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STK's Guide to the PvP Vitality Sorceress
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Version 1.3
Version History
1.3 - Updated the layout
1.2 - Improved "The Basics of Dueling"
1.1 - Added "The Basics of Dueling"
1.0 - Initial posting of this guide
NOTE: This guide is currently a work in progress. It is in no way, shape
or form a final version at it's current state. This guide will reposted
again in it's final form.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. About the Sorceress
III. Your Goals
IV. Your Stats
V. Blizzard - Skills
VI. Blizzard - Items
VII. Lightning - Skills
VIII. Lightning - Items
IX. Fire - Skills
X. Fire - Items
XI. The Basics of Dueling
XII. Dueling Amazons (In Progress)
XIII. Dueling Assassins (In Progress)
XIV. Dueling Barbarians (In Progress)
XV. Dueling Druids (In Progress)
XVI. Dueling Necromancers (In Progress)
XVII. Dueling Paladins (In Progress)
XVIII. Dueling Sorceresses (In Progress)
XIX. Conclusion/Credits (In Progress)
XX. Interesting Information (In Progress)
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I. Introduction
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This guide was written by me, ShugoTenshiKrys of the USWest Ladder Realms,
in an effort to provide a reliable source of information for any player
about a Vitality Sorceress; specficially created towards Player vs. Player
use, even though the exact same setups would do very well with Player vs.
Monster use. This guide focuses on Vitality-based Caster Sorceresses, not
their Weapon-based sisters a.k.a. the Enchantresses.
When one says "Vitality Sorceress", it generally means the following types
of Sorceresses, all of which focus on the Vitality stat and do not follow
the path of an "Energy Shield Sorceress": Blizzard (Cold), Lightning, and
Fire. Of course, like a Frozen Orb Sorceress, all three can decide to
follow an Energy Shield route. However, this being a Vitality-based guide,
we will not go in depth with such a route. Frozen Orb does not "officially"
have a Vitality-based counterpart.
This guide will cover the Vitality-based Blizzard, Lightning, and Fire
Sorceresses. It will cover everything you will need to know when creating
and making such Sorceresses; the goals for each character and their
respective stats, skills, and possible item setups. And, for those readers
who would like to know beforehand, in this guide, all of the Sorceresses
will aim for 86FHR, 63/105/117/200 FCR (63 and 105 for Blizzard, 117 and
200 for Lightning, and 105 and 200 for Fire), and at least +20 total skills
to their main skill tree. There are a few other goals ranging from Damage
Reduction to Resistances to Blocking; these are not our "core" goals like
the three listed a sentence ago, but rather "finishing touches" to increase
our Sorceress' respective in-game ability.
A final note, this guide will not cover any dual-tree or tri-elementalist
builds because they are not as successful as pure-tree builds in PvP; the
focus of this guide is PvP after all.
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II. About the Sorceress
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Initial Stats
40 Life
74 Stamina
35 Mana
10 Strength
25 Dexterity
10 Vitality
35 Energy
Level Up Bonuses
+5 Unused Stat Points
+1 Unused Skill Point
+1 Life
+1 Stamina
+2 Mana
Stat Point Increases
Adding 1 Unused Stat Point into Vitality = +2 Life & +1 Stamina
Addint 1 Unused Stat Point into Energy = +2 Mana
For reference, the game generally runs at 25 frames per second. So for
example, if you have 200% Faster Cast Rate, you will cast any non-timered
spell (except Lightning and Chain Lightning) 3.57 times a second (divide 25
by whatever breakpoint your hitting; 200FCR = 7, so 25 divided by 7 equals
approximately 3.57).
FHR (Faster Hit Recovery) [Helps recover from strong hits faster]
0% 15
5% 14
9% 13
14% 12
20% 11
30% 10
42% 9
60% 8
86% 7
142% 6
FCR (Faster Cast Rate) [For all non-timered spells except the two below]
0% 13
9% 12
20% 11
37% 10
63% 9
105% 8
200% 7
FCR (Faster Cast Rate) [For Lightning and Chain Lightning]
0% 19
7% 18
15% 17
23% 16
35% 15
52% 14
78% 13
117% 12
194% 11
FBR (Faster Block Rate) [Not important unless you use blocking]
0% 9
7% 8
15% 7
27% 6
48% 5
86% 4
200% 3
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III. Your Goals
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All three Sorceresses should follow these goals:
+20 total skills to their main skill tree
86FHR
Maxed if not Stacked Resistances
63FCR or 105FCR (Blizzard only)
117FCR or 200FCR (Lightning only)
105FCR or 200FCR (Fire only)
20% +Cold Damage% (Blizzard only)
2000 Life with Battle Orders (from CTA) and Oak Sage if avalible
666 Mana with Battle Orders (from CTA)*
All three Sorceresses should follow these goals as they prefer:
+24 total skills to their main skill tree
142FHR
At least 50% +Cold Damage% (Blizzard Only)
50% or 75% Blocking (Not for 200FCR)
43DR or 50DR (Not for 200FCR)
3000 Life with Battle Orders (from CTA) and Oak Sage if avalible
2000 Mana with Battle Orders (from CTA)*
*It's a personal preference of mine, Mana after BO = 2/3 of Life after BO.
200FCR Sorceresses are very limiting in gear choices, so things such as Max
Block and 43 or 50 Damage Reduction are impossible without using bugged
items; which this guide frowns upon. Well, Max Block is possible, however
doing so with a 200FCR Sorceress means doing it with a Spirit Monarch. It
will require a big chunk of your stat points and put a big dent in your
Life.
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IV. Your Stats
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Your stat points will be distributed as follows:
STR - As low as possible, preferably base. Aim for 156 after items.
DEX - Either enough for 50% with the shield of your choice or base
VIT - All remaining points, preferably all.
ENE - Base
You want to hit 156STR total (preferably right on the dot if you planned
out your Sorceress correctly) after your gear and charms. You should never
need add any points past 100STR. Getting that extra 56STR is easy for any
one at any point of time.
For DEX, ideally you would leave this at base (don't touch it at all).
However, if you wish to have blocking availible to you, either put enough
DEX into here to achieve either 50% or 75% (your choice) chance to block.
Don't forget to take in +DEX from your gear while you put points in DEX.
Use the following equation to determine how much DEX you need to achieve
after equipment/charm bonuses to achieve either 50% or 75% block at your
current/future level. As a side note, if your are using a Spirit Monarch,
I highly suggest you stray away from DEX as achieve even 50% will require
a large chunk of stat points, resulting in a big dent in life.
(TotalBlockingOnGear * (TotalDexterity - 15)) / (CharacterLevel * 2)
VIT is your main stat. Ideally, you will put every last one of your points
into this attribute. However, that can be pricey for various people, so do
not feel inferior just because you don't have 400+ total VIT. Of course,
VIT would be lower if you used points for blocking.
ENE is not needed for our build. In your early levels, you will probably
end up chugging Mana potions quite often. Don't be tempted to put a single
point in here; your Mana-based problems will resolve itself near your
Sorceress' completion.
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V. Blizzard - Skills
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20 Ice Bolt
20 Ice Blast
20 Glacial Spike
20 Cold Mastery
20 Blizzard
01 Frozen Orb (optional)
01 Teleport
01 Warmth
01 Frost Nova (Pre-req)
01 Telekinesis (Pre-req)
This build is completed once you achieve 104-105 total skill points. Frozen
Orb is an option should you wish to play around with Frozen Orb; with
proper skill+ and Cold Damage% from your items, it should be able to hit
the 500 to 800 damage range easily if not more.
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VI. Blizzard - Items
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Here is the first of this guide's "Items" section. All three item sections
will go over various numbers of possible equipment setups one could use on
their Sorceress, along with the possible goals each setup can achieve. All
setups use a CTA/Spirit switch.
Charms
20/20 Sorceress Hellfire Torch
20/20/xx Annihilus
9 Skiller GCs, preferably with Life or FHR (for hitting 86FHR or 142FHR)
10 SCs ranging from +Life/Mana to +Resists to FHR (not counted into the
final results)
Blizzard Setup I
Nightwing's Veil (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
Chains of Honor
Magefist
Arachnid's Mesh
Sandstorm Treks
Death's Fathom (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
35FCR Spirit Monarch
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Stone of Jordan
Stone of Jordan
Charms
+28 total to Cold Spells, 86FHR (easily done with one Cold FHR GC or three
FHR SCs), 95FCR (63FCR breakpoint), 160-170/175-210/175-210/200-220 total
resists, 75/75/75/75 resistance caps.
Blizzard Setup II
Nightwing's Veil (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
Chains of Honor
Magefist
Arachnid's Mesh
Sandstorm Treks
Death's Fathom (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
Ber Stormshield
Mara's Kaleidoscope
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
Stone of Jordan
Charms
Pretty much the same results as setup I, except you'll need more FHR charms
to hit 86FHR, the resistances will differ slightly (but still remain in the
general area setup I had), +25 total to Cold Spells, and you will have a
total of 50% Damage Reduction. This setup also has +23-55 Cold Damage%.
Blizzard Setup III
Nightwing's Veil (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
Chains of Honor
Magefist
Arachnid's Mesh
Sandstorm Treks
Death's Fathom (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
35FCR Spirit Monarch
Mara's Kaleidoscope
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
Stone of Jordan
Charms
Same as setup I's results except resists will differ slightly, you have +27
total to Cold Spells, but use the 105FCR breakpoint instead of the 63FCR.
This setup also has +23-55 Cold Damage%.
Blizzard Setup IV
Nightwing's Veil (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
Chains of Honor
Magefist
Thundergod's Visor
Sandstorm Treks or Hotspurs
Death's Fathom (Socket with a 5/-5 Cold Facet preferably)
Ber Stormshield
+Sorc/13FCR+/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Amulet
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
Stone of Jordan
Charms
Generally the same results as setup I, except you have a total of +21 or
+22 to Cold Spells, resistances are a bit lower (meaning your SCs will have
to focus a bit more on hitting max resists), and instead of your resistance
caps being 75/75/75/75, they are 75/75/85/75 instead. If you use Hotspurs
instead of Sandstorm Treks, you'll need to make up for the lost FHR via
charms; however, you will have a 90/75/85/75 resistance cap instead, as
well as a +45% Fire Resistance. This setup also has +23-55 Cold Damage%.
Other Pieces of Equipment (aka things you may find useful to have)
Treachery Runeword
Perfect Resist Kira's Guardian
Hel'd Wizardspike
Dual Ravenfrosts (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
Dual Dwarf Stars (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
Dual Wisp Protectors (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
You will find that these pieces, specifically the dual-absorb rings, may
force you to alter the rest of your gear to accomodate such rings;
specfically if your not using dual Stone of Jordans. When adapting your
gear towards the use of such rings, always keep in mind the core goals
of your Sorceress: at least +20 to your skill tree, 63/105/117FCR, 86FHR,
and maxed resistances.
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VII. Lightning - Skills
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20 Charged Bolt
20 Lightning
20 Chain Lightning
20 Lightning Mastery
20 Nova
01 Thunderstorm
01 Teleport
01 Warmth
01 Telekinesis (Pre-req)
01 Static Field (Pre-req)
This build finishes with 105 skill points. The beauty of this build is that
with the right gear, Lightning, for example, will achieve 40k+ damage (it
can even hit 50k if you go all out). To simply put it, it's pure
destruction.
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VIII. Lightning - Items
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Here is the second of our item sections. Again, this section will list a
few sample setups which you could use on your Sorceress, followed by their
"results". All setups use a CTA/Spirit switch.
Charms
20/20 Sorceress Hellfire Torch
20/20/xx Annihilus
9 Skiller GCs, preferably with Life or FHR (for hitting 86FHR or 142FHR)
10 SCs ranging from +Life/Mana to +Resists to FHR (not counted into the
final results)
Lightning Setup I
Griffon's Eye
50res Vipermagi
Magefist or Trang-Ouls
Arachnid's Mesh
Sandstorm Treks
Heart of the Oak
35FCR Spirit Monarch
+Sorc/10FCR+/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Amulet
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
Charms
Resistance caps are at 75/75/75/75, you hit 200FCR, 86FHR (could reach 142
though), actual resistances are in the +40-60 areas in Hell (easily solved
via Resistance charms), and you hit +22-23 total to Lightning Spells.
Lightning Setup II
Griffon's Eye
Chains of Honor
Magefist or Trang-Ouls
Arachnid's Mesh
Sandstorm Treks
Heart of the Oak
Ber SS
+Sorc/17FCR+/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Amulet
Stone of Jordan
Stone of Jordan
Same as setup I, except you hit 117FCR, resistances will vary from +30-50
in Hell (again, easily maxed via Resistance charms), +21-22 to Lightning
Spells, and you hit the 50DR mark.
Lightning Setup III
Griffon's Eye
Chains of Honor
Magefist or Trang-Ouls
Thundergod's Visor
Sandstorm Treks or Hotspurs
Heart of the Oak
Ber SS
+Sorc/12FCR+/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Amulet
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
Same as setup II, except again, resistances vary (this time being around
+40-60 in Hell), +20-21 total Lightning Spells, 50DR, your resistance caps
are 75/75/85/75, and you still hit 117FCR. You can substitute Treks with
Hotspurs to add +45 Fire Resist and change your resistance caps to the
90/75/85/75 state, but remember if you do, you'll need to focus a little
bit more effort into FHR via charms.
Other Pieces of Equipment (aka things you may find useful to have)
Treachery Runeword
Perfect Resist Kira's Guardian
Hel'd Wizardspike
Dual Ravenfrosts (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
Dual Dwarf Stars (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
Dual Wisp Protectors (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
You will find that these pieces, specifically the dual-absorb rings, may
force you to alter the rest of your gear to accomodate such rings;
specfically if your not using dual Stone of Jordans. When adapting your
gear towards the use of such rings, always keep in mind the core goals
of your Sorceress: at least +20 to your skill tree, 63/105/117FCR, 86FHR,
and maxed resistances.
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IX. Fire - Skills
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20 Fire Bolt
20 Fireball
20 Meteor
20 Fire Mastery
01 Teleport
01 Warmth
01 Telekinesis (Pre-req)
01 Inferno (Pre-req)
01 Blaze (Pre-req)
01 Fire Wall (Pre-req)
This build finishes "stage one" with 86 total skill points. Should you
decide to level further and gain more skill points, "stage two" will
commence. With these gained skill points, you can put them in either of
the following "stage two" skills (in other words, max the skill of your
personal preference).
Inferno - Maximize Meteor's afterfire damage
Blaze - If you find some odd reason to use this, by all means go ahead
Fire Wall - Great in certain PvM cases, interesting in some duels
Warmth - Increase Mana regeneration
Enchant - Party-friendly skill
Hydra - Great trap-like "turret", useful for "guiding" opponents movements
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X. Fire - Items
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Here is the third and last of our item sections. Again, this section will
list a few sample setups which you could use on your Sorceress, followed
by their "results". All setups use a CTA/Spirit switch.
Charms
20/20 Sorceress Hellfire Torch
20/20/xx Annihilus
9 Skiller GCs, preferably with Life or FHR (for hitting 86FHR or 142FHR)
10 SCs ranging from +Life/Mana to +Resists to FHR (not counted into the
final results)
Fire Setup I
2Sorc/20FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists
50res Vipermagi
Magefist or Trang-Ouls
Arachnid's Mesh
Sandstorm Treks
Heart of the Oak
35FCR Spirit Monarch
+Sorc/15FCR+/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Amulet
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
Charms
Resistance caps are at 75/75/75/75, you hit 200FCR, 86FHR (could reach 142
though), actual resistances are in the +40-60 areas in Hell (easily solved
via Resistance charms), and you hit +24-25 total to Fire Spells.
Fire Setup II
2Sorc/20FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists
Chains of Honor
Magefist or Trang-Ouls
Arachnid's Mesh
Sandstorm Treks
Heart of the Oak
Ber SS
+Sorc/FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Amulet
Stone of Jordan
Stone of Jordan
Same as setup I, except you hit 117FCR, resistances will vary from +30-50
in Hell (again, easily maxed via Resistance charms), +24-26 to Fire Spells,
and you hit the 50DR mark.
Fire Setup III
2Sorc/20FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists
Chains of Honor
Magefist or Trang-Ouls
Thundergod's Visor
Sandstorm Treks or Hotspurs
Heart of the Oak
Ber SS
+Sorc/FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Amulet
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
FCR/STR/Life/Mana/Resists Ring
This one hits 105FCR, 86FHR will need the use of some FHR-related charms,
50DR, 75/75/85/75 or 90/75/85/75 resistance caps depending on which boots
you use, +21-23 Fire Spells, and resistances will vary, again, in the
+40-60 areas in Hell.
Other Pieces of Equipment (aka things you may find useful to have)
Treachery Runeword
Perfect Resist Kira's Guardian
Hel'd Wizardspike
Dual Ravenfrosts (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
Dual Dwarf Stars (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
Dual Wisp Protectors (200FCR Sorceresses cannot use this)
You will find that these pieces, specifically the dual-absorb rings, may
force you to alter the rest of your gear to accomodate such rings;
specfically if your not using dual Stone of Jordans. When adapting your
gear towards the use of such rings, always keep in mind the core goals
of your Sorceress: at least +20 to your skill tree, 63/105/117FCR, 86FHR,
and maxed resistances.