Zharous’s Guide to the PVP Sorceress
Version 1.3 (D2 ver: 1.11b)
First Edition: Oct 30, 2004
Revised: August 19th, 2006
If brevity is the soul of wit, then this guide is found lacking - nevertheless, a lot of descriptions and explanations are greatly abbreviated in this guide. Feel free to let me know if something does not make sense or is less than well explained
I. Why use Energy Shield
II. Cold/Fire/Lightning
III. Skills / Stats / Equipment
IV: PvM
V. Alternate Equipment
VI. Why no DR/Stormshield/ Spirit/156 str
VII. Block vs. non-block
VIII. Faster Hit Recovery
IX. Cold Sorc Dueling Strategies
X. Lightning Sorc Dueling Strategies
XI. Fire Sorc Dueling Strategies
XII. FAQ
I. Why use Energy Shield
- Your mana pool contributes to your effective hit points. This greatly helps rich players as their life/mana charms will easily boost their mana pool far higher than they need simply for casting spells or teleporting.
- 70% - 95% of your damage is not taken away from life, instead it is removed from your quickly replenishing mana pool. As long as your mana pool is always large enough to absorb enemy damage, and you take damage slowly enough over time, this translates into a real 3X-10X on the total amount of damage you can take before dying.
- With a high energy shield level and enough life, it is possible to prevent all hit recovery stunning (which occurs when 1/12th of your life removed in one hit) This allows you to the either escape or continue firing when vita builds would simply sit there being stunned.
- With 20 actual skillpoints in telekinesis (+skill equipment does not help), you only lose 0.75 mana per every absorbed damage point.
- Max mana items are common, unlike +max health. With just a few items you can easily gain 4+ mana points for every stat point placed into energy. Items that provide +mana as well as charms also go through this multiplier.
1 vitality = 2 life = 2 damage absorbed
1 energy = 2 mana = 4.2 mana (110% max mana) = 5.6 damage absorbed (20 pts in telekinesis)
(50% = 2 sojs, 40% = Frostburn, 15% = hoto or wiz, 5% = arachnid)
- How large of a hit can you take and still divert most of that damage to your mana pool? With a 2000 mana pool, up to 16000 damage can be diverted partially to mana before your energy shield collapses (due the 0.75 telekinesis and 17% Pvp multipliers)
Disadvantages:
- Energy Shield is applied before resistance equipment and absorb. Huge elemental attacks will drain your mana pool far faster then anything else.
- Attacks such as poison and open wounds completely bypass energy shield and hit your health directly. And while poison can be reduced with +max resist items and poison length reduction, open wounds is completely unresistable other then by shield blocking.
- Resistance gear, Damage to mana, and absorb gear is far less effective for an energy shield sorceress then for a regular sorceress because they only affect life lost, not mana lost.
- While you are almost invulnerable if you take damage slowly, damage that is hit at a very fast rate can collapse your energy shield before your mana can recover, which usually means instant death
II. Cold/Fire/Lightning
Cold sorceresses
%cold damage equipment and facets extremely important for this character
1 cast per second, must orb once and teleport a minimum of three times
orb is a very offensive spell - every attack forces your opponent to either run away or take damage
aim is important - proper spacing of the orb burst can do 8X-16X damage
missed shots often do damage
plenty of extra skill points for either +teleport/warmth/energy shield
damage per second is much lower than lightning or fire
orb movement is very slow, more like laying mines then firing weapons
very slow 0.5 second delay after you orb before you can teleport again
difficult to resist against, but if your point stacks tons of cold resists, your damage drops to almost nothing
standard set up of melee characters uses raven frosts (cold absorb)
1-pt chilling armor can be precast with no skills and provides a decent defense boost
Fire sorceresses
fcr extremely important, 105% minimum
3.13 or 3.57 casts per second applies to both teleport and casting speed
can attack aggressively with machine-gun style attacks and get opponents in stun lock
instant teleport after firing
consistent damage rate, no problems with low minimum damage
easier to recover mana pool: switch to firebolt with almost no mana usage
higher warmth means faster mana regeneration then other classes
bolt/ball travels further than lightning
very rarely do opponents have any stacked resists
Lightning sorceresses
+lightning skills extremely important for this character, damage increases rapidly
2.08-2.50 casts per second
highest possible damage of any attack
faulty shotgun approach, damage may "misfire" or kill in one hit
huge area of attack, pierces anything and damage is not stopped by minions
larger "projectile" then fireball/firebolt
chain lightning, auto target your opponent by shooting their minion
animation causes slight slowdown of teleport
virtually no mana used for teleport
much easier to get a very high energy shield level
charged bolt/wave of damage that has to be avoided
1 pt thunderstorm can help in long duels
III. Skills / Stats / Equipment
Strength: Enough to wear all of your equipment. (96 or 77)
Dexterity: Enough for 75% blocking (201 @ 89, 222 @ 99)
Vitality: None
Energy: Every spare stat point.
The Orb ES Sorceress
Frozen Orb:
20 pts
Cold Mastery:
20 pts
Ice Bolt:
20 pts
Other Cold pre-reqs:
4 pts
Energy Shield:
0-1 pts
Telekinesis:
20 pts
Teleport:
1 pt only (if mana pool < 2500, increase this to level 24)
Other Lightning pre-reqs:
3 pts
Warmth:
1 pts (if mana pool > 2500, increase this only)
The primary goal of your equipment is meet several requirements for a PVP sorceress. Faster Hit Recovery of 42%/60%/86%, Teleport/Fire/cast rate of 37%/63%/105%, or a Lightning cast of 52%/78%/117% should always be kept in mind when using a particular set of gear. Outside of these requirements favor gear with max mana, +skills, +stats, and +resists whenever possible, in that order.
Charms for all character types are all the same. 9 skill+vita, 10 life/mana SCs, annihilus, torch.
Equipment
Helm: Nightwing's Veil (96 str req) with 5/5 jewel
(+2 skills, 8-15% cold damage, 10-20 dex)
Amulet: Rare/Crafted +2 Sorceress skills
(with possible mods of +stats, 10%/15%+ cast rate +resists, +replenish life, +life, -DR, -MDR, +mana)
Weapon: Death's Fathom with 5/5 jewel
(+3 skills, 20% cast rate, 15-30% cold skill damage, fire/light resists)
Armor: Upgraded Vipermagi (+1 skills, 30% cast, MDR 9-13, 20-35% all resists) with 5/5 jewel
The magic damage reduce on this armor simply can not be ignored, especially for dueling hammerdins and other low damage elemental/magic sources. A orb or memory staff with +chilling combined with upgraded armor will boost your defense to a real level.
Shield: Upgraded Visceratuant w/UM socket (77 str req)
(72% block, +1 skills, 30% faster block rate)
Gloves: Magefist (+1 fire skills, 20% fcr)
Rings: Sojs
(use one 10% fcr ring +life/mana/stats/resists if your amulet is not 15%+)
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh (+1 skills, 5% max mana, 20% cast rate)
Boots: Rare with stats/FHR/resists
Fireball / Firebolt ES Sorceress
Warmth:
1 pt
Firebolt:
20 pts
Fire Ball:
20 pts
Fire Mastery:
1-20 pts (max this last)
Other Fire pre-reqs:
4 pts
Telekinesis:
20 pts
Energy Shield:
0-5+ pts
Other Lightning pre-reqs:
3 pts
Equipment
Helm: Harlequin Crest (+2 skills 1-148 life based on clvl, 1-148 mana based on clvl, 10% DR)
Amulet #1: Mara's Amulet (+2 skills, +5 all stats, 20-30% all resists) (with mage fist)
(Boosts effectiveness of Call to Arms, good resistance stack)
Amulet #2: Crafted +2 Sorceress skills w/15%+ cast rate
(with other possible mods of +stats, +resists, +replenish life, +life, -DR, -MDR, +mana)
Weapon: Heart of the Oak
(+3 skills, 40% cast, 15% max mana, 30-40% res, 10 dex, 20 repl life)
Combine the mana boost of wizardspike with nearly the same resistances and cast rate with a few nice bonuses and slap a +3 skill bonus to the front of it, and you get the famous Hoto. No other caster weapon comes even close, considering your need for mana, dexterity, and resistances, and the effectiveness of replenish life for an e-shield sorc.
Armor: Vipermagi (+1 skills, 30% cast, MDR 9-13, 20-35% all resists)
Shield: Upgraded Visceratuant w/UM socket (77 str req)
(72% block, +1 skills, 30% faster block rate)
Gloves #1: Frostburn (40% mana boost)
Gloves #2: Magefist (+1 fire skills, 20% fcr) (use with Maras)
(The 25% mana regen is very minimal, since it adds to your warmth)
Rings: Sojs
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh (+1 skills, 5% max mana, 20% cast rate)
Boots: Rare with stats/FHR/resists
Lightning/Chain Lightning ES Sorceress
Warmth:
1 pts
Telekinesis:
20 pts
Lightning:
20 pts
Chain Lightning:
20 pts
Lightning Mastery:
20 pts
Energy Shield:
1 pt
Thunderstorm:
1 pt
Charged Bolt:
1-20 pts (max this last)
Other Lightning pre-reqs:
3 pts
Equipment
Helm #1: +3 Lightning Circlet w/20% fcr
Helm #2: Harlequin Crest
(+2 skills 1-148 life based on clvl, 1-148 mana based on clvl, 10% DR)
Amulet: Rare/Crafted +2 Skills or +3 Lightning w/10%+ cast rate
(with other possible mods of +stats, +resists, +replenish life, +life, -DR, -MDR, +mana)
Weapon: Heart of the Oak (+3 skills, 40% cast, 15% max mana, 30-40% res, 10 dex, 20 repl life
Armor: Vipermagi (+1 skills, 30% cast, MDR 9-13, 20-35% all resists)
Shield: Upgraded Visceratuant w/UM socket (77 str req)
(72% block, +1 skills, 30% faster block rate)
Gloves #1: Frostburn (40% mana boost)
Gloves #2: Magefist (+1 fire skills, 20% fcr) (use with shako)
(The 25% mana regen is very minimal, since it adds to your warmth)
Rings: Sojs
Belt: Arachnid's Mesh (+1 skills, 5% max mana, 20% cast rate)
Boots: Rare with stats/FHR/resists
Sockets:
Fire and Lightning Facet jewels are totally useless to any sorceress who uses fire/lighting mastery. Instead of boosting damage by 5%, they instead simply add to your mastery damage. For example, a Lightning sorceress with level 35 Lightning Mastery (458%) will get a 1% boost in damage from a 5% lightning facet. –Enemy resists are useful up to the point where an intelligent enemy stacks a bit of additional resistance. Cold facet jewels, on the other hand, are worth their weight in gold, as is any other +cold damage gear you may run across as they actually increase your spell damage by the percentage they state.
Other good socketable items for fire/lightning sorcs include Shael runes (20% FHR substitutes for 80 more life in charms), Sur runes (+5% mana or +50 mana in shields), and Um runes in shields (22% resist all). Dol runes (7 repl life) are very effective for long duels, and Mal runes (magic and elemental damage reduce by 7) or Sol runes (physical damage reduced by 7) are very effective with a high energy shield %.
IV: PvM
Not too much to say here, except that a few changes make these characters insane for killing non-immune monsters.
Mercenary: Act 2 Nightmare Defensive (holy freeze)
Helm: kiras guardian w/ed jewel
Armor: shaftstop boneweave w/ed jewel
Cold Weapon: Eth Insight
Fire or Lightning Weapon: Eth Infinity
Remember you want your mercenary to survive just about anything to provide you with an aura, their damage is not that important, but of course still useful.
Cold sorc setup: unchanged
Lightning sorc setup: Griffon Helm with –5 lightning facet jewel
Fire sorc setup: Phoenix runeword monarch shield
This of course takes quite a few +str items, but provides –28 fire resists and a wonderful redemption aura. With a living mercenary you should have no trouble with lack of block. For strength I typically swap on two 10% / +20 str rings, Tgods belt, and IK gloves.
V. Alternate Equipment
Block rate shield
Shael Visceratuant - +1 skills, 50% faster block rate (5 frame)
Very important for Amazons, Wind Druids, and any other class which does very fast physical attacks.
FHR Weapon: Spirit Sword +2 skills, 25%-35% fcr, 55% fhr, +life/mana)
Recommended to use with the sanctuary shield below to make up for lack of resists.
Weapon Swap #1: Memory staff with a +3 Energy Shield Staff. (+9 energy shield buffing)
Use to reach as close as possible to level 40 energy shield (95%), or just use this staff to save 4-5 skillpoints that you could better spend elsewhere. If you place no point in energy shield and simply use this staff every single time, you gain 4 extra skill points for use elsewhere.
1-3 levels of chilling armor are a great bonus, but any cold armor skill is useful.
Weapon Swap #2: Call to Arms with a +skills shield. (Battle Orders)
Resists Shield: Sanctuary Runeword Tower (75 str req)
(64% block, 20% FHR, +20 dex, 7 MDR, 50-70 all resists)
The best overall hybrid semi-block, semi-resists, faster hit recovery shield. Very similar block rate to the upgraded Visceratuant due to the +20 dex boost.
FCR Shield: Lidless Wall
(40% blocking, +1 skills, 10% max mana, 20% cast rate, +10 energy)
Because most team duels or public duels require blocking to resist the large number of physical attacks, this shield is definitely an alternate. Spirit is by far overrated. Unless you always use and rely upon the extra cast rate, the mana boost is actually similar to what you get from this shield on a ES sorceress, and this one is socketable for more resistances or cold damage.
Fire: Hotspur boots (+15 life, 45% fire resist, 15% max fire resists)
Cold: 2 Raven Frost rings (reduces damage to life by 80%)
Lightning: (2) 20% Wisp rings (reduces damage to life by 80%, same as a 4-LO monarch shield)
Poison: Death Hand loathes (50% poison resists, 75% Poison length Reduce)
VI. Why no DR/Stormshield/ Spirit/156 str
The answer to this question is incredibly simple. Energy shield by its very nature makes physical and magic attacks a joke. Unfortunately physical duelers are very common since they end up fighting more than just ES sorcs. Swapping an essential piece of your equipment such if your shield will constantly leave you vulnerable to duelers of another type. If you rely on Spirit to maintain your cast rate, you lose any benefit from blocking. Switching to Stormshield lowers your damage, changes your resistances, and slows your cast rate…etc…
The ideal character build should give you one complete standard equipment set up which is good against all classes. Relying on a one trick pony build or set up will be very good for dueling one particular opponent, but is much weaker when team dueling or when fighting multiple opponents. The difference between 156 str and 77 str are considerable (79) and help offset the start point usage into block. (See below)
VII. Block vs. non-block
Tied in to the discussion above is the question of why to use block. If you are constantly switching to low block rate shields such as many builds do, the effectiveness of using block is obviously greatly reduced, but if you use one shield at all times with a very good block rate such as an upgraded Visceruant (72%) or a Sanctuary Tower Shield (64% + 20 dex) then the requirements aren't too insane.
First look at your base dexterity: 25. With annihilus and a torch this is boosted to 65. With Hoto, 75. On US West the most common sorc amulet is Wraith Collar with +18 dex = 93 dex. At level 89, you will need 201 dex for 75% blocking, which is a 108 point skill investment, not too bad when you consider that you are gaining 75% resistance to physical damage as opposed to spending approximately 79 str points for Stormshield which gives a 35% resistance to physical damage. Block has quite a few other benefits:
- Block animation with an Shael Visceratuant is 5 frames, faster than the best possible hit recovery frame rate (142% / 6 frame) and easy to achieve without the loss of a lot of vita equipment.
- Block lock is now impossible, because very quick subsequent hits will actually not be blocked at all and should not stun you at all if your energy shield level is high enough (see FHR section)
- Damage such as open wounds and poison from physical attacks is blocked completely if the shield block registers.
- A great number of attacks which are not often considered are blocked, such as wind druid, a trap assassin’s shadow, assassin’s kicks/dragon flight, BVC damage (Open Wounds, Crushing Blow)
- The few hits that do get through work well with energy shield’s mechanics, since if the damage you take is reduced by 75%, it is much less likely to wear out your mana pool before it has time to regenerate.
VIII. Faster Hit Recovery
Faster Hit Recovery used to be one of the greatest secrets of the private, skilled dueling clans. Today with the many types of stunning damage used by the most common and strongest classes of characters, it is stressed almost to the point of being overstressed. In many cases against opponents such as Amazons, Wind druids, Whirlwind, or other physical attacks, a blocking character will benefit far more from a fast blocking (shaeled) shield.
Hit recovery animations occur when you are hit by naturally stunning attacks (barb leap, warcry, assassin mineblast + any sort of secondary damage). These attacks will always throw any character into hit recovery. The majority of hit recovery however is caused by stun, in the case when 1/12th of your life removed in one hit.
Energy Shield, as long as it is at high enough levels 80%-90% gives you a fantastic advantage over vita builds because it allows you to reduce your opponents every hit below that 1/12th level. You may go on the offensive as long as your mana pool remains high without fear of being trapped or slowed down, and can easily retreat when your mana pool becomes low.
The perfect energy shield level will vary per duel, by the total damage your opponent can do and your total life pool, as well as the speed of your opponent's attacks and how well they could possibly stun you. Cold skill sorceresses seem to gain almost no benefit from higher ES levels, first because of their absolute dependence on as much damage as possible, and second due to their different style and method of attacks. Fire and Lightning sorceresses seem to either require swapping an enormous amount of gear every time they join a game or must sacrifice quite a bit of damage in order to get a very high energy shield level.
Personally I would suggest always at minimum swapping out a +9 es memory stick with your CTA/shield for all classes of sorceress whenever you need it. Lightning sorcs gain plenty of +lightning skills, but most fire sorcs should sacrifice at least a few skill points in order to boost their energy shield up a bit. See the skill optimization spreadsheet on
www.pvpwest.com for the best possible layout of a reduced number of skills.
For naturally stunning attacks:
8 frame (60%): shael helm & armor + 20% boots. Unless you cannot break namelock or avoid the traps of a very good assassin you should rarely go above this.
7 frame (86%): add a sanctuary tower + 12% skill charm or (2) 5% fhr/17 mana charms
6 frame (142%): 24% fhr socketed gothic armor w/4 shaels + shael helm + 20% boots. 105+% fcr is still easy to get with either a fcr circlet or a lidless.
IX. Cold Sorc Dueling Strategies
The strategy behind dueling with an Orb Sorceress is a difficult one to master. For those who master it however, it still remains one of the most flexible and powerful dueling classes there are. Experienced Dii players who have mastered other dueling classes, including other types of sorceresses need to completely forget all they have learned in order to do well at playing a Orb Sorceress, and this guide will attempt to cover a few of the basics behind dueling with this class. Unlike most other dueling strategies, typically stacked on at the end of a PVP guide with a paragraph or two concerning how to duel typical opponents, this guide will be written "backwards". It will cover all the basic dueling tactics, which more or less apply to, just about any class duel, and then get into a few general guidelines for specific characters.
Let’s start out with a few basic guidelines. If you wanted to summarize this entire guide in a single sentence, it would be this: Always duel completely offensively, but be extremely defensive at all times. You want to remain on the offensive at all times, backing your opponent up and forcing them to do what you want them to do, instead of letting them take the initiative. Your attack spell, Frozen Orb, with it’s wide area of damage and decently long duration is perfectly suited to act as a deterrent, forcing people to retreat from it. At the same time you can take advantage of its auto-aiming tendencies to ignore your aim almost completely and concentrate solely on any incoming source of damage and your teleportation pattern.
Basic Requirements:
A good, consistent Internet connection with very low lag.
A decently equipped PVP Sorceress with a good sized mana pool, 105%+ cast rate, and decently high orb damage.
Good reactions, the ability to randomize your teleport patterns, and dodge anything and everything that comes your way.
Frozen Orb is your primary attack spell. In just about in all cases it will be your only attack spell, so let’s leave it at that. Even though the cookie cutter Orb Sorceress has been a staple build in one form or another since Diablo II patch 1.0, it’s surprising how few people really know how the spell actually works.
To start with, Frozen Orb shots a "orb" that does nothing by itself but scatter small ice shards or ice bolts in a rough circular pattern until at a certain distance the orb will "explode" scattering 16 shards outwards from a single point. The explosion is often called the "apex" of the orb, and is the point where frozen orb will do the most damage. Orb shards are stopped and absorbed as damage by any hostile opponent it hits, but the "Orb" itself will actually travel through any opponents and keep firing off ice shards before and after it passes through or near a hostile monster or opponent. For this reason you can still hit with a shard or two an opponent standing off to one side or even behind you, but if the orb passes over a hostile target or if at best the orb "explodes" on a hostile target, it will do far more damage.
Orb "explosions" are shot outwards in all directions, as seen here:
Orb Blast #1
Orb Blast #2
Orb Blast #3
If your aim is absolutely flawless, all 16 shards will hit your target. (aim at where your opponent’s feet will be) If slightly off to one side or another, only half the number of shards or so will hit. The exact distance you need to stand away from your opponent varies slightly depending on their angle, as seen here:
Orb Blast Down
Orb Blast Left
Orb Blast Right
Frozen Orb like all other timered spells in 1.10 has a ½ period post-casting delay. Unlike previous patches where you could immediately switch and start casting an untimered spell directly after a timered one, the timer delay now prevents that from occurring. What this means in real terms is that since the casting delay of Frozen Orb is 1 second, for exactly ½ a second afterwards, you will be unable to cast any spell, even teleport to dodge incoming attacks.
What you MUST do immediately after firing off a frozen orb is to run for a short distance before teleporting away. The alternative is to sit there like a frozen duck and let anything hit there while you stand around helpless, waiting for the teleport skill to start working again. If this is done properly then most of the difficult duels for an orb sorceress disappear. You can teleport into a field of traps, fire off an orb, walk parallel to the traps to cause them to miss, and teleport off without a single shot hitting you. You can also use this to dodge most melee tactics (walk, don’t run to dodge chargers and guided arrow, however you may frequently do better to run to dodge whirlwinds and other melee attacks by running)
Orbing Strategies
The basic orbing strategy is very simple, and all variations lead off of this one. Teleport to your target to the optimum orb distance, and throw a frozen orb at them, hopefully bursting directly on top of them. If they are charging you, back up a bit further and let them charge into the apex. If they are running from you, teleport closer to them and let them run into the orb apex. If you are expecting them to dodge to one side or the other, shoot a leading orb off in one direction or the other, forcing them either to reverse direction quickly or take a lot of damage. Never get too close because the spell animation causes slight slowdown of teleport. If hit, continue to teleport constantly while your mana pool regenerates, taking full advantage of the 1-mana cost per cast teleport.
Many variations of this strategy exist. If you are fighting a ranged character that is firing back at you directly (fire sorcs, other orb sorcs, bowazons for example) then you typically want to chase them, firing an orb first on one side of them and then the other. This "scissoring" pattern you can tighten up around them, forcing them basically to run directly away from you and limiting their chances to fire back.
Another strategy, very effective vs. other teleporting casters is the "V" defensive orb method. Similar to scissoring, which is the offensive form of the maneuver, is to fire an orb initially towards the left, teleport back then teleport forwards to the right and fire forwards again to the right. The defensive move of retreating will tend to bring your opponent closer to you and as long as you keep the "field" up, your opponent will be forced to charge either nearby or through a frozen orb to get to you.
For those very offensive characters who charge, teleport, or jump on you directly, such as assassins, barbarians, wind druids, etc, most of the listed strategies above do not work. Several methods exist to counter them, the simplest being your teleport speed. If you teleport quickly close to them taunting them to attack you and then instead of orbing, you teleport a second time and shoot behind you, you’ll often catch them directly where you were a second ago. Another strategy is a bit more dangerous, and could be called "teleporting along your orb". From a moderate distance, shoot a frozen orb towards your opponent, and teleport quickly but short distances into the range of where the orb is currently shattering ice shards. Your opponent will typically attempt to teleport on top of you, landing in an orb shard blast and if you are quick enough, have decent enough block, or lucky enough, can get away before taking too much damage.
At all times keep in mind that frozen orb is a very slow spell. You are not as much hurling a fast moving bolt of damage at your opponent as laying a mine for them to either trip over or walk into.
Due to Frozen Orb’s ½ second teleport delay, you never want to teleport too close to an dangerous opponent before firing off an orb. Always place your orb between yourself and your opponent when possible for the orb to act as a deterrent, and always err on the side of teleporting too far away rather then getting too close. The majority of Orb sorceresses always will err on this one. Most battles will generally consist of teleporting moderately close and then backing off a bit in a random direction to fire an orb off, run/walk a short distance and continue teleporting.
Teleport Strategies
This may seem obvious, but think before you teleport. Plan a direction, pattern, and landing point before you actually do it. Unlike the instant reaction based combat of most other characters, you typically need to think before you act, and your opponents actions should only modify the actions you plan to take, not determine it.
Enough has been said over the years about the element of randomness. It’s obvious that if you teleport in the exact same positions over and over again, your opponent will know where to expect you. What can’t be stressed enough is your "landing position" or where you will end up when you fire off an orb. If you teleport like mad but only fire an orb off when you are to either the left or to the right of your target, guess where you will be expected? Practice teleporting to random positions, top, left, bottom right, occasionally alternating from stopping at opposite sides to "orb" your opponent, other times landing near the same place.
Also make sure you practice your aim as well. A good method is to pick a stationary target, for example a rock, and teleport around, land at random positions and fire orbs off at it as if it was an opponent and see how often the "apex" of the orb hits the rock. As mentioned above, always avoid teleporting too close before firing off an orb, and if the orb "apex" goes through and explodes past the rock, try to avoid doing that again.
A good rule of thumb is to always teleport at least 3 times between every orb shot, and vary the number of teleportation casts you do before you "land and fire". It’s one thing to teleport in random directions, and it’s another thing to shoot orbs off and random angles, and it’s yet another to randomize the timing of your orbs. Of course there are many times when you want to orb very offensively towards a retreating opponent.
Basic patterns include circling your opponent, often switching back and circling the other direction. Another ploy that works well if not overly repeated is the "hook", to teleport and swing around one side of your opponent, teleport instantly to the opposite side and orb backwards. Make sure for autoaimers and namelockers that you frequently teleport away and out of visible automap range of your opponent, especially when dueling FOH paladins. Keep in mind that diagonals let you teleport faster then in straight lines, and to vary your range from time to time. Run a number of "fake passes" where you do nothing but teleport by your opponent without actually orbing,
Remember your skill as a dueler improves by how long you can successfully survive against a skilled opponent who is trying to kill you. You do not improve your own skills if you can slaughter your opponents easily. Often your best friend would be an opponent who stacks on a ton of absorb (2 raven frosts, snowclash, 4-Psapphire shield) and becomes invulnerable to your damage. Feel free to see how long you can survive against a dueler of that type instead of worrying about who is winning. And beyond everything else, don’t ever worry about goldstealing. I’d typically drop all the gold I have right before dueling just to prevent the tendency of certain public duelers to naked-kill you.
Name lockers or Auto-Aimers are your best friends. If you meet a typical auto-aiming or name locking opponent, you will either lag slighly and die almost instantly, or have a chance to hone your skills on a perfectly consistent, perfectly predictable opponent. Always run parallel to the AA’er, always orb directly at them, and teleport less often, orb more often. AA’ing Druids, Blessed Hammers, Barbarians are typically a bit more dangerous then ranged-attack AA’ers, but then you can always know exactly what they are going to do. Expect them to teleport directly on top of you at the first opportunity when you happen to get close enough. Teleport off their automap, teleport back on, orb once or twice, and repeat.
X. Lightning Sorc Dueling Strategies
Lightning sorceresses are the most uncommon build yet one of the most promising and underutilized PvP characters out there, capable of wiping out many types of opponents which other fire and cold sorceresses have considerable trouble with. The poor design of most of these characters contributed badly towards their reputation. Because of their more sluggish casting rate and movement, lightning sorcs do far better as ES/block then as conventional vita characters despite the lower spell damage. Their main attack spell should be thought of as a faulty shotgun, capable of piercing through clouds of minions and destroying opponents in one hit but just as often doing no damage whatsoever even when perfectly aimed. Since their utility spells of teleport and energy shield are in the same tree, it is highly recommended to obtain a +3 circlet and a +3 amulet for this character.
Lightning should be thought of sometimes as a spamming skill and other times as a one-shot skill. Your primary tactic for just about every duel should be to approach your opponent quickly, fire off one lightning bolt as quickly and as well aimed as possible, and then retreat. If an advantage chose itself, such as a druid recasting cyclone, a long whirlwind, opponent out of mana or recasting traps or summons, a paladin using meditation, or just a random time when you think your opponent is used to your current tactics, you can switch to aggressively spamming a constant stream of lightning which more often than not will take out your opponent faster than they can respond. The cast animation of lightning is fairly long, 10-12 frame, so unless you catch them by surprise, don't expect a very offensive strategy to work since most of your opponent’s attacks are faster than yours.
Opponents with minions are especially nice and easy, try whenever possible to get the minion between you and your opponent and target it with a constant stream of chain lightning, which in turn will bounce off and auto aim onto them directly.
Neither lightning nor chain lightning will act like a deterrent to a very offensive opponent. In some of these cases try using charged bolt while retreating to make walls of damage which must be dodged or teleported over.
Unlike fire sorcs, avoid the temptation to namelock your opponent. Counter those who do this to you by frequently teleporting diagonally until their name disappears off the automap and then quickly returning, breaking whatever lock they have.
If you primarily stay on the defensive at all times, resisting the temptation to try to offensively control the duel, you will always do better. Take advantage of any hits you do get in and follow them up quickly whenever possible. Again if you don't trust in your own unpredictable damage then you will never be unpleasantly surprised.
The standard strategies apply, always keep that a hammerdin and a necromancer on your screen to prevent invisible hits, offensively charge amazons to prevent their greater range from eating away at you, never teleport to close to any opponent under any circumstance.
XI. Fire Sorc Dueling Strategies
Again as before pre-read the above two sections for general tips. Firebolt and fireball unlike lightning or orb are aggressive, machine-gun style attacks that can quickly get opponents in stun lock with their highly consistent damage. Since the 3.13 or 3.57 casts per second applies to both teleport and to fire’s casting speed a fire sorceress is easily the fastest and most flexible character you can duel with. Compared to the other builds it will feel faster and more responsive in both how quickly you can cast and how quickly you can teleport away. Still it is best to remain defensive at all times, taking rare opportunities to go on the offensive end/or namelock your opponent whenever possible.
A fast constant stream of fire, as long as it actually hits your target, will effectively keep just about all opponents in stunlock until they die. Again a high energy shield is vital here because opponents who were normally used to locking you into recovery animation will be unable to do so for a few seconds, letting your extremely high damage per second attack overwhelmed them instead.
In reverse of the situation with a lightning sorc, opponents with minions will be your most difficult duels. Never aggressively attack any opponent with minions unless those minions are either on the opposite side of them or already weeded down using fireball’s small one-yard splash damage. And of course never use firebolt on any opponent using one or more minions.
Keep fireball on both right and left click, and don’t forget to set a hotkey for both Firebolt and Meteor when dueling. Firebolt does nearly as much damage as Fireball, and is always the best spell to use when your mana pool drops to below half due to its extremely small mana usage. Meteor can be used not so much as an offensive spell but as a tactical deferent, similar to Hydra, which forces your opponent(s) to avoid certain areas of the screen and can hide or mask the visibility of fireballs/bolts going past.
Keep firing at all times, especially using meteor’s burning damage to mask your firebolt/fireball’s path when facing a defensive opponent. Hemmerdins creating hammer fields can be disrupted quite well with a few well-placed, extreme range meteors. When any opponent namelock teleports, they will be directly above you so tend to fire upwards, leading your opponent down the screen whenever possible.
Fire is very rarely stacked against, so if you are dueling opponents you suspect are using vex shields/melee characters with enigma and low resists, often fire faceted equipment will prove extremely effective. If you do this, go all out but try to maintain 105% fcr and keep it hidden, such in using a 4-socket dusk shroud and 3-socket tower shield, which will more than triple your damage if your opponent does not stack and will negate minimally stacked max-damage gear.
XII. FAQ
Cold Resist stacking by your opponents reduces cold spell damage by a factor of 8X (or 87.5%). (-100 resists to 75% resists, or 200% damage taken to 25% damage taken).
A raven frost reduces all cold damage by 40%, a second raven frost reduces it by 80%.
Snowclash or other +max cold resist gear is either totally worthless if used by itself, or overkill when combined with enough +Cold resist stacking.
Two perfect wisp rings produces lightning damage by exactly 80%, which is the same reduction in damage that a 4-LO shield will do, except wisp ring absorb is not affected by -lightning damage such as conviction, griffions, or facets.
Damage to Mana equipment is nearly worthless for most PVP ES Sorceresses, as it only applies to physical damage that actually gets past your energy shield.
For those with a mana pool > 1800, increase warmth. For 1500 or less, first get +teleport up to level 24 (1 mana cost per teleport with lidless, as you don’t need mana as much with a blocking shield). If you teleport a lot at a high cast rate, the benefits of adding to +teleport further increase.
Telekinesis should ALWAYS be maxed. With 0 pts of telekinesis, every 1 damage diverted to mana reduces your mana pool by 2. With 20 actual real skillpoints into telekinesis, every 1 damage diverted to mana reduces your mana pool by 0.75.
Energy Shield can be "pre-buffed" in town with a lot of +skill/+lighting skill and +energy shield items.
Energy Shield is typically 4X more effective against physical or pure magic damage then vs elemental damage. Your character therefore should be built to counter your most difficult duels. (large mana pool/mana regen helps more then stacking damage reduce equipment and MDR/PDR)
Call To Arms also can be "pre-buffed" with specifically +skill gear as opposed to +sorc skill gear. A good example would be use a maras/shako instead of a +2 sorc/circlet when casting battle orders.
A good life/mana ratio is 1:2.5. For physical duels you can easily take that nearly down to 1:2, and swapping on magefist + a blocking shield reflect this. For elemental/magic duels a good 1:3 is just about perfect. (Frostburn + Lidless)
Zharous’s Guide to the PVP Energy Shield Sorceress
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