Building a sorcerer

[Heerscher]

Hi guys, I'm pretty new here, it's my first post.

So anyway, after reading the diablo II forums for a while I got a question. I read lots of guides about sorcerers and skill point distribution and I thought:

"Why does everybody always want to put 20 points in some skills?"

Is it really impossible to build a powerfull sorcerer without maxing, say, four skills? Isn't it for example far more effective to build a sorcerer with 15 points in his main skills, so he can adjust more points to other important skills. The remaining five skill points can then be gained with +skills items.

What do you think?

EDIT: spelling

[Bun-Bun]

Many sorceress skills gain more damage per skill point at higher levels. This accelerates as you get past skill level 24, IIRC.

Those last few skill points are working harder for you than if you would put them in other skills. I'm not saying you can't build a fun, workable character with slvl 20 skills, but it's not going to be as cost effective as a maxed skills, and may take more patience in Hell.

[Guest]

IMHO, the sorc's biggest problem is that they do pitiful damage. Non Mage character classes depend on their weapons for their killing power, where the Sorc's damage is limited by their skills.

Putting 20 points into skills, and getting lots of plus skill bringing your skill level over 20, is the only way to go. Putting 15 points into a wide variety of skills will bring your killing power down.

If you want to try out more than a few spells (most Sorc's use only 2-3 spells), then build more Sorc's.

[Sir_Die_alot]

IMHO, the sorc's biggest problem is that they do pitiful damage.

The last time I looked it was non mage classes who had the pitiful damage. :P

[Guest]

:-/ My zon can kill Meph a lot faster than my Sorc

[Caaroid]

Meph is 6-10 orbs... without synergies...

[Guest]

It takes a lot more than that to kill meph for me... I have no synergies, and it's slvl 31 I think. Are we talking about NM meph?

[Samka]

Unless you're using a spear skill, I don't think it's possible for an amazon to match the killing speed of a sorc on a single creature.

EDIT : Response to original post. The problem here is that 20 is not the maximum : " The remaining five skill points can then be gained with +skills items" . If 20 were the max, then this would be true, but skills can go as high as 40 (or is it 50?).

[Guest]

I just did a meph run, and used only Orbs. It probably took around 20.

[Obi2Kenobi]

I believe the highest is about 42 for sorceresses.

3 single skill, 3 skill tab orb
1 all on a shield
3 single on armor
3 tab on circlet
3 tab amulet
1 all on belt
2 all on rings
1 all from battle orders
2 all from skill shrine

+22= 42. My guess was right! Of course, since it is 42... :o

(note: some other characters can get slightly more)

[Samka]

Aren't you forgetting something...?

[Obi2Kenobi]

I don't know, am I? Are there gloves/boots that add to it? A +2 shield I couldn't find?

Oh, duh! Charms! :lol:

+1 grand charm x 10 + annihilus

Level 53 on any Sorceress skill except the Masteries, Hydra, and Frozen Orb.

[adeyke]

Fire skills also have Magefist. However, you can't have +3 skilltab on the same item as a first-tier staffmod.

However, there are then individual skills that can go higher. For example, you could have a Leaf staff with +9 total Inferno, Fire ball or Warmth or a Memory staff with +9 ES or +8 static field (all of which beats the +6 orb and +1 shield).

In short, it's easy to calculate the maximum possible for a given skill, but harder to generalize this information to apply it to many skills.

[Samka]

So there is no set limit in the code?

[adeyke]

There is a limit: slvl 99. However, no legit equipment can allow you to reach 99 for any skill, so for all practical purposes, there is no limit.

[Heerscher]

Well I guess I have to stick to two or three main skills then I guess. I think it's sad that a tri-elementalist can never match a sorcerer that specialises in one or two skill trees. It kinda takes away the idea of the almighty arch-mage that could easily be build in D1. Maybe they should have capped the spell levels of a sorcerer at lvl 25 or maybe spell levels higher then 20 shouldn't add extra damage.

[adeyke]

Vehement disagreement here.

If you want, you can already just voluntarily limit yourself to slvl 25. Of course, you'd have a weak character then.

That is, unless you mean the slvl 20 should already be comparable in damage to what slvl 40-50 is now. In that case, sorcs would simply be able to master not 3-5 skills but all of them. Sickeningly overpowered.

It's fine as is.

[Obi2Kenobi]

Runewords... I knew I was still forgetting something. :P