too much ES% for pvm.. 70-75 is fine, that way u will have enough mana to kill/tele away.

Other then that it seems fine, but would never use Tal myself, 9 frames on a Sorc? that's just wrong.

25 % (nitpick, here I come )


This is so bloody true. Most people don't have an eye for details. Gladiator's is underrated for the same reason.

Actually, screw us for telling them. Odds are they'll pick some expensive junk anyway ^^

While I am not really into HC, your build looks viable. Decent guide.

This post was edited by Faelwen on Nov 5 2008 04:19am

gerkes is 100x better than stormsheild or whitstans for any es sorc but nobody uses it

Looks pretty good to me besides the fact that there is too much e/s %.

Well, to solve this problem, simply put just 1 point into ES and use that 9 ES memory stick rather than bringing the percentage up to 80% (since 75% appears to be just fine) and dump the rest of those points into Hydra synergies and Fire Mastery.

@Faelwen. Thanks for the nitpicking, but I can't edit it because it won't let me.

Any other comments?

Well written guide. Seems pretty decent to me. I don't really like es in pvm (had bad experience on it long time ago) and since I never had any problems surviving with vita build (I had no block either), I never saw a reason to "waste" points into it. Es can be nice tanking skill, especially on Hc, but I wouldn't blindly count on it.
And about Gerkes, people don't usually even take a look at unique items when making their chars, not to even talk about runewords that requires less than 1 hr And it is more of a es sorc shield, for vita build I'd prefer spirit (unless you want the max block, in which case whitsans would be a option along with SS and gerkes).

All in all, good job

Thanks, I do find that ES has a couple weaknesses (besides the obvious mana burn), namely the elemental attackers that do several successive hits (like Council member Hydras or Vampire Fireballs) and poison, which can be a problem once in a while when you are constantly taking damage, but the ES is more of a safeguard than anything.

Don't quote me on this, but I think that the reason the PDR is so effective on an ES sorc is because the PDR is counted after the damage is factored through energy shield. I'm not completely sure about this, but every time I get hit by a physical damage attacker, I seem to take no damage to my life. Maybe this is because of the prayer aura with the energy shield % to mana, but I couldn't find any reliable sources that concern energy shield with PDR.

For some strange reason, I seem to take very very little damage when the Stygian dolls explode (I tested this on Singleplayer). Does anyone know the reason why?

This post was edited by general_patton on Nov 5 2008 04:51pm

Damage reduced by X build
http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?p=5397557

Post #7 by SSoG should help you out.

As for the Stygian Dolls, it is probably due to your combo of ES, MDR, and PDR.
Unless I am mistaken, the explosion is sort of blockable as well.

Try killing a bunch of those dolls on SP. Same result ?

And run a SP test without merc Prayer aura if you haven't yet done that.

yeah, i agree

Yes, it was 8 player mode as well.

Haven't run it without the Prayer aura mercenary, when I get some time I'll try that. If I die, I think I can hero editor resurrect him.

Thanks, I'll check out that link.