LLD101

[Waramp]

There is already a blizz sorc guide, and a couple links to info, but I don't agree with that build so I wanted to make my own es/blizz guide.

GEAR
¬2 cold, 20 fcr circlet with some of life/mana/res/rep life/2 soc (socketed with pskulls)
¬2 cold, 10 fcr amulet with some of life/mana/res/rep life
¬35 fcr spirit crystal sword
¬35/13 vipermagi (socketed with pskull)
¬visc shield (socketed with 9 dex, 15 all res jewel)
¬frostburn gauntlets (try to get eth to save 10 stats)
¬crafted 10 fcr belt with 17-24 fhr (and rep life if you can)
¬2x sojs
¬cow king boots
¬+3 es, +x chilling armor, +x something else 17 med insight on switch
inv: enough fhr/mana charms to hit 86 fhr, the rest 15/12 scs or as close as possible. if you lack resists in your gear, use a few life/res scs as well.

this will give you 105% fcr and 86% fhr

Stash gear
¬sander's boots (for trappers, and non-tele duels where you dont need max block)
¬rhyme bone shield (for no-tele duels vs windies)
¬string of ears + magefists (when you want to sacrifice some mana for some dr% without losing 105% fcr, also good for windies)
¬hotspurs (for being a jerk to fb sorcs. if you have ES up in a svs/tele duel, fb sorcs will drain your mana very quickly. so duel without es, but with spurs on)
¬crafted 10 rep life boots (some may use these as their main boots, but i wouldnt recommend this unless you have 30 frw on your circlet. use these boots for long duels where max block or ANY running isnt needed otherwise. i rarely used mine)

STATS
¬you'll need 50 str to equip the eth frosties (60 if you opt for non-eth)
¬you'll need 90 dex for max block with visc
¬as for vita/energy, it depends on how much life your gear gives you. you should have at least 750-800 life, so you may have to add a bit of vita to get this much hp. the rest will go into energy. if you feel comfortable with lower hp, pump all into energy since it gives better returns due to +90% max mana with frosties and sojs

SKILLS
1 into warmth
1 into teleport
1 into cold mastery
7 into blizzard
20 into ice blast
the rest into ice bolt

this should leave you with 1178 blizzard, 1213 ice blast, -70% cold mastery, and 45% es using only insight staff buffing. 45% es means you only take about half the damage you would expect. this means your hp is effectively just about doubled. my math is usually a bit rough when it comes to this, but if you have 800 hp with 45% es, you essentially have 1455 hp as long as you dont run out of mana.

NOTES
¬ ES acts as if it has zero resists. also, without points into telekinesis, es takes 2x damage you would expect. so high elemental damage skills (fb, lightning, cs zons, etc) can drain your mana very quickly. however its a life-saver vs physical, magic, or weak elemental attacks. especially vs other cold sorcs, since ES isnt affected by the -res of mastery

¬if someone puts on a thul'd hawkmail and 3x psapphire shield, you can still beat them, it'll just take a VERY long time. if they're a regen pally, just s/e haha.

¬duels with windy druids are essentially stalemates if they recast, since their cyclone is unaffected by mastery. but if you tele enough, you should eventually win as long as they dont recast every time they get hit. normally, i would say something along the lines of "i wont tele if you wont recast" and then get my rhyme/soe/magefist/sanders on.

¬ice blast is a very strong and effective spell, dont be afraid to use it often. one technique i liked using was to blizz someone, and then when i see it hit them (and hopefully "fhr" them), i would tele on them and ice blast them to death. they usually cant escape.

¬i HATE "stash-buffing" or putting on prebuff items at the stash, and then putting dueling gear back on. use a +5 es orb if you want to buff, and then put insight back on, but i personally hate doing that. everything i want to use in a duel, i take to the moor with me.

¬people often say that insight on an es sorc is bm, but ive argued against it and made my point (im not going to get into it here, and i dont want you guys to either...). but as long as you dont teleport off screen with your insight out to regen, it dont see why its so bad. stay within attacking range, slowly teleport and lay down blizzards to shield you. switch back to your spirit/shield if need be even if your mana isnt full yet.

questions?

by the way, this is probably my favourite lld build ive ever made. possibly because it was also my best geared... but its a lot of fun, and very powerful too.

[reg123]

nice guide. some good tips in here

[MiKTeX]

Would it be a good idea to just not use ES against certain builds? (Certain builds such as FB come into mind...) Conserving mana might be more useful than hit points. Once your teleport/damage is knocked out, you're finished, anyhow. Or would this not be as much of a problem?


ES would rock against PnB's.

[Waramp]

that's sort of what i was eluding to with my first "note." i often didnt use es vs cs zons just because it usually only takes 1 shot to drain all the mana. ditto with fb sorcs. however, when i dueled without teleport (lld101 duels for example) it was always worth it to use ES even vs fb sorcs, since you're being hit less often, and you're not using mana for teleporting.

[Torrent]

[Dream]

By not using it, because he was speaking of playing by lld101 rules.

[reg123]

For ES builds, do people put a point into telekinesis? Does 1 point make any difference? any +skills items won't help right?

[Dream]

Most people get teleport, which requires you put one in telekinesis. Adding more isn't worth it for most all LLD's, more damage is a better option.

You're right, +skills dont' add to the synergy bonus.

[Waramp]

[romanceisdead]

very good guide.