01-17-2004, 03:43 AM
Well then, hello hello!
When choosing weapons, there are a number of options, depending on your play style, spell usage and most importantly on your wealth, let's just cover them one-by-one. (Whereas skill-to-play-the-game it is a worthwile attribute, it is a constant for a given player-character combination, so I'll just disregard it for this discussion).
PLAY STYLE: I distinct between tank and glass-cannon, and I only play along the path of the Tank. The tank sorceresses ALWAYS have near-max block and resists, and this is their PRIMARY target. Secondary, onviously is the +skills and fast cast. Glass cannons shoot for as much +skills as they can get their (filthy little) pawns on, sacrificing reists (and not bothering with block).
SPELL USAGE: the important thing here is wether you use a spell that needs targetting or not. (As in: fireball/chain lightning versus Orb/hydra)
WEALTH: is a Vex nothing for you? Don't know what to do with a stashful of perfect rainbow facets? You're rich. If you dream about having a Heart of the Oak, you're me (poor).
Now, let us consider the available weapons along these lines.
HEART OF THE OAK: I have to start with this, because sometimes I dream with a Vex and I got to get up to take a cold shower. You get very good resists, 40% fast cast and the +3 skills you're looking for. This is VERY good for both the tank and the glass kind of play, but you sacrifice one socket's worth of rainbow facets, and you won't get any side skills. Ah, did I mention you get Oak Sage? I guess it'd be expensive (HoW costs ~ 12k from my Passion blade, I think it'd be along these lines), but YOU GET OAK SAGE! <cold shower/>
ESCHUTA'S TEMPER: junk. If you don't get the +3 skills, the +% spell damage can only make up for that loss in case of the cold spells, and even then you loose resists. (The +% damage is additive with the masteries, so for Fire and Lighting they are hardly noticable; even a maxed-out +% damage +2 all skills one is inferior to +3 all skills.) 40% cast is nice, but HoO has that too. Then again, getting a PERFECT one is a neat weapon for a glass cannon; with a lidless you're only -1 skill off of a Mang's Song, and you're ahead in the cast... but then Mang Song's resist bonus is frequently superior to Temper's damage bonus. In short: the lack of resists make it useless for a tank, and a cold glass cannon is better off with a Death's Fathom, Fire (and maybe the mislead lightning) glass cannons are (arguably, see below) better off with Mang Song's.
DEATH'S FATHOM: pvm cold sorceresses can afford that luxury, but then again, do they NEED it? In my experience my non-synergyzed ORB sorc kills anything that's not cold immune (lev 26 orb 26 mastery with Wizardspike, thank you).
ORDINAL'S WISDOM: I do not know how the +5% experience works (the only notable mod there), but if it is additive with the high-level penalties then it might be a VERY powerful leveling equipment (say, you get -90% exp because of your level, and if it's additive, then the +5% would actually mean 50% more exp than normally). If you're not ladder runner, trade it with a ladder runner for a VEX ;)
This (being a staff) is obviously out of the question for a Tank. For the rich: staff means one less Rainbow facet.
MANG SONG'S LESSON: as already hinted at: ideal glass cannon equipment for non-cold glass cannon sorceresses. I cannot picture myself using a staff, but for a fire (or again, the few misguided lightining) PVM glass cannon this is a godsend - mainly because of the -resistance mods. Then again, if you end up with one along the lines of 7% resist reduction, the +1 skill might not be enough to counter the loss of a rainbow facet AND the fast cast TOGETHER. (For comparisons sake, let's consider perfect items with perfect jewels: you could get the measured-and-found-useless Eschuta's Temper with a Lidless and 2 rainbow facets for +4 skills +40% dmg and -10% resist with 60% cast, whereas with Mang Song you're +5 sills +5% damage -20% resist 30% cast). Hard to decide, and you'd need to be ritch to have this dilemma (and crazy as well, just build a tank already!)
VOLCANIC/POWERED/GLACIAL orb OF THE MAGUS: for the extremely power-hungry and ritch and suicidal glass-cannon players these are the best weapons in the game. That is, if you get one with the side order of your skill+mastery of choice. Any decent glass-cannon fireball sorceress' eye would mist over seeing a VOLCANIC of the MAGUS with +3 fireball +3 mastery. For comparisons' sake, it'd possibly mean +7 skills +15% damage -15% resist 40% cast (assuming two sockets in the weapon, lidless and three perfect rainbow facets), what would mean that Mr. Mang and his Song can have this corner to sob and can use my robe to dry up their tears. Then again, an item like this would leave you as wulnerable as any staff-user, and the likelihood of finding one (and socketing it with two sockets) would make it an expensive alternative.
WIZARDSPIKE: The exact opposite of the perfect blue orbs. While these days generally scoffed at, my kill-everything-that's-not-cold-immune sorc still uses this one. (Along with a stormshield and Nay's armor, Harlequin and nightsmoke I got like 1k life, 1.2k mana, 70% fast cast, maxed out TK, 75% resall and block, 45% PDR, and 95% damage to mana, nothing kills me much.) TONS of mana and resist, maxed fast cast, what more could you want? Well, the lack of plus skills is rather apparent, and this make it unacceptable to most, so I can get them cheaper. That's fine with me
and finally, OCCULUS: while HoO beats it in fast cast and resists, it has an awesome mod: 25% chance to cast teleport! Ah, I can picture you grimace now ;) Let me tell you the secret: MAX BLOCK. If you use a sorceress with maxed blocking, this orb is just AWESOME. It means you do not play ping-pong ball aroud the field, statistically you jump only 1/4th the times. The catch is: in situations where you get hit OFTEN you jump more frequently. Most notable examples: fana ench frenzytaur pack and gloams (it casts the teleport even if you're in hit recovery).
I have a fire sorceress using this (with some other quite nice equipment she's got lev 30 fireball, 75% resall, 75% block, 106% fast cast and ~ 800 life and mana), and I keep using this orb instead of a +2 skill +3 fireball +mana + life orb I have (higher damage), since I LOVE the teleport. Ok, it got me killed once or twice, but with blocking gear it kills me like once for every 20 times it saves me. Then again, one might be one too many (I play SC you see), but for me it feels like a godsend. (I cannot say anything about non-blocking sorceress since the last time I had one was in 1.0, then I found a Sigons shield and the dark road of the glass cannon closed to me forever).
AND another thing: using a non-targeted spell will make having Occy even better: my above-mentioned fireball sorc usually uses ORB in most nasty situations versus non-cold immunes, and not because of the larger area of effect but since then it does not matter if you get teleported away, you still hit.
And another VERY useful but MOSTLY underrated mod: +5 mana/kill. With silkweave's +5 and fireballs ~18 mana/cast cost, it is quite significant, take it from me.
All in all: even if I had the fabled HoO I would not throw occy away for my fireball sorc because of the +5 mana/kill... but for all purposes I would highly reccomend a a HoO if you cannot live with Occulus.
On a side note of a post that took me an hour to write: have you ever tried the extreme-tank? One that uses Guardian angel for 90% resall and for the faster block, the more block means you can save on dexterity and waste it on str (for Guardian, that is), and with a defiance merc you get ~ 4k defense rating this way. Now all you need is an Energy shield (maxed with TK, there is no way you gonna have the mana otherwise and vulpine items, but that is what an upgraded night smoke is there for), and you got yourself a sorceress that can survive anything. And I mean it. Sure, you'll end up having like lev 22 skills if you don't have skill charms (I don't, and it does not trouble me much), but it is a very nice feeling to stand in the middle of a gloam pack and type sad little emoticons for the other (dead) party members while healing because of your Blackhorns Face. Suggested skills: orb and/or meteor (I did a nova one, started back in 1.09 when we thought nova will remaiin a useable skill, and she can still kill in 1.10. Sure it is slow going, but you have all the time in the world :)
I hope that in all this rabling you found something that can prove useful
c.
PS: I do not mean that all glass-cannon players are useless players with no skill whatsoever; I am dogging on them so that the tiny amusement keeps me awake at 4:26am. It should be apparent, that playing a glass cannon needs a LOT more skill than playing a Tank, and in a lag-free environment it can be a rather challenging and enjoyable kind of soft-core play. What I experience in Bnet these days, however, is that most sorc players are unexperienced, don't know a first thing about teleport, the relevance of blocking and staying-behind-the-werebear, and thus I do not find it surprising that many of them die gruesome (and frequent) deaths. I choose the "Path of the Tank" for the same reasons I choose softcore: I hate the loss and I hate the lag-death. It can be avoided. Even without a Storm ;)
When choosing weapons, there are a number of options, depending on your play style, spell usage and most importantly on your wealth, let's just cover them one-by-one. (Whereas skill-to-play-the-game it is a worthwile attribute, it is a constant for a given player-character combination, so I'll just disregard it for this discussion).
PLAY STYLE: I distinct between tank and glass-cannon, and I only play along the path of the Tank. The tank sorceresses ALWAYS have near-max block and resists, and this is their PRIMARY target. Secondary, onviously is the +skills and fast cast. Glass cannons shoot for as much +skills as they can get their (filthy little) pawns on, sacrificing reists (and not bothering with block).
SPELL USAGE: the important thing here is wether you use a spell that needs targetting or not. (As in: fireball/chain lightning versus Orb/hydra)
WEALTH: is a Vex nothing for you? Don't know what to do with a stashful of perfect rainbow facets? You're rich. If you dream about having a Heart of the Oak, you're me (poor).
Now, let us consider the available weapons along these lines.
HEART OF THE OAK: I have to start with this, because sometimes I dream with a Vex and I got to get up to take a cold shower. You get very good resists, 40% fast cast and the +3 skills you're looking for. This is VERY good for both the tank and the glass kind of play, but you sacrifice one socket's worth of rainbow facets, and you won't get any side skills. Ah, did I mention you get Oak Sage? I guess it'd be expensive (HoW costs ~ 12k from my Passion blade, I think it'd be along these lines), but YOU GET OAK SAGE! <cold shower/>
ESCHUTA'S TEMPER: junk. If you don't get the +3 skills, the +% spell damage can only make up for that loss in case of the cold spells, and even then you loose resists. (The +% damage is additive with the masteries, so for Fire and Lighting they are hardly noticable; even a maxed-out +% damage +2 all skills one is inferior to +3 all skills.) 40% cast is nice, but HoO has that too. Then again, getting a PERFECT one is a neat weapon for a glass cannon; with a lidless you're only -1 skill off of a Mang's Song, and you're ahead in the cast... but then Mang Song's resist bonus is frequently superior to Temper's damage bonus. In short: the lack of resists make it useless for a tank, and a cold glass cannon is better off with a Death's Fathom, Fire (and maybe the mislead lightning) glass cannons are (arguably, see below) better off with Mang Song's.
DEATH'S FATHOM: pvm cold sorceresses can afford that luxury, but then again, do they NEED it? In my experience my non-synergyzed ORB sorc kills anything that's not cold immune (lev 26 orb 26 mastery with Wizardspike, thank you).
ORDINAL'S WISDOM: I do not know how the +5% experience works (the only notable mod there), but if it is additive with the high-level penalties then it might be a VERY powerful leveling equipment (say, you get -90% exp because of your level, and if it's additive, then the +5% would actually mean 50% more exp than normally). If you're not ladder runner, trade it with a ladder runner for a VEX ;)
This (being a staff) is obviously out of the question for a Tank. For the rich: staff means one less Rainbow facet.
MANG SONG'S LESSON: as already hinted at: ideal glass cannon equipment for non-cold glass cannon sorceresses. I cannot picture myself using a staff, but for a fire (or again, the few misguided lightining) PVM glass cannon this is a godsend - mainly because of the -resistance mods. Then again, if you end up with one along the lines of 7% resist reduction, the +1 skill might not be enough to counter the loss of a rainbow facet AND the fast cast TOGETHER. (For comparisons sake, let's consider perfect items with perfect jewels: you could get the measured-and-found-useless Eschuta's Temper with a Lidless and 2 rainbow facets for +4 skills +40% dmg and -10% resist with 60% cast, whereas with Mang Song you're +5 sills +5% damage -20% resist 30% cast). Hard to decide, and you'd need to be ritch to have this dilemma (and crazy as well, just build a tank already!)
VOLCANIC/POWERED/GLACIAL orb OF THE MAGUS: for the extremely power-hungry and ritch and suicidal glass-cannon players these are the best weapons in the game. That is, if you get one with the side order of your skill+mastery of choice. Any decent glass-cannon fireball sorceress' eye would mist over seeing a VOLCANIC of the MAGUS with +3 fireball +3 mastery. For comparisons' sake, it'd possibly mean +7 skills +15% damage -15% resist 40% cast (assuming two sockets in the weapon, lidless and three perfect rainbow facets), what would mean that Mr. Mang and his Song can have this corner to sob and can use my robe to dry up their tears. Then again, an item like this would leave you as wulnerable as any staff-user, and the likelihood of finding one (and socketing it with two sockets) would make it an expensive alternative.
WIZARDSPIKE: The exact opposite of the perfect blue orbs. While these days generally scoffed at, my kill-everything-that's-not-cold-immune sorc still uses this one. (Along with a stormshield and Nay's armor, Harlequin and nightsmoke I got like 1k life, 1.2k mana, 70% fast cast, maxed out TK, 75% resall and block, 45% PDR, and 95% damage to mana, nothing kills me much.) TONS of mana and resist, maxed fast cast, what more could you want? Well, the lack of plus skills is rather apparent, and this make it unacceptable to most, so I can get them cheaper. That's fine with me
and finally, OCCULUS: while HoO beats it in fast cast and resists, it has an awesome mod: 25% chance to cast teleport! Ah, I can picture you grimace now ;) Let me tell you the secret: MAX BLOCK. If you use a sorceress with maxed blocking, this orb is just AWESOME. It means you do not play ping-pong ball aroud the field, statistically you jump only 1/4th the times. The catch is: in situations where you get hit OFTEN you jump more frequently. Most notable examples: fana ench frenzytaur pack and gloams (it casts the teleport even if you're in hit recovery).
I have a fire sorceress using this (with some other quite nice equipment she's got lev 30 fireball, 75% resall, 75% block, 106% fast cast and ~ 800 life and mana), and I keep using this orb instead of a +2 skill +3 fireball +mana + life orb I have (higher damage), since I LOVE the teleport. Ok, it got me killed once or twice, but with blocking gear it kills me like once for every 20 times it saves me. Then again, one might be one too many (I play SC you see), but for me it feels like a godsend. (I cannot say anything about non-blocking sorceress since the last time I had one was in 1.0, then I found a Sigons shield and the dark road of the glass cannon closed to me forever).
AND another thing: using a non-targeted spell will make having Occy even better: my above-mentioned fireball sorc usually uses ORB in most nasty situations versus non-cold immunes, and not because of the larger area of effect but since then it does not matter if you get teleported away, you still hit.
And another VERY useful but MOSTLY underrated mod: +5 mana/kill. With silkweave's +5 and fireballs ~18 mana/cast cost, it is quite significant, take it from me.
All in all: even if I had the fabled HoO I would not throw occy away for my fireball sorc because of the +5 mana/kill... but for all purposes I would highly reccomend a a HoO if you cannot live with Occulus.
On a side note of a post that took me an hour to write: have you ever tried the extreme-tank? One that uses Guardian angel for 90% resall and for the faster block, the more block means you can save on dexterity and waste it on str (for Guardian, that is), and with a defiance merc you get ~ 4k defense rating this way. Now all you need is an Energy shield (maxed with TK, there is no way you gonna have the mana otherwise and vulpine items, but that is what an upgraded night smoke is there for), and you got yourself a sorceress that can survive anything. And I mean it. Sure, you'll end up having like lev 22 skills if you don't have skill charms (I don't, and it does not trouble me much), but it is a very nice feeling to stand in the middle of a gloam pack and type sad little emoticons for the other (dead) party members while healing because of your Blackhorns Face. Suggested skills: orb and/or meteor (I did a nova one, started back in 1.09 when we thought nova will remaiin a useable skill, and she can still kill in 1.10. Sure it is slow going, but you have all the time in the world :)
I hope that in all this rabling you found something that can prove useful
c.
PS: I do not mean that all glass-cannon players are useless players with no skill whatsoever; I am dogging on them so that the tiny amusement keeps me awake at 4:26am. It should be apparent, that playing a glass cannon needs a LOT more skill than playing a Tank, and in a lag-free environment it can be a rather challenging and enjoyable kind of soft-core play. What I experience in Bnet these days, however, is that most sorc players are unexperienced, don't know a first thing about teleport, the relevance of blocking and staying-behind-the-werebear, and thus I do not find it surprising that many of them die gruesome (and frequent) deaths. I choose the "Path of the Tank" for the same reasons I choose softcore: I hate the loss and I hate the lag-death. It can be avoided. Even without a Storm ;)