Stats and skills. There is room for optimization for sure.


Definately not the beauty queen.


Here's my gear. I was lacking cold ress, but suplemented it with thawing potions - helped a lot vs mages with cold missles. What do you think about presenting gear like that?

Time for summary - tl;dr at the end.

Overall impression
I had fun. I like intensive gameplay - a lot of teleporting and switching between skills. The least enjoyable moments were MF grinding... I tried hard to get my dreamt gear (Iratha + Twitchtroe) that it almost killed joy. In the end I did not need those items. I even stashed Ward and was wearing Rare boneshield I gambled. I'm really glad I managed to finish this WT, didn't think it would be possible.

Difficulty
Walkthrough wasn't super challenging, but definately you can imagine easier WTs. Sorc is very squishy on p8 setting plus Classic (No LoD) doesn't have strong runewords and uniques that could increase your survivability. You need to rely on rares + low set items. Since Act 3 I had to be very focused, because in some areas monsters could 2-3 shot me. Very often I had to use Save & Exit to safety - at least 15 times total during Act 3 and 4 on hell mode. I completed only mandatory quests, whenever I saw tought monster pack I just skipped them with teleport. Some may say that this WT doesn't count, but I think this is part of sorc skill kit. I don't think I could do this WT on battle net environment - smallest ping spike or lag could kill me.

Skills
My skill point distribution isn't optimal for sure. I opted for Frozen Orb + Cold Mastery + Static Field + Teleport. Some users advised to go for Blizz build, but I think mana costs for teleport would make game slower/tougher for me. Already had some mana problems with current costs. Single point in Firewall + Fire mastery allowed me to handle cold immuns, of course static field came in handy as well. I'm wondering if for example Thunderstorm wouldn't be helpfull as well (for cold + fire immuns fo instance).

If I were to redistribute my points I would do something like this:
Lvl 68 - 76 points (no Den and Izual yet):

• Frozen Orb - 20
  
• Frozen Mastery - 17
  
• Frozen Armor - 1
  
• Cold prereqs - 5
  
• Firewall - 1
  
• Fire prereqs - 2
  
• Fire Mastery - 1
  
• Warmth - 1
  
• Static Field - 20 (hero of this WT)
  
• Telekinesis - 1
  
• Teleport - 7 - will put more points here with next lvls

Once I would get enough points to make Teleport mana cost low enough I would probably invest in Ice Bolt

To Energy Shield or not to Energy Shield...
Initially I considered maxing Telekinesis and prebuff Energy Shield with some staff +2 Sorc +X ES. I managed without ES, but on BN I think it would be mandatory for me, because of laags and ping spikes. I would sacrifice some points in Cold Mastery/Static Field to put into Telekinesis. I wouldn't add into Firewall, because BN means that there will be other players to deal with cold immuns

Gear
Overall items I found were not impressive. Decent fcr rings + nice belt + nice shield and that's about it. Finding Spectral Shard helped me immensely - damage output and speed went through the roof. I didn't need much fhr, because always could S&E from sticky situations. However on BN I wouldn't leave town on hell without at least 60% fhr. I lacked poison and cold ressits, but I suplemented in with thawing and antidote potions. I think you need at least 50 cold ress to ensure that some random nova from cold enhanced monster won't kill you. 75 light ress for every char on classic is a must. As far as fire ress goes... I think you need to increase your max ress either with Hotspurs or Nokozan amu. Infector pack was hurting me a lot even with my 85 fire ress.

I think 30/20 prism shield is better than The Ward - assuming you can take care of your ressists. I got stuck few times in block lock while teleporting. Also I think Ward without Twitchtroe doesn't have enough blocking chance. Remember stronger mobs may even two shot you

I wouldn't stongly consider wearing Frostburns to help out with mana. I don't think Magefists are neccesairy - you should get missing 20 fcr from rings.

Edit: do not forget getting + life from items. This is very important for sorc on hc classic. I would consider getting helm with 3x p ruby

Damage and kill speed
CS took 20-30 min on p8 and I started from star. Despite being "cold sorc" I was doing more dmg with Static Field (better range - safer) - Frozen Orb was just a finisher. However if you focus on Bosses/Super uniqes and know how to aim Frozen Orb than this sorc is very fast.

Next steps
I grow bored right now with sorc. Definately will come back a few times to lvl her up, find new gear and probably respec to see how other skill combinations work. Right now I'm thinking about new WT

Thank you guys for engaging with me in this thread. Saw few valuable pieces of advice regarding build and item choices and thanks Itsjustpain2 for inspiring me to start this WT

tl;dr
My first full WT, was fun. Frozen Orb + Static Field sorc can complete game on p8. It wasn't easy and required being focused especially on hell. Gameplay 8/10, would recommend.

This post was edited by el_profesor on Feb 23 2020 12:36pm

Almost forgot, this was my first WT, please help me improve my future WTs. More screenshots? More/less commentary? More interesting builds? Classic D2 is boring and noone wants to watch me play it :D? I'm open for criticism.

This post was edited by el_profesor on Feb 23 2020 12:20pm

u can Play what u want People will watch it
and imo you did great just Keep it up

Respect man, joyful read!! Well played!

Soo I have been thinking... What about rebuilding this sorc into staff wielding sorc! Will it work?

Remember - this is classic - static field can lower monsters to 1% hp.

I won't have shield - no block and harder to get resists. Probably I need Energy Shield to get some protection.

I would aim for 37 fcr breakpoint - staff +2 sorc skills, 20 fcr, akara should give me that on nightmare

Currently level 70 - 82 skill points. Here's my idea - frozen orb with firewall for immuns.

Fire skills - 4 points
Firewall 1+
prereqs and mastery 3

Lighting
Static - ?
es - 6
tk - ?
prereqs and tele - 4

Cold 43
prereqs + shield 6p
fo 20
mastery 17

25p left

What do you think guys?