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| Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction |
| Melee Sorceress Guide 1.0 |
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Table of Contents
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1. History
2. Introduction
3. Building the Melee Sorceress
3.1 Stat Point Allocation
3.2 Skill Point Allocation
3.3 Recommended Equipment
3.4 Recommended Mercenary
4. Conclusion
5. Contact Information
6. Credits
7. Legal Information
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1. History
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Version 1.0 - First Version.
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2. Introduction
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*NOTE: This is a first FAQ, so forgive me if it is not that good.*
For those of you who play on USEast, you may or may not have seen
my proto-type build: SorcDeMelee. This guide is built off my
experiences with this character. Having only built the one melee
Sorceress, I have not tried all the possible paths, but the one a chose
worked quite nicely and is surviving in Hell Cows.
When you saw this guide you probably were wondering, "What in the
**** was this guy thinking!?!?" Well, I will tell you what I was
thinking! I was tired of normal class builds (Whirlwind Barbarian,
Firewall/Frozen Orb Sorceress, Javazon, etc.) so I decided to build a
character that seemed impossible or impractical. A Melee Sorceress
seemed to be the most impractical thing I could build. After bringing
my SorcDeMelee to level 73 I decided that I should share my build with
the rest of the world.
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3. Building the Melee Sorceress
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The Melee Sorceress is a fragile character with many downfalls.
If you do not balance the stats, equipment, and skills just right, you
have a Hell character that cannot leave the town without dieing.
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/ 3.1 Stat Point Allocation \
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Energy - The normal base stat for the Sorceress. It is now the most
useless stat in the game to you. Put 0 points here.
Vitality - The least useful stat of those that you will put points into.
Put a few points here initially and when you seem to die too
much.
Strength - One of your two keys to success. You might as well have to
start with 0 strength. Pump this hard and fast.
Dexterity - As a Sorceress you will find that you can't hit a thing and
your chance to block is horrible. Pump this just as much
as you do strength, maybe more.
The hardest part about a Melee Sorceress is balancing Strength,
Dexterity, and Vitality. It is all dependent on your current equipment
and how many points you have in what skills. If you are bad at telling
what stat your character is lacking then I recommended you do not try
this build.
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/ 3.2 Skill Point Allocation \
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The Sorceress was NOT meant to be used for melee, so therefore she
has no combat skills. With a little imagination, we can pretend that a
few of her spells are combat skills. I have yet to fire a single
Fireball, Frozen Orb, Firewall, or Nova. If the skill is not listed
below, I have not used it in combat. Obviously, I have the spells
because or prerequisites, but they are NEVER used. Doing so will break
the Code of the Melee Sorceress.
Frozen Armor -
This is the first "combat skill" that you will be able to use. The
reason I chose this are is because Chilling Armor is useless because
you will be close combat, not ranged. You may want to use Shiver Armor
but here is a small comparison for you to look at:
Skills at Level 20:
Frozen Armor Shiver Armor
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125% Defense 159% Defense
348 Duration 348 Duration
3.4 Freeze 60-62 Cold Damage
Both skills last the same amount of time and give ALMOST the same
amount of defense bonus. The small cold damage of Shiver Armor is no
help in hell and all it does is slow the enemy. On the other hand
Frozen armor completely stops the enemy for 3 1/2 seconds. Pick either
armor (Frozen Armor recommended over Shiver Armor) and MAX it.
Static Field -
What can I say, "This is a cheap skill," but it makes up for lack of
real combat skills. Also given that you are never going to do massive
amounts of damage so this saves you a lot of time. Put a point or 2 in
it so it will hit more things, you do not need tons of range since you
will be in the enemies face.
Enchant -
The single closest thing you have to a combat skill. The damage may
not be much but you will be needing damage and beggars cannot be
choosers. MAX this skill; you will be glad you did.
*NOTE: This is also a good skill to combat Physical Immunes with so
cast it on other party members.*
Energy Shield -
You do not have much mana, but what you do have is better used taking
damage than just sitting there. After you max your key skills pump
some extra points into it. Try to get over 50% absorb.
Thunderstorm (Optional) -
Some people may say that using Thunderstorm makes it not a Pure Melee
Sorceress. Technically a Pure Melee Sorceress should not use ANY of
her skills because they are all spells. I have not problem with using
it because it is a passive spell and given all the downfalls a Melee
Sorceress has then she deserves to use this skill. It really is no
different than a summon (Valkryie, Golem, Shadow Master, etc.); in fact
it is not as good because it is not physically there to be hit. I put
it in for those who share my view and made it optional for those that
feel it is cheating. MAX or do nothing depending on what your style is.
Masteries -
After you max your 3 key skills (Enchant, Frozen Armor, and
Thunderstorm) you need should pump the masteries. Fire Mastery
actually makes Enchant do decent damage and Lightning Mastery makes
Thunderstorm do massive damage. Cold Mastery is useless since you have
no cold damage skills. Pump points in here after you have everything
else where you want it.
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/ 3.3 Recommended Equipment \
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Next to skills, your equipment is everything. Go for the bonuses
to make up for what you are lacking. One-Handed weapon with a shield
is probably the best set up because you do not want to take a lot of
damage with your low life so blocking is your best bet for staying
alive.
Amulet - +2 Sorceress skills with the best mods that you can find,
most equipment you wear will not be Sorceress skill friendly
so this is a must.
Rings - Stones of Jordan are nice, Bul-Kathos Wedding Band works too.
If you cannot get those then your best bet is dual-leech rings.
Leech is your next best friend after +skills.
Helmet - +Sorceress Skills circlets are good for low levels. When you
get higher up you will want Tal Rasha's Mask or Shako. Vamp
gaze is also nice if you can afford one.
Gloves - +Dexterity and Increased Attack Speed are nice for lower a low
level Melee Sorceress. I recommend some Frostburns to offset
your low mana. Venom Grip is a good high-end solution for
gloves.
Boots - Vidala's are good for low levels. Natayla's are a nice upgrade
from those. You will want Waterwalks or War Travelers for
higher levels.
Belt - Bladebuckle has nice mods and a full0sized belt for extra more
potions. You will use a lot of Super Healing potions and having
16 is nice. String of Ears is another good belt to look into.
Armor - Faster Hit Recovery is a good mod because the Sorceress has
horrible recovery time. Spirit Shroud and Skin of Vipermagi
are good for medium levels. Naj's armor is also quite good.
Of course, higher-level solutions include Skullders, Valor,
and Shaftstop.
Shield - Look for the block %, the higher the better. Sigon's is a
great starting shield. Moser's Blessed Circle with 2 Perfect
Diamonds is a reasonably priced shield that is great for all
levels. Whinstan's Guard and Stormshield are other good
shields, but pricy.
Weapon - Culwen's Point and Hellplague are good low level swords due
to their +skills. Medium-leveled characters want to look for
Hexfire: +3 Fire Skills(Enchant) and Ingnore Target' Defense.
Higher levels should go with Lightsabre or Baranar's Star.
Optional Equipment: Naj's Ancient Set is an obvious Melee Sorceress
set. The downside is that the weapon is 2-Handed which allows for no
shield. This is something that I am toying with, but am not a high
enough level to use the staff.
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/ 3.4 Recommended Mercenary \
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I have not used the Mercenaries too much yet, but you will
definitely want to use the Act 2 or Act 5 Mercenaries. Act 5 Mercenary
acts as a decoy so not everything swarms you and your low life. Act 2
Auras are good and you might want to plan your stat point allocation
with them. Add more to Dexterity and less to Strength and get a Might
Mercenary to make up the difference. Pump Strength over Dexterity and
get a Blessed Aim Mercenary. Defiance is possibly helpful but not
really, but Holy Freeze works quite well too but your armor spell might
make it redundant. Ranged Mercenaries are also helpful since you will
be the one jumping into the fray, but they do not draw too much fire
from enemies.
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4. Conclusion
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The Melee Sorceress is NOT a good first time character. This is a
build for those that are board with normal build. It works both PvM
and PvP, but do not expect wonders. You will survive, not own
everything in your path. It is a great build, I had fun doing it, and
I wish you all the best of luck!
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5. Contact Information
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E-Mail:
[email protected]
Battle.Net Account: Masa_Mune (USEast)
I will be happy to help you with any questions you have with this build.
Any suggestions are also greatly appreciated!
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6. Credits
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Copyright (c) 2002, Eric Ward
Thanks to Blizzard for making such a great game!
I also want to thank:
-Jeff, for helping with the building and giving me so much equipment.
-The people on the GameFAQs Message Board for their help with my lack
pricing skills so I was not ripped off in trades.
-Random people who gave me free stuff along the way.
-All the other people I cannot think of right now who need to be
thanked.
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7. Legal Information
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This Guide is mine, though you are free to read and use it. Do
not redistribute it for profit and do not alter this Guide in any way.
Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction and all characters, names, and items
mentioned in this Guide are copyrighted by Blizzard Entertainment.
