I created a build that allows you to clear all the content with melee. Also it’s perfectly balanced (minus res is tough to overcome). You can get all the pieces relatively cheap if you are aiming for not perfect ones (less than 10 Ber), no Enigma required.
Lightning/Fire:
176k DPS, max block, max res, 43% dmg reduced, max ias breakpoint
Pure fire (select from dropdown on the site) “immortal” variant:
110-135k DPS (swap charms for more defense / offense - up to taste ) + 95% energy shield + 70/70 DR/MDR + max res + max ias + max block
It’s certainly something different and a dual-element build using two Sunder Charms. Granted the build is heavily reliant on Charms to make up the resistance difference, has nothing in reserve to deal with Lower Resist/Conviction, gets wrecked hard by Slow Effects(Decrepify drops DPS by a good 30%), and is heavily reliant on Mercenary for his Infinity(to reduce Resistance/Defense Rating).
Compare that to Blizz Sorc with Cold Sunder. Doesn’t need Mercenary to crap on everything around her. Ditto Hammerdin and FoHdin, although latter needs Mercenary for Animal/Beast.
-75 Resistance is pitifully nothing when players can mitigate Cold and Poisosn via Thawing/Antidote potions. +50 Resistance for 30 seconds per potion consumed. Considering how cheap they are, that’s an inexpensive and no-gear required counter to those charms while Fire has Flickering Flame runeword(Nef + Pul + Vex) that grants level 4-8 Resist Fire aura(which grants 85-106 Fire Resistance and +4-8 to Max Fire Resistance cap). That’s on top of +3 Fire Skills/-10-15 Enemy Fire Resistance. Only one that really does cause some pause is the Lightning Sunder Charm but even that can be mitigated with Resistance gear.
TLDR: These charms literally have no downside with all the upside they provide by making -Resistance gear(including Conviction) 100% effective. People complaining see it as making the game 1-Skill goes BRRRR easy.
She does ok against decrep. You can teleport between packs of monsters and she one shots most mobs anyway (Diablo goes down in one-two shots also, Baal just in a few). She also has 43% damage reduction + Energy Shield to offset that . I tested that build without sunder charms and the only issue were fire lightning immunes (when both on the same mob ). With sunder - no issues and still max res, she is unstoppable
You can also make a nearly immortal variant if you sacrifice some damage and max out ES and stack MDR/DR to at least 80/80. If you have issues with life/mana swap Stormshield for Phoenix (extra negative fire res, Redemption aura)
I saw some Zeal sorc on YT made by dbrunski125, but I disagree with his build, he made her to squishy and slow IMO
I dont really get the point of going melee with a dual dream setup. If you set it up correctly, one should be able to walk around just let the aura and TS kill everything around you.
IMO, your time is better spent on casting StaticField rather than zealing.
Here’s me on CS. Just missing the new charm and then should be just a walk in the park.
There are many ways to do this, I like the max block variant the most.
You don’t need static that much (maybe at P5 and above it can help a little, but it’s still a “nice to have” thing and not a “must have” imo), everything just dies quickly anyway.
I added another variant to that build “Pure Fire” (select from dropdown) - she has “only” 125k DPS, but she has also maxed out Energy Shield with 95% dmg absorbed (swap to “Memory” staff, use Lightning Skillers cast max “Energy Shield”, then go back to fire skillers for DPS) and stacked >70 Damage Reduction / >70 Magic Damage reduction. She is almost unkillable and still has 125k DPS zeal (wasn’t viable without Sunder). Resistanced do not matter that much on this variant, but still she is maxed out. The general idea is - energy shield absorbs most of the damage then whatever 5% comes through gets reduced by up to flat -140 DMG, so she receives no damage with most hits. If you feel she is too squishy, swap out DPS charms for Life/Mana charms - up to taste.
Something like this, but melee instead of Nova:
If you really want to kill with just aura, then in the same mine build swap Stormshield for Dream in a Tower Shield to stack Lightning Aura higher - done. She will also reach more than 250k DPS then
She has 10k attack rating and 95% chance to hit already (on both variants), she has near 95% to hit Baal. I am using Act 2 Blessed Aim merc also, because Might makes no difference - she is pure elemental dmg. So that is no issue also. Angelics not needed.
I am using death partial set because of 30 IAS (more than with most other set pieces) and cannot be frozen + res at the same time, so that one is staple/irreplaceable here (reaaaly good underrated partial set). She needs this 30IAS to reach max breakpoint.
Thanks to that I have a free ring slot (because I don’t have to use Raven Frost or to slap Cham somewhere), so she can use 2x Dwarf Star for MDR / fire absorb (can swap one to Wisp Projector if needed) or 2x SOJ for DPS (more +skill = more DPS).
On fire build if you want more DPS you can switch Damage reduction Diadem for a Flickering Flame - this more than offsets Sunder charm, so you can remove some fire res gear (more DPS - around 135K, slightly less damage reduction).
She then will have 156% fire res and 30% fire absorb with fire Sunder charm equipped. xD
If you want more FCR swap COH for Fortitude - this build is really flexible.
You can have the same character, just swap few gear pieces and you can switch between “immortal”/dps variants.
How is it not a downside to use a gear slot for something you wouldn’t normally use it for unless you planned on using that for your build? Buying potions constantly also doesn’t sound very fun. Besides that, thinking the game should stay archaic is just holding onto a past emotion and rose tinted look at this game. I played this game for the first time in early 2000’s, so I was around for when it was first introduced. I didn’t play on release because I was 14 at the time, so I didn’t really have access to it at the time, nor the knowledge. The game NEEDS to have improvements, it’s got a lot of stuff that is unnecessarily complicated or cumbersome. Like the inventory situation. It’s improved but still not solved.
The percentage DR maxes out at 50, but there is also a flat damage reduction that is not capped. There are two types - % and flat. For example Gladiator’s Bane has DR by flat 20, Ber in a helmet has 8% reduction
Here the flat reduction is used because for example if you are hit for 1000 damage, Energy Shield absorbs 950 (you lose ~712 mana), then you lose 50 HP from your health pool. If you would use 50% damage reduction you would only take 25HP damage from that initial 1000. With flat 70 damage reduction you take 50 - 70 = 0 damage (you can’t heal from that).
With 70/70 DR/MDR you would have to take 2801 physical damage at once to get 1 HP damage.
If you then stack mana high enough (for example you have >3k mana) and mana regen then you most likely will regen mana faster than you take damage in PvM as mana regenerates faster than HP. But even with 1500-1700 mana this build is ok
You seem to be very knowledgeable about the the ES mechanics,
Sorry but a little off topic questions:
Is there a difference between an elemental damage vs physical damage (in terms of formula) on an ES Sorc?
From reading / YouTube, it seems you can almost neglect Fire, Cold, Light resistances when using ES. Reason I’m asking is I’m thinking of simply over capping my Posion resistances and use Sandstorm Trek, and leaving the others alone. What do you think?
edit:
question can go for everyone who might know the answers. TIA
ES does not take into account your resistances . They are only used when you take Life damage. You take ES damage as if you had zero resistances, so those can be dangerous
Poison goes directly to the Health pool so with stacked DR/MDR can be pretty much ignored
Hence explains why i died many times jumping-Nova on those Venom Lords (right seal) at Choas Sanctuary. This is on players 8 btw, so i stopped doing it
Now make sure I’m slightly behind Emilio when I pop that seal and spam them Novas
The only way to deal with that is to have much more mana or just equip The Rising Sun / Dwarf Star when you are in Chaos. Venom Lords would do no damage to you (or much less damage)
Yeah this specific pack of Venom Lords is the worst threat to ES This is why I like the Stormshield / more life variant a bit more, it’s more chill / afk, but ES immortal sorc is also really interesting
Sorc… indeed a good joke.
Do you not see the irony in that your 1 point zeal skill (melee) is 296-333… but once you sorc it up with lightening and fire, you have 33,951–80,288!
My dual dream guy (lvl 93, pretty decent build, max’d synergies) lvl13 zeal deals 3743–9572… with a Grief… good grief.
Your Holy Shock from 1 item (lvl15) deals 11–1163.
My Holy Shock, from 2 items (lvl30), fully synergized (40 hard points) deals 1–945.
Your lightening damage alone with is 43–41,399…
My fully syenegized Dual Dream Pally lighting damage is 4–5745.
Congratulations on providing an example of just how OP even a crappy Sorc build is, even when using other classes skills at 1/10th-1/2 skill levels.
) + 95% energy shield + 70/70 DR/MDR + max res + max ias + max block
). With sunder - no issues and still max res, she is unstoppable
