The Grim Reaperess

[DarkLord666]

The Grim Reaperess

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Well, I saw something in the Sorc forum about a Spearceress, but Lances suck speedwise.
So I thought of the Scythe, Fast Attack Speed ... I'd suggest going with a War Scythe till you have enuf life so you can pump statpoints
in more str/dex need ed to use a Grim Scythe.

Frankly, this is just Meleesorc, with a Scythe ... But here are the skills anyway.

Fire Skills
Quite simple here actually, Max Fire Mastery and Max Enchant ... period. This is the extra damage on your weapon.
Good thing Warmth is a pre-req, so you at least have _some_ mana recovery.

Cold Skills
I suggest Frozen Armor, since it freezes your attackers, which enables you to slash them to pieces, or teleport to safety when needed.

Lightning Skills
Not alot here ... 1-5 static, always good versus those Fire Immues and bosses/uniques.
Only one in teleport, since this is a Emergency skill ... so not used alot ... At least that's what I hope for your poor character ;)

So skillwise your done quite quickly, at level 5x you're done with the pre-reqs for a Fighting Sorc. After maxxxing Enchant and Fire Mastery,
pump skill points into Frozen Armor ...

Statpoints.
Ideally you'll want to get to 140 str/dex ASAP. But since you're without the benefit of a shield, you'll get hit alot.
Which means you also need vitality. Pump str/dex to 80/80 so you can use a War Scythe till you have enuff life, after which you can
go back to getting str/dex to 140. NO Energy ofcourse ... since you don't cast alot of spells.

Gear.
I went for the Set Itmes, quite frankly coz they are awesome for low to mid levels. I'll be playing with my other chars to get some nicer items,
but untill then I'll settle for these.

Sigon's Wrap Plated Belt
+20% Fire Resistance
+20 to Life Wearing

Sigon's Gage Gauntlets
+20 to Attack Rating
+10 to Strength

Wearing 2 Items: 30% Increased Attack Speed
Wearing 2 Items: +10% Life Stolen Per Hit
Wearing 2 Items: +2 Defense per clvl

Angelic Wings Amulet
20% Damage taken goes to Mana
+3 to Light Radius

Angelic Halo Ring
Replenish Life +6 (0.586/Second)
+20 to Life Wearing

Wearing 2 Items: +12 to Attack Rating per clvl
Wearing 2 Items: +75 Life
Wearing any two items: +10 Dexterity

Tancred's Skull Bone Helm
+10% Enhanced Damage
+40 to Attack Rating

Tancred's Hobnails Boots
Heal Stamina Plus 25%
+10 to Dexterity

Tancred's Spine Full Plate Mail
+40 to Life
+15 to Strength

Wearing 2 Items: +2 Defense per clvl
Wearing 2 Items: +10% Resistance To All
Wearing 2 Items: Fastest Run/Walk (30)
Wearing 2 Items: +15 Lightning Damage
Wearing 3 Items: +5% Life Stolen Per Hit
Wearing 3 Items: +10 Strength

Only thing that are Pros/Pre-reqs are Bone Helmets and a Scythe to keep that Grim Reaper look ;)
Ofcourse a black armor would look really cool, so if you have a nice one, by all means use it ;)

Yesterday I replaced the Tancreds with a Goldskin(resist and nice def), Vidala's Boots and a nice 171 def Grim Helm. My def after Frozen Armor is 8xx and my damage is 72-167. Not bad for a lvl 28 :)

[ShadowHM]

Hi DarkLord666,

I tried to do something like this. FaintHope is clvl 71 now. I liked the notion of the fast two-handed weapon on a melee sorceress.

She wore Hwanin's set. It looks very nice on her (fashion statements can be important, eh?) and has lovely set bonuses. She used a Blessed Aim mercenary.

I used Shiver Armour, instead of Frozen Armour.
I also gave points to Enchant, Fire Mastery and Lightning Mastery. I put one point in Static Field and one in Teleport.

She cruised just beautifully through Nightmare in 'players 8'. Telekilling monsters is incredible fun. Frankly, that was the one skill used virtually ALL the time. :D

Then she got to the Ancients.

They pounded her to a pulp.

No blocking. With her mercenary dead, she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door.

So I have been working on an overhaul for her to face Hell mode with. She has now Meph runned until she is blue in the face, and she has a Heart Carver (ITD) and a Rhyme Shield. She looks funny, but it should do the job to get past those Ancients.

[DarkLord666]

Hmm ... I might have forgotten to say that this is classic ... no matter, as hell diff. will be just as difficult.

But, I agree on the resist thing, that's why I at least wear the Goldskin for the 35 res all.
I also have a nice amulet with 3x lightning/cold res and 18 fire res. No plus one, but coupled with the goldskin it has OK resists.

I just need to find some boots, gloves and rings with life and res. Other mods always fine ofc ;)

I just like the enemy freezes bit from the freezing armor, to whack em when they're immoile.

I'll just have to see if I can get by WITHOUT the angelics, coz life and AR like they rock. I already have 336x2 to my AR ... missing is not an option. I may loose one, for resists ... not sure tho.

And I put 5 in static yesterday, it's quite handy to walk up to a group of baddies all the while staticing them once or twice. Meannig they have half their life left :)

But ehm ... Telekilling ?
Explain pls :)

[ShadowHM]

Telekilling is the art of teleporting to right beside a monster and whacking it to death. Depending on the number of hit points the monster has (players 1 versus players 8) you may be able to one-hit-kill it. If not, you still are saved the vulnerability of the running-over-to-the-monster stage.

It is a wonderful skill to use against the likes of Unravellers and their ilk, who cower behind a group of their minions who are at a choke point, and keep reviving them on you. Or the likes of Maggots, who lay eggs and spawn more of their despicable offspring from behind a wall of offspring.

It is particularly effective in LoD because of the way mercenaries teleport with you. If you target a monster, and teleport to it, the mercenary arrives with you and whacks the monster immediately - faster than you can do so. An Enchanted mercenary can deliver quite a nice whack.

Also, in LoD, Teleport is a good way to get your mercenary anywhere you are ASAP. You know how they always get lost in the Arcane Sanctuary? Or get mixed up in a useless brawl with a PI at times? Teleporting makes them show up beside you with that sheepish "Oh...you wanted me HERE, Boss?" look on their faces.

I have no idea whether this works with hirelings in Classic or not.


As to the origins of telekilling, it comes from D1. A warrior could teleport to right beside one of those pesky magic-throwing witches in Hell and kill her instantly. Hence, tele-kill. It was tough on the rogues in the group, because if you didn't know which witch to target, you could end up shooting your comrade as he appeared out of thin air beside the witch you were going for. :( But a skilled practitioner was a joy to watch anyway.

[WarBlade]

Another note on Teleporting with mercs that Shadow hasn't mentioned is that if you and your merc remain in place after the Teleport, you'll actually be superimposed with the merc (occupying the same space). This works out very nicely, since only one of you can be targeted and if you're lucky it'll be the merc, whom you prop up with life pots. ;) I remember one fight versus Coldworm where my melee Sorc Teleported right in next to Coldworm and was rewarded with nothing being able to poison or hit my character, leaving me to focus attention on the decay of only one life bar. :D