Diablo 2 How to Respec Again

With the proclamation of D2:R equally well as the resurgence of popular mods like Plugy and Path of Diablo there are undoubtedly many players who are looking to become dorsum into Diablo two. I wanted to make a post highlighting proficient resources besides as discussing some of import game cognition for new/returning players regarding the Sorceress class in particular as it is 1 of the most pop classes in Diablo two. Nearly of the advice in this postal service is targeted at someone playing solo self found unmodded (with the exception of ladder rune words enabled) Diablo two.

I redownloaded diablo 2 after not playing for over a decade a few months ago and I ended up doing a lot of research into building/leveling an endgame Sorceress. I ran into a LARGE corporeality of conflicting information, some of which was very dated or just direct upward incorrect, as well every bit many diablo 2 veterans giving advice that was simply applicative to very high budget builds/fully leveled characters. This postal service is not meant to exist a full sorc guide but instead I wanted to address some common points of contention regarding building a sorc likewise as list some of the more than useful resource I constitute. I will talk briefly about gear/itemization, farm spots, skills/attributes, leveling, and common builds.

Here are some of the more than useful guides I used as cross references:

MrLlamaSC comprehensive blizz sorc guide:

MrLlamaSC leveling guide for normal, has hell and nightmare on his channel as well:

Sasja Meteorb sorc guide:

https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Guide:Meteorb_Sorc_v1.10,_by_Sasja

Drop Calculators:

http://mfb.bplaced.net/dropcalc/dropcalc.php?lang=en&patch=113&mode=lod&interface=default&window=true

http://dropcalc.silospen.com/particular.php

Lower Kurast FAQ:

https://www.diabloii.net/forums/threads/lower-kurast-lk-faq.720492/

Man Bot Projection playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYd_ukZD7-YI8hTVlgiXfWnRO4gISaVxB

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Leveling Tips:

Here leveling means from act1 normal to killing Baal in Hell for the first time, as actually leveling to 99 is non something virtually people will have the patience for. The leveling guide linked above is fairly comprehensive but here are a couple things to continue in mind.

• Nova sorc is the all-time leveling spec in normal considering it is a low requirement aoe spell. Aoe spells are rare in early game Diablo just kill packs of monsters dramatically faster than higher damage single target spells.
• Frozen Orb is the all-time leveling spec in nightmare because it is a very loftier damage aoe spell. Frozen orb can fall off in endgame due to a lack of synergy simply early on when you tin can't max out any skill frozen orb does very very high damage compared to other Sorc spells.
• Meteorb is the best spec to open upwards hell (impale Baal for the first time) considering of the high corporeality of cold immunes. Equally a depression level solo thespian with bad gear there really isn't whatsoever other option to fight cold immunes without mixed attacks.
• Important: You only get 3 respecs, I would recommend existence very frugal virtually respeccing as information technology is going to be a very long time before you can comfortably subcontract Diablo and Baal in hell manner for the respec mats. The standard strategy is to showtime every bit a Nova Sorc, respec to frozen orb for nightmare, then respec to Meteorb for hell and and then respec to Blizz sorc for endgame farming. The problem with this strategy is that Blizz Sorc is way more than efficient farming than Meteorb Sorc, however Blizz Sorc has an incredibly hard time killing Diablo and Baal (due to Lord De Seis cold immune and Throne room cold immunes/wave2) at low levels with bad gear. Because respeccing to Blizz sorc spends your last complimentary respec you are essentially locked in without a good way to farm the token. There are three means effectually this: Pick 1 is to stay equally Meteorb until your Merc gets enough gear/levels to tank common cold immunes. I ended up doing this and I would not recommend it. It takes too much time to gear/level upwardly your merc as a Meteorb Sorc and it would expediate the process massively to do the aforementioned amount of farming as a Blizz sorc. Option 2 is to level through normal equally a cold sorc, this is definitely slower than nova sorc but honestly normal doesn't take likewise long relatively speaking and it saves yous a respec. Option three (what I would recommend) is to simply lock in as a Blizz sorc and forego respecs until your mercenary tin can kill Lord De Seis on his ain.
• Your Merc is useless in Hell difficulty until the early level 80s, and even then it is very difficult to keep alive. The merc doesn't really get self sufficient until ~level 90 with life leech gear. Don't carp spending gold on rezzing the merc while opening up Hell, yous can always rehire at a higher level when you decide to start using ane.
• The sprit rune word in a crystal sword is the largest power boost you can hands get while leveling.

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Attributes:

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• Strength is only useful to equip gear, effectually 50 strength is plenty until you become to endgame. Getting a spirit shield is 156 force, but it is pointless to invest points into forcefulness until you tin can afford the high strength cost and yous really have a monarch shield to put spirit into. I wouldn't touch strength until you can respec in endgame for the 156 forcefulness requirement. Some guides advise against statting this much strength for spirit shield only that is bad advice. The Spirit rune word is both cheap and incredibly powerful and is 100% worth the strength investment.
• Dexterity is completely useless until y'all become an Ali-baba sword as a MF switch weapon. The extra block run a risk from dex isn't a bad thing just it comes at a toll of vitality, which really isn't worth the tradeoff.
• Vitality is your primary stat dump. The other 3 stats simply don't benefit the Sorc in combat enough, so vitality is the only viable selection.
• Energy has a lot of arbitrary recommendations depending on the guide you look at merely the truth is you lot tin sustain your mana pool with 0 energy. It's more than of a convenience stat, as early points into energy will help you to not have to fill your inventory with mana potions. Spirit runeword + good uniques volition make energy obsolete somewhen. Starting out information technology'south really upwardly to the player how much Energy they want.

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Skills:

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• Warmth – like to Energy, this ane point wonder is more about your sanity/convenience than it is near making your character better in combat. With skillful gear yous tin can remove the standard one signal of warmth and barely discover, but it is notwithstanding probably worth the ane point while leveling. Mana pots provided the majority of your mana regen.
• Frozen Shield/Static/Teleport- These skills are incredibly useful and are always worth the ane indicate investment regardless of build. Basically every source volition agree on this so I'm not going to go into detail.
• Energy Armor- There was a lot of conflicting communication regarding this skill but long story brusque it isn't worth the 4 point requirement. If yous could go it for free on a switch weapon then it's worth using only the 4 points are likewise steep a price. Energy Armor ignores your resistance when it calculates damage done to mana, so in hell this usually means one or two hits will bleed all of your mana and exit you unable to teleport. It's yet better to have information technology on and chug a mana pot to teleport abroad, as the impairment washed to mana tin still relieve your life if you teleport into a dangerous pack but it isn't proficient plenty to warrant a a iv skill indicate investment.
• Fireball- Easier to aim than falling star and volition exist your master damaging spell if yous play Meteorb. Cast this while meteor/frozen orb are on CD.
• Shooting star- does the most damage and is worth using on large packs/ bosses but is finnicky to aim and overall less useful than fireball
• Blizzard- This spell is overtuned, but doesn't really snowball ahead of other spells until you have enough points to beef up its synergies. Blizzard does more damage to monsters that walk through it (Mephsito is a great example, when moat tricking he will strafe within the blizzard and die very quickly)
• Frozen Orb- Very strong early on, but only has one synergy.
• Cold Mastery- This will add a lot of damage in hell but maxes out benefits at -175% CR. Information technology depends on what you are fighting so in certain farm spots only -150% CR is needed. Mephisto specifically benefits from common cold mastery up to the -175% max. Near Sorc guides go into this in more item.
• Glacial Spike- Only useful to freeze packs in identify, does less harm than Ice smash with the same signal investment
• Water ice Smash- The fireball equivalent for a Blizz sorc, bandage this while blizzard is on CD.

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Common Builds and their viability:

I briefly mentioned frozen orb and nova sorc in the leveling section but they are not viable endgame builds and then I wont mention them here.

• Blizz sorc- The best all around Sorc build. There are better builds for farming just they all crave an infinity runeword which is not something yous will make in solo gameplay anytime soon. The reputation this build gets is not overblown, information technology only does fashion more damage than other upkeep Sorc builds. The tradeoff is of course you cannot kill cold immunes. You can mostly get around this downside with a strong merc.
• Meteorb sorc- Good for opening hell and farming the pit and Countess early on. Blizz sorc does 2 to ii.v times as much damage as meteorb which makes it strictly worse even though in that location are a couple spots information technology is better at farming considering of cold immunes.
• Lightning Sorc- High dissentious endgame lightning build. Not viable until yous become Infinity on an deed 2 Merc.
• Phoenix Sorc- Loftier damaging endgame fire build. Not feasible until you get Infinity on an act 2 Merc. Infinity takes a very long time to become equally a solo player without hacks.

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Itemization:

• Magic find is the virtually useful stat unless you lot are farming runes/charms. Most stats only increase your killing power whereas Magic Find cuts downwardly on the number of runs needed (on average) for whatsoever detail item. Boss running is typically the most useful farming and stats like + to all skills but bear upon the time taken to fight the dominate. Killing Mephisto v seconds faster for case is but not the aforementioned benefit as needing x to twenty% less full runs to get certain uniques. Keep in heed that Magic notice has diminishing returns, 0-100% magic observe is very very stiff while Magic find tends to be less useful by ~300%
• + All skills is difficult to observe outside of cheap runewords early simply it is the nearly useful gainsay attribute for obvious reasons. Many video guides are misleading as they characteristic characters with inventories full of skillers +torch and gear loaded with + all skills. With enough + all skills players 8 hell tin can be trivial even with non-meta gear/builds.
• Faster Cast Charge per unit- FCR is both a dps increase and a survivability increase as with better FCR you are more likely to be able to teleport out of a dangerous pack without getting interrupted by damage. Well-nigh guides go over breakpoints for FCR.
• Resistance- The all-time defensive stat until you lot striking max resists. Opening hell for the offset time is a bit easier if you can stack resistance instead of other stats but information technology's worth considering dropping resistances to making farming more efficient.
• Life- Pretty self explanatory but slightly less useful than the to a higher place stats every bit your gameplan is to never get hit.
• Defense- Defence is actually dodge chance in Diablo, defense can brand teleporting out of melee range more consistent but isn't the virtually useful stat.
• Whatsoever stat not listed higher up is either worthless or has niche usefulness for a Sorc

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Gear:

• Tal Rasha's Set is NOT upkeep. The chest piece specifically is non like shooting fish in a barrel to become as a solo actor. A lot of guides have this as a budget or a mid-level option, only the drop rates don't agree.
• With the exception of arachnid's mesh (which is a mid level item) there aren't very many useful belt/gloves/boots uniques. The really cheap compromise is the Sigons 3 piece until you can get war travs/chancies/arachnids
• Shako (harlequin crest) is probably the most all around useful unique in the game. This is the just unique that is worth target farming (I'll go over how in the farm section).
• The Oculus is a very useful upkeep to mid-level item that a lot of guides don't recommend. I would adopt if it didnt accept the adventure to teleport only it has actually saved me more times than it has killed me, and the other stats on this weapon are very very potent.
• Rings and amulets are going to exist worth picking upward at rare or magic quality for much longer than other slots. Rare amulets can roll like to endgame unique amulets.

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Farming:

Over the years people have figured out the best farming spots in diablo 2 but there is no one unmarried perfect spot. I'm going to rank the about common endgame farms and explain the various pros and cons in regards to a Sorc.

S Tier: Unrivaled in at least i aspect

– Hell Andariel. This is Past FAR the all-time place to farm useful uniques early in endgame due to the quest bug. Almost any detail that Hell Andariel can drop has a much college drop charge per unit from Hell Andariel than any other source in the game. It'southward a good thought to target farm Hell Andariel until you become a Shako, as you lot will probably become most of Andariel'due south other useful drops while farming. The biggest downside is that Hell Andariel stops giving xp fairly quickly

– Lower Kurast. With the double campfire setup Lower Kurast is mathematically the best place to farm loftier runes by a big margin. It'southward also the all-time place to subcontract charms, you need just enough gear to survive and you can max out player count while clicking all the interactables. Lower Kurast isn't worth farming for uniques or feel.

– Hell Baal. Due to roleplay in-between waves and the common cold immunes in the throne room and wave two, it'due south not the fastest boss to subcontract for mid-level uniques, but it is the best dominate to farm for xp and terminate game uniques. Needs a capable merc to subcontract effectively

– Countess (any difficulty). Near of the runes Countess is capable of dropping can exist farmed much quicker than any other method. Hell countess is a particular challenge for a blizz sorc (requires a good merc) notwithstanding and it isn't worth farming countess to cube up to high runes.

– Surreptitious Cow Level (any difficulty). This is the best identify to subcontract gems and bases/sockets, as well pretty decent for runes. Not swell for xp or uniques.

A Tier: Excels in some areas

– Hell Mephisto. The moat fox makes farming this boss fast and easy fifty-fifty with bad gear. Would be in S-tier simply Andariel has straight up improve odds than Mephisto for a lot of gear. Nonetheless the all-time source for arachnids mesh.

– Ancient Tunnels. A level 85 area without cold immunes, non-dangerous mobs, and decent mob density. For Blizz Sorc general farming this is the spot. The biggest downside is that it isn't the all-time identify to farm for anything in particular.

– The pit. A level 85 surface area with very high mob density. This isn't viable for Blizz sorc due to cold immunes merely is better than aboriginal tunnels for meteorb or infinity sorc builds.

– Nightmare Andariel. The best identify to farm if early hell is giving you difficulty. Famously the best identify to farm stone of jordan, also has the best adventure to drib peel of the vipermagi which is a adept budget chest armor.

– Pindleskin. Incredibly convenient to subcontract and gives good xp. The drop rates are pretty bad compared to bosses though.

– Hell Diablo. Can be dangerous for low geared characters and requires a capable merc if yous are running blizz sorc. Good xp and uniques, but is slightly outclassed by baal runs. I read that chaos sanctuary runs can exist like xp to baal runs but I don't remember this is possible with a solo character. Y'all would need multiple people to activate the 3 unique packs simultaneously for this to be better xp per hour than Baal.

– River of Flame. A adept high mob density level 85 area without cold immunes, however it is a chip more dangerous to farm than aboriginal tunnels.

B Tier: Expert to break upward the monotony

– Threshsocket. Cold immune, and then not an choice for blizz sorc, also has travel time compared to pindleskin but is worse xp and like drib rate to pindleskin.

– Nihlathak. Can spawn common cold immune and his minions are cold allowed. If yous aren't running blizz sorc can be decent merely is probably still worse than pindleskin.

– Cabalistic Sanctuary. The ghosts accept double rune driblet charge per unit, just either the hugger-mugger cow level or lower kurast are better for runes.

-The Mausoleum. This is a good place for early hell characters to farm every bit there are no cold or burn down immunes and it is level 85. Even so the monster density is pretty bad and the surface area itself is small-scale.

– Travincal. The council members are considered the best gold farming spot, howerver they come with at least i cold immune and gambling has particularly bad odds for farming uniques. Gambling can still be expert for getting good statted rares in some slots.

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Mercenary:

Most guides provided heavily alien data regarding edifice a good merc. I wanted to talk about some of the more than common misconceptions-

• The insight runeword is not worth the time it takes to brand for the follower. Just similar warmth and points into free energy the meditation aura provided by insight can be overkill and provides mana regen that yous can get from potions anyways. It also does not aid the main purpose of your merc until you get an infinity which is to impale common cold immunes for you.
• Your merc's level is more important that its gear. I spent a ton of fourth dimension farming out my low 80s merc an eth bewitched stone runeword armor and it barely had an impact on his survivability despite most 4000 defense force on one detail. With the same gear at level 92 my merc is now mostly self sufficient.
• Life leech and assault speed are what keeps your merc alive. Bonehew, Reapers Cost, Andariel's Visage, and Vampire Gaze are all good items to help with this
• The Might aura from hell offensive mercs tin be better for a cold sorc than the nightmare holy freeze mercs. Think the main objective is to kill cold immunes, however the aureola itself doesn't actually make a huge difference.
• Undead Crown can exist a skilful inexpensive tech item for the merc equally a lot of the problem mobs (blood lords in throne room, wave 2, Lord De Seis) are all undead.
• Y'all can rehire a different merc if y'all want to try something new, they only require a couple relevels.
• Correct clicking potions from your belt feeds them to your merc

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That'southward information technology, I mostly wanted this to be a supplement to what is already out there, as a lot of guides brand assumptions for new players and gloss over some important info. Let me know if anything is incorrect and happy hunting!

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Source: https://gamestoday.info/pc/diablo/diablo-2-returning-new-player-sorceress-tips-and-guidelines/