What Sorc build for PvM

[whathuh]

OK. I seem to be having more than my fair share of trouble in Hell. As long as I do not run into Cold immunes, I am fine, but those monsters are very hard, especially if they are fast.

Fire damage is not high enough to take them down quickly. Fire and Cold immunes seem to be rather common and that is a nightmare. The small item boost for CL is not enough to kill them fast.

Would I have been better off with FO and CL in hell? Is there some technique that I am not using for Hydra + FO Sorc?

Hydra is not effective as I have to running around like crazy and drop one when I can and keep running. This probably means I am not getting many hits from the spell. I try to group the hydras and run in a circle around them, so they can get in shots.

Of course by this time the merc is dead.

Hydra 10
Fire Master 20
Fire Ball 9

I am not sure how many +skills I have.

FO is max and I have 11 in Cold Master. None in Meteor. I have had items giving it, not sure if I currently have it or not. I did not like it much as those monsters do not stand still waiting for you to hit them.
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A few suggestions on your merc. I take it you have a prayer merc, so he will be healing you and himself much faster. Try insight if you are on the realms, it inceases your mana (you can teleport away without having to constantly drink pots) and it doubles the rate at which prayer heals you (meditation gets prayer synergy per level). Another idea is holy freeze for the cold immunes. If you can get 63% faster cast, you can cast at 9 frames, great for telekinesis and fireball. For example, Lister is cold/fire immune. Kill minions, and then take on lister. Make sure your merc is alive with holy freeze on (kelpie snare might work too). start telekinesising lister. He should get semi-stun locked and VERY slow due to holy freeze. Use static to its fullest!

Also, there are Barb mercs. They are TANKS. If you can give him an honor colosus sword with a life leech helm (craft one) and some high defense armor, he will whoop. As always, eth is good.

Trouble with the cold immunes? What about an act 3 merc? Spirit crystal sword will help a ton, as well as skin of the vipermagi. FCR items with + skills are the key here, and your merc will be doing quite a bit of lightning damage. Only problem is now you dont have a tank.

USE TELEPORT! Gather the monsters in a group and keep them in that group by teleporting around and cast hydras in the middle of the group. If you have great difficulty with killing them, consider going back and gaining some levels for your merc and yourself.

Fcr is very powerful when you use fireball, so I suggest you use it in conjunction with orb and hydra.