I'm probably experiencing the same difficulties most noobs have when going from nightmare to hell (single player). In nightmare my character was kicking quite some a$$ so I felt confident enough to change to hell mode. But after being basically squashed by just one retarded zombie I realized I had been terribly mistaken.
So after having my ego stomped on I thought I'd come here an ask some pros for advice.
I'm playing a blizzard sorceress at level 67 and my merc is a pikeman from act 2.
My biggest problem at the moment is monsters with cold immunity. I can't harm them and my merc just gets mowed down by them within seconds (I do have static which helps a little but not enough).
I still have the option to readjust my skill points in hell mode so I was thinking to boost some fire magic to be able to take out the cold immunities. Not sure if that's a good idea though, because that of course would weaken my cold attacks.
The other way to go I spose would be to strengthen my merc with appropiate gear. But I'm unsure as to what kind of gear really is useful (like is it better to have high armor class as opposed to high resistances or vice versa? What kind of weapon is appropiate? What upgrades ought to be used (gems, runes, skulls...)?
Talking about gear, where is the best place to look for it? Should I try farming for it in high nightmare or low hell stages?
Other questions would be:
Where should skill points be best placed? Which spells should be raised and which ones not? And what about strength, energy etc.?
Also, is level 67 to low for hell? If so which level would be recommended?
Of course any other advice as to how to make life in hell a little easier is very much appreciated.
Best regards and thanks in advance,
T.|||Welcome to the forums.
I'd recommend leveling in nightmare till about level 75 or until you feel comfortable, using the /players x command (x=1-8), if your focusing on exp use a higher x command, as for mfing, it tends to be better with a lower x players, all depending on your killing speed, it wont make to much of a difference on drops.
As for hell, you will pretty much need a second main damage element spell, for builds/ideas you could look at the sticky in the single players forums.
If your needing gear, Nm meph is a good place to mf, before you start hell run him several times until you get some decent self/merc gear, just blizzard him or do the moat trick, I have not done it myself so you may want to look it up, it's not to hard.
Good luck!|||Single player forum here in case you're interested. For the questions you asked, I second Etmes: level up, get better gear, possibly respec to blizz/ball sorc if you've got the gear. Welcome & glhf!|||Thanks for the welcomes and the fast responses.
I'll check out the single player forum. I didn't realize there was one or I would've posted there.
Best regards,
T.|||yeah, keep leveling in nm
you REALLY need to get your resistances higher
one of the most powerful builds in diablo 2 is to go pure blizzard (maxing all the synergy skills - the ones that add damage bonuses to blizzard)
so it is possible to do hell as a cold sorc
you just need to teleport a lot and skip over the cold immunes
there is no need to fight everything
I completely skip blood moor and go straight to cold plains
yeah, I lose the skill point reward, but the zombies and porcupine things kill me and my merc in seconds
I think blizzard is boring, I like frozen orb
blizzard does have many advantages, but I just find it too difficult to aim and the cooldown ruins it for me|||unfortunately in single player you miss out on being able to have an insight merc, which frees up points from warmth (and is just all around awesome). You also miss out on spirit shield for yourself, but oh well.
If you want to stay max synergy blizzard, you'll need good merc gear. I've had no trouble with single element sorcs so long as I look after my merc with good gear, teleporting when he gets in bad spots, and pumping him full of rejuvs.
MF nightmare meph or baal (I prefer baal, more xp at your level), a good easy to get set of merc gear is:
Hone Sundan (with three amn runes, NM baal has a decent drop rate on these)
tal's mask (or whatever you find, crown of thieves, vamp gaze, or even a good rare)
smoke armor (if you find an um rune swap this for stone or duress)
The crazy leech from having tal's and triple amn hone sundan will keep him alive surprisingly well, and the crushing blow on hone sundan will help him kill superuniques and bosses fast (CB is like single-target static field for physical damage, but it doesn't stop working at half health in hell like static does)
get a +enchant switch weapon, or invest a natural point in enchant, and keep your merc enchanted. The fire damage is meh, but the bonus to his attack rating is good.
You also didn't mention which aura he has, defiance and holy freeze are both good. The slow effect from holy freeze works on most cold immunes, which will help his survivability immensely, but a few guys (moon lords, maybe something else) don't get slowed by it, and against those he'll fold a lot faster than a defiance merc would.
Anyway, the above will keep him alive, but he still kills pretty slow, so you only kill cold immunes when you need to. Most of the time you'll just want to teleport on by.|||Quote:
unfortunately in single player you miss out on being able to have an insight merc, which frees up points from warmth (and is just all around awesome). You also miss out on spirit shield for yourself, but oh well.
runeword mod.|||1)as said before, you don't HAVE to kill the cold immunes. Just ignore them. You have teleport.
2) it may be wise to put some points in telekinesis, as it lowers the manacost of your teleport. Since you're playing untwinked, you may like this.
3) make sure you invest in cold mastery.
4) get the runeword mod (look above) and give your merc an insight weapon, this will greatly help your mana issues. Also get yonurself a spirit sword (+2skills, +tons of mana, faster cast rate, etc) and, as soon as you find a monarch, get a spirit shield (same as the sword, with added resists)
more info here
5) get an armor with 2 sockets, and make the smoke runeword. This will boost your resists quite a bit. You can farm NM countess (Act 1, black march, tower ruins) untill she drops it (citation needed)
make the same armor for your merc, once you find a lem rune (hell countess can drop those), make treachery for him (don't mind the +2 to assasin skills)
6) helm: cheapest option is a 2socket helm with ort+sol. Adds 1 skill, 30 light res, and some other stuff.
7)For your merc, just find a 2/3 socket helm and put in ral/ort/tal or thul runes depending on what resists he lacks the most.
Either that, a rockstopper (unique helm) or tal rasha's helm (set helm).
8) until you found the monarch to make ur spirit shield, make a rhyme. Shael+eth. Gives magic find, resistance, and a very handy mod called 'cannot be frozen'
9) gamble, mostly boots, belts and gloves. Keep the ones that have resists, preferably of 2 types. Mix and match to get the best result.
10) good luck and have fun :)|||Quote:
2) it may be wise to put some points in telekinesis, as it lowers the manacost of your teleport. Since you're playing untwinked, you may like this.
points into teleport lowers teleport's cost. you're thinking of where investing in TK lowers the damage that goes to your mana pool when you have ES on.|||Quote:
runeword mod.
You learn something new every day. :)
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