Just wanted to know your thoughts on lite sorc vs hammerdin as overall MF'er. I've been out of d2 for several years. I've had both before in previous ladders and kinda liked my hammerdin. I dont think getting gear will be an issue, but I would like to get an idea of how much decent gear for both setups would cost from anyone who's currently geared up either toon. merc gear doesnt have to be eth. also how much Mf do both setups usually run without an inventory full of 7%.

for sorc i picture:

merc : andys, fort, eth cv infinity
sorc: hoto, spirit monarch, stormshield, coh or um vipermagi, um shako, war travs or treks, bk ring, fcr ring/stats, 3 lite/mod ammy, magefist(no chanceguards or gimp fcr?), tgods or arachnid mesh (is goldwrap even worth considering?), then there's the torches and anni. I'm going FCR over MF. not sure if max DR is needed. thoughts?


for hammerdin:

merc : spirit CA or thresher, fort?, andys?
hammerdin : enigma, hoto, hoz, wartravs, shako, arachnid mesh, chanceguards, bk ring, maras. torch, anni.

am i missing anything? are both lacking fhr or will rez be bettr for one over the other?

if going lite sorc route, is stormshield better than sprit monarch?

is absorbs needed? I'll probably get a natures peace and wisp in inventory.


I alrdy have a lvl 85ish sorc as my first toon back on ladder, and the hammerdin is in the works. Is the hammerdin the better overall MF once gearing up is not an issue?

thnx!

I use sorc for places like Ancient tunnels, the pit, meph,andy and mausoleum, currently Fireball / Orb i went with full tals set i got like 300 mf and full resists in hell i use a Insight Merc though 125FCR capped also

Hammerdin you really want too hit the FCR cap which is 125FCR so you could go with an IST'ed Wizzy 50% / arachnid 20% / 35% FCR spirit shield / magefists 20% rings totally up too you BK / soj / boots u can go Hotspurs to push your Fire resist to 90% great for chaos sanctuary

Mf is a funny thing all my mf on my hammerdin is like 95% from enigma 40% gheeds and shako so around 185% and i find quite abit, where my sorc i could do meph about 5-10 times and find nothing

For the Sorc, try either the Full Tal's Lightning Sorc (if going the cheaper route) or if you want to be quicker, the Griffon's build from here: The In-depth Guide To The Mf Sorceress

As for the Hammerdin:

• Helmet: Shako
• Armor: Enigma in an elite armor
• Shield1: Spirit with 35%FCR in an elite paladin shield, preferably a Sacred Targe with 45 base resistance
• Weapon1: Heart Of the oak flail
• Shield1: Call to arms - the higher the Battle Orders the better
• Shield2: Random spirit
• Belt: Arachnid Mesh
• Gloves: Trang Oul's gloves or double-upgraded 30%ED Magefists
• Ring1: 1x 10%FCR Ring with whatever mods you can get
• Ring2: 1x Stone of Jordan or Bul Katho's ring
• Boots: War Travelers

Inventory:

• Paladin Torch
• Annihilus Charm
• Small charms at your discretion, though 7mf scs are the most commonly used for a pvm hammerdin.

Mercenary: Three options

• Merc1:
  • Act 2 Nightmare Defenseive "Holy Freeze" mercenary
  • Weapon: Insight in an ethereal Thresher
  • Armor: Treachery
  • Helmet: Andariel's visage with a 15%IAS Jewel
• Merc2:
  • Act 2 Nightmare Defensive "Holy Freeze" mercenary
  • Eth IAS jeweled Reaper's Toll
  • IAS jeweled Guillaume's face
  • Treachery armor
• Merc3:
  • Act 2 Normal Combat "Prayer" mercenary
  • Weapon: Insight in an ethereal Thresher
  • Armor: Treachery
  • Helmet: Andariel's visage with a 15%IAS Jewel

Note1: All IAS Jewels, if you can afford them, should be 15IAS/40%ED jewels
Note2: If you are doing quick runs, like just baal, or using them in pubs, use Fort instead.

For the Mercs, I recommend Merc 2, but Merc 1 if you hate using mana pots or have a small mana pool.

And the prices vary. I generally equip my characters at the start of ladder resets with mostly found gear, so it is very different from mid-late ladder prices.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll play around with the lite sorc a bit and see how she fairs; its awesome we can restat now.

I recommend the hamma: The only immunes you'll have to face is wave 2@ baal, which can easily be killed by your merc. A sorc, even with infy, will have to face way more imunes, so either she has to become a dual sorc or depend on her merc. Both ways cost time, 'cause the killing speed decreases.
The sorc might have more mf, but a hamma is safer & faster.

Light sorc kills faster and teleports faster. She rarely meets with an immune (lister, seis, niha... sometimes) while a din always have to face with wave 2.