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^*+_|       Diablo II Expansion: Lord of Destruction -  Sorceress Guide v1.05      |^*+_
^*+_|              made by ^Vercingetorix^ [vercingetorix@chatpr.com]              |^*+_
^*+_|                     (feel free to contribute anything)                       |^*+_
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(c) 2001
ICQ: 6932815
mIRC: Vincitori (on DalNET)

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VERSION INFO AT THE END (***)
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I have always been a HUGE fan of magic-users so choosing the sorceress to begin my quest through Sanctuary was not much of a surprise.  (Just who cares if Blizzard says that she is one of the hardest characters to handle along with the necromancer? - I sure don't; I came to regret my decision MUCH later.)  The sorceress is, in my opinion the hardest one to play, since she is COMPLETELY dependent on her skills. You must be fully aware of the full extent of each skill before you begin to add points.  Picking skills simply because they "sound nice" or "look cool" is a surefire way of getting your deriŠre disconfigured by the final bosses of each act.  I have made this FAQ simply because I felt that my own strategy of gameplay has made the game run quite smoothly (to my advantage of course). I have no intention of detailing EVERY single step I took to reach my current level - that will take too long, and frankly I don't remember at what level I added what point where.
What I WILL do is give you the reasoning I used to add attribute and skill points, along with some useful tips to get through tough spots.

One more thing,  this guide takes into account the changes that the Diablo II Expansion:
Lord of Destruction has made to the original game. My approach may be somewhat different if you are simply playing the ORIGINAL game.  Be warned!!!  Other than that, enjoy and I hope you will find this useful.

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I N   T H E   B E G I N N I N G ...
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The Sorceress starts out with about the same amount of mana as she has life.   This has some serious implications.  Because of the fact that there are NO set limits to how many point you can distribute to each attribute,  the Sorceress has the potential of boasting the most Mana of any of the seven characters.


ATTRIBUTE POINTS


(Note: I like nice even numbers, so I always add the full five points for leveling up to only one attribute per level - this has NO influence on the bonuses that apply to that attribute, it's just pure aesthetics.)


STRENGTH

The first thing I recommend is to begin to add points to strength - just enough to equip a chain mail later. This might mean the first four or five levels (about 20 - 25 points) you need to be comfortable. Right now it is simply IMPOSSIBLE to depend on your Mana for a steady source of fuel for your skills; it wears out too fast now.

DEXTERITY

The next thing to worry about is dexterity --> it comes in handy to increase your attack rating against the later monsters in Act I.   You bash them while your mana regenerates.
Just don't add too many points, it's a waste later. (At the moment my Dexterity is at 40 and I'm at Level 45 (as of August 27, 2001), and I don't regret my decision.)

VITALITY  (1 point = +2 Life, +1 Stamina;  +1 Life, +1 Stamina upon Level-up)

Vitality and Energy should be raised according to your style of gameplay.    If you feel that the hits you receive take too much of your life - 1/3 to 1/2 - add to Vitality.  If not, add to Energy for more mana.   Vitality adds only one point to your life and two to your stamina, so you might need to use up a few levels to significantly increase your HP and survive more blows.  Regardless of how huch life you have, it is ESSENTIAL you learn how to dodge ranged attacks and avoid melee combat unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. You just won't do too much damage - at least when compared to a Barbarian or Paladin. Keep to the magic attacks.

ENERGY  (1 point = +2 Mana;  +2 Mana upon Level-up)

Whenever you are unsure as to where to add your next attribute points,  just add them to energy.  You'd be surprised at the result.   Each point added increases two mana points, which is the highest rate in the game.  The Necromancer also has the same rate of growth but since the Sorceress starts off with MORE mana,  she has the greatest potential stock of mana in the game (Thus proving my earlier point - yesyes, thank you, no applauses are necessary - but they are noted ^_^)    Well, anyways *ahem*, with this in mind, by level
30 or so, you will have piled up enough mana to cast a barrage of spells without needing to wait and regenerate more.  What's more: since mana regeneration is a percentage-based ability that ALL characters have, the more mana you have, the more regenerates.  What is higher: 10% of 100 Mana or 10% of 500 Mana?  The rate of regeneration is the same but in the second case you regenerate about 50 Mana every few seconds,  which is enough to cast all the fireballs or glacial spikes you want.


SKILL POINTS


What is important to remember here is that skill points are few and PERMANENT.  The best
Sorceress skills are obtained at later levels (Level 24+).   Which means that you should hoard those points as if your life depended on it! - since it just might at nightmare or hell difficulties.  Add a few points to Warmth is just my suggestion.  This is optional;
I know of several people using the Sorceress who save up those points and do quite well.
However, they dedicate a higher percentage of their attribute points to Energy for a big pool of Mana.  I added about 4 Skill Points to Warmth, and now with 526 Mana at Level 45
I regenerate about 10 points every SECOND!.

The key to hoarding your points is to be completely dependent on staves and orbs for the free skill points they give upon using them.  This may mean saving up ALOT of gold to go to Akara to buy them.

I consider only a few skills worth INVESTING in:

- Blizzard
- Thunderstorm
- Fire Wall / Blaze
- Lightning Mastery
- Cold Mastery
- Fire Mastery

Of those skills I specialize the most in Blizzard and Thuunderstorm, along with Lightning and Cold Masteries.  Blaze and Firewall I ONLY use for Duriel and Mephisto respectively.
The key to success is to keep in mind the skills you TRULY want later, so you don't waste your points on spells that are useless later on.

My strategy was to add points along the tree to prepare for the truly useful spells.

It is important to know that there are a fewskills that are quite useful with only one or two points added to them.   Precisely Teleport, Static Field, Warmth (explained earlier), and Telekinesis.

Teleport is GREAT with just ONE lousy point, all future points simply reduce the cost to cast it - but with high regeneration and a large pool of Mana that won't be necessary; a cost of 24 Mana is small enough.  I use teleport strategically, i.e, I don't cast it all day.  Just for certain reasons:
(1) To Teleport my Hireling:  Since a Hireling teleports right along with you it is
EXTREMELY handy throughout the game.   You could teleport your hireling out of an ambush or a mob of powerful enemies, or teleport him into a group to kill a few ranged attackers while they're off guard.  It is also a great way to avoid spells like meteor or more importantly the pesky Bone Spirit that the Oblivion
Magi cast at you.
(2) To save MYSELF from dangerous situations - like the Charged Bolts of a powerful
Lightning Enchanted Unique Monster.
(3) To save time in maze-like areas of the game - like the tombs in act II, the act
III dungeons.
(4) Or to simply save time retracing explored areas (especially after dying - where by teleporting you could easily reach your body.

Static Field is a good spell, since it takes a fixed percentage of an enemy's life (25%)
REGARDLESS of the amount of life it has.   Successive points only increase the radius of the spell, so the amount of points added is proportional to how much you like to gamble.
The only limitation is that Lightning Resistance reduces the damage inflicted, and those "lucky"  monsters that are Immune to Lightning receive no harm.

Telekinesis is a nice spell - especially when you want to beat someone to a shrine or an item (I try to be fair with what I find when I coop, but let's face it, not everyone has that same attitude).  Only one Skill Point is necessary, since the damage it inflicts is minimal, and the stunning effect it has only works on SOME monsters, and does not last a noetable amount of time.   Besides, it's a requirement for Teleport so you might as WELL give it a try. HEHE.


HIRELINGS


Whether you wish to believe it or not, your faithful (however dumb) companion is a great necessity for the Sorceress.   There are four hirelings that become available throughout the game. Two are melee fighters - the Desert Mercenarie (Act II), and the Barbarians of
Harrogath (Act V) - and the other two are ranged attackers - the Rogues (Act I), and the
Iron Wolves under Aeshera (Act III).  Any of these are a great help, but I recommend one of the two melee attackers.   My particular style of gameplay is through ranged attacks, which are about 85% of the Sorceress' Skills.  Your hireling should attack while you are to provide coverfire and ranged support.   The fact that a melee attacker is usually the closer target should make him cannon fodder,  but since Hirelings are somewhat costly to revive (usually since you want to place equipment on him to make him more powerful), the key to your attacks should be to weaken the enemy as much as possible for him to deliver the finishing blow. The less time he is in contact with one particular monster, the less punishment he receives.  Later on in the game you will judge what monsters he can handle on his own so you can cover your flanks and avoid large-scale attacks. You will also see that with good Skill Point management you will often be able to decimate a group of evil minions before your hireling can actually get to them.  In this case, keep him alive for bait - it's better that he should get the punishment than you, since he usually has more life.

Of the two melee hirelings I recommend the Desert Mercenaries, since they have auras.  A
Thorns Aura or a Defiance Aura come quite in handy. There are three types of mercenaries available: Offensive, Defensive, and Combat.   Each has upto three auras available as he gains levels.  The only problem is you can't choose which one he is going to use, but he usually sticks to one.  My Hireling (Defensive) is stuck with Defiance - which is good - but I would have much rather had Holy Freeze as his first choice. The auras per hireling type are as follows:

Offensive :
Defensie  :
Combat    :


RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT

Since 90% of all your attacks will consist of HEAVY support and coverfire for your brain dead hireling, High Defense is NOT a requirement.   It is useful, I mean, but don't pass on a nice Rare Item with decent attributes, for example, simply because your armor has a higher defense.

HELM - ARMOR

Look for Magic Resistances, Fast Recovery Rate (so you don't have to worry about casting
Teleport only to be hit and have the spell nullified), Bonus to Mana, Mana Regeneration, among others (I think you have the idea)

SHIELDS

The same strategies that apply to Helms and Armor apply to Shields - with ONE exception:
High Block Rate, Fast Block Rate.  The Sorceress suffers from a particular problem, just because a shield has a 60% block rate, doesn't mean that THE SORCERESS does. She usually will have something nearer to 25% or 30%. The fact of the matter is that as you progress from one difficulty to another,  you must increase your defense drastically to withstand the hits from your enemies.  It has also come to my attention that there is a nice glich added to Hell Difficulty called "4XAR" (for 4X Attack Rating), which simply means that a monster will hit you quite easily UNLESS your defense is off the charts - like 16,000 or something similar.   This can ONLY be done through the use of Paladin Auras or Barbarian
Skills, combined with, maybe, an Armor Shrine.  To put it simply, it is gonna be QUITE a task to match that with a Sorceress.  On the other hand, the Block Rating was unaffected since the absolute maximum is 75%.  So exploit this to its maximum.

WEAPONS

I recommend Orbs (OBVIOUSLY), since they grant additional skill points, like staves, and due to that fact that the Sorceress is the most skill-dependent class, this is a must to exploit.   Look for fast cast rate to bombard enemies with Fireballs and Glacial Spikes.
Extra Mana is always welcome, along with Magic Resistance, and Attribute Bonuses. Simply ignore the damage of the orb, you will rarely need to go hand-to-hand with it.

Don't overlook staves simply because they are two-handed.  You may have to sacrifice the use of your shield (just put it away in your second quick weapon slot ("W")), but if the staff has a good bonus to some skills you are using - then by all means USE IT.  Just be sure to avoid getting too close to monsters.

BELTS

Top priority, above ALL ELSE, is to increase the amount of potions you can carry.   I do
NOT care if the previous belt had a higher defense or a good bonus to anything, the more potions you can carry the safer you will be. The maximum is 16 slots, which is available from Heavy Belt onward, so once you reach that belt, follow the strategies for any other piece of armor.

BOOTS