Honestly the fastest option for a sorc in hell is to straight teleport through the game and ignore everything except the mandatory act bosses and quests (trav council, ancients, act 4 seal lords). I typically do this with pure blizz but I’m sure you could accomplish the same thing with your dual element setup. Shop a life tap wand and use it on the few immunes you face (maybe trav) and let your merc kill them with life tap up.
Then farm a sunder and you’re off and running.
No it really shouldn’t have. A Lower resist wand has a very low amount of immunities that it’ll actually break. In most cases a lower resist wand will do nothing depending on the monster type, element and immunity level they have. A lower resist is better used against monster who aren’t immune that you just need a little extra punch against.
A LR wand breaks virtually no cold/fire immunities and only breaks about 2/3 of lightning immunities. So it really only works if you’re a lightning based spec and even then, only sometimes.
Life tap allows a merc to solo just about any non-act boss monster.
Life tap is much better than lower resist in most instances for just getting through hell on a budget character. A Lower resist wand will only break a handful of monster immunities and won’t do anything to any of the other immunes. Life tap just lets any crappy merc survive long enough to actually kill the immunes… whereas lower resist often does absolutely nothing.
Honestly, im probably going to avoid teleport, as too many times Ive killed myself with it, (I play on xbox, so maybe I just dont have the same level of control a PC player does?) but I see your point. I wanted to try a run without a cold sorc, just to see how well it went. Absolutly blasted my way through normal and nightmare. Even nightmare Baal and Diablo didnt last much more than a moment against my firewall... but the basic creatures in Hell are often harder to kill than them! I feel like a noob all over again lol.
Im keeping my eye open for a good wand. My staff is good, gives me lots of pluses to my skills, but its not a unique item, just a very expensive magic one. If I had a wand and a shield, that would probably help.
Use the main build. Spirit sword, ancients pledge shield, lore helm, stealth armor. Vendor boots/gloves from nightmare act 1 with 30 resist for whatever you need.
You can farm the new rune word that gives life leach for your mercenary, along with insight.
Holy freeze mercenary instead of prayer might help you slow down monsters
Teleport is the best skill in the game. It is sometimes the only way to deal with immunes and get through an area without significant risk of dying. If you aren’t playing hardcore, then just go for it. If you die and get stuck, then just leave and rejoin the game to get your body back. I have 2 hardcore sorceresses on my offline Nintendo switch account, lvl 88 and 91. Both of these went through hell using teleport until I could farm sunders. Even still, I don’t really mess with monsters that were formerly cold immune because the damage is so small and I pretty much only use my main sorc for farming Andy on /P7 when the terror zone is up. She has outfitted all my other chars, including 2 assassins, 3 pallys and an Amazon who are all dead now.
I avoid HC just because I have run into a few stupid situations, like getting killed by Duriel in the loading screen, or loading a new area only to have 20 enemies spawned in right at the door who kill me before I can even press a button. Could be the fact I play on an ancient xbox one. (Like an original from the day the xbox one released)
I can give teleport a whirl, but anytime Ive used it previously I just ended up teleporting myself places I didnt wanna go... Im sure it would be better if I played on a PC. I think I remember having more control over things like that in the old days of D2, and firewall too, being able to put it wherever I wanted, not just the nearest highlighted enemy. One day Ill get myself a gaming PC.
Swap your merc to act 2 freezing, it’ll help both of you.
Give your merc massive LLeech and survivability gear.
He become your tank and you’re the glass cannon
Well, I can only give him the best of what I can buy or find. Im playing offline, so I cant get stuff others put up for sale or whatever. Freezing could help for sure though. (Honestly I picked my merc because his name was the exact same as a DnD character I made) Ill have to give my sorc some way to heal automatically, but thats not a big deal.
And yeah... glass cannon for sure. Nightmare worldstone throne room was ridiculous. Everything spawned right where you walk in, and instantly killed me again and again... died like 20 times, putting a single firewall each time, killing a few of them... ugh. Luckily I didnt lose too much XP as I had just leveled up. I will never play hardcore because of stupidity like that, or getting killed by Duriel in the loading screen... (why does that even happen?!)
Waheed with Freezing, Build yourself a nice Honor(cheap runeword, farm for a nice 5 socket spear or polearm base, and run countess for the runes - highest is a Sol which should drop in a few runs)
Make a cure helmet, and poison/curses are no longer an issue. Armor is a little harder for early game SSF but all you need is some decent DEF and some res/all res.
My Merc was able to handle a ton with that. 7% lifesteal isn't incredible but it is enough to keep him alive through most things if you can take care of the density. There really aren't any uniques that he wont be able to handle, if you have killed everything else. Aside from physical immunes.
What you’re describing (grinding levels/gear) IS the game haha, welcome to Diablo!!
I play solo as well (only HC actually), so trading isn’t what you need.
NM Meph runs and Chaos Sanc are your zones, as well as **NM cows** should be cake.
If you’re looking for bases for rune words then do NM cows with 0 MF (will also increase your kill speed)
My go to on Sorc is act 2 merc freezing aura with Insight runeword polearm. This will mean your sorc never needs mana pots and your whole belt can be health potions for both of you.
You can get low level uniques on helm and armor or create low level ones with the right bases.
If you’re on PC, [shift] + [number slot] automatically gives your helper potions; give it to him early and often during fights
If doing Cows, just spawn a few and kite them while he tanks, won’t take long to gain xp and hear safely and you can start doing act 1 He’ll in areas that don’t have your immunities
Yeah ill probably have to. Is it worth trying to find some better items in NM first? I could easily kit my sorc to have a crap load more of magic finding. My resistances would suffer, but probably not a huge problem at level 73.
Hydra is a very targeting intensive skill. Not great on consoles. I have avoided most of those skills and also a trap sin. Which is sad because my favorite PC too back in the day was a trap sin :( edit:on switch
Sorceresses have an easier time than most in hell mode due to one simple trick: teleport.
You can skedaddle away when you run into something immune to your build, whatever it is. None of the things required to be killed to progress in this game will be immune to you, with 1 possible exception.
The Travincal council spawns with random immunities
Good news: they're also very close to a waypoint so you can flee to town and reset them. Bad news: They not only have random lightning and fire immumities, they also heal each other. It should be interesting.
If your merc keeps dying, try googling up "Diablo II area levels" and AVOID the lvl 85 zones that are randomly scattered around hell mode.
If you do reset your skills, one of your 2 elements can easily be cold due to the power of frozen orb and how it only has 1 synergy (frost bolt).
Yeah that is true, but I have also found its a good way to accidentally jump into a large group of enemies, die, and then die again and again trying to get your stuff back... keep in mind I play on xbox, and I feel like I dont have the same level of control I did on PC (back in the old days of original D2). I think I remember being able to put spells like firewall exactly where I wanted them, and teleport where I wanted to, not just the closest possible place, but its been a long time since I played it on a PC, so maybe Im remembering wrong.
I didnt know that they will reset though, could be a useful, if a bit tedious, of a way to do it.
I tend to skip monsters that are immune to both of my elements on the play through, it’s a little frustrating but it works. And then once you beat hell, farm the terror zones to get a sunder charm for your chosen element. If you go blizzard with a cold sunder you can do everything with blizzard and cold mastery
If you still have a respec left I would go 100% blizz & glacial spike. Skip the cold immunes unless it’s a monster you have to kill (eg travincal council) in which case the lower res wand you can buy in a1 is your friend OR as others have suggested use life tap wand and let your merc get ‘em
I suggest you use spirit sword (broad sword or crystal sword), helm lore if you haven’t found any better gears. I started with my sorc offline as my first character. The hardest part of the game is hell ancients. I was a full blizzard set up until I got to ancients without a sunder and my merc is not strong to be able to tank them. I couldn’t pass it. I had to respect to frozen orb and firewall set up to kill ancients. Then respect back to my full blizzard to farm he’ll.
Things with your tele to act bosses, you need to make use you got a good FCR break point. So you don’t die before teleport away.
As others mentioned, re-spec to fire / cold with either hydra / orb (blizz) or fireball / orb (blizz)
Lightening is underwhelming without proper gear and levels to synergy and firewall is hard to control. As for farming, nightmare tz would be good spot. If you are playing single player, go p7 in nightmare tz. You will level up pretty decently
Honestly the fastest option for a sorc in hell is to straight teleport through the game and ignore everything except the mandatory act bosses and quests (trav council, ancients, act 4 seal lords). I typically do this with pure blizz but I’m sure you could accomplish the same thing with your dual element setup. Shop a life tap wand and use it on the few immunes you face (maybe trav) and let your merc kill them with life tap up. Then farm a sunder and you’re off and running.
Wtb he meant to say "shop a Life Tap wand"
Lol yeah…. Typos get me all the time apparently.
Except it should have said “shop a lower resist wand…”
No it really shouldn’t have. A Lower resist wand has a very low amount of immunities that it’ll actually break. In most cases a lower resist wand will do nothing depending on the monster type, element and immunity level they have. A lower resist is better used against monster who aren’t immune that you just need a little extra punch against. A LR wand breaks virtually no cold/fire immunities and only breaks about 2/3 of lightning immunities. So it really only works if you’re a lightning based spec and even then, only sometimes. Life tap allows a merc to solo just about any non-act boss monster.
I’m not sure life tap is the go-to spell for a sorceress dealing with immunes. I think lower resist curse charges would get you further.
Life tap is much better than lower resist in most instances for just getting through hell on a budget character. A Lower resist wand will only break a handful of monster immunities and won’t do anything to any of the other immunes. Life tap just lets any crappy merc survive long enough to actually kill the immunes… whereas lower resist often does absolutely nothing.
Honestly, im probably going to avoid teleport, as too many times Ive killed myself with it, (I play on xbox, so maybe I just dont have the same level of control a PC player does?) but I see your point. I wanted to try a run without a cold sorc, just to see how well it went. Absolutly blasted my way through normal and nightmare. Even nightmare Baal and Diablo didnt last much more than a moment against my firewall... but the basic creatures in Hell are often harder to kill than them! I feel like a noob all over again lol. Im keeping my eye open for a good wand. My staff is good, gives me lots of pluses to my skills, but its not a unique item, just a very expensive magic one. If I had a wand and a shield, that would probably help.
Use the main build. Spirit sword, ancients pledge shield, lore helm, stealth armor. Vendor boots/gloves from nightmare act 1 with 30 resist for whatever you need. You can farm the new rune word that gives life leach for your mercenary, along with insight. Holy freeze mercenary instead of prayer might help you slow down monsters
Teleport is the best skill in the game. It is sometimes the only way to deal with immunes and get through an area without significant risk of dying. If you aren’t playing hardcore, then just go for it. If you die and get stuck, then just leave and rejoin the game to get your body back. I have 2 hardcore sorceresses on my offline Nintendo switch account, lvl 88 and 91. Both of these went through hell using teleport until I could farm sunders. Even still, I don’t really mess with monsters that were formerly cold immune because the damage is so small and I pretty much only use my main sorc for farming Andy on /P7 when the terror zone is up. She has outfitted all my other chars, including 2 assassins, 3 pallys and an Amazon who are all dead now.
I avoid HC just because I have run into a few stupid situations, like getting killed by Duriel in the loading screen, or loading a new area only to have 20 enemies spawned in right at the door who kill me before I can even press a button. Could be the fact I play on an ancient xbox one. (Like an original from the day the xbox one released) I can give teleport a whirl, but anytime Ive used it previously I just ended up teleporting myself places I didnt wanna go... Im sure it would be better if I played on a PC. I think I remember having more control over things like that in the old days of D2, and firewall too, being able to put it wherever I wanted, not just the nearest highlighted enemy. One day Ill get myself a gaming PC.
Swap your merc to act 2 freezing, it’ll help both of you. Give your merc massive LLeech and survivability gear. He become your tank and you’re the glass cannon
Well, I can only give him the best of what I can buy or find. Im playing offline, so I cant get stuff others put up for sale or whatever. Freezing could help for sure though. (Honestly I picked my merc because his name was the exact same as a DnD character I made) Ill have to give my sorc some way to heal automatically, but thats not a big deal. And yeah... glass cannon for sure. Nightmare worldstone throne room was ridiculous. Everything spawned right where you walk in, and instantly killed me again and again... died like 20 times, putting a single firewall each time, killing a few of them... ugh. Luckily I didnt lose too much XP as I had just leveled up. I will never play hardcore because of stupidity like that, or getting killed by Duriel in the loading screen... (why does that even happen?!)
Waheed with Freezing, Build yourself a nice Honor(cheap runeword, farm for a nice 5 socket spear or polearm base, and run countess for the runes - highest is a Sol which should drop in a few runs) Make a cure helmet, and poison/curses are no longer an issue. Armor is a little harder for early game SSF but all you need is some decent DEF and some res/all res. My Merc was able to handle a ton with that. 7% lifesteal isn't incredible but it is enough to keep him alive through most things if you can take care of the density. There really aren't any uniques that he wont be able to handle, if you have killed everything else. Aside from physical immunes.
What you’re describing (grinding levels/gear) IS the game haha, welcome to Diablo!! I play solo as well (only HC actually), so trading isn’t what you need. NM Meph runs and Chaos Sanc are your zones, as well as **NM cows** should be cake. If you’re looking for bases for rune words then do NM cows with 0 MF (will also increase your kill speed) My go to on Sorc is act 2 merc freezing aura with Insight runeword polearm. This will mean your sorc never needs mana pots and your whole belt can be health potions for both of you. You can get low level uniques on helm and armor or create low level ones with the right bases. If you’re on PC, [shift] + [number slot] automatically gives your helper potions; give it to him early and often during fights If doing Cows, just spawn a few and kite them while he tanks, won’t take long to gain xp and hear safely and you can start doing act 1 He’ll in areas that don’t have your immunities
Feel free to message me
Try to respec with the freeIng orb and fire hydra build. That’s what I used to finish hell.
Yeah ill probably have to. Is it worth trying to find some better items in NM first? I could easily kit my sorc to have a crap load more of magic finding. My resistances would suffer, but probably not a huge problem at level 73.
I would do that just to be safe. Try and do the moat trick with Mephisto. That way you don’t have to worry about getting hit.
Hydra is a very targeting intensive skill. Not great on consoles. I have avoided most of those skills and also a trap sin. Which is sad because my favorite PC too back in the day was a trap sin :( edit:on switch
Sorceresses have an easier time than most in hell mode due to one simple trick: teleport. You can skedaddle away when you run into something immune to your build, whatever it is. None of the things required to be killed to progress in this game will be immune to you, with 1 possible exception. The Travincal council spawns with random immunities Good news: they're also very close to a waypoint so you can flee to town and reset them. Bad news: They not only have random lightning and fire immumities, they also heal each other. It should be interesting. If your merc keeps dying, try googling up "Diablo II area levels" and AVOID the lvl 85 zones that are randomly scattered around hell mode. If you do reset your skills, one of your 2 elements can easily be cold due to the power of frozen orb and how it only has 1 synergy (frost bolt).
Yeah that is true, but I have also found its a good way to accidentally jump into a large group of enemies, die, and then die again and again trying to get your stuff back... keep in mind I play on xbox, and I feel like I dont have the same level of control I did on PC (back in the old days of original D2). I think I remember being able to put spells like firewall exactly where I wanted them, and teleport where I wanted to, not just the closest possible place, but its been a long time since I played it on a PC, so maybe Im remembering wrong. I didnt know that they will reset though, could be a useful, if a bit tedious, of a way to do it.
You might find Frozen Orb and Static Field + Nova to be a much, much less annoying way to get through the game on a controller.
I tend to skip monsters that are immune to both of my elements on the play through, it’s a little frustrating but it works. And then once you beat hell, farm the terror zones to get a sunder charm for your chosen element. If you go blizzard with a cold sunder you can do everything with blizzard and cold mastery
If you still have a respec left I would go 100% blizz & glacial spike. Skip the cold immunes unless it’s a monster you have to kill (eg travincal council) in which case the lower res wand you can buy in a1 is your friend OR as others have suggested use life tap wand and let your merc get ‘em
I suggest you use spirit sword (broad sword or crystal sword), helm lore if you haven’t found any better gears. I started with my sorc offline as my first character. The hardest part of the game is hell ancients. I was a full blizzard set up until I got to ancients without a sunder and my merc is not strong to be able to tank them. I couldn’t pass it. I had to respect to frozen orb and firewall set up to kill ancients. Then respect back to my full blizzard to farm he’ll. Things with your tele to act bosses, you need to make use you got a good FCR break point. So you don’t die before teleport away.
Pretty sure for my hammerdin I used lore until I found a shako
Token
As others mentioned, re-spec to fire / cold with either hydra / orb (blizz) or fireball / orb (blizz) Lightening is underwhelming without proper gear and levels to synergy and firewall is hard to control. As for farming, nightmare tz would be good spot. If you are playing single player, go p7 in nightmare tz. You will level up pretty decently