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Diablo 2- Lord of Destruction
PvP Sorceress Guide
Version: Final
FAQ started: 8/12/02
Last Update: 2/27/04
Albert Cho
E-mail: kpboy777@yahoo.com
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--Table of Contents--
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1. Information on Sorceress
2. Version History
3. Disclaimer
4. Sites that can use this guide
5. Stats
6. Skills
7. Recommended Equipment
8. Charms
9. Role of this sorceress
10. Dueling Strategies
11. Credits
12. E-mail Policy
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--1. Information on Sorceress--
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Sorceresses are the spell casters in Diablo 2. They will always use
spells to defeat their enemy, not using hand to hand or ranged combat.
They can easily be the most powerful unit in Diablo 2. Sorceress are
also the most versatile to play and can be the best duelers. This guide
is to show how good sorceress can be in a duel and against monsters.
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--2. Version History--
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Version Final (1.10 Patch) (2/27/04)- Updated the guide for the new
1.10 patch. It's still not even close to done... I need to experiment
with new builds and try and come up with better dueling tips.
Small Update (7/01/03)- How stupid of me. I left out the section for
the amulet. Also made some minor changes here and there. Nothing big.
Version Final (9/07/02)- Finished up my sorceress guide today. It is
finally done and I might make some minor adjustments but it is done for
now. After about 1 month. Hope you find this guide useful.
Version 1.1 (8/14/02)- Finished up my dueling strategies section and
another update will come that will fix up any errors and clear up some
issues.
Version 1.0 (8/12/02)- Started my FAQ on how to make a PvP sorceress.
Will finish soon.
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--3. Disclaimer--
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This FAQ is not in anyway affiliated with Blizzard. This FAQ is
copyright 2002-2003 Albert Cho and can not be used on your site unless
you have my permission. If you want to post this FAQ on your website
then send me an e-mail telling me specific information. (URL etc.) I
will probably say yes 99% of the time if asked. This FAQ shall not be
changed in anyway. If you decide to post on your site without my
permission legal action will take place.
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--4. Sites that can use this guide--
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These are the only sites that are allowed to post my guide on their
site. If this guide is on another site e-mail me their url.
www.gamefaqs.com
www.neoseekers.com
www.ign.com
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--5. Stats--
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Your goal for this build is to have enough strength use your
Stormshield and just put the rest of the points into vitality and
energy until you have what you need. You will have 505 stat points if
your level 99, counting if you did the book quest in Act3. To give you
an idea on how to put your stat points then keep this in mind. With all
your items equipped you want to have the minimum strength requirement
for Stormshield. I can't tell you where to put your stat points at what
level, because your equipment will probably be different then mine.
This is my suggestion. Save all your stat points until you can equip
all your stuff, then put stat points as needed.
My suggestion is that you have at least 800 mana and the rest should be
put into vitality.
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--6. Skills--
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This sorceress build needs to max certain skills in order to be
effective in a duel. I do not care what level you put what skills, as
long as you max the skills you need in the end. These are the skills
you should max before you hit level 99.
Cold Skills: The main branch you will use to defeat your enemies.
Ice Orb: Max this skill
Ice Bolt: Max for synergy
4 for prerequisite
1 to Frozen Armor
1 to Shiver Armor
1 to Chilling Armor
Max Cold Mastery
Fire Skills: You will not use this branch at all.
1 to Warmth
Lightning Skills:
3 prerequisite
1 on Teleport
Telekinesis: Max
Energy Shield: Rest of skill points into here
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--7. Recommended Equipment--
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These equipment should be used to fully bring out the potential of your
sorceress.
Weapon: Oculus / HOTO=(Heart of the Oak)
HOTO is not a bad weapon for dueling and almost anything else you can
do and Oculus can still be used in patch 1.10. If you are lacking mana
severely then go with a 15 all resist Wiz Spike.
Armor: Chains of Honor
This new rune word armor is pretty nice. 2 to all skills with massive
resist bonuses as well as 8% dmg reduce is nice. I chose this over
Enigma because the strength bonus as well as the teleport bonus on the
Enigma is not as good as the 65 to all resist on Chains. You use an
Enigma if you think you will have max resists and need the strength
Gloves: Frostburns
No competition here, Frostburns add 40% to maximum mana and that will
add huge amounts of mana to your limited mana pool.
Boots: Imp Shank(West only)
Imp Shank is a duped rare item that is only available on US West but
I'm sure something similar to it is also available on US East. Anyway
it has faster hit recovery as well as resists and strength bonuses.
Rings: 1 Ravenfrost, 1 Stone of Jordan
I would use 1 Ravenfrost for the can not be frozen mod and the cold
resist with +20 to dex is nice. Use 1 stone of Jordan for the mana
bonus and +1 to skill. You can always use 2 SOJ combo if lacking mana.
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh
Arachnid's Mesh has plus 1 to all skills as well as faster cast rate
which is what this sorceress needs.
Shield: Stormshield(Um)
If you can afford then use Stormshield, because it's a really nice
shield. It has high defense, damage reduce mod with resist and it's
indestructible.
Helm: Shako(Cold 5/-5 facet)
The best sorceress helm in the game and this is one you want to get.
This helm has it all, the + to skills and huge bonus to life and mana.
(More then 100 if you're a high enough level). It also has damage
reduce to even things out and does 2 to each stats.
Amulet: Maras or nice Rare Amulet (Tal Rashas amulet will work too.)
If you need resistance then Maras is the way to go. Tal Rashas amulet
adds nice life and mana bonuses, but I would rather go with Maras.
Getting a rare amulet with +2 to skills along with magic find,
resistance, 10% faster cast rate and other bonuses is the best one you
can use.
The point of the equipment for the PvP sorceress is to have items that
boost a lot to strength and dexterity so you can have skills left over
to put on mana or life.
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--8. Charms--
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Having charms can boost your life greatly and help you out. Sorceress
were designed to have low life by only getting 2 hit points per 1 stat
point you use. In order to get 100 life you need to put 50 stat points.
That is not a lot and you will not have a lot of life. In duels you
need a lot of life in order to survive. I would say about 1000 hit
points is a good number for dueling. This is where charms solve your
problem. If you get 5 small charms that add 20 to life each then your
sorceress life will be boosted.
Your inventory has 40 spaces available. 4x10 rectangle
You should fill every available space if you want to duel. These are
the charms that I suggest you get and they can greatly help you.
10 Cold Skill charms with +40 to life each=30 spaces
1 Annihulus: This charm stats vary but it has +1 to all skills, resists,
stat bonuses as well as more exp gained.
9 small charms that add 20 to life/17 to mana.
This will add + cold skill branch and will give a huge life bonus while
filling up every space. The charms will add 580 to life and with shako
and your other items you should easily get 1000 life. The cold skill
charms will add HP as well as make Frozen Orb damage insanely high.
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--9. Role of this sorceress--
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If you make this sorceress, then you can do almost anything a regular
sorceress can do in Diablo 2. You can finish a Mephisto record quickly
and without dying. Mephisto's attacks are physically based (except for
a few) and can easily be blocked by your sorceress. This sorceress can
clear hell cow runs with ease and those cows will be doing 30 damage if
they hit you. It can kill easily in PvP duels and can take down other
characters easily while having lots of resistance with damage
reduction. I suggest making this sorceress, because its fun and you can
do anything without dying. Its perfect for hardcore characters and it
might relieve the stress of dying a little.
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--10. Dueling Strategies--
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These are the dueling strategies that you can use to defeat your
opponents.
Vs. Barbarians: Barbs can be challenging or very easy to beat. If the
barb wants to cheat and use lots of lightning and cold absorb then
there is no point in dueling the barb. I would not suggest dueling
barbarians in normal, but in hell you will do quite well. If played
right a barb can never kill you. Teleport around in a zigzag pattern to
confuse him and every now and then teleport near him and blast out some
ice orbs while thunderstorm will hit automatically. If used right, the
barb will probably be frustrated and 2 things can occur. The first
thing is that the barbarian will give up and return to town and the
second thing is that he will die.
Vs. Amazons: This is where this sorceress really shines. Amazons were
considered to be the best sorceress killers, but this sorceress can
bring down an Amazon with ease. If the amazon is using a Ballista, then
you will win unless you get stunlocked. The ballista is just too slow
for your teleport. If the amazon is using a fast bow with high damage,
then you might be in a bit of trouble. Against amazons first spread out
in a large arc so their guided arrows can not do anything. Then start
to quickly go to their side and teleport right next to them. This is
smart, because the Amazon will get hit with thunderstorm and get
stunned while you let loose an ice orb to finish off the critically
damaged amazon.
Vs. Assassins: Assassins can be very hard to duel if they are really
good. You will probably be dueling trap assassins and this is the
strategy you should use. Teleport around and never get hit with their
mind blast. Teleport next to them so they get hit with thunderstorm
then teleport away quickly. You shouldn't even get hit with anything
and if you keep doing this then the battle will go to you.
Vs. Druids: Druids are a pain to duel in the new patch. Most dueling
druids you will face will be Windy Druids. If they have enigma then
they can teleport with you. If they maxed elemental armors for
synergies then you are going to in some deep crap.
Vs. Paladins: Paladins that use zeal or charge can not do much against
you. Their zeal will never hit you and you can just teleport away from
their charge. Blessed Hammer damage has been greatly increased with the
new patch. If you get with even 1 hammer you will either die or lose a
lot of life. Fist Pally's can do crazy damage with conviction and with
their new synergies they hit hard. I suggest getting some Wisp
Protectors and try and outlast the pally. Since Frozen Orb's range is
not as far as a Fist pally you will have to get close.
Vs. Necromancers: They will probably use bone spirit, but its really
too slow for your teleport to actually hit you. The problem is that
even if 1 hits you, you will have no life to very little. With the new
synergies necromancers are hard to duel so good luck.
Vs. Sorceress: Against other sorceress you need some basic skills. For
example sorceress will have the same spells as you and they might be
the same type of sorceress as you. I suggest wearing some resistance
items and have lots of mana. Teleport quickly away from them and put
some distance between yourself and them. Then once they are near you,
spray cold orb everywhere and wait for them to reach you. Chances are
you will hit them first and your thunderstorm will hit them and kill
them. This strategy should work against all types of sorceress.
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--11. Credits--
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1. I credit myself for making this guide.
2. I credit Blizzard for making such a fantastic game.
3. I credit gamefaqs for hosting this FAQ.
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--12. E-mail Policy--
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If you want to e-mail me and give me feedback or a tip about my site
then please free to go ahead. People that are rude while criticizing me
will have their e-mail address blocked. If you have questions about the
game then feel free to go ahead and e-mail as long as this guide
doesn't cover it.
