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01-10-2008, 04:15 PM
The Nova/Energy Shield Sorceress
Introduction
Ahh, a Nova sorceress (sorc). Leans back and thinks about the good 'ol days of 1.09. Those where the days. Back then a well-built Nova sorc could compete with a Lightning Fury (LF) amazon (zon) about who could clear the Cow Level fastest. This guide is about Nova. Back then you could combine Nova with Frozen Orb (FO), but that isn't the case today. FO will be too weak in it's own so we will focus on Nova with the benefits of Energy Shield (ES). This guide is designed for Player vs. Player (PvP), but this build can easily be used in Player vs. Monster (PvM).
Stats
YAY, the statpoints section. This is one of the places where this build differs from most other builds. This is quite the opposite of ALL VITALITY sorcs. You read it right. No points spend in vitality!
Strength
You don't want to spend more than nessecary. For this build 81 or 91 (depends if you can get a hold of some ethereal (eth) Sandstorm Trek (Treks))
Dexterity
Zip, zero, zilch! And for the slow people outthere. None, nada, nothing!
Vitality
As metioned above you shouldn't place even a single point in Vitality.
Energy
So where does the rest of the points go you might wonder. Well, they go here!
Skills
Cold
I don't recommend spending anypoints here. Some people invest skillpoints in a cold armor. Since sorcs are so low on defence (def) the bonus from a cold armor is minimal so it won't help you much when going up against a melee character anyway.
Lightning
This is where you should spend nearly all of your skillpoints.
Nova - 20
Lightning Mastery - 20
Thunder Storm - 20
Telekinesis - 20*
Energy Shield (ES)** - 20
Teleport - 1
Static Field - 1
Charged Bolt - 1
Lightning - 1
Chain Lightning - 1
Fire
Only one skill needed here. The skill that every sorc wants to invest atleast one skillpoint into. You probably already guessed it.
Warmth - 1 (Leftover skillpoints go here)
* - Hard points invested in Telekinesis lessens the amout of mana each damage takes.
** - You should only invest ponts here untill you have level 40 ES
Breakpoints
So, now it's time to equip our sorc, but before we do so let's look at the Faster Cast Rate (FCR) and Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) breakpoints (BP) for the sorc. There is different BPs for a sorc when casting Lightning/Chain Lightning, but fortunatly that doesn't apply when casting Nova.
FCR --- Frames
0% --- 13
9% --- 12
20% --- 11
37% --- 10
63% --- 9
105% --- 8 <--- Our goal
200% --- 7
FHR helps you to quickly to get back to what you where doing when you have been hit.
FHR --- Frames
0% --- 15
5% --- 14
9% --- 13
14% --- 12
20% --- 11
30% --- 10
42% --- 9
60% --- 8
86% --- 7
142% --- 6
Now we know the BPs we can start equipping!
Items
Since this build is FCR dependant you can't do much variation in gear.
Helm
Griffon's Eye: What else can you ask for? This helm is made for those chars that rely on lightning (except trappers, but that's not interesting now :P)
Armor
Ormus' Robes: Look for one with +3 Nova.
Skin of the Vipermagi: Since resistance is utterly unimportant you dont need a 35 res one. Mdr helps more then res actually, he he.
Weapon
Infinity: Yeah, this build uses a two-hand weapon. The Conviction aura lowers the resistance on player/monsters which means that you will deal more damage. You will want to make this in a weapon with low reqs. Make it in a normal Voulgue er similar.
Gloves
Magefist: We want this for the 20% fcr. The +1 to fire skills and the 15% mana regeneration or small bonusses. Magefists are better than Trang Oul's gloves in this case because ES before resistances meaning that you won't need resistances, except poison which overrides ES.
Belt
Arachnid Mesh: This is the belt that almost every caster is looking for.
Boots
Sandstorm Trek: As mentioned above poison damage overrides ES so we want to keep our poison resistance as high as possible and what other than Treks can help with that?
Amulet
Crafted Amulet: This is probably the hardest itemslot to equip. In order to reach 105% fcr you need 20% fcr from your amulet. You can craft a ring that also offers +2 sorc skills and stats, but those are very hard to come by/very expensive!
Ive gone with an amulet which gives 10 fcr. Then i have to equip a 10 fcr ring too to reach 105% fcr.
Ring #1
Stone of Jordan (SOJ): It doesn't get any better. No wonder this is probably is the most sought after ring in the entire game.
Ring #2
SOJ or rare ring: If you can' manage to get a 20% fcr amulet you can get one with 10% fcr and make up for the loss in fcr by equipping a 10% fcr ring. If you on the other hand come by a 20% fcr amulet you should equip another SOJ since SOJs stack.
Charms
Annihilus: This little beauty needs to further introduction.
Hellfire Torch: The Annihilus' older brother.
Sparkling Grand Charm: Fill up your inventory with these.
Small charms: Look for sc's that adds stats you need, mana for example.
Charms are a great way to achieve a higher FHR BP. Since you don't need life you could look for +1 Lightning skill charms with 12% fhr or mana sc's with 5% FHR.
Weapon 'switch'
Call To Arms: This is the most used weapon switch in the entire game. Get in there and join the rest.
Shield 'switch'
+1 Skill shield: Since we don't have the strength to equip Spirit we will equip the next best thing. A shield that adds +1 skill (Lidless, Sigon's or Splendor). If you make Splendor you can equip a shield that suits you. I prefer a Spiked Shield.
Mercenary
You shouldn't use this guy in PvP, but as for PvM he is a great buddy to have by our side. Hire an act II normal Combat mercenary (merc).
Helm
Andariel's Visage: This beauty increases the number of attacks your merc does per second. If you socket the helmet with a 15 IAS/fire res (to negate the -30 fire res on Andy's) he will go up a BP.
Armor
Fortitude: A great merc armor. Make it in a high defence ethereal armor.
Weapon
Insight: When you use the meditation from Insight together with Prayer you get an amazing life/mana recovery. You will NEVER die!
Thanks
I big thanks to all those who share their knowledge so I can get a bit wiser. A special thanks to Als for his ES FAQ.
Introduction
Ahh, a Nova sorceress (sorc). Leans back and thinks about the good 'ol days of 1.09. Those where the days. Back then a well-built Nova sorc could compete with a Lightning Fury (LF) amazon (zon) about who could clear the Cow Level fastest. This guide is about Nova. Back then you could combine Nova with Frozen Orb (FO), but that isn't the case today. FO will be too weak in it's own so we will focus on Nova with the benefits of Energy Shield (ES). This guide is designed for Player vs. Player (PvP), but this build can easily be used in Player vs. Monster (PvM).
Stats
YAY, the statpoints section. This is one of the places where this build differs from most other builds. This is quite the opposite of ALL VITALITY sorcs. You read it right. No points spend in vitality!
Strength
You don't want to spend more than nessecary. For this build 81 or 91 (depends if you can get a hold of some ethereal (eth) Sandstorm Trek (Treks))
Dexterity
Zip, zero, zilch! And for the slow people outthere. None, nada, nothing!
Vitality
As metioned above you shouldn't place even a single point in Vitality.
Energy
So where does the rest of the points go you might wonder. Well, they go here!
Skills
Cold
I don't recommend spending anypoints here. Some people invest skillpoints in a cold armor. Since sorcs are so low on defence (def) the bonus from a cold armor is minimal so it won't help you much when going up against a melee character anyway.
Lightning
This is where you should spend nearly all of your skillpoints.
Nova - 20
Lightning Mastery - 20
Thunder Storm - 20
Telekinesis - 20*
Energy Shield (ES)** - 20
Teleport - 1
Static Field - 1
Charged Bolt - 1
Lightning - 1
Chain Lightning - 1
Fire
Only one skill needed here. The skill that every sorc wants to invest atleast one skillpoint into. You probably already guessed it.
Warmth - 1 (Leftover skillpoints go here)
* - Hard points invested in Telekinesis lessens the amout of mana each damage takes.
** - You should only invest ponts here untill you have level 40 ES
Breakpoints
So, now it's time to equip our sorc, but before we do so let's look at the Faster Cast Rate (FCR) and Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) breakpoints (BP) for the sorc. There is different BPs for a sorc when casting Lightning/Chain Lightning, but fortunatly that doesn't apply when casting Nova.
FCR --- Frames
0% --- 13
9% --- 12
20% --- 11
37% --- 10
63% --- 9
105% --- 8 <--- Our goal
200% --- 7
FHR helps you to quickly to get back to what you where doing when you have been hit.
FHR --- Frames
0% --- 15
5% --- 14
9% --- 13
14% --- 12
20% --- 11
30% --- 10
42% --- 9
60% --- 8
86% --- 7
142% --- 6
Now we know the BPs we can start equipping!
Items
Since this build is FCR dependant you can't do much variation in gear.
Helm
Griffon's Eye: What else can you ask for? This helm is made for those chars that rely on lightning (except trappers, but that's not interesting now :P)
Armor
Ormus' Robes: Look for one with +3 Nova.
Skin of the Vipermagi: Since resistance is utterly unimportant you dont need a 35 res one. Mdr helps more then res actually, he he.
Weapon
Infinity: Yeah, this build uses a two-hand weapon. The Conviction aura lowers the resistance on player/monsters which means that you will deal more damage. You will want to make this in a weapon with low reqs. Make it in a normal Voulgue er similar.
Gloves
Magefist: We want this for the 20% fcr. The +1 to fire skills and the 15% mana regeneration or small bonusses. Magefists are better than Trang Oul's gloves in this case because ES before resistances meaning that you won't need resistances, except poison which overrides ES.
Belt
Arachnid Mesh: This is the belt that almost every caster is looking for.
Boots
Sandstorm Trek: As mentioned above poison damage overrides ES so we want to keep our poison resistance as high as possible and what other than Treks can help with that?
Amulet
Crafted Amulet: This is probably the hardest itemslot to equip. In order to reach 105% fcr you need 20% fcr from your amulet. You can craft a ring that also offers +2 sorc skills and stats, but those are very hard to come by/very expensive!
Ive gone with an amulet which gives 10 fcr. Then i have to equip a 10 fcr ring too to reach 105% fcr.
Ring #1
Stone of Jordan (SOJ): It doesn't get any better. No wonder this is probably is the most sought after ring in the entire game.
Ring #2
SOJ or rare ring: If you can' manage to get a 20% fcr amulet you can get one with 10% fcr and make up for the loss in fcr by equipping a 10% fcr ring. If you on the other hand come by a 20% fcr amulet you should equip another SOJ since SOJs stack.
Charms
Annihilus: This little beauty needs to further introduction.
Hellfire Torch: The Annihilus' older brother.
Sparkling Grand Charm: Fill up your inventory with these.
Small charms: Look for sc's that adds stats you need, mana for example.
Charms are a great way to achieve a higher FHR BP. Since you don't need life you could look for +1 Lightning skill charms with 12% fhr or mana sc's with 5% FHR.
Weapon 'switch'
Call To Arms: This is the most used weapon switch in the entire game. Get in there and join the rest.
Shield 'switch'
+1 Skill shield: Since we don't have the strength to equip Spirit we will equip the next best thing. A shield that adds +1 skill (Lidless, Sigon's or Splendor). If you make Splendor you can equip a shield that suits you. I prefer a Spiked Shield.
Mercenary
You shouldn't use this guy in PvP, but as for PvM he is a great buddy to have by our side. Hire an act II normal Combat mercenary (merc).
Helm
Andariel's Visage: This beauty increases the number of attacks your merc does per second. If you socket the helmet with a 15 IAS/fire res (to negate the -30 fire res on Andy's) he will go up a BP.
Armor
Fortitude: A great merc armor. Make it in a high defence ethereal armor.
Weapon
Insight: When you use the meditation from Insight together with Prayer you get an amazing life/mana recovery. You will NEVER die!
Thanks
I big thanks to all those who share their knowledge so I can get a bit wiser. A special thanks to Als for his ES FAQ.