Diablo II: The Sorceress

Don't want to animate the corpses of your fallen enemies? Don't want to deal with a crossbow? Not feeling particularly holy today? Then maybe, baby, the Sorceress is a-callin' your name. Check out the fourth part of our Diablo II character strategy guide.

Spell It Out
While the Barbarian relies almost entirely on yelling and brute strength to make his point, the Sorceress doesn't have the benefit of finely-toned musculature or deep, rumbling vocal cords - she's an enchantress of the elements, an athlete of the aethers, a mistress of the magicks, and in Diablo II that means Fire, Cold, and Lightning.

All three of the Sorceress' Skill Trees pertain directly to her use of magic. The first tree contains all Fire-based spells, the second tree is comprised entirely of Cold-based spells, and the final tree contains branches of Lightning. It's tempting to want to spread your valuable Skill Points all around to see all of the cool effects (her skills are often the most pretty to watch), but you'll only wind up crippling yourself that way.

The sorceress' path is one of strict discipline, and should you choose to wander it, your best bet is to pick one of the three disciplines and stick to it? every now and then, it's even a good idea to horde your skill points for a rainy day, with the goal of pumping up that awesome spell that you can't quite grasp yet to extraordinary heights once you finally reach the proper level.

Fighting Fire With Fire
The Fire Discipline, should you choose to walk that path, is the most "powerful" of the three disciplines, and a good place to walk if straight-up damage is your goal and you couldn't care less about finesse. At the beginning of the game, no matter what Magic discipline you choose in the end, spend your first skill points on Warmth and Fire Bolt. You'll be spending your first four levels alternating between hurling Fire Bolts and batting people over the head with your staff while waiting for you mana to recharge. Fire Bolt will eventually become useless, though, and the benefits of Warmth will later be outstripped by the benefits gained from magical Mana-recharging items.

Blaze (available at Level 12) is a great little way to damage your enemies while you're fleeing like a helpless coward. When hordes of enemies, or even a single lumbering boss come your way, just run away, leaving a Blaze in your wake as your mana charges up again for the heftier spells. It's not pretty, and your friends will laugh as you run around shrieking like a schoolgirl, but it works.

Fire Ball (Level 12) will be your best friend for a good long time if you plan on concentrating on Fire. It's the faster, upgraded version of Fire Bolt, and if you don't have Cold spells like Glacial Spike, you'll find yourself using it more than any other Fire spells. Fire Wall (Level 18) works if you're willing to have guys stand there and beat on you?when enemies are forced to stand still, the fire does continuous, high levels of damage. Of course, the Sorceress wasn't really meant to be a whipping post, so Fire Wall works better when you have a tank like a Barbarian to stand there and keep the enemies in place - cast a fire wall and beat 'em down. Later spells like Meteor & Hydra look cool, but they're mana-eaters, and not focused enough to really help you out unless you're totally overwhelmed. Meteor takes a long while to cast, and your enemies may have moved out of the way long before the Meteor strikes.

A Long December
The path of the Cold is arguably the best path for the Sorceress to follow and, with the aid of a few supportive Fire spells like Blaze in your arsenal, it makes you a formidable force indeed. At first glance, Cold Spells seem to be the weakest of the three, but with the added benefit of slowing down and frequently stopping your enemies in their tracks, they are far more useful than it would appear at first glance. The only downside to the Cold path comes in Multiplayer play; the Necromancer needs corpses for a lot of his resurrection spells, and if you go around shattering everything, there's not a whole lot for the Necromancer to work with. Be careful not to piss off your party.

Pick up Ice Blast when you hit Level 6 and pump a few point into it as soon as possible - it'll be your best friend well past the midpoint of the game. Once you hit Level 18, dump your all into Glacial Spike, a long-range attack that does awesome splash damage (pretty much the same level of damage that the main target receives) to hapless enemies unfortunate enough to be near the explosion. One Glacial Spike can often stop six or seven enemies cold - one more Glacial Spike, and they all shatter to pieces. Plus, it's relatively cheap (10 mana per spike at Level 1 for 16-24 damage? pump it up to Level 10, and it's still only 14 mana for 79-87 points of damage to multiple targets at once.). The downside? it's meant for mass horde destruction, and Glacial Spike isn't really ideal for bosses.

You'd also do well in the beginning to pump a few points into Frozen Armor (Level 1) and later, Shiver Armor (Level 12) - but past the halfway point of the game, you'll find yourself ignoring these defensive spells almost completely. Blizzard (Level 24) is simply frustrating - it's not all that effective against groups of enemies (unless you're fleeing in panic), and it's nearly useless against single enemies, since it rains ice upon the field erratically, missing your target more often than not. With the Cold path, it all boils down to this: If you don't have anything specific you want to put your points into, put them into Glacial Spike!

Diablo 2: Electric Boogaloo
While it's hard to be a pure Fire or pure Cold Sorceress - you'll find yourself dipping into the other well no matter what path you choose to concentrate on - Lightning is the most viable stand-alone discipline due to its versatility. It's also the most erratic discipline (if you'll notice, spells like Lightning Storm offer damage ranging from 1 to 100? it's like rolling dice). Also, you'll notice that most enemies have Fire and Cold Resistances, but you never really see a Lightning resistant foe bandying about.

Static Field (Level 6) is a great spell, and probably the most useful in the Lightning Tree. Even if you were planning on concentrating on other disciplines, you'd do well to at least get this baby. It reduces enemies' hit points within a certain radius by 1/3 with every casting, frequently turning them into easy pickings. Other than Static Field, Chain Lighting (Level 18) is your best bet? it's akin to Glacial Spike, with one or two relatively cheap castings guaranteeing mass death for an entire group of foes.

Unfortunately, the Lightning path is riddled with spells that sound cool in theory, but are really kind of useless in execution. Ignore Telekinesis completely - it's good for blowing up barrels without getting close, but, then again, who cares? You'll use Teleport only to get you out of sticky situations - and that's only if you're thinking quickly. Plus, there's no guarantee that you'll be any better off for it. Energy Shield (Level 24) sounds like a good idea - your mana becomes part of your health - but in practice, you'll realize you'll need your mana for more important things like giant Icy Balls of Death. Plus, Health Potions are abundant (you can buy them in stores with that enormous pile of gold you don't know what to do with) - Mana Potions aren't available in stores, and are a bit more valuable as a result. Your valuable skill points will be better spent in other areas.

Growing Pains
Wondering what to do with your Stat Points every time you level up? A good rule of thumb is 2 points for Energy, one point for everything else. Every now and then, throw 3 points in Energy and sacrifice one other stat like Strength or Dexterity. Eventually get your Strength up to 30 (not for weapons, but so you can wear Armor). You'll be finding some great Breastplates, Boots, and Hard Leather Armor, and if you can't wear them? that sucks.

Magical items are the sorceress' best friends. Items with the Mana Regeneration property are your most invaluable ally - think twice before replacing your mana-regenerating cap with a sturdier, poison-resistant helm. Stick strictly to staffs, because they have all the cool properties a Sorceress can't live without?if you see a Socketed Battle Staff with +3 to Glacial Spike and +2 to Warmth, BUY IT! Don't wait until you may or may not come across that staff in a dungeon, because you never will. And you'll soon realize that you have an ever-increasing stash of gold. What else are you going to do with it?

Comments [0]

post a comment

Post a Comment