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Apr 15 2019 06:53am
INFINITY & ES NOVA SORC

Probably best char ever created for PvM



Introduction:
This is an idea I came up with years ago, when searching for the BEST char/build to deal with ANY zone/monster in PvM (as average, impossible to be the best at everything). It's not the first NOVA & INFY & ES Sorc you'll see, but this is gonna be a different build based on being able to do MAX light damage, while being a super TANK, and having awesome regeneration. And let me say again: this is for PVM. In the end I'll give some ideas and notes for possible variations for PvP, but it's not the main purpose of the guide, so please judge the PvM part.


STATS:

STRENGTH: Enough to carry Sandstorm Treks (81str...)
DEXTERITY: Nothing (we don't have shield so we don’t block, and no need it of it because blocking punishes more than helps in a Sorc)
VITALITY: XX -> In the end you have to have 1-10 points more of life than mana. Not more, not less (well if a little bit more no problem, but NEVER less)
ENERGY: XX -> So... final mana gotta be pretty equal to final life, but always below (1 single point below is enough).

Explanation: "FULL ES and just half stat points (not even!) in Energy! Why?" Well there are many reasons actually: Full energy will transform you into a tank....only against some enemies. BUT the curse ‘bloody mana’ (Sucubus cast it, which are in many places in ACT5, and even Baal has it) make you hurt yourself with your mana spending. That makes it almost impossible to keep playing normally and killing monsters (Nova costs like 5x mana...) because you die just with few Novas. And keep TP'ing to Town for Akara to blow off the curse it's not practical at all, and we are aiming for the best PvM char. FURTHERMORE, ES won't protect you against posion, neither Open Wounds; for these you need decent amount of life at least. BESIDES: Many Superuniques have the skill 'Manaburn' that directly blows away your ES, or lets you with few mana points. When that happens, to have just 1k of life can usually be not enough to stand alive, while 1,5-2k is enough to tele, re-cast your ES, and just re-think your attacking strategy in a more defensive way. And LAST: We won't use ES at 95%, we'll use it at 75-80. So still about 20-25% damage will affect our life orb WHILE we will loose less mana and keep a more resistant ES. About that last fact, keep in mind that the utopical ES sorc would be the one that in a very harsh situation sees her life/mana orbs decrease at the same level until (eventually) dying. That way is how you make the most of ES and your mana/life combination.

"But with so few mana your ES's gonna be so unconsistent", NO it won't, because we're gonna regenerate it WAY FASTER than a 4k FULL ES Sorc. Same with life. (see Skills and Merc section for more info).


SKILLS:

Fire:
MAX Warmth
Cold:
XX points to Shiver Armor (and perhaps, if you want, 1 point to Cold Mastery)
Light:
MAX Nova (main skill)
MAX Light Dom
MAX Telekinesis (reduces cost of ES to 0,75mana per hit point, instead of 2)
1 point to Thunderstorm

Explanation:
Nova is gonna be our main and almost only attack, fastest way to clean areas I've ever seen in Diablo2LoD, and with that build that's gonna happen even with inmunes and more hard monsters (the exception are the bosses, not that fast there, specially baal, but fast enough).
Warmth: Has to be maxed. Although you will have lvl 17 Meditation from Insight (Merc) on you, you need max regeneration as possible, as you don't have all the mana you could. Meditation gives 700% mana reg, with warmth and gear you will have 450% extra mana reg. All together 1150% mana reg. Not bad...the thing is that there's no point to be a tank against shitty monsters, the point of my build is to become a tank in the middle of a group of souls -for exemple- (which are light inmune btw so you're gonna kill them way quicklier than standard light sorcs), thats why I want max reg mana.
Shiver Armor: To me it's the best of the three cold armors because gives more def. And def is good in order to avoid some hits.
Cold mastery: For those inmunities you won't break with infy you'll use Ice Blast+Shiver Armor. One point to Cold mastery (-80 ene cold res + infy...) is gonna increase your cold dmg x2or x3. And you loose aprox only 100def (after gear+Shiver Armor) from one less point in SA. To me it is worth it and your Shiver Armor will make much more damage as well.


GEAR:

Helm: Griffon (with -5/5 rbf) -> We need both the 25fcr and the -25 ene light res.
Weapon:Infy in vougle (50str req) or similar) -> This mostly affects when playing against light inmune monsters. Standard light soso will let them at around 60-75 light resis, so monsters will still be hard to beat. With infy you are gonna let their light resis at around 0-5. So infy is gonna multiply your real damage x2 or x3 versus standard hoto+spirit light sorcs when dealing light inmunes (and some of the most fucked up monsters are light inmuned like souls or nilhatak vipers).
Armor: Vipper35 upped (with 15@/7fhr jewel OR um)
Amu: Craft (or rare..) amu 2sk 10+fcr str/life/mana @res
Gloves: Mafefists
Rings: 2xSoj
Belt: Arach
Boots: Sandstorm -> NO NEED for MANA BOOTS. Mana boots give you as max (if godly) 60mana plus 5%max mana (let's say 20-40 more mana), but for us Strength, Life and Mana have the same value (until we reach the strength requirements). Sands give 15str 15vita, if we don't have to put these 15 points in str manually, we can put them on energy/vita, so these 15/15 from sands are equal to 30 points into vita/energy = 60life or mana. So practically the same than mana boots BUT with double FHR and 5 times more def, and insane posion resistance (and a lot cheaper!). Mana boots are for sorcs that ditch Vitality.

W:CTA + Lidless (some would say CTA on staff that gives +3ES +3SA, but i prefer the extra life/mana from the +1sk of the lidless, and there isn't a real interest to pump more ES)

Inventory: Torch + anni, 3xligthsk/12fhr, 4xlightsk/xxlife, 1xsc5@/5fhr (to reach bp 60fhr), 7xsc5@/xxlife (it's not easy to reach 75@, you're gonna need 7x5@res scs + craft amu that gives at least 10@)

Merc:Act2 Normal (better stats) COMBAT*

Helm: Eth Andy Visage (with a jewel 15ias/20+fire resist, or ral)
Weapon: Insight in eth Tresher or Giant Tresher -> Fastest weapon for him and we want him to hit a lot to grap more life leech (so more survavility) and have more possiblities to trigger the Critical Strike from the Insight (lvl 6+2from Andy+1from bo=9 -> 51% chance)
Armor: Fory in Eth Sacred Armor

*"WHY COMBAT?" Wouldn't use combat if he was wearing infy, but wearing Insight/Meditationlvl17, the Prayer Aura (lvl18+2from andy+1bo=lvl21) sinergizes the meditation aura... so that you will have at the same time Meditation lvl17 + Prayer Aura lvl21x2!! (one prayer aura from the merc himself and one from the synergized meditation aura). That means 700%mana reg from the insight, and 27life reg per 2secs each prayer aura, so 27life per 1sec (tha'ts equal to 275!! replenish life). That's enough to counteract most of the poison attacks, also good to counteract open wounds, and it's such a HUGE life reg to recover from the few damage you'll receive in your life orb. All together (prayer/insight combo) is equivalent to be wearing 55-60 PERFECT SKULLS ON YOU. It's just too much to ditch it for the holy freeze aura (worst monsters for us are cesters and they won’t be affected by the holy freeze, and with close monsters the sorc and the merc themselves will freeze them with the cold armors) or defiance (which doubles your def, not bad), and it reinforces your weak points (poison, open wounds, lack of repl.life).


OVERALL:

Important requirements you got to match:

105fhr breakpoint: Basic. No need for more because we WON'T use Lighting.
75 all resis: Hard to achieve but also important. It's a LIE that ES sorcs don't need resis. Resis save you a lot of mana if you use ES, and some damage as well.
60-86fhr bp: Gotta have decent reaction speed when knocked. I'd stay at 60bp, to reach the 86fhr bp you have to ditch too much (maybe) life/mana (around 120 bo'ables), but up to you.
-Enemy Light Resistance -165: :blink: If your merc dies, you'll still be a killing Machine, just by yourselfi. This multiplies your damage crazily, specially against inmune monsters (even though infy on merc breaks their inmunity, they are always a pain in the ass for standard Llight Sosos, not for infy ones....)
Life/mana 1,6-2k each: Doesn't seem like a lot for an ES sorc but....
...Godly regeneration 27life per sec/2xx mana per sec: There ya go. With the merc combo and the Warmth you are gonna regenerate your mana as sick. And your life is gonna be regenerating so fast as well, nulifying almost any poison attack (which is the only damage that ES doesn't absorb).

You will kill anything just so fast, even in players5/6/7/8 (obviusly at players7/8 it gets more slow to kill everyone... but still at 4/5 is SO fast), and be seriously harmed for almost nothing. And no need of your merc for it, he just converts you into a tank, but on your own you can solo the whole game. I don't get why nobody is botting with a char like this, it's just crazy fast/powerful/resistant. Hammers aren't so fast when it comes to clean big areas with lots of monters, and sometimes you don't hit where you want, and have problems with narrow passways, etc. They end up being a lot slower than this sorc (although they are more powerful, that's true, mainly for bosses). Light Javazons can be more powerfull as well, but will never be as fast and versatile. JUST TRY IT!


****PVP****

I'm not expert on PvP. With that build you wouldn't have the godly life/mana reg, but you'd keep good mana reg from maxed warmth. Maybe you could have Insight on vougle as second weapon, to recover mana while teleing, and CTA+MEMORY (in pvp YOU DO need MAXED ES) in the cube in your inventory. I wouldn't change much of the skills, just attack with nova (guess maybe it's not the best skill for pvp, don't know if it knockbacks) and instead of maxing Shiver Armor i'd max Thunderstorm. Just tele a lot to harm with Thunderstorm and go with Nova when you see the opportunity. Probably NOT the best char for PVP although you should be able to tank so well. Actually in that case you MUST switch to FULL ENERGY build, and switch carft amu 10fcr for craft amu 20fcr, Magefist for Frostburns, and sands for mana boots. Then you at least shoud be able to tank quite well.

*****************

Hope I didn't forget anything. I'll keep editing/updating it these next days (better style, more info, images, etc.). PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT IT, AND TRY THE CHAR!

This post was edited by tarazona on Apr 15 2019 07:44am
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Apr 15 2019 07:18am
Quote (tarazona @ Apr 15 2019 04:53pm)
Probably best char ever created for PvM


no, slow, high mana consuming and squishy

scythe > voulge

Quote (tarazona @ Apr 15 2019 04:53pm)
I'm 30 and I played D2 again two months ago when I broke my foot


thanks for important information
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Apr 15 2019 07:26am
Quote (kronosHardcore @ 15 Apr 2019 14:18)
no, slow, high mana consuming and squishy

scythe > voulge


thanks for important information


High mana consuming, like all ES sorcs, but regenerating more than 200 mana per second, won't be a big trouble.

Slow in what sense? Scythe better than vougle why? Please some explanation here... thanks for participating though!


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Apr 15 2019 07:33am
Quote (tarazona @ Apr 15 2019 05:26pm)
Slow in what sense? Scythe better than vougle why? Please some explanation here... thanks for participating though!


slower kill speed compare to standard light soso

scythe is more stylish B)



this build is well known and should be called "fun way to play soso" instead of "best pvm char"
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Apr 15 2019 07:41am
Quote (kronosHardcore @ 15 Apr 2019 14:33)
slower kill speed compare to standard light soso

scythe is more stylish B)


this build is well known and should be called "fun way to play soso" instead of "best pvm char"


All the infy & ES % nova Sorcs I've seen are for PvP, or they use lighting instead of Nova, they don't max warmth, or max ES to 95, or go Full energy. I never before saw one like this one... which is for PvM.

And standard light sosos kill a bit faster the weaker monsters (not too much). But what happens with inmunes (which are some of the most fucked up monsters like souls, nila snakes, travi, etc.) or high light resis? Or monsters that have blooody mana, or mana burn, or that attack with strong poison or open wounds, etc... you'll kill these more fast and safely with this infy soso. No bloody mana on them, poison and open wounds nulified by the life reg, you'll get out from a mana burn faster, and have more life to deal with damage when no ES, and way stronger and faster dealing with inmunes.... that's the point, versatility.

I'll try the schyte weapon ;)

This post was edited by tarazona on Apr 15 2019 07:43am
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Apr 15 2019 07:46am
Quote (tarazona @ Apr 15 2019 01:53pm)
these 15/15 from sands are equal to 30 points into vita/energy = 60life or mana


no
15vita is not boable
15str is 50life with bo
15vita is 30life

E:
and 15str isn't 30life or 50life, it's nothing, because you don't need str on your 81Rstr boots

This post was edited by lilith0 on Apr 15 2019 07:50am
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Apr 15 2019 07:50am
Quote (tarazona @ Apr 15 2019 04:53pm)
Resis save you a lot of mana if you use ES


if i understand you properly, this is not correct statement

if we are talking about pvm and you have not active cyclon armor and bone armor

then 100% dmg goes to your es first
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Apr 15 2019 07:52am
Quote (lilith0 @ 15 Apr 2019 14:46)
no
15vita is not boable
15str is 50life with bo
15vita is 30life



Each point in vitality give 2life to the sorceress! So 15 vita= 30 life

But not sure if the vitality points on items are boable, i know vitality/basedonlvl or life/based onlvl is not.

And yes i do need manually points in strength to reach 81, how to reach it otherwise? Well in case the craft amy had 20-30sk and torhc + anni where perfect, I'd need very few points. Then you'd be right, but still would need 3 more points for the upped viper. So unless godly equipment your are gonna use these 15str from the sands (so you can manually spend more on vita/energy)

This post was edited by tarazona on Apr 15 2019 08:05am
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Apr 15 2019 07:54am
Quote (kronosHardcore @ 15 Apr 2019 14:50)
if i understand you properly, this is not correct statement

if we are talking about pvm and you have not active cyclon armor and bone armor

then 100% dmg goes to your es first



such a good point, that's true. I am gonna edit this now to express it better. But I also meant that with good resist you don't need FULLES95, 75ES can be okay because it'll end up being pretty much the same damage for your life obr, and less mana spent (in that case) for your mana orb. But i still consider sands better for this build. Thanks!

This post was edited by tarazona on Apr 15 2019 08:01am
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Apr 15 2019 07:54am
Quote (tarazona @ Apr 15 2019 05:52pm)
But not sure if the vitality points on items are boable


they are not

only hard vita points are boable
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