love this thread, ty for this good job !

well
holyfreez is nice for the slowing down part
defiance is nice for higher def (aka more tanking), does not make any difference on the sorc tho
might is good for faster dual immune killing, but then agein static + telekines will take care of them too without too mutch of an danger

reagarding cold armors: go for the frozen. needs only 1 point and freezes the attacker solid giving you the split second to tele out. like above defence is not important on sorcs

as for the haters: just let them be


im sure i forgot something but ill make another post if needed

and ohyeah.. going orb/fb is the way to go. just do some research about the skillpoint allocation since it has a huge effect on the fire dmg output (+skills vs firemastery vs bolt/meteor)
and dont ignore meteor. its prettey good for immobile targets like actbosses etc

Awesome, thanks Mikk0! Welcome back

And edit: I do plan on a respec soon to pump meteor instead of bolt.

This post was edited by DManZ on Mar 27 2012 05:43am

i already posted the optimal skillpoint allocation a few post back with i tested thoroughly on my own sorc.

max FO, 1 point CM (FO allows you to clear nightmare easily)
max fireball, 1 point FM
max meteor (this over firebolt as it is a useful AOE skill against cold immunes)
alternate between firebolt and FM

HF is a more useful merc aura for a walkthrough, survival > anything else. but once the sorc is at a higher level with decent gear(85>), i prefer a might merc for the sole reason of taking down bosses slightly faster. a HF merc with kelpie snare shuts down any boss though, even baal or diablo.

im here and always been.. not just so active poster

and to be honest im assuming youll breez through nm and the intresting part will be from hell a1 onwards

metorb sorc has always been my favorite start up char since she can clear everything with ease. well p8 wont be a cake untwinked but its doable

edit: ohyeah.. the insight is useless rw on sorc.. just forget it, you wont need it

This post was edited by Mikk0 on Mar 27 2012 05:47am

Indeed you did too, so thanks for that, and restat is complete too!





Lit tree: http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w486/d2thing/Penelope/20120327/Screenshot070.jpg

And I'm now using this amulet, crafted previously, to help w/ FCR & the cold res lost by using lore instead of circ:

i agree with the might merc in some parts but

holy freez/defiance is alot more usefull in way more ways than might. and since fire+cold immune is only one you cant kill you still have static. and spamming telekines knocks them back untill they hit a wall. and when ageinst the wall their attacks are interupted and therefore they are rather useless.

defiance or holy freez? well really depends on what you want to run and whats the purpose of the merc

This is the effect I currently get from the defiance merc:



vs.



or 77% vs. 56% with Insight staff.

This difference is noticeable especially in the case of many ranged attackers, where merc won't be close enough to freeze them anyway.


Regarding insight, it really does help with mana and I use it most of the time unless there are ranged attackers. With it I don't need to town quite so often for mana pots. I will probably give it up come hell though. That will be a sad day, as it was stylish with +2 meteor and +1 FO.

even tho the char screen says something about the cth it really does not matter. your forced to play with extrem safety anyways since specialy in hell with or without defiance the mosters will hit you and hurt you

the reasons behind my merc choices are the facts how long can the merc tank before dying. holyfreez reduces the amount of hits over time and defiance absorbs the hits over time. this is where it comes down what you want to run with the sorc. for example: pits = more hits from multiple source vs meph hits from single target.

eventualy you will see that mana pots do drop enugh to keep on going even without insight, you just need to let go, just like with the hammerdin
granted, insight is prettey damn good at lower lvls like under 80 or so. but after it just becomes absolite compared to other things that the merc can offer

All good points. I'll be hiring a new merc after I get through the Bloody Foothills.