of 60
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Standard
Item Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x311e0c83
All Resistances +57
Socketed (3: 3 used)
-----

Notes:
This was my first 1.09 character, and also my first Classic character. This character is untwinked, and did no magic finding at all, although I did rerun areas for experience.

Right away, my normal strategies for LoD didn't work. There are no socketed body armors in Classic, and also no prefixes that give sockets. So no 3-socket ringmail full of topazes. No runes, either. You can't equip a merc in Classic, so my quest rogue was pretty useless and I didn't bother to keep her around. I was sad each time my quest reward merc inevitably died (and couldn't be resurrected! Talk about hard core!).

There is a Players 8 command in 1.09. This was pretty useful. I put points into strength early and shopped a socketed scepter to thwack things with. Frost Nova was handy to slow down enemies as I killed them one at a time in melee. Eventually, static field was added to the routine, but mana was a problem (you can't buy mana pots in 1.09).

I shopped a staff with Blaze for Andariel. She foolishly followed my flaming footsteps in circles until she died.

I put extra points into Static Field to increase the range. At times, I regretted spending the points that way, but the extra safety was worth it.

At lvl 18, I couldn't kill things in melee on Players 8 efficiently anymore. I acquired a 3-socket long bow and ran Act 1 Shrines until I had 3 perfect emeralds. The poison damage from that bow got me all the way to Nightmare, where I got Frozen Orb.

I needed lots of +mana gear to orb effectively. No merc of course meant no Insight (I've gotten so spoiled!). Sometimes I'd run low on mana potions and tp to town just to get healed to get my mana back.

In Classic, NM and Hell Duriel are both immune to cold. But static field has no cap. Static + health pots + Thunderstorm = win. It helps that Dex has nothing to do with shield block percentage in Classic. Natsume has 44% block chance with that tower shield.

NM Flayer Jungle was a great place to lvl on Players 8 from 42 to 50. With Frozen Orb maxed, I could kill just about anything (and many times, everything on the screen at once) after 2 or 3 statics.

I entered Hell at lvl 52. Corpsefire was Cold Immune, so I killed him with Thunderstorm (about 7 points in it, maybe less, 1 lightning mastery). That took a while. I decided that I would need a stronger Thunderstorm to progress through Hell, so I went back to gain more levels in NM.

I tried Players 8 NM Chaos Sanctuary, but that was slow. I used lots of mana pots on De Seis' giant pack of oblivion knights. The experience didn't even seem that great.

NM Cows on Players 5 however... That was amazing experience. The Cows in 1.09 Classic are not nearly as tough as the ones in later patches, and they give more exp and better drops, too! I killed cows until lvl 60.

That meant 13 Thunderstorm (I looked at the bolt frequency table to figure this out) and 9 Lightning Mastery. Those Thunderstorm bolts were killing Players 5 NM cows in 1 hit.

I found the 3-socket Mask and the Heavenly Garb while running cows. Both of those items were extremely helpful in solving the mana problems. Once I had over 400 mana, the 3 points in Warmth kicked in and I didn't have to drink quite as many pots.

The rest of Hell didn't present much difficulty. I knew from a previous Blizzard sorc (in 1.12) that almost the entire Claw Viper Temple is immune to cold, so I muled a Staff of Kings and a Viper Amulet from another character (who was in Normal... you can use quest items from other difficulties in 1.09). That's the cheesiest thing I've ever done in this game. I should probably go back and do the quest if I possibly can.

Static + Thunderstorm took out Cold Immunes just fine. The only Cold+Lightning immunes I encountered were 2 Oblivion Knight bosses in Chaos Sanctuary. I tried to kill them by shopping a staff with +3 to Firewall, but without my shield my resists were too low and I very nearly died. I was afraid that De Seis would be Lightning Immune and I would have to clear the whole Sanctuary over again, but he wasn't.

It did take a long time for my Thunderstorm to kill all those Oblivion Knights though. There were so many bone spirits on the screen that some of them were invisible. They didn't do invisible damage. Ouch. I had only 2 full rejuvs left for Diablo.

Diablo's Lightning Hose starts right at his feet even in Hell in 1.09 Classic. I was lucky to have lightning resist and quick potion reflexes.

Other than that, static plus a few frozen orbs took him out.

Deaths: 2
One to a Multishot Lightning Enchanted Archer boss in NM Countess' Tower, and one to a Fire Enchanted doll boss in NM Durance on Players 8.

Hellforge: Just gems! I intend to keep Natsume in Classic, so she did collect her Hellforge quest rewards.

Best Finds:
Probably the tri res boots and wand she is wearing. Also Tancred's Hobnails, which was a grailer for me.

Next: This character was made for HF rushing (I want Beta Bramble), so that's what I will do. I might also put on some magic find gear and look for a 1.09 Ravenclaw. If I get more levels, the points will go into Lightning Mastery, then Teleport for convenience. I should try Hell Cows and see how that goes.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to RobbyD (and the entire SPF) for the great guides to 1.09 and Classic!
 
Originally posted by TedDeeBoy on Sep 26, 2006:

V1.10 Mat Merelira CL/Orb Sorc

Character name : Merelira
Character type : Sorceress
Character level : 89
Character exp : 1510161715

Base / W Gear
Strength : 86/ 99
Energy : 35/ 70
Dexterity : 167/ 169
Vitality : 242/ 264
Stat Points Rem : 5
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 965 / 652
Mana : 543 / 211
Stamina : 422 / 394

Def : Base 1.7K / W Defiance and Chilling Armour 6.4K

Res : 75/ 75/ 75/ 66

Skills

Fire : Warmth 1 / 9

Cold : FOrb 20 / 27
CM 9 / 16

Lightning: CB 8 / 16
Lightning 20 / 28
CL 20 / 28
LM 14 / 22 <--- miscalc all remaining pts here
SF 1 / 9
Teleport 1 / 9

Damage : Lightning 4 - 6.2k
CL 4 - 3.4k
Orb 369 - 388

Gear:
Harlequin Crest

Doom Emblem
Amulet
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x153c32a4
+3 to Life
Fire Resist +54%
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%
56% Extra Gold from Monsters
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels

The Oculus
Upd Skin of the Vipermagi 35% w/ Um Rune Def 979
Whitstan's Guard w/ PDiamond

Shadow Whorl
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x5d70704e
+37 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +24%
Poison Resist +15%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Entropy Band
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x18d58cd7
+11 to Strength
+13 to Energy
+59 to Mana
Fire Resist +11%
Lightning Resist +11%
Cold Resist +28%
Poison Resist +11%

Magefist

Upd Goldwrap

Plague Slippers
Demonhide Boots
Defense: 50
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xbdef1483
+39% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +27%
22% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Switch Weapon:

Sparkling Ball of Regeneration
One-Hand Damage: 13 to 32
Durability: 40 of 40
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 52
Orb Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xaabbe02e
+33 to Life
Replenish Life +5
+1 to Fire Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Lightning Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+3 to Chilling Armor (Sorceress Only)

Sigon's Guard

Charms
Gheed's Fortune 143/38%/10%
Sparking Grand Charm of Quality
Life, Mana, FHR, Res Charms

Merc: Normal Act 2 Def Defiance
Shaftstop
Rockstopper Fire +35%/ Lightning +35% / Cold +28%
Ethereal The Reaper's Toll w/Shael

When running the Countess change rings and amulet to

2 x Nagelring / 30% and

Corruption Heart
Amulet
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xa9cbf55e
+43 to Mana
Damage Reduced by 4
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
10% Faster Cast Rate

Hellforge : NM Shael / Hell UM

Best Finds : 3 Mals, SOJ, Ethereal Titans, GoreRiders from Countess Runs (see thread Elite SPF runners), Arreat's Face in the Hell WSK and 35% ViperMagi from NM Baal

Deaths : 4 ; 3 from FE Explosions inc Pindle and Countess, 1 from Cursed/ Extra Strong/ MS Archer pack under Might Aura on Tower Lvl 5

The Ancients: p1 First roll Teleport Orb, Static, Static, teleport, Orbs and teleports, then Lightnings and teleports, the merc tanked, the Ancients died

1st Mat completed two weeks ago, 3rd Mat/Pat others were Fishymancers
The build was designed as a heavily twinked Countess runner built with max block to deal with archer packs in the tower as she collected both runes and items. Kills well on p1 , I would not go above p3 she could cope but it would be slow for me. Add some + skills and a CM weapon would make this build fly on higher player settings I enjoy this sorc build as there is plenty of hotkeying and teleporting making the build active and fun. I messed up LM and CB skill point alloction so now I need to lvl her to 95 or rebuild. I found a 6K+ def to be effective as a lot of time I could just stand and spam lightning and CL with max block and high def for a Sorc. THis made questing with Occy bearable with the CTC Teleport as I would not get hit as much.
Her future: Countess and Arcane Sanctuary Runner
Next build well she's is complete as well....👍
 
Originally posted by @TheNix on Feb 25, 2018:

1.14 – 1 of 7: Matriarch Seeker, Sparkling BlizSpiker

Matriarch Seeker, Sparkling BlizSpiker.

Level: 89

St – 70 (70)
Dx – 25 (45)
Vt – 380 (420)
En – 60 (100)

HP 1191
Mana 508

Charged Blot: 85 – 93 per bolt
Bliz: 2062 – 2197
G.Spike: 447 – 477

Resists:

Fire: 75
Cold: 75
Ltning: 75
Poison: 75

Skills:

C. Bolt: 20/26
Bliz: 20/25
G. Spike: 20/25
C. Mastery 12/17
L. Mastery: 7/13
Lightning: 6/12
Ice Blast: 6/12

Telekinesis, Teleport, Static Field, Frost Nova & Ice Bolt 1/7
Warmth: 1/6

Equipment:

Weapon 1:

Occy
“Sanctuary” Gothic Shield

Weapon 2:

Gull
Rare Kite shield – with pdiamond

Peasant Crown
Skin of the Vipermagi
Frostburn
Rare Greaves (resists and %MF)
Goldwrap
Rare ammy with resists
Nagelring & Rare ring with resists


Merc (Act 2 – Prayer)

Guillaume’s Face
Rockfleece
“Insight” Thresher


Random musings:

It’s been a couple of years since my last mat/pat and with the creating is the Bliss Version Changer that allows me to play 1.14 without it dicking around with my save folders (thanks again FB) I am embarking on my eighth patch sept (an oct of septs?).

Where possible I try to avoid the characters resets, so I planned the build to be a quick starter with the Charged Bolt of early to mid game use then to switch over to Bliz and GS as I get deeper into the game. The combination worked very well with the cold spells as my go to attack with CB in reserve for CI, but it did mean going through a shipload of Mana potions until I got “Insight” into the merc.

I played a considerable time with a “Spirit” Crystal sword, but had to settle for the Occy to help with the resistances and the MF. As usual, the CTC teleport on the Occy was a pain in the arse; being bounced around the screen like a pinball by ranged attackers is not my idea of a good time.

I usually complete a character at around level 85 but I have spent a considerable time MFing, thus the level 89 completion. Even with the time I spent doing AT, Meph and Pindle runs (and getting over 40% of the way into a new grail), I really did not find a number of items that I would have liked to have had for the character; as you can see from my equipment list.

So, that’s it – one down and six to go. After complaining about some of the modern games that fill the screen with garbage spell effects, I play a character that uses Blizzard and Charged Bolt… Go figure!
 
Originally posted by Tupsi on Nov 1, 2006:

Not so fragile Mat

Another thread about my Mat'd Sorceress. You might remember Ethereal, the weak one. Well, she runs Hell Mephisto now and does quite well with 'perfect map' (Durance 3 right behind the waypoint, one teleport. No councils behind the portal to screw up my business. Only the racks kinda suck, Feral axes from the other and necro heads from the other).
Ok, a very weak Sorc was funny to play because one hit could've meant death, and very often it did. But I wanted to go for a Sorc that could handle most of the blows like they were slaps of Fallens, just for a change 😉

Grim, Sorceress
Level 83
Lightning/Blizzard/ES+DR

Cold tree:
1 Frozen armor
20 Blizzard
1 Cold mastery
4 pre-req

Lightning tree:
20 Lightning
20 Chain Lightning
13 Telekinesis (next 7 points will go here)
10 Lightning mastery (after the 7 points in Telekinesis, this will be raised)
1 Teleport
1 Static field
1 pre-req

Fire tree:
1 Warmth

Lightning: 3-6145
Chain Lightning: 3-3200
Blizzard: 948-1010
ES slvl 14, 67% absorbed

Equip:
*HotO which was rolled this morning when I got the final runes from Countess required to cube a Vex. I'm afraid of telling you the +res I got, but here goes... ... 40.
*Gerke's Sanctuary (pDia). Again perf, +30 res. Perf PDR, the worst MDR.
*Que-Hegan
*Coronet with 3 Lightning and 3 PDR
*Magefist
*Silkweave
*Tal Rasha's Fine-spun cloth a.k.a. Tal belt
*Switch: Random Orb and Visceratuant for casting/buffing Thunderstorm and ES

Jewelry:
*SoJ
*14 all res, 5 light radius, 30 AR ring
*3 Lightning, 14 PDR amulet

Charms:
*19 all res
*13 FHR
*97 mana
*64 life
*15 slots from the inventory

Stats (I tell them buffed):
Strenght: 133
Dexterity: 181
Vitality: 10
Energy: 206 (each point gives 3 mana with +mana gear)

Remaining: 20 (for raising my block to max if I change my belt)

Life: 246
Mana: 1024
All res: 52

Other stuff:
Hellforges: Thul, Shael, Fal.
Azrael the Prayer Merc using Insight, Andy's face, Shaft. Equip will be upgraded as soon as he gets enough strenght.

To do:
*Craft hell of a lot of Caster Amulets and run Baal. (Level 90 would mean max Telekinesis, above that, more damage on Lightning spells.)
*Find out all the possible breakpoints with my equip and then decide what to use for best results.
*Find/trade better circlet and the Gladiator's Bane or even Iron Pelt.
*Socket them.
*Gief skillerz and arachnid!1
*Remember to cast the goddamn ES everytime you enter a game.

Thanks for reading, suggestions appreciated.
 
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Originally posted by xxnothing on Feb 24, 2008:

I give you: Matriarch Sparkles

It is finished! My first ever serious SP character. Played untwinked, using RRM/RWM. ATMA for muling.

http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii104/xxn0thing/SP D2/?action=view&current=Screenshot014.jpg

Code:
Character name  : Sparkles
Character type  : Sorceress
Character level : 84
Character exp   : 1032280020

Strength        : 102
Energy          : 37
Dexterity       : 39
Vitality        : 208
Stat Points Rem : 124
Skill Points Rem: 3

Life            : 828 / 579
Mana            : 479 / 205
Stamina         : 448 / 355



Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x35cc3843
+50 to Life
+42 to Mana
Lightning Resist +33%
Adds 3-32 lightning damage
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels


Smoke
Dusk Shroud
'NefLum'
Defense: 738
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0x3e915a76
+10 to Energy
+75% Enhanced Defense
+280 Defense vs. Missile
All Resistances +50
-1 to Light Radius
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Level 6 Weaken (18/18 Charges)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Storm Track
Heavy Boots
Defense: 11
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xfafe8206
+6 to Dexterity
+11 to Maximum Stamina
+69% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +13%
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

Ghoul Hold
Ring
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0xde058e9a
+8 to Energy
+2 to Dexterity
+36 to Mana
Damage Reduced by 2
Lightning Resist +21%
Poison Resist +16%

Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x7234f4a2
+40 to Life
+40 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
100% Extra Gold from Monsters
15% Fire Absorb

Lore
Superior Shako
'OrtSol'
Defense: 150
Durability: 13 of 14
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xc36a9e68
+10 to Energy
+6% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Lightning Resist +30%
Increase Maximum Durability 15%
+2 to Light Radius
+1 to All Skill Levels
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 142
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x7911993d
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
+168% Enhanced Defense
+10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+20 Lightning Absorb
5% Chance to cast Level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck


Dread Hold
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 14
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x8fd8eb52
+3 to Strength
+2 to Dexterity
+18% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +14%
Lightning Resist +22%
17% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items


Spirit
Crystal Sword
'TalThulOrtAmn'
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 15
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 25
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xb3a37ab
+22 to Vitality
+111 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
55% Faster Hit Recovery
34% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+3 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Rhyme
Grim Shield
'ShaelEth'
Defense: 55
Chance to Block:  60%
Durability: 69 of 70
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xc2ec3ec
+20% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +25
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Faster Block Rate
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (2: 2 used)

On Switch:

Yew Wand of Lower Resistance
One-Hand Damage: 2 to 8
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 36
Staff Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x734c2521
+2 to Summon Resist (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
Level 2 Lower Resist (75/75 Charges)


Mercenary Items : 

1: Stealskull
Casque
Defense: 227
Durability: 12 of 24
Required Strength: 59
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x7d0230ba
+211% Enhanced Defense
5% Life stolen per hit
5% Mana stolen per hit
36% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Increased Attack Speed
10% Faster Hit Recovery

2: Rockfleece
Sharktooth Armor
Defense: 565
Durability: 40 of 48
Required Strength: 93
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x14be946e
+5 to Strength
+129% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 5
Damage Reduced by 10%
Requirements -10%
Required Level +5

3: Insight
Superior Battle Scythe
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 66 to 144
Durability: 42 of 65
Required Dexterity: 82
Required Strength: 82
Required Level: 27
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0x55a0a230
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+208% Enhanced Damage
+12% 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 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

All charms were devoted to resists, life, mana and a bit of MF.

Skills:

1 Warmth

1 Frozen Armor
1 Ice Bolt
1 Ice Blast
1 Frost Nova
14 Glacial Spike
20 Blizzard
2 Cold Mastery

3 Charged Bolt
1 Static
1 Telekenesis
20 Lightning
20 Chain Lightning
5 Lightning Mastery


FCR was abysmal, but will get better once I find some better gear. :shocked:
I saved all three socket quests, and have not done cows yet.

I am looking forward to trying another character...if I can just decide what to do next...
 
Originally posted by Arfurala on Sep 20, 2007:

Matriarch FollowMe

Sirpoopsalot's Mat thread reminded me about my own Nova sorc. I started building her before summer, but dying a lot makes me stop playing her after reaching hell act 5. Tonight I was finally willing to put some effort on finishing Baal.

Level: 87

Base Skills:
Maxed Nova, Firewall, Lightning Mastery, Fire Mastery,
One point in Warmth, Inferno, Blaze, Static Field, Telekinesis, Teleport, Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Cold Mastery
Currently 9 points in Glacial Spike, will put all the remaining points into it.

Base Stats:
Str: 100
Dex: 197
Vit: 138
Eng: 90

Gears:
Code:
Harlequin Crest + PTopaz
The Occulus
Skin of Vipermagi (32 All Res) + PTopaz
Upped Moser's Blessed Circle + 2 PDiamonds
Magefist
Upped Lenymo
Marrowwalk
 
Death Eye
Amulet
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0x56a8c785
Damage Reduced by 1
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +37%
Poison Resist +20%
3% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
10% Faster Cast Rate
 
Bitter Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 30
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x69c74f9c
+6 to Strength
+6 to Energy
+12 to Maximum Stamina
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +14%
10% Faster Cast Rate
 
Order Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0x79902ac
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Lightning Resist +21%
Cold Resist +8%
Poison Resist +12%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Merc:
Act II Prayer
Code:
Vampire Gaze
Shaftstop
 
Insight (Ripped from the merc of my previous LF Amazon)
Superior Thresher
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 47 to 448
Durability: 36 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xeb3b0002
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+218% Enhanced Damage
+2 to Attack Rating
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+5 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
219% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

I forgot what I got from the hellforges, but surely not something worth remembering.

Retirement Plan: Countess runs for sure. In fact I joined the last Rune MFO with her during the summer, she is very good at countess runs.
 
Originally posted by dutes on Oct 22, 2009:

Matriarch Fiendfyre - A Tal's Mete-over

WARNING: Wall of text ahead

Introduction
Having played a pure Blizz sorc, a meteorb and a pure lightning sorc I'd long wanted to build a pure fire sorc but didn't feel confident about lacking a backup skill due to the FI in key areas (in particular I was very apprehensive about the CS)
So as I wanted the fire tree to be my main source of damage that left me looking for a backup skill from one of the other trees.

Design
Looking at the two trees I needed something that didn't require much synergising, that left Nova and FO. I'd already played a Meteorb so the choice was easy. Fireball/Nova it is!
In designing the character I needed -%EFR/ELR, and +skills. This made the complete Tal's Set ideal, coupled with a couple of skillers and facets she was able to reach very respectable damage on top of the -EFR/ELR.
I made the decision to go with 1pt in glacial spike too, which proved very useful for helping out the merc when faced with dual FI/LI


Numbers

Fire Ball: 4609-5046 damage
Meteor: 10541-11000 damage
Nova: 1233-1655 damage

Name: Fiendfyre
Class: Sorceress
Level: 86

Strength: 156/167
Dexterity: 25/45
Vitality: 299/331
Energy: 35/55
HP: 763/962
Mana: 205/507

Fire: 163/123/63
Cold: 184/144/84
Lightning: 221/181/121
Poison: 151/111/51

Static Field: 1 (12)
Nova: 20 (31)
Teleport: 1 (12)
Lightning Mastery: 20 (33)

Fire Bolt: 5 (18)
Warmth: 1 (14)
Inferno: 1(14)
Blaze: 1 (14)
Fire Ball: 20 (33)
Firewall: 1 (14)
Meteor: 20 (33)
Fire Mastery: 1 (16)

Ice Bolt: 1 (10)
Ice Blast: 1 (10)
Glacial Spike: 1 (10)

Equipment

Weapon: +4/-5 Fire Facet'd Tal's Lidless Eye
Shield: 31 FCR 'Spirit' Monarch
Helm: Perfect Topaz'd Tal's Horadric Crest
Armour: +4/-5 Fire Facet'd Tal's Guardianship
Belt: Tal's Fine Spun Cloth
Gloves: Magefist
Boots: 46% War Trav's
Amulet: Tal's Adjudication
Ring1: SoJ
Ring2: Rare ring with FCR, Resist All, FR, and +Energy

Code:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 116
Durability: 19 of 20
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xcfa34fcf
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Mana stolen per hit
10% Life stolen per hit
+45 Defense
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
All Resistances +15
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Topaz

(2 items): Replenish Life +10
(3 items): 65% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
(4 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+150 Defense
+50 Defense vs. Missile
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Perfect Topaz
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 40 Lightning Damage
Armor: 24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shields: Lightning Resist +40%

Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x87edf676
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels
Adds 3 - 32 Lightning Damage
+50 to Life
+42 to Mana
Lightning Resist +33%
Set (4 items): +10% Faster Cast Rate

(2 items): Replenish Life +10
(3 items): 65% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
(4 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+150 Defense
+50 Defense vs. Missile
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Tal Rasha's Guardianship
Lacquered Plate
Defense: 838
Durability: 48 of 55
Required Level: 71
Required Strength: 2
Fingerprint: 0xdc56e8ce
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
100% Chance to cast level 29 Blaze when you Level-Up
Adds 17 - 45 Fire Damage
-5% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+4% to Fire Skill Damage
+400 Defense
Cold Resist +40%
Lightning Resist +40%
Fire Resist +40%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
**% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -60%
Set (2 items): +10% Faster Cast Rate
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Rainbow Facet

(2 items): Replenish Life +10
(3 items): 65% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
(4 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+150 Defense
+50 Defense vs. Missile
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Rainbow Facet
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xc1b8380c
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
100% Chance to cast level 29 Blaze when you Level-Up
Adds 17 - 45 Fire Damage
-5% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+4% to Fire Skill Damage

Havoc Eye
Ring
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x29029984
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+16 to Attack Rating
+10 to Energy
All Resistances +7
Fire Resist +10%
Level 3 Dim Vision (27/27 Charges)

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x220e0034
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
Adds 1 - 12 Lightning Damage
+20 to Mana
Increase Maximum Mana 25%

Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth
Mesh Belt
Defense: 99
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 16
Fingerprint: 0xe3add848
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Dexterity
+30 to Mana
37% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
15% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -20%
Set (2 items): +60 Defense
Set (3 items): +10% Faster Cast Rate

(2 items): Replenish Life +10
(3 items): 65% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
(4 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+150 Defense
+50 Defense vs. Missile
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 130
Durability: 47 of 48
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0xb187469b
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Faster Run/Walk
Adds 15 - 25 Damage
+172% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
40% Slower Stamina Drain
Attacker Takes Damage of 5
46% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+30 Maximum Durability

Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 24
Durability: 16 of 18
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0x5d816d6e
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Fire Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Adds 1 - 6 Fire Damage
+20% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%

Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye
Swirling Crystal
One Hand Damage: 18 - 42
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0xac1e4b8e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
100% Chance to cast level 31 Meteor when you Die
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Adds 17 - 45 Fire Damage
-5% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+4% to Fire Skill Damage
+2 to Fire Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Lightning Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Cold Mastery (Sorceress Only)
+10 to Energy
+57 to Life
+77 to Mana
Set (2 items): +1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
Set (3 items): -15% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Set (4 items): -15% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Set (5 items): +15% to Cold Skill Damage
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Rainbow Facet

(2 items): Replenish Life +10
(3 items): 65% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
(4 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+150 Defense
+50 Defense vs. Missile
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Rainbow Facet
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x53602e78
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
100% Chance to cast level 31 Meteor when you Die
Adds 17 - 45 Fire Damage
-5% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+4% to Fire Skill Damage

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 148
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 78 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x1567f746
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+31% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+97 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+4 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14


Mercenary

Class: Town Guard / Desert Mercenary, Might

Weapon: 'Insight' Partizan
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Armor: Duriel's Shell

Questing
Normal: Fiendfyre was twinked from essentially the very beginning, equipping Bane Ash and +mana rings, and saphired armour and helm. With all of her points invested into strength (wanted to be able to use a Monarch without relying on +strength items) she was hitting stuff herself for a while early on. Bane Ash made things easier from a spell damage point of view but as soon as Fireball was available at level 12 I started maxing it as soon as possible, only stopping to drop a point into tele and the pre-req's for meteor (as well as meteor itself). Damage from fireball was enough to cruise pretty easily through most of normal at /players8

Nightmare: Progress slowed down after Fireball as I started maxing Nova to deal with the odd FI, I quested with Peasant's Crown, Skin of the Vipermagi and a 'Spirit' Crystal sword to provide me with enough +skills to maintain decent damage. After Nova was maxed it was back to Meteor, followed by Lightning Mastery, I killed NM Baal at Level 78 and ran him till level 80 when I entered hell.

Hell: I had no choice but to play at /players1, I just couldn't cause enough damage with Nova to deal with FI's in a quick fashion. So many merc deaths too... When I reached the Pits I turned up to /players5 and levelled in the pits. At level 84 I pushed on, but didn't gain another level all the way through to Baal as I skipped over large portions. Many, many deaths... gah!
The ancients were a real challenge, repeated deaths, repeated re-rolling, it was relief more than anything else when they finally fell.
The WSK and Minion waves were dealt with fairly easily at /players1 and Baal himself was a pushover.

HF Drops
Normal: El (thats right...)
Nightmare: Pul
Hell: Mal

One of the best HF hauls I've had, was very pleased :)

Impressions

The fire damage was pleasantly high and and non-FI fell easily before me, Nova however just doesn't have the killing power to really be an effective tool against FI. The fact that you need to be so close, while it makes things fun and exciting, makes it especially dangerous.

Long story short, a workable build, but nothing to write home about. It was a lot of fun though, I had a great time inspite of the many deaths.

Best Moment

Tele-ing into huge groups of fallen and Nova-ing them all into rapid death.
Niiiiice 👍

What the Future Holds?

For Fiendfyre? She runs the pit very well and this will probably be her main stomping ground, her Merc could use a refit in order to survive a little better but she is very fast and capable here so long as her walking aura (yep, the merc exists almost exclusively to weild insight!) is around. She also runs Mephisto as well as any Meteorb or Blizz sorc, so this will be my other main running area. She'll also join in on Baal runs when they're up. Future skill points will go into Fire Mastery or Firebolt.

For me? I've got a Trapasin, Frenzy Barb and Poison/Summon-Mancer to finish (yes cookie-cutters to be sure, and they won't be deserving of a loving write up I'm sure), i'm also eyeing off a Fendazon at some stage in the not-too distant future... call me crazy? Watch this space...

Thanks
Joosh for getting me back into D2
Everyone who traded much needed items to me
Mephisto and Pindle for being overly generous


You the reader, who made it through this extremely long-winded post alive! :)
 
Originally posted by EasyG on Sep 1, 2007:

Matriarch Melina

Hi

Matriarch Melina
lvl 83 Sorceress

Here is a new Mat thread from me, this time it's not a naked or skilless character, but a twinked melee sorceress, she focuses mainly on lightning damage. I also went the ES route and putted 20 points in TK. Originally I wanted to make her really safe with lots of mdr/pdr from Iron Pelt and Gerke's Sanctuary and a few charms with life and mana, but it was more fun to make her some kind of glass cannon and so I concentrated on damage.
The way to keep her alive was a Prayer merc with an Insight Cryptic Axe and teleporting away when the fight got too hot. Enough chitchat, time for the stats.

Screenie

Skills:
Telekinesis: 20
Lightning Mastery: 20
Enchant: 20
Fire Mastery: 20
Energy Shield: 2 < rest goes here
Cold Mastery: 1
Frozen Armor: 1
Thunderstorm: 1
Teleport: 1
prereqs: all other skills in lightning tree

+4 to all skills, +5 to lightning skills (5 skillers)
If she levels some some skillers will be replaced by other charms, but now she needs them for a decent lvl ES (lvl 19 on switch).

Equipment
The first question is what I wanted. From important to less important:
-Lots of damage
-Hit fast
-AR
-Mana/Life
-Poison Resist
-Some FHR in case of manaburn monsters
-PDR/MDR
-Some FCR to teleport

Blocking or defense or resist was not needed, ES took care of that. I did not even want blocking, since it kept me from hitting.

I started with Cranebeak, 1-300 light damage, pretty fast and -25%defense. It was very nice, but at lvl 82 Stormlash was introduced and was superior: 1-473 light damage and fast. It needed 60 ias for 11fpa and 99 ias for 10fpa. Off course I went for the 99 ias breakpoint.

Here is the current equipment:
Stormlash "shael"
Andariel's Visage "Turquose jewel of Fervor"
Highlord's Wrath
Que-Hegan's Wisdom
Tiamat's Rebuke
FrostBurn
ThunderGods' Vigor
2*RavenFrost
Sandstorm Trek

The plan is to equip Gbane at lvl 85, this will add a lot of pdr/mdr, defense, plr, and fhr, which will be helpfull with surviving. I will lose my 20FCR.

Damage:

Equipment
4-672 Light damage
35-95 Fire Damage
58-149 Cold damage over 16 seconde

Charms:
12-279 Light damage
18-37 Cold damage over 3 seconde

Enchant:
397-492 Fire Damage

In total this is with Masteries:
69-3670 Light Damage
1349-1797 Fire Damage
76-186 Cold damage over 19 seconde, -40%cold resist
27-734 Physical Damage

If you add this together, you have a little less as at the LCS. Not much monsters were Immune to this kind of damage, but some tried to, like this Fire Enchanted, Cold Enchanted, Stone Skin Grand Vizier Of Chaos: screenie, he took some time to kill 👅.

Other Damage sources were:
-Static
-lvl13 Thunderstorm: 631-1148 Light Damage
-15% ctc lvl15 poison nova at struck: 288-330 Poison Damage
-5% ctc lvl9 Frost Nova at struck: 19-25 Cold Damage
-5% ctc lvl7 Nova at Struck: 179-330 Light Damage
-3% ctc lvl6 Hydra at Struck: 112-145 Fire Damage
-5% ctc lvl7 FoH at Struck: 1166-1409 Light Damage
-15% ctc lvl10 Static on striking
-20% ctc lvl18 Tornado on striking: 274-298 Physical Damage

Especially FoH at a sorc is something to be feared :laugh:, I killed a bunch of flayers with it.

I was a bit disappointed in the damage, my goal was to reach the 10k damage, but I will need a lot more hard to find sc's to reach that damage. Also the AR is not very nice.

Playing with this sorc
I was rushed in a game hosted by AJK by Jaedhann trough normal and nightmare, so can't say much about that. The beginning of hell dificulty was really simple, the monsters didn't enough damage to kill faster as I regenerated and died easily. From act4 things started to be a bit more difficult, especially in act5 monsters tend to hit much harder and I had to use my merc as meatshield. But since my merc's life was my life, I didn't want to risk him too much. I think the 2nd and 4th and 5th wave of Baal were the most difficult parts in the game. Also manaburn mosters were allways difficult off course. I usually teleported, gave two hits and teleported away again. You must love a meleechar which can teleport :). In act1 I really felt like an hunter: teleport, slash slash, teleport to next monster, slash slash. Like I had the task to empty the moor under 1 minute.

Finds
Ist from Forge 😃 (getting closer to CTA), that was all I muled off, I even sold the flawless gems, since I was lazy and wanted to make mat and reach lvl 83 as fast as possible.

Thanks for reading, you might see her in some Baal runs.
 
Originally posted by felixbavaria on Jan 12, 2013:

Matriarch Sophie - Untwinked Lightning / Firewall sorc

Hi!

In the compilation tournament I had rediscovered my appreciation for the sorceress class but unfortunately my character deeded in Act V NM. So I started a SC sorceress, this time focusing on lightning skills (Charged Bolt and Lightning) with a Firewall backup. Sophie is my second sorceress Matriarch, and the first untwinked one.

A reasonably powerful, funny (IMO) and safe build, with "fire and forget" AoE damage (Firewall) and a sniping skill (Lightning). The latter has to be my favorite sorc skill now, it's awesome against archers and other ranged attackers - and if you position yourself strategically, they can't even fight back. Teleport and the merc's Holy Freeze are usually enough to keep full control of the battles.

Progress:

While this character isn't really single pass, I did not do many area or boss runs except for some NM Countess runs to get some mid-level runes (to no avail). Instead I kept her MF up all the time including the final stretch and her loot was quite good (158 S/Us in total).

Her journey started as a maxed Charged Bolt / Lightning build using a +2 Firewall Leaf staff as backup. I maxed all the lightning skills (CB / L / Mastery) first before putting hard points into Firewall (somewhere in the second half of NM).

Normal and Nightmare were played at /p8 mostly. I started Hell at /p3 but switched to /p1 somewhere in Act III to speed things up. No issues in handling /p3 enemies up to this point.

The overall hardest spot was the Frozen Tundra in Act V Hell, where I rolled archers + witches, took an hour or so to clear. Ancients went down at second try using nothing but a single rejuv for the merc and a few mana potions, after the merc had been one hit by some random WTF in the first round. Korlic was Cursed but could be separated easily. The other two guys had junk mods (Stone Skin, Magic Resistant, Mana Burn).

WSK had unfreezable Frenzytaurs in the first level, but luckily the exit was right next to the entry. WSK 2 had snakes, beetles and fetishes, and WSK 3 had lightning mages, imps and LOL gloams (Finger mages). Some cursing witches in the Throne Room but all the rest was easy going. Charged Bolt disposed of Lister's gang in no time. Baal was quite a nuisance because he kept cloning and casting tentacles all over the place.

Final LCS.

And yes, I managed to die two times. Stairtraps in CVT (Hell) / Crystalline Passage (NM).

Notable finds:

Frostburn and 194% ED Buriza from a chest in Act V NM.
Eschuta's Temper from Hell Coldcrow.
Gul rune from a chest in Hell Flayer Jungle.
Pul from a corpse in Hell LK.
-4/3 fire facet from Hell Diablo.
Grailers: Black Hades from Hell Baal, Witchwild String (the only exceptional unique bow I was missing so far, and it dropped 2x, even).

Gear:

Upped Tarnhelm [PTopaz]
Ocher Amulet of Luck (LR, MF)
Eschuta's Temper [12 @ jewel]
'Smoke' Archon Plate
'Spirit' Monarch
Ocher Chain Gloves of Fortune (LR, MF)
Garnet Ring of Chance (FR, MF)
Rare Demonhide Sash (FHR, FR, life)
Wyrm's Ring of Fortune (mana, MF)
Rare Chain Boots (LR, FR, MF)
Various charms with life and resists

Merc:

Mizan, Holy Freeze Desert Guard

Tal Rasha's Ugly Face
'Strength' Hyperion Spear / 'Insight' Partizan
Upped Rockfleece

Readouts:

Name: Sophie
Class: Sorceress
Experience: 1082972615
Level: 85

Naked/Gear
Strength: 156/156
Dexterity: 25/27
Vitality: 299/321
Energy: 35/65
HP: 762/973
Mana: 203/336
Stamina: 447/447
Defense: 6/1041
AR: lol

Fire: 170/130/70
Cold: 168/128/68
Lightning: 193/153/93
Poison: 127/87/27

MF: 178 Block: 2
GF: 110
FR/W: 0
FHR: 99
IAS: 0
FCR: 73

Warmth: 7/13
Inferno: 1/7
Blaze: 1/7
Fire Wall: 20/26
Fire Mastery: 4/10

Charged Bolt: 20/26
Static Field: 1/7
Lightning: 20/26
Teleport: 1/7
Lightning Mastery: 20/26

Tarnhelm
Sallet
Defense: 54
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0xb68a085c
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
68% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Required Level +5
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Topaz

Ocher Amulet of Luck
Amulet
Required Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0xe367d5f
Item Level: 30
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +19%
28% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Eschuta's Temper
Eldritch Orb
One Hand Damage: 18 - 50
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0xbce819ad
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+40% Faster Cast Rate
+10% to Lightning Skill Damage
+14% to Fire Skill Damage
+20 to Energy
All Resistances +12
22% Extra Gold from Monsters
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Scintillating Jewel of Avarice

Scintillating Jewel of Avarice
Jewel
Required Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0xce4d9d39
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Cold Resist +12%
Lightning Resist +12%
Fire Resist +12%
Poison Resist +12%
22% Extra Gold from Monsters

Smoke
Archon Plate
NefLum
Defense: 782
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0xe4442db
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+75% Enhanced Defense
+280 Defense vs. Missile
+10 to Energy
All Resistances +50
-1 to Light Radius
Level 6 Weaken (18/18 Charges)
2 Sockets (2 used)

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 139
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 84 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xb032f040
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+33% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+90 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Edge
Superior Long Bow
TirTalAmn
Two Hand Damage: 3 - 10
Durability: 19 of 28
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 22
Required Dexterity: 19
Fingerprint: 0x3afd56eb
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 15 Thorns Aura When Equipped
+35% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Attack Rating
+330% Damage to Demons
+280% Damage to Undead
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
All Stats +8
+2 to Mana after each Kill
Reduces all Vendor Prices 15%
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Arrows
Fingerprint: 0xd0d4ccae
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Ocher Chain Gloves of Fortune
Chain Gloves
Defense: 8
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 12
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0xa7ce8be7
Item Level: 65
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +17%
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Russet Ring of Chance
Ring
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0xcb7942ea
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +15%
15% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Grim Winding
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 41
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x177163ea
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+24% Faster Hit Recovery
+19% Enhanced Defense
+55 to Life
Cold Resist +5%
Fire Resist +23%
Attacker Takes Damage of 3

Wyrm's Ring of Fortune
Ring
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x3d2ada67
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+43 to Mana
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Shadow Shank
Chain Boots
Defense: 11
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 13
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0xa4ed80db
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+13% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +17%
Fire Resist +22%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Cobalt Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xc34089f1
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
Cold Resist +8%

Bronze Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x6d98e7ec
Item Level: 65
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7 to Attack Rating
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x491a6312
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life

Russet Small Charm of Blight
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x5edac9d2
Item Level: 28
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Fire Resist +7%

Snowy Large Charm of Vita
Large Charm
Required Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x70a2c333
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 3 - 5 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
+29 to Life

Large Charm of Sustenance
Large Charm
Required Level: 34
Fingerprint: 0x1ad931c9
Item Level: 68
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+24 to Life

Large Charm of Sustenance
Large Charm
Required Level: 34
Fingerprint: 0xc06c3a1c
Item Level: 64
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+22 to Life

Amber Large Charm
Large Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0xdce8ee40
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +13%

Garnet Large Charm of Greed
Large Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x782d4ef2
Item Level: 62
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +11%
13% Extra Gold from Monsters

Sapphire Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0xc4225139
Item Level: 38
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+23 to Life
Cold Resist +28%

Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0x1ce7dca
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Tome of Identify
Fingerprint: 0xb214e904
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0x6aabef3c
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Key
Fingerprint: 0x1ad644de
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+






Mercenary:

Name: Mizan
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Def-Nightmare
Experience: 74572944
Level: 85
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 186/211
Dexterity: 150/150
HP: 1767/1827
Defense: 1302/2004
AR: 1913/1916

Fire: 164/124/64
Cold: 164/124/64
Lightning: 164/124/64
Poison: 164/124/64

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 121
Durability: 12 of 20
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0x77c76c32
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Mana stolen per hit
10% Life stolen per hit
+45 Defense
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
All Resistances +15

Rockfleece
Sharktooth Armor
Defense: 581
Durability: 31 of 48
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 93
Fingerprint: 0x6fe80c1
Item Level: 56
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+128% Enhanced Defense
+5 to Strength
Damage Reduced by 10%
Damage Reduced by 5
Required Level +5
Requirements -10%

Strength
Superior Hyperion Spear
AmnTir
Two Hand Damage: 47 - 160
Durability: 15 of 30
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 155
Required Dexterity: 120
Fingerprint: 0x54827400
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
35% Enhanced Damage
+3 to Attack Rating
7% Life stolen per hit
25% Chance of Crushing Blow
+20 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+2 to Mana after each Kill
2 Sockets (2 used)

Insight
Partizan
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 120 - 246
Durability: 52 of 65
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 113
Required Dexterity: 67
Fingerprint: 0xa4e16b32
Item Level: 44
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 15 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
229% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
224% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+1 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)


Thanks for reading!
 
Originally posted by Jaffa Tamarin on Jul 5, 2004:

Matriarch Vixen, unter-sorc

Untwinked staff-using no-mercenary hydra-thunderstorm sorceress. Is this the weakest sorc build matriarched in 1.10? :)

This is the second of my mercenary-free Mat/Pat collection.

Skills: max Hydra, Fire Mastery, Thunderstorm, Lightning Mastery, one point in all prereqs, plus Teleport. Spare points to Fire Ball for the Hydra synergy.

Stats:
Strength 45 (enough for Magefist)
Dexterity base
Vitality 315 (life 915)
Energy 120 (mana 380)

Resists 52/53/34/38

Equipment details (and pictures!) on Vixen's page

Jaffa
 
Originally posted by Pucho on Mar 21, 2006:

Deanna, Novaller? Novaballer? Bah, new mat

Deanna, lvl 85 Sorceress

Strength: 165
Energy: 35
Dexterity: 25
Vitality: 290


Life: 1515
Mana: 626


SKILLZ

Nova: 20 points
Lightning Mastery: 20 points
Teleport, Static, TK, 1 point each
Frozen armor: 1 point
Fire bolt: 20 points
Fire ball: 20 points
Fire mastery: 10 points


ITAMZ

1: Tome of Identify
Quantity: 2

2: Shimmering Small Charm
All Resistances +5

3: Shivering Large Charm of Vita
+29 to Life
Adds 5-9 cold damage over 1 seconds

4: Lizard's Small Charm of Vita
+16 to Life
+1 to Mana

5: Horadric Cube

6: Shimmering Grand Charm of Storms
All Resistances +15
Adds 1-25 lightning damage

7: Garnet Small Charm
Fire Resist +9%

8: Burning Grand Charm
+1 to Fire Skills (Sorceress Only)

9: Burning Grand Charm of Balance
12% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to Fire Skills (Sorceress Only)

10: Garnet Small Charm
Fire Resist +9%

11: Shimmering Small Charm
All Resistances +4

12: Griffon's Eye
+15% to Lightning Skill Damage
-15% to Enemy Lightning Resistance

13: The Stone of Jordan
Ring

14: Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash

15: Magefist
Light Gauntlets

16: Arkaine's Valor
Balrog Skin
+38 to Life
+200% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +50%
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to All Skill Levels
+170 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+212 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

17: Shimmering Grand Charm
All Resistances +14

18: Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet

19: Natalya's Soul
Mesh Boots
Lightning Resist +22%
Cold Resist +25%

20: Sparking Grand Charm
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)

21: Stone Turn
Ring
+10 to Dexterity
+87 to Mana
+68 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +10

22: Insight
Rune Staff
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped

23: Eschuta's Temper
Eldritch Orb
+22 to Energy
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+14% to Fire Skill Damage
+16% to Lightning Skill Damage

24: Spirit
Monarch
+95 to Mana
33% Faster Cast Rate
+3 Magic Absorb


Mercenary Items :

1: Crown of Thieves
Grand Crown
+199% Enhanced Defense
12% Life stolen per hit
99% Extra Gold from Monsters

2: Griswold's Heart
Ornate Plate
72% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Socketed (3: 3 used)

3: Havoc Barb
Balrog Blade
'Shael'
One-Hand Damage: 58 to 336
Two-Hand Damage: 215 to 504
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Dexterity: 87
Required Strength: 185
+292% Enhanced Damage
+138 to Attack Rating
Adds 13-52 fire damage
20% Increased Attack Speed
+42 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+1402 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

ROONZ (Hellforge)

NM: Pul
Hell: Um

PICZ

Deanna

Merc

Countess, that haxxor

Funny drop
 
Originally posted by sevenOfDiamonds on Feb 24, 2011:

Matriarch Shishapangma - fire/lightning enchantress

Introduction

When I made dual Dreams mid January I immediately made a merc-less dreamadin. I planned to do a pat thread for him, but he was so incredible boring that I didn’t have any interesting to write. When a couple of more Jahs drop (Faith+Enigma) you will hopefully hear from him again as he will be speed-running Baal.

Not letting the Dreams collect dust I started planning a new project.
My first idea was a grief/fort-sorc (aka. the show-off sorc). That should give plenty leech and physical damage as backup to the devastating lightning damage from Dreams. I started this project full twink all the way. At level 24 when I saw the devastating (fire) power of a fast Hell Plague i got another idea. The idea of a Fire+Lightning enchantress was born. With the relative few skills required for an enchantress I decided to give her some artillery support in form of Meteor.

I began searching for end game weapons with mighty fire damage. A couple of alternatives popped up:
- Lawbringer: 180 avg fire damage in a phase blade + -50% TD + CtC Decrep + RIP
-Djinn Slayer*: 375 avg fire damage in a -20 WSM weapon + 2 sockets + 6% ML + 7 lite absorb and ~300 AR vs demons.
*sockets, ML AR, and light absorb varies.

For once Blizzard didn’t outgun the elite unique with a 1.10 runeword. Immediately a search for a Djinn Slayer began. Within 1000 Meph runs I had a couple, both with 2 sockets, 6 ML, 7 light absorb.

With a -20 WSM a sorc “only” needs 70 IAS to reach the final, 10 FPA, break point. With two sockets a possible combination could be 2xShael + LoH + Nosferatu. Another could be 1xFervor + Nosferatu + Treachery.
I started with the latter combined with an Eth rune. It however proved the wrong choice and I ended up with:

Final gear
Djinn Slayer (2x Shael)
Dream Diadem (10@/30 FHR)
CoH AP
Stormshield (AR + dmg + -req)
Laying of Hands
Nosferatu’s Coil
Infernostride
Seraph’s Hymn
Raven Frost
Doom Band
Code:
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+114 to Attack Rating
+39 to Life
+86 to Mana
Fire Resist +8%
Half Freeze Duration
Charms: Mostly life and AR and some FHR as well.

HF merc with
Up'd eth Gaze
Treachery
Reaper's

When I found Seraph’s I thought of it as pure junk. But for an enchantress it is actually quite good. Skills + AR is just what she wants.

Skill wise I went with
20 Enchant (second maxed)
20 FM (first maxed)
20 Meteor (third maxed)
20 LM (fourth maxed)
TK + TP
FA
Warmth (rest)

LCS
shishapangma.jpg
For the curious: Dual dreams is roughly 3k - 33k dmg with this setup.

Readout
Code:
Name:       Shishapangma
Class:      Sorceress
Experience: 1119819480
Level:      85

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   75/140
Dexterity:  185/205
Vitality:   220/230
Energy:     35/35
HP:         604/852
Mana:       203/392
Stamina:    368/368
Defense:    46/1902
AR:         875/1629

Fire:       208/168/108
Cold:       165/125/65
Lightning:  180/140/80
Poison:     119/79/19

MF:         49       Block:      74
GF:         57
FR/W:       35
FHR:        46
IAS:        70
FCR:        10

Twink progress
Early: Envy armor + helm , Deaths belt + gloves, cleglaw sword + shield
12: Angelic’s
22: Hell Plague + wall of eyeless + magefist
36: Spirit forge (+30 IAS) + Moser’s (+30 IAS)
41: Up’d Goldwrap + Tiamat (merc: Meatscraper / Duriel’s / Stealskull)
45: Raven + Volcanic ammy of shock
51: Nosferatu + Lawbringer + Gaze
53: (Merc: Treachery + Thieves + Obedience)
65: Dream + Sanctuary + Treachery + Djinn Slayer + Seraphs
73: Stormshield
77: Final gear.

Gameplay
Normal (/p8)
Early game as fast as ever fully twinked.
Without Static Field Duriel was a chore though. Rest of normal was a wash. Especially act 5 where most monsters were one hit kills either with melee or with meteor.

Nightmare (/p8)
Early nightmare was even easier. It felt great just to cast a couple of meteors on top of oneself and while hacking away.
Loads of gloams in act 4 made it slow going but not too dangerous.
Early act 5 was pretty hard. Even though the horror archers are not FI, they still took some time/care to take out. As always going underground makes life for fire based builds MUCH easier. The ancients were not too bad, but Korlic was FE => OHK when I slayed him. Another try and they went down in style.
No gloams in WSK but her merc got quite easily overwhelmed and she was not really strong enough for rescue missions in packs of frenzytaurs yet.

Hell (/p3)
Did the final optimisations in act 1. In the Catacombs I changed from a Treachery based setup to a CoH based setup. She was basically cannon fodder if Fade expired midst battle and the extra LL from CoH provided som extra safety as well.
Act 2 took some more care especially the tombs were somewhat tricky. Tons of unleachable FI skeletons with unravelers as backup. At this point I change the merc to Reaper’s + Gaze + Treachery this yielded extra safety to both.
Act 3. I got quite adept at the: tele to packs - drop meteor - wait for decrep - engage in hand-to-hand combat routine. Gloams in GM wasn’t too bad. Got pwned once by a might + extra strong pack.
Act 4 was very easy. She tanked any demon and thanks to nearly maxed LR and Labsorb from Djinn Slayer gloams did not cause any NDE. Heavy poison damage from OKs and maggots were the most annoying part of the act. Highlights of the act: when she first tanked Infector then afterwards tanked big D. She is becoming one sturdy lady.
Act 5 showed it self from its nice side: no horror archers in the Bloody Foothills and Frigid Highlands and no gloams in the caves. This meant for easy progress. Only annoyance were poison from Arachs at Nihlatak’s place. Ancients were very easy: Isolate, slow and hack to death. WSK1 required more cautious play. Packs of Death Lords along with amp damage from witches. Especially a pack of Holy Freeze, Extra Fast Death Lords required a lot of tele’ing around. WSK2 presented gloams. We laughed at those. Max LR + some absorb. ToD was filled with Doom Knights, OKs and vampires, no big deal. The first four waves went down very fast. Again she could tank even the biggest baddies without breaking a sweat. Lister on the other hand was quite the struggle. Not that dangerous but it required some skill to overcome the regen from the minions. I guess her CtH was far low. In the end Lister bowed and she entered to throne. Baal was waiting and he was as boring as ever. Without static or CB this took some time, but didn’t present any challenges for her.

Finds
HF(NM): Pul
HF(H) = Pul
Bul-Kathos' Tribal Guardian
Some elite socketables, nothing too exiciting though.

Concluding thoughts
Loads of fun to play and reasonable adept too. Biggest issue is that she has such a tight stat point allocation, which implies low life.
During early hell I was disappointed with her performance. So fragile with very little life and no crowd control. Easing the req. on Stormshield (=20 vita points more) and fitting Reaper’s on the merc did wonders for her. Leveling her made her sturdier as well. In Act 4+5 she did very well (except for Lister). I thought she might have had more problems doing /p3 than there turned out to be. I would guess that another ten levels will work wonders for her as well - more fire damage, life and AR.


Thanks for reading!

//D7
 
Originally posted by sirpoopsalot on Sep 18, 2007:

Another Sorc Matriarch. 200 FCR Nova/Firewall

I haven't posted a mat/pat thread since the last time, and since this is a little off of the beaten path I thought I should. This was my first time using Nova (so I made it my primary skill), and my second time using Firewall (although the last time I only had a 1-point Fire Mastery).


The Details:
...I went to wikipedia.org and searched for famous sorceresses, and this was one of the names in the list. I liked the 'pulsing' nature of 7-frame novas, and hence the chosen name: RitaRepulsa

Sidenote #1: Rita was one of the prominent villains in the once-popular childrens television show Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
Sidenote about Sidenote #1: That very same television show was banned in Canada because it was "too violent" and many children were emulating the violence. :laugh:
Sidenote about Sidenote about Si... ahh, forget it ;-): In the end this was somewhat ironic, because this is a sorceress that can be played very, VERY aggressively.



Skills:
20 Nova
20 Lightning Mastery
20 Firewall (+2 prereqs)
20 Fire Mastery
1 Glacial Spike
1 Shivor Armor (+3 prereqs)
1 Static Field
1 Teleport (+1 prereq)
1 Cold Mastery
... future points were going to go into Enchant for the merc; I just finished the prereqs.

+15 Lightning Skills
+10 Fire Skills
+9 Cold Skills


More Info:
Level: 83
Life: 1364 (with BO)
Mana: 1301 (with BO)
Str: 157
Dex: 60
Vit: 277
Ene: 40
resists: 75 all

LCS Nova Damage: 1555 - 2054 (-20% Enemy Light Resist from Griffon's Eye not factored)
LCS Firewall Damage: 7554-7632


Equipment:

W1: Wizardspike (Hel rune)
S1: Spirit monarch (35 FCR)
Helm: Griffon's Eye (16/-20, with facet)
Armour: Vipermagi (42 res/+5 Ene with jewel)
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: Arachnids Mesh
Boots: Silkweaves
Amulet: crafted 'caster' amulet (+1 sorc skills, 20% FCR, stuff).
Rings: 2x SoJ
Charms: 6x Sparking skillers, Life/mana/fire resist SC's with various other mods

W2: CtA (+5BC / +6 BO <-- my precious)
S2: Spirit monarch (35 FCR)


My Partner in Crime:
Haseen - Prayer Mercenary, level 83
'Insight' eth Cryptic Axe
'Duress' Archon Plate
Vampire Gaze (+10 res all jewel)


Game Progress:
- Normal was done completely on /players8, including Chaos Sanc, Ancients, Baal, whatever. Twinked melee/poison gear for Act1, twinked 1.09 Ravensclaw & Lightning damage charms for acts 2&3. I did one /p8 Meph run to make level30, switched to Nova/caster gear before Act4.
- Nova started to slow down in act4 nightmare, so I dropped to /players5 for that act and most of act5. Killed Baal at level72, then did /players8 runs until 80 (BOOORRRRIINNNGGGG!!!!), since I wanted to equip my end-game 200 FCR before entering Hell.
- almost all of Hell was done on /players1
- Ancients were pretty easy except I had to reroll ~10 times because 2 or 3 kept spawning LI. Once there was a spawn with only 1 LI, I didn't need to reroll.
- ~10 NDE's, pretty much due to over-agressiveness/careless teleporting (notes below)
- 3 deaths:
Death #1: /p8 fanatic Lister in NM while cursed - I guess you could say I was asking for it. 😉
Death #2: Careless Teleporting/fanatic/conviction dual-beetle packs in the Maggot Lair, Hell)
Death #3: Careless teleporting/endless-hit-recovery by a mauler pack in Durance1, Hell.


Noteworthy Finds:
- Dol/Fal from 'forge
- plain Chilling Skiller (NM Baal run, IIRC)
- Bing Sz Wang (ditto)
- various jewels & charms that were decent, but nothing to write home about. for example, Emerald GC of Inertia, Lizard's GC of Sustenance, etc.


Notes:
- Wow, that was fun. I mentioned above, and I'll mention it again: I played this sorc very, VERY agressively. Basically I would teleport directly on top of any group of monsters and spam Nova. If they weren't dead within 2 seconds I'd teleport away and check to see if they were LI (😁, and they usually were) and then go into strategy-mode with Firewall. Obviously this tactic won't work well for hardcore, and I did get into trouble fairly often, but it sure is fun to really not give a hoot.

- I've mentioned targeting Firewall before too, but not in this thread, so I'll add that detail for completeness. There is a common misconception that Firewall is difficult to target; I disagree. With proper use of a tanking merc and teleporting, you can easily position your merc to tank any given monster(s) - all you need to do is teleport to a reasonable distance and stand still after you teleport, then place the firewall where the merc and monster 'collides' (since they charge towards each other). For ranged attackers that run away, keep your distance and simply place it under them - or teleport directly on top of them and use the merc to "box them in".

- 200 FCR is simply awesome. Pit Vipers and something nasty and LI are really the only things capable of interfering with me at that casting speed. And despite my lack of FHR, it was also enough to escape almost every time I got into the middle of something too scary to stand around for very long. The three times I did die, I simply didn't drink a potion in time.

- For a pleasant change, mana burn wasn't bad/annoying at all. With the Prayer/Insight merc, my large mana pool, and with all of my +lightning skills (9-mana teleport), I would regenerate enough mana to teleport away by the time I was out of hit recovery.

- I really like the Prayer/Insight combo. The meditation aura was simply needed to keep spamming Nova, without drinking 14,937,646 mana potions. In addition to that, playing as agressively as I did, the +50 Life healed per second is very sweet too. I would have drank 76,833 healing potions without it, but all I had to do was teleport away for 2-3 seconds if I saw a battle wasn't going my way.

- Combining all of those previous points, there were only a very few times late-game where the monster-spawn prohibited me from maintaining maximum aggressiveness. Basically, it had to be a mix of nasty+LI and nasty+FI. to make me really back off (in which case I'd use firewall first, since it's better at range).

- GlacialSpike/CM was really only an afterthought, but it was nice to have something to do against LI/FI monsters, and the merc appreciated the slowing affect of the chilling. Plus, the damage isn't horrific on /players1 with my +9 cold skills.

- Max'ed Firewall is actually decent for act bosses. Hell Diablo took about ~4 seconds with teleport, Static to 50%, and then a 4xNova, 1xFirewall spam-pattern. Nova is pretty crappy against the bosses though - barely enough to counter Baals regeneration. I was worried about this, as it was plenty slow in Normal with only points in Nova and LM.

- Here's a screenshot of my beautiful 7-frame Nova spammage. I was hoping to get one with a whole wave of monsters stuck in hit-recovery, but for the most part, once they were in hit-recovery they didn't last long enough for me to get a screenie.



What's Next:
I'm honestly considering doing another Nova sorc. Only this time I'd go for 105 FCR, max-block, and a Cresent Moon phaseblade. I'd like to pump up the defensive capabilities to make my super-agressive strategy more feasible, as well as boost the nova damage so more monsters suffer hit-recovery on higher settings. But I'm not sure I could do that and maintain a reasonable backup attack (for LI's) as well. I'll probably return to my bow-barbromancer for a little bit and ponder this dilemma.
 
Originally posted by sirpoopsalot on May 7, 2008:

Matriarch BaalBusterIII: yes, the other Baal runner.

I've been too long winded lately, so I'll try to be more kind this time and wrap things up a little quicker...


Brief History:
BaalBusterI = IK/WW/'zerker barb = killed things too slowly (by far) = fail.

BaalBusterII = Fishyzon = success, but there's a few things I don't entirely like about her:
- requires weapon switch for different attacking weapons (javelin & bow), leaving no room for a CtA (and I like using my CtA).
- remembering to pick up (or purchase) arrows sucks. I always seem to run out or have a backpack full of 3 stacks - never in between.
- her mana's too low for continued FA-spammage, even with an Insight merc
- she's not as mobile as I'd like (and/or lacks monster-manipulation skills) for someone that has to face Gloams often.
- ditto for what OK's can (and will) do to her merc before she has time to do anything about it.
- a 'tough' monster spawn really, really, really seems to slow her down (not that she's lightning-fast against a good spawn)... ok, since she relies on LF, she probably does qualify as lightning-fast 👅... I think it's because...
- her attack is a little slow, so she spends a lot of time on defense as well as offense.

... I realize most of those are relatively minor or can be combated a little, but the fact is that I don't find her that fun to play. And, if it's not fun, why do it?

So, I set out to design a Baal runner that I find fun, and Genraek's recent thread about favourite builds made me rethink how I was approaching this problem. Since I like 200 FCR sorcs, why not see if I can use one for this task that's never yet been an 'appealing' challenge to me. Also, a little originality never hurt anybody. Hence:


Matriarch BaalBusterIII
level82 (and climbing fast)
Life: 1421
Mana: 1133
Resists: 75 all

Skills:
20 Nova (+10 skills)
20 LM
20 Fireball (+12 skills)
20 Firebolt
1 Enchant, Teleport, Static, prereq's
remaining points will go into FM

Magic Find: 218 (a little low, but that's dictated by...
200 FCR = 7-frame spell spammage (read: fun & fast)
Nova Damage: 1135 - 1531
Fireball Damage: 4022 - 4412 (and rising)

Gear:
Wizardspike (26 FireResist, 10 MF jewel)
Spirit Monarch (35 FCR)
Vipermagi (50 Resists)
Griffon's Eye (16/20, with facet)
crafted Caster amulet (+1 sorc, 20 FCR, stuff)
2x SoJ
Magefists
Arachnid's
Wartrav's (49%)

Switch: beta-CtA + Spirit

2x Fire skillers
1x Light skiller
Gheed's
1x FHR SC
17x 7% MF sc's

Merc:
Prayer mercenary
eth Insight CA
Tal's Helm (IAS jewel)
Guardian Angel (Ambergris Jewel of Strength: 30/6)

<-- might switch to my new Fortitude, and might swap the helm to a VampGaze too. And yes, a he's Prayer mercenary. I love him despite his "not tanking for :censored:" abilities.


Finds:
Fal/Lum Hellforge
+5/-3 Poison Facet
... jack all elsewise ...


Notes:
1. My lightning damage is enough for "forced-into-continuous-hit-recovery" for most monsters, so I get to simply teleport onto many packs and spam Nova to watch large numbers of monsters die quickly. This works perfectly for: Flayers, Succubi, Ghosts, Serpents, OK's and Abyss Knights, those annoying teleporting witches, and just about any non-lightning Immune. The ones that it doesn't work for are: Lister's pack, Pit Lords, and Frenzytaurs.

2. And when the monsters are still dangerous, my 7 frames casting speed is often fast enough that I can see a monster start to swing an attack and I still have time to teleport away before he hits.

3. ~4k Fireball (at 7 frames) is enough to wipe out those pesky Gloams fast. It also does quick work of Blood Lords. This damage should break 5k before I'm done too.

4. Fanaticism, Conviction, Cursed, and Lister are still the biggest remaining problems. A little prudence is still necessary, afterall, but... see point #2. Baal could be a little faster after Static, but he's not too bad (Fireball is used for the finisher).

5. With the merc's auras and my high mana, I can out-regenerate my casting speeds for all except Nova (and it takes twice as long to drain my bulb while spamming Nova as it does to refill it by not casting spells). Manaburn isn't an issue because I can teleport again by the time I realized I've been hit.

6. I forgot about the +10 Strength on Wartrav's - I should probably rebuild her because her stats aren't optimized. :rolleyes:

7. Results: Oh yeah, much better. 😃 I don't foresee a BaalBusterIV on the horizon. Yet.


Questions, comments or spam?
 
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Mar 20, 2012:

Matriarch Moririane, 200 fcr Lightning/Firewall sorc

Well, since my first sorceress was fire/cold with emphasis on fire ( meteorb ), and the second was cold/lightning with emphasis on cold ( blizznova ), it only seemed fitting that my third should be a lightning/fire sorc with emphasis on lightning. Also, I was determined to make a 200 fcr sorc, to see what the hoopla was about. Thus presenting Moiriane the lightning/firewall sorc ( 17th Mat/Pat ).

Endgame stats




Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Chain lightning is about 1-6k, rarely use that though.

Other stats:
FCR: 200
FHR: 60
Blocking: none

Skills

20(35) Lightning
20(35) Chain lightning
20(35) Lightning mastery
7 charged bolt <- remaining points here
20(31) Firewall
1(12) Fire mastery
1 in static, teleport and prereqs

Equipment

Eschuta's temper ( facet )
Skin of the Vipermagi ( facet )
Griffon's eye ( facet )
Arachnid mesh
Spirit monarch
Magefist
Havoc noose amulet ( 2 light 10 fcr )
Storm gyre ring
Ghoul hold ring
Moiriane's Doom shank ( boots )

Equipment readout

Code:
Havoc Noose
Amulet
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xe530f35a
+22 to Strength
+1 to Maximum Damage
Fire Resist +17%
Lightning Resist +17%
Cold Resist +17%
Poison Resist +53%
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)


Griffon's Eye
Diadem
Defense: 259
Durability: 15 of 20
Required Level: 76
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x6ec47f1a
+199 Defense
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
25% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
100% Chance to cast Level 47 Chain Lightning When You Die
+13% to Lightning Skill Damage
-23% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)


Rainbow Facet
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x9a60e703
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
100% Chance to cast Level 47 Chain Lightning When You Die
+3% to Lightning Skill Damage
-5% to Enemy Lightning Resistance


Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 125
Durability: 5 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xdbefe38f
+99% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Slows Target by 10%
Level 3 Venom (3/11 Charges)


Ghoul Hold
Ring
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0xd50a2cfa
+47 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 1
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +17%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Storm Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x392e2978
Fire Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +19%
Cold Resist +9%
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Faster Cast Rate



Skin of the Vipermagi
Wyrmhide
Defense: 842
Durability: 13 of 24
Required Strength: 84
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x36cdf6b8
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
All Resistances +32
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
Required Level +7
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
100% Chance to cast Level 47 Chain Lightning When You Die
+3% to Lightning Skill Damage
-4% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)


Rainbow Facet
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x52a00577
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
100% Chance to cast Level 47 Chain Lightning When You Die
+3% to Lightning Skill Damage
-4% to Enemy Lightning Resistance


Magefist
Battle Gauntlets
Defense: 70
Durability: 13 of 18
Required Strength: 88
Required Level: 30
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x6a5ec1db
+29% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
+10 Defense
Adds 1-6 fire damage
Required Level +5
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Fire Skills


Moiriane's Doom Shank
Demonhide Boots
Defense: 34
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd0379e85
+8 to Dexterity
+28 to Maximum Stamina
Fire Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +19%
30% Faster Run/Walk

Eschuta's Temper
Eldritch Orb
One-Hand Damage: 18 to 50
Durability: 30 of 30
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 72
Orb Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x77f48ac0
+29 to Energy
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
40% Faster Cast Rate
100% Chance to cast Level 41 Nova When You Level Up
+13% to Fire Skill Damage
+20% to Lightning Skill Damage
-5% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)



Rainbow Facet
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xce3674b2
Adds 1-74 lightning damage
100% Chance to cast Level 41 Nova When You Level Up
+3% to Lightning Skill Damage
-5% to Enemy Lightning Resistance


Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 139
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 72 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x75033165
+22 to Vitality
+95 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+8 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Switch

Code:
Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 17 to 52
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 57
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x708d6b82
+252% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Increased Attack Speed
+3 to Battle Orders
+3 to Battle Cry
+2 to Battle Command
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 138
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x3b4fdae9
+22 to Vitality
+96 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
34% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+7 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Charms:

3 Sparking skillers
2 Burning skillers
Res/life scs

Mercenary: Act 2 defiance
Gear

Code:
1: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 109
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x78ab73c2
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit


2: Duress
Boneweave
'ShaelUmThul'
Defense: 2737
Durability: 23 of 23
Required Strength: 148
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x8866b07a
+162% Enhanced Defense
+20% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +45%
Poison Resist +15%
Adds 37-133 cold damage over 2 seconds
40% Faster Hit Recovery
33% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
-20% Slower Stamina Drain
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (3: 3 used)


3: Insight
Cryptic Axe
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 117 to 493
Durability: 43 of 65
Required Dexterity: 103
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 59
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x49024b7d
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+229% 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
227% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 15 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Notes

-Teleporting at 200 fcr is teh most amazing thing ever
-Amazing sparkly elemental damage in areas with no lite immunes
-Firewall was very cumbersome. My earlier experience with its firewall had been with a Trang's necro but I had bone prison then to lock them in place while they got roasted. Here all the monsters were moving in and out of the firewall. Aargh.
-Thought about using marrowalk for bone prison charges but decided not to.
-Everyone should have a 200 fcr sorc. Seriously.
-Hate the fragility of vita sorcs. Even with CtA.
-Frozen river spawned witches, gloams and abhominations. Brought new meaning to the word 'Hell'.
-Tomb vipers in Nihilithak, even after rerolling three times. Eventually went ahead with it anyway, constant merc resurrections
-Didn't die in hell, that's pretty normal nowadays. One death in nightmare.

Finds

Atma's scarab ( useless cause I already had one )
BloodRaven's charge ( nice ed, +4 )
Lem/Lum forges
Not much else

Screenshots

Fighting Ancients. It was an easy fight. Just teleport static static teleport lightning lightning teleport two of them down, third was up to firewall and the moron tanking.

Future plans

Pure light/infinity sorceress. Gotta find them bers..

Thanks to janooo and Kaerion for trades.
 
Originally posted by aitrus on Oct 1, 2007:

IMQueen - a mat thread

Matriarch IMQueen, level 82 sorceress


Enter the enchantress gone wild ... A sorc wearing that big and heavy barb outfit, running fast and delivering the punch. Immortal Queen or a sorc wearing Immortal King's outfit.

I started her a while ago, got bored and parked her at NM Chaos Sanctuary. It was time to revive this beauty and show what she can do...

This is easy, fit every possible piece of IK set on a sorc and go wild (I did try to fit IK helm several times but alas I have failed). Skill wise, she is an enchantress that mastered not only fire but lightning as well. Her skills are:
- 20 Warmth, Enchant, Fire Mastery, Lightning Mastery
- 1 Static Field, Teleport, Shiver Armor, Cold Mastery + prereqs

Pretty straightforward, right...

Stats: (base)
Strength 170
Dexterity 25
Vitality 270
Energy :unimpressed:

Equipment:
- IK set covering body/Um'ed, hands, boots, keeping all together and delivering the punch.
- Angelic ammy and ring + Raven Frost
- Her crown: Guillaume's Face/Um (for 75% CB total and a healthy dose of FHR for a total of 86)
- Switch: CtA + Spirit -- I planned on using Leaf here but sorcs don't have much life.
- Inventory: Lightning damage charms (for a total of 15-415), some cold and poison damage, 22 res all, 22 fire/light res, 10 fhr and some minor mods

How was she? Fun! A sorc with huge damage (see screen) and melee delivery. I can't really remember how she played before being parked (it was long ago) except that she was usual enchantress in development (Leaf, Steeldriver/Ribby etc.)
I kinda liked the name since IM is something sorcs don't care ... usually ... This one did!

Did Normal and Nightmare at players 8, Hell at 3

Hell roadmap...
A1
Boring, run, smack, run ... oh, and she found a secret room, but somebody plundered it already

A2
Hm, unleechables, hard and slow and for the first time I had to take care of my bad resistances

A3
Gasp, for some reason most fun part of Hell -- so sue me -- also dropped this (eth) and I had to play with this happy fella

A4
Ah, the fun begins. Hephasto was not too bad but one-click attack is 😁 Nice reward though.

OK arena was very fun but I was prepared for it, teleport to divide, teleport to head-bang OK's. Merc died soooo many times. Diablo was a piece of cake and dropped crap, i.e. as usual.

A5
I was just level 80 when I got to A5 and I wanted to get some levels -- bad idea. Sabre Cats and Imps, those spears hurt like hell ... skipped. Next we have Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Mages, Death Maulers ... no need to guess, mostly skipped. Underground was not so bad until we decided to save Anya (count them please, every part of that damn dungeon was the same) - without teleport she would never be able to live there

Ancients: first try, I decided to go with whatever they had, it wasn't bad, Cursed and Mana Burn are not that difficult until the merc dies. At that point whirler is left alive (FI and possibly LI) but I try to take one whirl -- bad idea -- while I'm not dead, I know I can't kill him. Second, cursed + might, no thanks; 3rd, Fanaticism + ... who cares, pass. 4th is the good try, mana burn again but who cares, wasted them pretty fast.

Enter the WSK and get greeted by this and this. Fun. They were stationed at the stairs so ... ran away, cleared Zakarum something's and Sand Raiders so I can divide and conquer the first two. Good, level 2, nothing interesting, level 3 ... surprise!!! For the only sorc that is afraid of them she definitely did see her share :rolleyes:

Throne Room... Need I say more; and if someone wants to know, they were in the room and, yes, the mummies of wave two did revive them ... argh
Lister was fun as always and this time his crew just didn't want to be parted... so, patience.
Baal was a chimp as always

Some notes on play style:
- she's really great, huge damage, fast enough swing (9 fps) but she just isn't a tank, so a heavy use of merc was needed. Two problems with him though, he *loves* to die and his spear has bigger range than my maul so I got hit more often than I wanted.
- teleport is great to have with melee char, but high FHR is required, even 86 is low with sorcs but I managed.

+'s
Teleport (again) - it's so fun to play melee character with teleport, for her it was crucial
Spectral damage - I never ever cared about monster immunities
75% CB - with this type of characters you really learn to appreciate CB

-'s
OK's - nuf said

Congrats, have a beer on Durf in EMB

Thanks for reading ... ask whatever you want to know (no need to be related to this char or D2) 😁

Cheers all
 
Originally posted by AJK on Feb 22, 2007:

Enchanting Mat-ters

Excuse me very much for the groan inducing title, but I promised to spend a few words on my 2.5 element enchantress Matriarch. So here goes, AJK presents to you, the SPF,

Matriarch Vlammetje(*), lvl. 82, kicker of behinds.

Skills:
Warmth (20), Fire Mastery (20), Enchant (20)
Cold Mastery (1)
Lightning Mastery (17), Teleport (2), Static Field (10)

She started purely as a backup character to enchant pilgrims questing towards the Forge of Hell. Since she traveled with the pack, she ended up lvl. 50-something in Hell, act IV. This didn't fly, of course, so back to Nightmare she went.

After a bit of leveling chez Baal's and wondering why Lister's pack wouldn't go down so quickly, she realized that asbestos skins were going to be a much more common problem in Hell.

In a rare flash of insight, she spent a good chunk of leftover points in Lightning mastery. A multiplier of 4.26 on her lightning damage would make her electric biscuits (lightning damage charms) serve as a viable second element attack. One point magically landed in Cold Mastery, for a -55 to enemy cold resists after +skills. This is why she's a 2.5 element enchantress. The cold damage is certainly not the main damage component, but the brief slow is nice anyway.

Regarding the rest of her gear, I wanted to get a combination of speedy teleports (at least 63% FCR), nice elemental damage, resists, and other stuff that keeps fragile little sorcs alive against harmful outside influences (monster kickage and hittage). Behold my gear:

Head coverage: Shako [15% IAS]
Neck blingage: Mara's [+24 res. all]
Skull hittage: Baranar's Star
Pre-buffage: Weapon switch: 'Memory' Elder Staff --> +6 to enchant
Overall protectage: Skin of the Vipermagi [+49 res. all, upped]
Cast&blockage: Spirit Monarch [34% FCR]
Speedy swingage: Laying of Hands
Spark absorbage: Thundergods Vigor
Footsie package: Sandstorm Trek [15/15/48%]
Anti-freezage: Raven Frost [20/174]
Muscle pumpage: Blue ring [+16 str, +14 res. all]

As you can see, the gear hits 63% FCR, hits the 12 FPA attack breakpoint, has a decent attack rating after enchant, and is a source of elemental damage thanks to
- Baranar's Star, and
- Lightning charms [560 max. light damage].

Hireling:
Leharas, the freezer.
Pointy stick: eth Obedience Thresher.
Hat: Blackhorn's face (forgot to swap it with something more useful)
Suit: er, whatsitcalled, er..., it stops shafts or something. Not the see-through version unfortunately.

Stats:
Str 114, Dex 136, Vit 200, Ene 35
Resists: 75/75/78/75
Red ball: 809, Blue ball: 485
Elemental damage without enchant: 524 - 4869 (3042 AR)
Elemental damage with enchant: 4786 - 10K (5982 AR)

Gameplay:
Normal, Nightmare, and Hell were cheated through like mad, since she traveled along with a band of mules. To keep my little bit of leftover honor intact, I played from Hell act IV, River of Flame onward by my own. I must say that the effectiveness of mastery-enhanced elemental damage surprised me in a positive way, as you can see from the pre-enchant elemental damage.

The fact that she, a melee char, had teleport available also made for a refreshing change in play style. Teleport, static, static, etc, whack whack, dead critters. I did die a couple of times, but that's the impatience making me land in the middle of an archer pack. (I still suck at tactics).

I can't really remember the forge drops, but one specific jewel drop stood out:
Scintillating Jewel of Truth
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x18417318
All Resistances +15
7% Faster Hit Recovery

*: Vlammetje = Dutch for 'little flame'.
 
Originally posted by @Albatross on Sep 16, 2011:

Long overdue mat thread - Stardust

Attention! This character has been changed, view the updated version here:
Link to post
:)

- Some introduction and history -

Well.. I've been around these forums for quite some time and haven't yet written about or at least reported a single pat/mat. Why? Because they where mostly boring builds that I made either to MF or test how far I can push a hybrid sorc.


Without any further delay.. Ladies and gents, let me introduce my guild of mages.

xc9le8.jpg


Sorrow is my dedicated AT running blizzard sorc.
Adjudication is the LK runner.
The Dea, Deity and Divinity triplet where all slightly different cold/light hybrids (no tokens back then :p).

And now, the more interesting builds.

First of, Fervor. Made her a long time ago as an enchantress to help speed up my forge rushes, leveling of new chars, etc. Later respecialized into some insane, kinda suicidal, physical damage based build. She was sporting a 3x eth tomb reaver, fortitude, might merc, the works. Damage was around 5000, average. Life leech was crazy, but.. she had lots of problems, running around with a massive polearm might look really cool, but lacks the safety that all sorcs really need. It was fun tearing through stuff until I encountered gloam/archer packs, then it was mostly dying. Also, she couldn't manage p8 on her own. And then I remembered.. a build I had in mind for years, but never managed to obtain all the fancy gear I needed.


- Stardust -

I had her in my mind for more than four years.. planning, yearning, trying to find the items I needed. In the end she became a dream I never realized. Until now, when 1.13, a few lucky drops and some good trades made it all possible.

o58bh5.jpg

I had the problem of making a melee sorceress that could both tank and deal damage. Even enough to handle p8 baal runs. The only way I could achieve this was to make an elemental damage based sorc and that required a lot of hard to find gear.

Stardust's LCS, after killing p8 ancients



- Skill allocation and reasoning -

The skill layout is quite simple, but it's simplicity hides the secret from which this build draws its power. The way elemental masteries work on a sorc is well known today, by most people. For those few that haven't studied melee sorcs in detail I will provide a short explanation.

Any elemental damage dealt by the sorc is amplified by the appropriate mastery. This is quite clear. However, when in melee, the bonus is added two times, but it only works this way for auras and enchant's fire damage. So with +500 holy shock's (I know its more with dream's lvl 15 HS, this is just an example) lighting damage and LM providing +400% she will be dishing out 12500 lightning damage instead of the expected 2500. This is why melee enchantresses reach impressive LCS damage numbers.

Lets move on to the skill layout.

Fire mastery - 20 - to get the most out of enchant and all other fire damage
Enchant - 20 - maxing for damage, attack rating and duration
Warmth - 20 - Enchant synergy
Lightning mastery - 20 - insane boost to lightning damage
Cold mastery - 1 - with + skills, usually, doubles your cold damage output
Shiver armor - 12+ - superior than Frozen armor, chills monsters before they actually hit you, also defense, yeah, I actually rolled with a defiance merc for a while and had about 13k defense, but holy freeze proved to be more efficient. I might switch back to defiance when the merc becomes beefier, had to take HF because Lister & co would eat him alive
Teleport, telekinesis, static field and prerequisites - a total of 8 points - no brainers for any sorc

The build will be done at level 98 which I am hoping to get to one day as my final goal for this character. No doubt, this will be a long journey, but with her being fully able to do solo p8 baal runs under five minutes, I don't see why she wouldn't get there one day.



- Stats -

Strength - had to push it as high as 165 so Arkaine's would stay equipped when I switched to CtA/Spirit
Dexterity - as much as it takes to maintain maximum block, attack rating isn't really an issue (will explain later)
Vitality - everything else goes here, you want you sorc to live
Energy - totally irrelevant for this build, level 30ish warmth will ensure you have enough mana to teleport and cast an occasional static field



- The Gear -

Everyone was really just waiting for this part, right? ;)

There are many key items in this build, without them it just doesn't work.

I had the runes for an Enigma, but I said to myself: "Ef that, I'm making my Dream come true".

The holy shock aura provided by this RW adds a heap of lightning damage, which is all amplified by LM, twice. Its what makes this build so strong.

The weapon of choice is Azurewrath, a beautiful sword, fast, plenty of elemental damage, many tasty mods.

Storm shield for protection, although I'm still uncertain should I use a Shael'd or the Um'd one (with the latter I can swap out resistance charms for more elemental damage).

1.07 Arkaine's Valor, enough said. Perfect for this build.

Raven frost and a beta BKWB coupled with an awesome crafted amulet which I received in a trade with Fabian.

Code:
Blood Talisman
Amulet
Required Level: 89
Fingerprint: 0x11a5847c
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+6% Faster Cast Rate
+20 to Dexterity
+11 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 6%
All Resistances +20
Damage Reduced by 2

Thundergod's Vigor for the stats and lightning immortality.

Sandstorm Trek's for stats and poison resist.

The only slot which might use an improvement is the glove slot. Really have no idea what to put in here, so I'm using a nice rare pair. 20% IAS is mandatory to hit the maximum attack speed with Azurewrath (2.5 attacks per second).

Code:
Death Hold
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 9
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0x7ad2c72a
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+14 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
Fire Resist +25%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

And CtA/Spirit on my prebuff, teleport, static and what not switch. Together with the crafted amulet I hit 37+ FCR, while not too fast, its a good teleporting speed for a melee sorc.

Inventory is filled with skillers with life, many elemental and resistance charms.

Full gear readouts for the curious:

Dream
Diadem
IoJahPul
Defense: 258
10% Chance to cast level 15 Confuse when struck
Level 15 Holy Shock Aura When Equipped
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+30% Enhanced Defense
+188 Defense
+10 to Vitality
Increase Maximum Life 5%
+56 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
All Resistances +13
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (3 used)

Azurewrath
Phase Blade
One Hand Damage: 116 - 131
Indestructible
Required Level: 85
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 136
Fingerprint: 0x49b9c1c3
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 13 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
+1 to All Skills
+30% Increased Attack Speed
275% Enhanced Damage
+25% Damage to Undead
+38 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 250 - 500 Magic Damage
Adds 18 - 33 Fire Damage
Adds 1 - 83 Lightning Damage
Adds 250 - 500 Cold Damage Over 10 Secs (250 Frames)
All Stats +6
+3 to Light Radius
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Beast Eye

Beast Eye
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x811a9dd2
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
15% Enhanced Damage
+25% Damage to Undead
+38 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 18 - 33 Fire Damage
Adds 1 - 83 Lightning Damage

Stormshield
Monarch
Defense: 484
Chance to Block: 47
Required Strength: 156
Indestructible
+35% Faster Block Rate
25% Increased Chance of Blocking
+337 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+30 to Strength
Cold Resist +60%
All Resistances +22
Lightning Resist +25%
Damage Reduced by 35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Um Rune

Raven Frost
+225 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
+2 to All Skills
3% Life stolen per hit
+45 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

Death Hold
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 9
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+14 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
Fire Resist +25%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

Arkaine's Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1554
Indestructible
Required Strength: 165
+2 to All Skills
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
+200% Enhanced Defense
+225 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
+180 to Life (Based on Character Level)
All Resistances +15
Fire Resist +50%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Um Rune

Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 158
Required Strength: 110
5% Chance to cast level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+199% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
+10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
+20 Lightning Absorb

Blood Talisman
Amulet
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+6% Faster Cast Rate
+20 to Dexterity
+11 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 6%
All Resistances +20
Damage Reduced by 2

Sandstorm Trek
Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 265
Required Strength: 81
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+168% Enhanced Defense
+12 to Strength
+15 to Vitality
+90 Maximum Stamina (Based on Character Level)
50% Slower Stamina Drain
Poison Resist +66%
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds
Ethereal

Switch

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
AmnRalMalIstOhm
+1 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
265% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+2 to Battle Cry
+6 to Battle Orders
+6 to Battle Command
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
5 Sockets (5 used)

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 138
+2 to All Skills
+32% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+112 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+5 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)

Charms

Shimmering Grand Charm of Balance
+12% Faster Hit Recovery
All Resistances +13

Burning Grand Charm of Storms
+1 to Fire Skills (Sorceress Only)
Adds 1 - 33 Lightning Damage

Burning Grand Charm of Sustenance
+1 to Fire Skills (Sorceress Only)
+29 to Life

Sparking Grand Charm of Vita
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
+41 to Life

Sparking Grand Charm of Vita
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
+36 to Life

Sparking Grand Charm of Sustenance
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
+23 to Life

Shocking Large Charm
Adds 1 - 82 Lightning Damage

Sparking Grand Charm of Life
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
+20 to Life

Foul Small Charm of Storms
Adds 1 - 26 Lightning Damage
Adds 50 Poison Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)

Coral Small Charm of Good Luck
Lightning Resist +9%
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Smoking Small Charm of Balance
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
Adds 5 - 18 Fire Damage

Amber Small Charm
Lightning Resist +10%

Arcing Small Charm
Adds 1 - 37 Lightning Damage

Amber Small Charm of Dexterity
+2 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +10%

Amber Small Charm of Strength
+1 to Strength
Lightning Resist +10%

Sapphire Small Charm of Storms
Adds 1 - 23 Lightning Damage
Cold Resist +11%

Amber Small Charm
Lightning Resist +11%

Arcing Small Charm of the Glacier
Adds 1 - 37 Lightning Damage
Adds 3 - 6 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)

Serpent's Small Charm of Storms
Adds 1 - 28 Lightning Damage
+14 to Mana


- Mercenary -

Deserves a special section since he is very important for this build.

Providing both HF and conviction, along with incredible crowd control through Delirium. Makes the build safer, skyrockets the elemental damage and makes things much easier to hit. This is why AR wasn't an issue. Also, I use battle cry on baal to further lower his defense (along with damage), probably, making my sorc reach the maximum 95% chance to hit.

Since both Infinity and Delirium where key items the merc turned out to have no life leech at all. So I had to make CoH, "just" for the leech. There are a few unique choices, but they are not particularly impressive.

Emilio's Items:

Code:
Chains of Honor
Dusk Shroud
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 782
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0x131b5a85
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+200% Damage to Demons
+100% Damage to Undead
8% Life stolen per hit
+70% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced by 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)

Delirium
Diadem
LemIstIo
Defense: 314
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x5ccd810f
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
14% Chance to cast level 13 Terror when struck
6% Chance to cast level 14 Mind Blast when struck
1% Chance to cast level 50 Delirium when struck
11% Chance to cast level 18 Confuse on striking
+2 to All Skills
+261 Defense
+10 to Vitality
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 17 Attract (60/60 Charges)
3 Sockets (3 used)

Infinity
Giant Thresher
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 284 - 810
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 178
Required Dexterity: 130
Fingerprint: 0x2715cef3
Item Level: 98
Version: Expansion
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
374% Enhanced Damage
-49% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+45 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal


- Final thoughts -

I would really like to get her to level 98 so she would be finished. Its an incredible pleasure to play this character. I wanted to make her for such a long time.. and she turned out even more powerful than I have ever imagined.

She can handle almost everything. The only real problem are unblockable attacks such as viper magi's bone spears. Even p8 fire and lightning immune lister (unbreakable by Infinity) goes down under 30 seconds. Courtesy of heaps of cold and magic damage provided by Azurewrath.

The charm department could use some improvements, so I might trade or try to find better charms on my own. Also, I'll be crafting some safety amulets, trying to score 7+ ICoB (needing a lot less dex to achieve max block means a lot more vitality), 10 FCR, 15 - 20 resists, str or dex and 2 to sorc skills. This could take me like a thousand tries, that's why I have already traded for that amulet with Fabian.

Some questions I predict will be asked. (But feel free to ask anything which you are wondering about and I haven't covered in the write up.)

Why not use Passion so you don't have to single click on everything you want to kill?

Passion might have zeal build it, but it is much weaker than Azurewrath, just compare the mods. The speed difference is 2.5 vs 3.25 attacks per second, with that I can live with. I don't need the extra AR or damage from zeal since the physical component is negligible in this build. And style. Definitely style.

No life leech?

Yeah, no real life leech. I experimented with leech as high as 20%, but the physical damage is just too weak for her to be able to steal any decent amounts back. So I just drink potions when I have to.

What can hurt this char?

Besides pure, unblockable magic damage the only real issue is when wave 3 or 4 spawn with conviction. That's why I'm considering trading or getting my own 1.07 loh (massive fire absorb). Certainly extra fast, might or fanatic lister is trouble, but it is for most melee chars. And the real trouble is that the merc drops dead in seconds, they can't kill her fast enough, before she teleports away.

And some random stats for the conclusion of this lengthy post.

Primary - Naked/Gear / Switch - Naked/Gear - Without buffs / Buffed

Strength: 133/202 / 133/172
Dexterity: 178/239 / 178/239
Vitality: 194/470 / 194/492
Energy: 35/41 / 35/41
HP: 557/1518 / 557/1550 / 2040 with bo
Mana: 213/349 / 213/461 / 578 with bo
Stamina: 347/487 / 347/487
Defense: 44/2925 / 44/2925 / 7552 with shiver armor
AR: 840/1370 / 840/1370 / 5466 with enchant

Fire: 188/148/88 / 166/126/66
Cold: 184/144/84 / 137/97/37
Lightning: 188/148/88 / 176/136/76
Poison: 179/139/79 / 192/152/92

MF: 32 / 62
GF: 0 / 0
FR/W: 20 / 20
FHR: 87 / 142
IAS: 50 / 60
FCR: 6 / 38
Block: 83 / 52

Hope you liked my melee sorceress :)
 
Originally posted by @Albatross on Jun 22, 2012:

Long overdue mat thread - Stardust (updated)


Stardust – an update to the matriarch thread


It's been a while. Had another long break form diablo and came back once again. I'm happy to see there are still people playing this game. The reason for my return is unfinished business, of course :crazy:

Almost a year ago I've finally made Stardust, but it wasn't until recentely that she had reached a high enough level to become what she truly was meant to be. I'm afraid I don't really know how to call this build anymore. She has grown into a hybrid of some sort, still very durable and able to absorb p8 blows, still dealing heavy damage in meele and all that while looking wicked cool, but now with an AoE solution – Blizzard.

ncm2x2.jpg


The skill layout and core items haven't changed that much, but I'm still trying to tweak and get the most out of the build. Unfortunately, I've reached a wall until I'm able to craft a „2/16+ FCR/anything else is gravy“ amulet so I can swap out Magefist for 1.07 Laying of Hands and try out a new weapon with massive resists and many other mod that fit great into this build. Although I'll be sad to swap out Azurewrath this way she'd have no more worries about convicted Bartuc and Ventar, even Burning Souls with conviction wouldn't be too scary and most certainly not near instant death. Also, I believe her Baal runs would be a bit faster. This is very important since I'm actually planning to take her all the way to 99.. Will she ever get there I can't tell for sure, but I'm not going to rush things, this will be a lenghty project. As it is now, with her Baal runs being less than four minutes it's possible. If I played for 30 mintues every day a year of patient Baaling could get her there.


Well.. on to the skills and stats..

Cold Tree:


Maxed Glacial Spike and Blizzard provide a decent 2352 – 2475 damage AoE slowing attack.

I chose Frozen Armor over Shiver, with the monster's CR low the cold length is usually one second in hell and this is pretty good, also saved a skill point.

One point in Cold Mastery is enough with plus skills and the conviction aura from her mercenary.

With prerequisites the cold tree uses up 45 skill points and I consider it to be completed.


Lightning Tree:

One point Static, TK and TP.

Maxed Lightning Mastery.

Only 23 points used up and so much gain, boosting Dream's lightning damage to 7 – 17000.


Fire Tree:

Maxed Enchant and currently placing points into Warmth and Fire Mastery, goal is 10/10 and can be reached when she's become level 99 :whistling:

Two points in prerequisites.


As far as stats go she has enough strength to wear gear and sufficient dexterity to reach 75% block. The rest of the points are placed into vitality getting her health bulb levels a little above 2400 life.

Total LCS damage is 3252 – 23k, and probably 30-50% more with conviction, at 2.5 attacks per second backed up by 2500 – 5000 damage Blizzards to anything that is not cold immune and can be broken if it is.


Gear:

When the call to arms arrives, by her spirit she's empowered for a great journey to come. Shielded from storms and mighty blows with great valor she treks the plains of hell. Atop her head still a dream lays, the demons know her azure wrath. Kept safe by a raven she waves her mage hands and spells are cast. Viewed through a kaleidoscope the reality soon bends, like an arachnid she hides. Weaving the web of deceit, luring the beasts, sealing their fate by a wedding band of death.



Item readouts are so boring :p


I've taken Greebo's advice and replaced the elemental damage charms with more life, resists and some skillers. Any sorceress skiller gives a lovely boost the the corresponding skill tree's damage output.

FCR is now 40 (10 frame) on the combat switch and 70ish (9 frame) on the Cta and teleport switch and I wouldn't settle for anything less. FHR 87 (7 frame) while fightnig and 142 (6 frame) when teleporting while FBR is the basic SS's BR and I feel I'd like to improve it to 5 frames using a Shael Rune, but I can't afford a loss of 22 to all resistances from the Um Rune until I get that FCR amulet and I'm able to replace my gloves and weapon to give a Silence PB a try.

She still has no life leech. I gave Dracul's a spin from l93 to 94 and although the Life Tap is very nice it triggers too seldom to be really useful so I'm back to drinking potions when it's necessary.

To conclude this update here is an image of her LCS and inventory:

30mbarq.jpg




And a little thank you to all of you for reading and for being such a great community. Lets see for how long can we keep this place going 👍
 
Originally posted by Arfurala on Jan 14, 2008:

Matriarch SheBangs

You have a really sturdy tank that could handle a whole pack of frenzytaurs, and you are doing close to 10k ranged damage of physical, fire, lightning, cold and poison, and you also have teleport to get out of any trouble. What are you?

Matriarch SheBangs, the Ranged Trielemental Enchantress

Before I make this character, I did a serious search in the forum as well as global search engines. I came across several posts that mentions that this build might be viable, but I couldn't find someone actually trying it. So I decided why not.

Level 82

Stats:
Str: 146 (192)
Dex: 25 (84)
Vit: 294 (Life=814)
Eng: 35 (Mana=237)

LCS when Enchant, Venom and Fade all active

Skills:
Maxed Warmth, Enchant, Fire Mastery, Lightning Mastery
1 point in Fire Bolt, Fire Ball, Static Field, Telekinesis, Teleport
8 points in Cold Mastery (rest will go here)

Equipments:
Hellrack
Colossus Crossbow
'Shael'
Two-Hand Damage: 102 to 292
Required Dexterity: 77
Required Strength: 163
Required Level: 76
Crossbow Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x6ed97548
+221% Enhanced Damage
+29 to Attack Rating
Adds 63-324 fire damage
Adds 63-324 lightning damage
Adds 63-324 cold damage over 1 seconds
55% Increased Attack Speed
140% Bonus to Attack Rating
Level 18 Immolation Arrow (150/150 Charges)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Socketed with a Shael, and this:
Tin Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd6a53106
+29 to Attack Rating
15% Increased Attack Speed

Raven Veil
Tiara
Defense: 45
Durability: 22 of 25
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xc61554ab
+26 to Strength
+68 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +14%
Lightning Resist +14%
Cold Resist +33%
Poison Resist +14%
6% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
15% Increased Attack Speed
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Socketed with this:
Sapphire Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x3dd7913d
Cold Resist +19%
15% Increased Attack Speed

Raven Collar
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x4550ac0c
+4 to Dexterity
+10 to Life
Fire Resist +55%
Lightning Resist +19%
Cold Resist +19%
Poison Resist +19%
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels

Treachery

Razortail
Immortal King's Forge
Immortal King's Pillar


Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xac53198a
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+221 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Havoc Master
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x45690e35
+65 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 2
Fire Resist +11%
Lightning Resist +39%
Cold Resist +11%
Poison Resist +11%

Total IAS = 140% (12 FPA)

Charms:
Lapis Large Charm of Storms (Cold Resist +9%, 1-38 lightning damage)
Shivering Small Charm of Sustenance (+11 to Life, 3-6 cold damage)
Shivering Small Charm of Flame (1-2 fire damage, 4-6 cold damage)
Static Small Charm of Winter (1-10 lightning damage, 5-8 cold damage)
Small Charm of Thunder (1-14 lightning damage)
Steel Small Charm of Frost (+35 to Attack Rating, 1-2 cold damage)
Small Charm of Thunder (1-13 lightning damage)
Large Charm of Storms (1-34 lightning damage)
Tangerine Large Charm of Storms(Lightning Resist +4%, 1-35 lightning damage)
Small Charm of Storms (1-28 lightning damage)

And the most important part...
Prebuff Gear:
Volcanic Coronet of the Whale (+92 to Life, +3 to Fire Skills)
Volcanic Amulet of the Squid (+64 to Life, +3 to Fire Skills)
Magefist (+1 to Fire Skills)
Hexfire (+3 to Fire Skills)
Ethereal Spirit Monarch (+2 to All Skill Levels)

Therefore prebuffing my merc and myself with a level 32 Enchant/FM.


Merc (Act II Holy Freeze Merc) His name is Durga.
Merc Gear:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
'Sol'
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x4f9a05aa
+100% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 20%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Shaftstop
Mesh Armor
'Sol'
Defense: 642
Durability: 45 of 45
Required Strength: 92
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x74ab7a6d
+60 to Life
+200% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Damage Reduced by 7
Damage Reduced by 30%
Socketed (1: 1 used)

The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 58 to 687
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 79
Required Strength: 104
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe2628482
+226% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 1 seconds
15% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

Screenies:
Nice place to shoot stuffs
Cheap trick against Meph
Merc showing off himself
Who calls me a moron now?
This is how I took down the hell ancients, Krolic was the most annoying, he doesn't seem to have any interest fighting my merc, all he did was leap attacking on me. So I teleported around until I reached somewhere that he couldn't see me (Thanks to Xdeathfire for this tip 👍 ). Madawc and Talic cornered my merc but they failed to notice that they couldn't do any damage before Madawc got killed). Then we fought Krolic 2 on 1. He's still leaping on me, so I went tele tele tele shoot shoot shoot, tele tele tele shoot shoot shoot. GG Krolic.

I'll continue with some more comments on this char tomorrow.


Thanks for all the congrats, and thanks for correcting the spelling of Korlic (I really didn't notice that before). Now let me continue with some comments about the gameplay...

I twink all my characters, so as this one. She basically started off as a ranged enchantress. Raven Claw is available at lvl 15, and since then, she was able to go through normal like a spree.

Reaching NM and switching to Kuko and Demon Machine makes killing even faster, although they required more dex, I'm glad that the Dex bonuses on IK gloves, Raven Frost and Razortail really helped a lot that I could stay at base dex to use these weapons.

I tried to run NM Andariel once I reached there, hoping to find an SOJ but in vain (I got bored after 200 or so runs, and I really wanted to reach Hell fast), this might be one of the available options for a retirement plan.

After maxing warmth, enchant and FM, I am already at around level 60. At that point I just reached NM Act IV. I put 1 point in CM and started to pump LM. I didn't recall that FI monsters start appearing in late NM, (Winged Demons, Undead Knights) and there are packs of them, so she started to have problems. My merc still holds a non-upped Kelpie, although he has enough PDR to tank safely, the killing speed is still very slow that it takes a lot of patience, sometimes I just have to teleport through the monsters to reach the next waypoint.

The CS is a very dangerous place, since this build will not be viable without a merc, you can't lose him. I tried hit and run to lure the melee undead knights away from the OK and fight them where OKs couldn't see us.

In after beating Baal in NM Act V I continued to run Pindle at /p8 to reach level 76, so that I can equip my end game weapon, the Hellrack, before entering Hell difficulty. At first it is really very annoying to switch from something really fast (DM) to this slow weapon, 12FPA means 2 shots per second... however if your shots are so damaging that they could kill almost any regular monster in 3 to 4 shots, its worth practising.

Teleport becomes my regular right click skill with this build, it is very useful for merc re-positioning, and get out of trouble. You really need to pay a lot of attention to which direction are the monsters coming from. If they start appearing from 2 different directions, you have to teleport out.

No part of the game is particularly difficult, all you need is patience, stay at somewhere safe, always make sure your merc is ready and around, and don't try to make long teleports with 0% FCR (I learnt that in a hard way).

With her terrible resists (when fade is inactive), she died quite a lot, mostly due to gloams, strong poisons also hurt. The next thing is piercing attack from monsters, she got killed by serprents several times, but I'm quite surprised that they don't shoot towards the altar. I died several times to LI monsters, too, before I learnt that they don't release lightning bolts towards their immediate upwards and downwards directions.

To summarize, this is a totally viable build, and I really recommend it to anyone who would like to make something interesting.

:flowers:
 
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