To Static Field or Not To Static Field

I have a cb/fo sorcey at lvl 80. I have been through the whole game and am soloing the pit for a while before I go back and do the endless baal runs to get to lvl 91 or so.

This is my first char on the new ladder. I build a sorcey to mf and fuel my other builds later. I am playing her with a mix of uber and not-so-uber equipment.
Shako - traded a fire skillz charm I found for it.
Vipermagi - cost a p gem I think
magefist - traded a pair of deaths hand gloves for em - not much good for my elements other than for the fast cast.
arachnids belt - nm council dropped a HoZ that I traded for it.
demon stride boots - If I had better I would wear better
Sigons shield - block and +1 skillz, and if I had better I would wear better
suicide branch wand - This is a fine wand, and if it had more to + skills I could see it carrying me a long time, but when i find/trade for something better yippee
runeword lear staff on the switch with +3 frozen armor - I tried chilling and shiver and I like frozen the best
rare fast cast ring with some mana and not much else
another rare ring with some res and mana and not much else
+1 sorc ammy with mana and some life

Decent equipment, but I not going to go into the hall of fame with it right? I do not use energy shield but am going to have max block from my shield.

I have 1 point in static field. With all the pluses from my gear I am at about skill level 7 or 8. I anticipate that as I improve gear I will be able to get it to level 10 or 11. If I go past 91 I may add additonal points into it to get the extra range

If you are playing a cb sorc, I think that it is a given that you are going to get up close and personal with monsters. It is the nature of cb that it is at its strongest the closer things are to you. I have made a cb/hydra sorc and it held true for that build also that things get up close and personal. That works well with having static at a lower number as things are going to be in its reduced range whether you like it or not. I throw out an orb, then a couple of doses of static and then cbcbcbcborbcbcbcborb etc. Static is excellent because it decreases the amount of time that things are going to be alive once they have invaded my personal space. For me this means the difference between killing everything then and there or having to teleport out and repeating. You can kill either way, but static makes it faster and safer.
 
hiphen said:
John
If your on US West Ladder ill give you n occulus so you dont have to carry around that sucide branch.
Heh, thx for the offer pal, but I'm an Eastie.

P.S. to the poster... Max Lightning. It is the only ranged attack you got, it boosts cb 8% per point invested and it is a good boss killer.
 
Those figures are for Hell actually. Using two differrent setups, I use 'godly' items like Fathom and NIghtwing's now but I used to only have Tal's set and I could do the same thing no problem with Blizzard.

I'm more then likely to not put any points into Static Field into any new Sorceress's that I make because I don't like using it. However, all of the people in this conversation have made excellent comments to further boost the advantages of Static Field to pursue other people; and I'm sure that they might have changed their mind on this skill. Just not me...

Thanks for the information though, maybe in the very very distant future, I'll change my mind.
 
TheGreatDivorce said:
I'm more then likely to not put any points into Static Field into any new Sorceress's that I make because I don't like using it.

Yeah, all the speed calculations that were thrown out earlier neglected to calculate the full speed of killing a boss. If I clicked create game, entered the name, hit return, and was immediately dropped into the game right next to Mephisto, the amount of time saved by using static field rather than just meteoring him to death might actually come to something significant. But in fact, actually killing the boss is a fraction of the time any MF run takes. Using static field will never shave more than a couple of percentage points off the time it takes you to complete an MF run.

Now, unless you put more than a single point into it, using it requires you to get up-close-and-personal with some nasty, smelly demons you'd probably rather not get all snuggly with. Personally, I'm with you, I don't like using it either. I've used it many times before, it can indeed shave some time off the kill, but it really ain't worth the hassle...
 
Dreamsmith said:
Yeah, all the speed calculations that were thrown out earlier neglected to calculate the full speed of killing a boss. If I clicked create game, entered the name, hit return, and was immediately dropped into the game right next to Mephisto, the amount of time saved by using static field rather than just meteoring him to death might actually come to something significant. But in fact, actually killing the boss is a fraction of the time any MF run takes. Using static field will never shave more than a couple of percentage points off the time it takes you to complete an MF run.

Now, unless you put more than a single point into it, using it requires you to get up-close-and-personal with some nasty, smelly demons you'd probably rather not get all snuggly with. Personally, I'm with you, I don't like using it either. I've used it many times before, it can indeed shave some time off the kill, but it really ain't worth the hassle...

This is actually why I'm a pretty big advocate of going over just one point in Static Field.

Plus, contrary to what the AS may tell you, Static Field actually becomes -more- powerful with more points; the larger the radius of Static Field becomes, the more monsters you are able to static per strike. When we're talking about 8 player Hell games and a fairly large group of monsters, no skill in the game could even hope to do as much damage per casting as Static Field. The power it has over bosses is only part of what makes it a great skill.
 
Also what seems to be dismissed: With a decent amoutn of +skills Static Field has a farther reach already, and there is NO need to get up close and personal with a monster.

I know that the actual killing time is shorter than connect/reconnect and the actual teleporting. I would be writing about reducing boss killing time, if i hadnt been doing 2000+ Mephruns. BUT the reason i am stressing this, is that with 5-10 seconds you can save, you can over a longer period of time have MORE runs. When doing some insane amoutn of runs you will after a time start to try and reduce your time, since it gets so agonizing after a while.

With a fully synergized BLizzard it would not be that necessary at all since it kills Meph very fast. Mostly i guess it will depend on what you want to do with that sorc in the end.
 
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