Intro

Most of you know me as Stories/Chris, and everyone knows I Love Svs, and with that being said I have played every build imaginable, from Fire to Light to Cold. Pure vitality, vitality with max block, Energy Shield, Es MB, and more. After testing several different builds, I knew I wanted to make a Cold Sorceress capable of standing up with the rest in Gm Sorc Vs Sorc, So with with a significant amount of trial and error, I devised my own build. I’m not some self proclaimed genius, nor do I claim that I am the best Cold Sorceress on East. I have simply discovered a Cold Sorceress build that works wonderfully for Gm Svs and Pvp alike. However I will not be giving budget options, simply put, this is not a budget build, and I will provide the statistics of my Blizzard Sorceress, Sarah, at the end so that you have something to compare to. Enjoy.

Section I: Stats

Strength: Enough str to wear your Gear (In all setups)

Dexterity: None

Vitality: Everything

Energy: None

Section II: Skills

It is vital to note that while this is in fact, a Cold Sorceress, the Blizzard skill is by no means your primary means of taking down opponents. Ice Blast is the cold version of Fire Bolt. It can deal immense damage, and also has the advantage of stunning opponents. It is widely beneficial when stomping opponents (discussed later on), and is basically your main offensive attack. Frozen Orb is helpful as well. When dueling, if you find yourself chasing down an opponent with low life, Frozen Orb may be your best option in finishing them off. Blizzard is highly injurious, though it is not always your chief assault. It can be used both offensively and defensively. Telekinesis is your version of Mindblast, though sadly, it isn’t nearly as annoying. Versus opponents with low Faster Hit Recovery, it can be immeasurably profitable.

Fire Skills:

Warmth – 1 point

Lightning Skills:

Telekinesis – 1 point

Teleport – 1 point

Cold Skills:

Ice Bolt – 20 points

Ice Blast – 20 points

Frost Nova – 1 point

Glacial Spike – 1 points (Max this last!)

Blizzard – 20 points

Frozen Orb – 20 point

Cold Mastery – 20 points

Section III: Equipment

Regardless of what equipment you decide to use, you must always hit 105% Faster Cast Rate and 86% Faster Hit Recovery. Depending on the gear you use, your damage will vary, as well as your life, mana, and resistances. As I stated in the introduction, This is not meant to be a budget build. Sarah has all 100% perfect gear, but I understand that most players can't afford such commodities.While some say Facets are unnecessary, this does not hold true for the impeccable Cold Sorceress, as piercing an enemies resistances is her primary means of taking down even the most resilient opponents. One should note that while resistances may have no bearing on a 95% Energy Shield Sorceress, they are crucial to your survival if you choose to utilize this build. When it comes to Sorc Vs Sorc and Gm rules you are allowed to stack up to 450 Cold Resistance, for us this is quite a problem, so with this guide we will be trying to break that 450 Cold Resistance, so we can actually do some damage to these other sorceress, once we are able to do so they'll be heading to the closet in no time to grab their Winter Coat and mittens, Brrrrrrr its getting cold in here now. So, lets begin with the setups we will be using for Gm Sorc vs Sorc.

Diadems
3Cold/100life/2os, 2x 5/-5 Cold Die - Vs Fire
3Cold/20fcr/2'os, 2x 5/-5 Cold Die - Vs Light
3Cold/100life/2'os, 2x 7fhr/8str/4rep/30Cr Red - Vs Cold

Weapons
3Cold (or 2 sorc)/20fcr/3Cmastery/3Blizz/2'os (2x 5/-5 Cold Die) - Va Fire/Light/Cold

Shields
Spirit of Phoenix - Vs Fire
2x Spirit Mon's (35% Fcr) - Vs Cold/Light/Bo

Amulet
Armageddon Fletch - Vs Fire/Light/Cold

Armor
100 Life/4'os Armor, 4x 5/-5 Cold Die Red - vs Fire/Light
100 Life/4'os Armor, 4x 7fhr/8str/4rep/30Cr - Vs Cold

Gloves
Bfists - Vs Fire/Light
Trangs - Vs Cold

Belt
Arach - Vs Fire/Cold
Tgods - Vs Light

Boots
08 sShanks - Vs Fire/Light
30/10/Life/rep/40Cr Boots - vs Cold

Rings (Square Blue)
10fcr/str/life/25+ Lr/23+ Fr - Vs Fire/Light
1x Perf Bk - vs Fire/Light/Cold
1x Perfect Raven - Vs Cold

Inventory
9x 30+ Life Cold Gcs
20/20/x Anni
20/20/x Torch
9x 17+/5, Scs
1x 5/5 Sc

Section IV: Dueling Strategies

There are a few things you need to know before taking your Cold Sorceress into the Blood Moor to wreak havoc on other players. Hotkeys are essential. If you are still using the “F” keys as your hotkeys while facing adversaries, it may be time for a change. In this section, I will provide you with a functional hotkey set-up, and an overview of your individual attack methods and their uses.The following is Sarah's hotkey set-up. This is what works for me, and should not be considered your only option. Any variation of this set-up would work fine. It depends on what you are comfortable with. For Sarah, Orb is always on left click. The right click hotkeys are as follows.

Hotkeys

Q – Battle Commands

W – Battle Orders

A – Chilling armor

S – Thunder Storm

Z – Teleport

X - Blizzard

C - Ice Blast

V - Telekinesis

Space Bar - Weapon Switch

Attack and Defense Methods

These are some attack methods that many players either use improperly or do not know how to use at all. I will explain how they are done, and when I get to the actual strategy portion, I will let you know when they are appropriate. Some of them are difficult to perfect, though with time and practice, they become second nature. Weapon Switch is important when on the defensive. I will discuss why in this section.

Invisible Blizzard – This is similar to the Paladin’s Desynch, which allows him to seemingly disappear from your map and then reappear unnoticed. Invisible Blizzard is achieved quite simply. While immobile, cast Blizzard in any of the four corners of your Diablo 2 screen. After casting Blizzard, quickly switch to Teleport and move in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. That is to say, if you cast Blizzard in the upper right hand corner, teleport towards the bottom left hand corner. This will not only make your Blizzards invisible on your opponents screen, but also invisible on their Maphack if they use one.

Namelocking – This is done by placing your mouse over your opponents character. Once you have a hold on them and their character name is visible, left or right click and their name will remain in your casting array. Especially with attacks like Blizzard, namelocking will have opponents thinking you are using an Auto Aim hack.

Stomping – This is probably the most useful method of taking down other casters. Stomping is done by namelocking an opponent and teleporting onto their character. Once you have teleported directly onto your opponent, left click for Ice Blast while keeping your mouse steady on their toon. If you lose the namelock while switching to left click, it is probable that your Ice Blasts will hit them anyway, so long as you are facing them. For example, if you stomp an opponent and your Sorceress appears to their left, Ice Blasting to the right (regardless of having them namelocked) will knock them out in a few short seconds. Ice Blast has the benefit of stunning opponents, so once you have your adversary stomped, it’s pretty much game over.

Self Blizzard – Self explanatory, really. Put your mouse over your character and cast Blizzard. Casting Blizzard on yourself, self Blizzard. Duh.

Trailing – Trailing is easy. All you do is Self Blizzard, teleport once in any direction, and repeat. It’s called trailing because you leave a trail of Blizzards in your wake. Again, self explanatory.

Telekinesis Switch – This is just what it sounds like. As I stated, Telekinesis is the Sorceress’s version of Mindblast. If you namelock an opponent, use Telekinesis to stun them. Then, switch to Blizzard while remaining namelocked and the Blizzard will cast directly on top of them.

Weapon Switch Glitch (WSG) – This can be hard to master, but it’s vital to your survival while facing Trapper Assassins and speedy Bowazons. If you find yourself trapped in an Assassin’s Mindblast, press your weapon switch hotkey rapidly while walking or running away. You will quickly be out of your Faster Hit Recovery lock and able to Teleport to safer ground.

Now that I’ve discussed the necessary dueling techniques, it’s time to move on to specific strategies versus popular Player versus Player builds. This is the closing of my guide, and should not be taken lightly. There are a variety of ways to deal with individual opponents, but those I will provide you with will enhance your knowledge, and at least give you a basis on where to start.Everyone plays differently, so these may not always work; you must practice using your Sorceress and find the methods that best suit you.

Closing

First and foremost, I would like to thank all the readers for taking the time to look through it in its entirety; I know it’s lengthy, but I was trying to be as thorough as possible. While some of you may disagree, I believe that if you try this build you will find it quite effective. Your satisfaction is important to me! If you have any questions, comments, or observations that you’d like to share, please don’t be afraid to send me a Personal Message. I think you will find I am quite friendly, and awfully forgiving. If you need help with anything, whether it be gear set-ups, dueling strategies, or simple tips, I will be there to assist you. as said at the top, I would leave me stats at the end for you to compare, so here you go

Sarah (105/86, Vita Cold)
Vs Fire - 10max Fire 3651 Life, 187 Fr ( -295 Cr, 8.8k Ib, 10k Blizz, 1.2k Orb)
Vs Light - 10max Light 3378 Life, 217 Lr ( - 290 Cr, 8,5k Ib, 10k Blizz, 1.2k Orb)
Vs Cold - 398Cr + Raven, 3435 Life ( -260Cr, 32Life Rep, 7k Ib, 8k Blizz, 1k Orb)

Diadems
3Cold/100life/2os, 2x 5/-5 Cold Die Red - Vs Fire
3Cold/20fcr/2'os, 2x 5/-5 Cold Die Red - Vs Light
3Cold/100life/2'os, 2x 7fhr/8str/4rep/30Cr Red - Vs Cold

Orbs
2Sorc/20fcr/3Cold Mastery/3Blizzard/3 Thunder Storm/10 Energy/29 Life/2'os - Vs Fire/Light/Cold

Call to Arms
100% P 6/6/4 Cta Flail (15/3 Base)

Shields
Spirit of Phoenix - Vs Fire
2x P Spirit Mon - Vs Light/Cold/Bo

Amulet
Armageddon Fletch

Armor
100 Life/4'os, Wire Fleece 481, 4x 5/5 Cold Die Red - vs Fire/Light
100 Life/4'os, Wire Fleece 481, 4x 7fhr/8str/4rep/30Cr - Vs Cold

Gloves
88 Bfists - Vs Fire/Light
P Trangs - Vs Cold

Belt
P Arach - Vs Fire/Cold
P tGods - Vs Light

Boots
08 sShanks - Vs Fire/Light
30/10/14life/8rep/40Cr Battle Boots - Vs Cold

Rings (Square Blue)
10fcr/88ar/20str/40life/28lr/25Fr - vs Fire/Light
1x Perf Bk's - vs Cold
1x Perfect Raven - Vs Cold

Inventory
9x 45 Life Cold Gcs
20/20/10 Anni
20/20/25 Torch
9x 20/5, FootBalls
1x 5/5 Brown

I wish you the best of luck in building your Cold Sorceress.
Best regards, Stories

Over 9000 reposts.

Giving hotkeys is pointless sense everyone uses their own. I for one use my numberpad since I am left handed.

Nice Chris!

Hmm except the fact, that the items are unpayable its ok, i would appreciate a section with cheaper gear!

Is it realy worth it to make such an expensive char?

This post was edited by gumbofreund on Jan 16 2015 01:10pm

Still too many realm-specific items.

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the big problem with your guide is that you're writing it to essentially abuse a loophole in some guys svs rules, which has a random cold resist number cap, so you just spam facets in everything

i also think, even with that rule, you would lose pretty hard to ES sorcs. all your facet stacking goes to waste as ES sorcs don't care about resists. you would be basically a gimped blizz sorc in that duel, with way less dmg compared to a standard es blizz sorc or 1cm iceblaster

the 450 cr cap is exactly how and why this sorc works though :/
I think explaining how the numbers workout wit this kind of pierce in a guide like this is more important than how to "self blizz"
I worked it all out out of my own curiosity, and at the point of using those 3/20 circs, all facets etc, every single -5% dmg makes a huge impact. You should also show that with a fathom youwill not get enough -res to break 450 point effectively.

The es sorces in there svs community are never high es due to having harsher restrictions via mana potting and absorb, (even thou a 95 es fber could work wonders vs a blizzer, there arent even any blizzers on the ladder and its much weaker vs light/fire than a mid level es build)

However, factoring the other side, ie my es fber which abuses rules of having 78 es, allowed to mana pot, 450 cr, 10 bmanas etc, the sorc literally ens up invincible vs a blizzer, no matter how well geared :/
I even showed him in game how much it can tank to prove my point on the matter a little whle ago. (was like 7 straight ibs's to break mana, which woulnt even happen with ability to run regen/mana pot, or 21 blizzs/ibs to life to kill vs the 6-7 fbs tokill him back lol)


Factor in that a build like this is unbelievable expensive, is hard to make up simple res's lost by the use of a magic helm, magic armor, magic orb, etc, and i personally quit trying to optimize it at that point. However, if you did have the resources and reallllllly wanted a perfect east svs rules based sorc this IS the best way to do it.

This post was edited by legen on Jan 19 2015 10:13am

This is a very well written and comprehensive guide. With that being said, it's hyper specialized to the point of being only effective in SvS, and would still be out classed by other SvS builds.