Diablo 2: Resurrected
Khione, Level 96 • Pure Blizzard Sorceress
Blizzard Sorceress is one of the most popular builds due to her ability to deal high damage and therefore get rid of monsters quickly. She is often one of the first characters players create since she can effectively farm in one of the most rewarding areas, the Ancient Tunnels. However, this Blizzard Sorceress leaves the Magic Find part aside and focuses on dealing insane damage while also maintaining high survivability.
Khione's name comes from the Goddess of Snow in Greek Mythology. After all only a Goddess of Ice and Snow could maneuver such Blizzard power and be nearly immune to Cold Damage which makes Players 8 look like a walk in the park!
Positive
+ Insane Damage
+ Cold Mastery
+ High FCR
+ Excellent FHR
+ Maxed Resists
+ High Cold Resistance
+ Extremely Effective at Players 8
Negative
- Fragile
- Very Rare Gear
- Unbreakable Cold Immunes
- Blizzard has High Cooldown
- Blizzard hits Random Targets
Stats & Skills
Just put enough Strength for gear and put the rest points into Vitality.
Sorceress is quite a fragile character so make sure to take advantage of every stat point you can to increase your Health.
Skills are something already well known so I won't get into details. We obviously need to max Blizzard and its synergies which will leave us with plenty skills points so what's left to decide is:
Since we are in the Cold Skill Tree, we have easy access to all Cold Armors so basically the 1-2 extra points we need to spend to unlock an armor skill are not an obstacle. We need to focus on the main point. Which is the best armor to use? Cold Armors are not a crucial part of any build but they are one of the best candidates to spend our last remaining points. In any case, if you don't want to invest on them make sure to at least use one of them with a base point of 1 since they are a one point wonder skills. Blizzard is preparing changes for these Armors so there's a high chance that this part will be edited later.
Cold Mastery
In order to maximize the effectiveness of this Sorceress and any Sorceress that relies on Cold Skills we must know how Cold Mastery works and how many points should we invest on it. Among the other two Elemental Skill Trees Sorceress has, Cold Mastery is what makes the Cold Tree unique. Τhe Cold Mastery reduces the Cold Resistance of your enemies. It's an extremely useful skill which passively reduces the Cold Resistance by a large amount. Luckily, the formula is not complicated at all since all we have to do is to subtract the Resistance of a Monster with the value of our Cold Mastery. For example, if we have level 1 of Cold Mastery which grants -20% Cold Resistance and a monster has 50% Cold Resistance then with simple math we can find that the monster will end up with 30% Cold Resistance.
Just like it happens with our Characters, a Monster's resistance can't go below -100%. This is the maximum negative resistance so it gives us a hint on how many points should we start estimating on spending. Dropping a Monster's Cold Resistance to -100% would mean that our Cold Skills would deal double damage. Cold Mastery starts at -20% Cold Resistance at level 1 and for each Skill Point added it will be further increased by -5%.
Of course in-game you never know how much Cold Resistance each Monster has so going with a high Cold Mastery would ensure to deal maximum damage to nearly all monsters. It's very helpful to know that most non Cold Immune Monsters will have a Cold Resistance of 50 and below so a level 27 Cold Mastery would be more than enough. Even if you encounter monsters with 75% Cold Resistance, a level 27 Cold Mastery would drop it down to -75%. That's still extremely high which will increase your damage by a large amount but even with a much lower Cold Mastery you can still do perfectly fine depending on your gear. Furthermore, any -% to Enemy Cold Resistance gear that you have, most likely Cold Facets, will stack with your Cold Mastery so keep that in mind when investing points to the Skill. Looking at the advanced statistics table in D2R we can check the -% Resistance we have to all Elements so it makes the calculations for us and guarantees that we haven't missed anything.
Cold Mastery is also what makes a Cold Facet having a lower value to a Sorceress. In most cases the -% to an element is a rare and very powerful stat but due to Cold Mastery the -5% a Facet can provide is not a big deal. A Cold Sorceress will take more advantage of +% to Cold Skill Damage instead. In any case, a Cold Facet is still very useful to increase the Cold Damage of your skills and save a few points from Cold Mastery. Eventually, it comes down to a personal preference on how many points to invest in Cold Mastery. A player may farm a single area and adapt the Cold Mastery to match the highest Creature's Cold Immunity. Personally, I would aim for at least a level 17 Cold Mastery. Just equip all of your gear and see how many points you are missing to reach the desirable Cold Mastery level.
Maxed Resists, 90% FHR, 105% FCR with 16k Blizzard Damage are some of the highlights of this build.
Gear
As already stated, this is a pure Blizzard Sorceress so our goal is to maximize the skill's damage with high Faster Cast Rate and of course keeping as high survivability as possible with maxed resists and very high Faster Hit Recovery. The gear we are using is extremely hard to find since most of the stuff are perfect and the rest gear contains some really rare items like the Rare Boots, the Crafted Amulet, the two Soj and eventually a Torch and an Anni with high stats to maximize our resistances. However, don't get discouraged if you can't get you hands into such items as any standard Sorceress Blizzard build is still very powerful and will do perfectly fine with non perfect items and with items of lower quality. With this setup nothing will survive more than two Blizzard casts in Hell at Players 8. As you may have noticed, we are also not using any Rare Runeword which leaves some room for customization with the Sockets we can equip in the Weapon, the Armor and the Helm. There's no need to keep anything in the stash, this build is equipped with everything it needs. Use small charms to fill any holes you have in resistances and in Faster Hit Recovery.
Weapon: Death's Fathom + Perfect Cold Facet
Shield: Spirit
Armor: Ormus' Robes + Perfect Cold Facet
Helm: Nightwing's Veil + Um
Gloves: Trang-Oul's Claws
Belt: Snowclash
Boots: Rare (FRW, FHR, Resists)
Rings: Stone of Jordan x2
Amulet: Crafted (+2/10 FCR/Resists)
Switch: Call to Arms + Spirit
Faster Cast Rate: 105% // Death's Fathom (20%), Spirit (35%), Ormu's Robe's (20%), Trang-Oul's (20%), Crafted Amulet (10%)
The Faster Cast Rate at 105% is ideal for this Sorceress. The next breakpoint is heavily gear dependent and won't match this build. Plus, Blizzard which is our main attack is a skill with Cooldown so we wouldn't be able to take advantage of a 200% Faster Cast Rate build. At 105% FCR a Sorceress already teleports fast and uses the rest of the skills quite fast as well.
Faster Hit Recovery: 86 // Spirit (55%), Rare Boots (10%), Charms (20%)
Faster Hit Recovery is often neglected in casters because it's mostly missing from most caster items. Spirit is what makes it viable to invest in FHR and Boots can usally help to hit the next breakpoint. Charms are optional and can be used in case Boots alone can't.
Resistances: Maxed
This build focuses so much on damage that having very high resistances is easy but having them maxed is very hard. However, if you make some tiny changes by socketing an Um rune in Ormu's Robes and swapping one SoJ for a rare ring to fill the Resistances you are lacking it will be much much easier.
The gear is definitely not easy to come by but pays off really well!
Mercenary
Weapon: Obedience
Armor: Treachery
Helm: Andariel's Visage (Ral)
The choices of a Mercenary for a Blizzard Sorceress may vary. Just because you are using Cold Spells doesn't mean that a Holy Freeze Mercenary is out of the question. He can still provide safety while teleporting since his aura will quickly chill all nearby monsters something that you still can't do. Personally, I prefer to go on the offessivne since Cold Immunities can be a problem. This is why we will go with an Act 2 Might Mercenary equipped with a high damaging weapon such as the Obedience. The Reaper's Toll would do great in combination with your cold attacks but non immune monsters will simply die before they even get chilled. Treachery and Andarie's Visage are two very popular choices that work very well. Both provide Attack Speed which is very important when focusing in high damage output.
Why not Infinity?
Even though Infinity is a great offensive weapon its main use is to support a caster's spells. There are quite a few reasons why Infinity doesn't work that good with a Cold Sorceress. Against non-immunes Cold Mastery already does all the hard work so the extra resistance reduction from Conviction would only benefit you if you don't rely on Cold Mastery that much. Infinity would work wonders in combination with Cold Mastery against Cold Immunities that the Conviction Aura can break. However, most Cold Immunities in Hell have so high Cold Resistance that Conviction can't break them therefore Cold Mastery doesn't apply at all. The most popular areas with Cold immunities can't be broken so it's better to invest in a different weapon. You can check whether or not Infinity breaks the Cold Immunity in the area you are planning to farm and adapt accordingly. Use it if it can breaks the Cold Immunity (most likely it won't) or swap to a more damaging weapon.
Areas to Farm
Since this is not a Magic Find build perhaps you won't to avoid farming in Ancient Tunnels. With this kind of gear, farming in Players 8 is mandatory otherwise you are pretty much wasting every piece of it. Our farming can start at Chaos Sanctuary with the only problem being the Oblivion Knights. The Infector of Souls can also spawn with Cold Immunity so you have to rely on your Mercenary. After Diablo we can move towards Baal. In our way we can farm in the Worldstone Chamber level 2 and 3. Unfortunately, there are also quite a few monsters that can spawn with an Immunity to Cold. The Baal waves are all extremely easy to handle. The second wave is the only one that comes with Cold Immunes which are the Burning Dead Cold Mages so make sure to switch back to players 1 and let your Mercenary deal with them as fast as possible. They are weak and one hit from your Mercenary will be enough. After Baal we can take a quick trip in Travincal which is a very popular place for runes. If it's an area you love farming look no further since with an Infinity you will be able to quickly deal with all the Councils. Lastly, a visit in Durance of Hate level 3 is also worth it mostly because of the Councils. After defeating Mephisto, we can take the portal to the Pandemonium Fortress, save and repeat the farming.
Conclusion
A Blizzard Sorceress can become very powerful even with mediocre gear which is easy to acquire. This build focuses too much on damage but without sacrificing the survivability. There's literally no regular monster that can withstand a single Blizzard cast at Players 8. The massive Blizzard damage combined with Cold Mastery leads to an insane outcome. The real question is; do you need that much damage? With the current farming areas I wouldn't say you can take advantage of this build. If everything falls down in seconds it means that you can lower your damage and invest in something else. It's a very hard setup to pull it through so make sure to make the necessary changes which will bring your Sorceress closer to your needs. However, if you want to follow this build prepare for some slaughter!
Khione, Level 96 • Pure Blizzard Sorceress
Blizzard Sorceress is one of the most popular builds due to her ability to deal high damage and therefore get rid of monsters quickly. She is often one of the first characters players create since she can effectively farm in one of the most rewarding areas, the Ancient Tunnels. However, this Blizzard Sorceress leaves the Magic Find part aside and focuses on dealing insane damage while also maintaining high survivability.Khione's name comes from the Goddess of Snow in Greek Mythology. After all only a Goddess of Ice and Snow could maneuver such Blizzard power and be nearly immune to Cold Damage which makes Players 8 look like a walk in the park!
Positive
+ Insane Damage
+ Cold Mastery
+ High FCR
+ Excellent FHR
+ Maxed Resists
+ High Cold Resistance
+ Extremely Effective at Players 8
Negative
- Fragile
- Very Rare Gear
- Unbreakable Cold Immunes
- Blizzard has High Cooldown
- Blizzard hits Random Targets
Stats & Skills
Just put enough Strength for gear and put the rest points into Vitality.
Sorceress is quite a fragile character so make sure to take advantage of every stat point you can to increase your Health.
Skills are something already well known so I won't get into details. We obviously need to max Blizzard and its synergies which will leave us with plenty skills points so what's left to decide is:
- Which Cold Armor to use
- How many points to invest in Cold Mastery
Since we are in the Cold Skill Tree, we have easy access to all Cold Armors so basically the 1-2 extra points we need to spend to unlock an armor skill are not an obstacle. We need to focus on the main point. Which is the best armor to use? Cold Armors are not a crucial part of any build but they are one of the best candidates to spend our last remaining points. In any case, if you don't want to invest on them make sure to at least use one of them with a base point of 1 since they are a one point wonder skills. Blizzard is preparing changes for these Armors so there's a high chance that this part will be edited later.
- Frozen Armor - Offers the lowest defense and freezes monsters only when they hit you. The freeze duration is extremely low in Hell.
- Shiver Armor - Offers the highest defense and chills monsters that are trying to hit you.
- Chilling Armor - Offers higher defense that Frozen but lower defense than Shiver. Retaliates only to Ranged attackers with Ice Bolts.
Cold Mastery
In order to maximize the effectiveness of this Sorceress and any Sorceress that relies on Cold Skills we must know how Cold Mastery works and how many points should we invest on it. Among the other two Elemental Skill Trees Sorceress has, Cold Mastery is what makes the Cold Tree unique. Τhe Cold Mastery reduces the Cold Resistance of your enemies. It's an extremely useful skill which passively reduces the Cold Resistance by a large amount. Luckily, the formula is not complicated at all since all we have to do is to subtract the Resistance of a Monster with the value of our Cold Mastery. For example, if we have level 1 of Cold Mastery which grants -20% Cold Resistance and a monster has 50% Cold Resistance then with simple math we can find that the monster will end up with 30% Cold Resistance.Just like it happens with our Characters, a Monster's resistance can't go below -100%. This is the maximum negative resistance so it gives us a hint on how many points should we start estimating on spending. Dropping a Monster's Cold Resistance to -100% would mean that our Cold Skills would deal double damage. Cold Mastery starts at -20% Cold Resistance at level 1 and for each Skill Point added it will be further increased by -5%.
- If a monster has 0% Cold Resistance then a level 17 Cold Mastery (-100%) would be ideal since it would drop its resistance to -100%.
- If a monster has 50% Cold Resistance then a level 27 Cold Mastery (-150%) would be ideal since it would drop its resistance to -100%.
- If a monster has 75% Cold Resistance then a level 32 Cold Mastery (-175%) would be ideal since it would drop its resistance to -100%.
- If a monster has 100% Cold Resistance and above it becomes immune, Cold Mastery on its own can't do anything. More of this below.
Of course in-game you never know how much Cold Resistance each Monster has so going with a high Cold Mastery would ensure to deal maximum damage to nearly all monsters. It's very helpful to know that most non Cold Immune Monsters will have a Cold Resistance of 50 and below so a level 27 Cold Mastery would be more than enough. Even if you encounter monsters with 75% Cold Resistance, a level 27 Cold Mastery would drop it down to -75%. That's still extremely high which will increase your damage by a large amount but even with a much lower Cold Mastery you can still do perfectly fine depending on your gear. Furthermore, any -% to Enemy Cold Resistance gear that you have, most likely Cold Facets, will stack with your Cold Mastery so keep that in mind when investing points to the Skill. Looking at the advanced statistics table in D2R we can check the -% Resistance we have to all Elements so it makes the calculations for us and guarantees that we haven't missed anything.Cold Mastery is also what makes a Cold Facet having a lower value to a Sorceress. In most cases the -% to an element is a rare and very powerful stat but due to Cold Mastery the -5% a Facet can provide is not a big deal. A Cold Sorceress will take more advantage of +% to Cold Skill Damage instead. In any case, a Cold Facet is still very useful to increase the Cold Damage of your skills and save a few points from Cold Mastery. Eventually, it comes down to a personal preference on how many points to invest in Cold Mastery. A player may farm a single area and adapt the Cold Mastery to match the highest Creature's Cold Immunity. Personally, I would aim for at least a level 17 Cold Mastery. Just equip all of your gear and see how many points you are missing to reach the desirable Cold Mastery level.
Maxed Resists, 90% FHR, 105% FCR with 16k Blizzard Damage are some of the highlights of this build.
Gear
As already stated, this is a pure Blizzard Sorceress so our goal is to maximize the skill's damage with high Faster Cast Rate and of course keeping as high survivability as possible with maxed resists and very high Faster Hit Recovery. The gear we are using is extremely hard to find since most of the stuff are perfect and the rest gear contains some really rare items like the Rare Boots, the Crafted Amulet, the two Soj and eventually a Torch and an Anni with high stats to maximize our resistances. However, don't get discouraged if you can't get you hands into such items as any standard Sorceress Blizzard build is still very powerful and will do perfectly fine with non perfect items and with items of lower quality. With this setup nothing will survive more than two Blizzard casts in Hell at Players 8. As you may have noticed, we are also not using any Rare Runeword which leaves some room for customization with the Sockets we can equip in the Weapon, the Armor and the Helm. There's no need to keep anything in the stash, this build is equipped with everything it needs. Use small charms to fill any holes you have in resistances and in Faster Hit Recovery.
Weapon: Death's Fathom + Perfect Cold Facet
Shield: Spirit
Armor: Ormus' Robes + Perfect Cold Facet
Helm: Nightwing's Veil + Um
Gloves: Trang-Oul's Claws
Belt: Snowclash
Boots: Rare (FRW, FHR, Resists)
Rings: Stone of Jordan x2
Amulet: Crafted (+2/10 FCR/Resists)
Switch: Call to Arms + Spirit
- Death's Fathom is definitely the best weapon to go. As already stated above, due to Cold Mastery +% To Cold Skill Damage is far more important than -% to enemy Cold Resistance and this weapon offers quite a nice boost. Along with some Skills, Resists, FCR and a Socket is by far the best choice. Use a Perfect Cold Facet to socket it since you don't have many better choices.
- There's not much to say about Spirit. It's usually the best shield for casters without anything coming close to its stats and cheap value. Plus 2 to Skills, very high Faster Cast Rate, amazing Faster Hit Recovery which is hard to come by for casters and opens some room to hit higher breakpoints, mana and health boost and with a great boost to resistances as well. Enough said.
- Ormu's Robes not only comes with an increase in Cold Damage but it can roll with +3 to Blizzard. The combination leads to a massive damage increment. Along with some more FCR and one more Socket it's a great choice. You can use another Cold Facet here or an Um Rune if you are lacking resistances.
- Nightwing's Veil comes to increase the damage even more. With +2 to Skills and another great boost to Cold Skill damage, our Blizzard Sorcy is simply getting out of control already. The -50% Requirements is a bless allowing us to equip it without spending any more points in Strength while also the Cold Absorb it provides is a nice bonus. An Um or a Cold Facet for a Socket choice will do perfectly fine.
- With the right setup, Snowclash is unmatched in this build. With +2 to Blizzard, +3 to Glacial Spike and some nice bonuses such as the maximum Cold Resist and Cold Absorb it is the ultimate belt!
- Trang Oul's Claws is one of the two most popular choices with the other one being the Magefists due to both providing Faster Cast Rate. In this build we definitely need the Trang-Oul's Claws since apart from the FCR the Cold Resistance they provide will help us reach the 90 Cold Resistance Snowclash makes possible.
- Boots usually come last in order to fill any hole we have in the build. These Rare Boots help us maximize our resistances and add 10% FHR which is a step forward in hitting the 86 FHR breakpoint.
- Mara's Kaleidoscope would work really well but we need more FCR. This is why a rare/crafted amulet with +2 to skills, 10% FCR and resists is required and Mara's Kaleidoscope won't be missed at all.
- With every slot filled with items that already provide us everything we need, the Ring slots are free to equip x2 Stone of Jordan to increase our Blizzard damage even more. The extra mana those rings provide is a great bonus as well.
- Call to Arms is very important due to the low health pool of Sorceress. Use it constantly and make sure not to teleport into a group of monsters with or without it.
Faster Cast Rate: 105% // Death's Fathom (20%), Spirit (35%), Ormu's Robe's (20%), Trang-Oul's (20%), Crafted Amulet (10%)
The Faster Cast Rate at 105% is ideal for this Sorceress. The next breakpoint is heavily gear dependent and won't match this build. Plus, Blizzard which is our main attack is a skill with Cooldown so we wouldn't be able to take advantage of a 200% Faster Cast Rate build. At 105% FCR a Sorceress already teleports fast and uses the rest of the skills quite fast as well.
Faster Hit Recovery: 86 // Spirit (55%), Rare Boots (10%), Charms (20%)
Faster Hit Recovery is often neglected in casters because it's mostly missing from most caster items. Spirit is what makes it viable to invest in FHR and Boots can usally help to hit the next breakpoint. Charms are optional and can be used in case Boots alone can't.
Resistances: Maxed
This build focuses so much on damage that having very high resistances is easy but having them maxed is very hard. However, if you make some tiny changes by socketing an Um rune in Ormu's Robes and swapping one SoJ for a rare ring to fill the Resistances you are lacking it will be much much easier.
The gear is definitely not easy to come by but pays off really well!
Mercenary
Weapon: Obedience
Armor: Treachery
Helm: Andariel's Visage (Ral)
The choices of a Mercenary for a Blizzard Sorceress may vary. Just because you are using Cold Spells doesn't mean that a Holy Freeze Mercenary is out of the question. He can still provide safety while teleporting since his aura will quickly chill all nearby monsters something that you still can't do. Personally, I prefer to go on the offessivne since Cold Immunities can be a problem. This is why we will go with an Act 2 Might Mercenary equipped with a high damaging weapon such as the Obedience. The Reaper's Toll would do great in combination with your cold attacks but non immune monsters will simply die before they even get chilled. Treachery and Andarie's Visage are two very popular choices that work very well. Both provide Attack Speed which is very important when focusing in high damage output.
Why not Infinity?
Even though Infinity is a great offensive weapon its main use is to support a caster's spells. There are quite a few reasons why Infinity doesn't work that good with a Cold Sorceress. Against non-immunes Cold Mastery already does all the hard work so the extra resistance reduction from Conviction would only benefit you if you don't rely on Cold Mastery that much. Infinity would work wonders in combination with Cold Mastery against Cold Immunities that the Conviction Aura can break. However, most Cold Immunities in Hell have so high Cold Resistance that Conviction can't break them therefore Cold Mastery doesn't apply at all. The most popular areas with Cold immunities can't be broken so it's better to invest in a different weapon. You can check whether or not Infinity breaks the Cold Immunity in the area you are planning to farm and adapt accordingly. Use it if it can breaks the Cold Immunity (most likely it won't) or swap to a more damaging weapon.
Areas to Farm
Since this is not a Magic Find build perhaps you won't to avoid farming in Ancient Tunnels. With this kind of gear, farming in Players 8 is mandatory otherwise you are pretty much wasting every piece of it. Our farming can start at Chaos Sanctuary with the only problem being the Oblivion Knights. The Infector of Souls can also spawn with Cold Immunity so you have to rely on your Mercenary. After Diablo we can move towards Baal. In our way we can farm in the Worldstone Chamber level 2 and 3. Unfortunately, there are also quite a few monsters that can spawn with an Immunity to Cold. The Baal waves are all extremely easy to handle. The second wave is the only one that comes with Cold Immunes which are the Burning Dead Cold Mages so make sure to switch back to players 1 and let your Mercenary deal with them as fast as possible. They are weak and one hit from your Mercenary will be enough. After Baal we can take a quick trip in Travincal which is a very popular place for runes. If it's an area you love farming look no further since with an Infinity you will be able to quickly deal with all the Councils. Lastly, a visit in Durance of Hate level 3 is also worth it mostly because of the Councils. After defeating Mephisto, we can take the portal to the Pandemonium Fortress, save and repeat the farming.
Conclusion
A Blizzard Sorceress can become very powerful even with mediocre gear which is easy to acquire. This build focuses too much on damage but without sacrificing the survivability. There's literally no regular monster that can withstand a single Blizzard cast at Players 8. The massive Blizzard damage combined with Cold Mastery leads to an insane outcome. The real question is; do you need that much damage? With the current farming areas I wouldn't say you can take advantage of this build. If everything falls down in seconds it means that you can lower your damage and invest in something else. It's a very hard setup to pull it through so make sure to make the necessary changes which will bring your Sorceress closer to your needs. However, if you want to follow this build prepare for some slaughter!
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