03-03-2004, 12:37 PM
Regarding your plans for the cold tree. you are better off losing all the extra points in Ice bolt and maxing out Cold mastery if you want to use Orb as your main damage attack. max Cmastery gives you -115 cold resist iirc, the increased chance that you will lower the mobs resist below 0 will add more damage overall to your Orb than any amount that you get from synergies.
Since you say you want a character that is survivable in hardcore and you also say you won't have any suped up items to back you up i would reccomend putting some points into Energy Shield. Admitingly i haven't played much D2 since 1.10 came out but in HC you need all the defense you can get your hands on and you won't have it from handed down equipment. A couple skill points there could save you a lot of headaches. 7 at the most will give you 50% damage to mana. it really depends on how you feel comfortable. I've never played a HC sorc without some in Energy Shield.
I agree with the above poster that going the enchantress route would be too dependant on high lvls in warmth and a decent bow. with your item restrictions i would try to pick a skill setup where you can get the most bang for you buck solely from skills. Also since you are going HC you don't want to waste any Stat points on things you don't absolutely need. All extra stat points get shoved into Vitality. Being a sorc you are already going to be using a good amount of energy points, and you need strength to wear appropriate armor. At this point Dex is just unneccisary spending.
as far as your secondary attack goes, you really only have the fire tree to choose from. All the viable lightning skill require too many synergies to be efficient and with the limitations on skill points you need something that will work with your strong points while using as little points as possible. Depending on what you feel comfortable with, this gives you either Hydra or Fire wall. With your limited skill points Fire Wall would be stronger but more interactive, while Hydra would give you the option to fire and forget. Both are strong and equally viable depending on play style.
If i were to take your ideas and run with my playstyle i think i would come up with a build something like this:
Cold:
20 - Orb
20 - Mastery
5 - Prereqs
Lighting:
5 - Static Field
7 - Energy Shield
5 - Prereqs
Fire:
5 - Warmth
16 - Fire Wall
2 - Prereqs
total: 85 points at level 75
but that's me.
Since you say you want a character that is survivable in hardcore and you also say you won't have any suped up items to back you up i would reccomend putting some points into Energy Shield. Admitingly i haven't played much D2 since 1.10 came out but in HC you need all the defense you can get your hands on and you won't have it from handed down equipment. A couple skill points there could save you a lot of headaches. 7 at the most will give you 50% damage to mana. it really depends on how you feel comfortable. I've never played a HC sorc without some in Energy Shield.
I agree with the above poster that going the enchantress route would be too dependant on high lvls in warmth and a decent bow. with your item restrictions i would try to pick a skill setup where you can get the most bang for you buck solely from skills. Also since you are going HC you don't want to waste any Stat points on things you don't absolutely need. All extra stat points get shoved into Vitality. Being a sorc you are already going to be using a good amount of energy points, and you need strength to wear appropriate armor. At this point Dex is just unneccisary spending.
as far as your secondary attack goes, you really only have the fire tree to choose from. All the viable lightning skill require too many synergies to be efficient and with the limitations on skill points you need something that will work with your strong points while using as little points as possible. Depending on what you feel comfortable with, this gives you either Hydra or Fire wall. With your limited skill points Fire Wall would be stronger but more interactive, while Hydra would give you the option to fire and forget. Both are strong and equally viable depending on play style.
If i were to take your ideas and run with my playstyle i think i would come up with a build something like this:
Cold:
20 - Orb
20 - Mastery
5 - Prereqs
Lighting:
5 - Static Field
7 - Energy Shield
5 - Prereqs
Fire:
5 - Warmth
16 - Fire Wall
2 - Prereqs
total: 85 points at level 75
but that's me.