Tips to Make the Strongest Overall/General Sorceress

my merc wears fort, infinity and vgaze - meph doesnt even touch him
Are there any specific parts to this setup that helps the mercenary stay alive? I know that Vampire Gaze has a damage reduction % mod and Fortitude does provide nice resistances, but are other other mods that help the mercenary survive against Mephisto?

Thanks,
Victor Ly
*mastavicx and *mastavic



 
Kelpie Snare isn't too bad against Hell Mephisto. With Kelpie Snare (instead of Insight Ethereal Cryptic Axe), I noticed that my mercenary can last two to three times as well. However, I will be rather dependent on my mercenary once I get him an Infinity weapon. Are there other non-weapon items that has the "Slows Target By %" mod?

Thanks,
Victor Ly
*mastavicx and *mastavic

Keep the Kelpie in the Stash, I do. For general questing I give my mercenary Vamp Gaze and a big Insight polearm. For Mephisto I switch out Gaze for Rockstopper and the Kelpie.
Not the most efficient of ways to go about it, it's just the way I've gone about it lately.


 
Keep the Kelpie in the Stash, I do. For general questing I give my mercenary Vamp Gaze and a big Insight polearm. For Mephisto I switch out Gaze for Rockstopper and the Kelpie.
Not the most efficient of ways to go about it, it's just the way I've gone about it lately.
This is good advice, but I do not like swapping items (for my own Sorceress or mercenary). My stash is already full as it is, and a few magic find runs usually ends up with me needing to transfer. I was looking for a setup that is viable for general needs and not different gear setups I must swap. In any case, I appreciate your response.

Thank you,
Victor Ly



 
Just make sure u kill meph as fast as u can because thats the best way to ensure ur merc stays alive. In my opinion meph is nothing close to as deadly as andy when it comes to merc frying. Meph is slow and does crap physical dmg, where as andy could fry ur merc in 2 seconds, since she does alot of dmg and cannot be chilled. My merc with the crappy setup i mentioned rarely dies, even in WSK, if i decide to do a wsk run sometimes. Its not about the equips, its about how u keep ur merc alive using whatever u could get ur hands on. U could slap on the best items on ur merc and he'll still get fried in 2 seconds when a pack of stygian witches decides to amp and shoot their missles at him.
 
theres 4 ways to increase surviability of your mercs, resistances, dr, defense, slow/chill target.

ebugged eth fort would likely give a merc enough defense to dodge most physical attacks (i rolled a 4 socket 1125 great haub recently actualy) and apparently dr isnt very helpful either 0,..,0 the infinity is obvious. the gaze would give dr in case something gets past his defense, and also massive leech. with this set up you should kill things so fast that your merc will never be in danger for more than a few seconds during big mob swarms.

sadly infinity is expensive and finding a good 4socket eth pole (not ugly CV) is difficult as well.
 
Are there any specific parts to this setup that helps the mercenary stay alive? I know that Vampire Gaze has a damage reduction % mod and Fortitude does provide nice resistances, but are other other mods that help the mercenary survive against Mephisto?

Thanks,
Victor Ly
*mastavicx and *mastavic


other than a huge life boost on fort and LL on vgaze? conviction also greatly speeds up killing meph, giving him less chance to hit the merc. the best def is a good offense blablabla


 
other than a huge life boost on fort and LL on vgaze? conviction also greatly speeds up killing meph, giving him less chance to hit the merc. the best def is a good offense blablabla
What do you do to offset being freeze? I am currently using an ethereal Duriel's Shell, which has the Cannot Be Frozen mod, but the items your mercenary are using do not have such a mod.

Thanks,
Victor Ly
*mastavicx and *mastavic



 
with infinity there really isnt any monster that you will not be able to kill in quick time so even if trusthworthy merc is chillded it wont matter because you are doing 40thousand damage. kykle said it best with the offense defense thing.

of course you could always Cham your gaze(which hopefuly has 20dr and good leech and is eth).
 
with infinity there really isnt any monster that you will not be able to kill in quick time so even if trusthworthy merc is chillded it wont matter because you are doing 40thousand damage. kykle said it best with the offense defense thing.

of course you could always Cham your gaze(which hopefuly has 20dr and good leech and is eth).
True; I'm just going to let my mercenary turn blue. Heck, maybe then he'll stay by my side longer and not wander off too quickly, which may actually lead him to stay alive longer.

I'm thinking about throwing an Andariel's Visage on him, which has 20%IAS, 10% life leech, and +30 Strength. With Andariel's Visage, he can wear an ethereal bugged Fortitude Sacred Armor. Additionally, I can throw an IAS jewel in the helmet and get the hireling to attack at 7 frames, which could help me leech and stay alive.

Any thoughts? Thanks,
Victor Ly



 
Last edited:
if you cant use the fort w/o it then i guess you really have no choice. sure its ugly but it has great mods.

once you have infinity the merc will likely be nothing more than a portable conviction aura glow stick. just tele and shoot to the point where he doensnt even need to mele. and if he does its unlikely hed get hurt with the massive defense.
 
if you cant use the fort w/o it then i guess you really have no choice. sure its ugly but it has great mods.
Oh, the Andariel's Visage is for the mercenary, not me. And because it's being worn by a mercenary, the helmet won't actually show up visually. He can get a lower strength requirement armor, but I wanted to get him the highest defense possible, hence, Sacred Armor.



 
even if you cant see it, you know its there :).

finding that perfect 1350 sacred will be very difficult and who ever has it will likely ask for several hrs.
 
even if you cant see it, you know its there :).
lol. Oh well, my own Sorceress is wearing a Tal Rasha's mask, so... haha. At least with the full Tal Rasha's set, the Sorceress glows.

finding that perfect 1350 sacred will be very difficult and who ever has it will likely ask for several hrs.
Oh, I'm not striving for perfection, don't worry. Just wanted a Sacred Armor because with the Andariel's Visage on, it would be possible to use it. I don't need a perfect defense one, and I am planning to ethereal bug it myself.

Thanks,
Victor Ly



 
like you said, chilling isnt a bad thing. all you need is for the merc to conviction the boss, his melee isnt important
 
Have you tried changing your diablo screen resolution from 640*480 to 800*600. It changed my whole game for me. Sorcy spells have higher range than the screen size in 640*480 screen. It helps you to kill monsters much faster and more efficiently.
Also teleport is your friend vs bosses . My mercenary wears shaft / Rockstopper / Reapers troll and has no problem against mephisto or andariel . Decreptify is great against bosses. Keep teleing him whenever his life goes low and feeding a healing potion simaltaneously. Also dont forget to chill meph with fo . Chilled + decreptified mephisto makes you own him easily.

If you are going constant mephisto running though , moat trick without merc is much better and less micro / intensive than killing him with merc. The 800*600 screen resolution helps a lot in using moat trick . If you are on the other hand doing a baal + mephisto + andy + pits + countess run. Then tanking him with merc is ok. Also you gain a lot of full rej's during the other runs which will help you against andy/mephisto. Andy runs with a none- fire sorceress is painful .
 
Back
Top