Attempting A New Enchantress Build

[Taem]

I've made Enchantresses before, and while entertaining to play, I used them in the past mostly just to provide Enchant to my lower leveled characters, but this time around I'm attempting to make a character playable even into Hell difficulty, and to do this, I've developed a new type of strategy!

I've gathered guides from all over the net but Mongo Jerry's Guide is by far the most informative I've seen, however it fails to fully elaborate on a specific new concept I began toying with recently. Let me preface with my reasoning if you don't mind: after having been TPPK'd more than once, I've found the best way to gain experience now is to actually play the game (no more Baal runs), but to do that, your character has to be able to survive the greater difficulties in the game. After recently having three enchantresses die pretty much back-to-back in NM around levels 40+, I decided to take a new approach to how I play these fragile characters.

First off, I decided from the get-go that this enchantress would be a missile enchantress using a Kuku bow. This bow is not hard to come by if magic finding or trading, however playing a missile enchantress without this bow to start off with is very difficult, to say the least. Based on this, I planned my Strength and Dexterity to match what I needed for this bow, figuring if I ever found a Demon Machine, I'd have enough Strength and Dexterity items to get me by. The rest of my points are going evenly into Vitality and Energy. Why Energy? I'll get to that part in a second. On her weapon switch, she has a high resist shield so she can teleport in on a boss, static, then retreat and swap back to the bow. Most importantly regarding items, her mercenary has the Insight rune-word (also extremely easy to come by)! I decided to go with a Holy Freeze mercenary for an added safety cushion since I wouldn't have the strength required to wear a high defense armor combined with Defiance.

For her skill points, I decided early on to evenly distribute my points into Energy Shield and Fire Mastery after level 30. Why? With ES at slvl 20, ES absorbs 75% of all damage taken (with just +5 skill levels of items, it becomes 80%). With my enchantresses Warmth maxed out and with +5 fire skills, she is regenerating mana at 318%, but if that weren't enough, her mercenary is giving off a level 14 Meditation from the Insight rune word providing an additional 625% mana regeneration. Combined with her items, she has a total of 1013% mana regeneration with items all found on the ground. I usually teleport near some baddes and let my mercenary's aura kick in and slow them down while I pick them off. If I find they are too dangerous or letting off a lot of sparks, I teleport away. I placed one point into Frozen Armor for the Freezes Target ability for when Extra Fast enemies get the jump on me so I can escape!

So what strategy am I employing here? My enchantress regains mana at an astonishing rate, I'd say her ball fills up completely from an empty state within 12-seconds or less. If Energy Shield is absorbing 80% of all the damage I take and then my mana regenerates at such incredible rates, it makes it much easier to survive difficult situations that any other enchantress build I have seen. Also, her high vitality helps out a lot! The other benefit to this build is that the Insight rune word is very easy to come by and is the ONLY item required for this build making this build very item independent! Of course the more +skill/fire items you can pack on, the better this enchantress will be, but is not necessary to play this build, however I would HIGHLY recommend the Kuku bow for starters! If you using teleport liberally, you really shouldn't be taking much damage anyways, but for the times you are taken off guard, your ES will be a life saver!

So far, I am level 50 into this build and have survived fluently, without any problems I couldn't handle in Nightmare. For Fire Immunes, my mercenary has killed them off and I provided Static when necessary. The only baddies I have had trouble with are the undead skeletons that shoot fire arrows in act 5 - they still hurt and a large group of them can be trouble. This build really works great with a friend to play along with. I think eventually I will max out Telekinesis when Fire Mastery and ES are maxed out.

Opinions?

[Taem]

Build is still working great in NM, but my resists aren't high enough for Hell yet. I haven't sunk a point into Dex other than for the Kuku and is working great. I just recently noticed that BRAND does Amp Damage, Bone Spear, and Explosive Arrows (level 15), but the runes are neigh impossible to come by (sigh). The mana shield thing is working great, but I've been too scared to try it against bosses yet in nightmare. Will report back soon with more information.

[Hammerskjold]

Build is still working great in NM, but my resists aren't high enough for Hell yet. I haven't sunk a point into Dex other than for the Kuku and is working great. I just recently noticed that BRAND does Amp Damage, Bone Spear, and Explosive Arrows (level 15), but the runes are neigh impossible to come by (sigh). The mana shield thing is working great, but I've been too scared to try it against bosses yet in nightmare. Will report back soon with more information.

You're on realm if I read you right? Have you checked out the runeword 'Harmony' bow? It's not the easiest runeword to assemble, but it's relatively more affordable than some of the other high end stuff. And it's got some traits that might suit you.

Looking forward to your update.

[Taem]

You're on realm if I read you right? Have you checked out the runeword 'Harmony' bow? It's not the easiest runeword to assemble, but it's relatively more affordable than some of the other high end stuff. And it's got some traits that might suit you.

Looking forward to your update.

Yes, I'm on USWEST Ladder HC. Regarding Harmony, it seems to have great bonuses for boss killing without a doubt, especially if I chose to put points into Light & Cold Mastery. But for general play, it's relatively useless without Exploding Arrow attached to it for the crowd control/mass killing ability. Also, there is also no Piercing, making this truly only a one-monster attack-bow. Because Sorceresses attack at 16 FPS with the bow, since Harmony also does not have any IAS, I'd have to get the IAS from other sources, one's I'm currently using for resists. So all in all, a great bow, but not too good for my Enchantress IMO, but thanks for pointing it out. I'm always looking for new ways to expand my game-play.

[Assur]

Yes, I'm on USWEST Ladder HC. Regarding Harmony, it seems to have great bonuses for boss killing without a doubt, especially if I chose to put points into Light & Cold Mastery. But for general play, it's relatively useless without Exploding Arrow attached to it for the crowd control/mass killing ability. Also, there is also no Piercing, making this truly only a one-monster attack-bow. Because Sorceresses attack at 16 FPS with the bow, since Harmony also does not have any IAS, I'd have to get the IAS from other sources, one's I'm currently using for resists. So all in all, a great bow, but not too good for my Enchantress IMO, but thanks for pointing it out. I'm always looking for new ways to expand my game-play.

Hi

I find this very interesting, because I used to try out non-standard Sorcs. Just a few questions.

-Are you sure that putting points in Cold/Fire mastery would improve the elemental damage from Harmony? IIRC the masteries only synergize with Sorc-specific talents:o

- Razortail would take care of the piercing problem, and some partial combinations from sets can give big boosts to IAS/ED.

-Have you thought about converting the Sorc into a thrower? Personally I'm all in favour of 3PD shields. Or how about converting her into a melee Sorc if you find the runes for Passion?

The runes for Brand are unfortunately difficult to find/cube, but Ice only needs one highend rune and would probably be useful against fire immunes.

good luck

[Taem]

-Are you sure that putting points in Cold/Fire mastery would improve the elemental damage from Harmony? IIRC the masteries only synergize with Sorc-specific talents:o

Well, from what I've seen on the Character Screen (or LCS as it is usually referred), there is no difference, however in Mongo Jerry's guide A. Undocumented Game Features:

5. Sorceress elemental masteries affect the corresponding elemental damage delivered by equipment. So a sorceress with a level 20 Lightning Mastery, which gives a 278% bonus to lightning damage, who has a charm that does 1-20 lightning damage will actually do 4-76 lightning damage. Items that add fire damage to attacks will have their damage boosted by Fire Mastery and items that cause cold damage will receive the benefit of Cold Mastery's lower target's cold resist ability.

- Razortail would take care of the piercing problem, and some partial combinations from sets can give big boosts to IAS/ED.

Razor Tail provides 33% piercing only. The Kuku bow provides 50% pierce for a total of 83% and the Demon Machine provides 66% pierce for a maximum of 99% pierce on your exploding arrows.

-Have you thought about converting the Sorc into a thrower? Personally I'm all in favour of 3PD shields. Or how about converting her into a melee Sorc if you find the runes for Passion?

Thrower possibly for bosses, however the single attack format does not appeal to me unfortunately, and there are not any javelins with exploding properties on them for crowd control. Melee sorceresses are very difficult to play and require an insane amount of Dexterity for maximum block (something like 248 if memory serves me), however with the right gear, the melee enchantress can be one of the deadliest classes there is. I've heard of people getting the Beast runeword and turning a melee enchantress into a werebear and doing way over 10k+ damage; I'm all giddy at doing 3k damage, let alone 10k+. I have strayed away from the melee enchantress because of her huge dependence on items, of which I did not have when re-starting D2. If I made a melee enchantress, I'd attempt her like my old damage reduction sorceress and give her Guardian Angel for 90% resists, Azure Wrath sword for elemental multiplication, Storm Shield, String of Ears, Vampire Gaze, and lots of elemental charms. I'd also max out Chilling Armor and the rest into Light and Cold Mastery and get a Defiance merc. But I will not even attempt this build until I find these items, and the likelihood of that with the few hours I get to play lately is practically nil.

[Assur]

Looks like I'll have to reread MongoJerry's guide. I came back to D2 just a few months ago, but I've been collecting elemental small charms and rares with lots of elemental damage for a pure Zealot. Perhaps I'll start a melee sorc, but the equipment you mention is rather daunting :ph34r:

[Taem]

Well I died. It seems that my resists weren't high enough and I'm not entirely sure Energy Shield is working as indicated on the skill versus elemental based attacks. A pack of those lightening ball shooting dogs made their guest appearance in Hell Act 5 and just two balls killed me, even with 62% absorb from ES and 23% light resist (or was it -23%, I just can't remember). Anyways, I'm attempting to rebuild the same, but with focus on ES first and more resists. In theory, the build is solid so...

[Assur]

Well I died. It seems that my resists weren't high enough and I'm not entirely sure Energy Shield is working as indicated on the skill versus elemental based attacks. A pack of those lightening ball shooting dogs made their guest appearance in Hell Act 5 and just two balls killed me, even with 62% absorb from ES and 23% light resist (or was it -23%, I just can't remember). Anyways, I'm attempting to rebuild the same, but with focus on ES first and more resists. In theory, the build is solid so...

If you mean these:

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/monster...nted.shtml

you probably were at -23%

Good luck with the re-start

[Archon_Wing]

I know it's usually a bad idea to keep too much stuff in the inventory, but you could use more +skill items to prebuff energy shield and enchant. Memory staff is good for energy shield and "leaf" might be good for enchant. Then of course any +3 orb and a +1 shield like sigons or lidless is what I've been doing. Both spells typically last more than 10 minutes so there's little need for recasting. But still, a good accomplishment, considering my own enchantress never made it beyond nm act 4. But I'm sure, in hell every little bit matters.

With diminishing returns on energy shield, I wonder if it's better to do something like 10 energy shield/10 telekenisis and stocking up on manafe charms. Also MDR and -DR (not -dr%) will help quite a bit; high amounts of it will cause little to no damage transferred to you, given that your mana is still holding. I have a feeling your mana pool may not have been large enough, and you shouldn't worry about putting as mana charms as you can on your sorc, since blood mana isn't too bad for you and mana is easier to get than life.

[Taem]

If you mean these:

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/monster...nted.shtml

you probably were at -23%

Good luck with the re-start

Yes them. And yes, I think I was at -23%.

[Taem]

I know it's usually a bad idea to keep too much stuff in the inventory, but you could use more +skill items to prebuff energy shield and enchant. Memory staff is good for energy shield and "leaf" might be good for enchant. Then of course any +3 orb and a +1 shield like sigons or lidless is what I've been doing. Both spells typically last more than 10 minutes so there's little need for recasting. But still, a good accomplishment, considering my own enchantress never made it beyond nm act 4. But I'm sure, in hell every little bit matters.

With diminishing returns on energy shield, I wonder if it's better to do something like 10 energy shield/10 telekenisis and stocking up on manafe charms. Also MDR and -DR (not -dr%) will help quite a bit; high amounts of it will cause little to no damage transferred to you, given that your mana is still holding. I have a feeling your mana pool may not have been large enough, and you shouldn't worry about putting as mana charms as you can on your sorc, since blood mana isn't too bad for you and mana is easier to get than life.

One thing I did differently this time around is I took a cold arrow hireling from Act 1 - this part is cut-and-paste I'm sure for all players until the get the mercenary they desire - and kept her! A friend of mine found a demon-machine and gave it too me, so I gave my merc my Kuku, skeptical that it's exploding arrow properties would work for her but guess what.... they DID! It's like she does freezing, exploding arrows! And her damage with my enchant is to die for! Without a doubt a game changer for me... in more ways that one. Now I don't have any good physical damage to take out fire immunes (my last merc could dish out good physical damage too) so I have to avoid fire immune monster areas without escort.

I was reading another guide that says Lighting mastery and T.storm are a great combo also. I kind of wish I went that route, but this new enchantress is already level 70 so...

[Exalt-]

uhm, resist doesn't matter when you're energy shield.

[Taem]

uhm, resist doesn't matter when you're energy shield.

Heh, maybe not in softcore. Give it a shot and tell me how it works out for you.

[Archon_Wing]

It's actually true for very high levels of energy shield because resists go after energy shield.

So if you get hit by 100 lightning damage and have 95% energy shield the damage gets reduced to 5 before resists are counted. Also - magic damage is counted before resists. Thus with some MDR, you wouldn't take any damage to health at all regardless of resistances. But of course, you aren't a dedicated energy shield build and there's always those mana burn monsters. And poison doesn't get blocked by energy shield at all.

[Merlinios]

Also, as far as I know (I haven't looked into it in awhile), Rogue mercenaries firing explosive arrows are not synergistic with Enchant. I can't recall whether it was because it only shows the animation and doesn't actually calculate the exploding effect, or because Enchant works "correctly" with this particular explosion.

--me

[Taem]

[...] Rogue mercenaries firing explosive arrows are not synergistic with Enchant. I can't recall whether it was because it only shows the animation and doesn't actually calculate the exploding effect, or because Enchant works "correctly" with this particular explosion.

Well, let me describe to you what happens and I'll let you be the judge:

1) Cold Arrow merc goes out into Act 1 Hell with her Kuku bow and requires several shots before felling a single foe, however, the exploding arrows do verifiable damage to a crowd.

2) Cold Arrow merc gets enchant and kills non-fire immune monsters in Act 1 Hell in one shot with her Kuku bow, and when the exploding arrows hit a crowd, the entire crowd drops in 1 hit.

Perhaps when you say "synergy", you refer to the fire damage increasing the fire damage of the Kuku, which it does not. However an enchant is an enchant is an enchant, and when your enchantress is giving 5k enchant, does it really matter? All I know for sure is that my merc definitely does her enchant damage when enchanted and exploding arrow definitely works in conjunction with the enchant I have received. If you have any doubts about this, I can show it too you in person in Non-Ladder Hardcore USWest.

[Taem]

It's actually true for very high levels of energy shield because resists go after energy shield.

So if you get hit by 100 lightning damage and have 95% energy shield the damage gets reduced to 5 before resists are counted. Also - magic damage is counted before resists. Thus with some MDR, you wouldn't take any damage to health at all regardless of resistances. But of course, you aren't a dedicated energy shield build and there's always those mana burn monsters. And poison doesn't get blocked by energy shield at all.

Your talking about an Energy Shield build here, but I don't plan on getting to level 99; that's unrealistic the way I play - maybe 80. I was using ES mainly just to absorb some serious damage so my enchantress could survive the greater difficulties of hardcore. This ladder season however, I'm thinking of maxing the elemental masteries instead of ES for increased damage and see how that goes. I'll have to be much more cautious and place more points into Vitality and less into Dexterity; basically instead of having the aim of 75% block, I'll have to settle for the old teleport in, attack, teleport out technique.

[Occhidiangela]

Your talking about an Energy Shield build here, but I don't plan on getting to level 99; that's unrealistic the way I play - maybe 80. I was using ES mainly just to absorb some serious damage so my enchantress could survive the greater difficulties of hardcore. This ladder season however, I'm thinking of maxing the elemental masteries instead of ES for increased damage and see how that goes. I'll have to be much more cautious and place more points into Vitality and less into Dexterity; basically instead of having the aim of 75% block, I'll have to settle for the old teleport in, attack, teleport out technique.

MEAT: are you ladder or non ladder? If non ladder, I can give you a +3 Enchant, turned leaf two socket Tir Ral therefore +3 Enchant, staff for your Enchantress. I am slowly removing items from my non ladder characters so I can replace them with ladder chars, and will be happy to offer you that most excellent Enchant Leaf staff.

If ladder, for this season, I can give you a +2 enchant Leaf, which is almost as good, but I haven't any circlets of amulets of Fire Skills at the moment. My Amazon hasn't gotten high enough to gamble such with any reasonable frequency.

Let me know. When you are on Hardcore West, you can message Occhi_Rogue or Occhi_Lad08 and if I am on, we can arrange a transfer. If non ladder, I am sure I have the circlets and amulets (possibly even mage fist and a fire charm, not sure) that can do your sorcie good.:)

Occhi

[Taem]

MEAT: are you ladder or non ladder?

I've deleted all of my non-ladder characters, but I appreciate your offer. As for other items, my items finding lull has seemed to of passed, as I recently found an Occulus for my sorceress, along with some other nice gear. I made her a Lore helmet, Rhyme shield, Stealth armor until I found a Vipermagi, +2 Sorcie skills amulet, and a pal of mine gave me an Anni. This is all for my Orb sorcie because my Enchant sorcie keeps dying. I guess it's better, because without enchant, you actually have to play the game; with Enchant, you just roll right through the game - how dull.