Sorceress blocking%

[DeeBye]

I've been playing yet another Sorceress in 1.10, and at clvl 77 she has amassed a whopping 135 unused stat points.

I could dump them all into Vit like I normally would, but I've been seriously considering maxing her blocking instead.

Right now she has base dex, and is using a Lidless for her shield (40% blocking on shield).

I've gone ahead and done some calculations. Please correct me if anything is amiss.

Total Blocking% = (Shield Blocking% * (Dex - 15)) / (clvl * 2)
(I hope that equation is accurate -- I've based all my calculations on it)

I want to isolate Dex here, so after some rearranging we get:
Dex =((2 * Total Blocking% * clvl) / Shield Blocking%) + 15

Let's use these variables instead for easier reading:
D = ((2 * T * C) / S) + 15

Assuming I want 75% blocking with a plain Lidless @ clvl 80:
D = ((2 * 75 * 80) / 40) + 15
D = 315

This is obviously unrealistic. Let's try another approach. How about we try for 50% blocking instead? That might be almost as useful:
D = ((2 * 50 * 80) / 40) + 15
D = 215

This is MUCH more workable, but still a bit out of reach.

My next thought was to socket the Lidless with a Shael. Then, the shield would have 60% blocking instead of 40%. Let's try it:
D = ((2 * 75 * 80) / 60) + 15
D = 215

Same result, but with 75% blocking.

For 50% blocking with a Shael'ed Lidless:
D = ((2 * 50 * 80) / 60) + 15
D = 148

Well, now I have no idea what to do. Is an investment in Dex to attain decent blocking% a good idea for a Sorceress? I've never played a Sorceress with any degree of blocking ability, so I have no idea.

Or would it just be best if I dumped the whole lot into Vit like I normally would? Right now she has a life pool of about 800 and a mana pool of about 400. She survives quite nicely if I play her carefully enough and keep a supply of mana potions on-hand.

Are there any other options that I'm missing?

edit: added color to equations

[moget?]

Hey,

Hate to break it to you, but shael increases shield blocking rate by 20% :(

Eld rune gives a measly 7% chance to block <_<

--moget?

edit: another option, my good fellow: Guardian Angel unique templar coat does add 20% to your shield's chance to block. This is of course assuming you are willing to give up caster armor and get 118 strength (94.4 if hel'ed), but of course you would have the great max resists addition.

[Caaroid]

forget the lidless.

YES: block is awesome for a sorceress. You waste ~ 180 stat points for dex (if you're not using wizspike that needs 7x anyhow), but that'd only buy you like 360 life. So say, instead of 800 you get 1160. With a 75% block you'd get an effective life vs. blockable attacks of 3200.

Wrong: SHAEL in shields adds faster block, some lower rune ads more blokc (too sleepy to check), and it is 7% only. Bleeh.

If I were you I'd use whistans guard (insane block), or Moser's (resist, block and 2 sockets for 14% block or 38% resist). Then again some people can't take the loss of one skill and 20% fast cast.

SO: use another shield OR don't block. Lidless is both too slow and low percentage to block with.

[ShadowHM]

Hi DeeBye

I have little personal experience with high dexterity Sorceresses. I did make a melee Sorceress in v1.09 who used a Rhyme Troll's Nest (with the built-in +20% chance to block). I have completely ignored her since v1.10, since I moved to ladder characters. But, a quick check just now showed the following (per the Lying Character Screen):

Base: 188 dex
With equipment: 212 dex

Chance to block: 75%

I also have been in games with people who have high dex sorceresses that have been remarkably durable, despite correspondingly lower vitality. I have not heard them regretting their attribute selection choices.

YMMV

[rwbatema]

The main problem you are having is that the Lidless Wall has a pathetically low blocking rate:

Shield_Blocking = Class_Bonus + Shield_Type + Bonus
= 20% + 20% + 0%
= 40%

You might want to consider the Visceratuant. You still get the +1 skills, but loose the mana and 20% fast cast, but you gain a lot of blocking, and some block speed.
(it's 60% blocking for the sorc). It also looks WAY better then the ugly pile of bones.

[Archon_Wing]

nt

[whyBish]

Two important questions:
1) HC or SC?
2) Do you run?

[DeeBye]

SC, and when I'm not teleporting I'm running.

[DeeBye]

I did make a melee Sorceress in v1.09 who used a Rhyme Troll's Nest (with the built-in +20% chance to block).

After checking the available shield options, I think that was the best choice.

Rhyme is a very nice Sorceress shield. It has pretty everything you'd want -- increased block, mana regen, cannot be frozen, MF, resists. It lacks +skills and fast cast but I'm sure I can make that up easily enough.

I also believe that a Troll's Nest is the best base type for Rhyme. I had already sunk 100 stat points into STR (in the hopes of equiping an Archon plate or Skullder's Ire), so 106 STR was within easy reach for a Troll's Nest.

I also considered using a Hyperion, but quickly discarded that idea. Even though it has 44% block versus 40% for a Troll's Nest, it has a much higher STR req. It also has a lower def.

My good buddy Life found me a 172 def 2-socket Troll's Nest (in record time, I might add :) ), so I went ahead and pumped a crazy amount of points into DEX and spent the Shael + Eth.

The results were acceptable :)



I can survive an amazing amount of melee and ranged melee onslaught -- much more than I thought possible just through blocking. The blocking also helps control the Oculus' random Teleport crappiness. Running into a pack of archers no longer sends me into a random Teleporting frenzy.

In short -- I like blocking.

[LavCat]

I have little personal experience with high dexterity Sorceresses.&nbsp; I did make a melee Sorceress in v1.09 who used a Rhyme Troll's Nest (with the built-in +20% chance to block).

I have a 1.09 melee sorceress, although I too have now been playing ladder. Her shield choice is Blackoak, which with her 201 dexterity gives 70% chance to block. However she does have unused stat points that could well be used to increase her chance to block. Having 95% resist all in hell is also helpful.

Quill Rats, though are still a pain.

[Zyr]

VERY informative and helpful discussion-- my thanks to each of you for your contributions! I found my first ever Whitstan's AND first ever Visceratuant within the past three days-- but my MFassin just adores her Rhyme Luna.

[Animation]

DeeBye,

I notice your mana is low and your energy is low. This makes me wonder which spells kill well in conjunction with a small mana pool. Anybody have any opinions on which Sorceress spells work well with low mana, high blocking or preferably both?

Lewis

[DeeBye]

Hiya,

My sorceress uses Fireball/Orb. She runs out of mana all the time, but one of the great features of 1.10 is the ability to buy mana potions in town. I pumped energy to 50, but I really believe I could have left it at base.

Just load up on mana potions and drink 'em when you run out of blue. It's really that simple.

edit: I could have used Frostburns for extra mana, but I opted for Magefists for the +1 fire skills to help out my Fireball. I don't regret that choice.

[LavCat]

Anybody have any opinions on which Sorceress spells work well with low mana, high blocking or preferably both?

Enchant.

[AtomicKitKat]

Blaze works fine too. Inferno too, since the synergy in Warmth would increase your damage anyway. Thunderstorm at high levels(assuming you could cast it the first time), would probably last long enough to let your whole ball refill. Ditto the cold armours. In fact, any of the Sorceress' non-instant(duration-based) spells can be done with a low mana build, provided you have enough to cast it the first time, since most of them will last longer than the 2 minutes it takes to completely refill the orb.

[Caaroid]

If you can load up on mana/kill items (I got +15 at the moment) fireball is really sustainable IMHO (I hardly loose mana with it).

Now ORB, that's an entirelly different matter...

By the way, is it just me or a 60-point fireball at lev 30 (30 fireball, 20 firebolt and 20 mastery) kills slower than a 21 point Orb (20 orb @ lev 25 and 1 mastery @ lev6)?

[Gnem Eehc]

Hello;

Please enlighten me, I have no idea what is 'MageFist'. I think the most powerful weapon for a sorcie is the Oculus? Is that right? Several web sites and D2 forums seem to say so. Also about the topic on shields and blocking...

I think sorcies suck at melee fighting, stick to playing with Hydra and Frozen Orb, even though they aren't good at getting through Hell, you are still better off at maybe hiring a melee mercenary and firing from afar then charging ahead and fighting and getting a good shield to block. If you do insist on using a shield to block, I do suggest the 'Wall of the Eyeless' Bone Shield.

[AtomicKitKat]

Occulus, Occy(unless referring to Occhidiangela as OccHy), etc are "dirty" words around here.

Magefist is the unique Light Gauntlets. It adds +1 to Fire Skills(all fire traps and fire-based martial arts, Phoenix Strike and Fists of Fire I guess, for Assassin, fire claws and fire spells for Druid, Holy Fire for Paladin, Corpse Explosion and Fire Golem for Necromancer, Fire-based Arrows for Amazons, and all Fire spells for Sorceress), a little fire damage, and 25% Mana Regeneration. Most sorcs(especially the cookie-cutter Orb Sorcs) prefer Frostburns for the 40% increase in the mana pool, but Hot-headed Sorcs like myself prefer Magefists.

[ldw]

With a 75% block you'd get an effective life vs. blockable attacks of 3200.

.. and hope something in hell that swats for 67dmg+ doesn't send you into recovery perpetually on that other 25%.
Might as well start piling %DR now if this is the path one will take.

[Kevin]

Because unless they are cold immune, that one point plus skill items will generally freeze the monster for longer than your hit recovery, even if you don't have hit recovery items. That means you don't really have as many hit recovery issues, and getting off that teleport to get out of the situtation you probably shouldn't be in is easier to do. Sure on hell it is only .3 to .4 seconds, but that is 7 to 10 frames. You only need 30% FHR to get a 10 frame recovery for a sorc, and now the monster has to add in its attack frames, in which you can teleport away.

This is why I pretty much always "waste" one point in frozen armor with all sorcs. It really helps prevent recovery lock.