Diablo II builds

[Humodour]

lol. lol. lol.

 

I reckon you should have gone Holy Freeze + zeal instead, personally. More fun.

[mkreku]

So uh, yeah.. what was that about respeccing again?

[Humodour]

Eh, well you can use that character editor Dark_raven linked to if you really don't want to restart.

 

Basically just load it up, count up how many skill points you have, set all to zero, then give yourself that many skill points. Now save. And don't forget not to cheat.

[Dark_Raven]

No, actually. Charged bolt is a very powerful skill.

 

Now I haven't checked this out lately, but I know I used to play charged bolt sorcs for the novelty. People would go "CB? Hahahaha" and then I'd wipe out the room. But because the patch introduced synergies, CB became a main-line skill.

 

Let's do some maths:

At level 20, CB does 13 to 15 damage (avg 14). Pitiful.

The thing is, you shoot 22 such bolts. 22 * 14 = 308 damage. Eh... that's OK, but not all bolts will hit one monster. It could be an OK crowd control skill, right? Maybe, BUT...

20 in the Lightning synergy gives +120% damage:

240*2.2 = 677 damage. This is actually getting good.

Now for lightning mastery: 677 * 3.8 = about 2500 damage

See what I'm getting at? Now, imagine yourself with a few fast cast rings and amulets, spamming charged bolt in a room full of monsters - there's no cast delay like on Orb, Meteor, etc. It's pwnage.

 

And you can use it on bosses, too. Because the bolts are clumped depending on where you click (near sorc = wide dispersal, far away from sorc = tight dispersal up to that point), you can thus control how many hit any one target or group of targets. With bosses, you can just walk up to them, cast it just in front of them, and watch them take all 22 bolts. Act bosses are easier because they're so fat they absorb them all anyway.

 

It's not exactly a safe build since you often have to get close. You've got a fairly synergised Lightning at your disposal as well, though, remember (it does 1,500 damage average in a line).

 

And I know the prospect may not be appealing at first, but you can start a new char with the advice we've given, and be up to level 15 to 20 again within 2 to 4 hours. Just a thought... personally I enjoy starting new chars. Of course, if you're playing with friends, you can just stick to an entirely cold sorc, as you'll do lots of damage, and your friends can handle cold immunes. You'd probably want to grab an act 2 defiance merc once you hit at act 2 in normal (so he can tank, and so he can handle cold immunes a bit, and so your defence gets higher).

Charged Bolt is my primary spell I use in the game. It has a large area of effect once you get it maxed out. It will hit more enemies than Fireball.

[Tigranes]

Yeah, did end up starting a new character. Found a nice unique buckler early on (P-something Lunata? +10vit +10energy and a bunch of othe things?) that helped me solo Act 1 in 2 hours, and get to Level 12. Only died once I think. Put 1 in CB, Static, Telki, Lightning, Icebolt, Iceblast, Frozen Armour, Shiver Armour, Frozen Nova, 2 in Warmth.

 

I have no idea how you can tell if you have 'Max Block' so I've just been alternating points in Vit and Dex. I assume "base energy" meant put nothing in Energy, but I put a few since I never had enough.

[Humodour]

Hover your mouse cursor over your 'Defence'. It should say your block chance. I'd just try to keep it above 50% for now personally. The max is 75%.

 

Pelta Lunata is awesome. :D

 

Yeah, none in energy. Just use sapphires in socketed armour and helms if you really need some.

 

I'm making a Firewall/Frozen Orb sorc. It's good because firewall does massive damage but requires only 40 skill points to max out.

 

By level 60 or so I'd be finished, with the rest of my skill points 'gravy'. I'd have two massive damage spells, immunes would fall, and it'd be quite fun.

 

I'll have to grab an act 2 Holy Freeze merc, because his slow is cumulative with cold spell slow, which helps anchor monsters inside the firewall.

[Tigranes]

Well, managed to pummel my way into Act 4, level 24. Had to solo the High Council and Mephisto, which was annoying - when Chain Lightning and Glacial Spike are your main weapons those life-leeching lords are relaly hard to get rid of. Spammed a lot of Static for the council bosses & the big baddy, but got by alright. Act 4's too hard for me to solo though, it seems.

 

I've got about 30str, 60dex, 50vit and 40en - plus items. Pelta Lunata, Isenhart(?) Set breastplate, Death Set sash, +40%FCR amulet, then the rest are forgettable (including, somehow, a plain cap). Got a nice staff in the works but I'm reluctant to lose Lunata, and I haven't found a single decent orb yet, which is sad.

 

Tagged all cold/lightning skills up to the level24-tier so far, with 2 in CB/Lightning/CL, and 5 in Warmth. I expect I'll invest in Lightning now, while saving up for the next tier.

[Musopticon?]

I'd suggest getting a new belt, I'm assuming your current one, despite being unique, has only two rows for potions and, trust me, you need one with more rows. Those death knights aren't gonna kill themselves. Go bug the Pandemonium Fortress merchants.

 

Also, you likely have enough money to gamble a circlet - get one. They sometimes have great resistance bonuses and other usable magical enhancements(including rare skill point boni) and it's always nice to be able to see your character's head and still have a decent amount of defense.

 

Also, resistances, resistances, RESISTANCES! Go kill all the council members and Mephisto again or take a brief trip to Maggot Lair lvl 2 for the chests and hope for better equipment. The former is also a good exp source *cough* *cough*

[Humodour]

I started that Fire Wall sorc I mentioned above. Currently level 28 about to kill Mephisto. It's fairly fun.

 

Re Muso's circlet suggestion: gamble them until your money runs out. Then gamble them some more. You get a rare circlet like every 5th gamble, and it's got godly mods on it. Nothing else is worth gambling. Never gamble body armour - way too expensive. It'd be a good idea to gamble gloves, belt, boots, helm, in order to cook up some decent mods if you don't already have nice rare ones. They're cheap, and rares are common (hah!).

 

Look for on circlets: Magic Damage Reduction, Damage Reduction, + life, + mana, + defence, + mana per kill, + resistances, + run speed.

 

And you need more vitality. About 80 to 100 by level 30, and 200+ by level 60, ideally. I'd stop pumping dexterity and energy, and get strength to 50 and then focus on vitality.

 

Static field is your friend (as you seem to have figured) even with just one point. It'll get up to 5 or more probably once you've got some +skills gear. Even in hell it's worth casting it 2 or 3 times to cut down HALF of the monster's HP (at which point it stops working).

 

You can put points in chain lightning, but I'd personally stick with Lightning and Charged Bolt alone... unless you plan to make a pure lightning sorc (Which is OK if you often play with friends and have a tough act 2 merc to tank immunes).

 

And you got a 40% FCR amulet? Wow!

[Tigranes]

I'd suggest getting a new belt, I'm assuming your current one, despite being unique, has only two rows for potions and, trust me, you need one with more rows. Those death knights aren't gonna kill themselves. Go bug the Pandemonium Fortress merchants.

 

Also, you likely have enough money to gamble a circlet - get one. They sometimes have great resistance bonuses and other usable magical enhancements(including rare skill point boni) and it's always nice to be able to see your character's head and still have a decent amount of defense.

 

Also, resistances, resistances, RESISTANCES! Go kill all the council members and Mephisto again or take a brief trip to Maggot Lair lvl 2 for the chests and hope for better equipment. The former is also a good exp source *cough* *cough*

 

Definitely, but I'm not strong enough to wear any of their Plated belts! So I'm holding out on that. I really don't feel right putting more points in Strength, but maybe that's just got to happen.

 

I party generally with a summon-necro and a diablo noob paladin, though more of my friends should be joining up. Did the first 2 Act 4 quests and stopped just before Diablo, doing alright so far and hardly ever dying. spamming Blizzard and level 6(?) lightning until I get to level 30 (4 more to go.)

 

Got myself a socketed circlet and put in a normal Skull just to tide me by - at least it's a circlet and at least i'm getting some manaregen. Character screen now shows 250def thanks to pelta lunata, isenhart case and circlet, which isn't too bad, along with ~90dex. As long as I steer clear of things like deathknight poison I'm generally okay.

 

I lost something like 40k soloing mephisto, though, so I only have about 80k money. I've got some 'investment' items (don't need, sell for +20k) that I'm holding on to, finally some flawless and perfect gems (hoarding topazes), and generally finally looking a bit rosier. I think I will take you guys' advice about circlets anyway, though - I forgot about circlet gambvling, but I remember now, it's just the thing to do.

 

And you need more vitality. About 80 to 100 by level 30, and 200+ by level 60, ideally. I'd stop pumping dexterity and energy, and get strength to 50 and then focus on vitality.

 

That's what I'm thinking. I'm not too far off (+200hp at the moment), though.

 

Static field is your friend (as you seem to have figured) even with just one point. It'll get up to 5 or more probably once you've got some +skills gear. Even in hell it's worth casting it 2 or 3 times to cut down HALF of the monster's HP (at which point it stops working).

 

There's never any point putting more than 1pt in static, of course. It's been a favourite since I started playing back in Day 1 (what, 6 years ago?).

 

You can put points in chain lightning, but I'd personally stick with Lightning and Charged Bolt alone... unless you plan to make a pure lightning sorc (Which is OK if you often play with friends and have a tough act 2 merc to tank immunes).

 

I took your advice. Now i have 2 CB, 2 CL (synergy rite?), 6 Lightning. Will put in more later, but now saving up for level 30 tier skills.

 

And you got a 40% FCR amulet? Wow!

 

Actually, turned out to be a crappy 10%. i don't know how the hell I thought that. My gear is generally okayish though, for a starting character. Sadly, all the great drops I've had were for other chars (great necro head, great barb helm..). Hoping that Diablo can get me something.

[Humodour]

And you need more vitality. About 80 to 100 by level 30, and 200+ by level 60, ideally. I'd stop pumping dexterity and energy, and get strength to 50 and then focus on vitality.

 

That's what I'm thinking. I'm not too far off (+200hp at the moment), though.

 

Yeah. You'll probably want 60 str soon enough, too (by about lvl 40) and after that I'd just use charms and stuff if you need more.

 

Static field is your friend (as you seem to have figured) even with just one point. It'll get up to 5 or more probably once you've got some +skills gear. Even in hell it's worth casting it 2 or 3 times to cut down HALF of the monster's HP (at which point it stops working).

 

There's never any point putting more than 1pt in static, of course. It's been a favourite since I started playing back in Day 1 (what, 6 years ago?).

 

Well, for some builds putting 10 or 20 points in static field is worth it because it means you hit the entire screen and then some without them even seeing you. Could work with, say, an enchant sorc or Fire Wall sorc.

 

I took your advice. Now i have 2 CB, 2 CL (synergy rite?), 6 Lightning. Will put in more later, but now saving up for level 30 tier skills.

 

Yeah, those three are all synergistic IIRC. If you like chain lightning you could pump it instead of charged bolt.

 

Good luck with Big D.