DIABLO 2 v1.2 by Samdelazie. Email : samminh@hotmail.com ================ Revision History ================ SEP 09 2000 Version 1.2 - Updated 'Question and Answer' - Updated 'Wish List' SEP 02 2000 Version 1.1 - Added a new column - 'Question and Answer' - Added a new column - 'Wish List' AUG 28 2000 Version 1.0 - I finished writing 90% of this FAQ about a month ago. It is not until now that I decided to launch it. Just finished Threads of Fate and Icewind Dale. I will now have more time to concentrate on DiabloII. By the way, if you're wondering, this FAQ was accurate for v1.02 patch. I will try to insert the v1.03 patch changes in the next update. ================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= Disclaimer Objective For the Sorceress Only General Instructions * please read General Tips/Strategies Walkthrough : ACT I - Rogue Encampment - Blood Moor - Cold Plains \waypoint/ - Burial Grounds - Stony Field \waypoint/ - Underground Passage - Dark Wood \waypoint/ - Tristram - Black Marsh \waypoint/ - Forgotten Tower - Tamoe Highland - Monastery Gate - Outer Cloister \waypoint/ - The Barracks - Jail \waypoint/ - Inner Cloister \waypoint/ - The Cathedral - The Catacombs \waypoint/ ACT II - Lut Gholein - Sewer \waypoint/ - Rocky Waste - Dry Hills \waypoint/ - Halls of the Dead \waypoint/ - Far Oasis \waypoint/ - Maggot Lair - The Lost City \waypoint/ - Valley of Snakes - Claw Viper Temple - Harem - Palace Cellar \waypoint/ - Arcane Sanctuary \waypoint/ - Canyon of the Magi \waypoint/ - Tal Rasha's Tomb ACT III - Kurast Dock - Spider Forest \waypoint/ - Spider Cavern - Great Marsh \waypoint/ - Flayer Jungle \waypoint/ - Flayer Dungeon - Lower Kurast \waypoint/ - Kurast Bazaar \waypoint/ - Sewers - Ruined Temple - Upper Kurast \waypoint/ - Kurast Causeway - Travincal \waypoint/ - Durance of Hate \waypoint/ ACT IV - Pandemonium Fortress - Outer Steppes - Plains of Despair - City of the Damned \waypoint/ - River of Flame \waypoint/ - Chaos Sanctuary Bonus Stage! - Moo-Moo Farm Boss Strategies - Blood Raven - The Countess - The Smith - Andariel - Radament - Fangskin - The Summoner - Duriel - High Councils - Mephisto - Izual - Hephasto the Armorer - Diablo Sorceress Skills - Cold Spells - Lightning Spells - Fire Spells Something You Should Know Wish List Question and Answer Credits ========== Disclaimer ========== Copyright Samdelazie 2000 This FAQ cannot be reproduced and can only be used in its original form. Do not use it to gain profits of any sort because it was not meant to be used like that. This FAQ is by gamer for gamers. It is also my way of expressing appreciation towards the game and I will not tolerate any misuse of this guide. Permission for any commercial use will definitely be denied but other reasons may be considered. You may get my permission by sending an e-mail to -samminh@hotmail.com- and receive a reply, stating permission is granted. P.S. Despite the copyright warning, I wonder why my works still get ripped off. They would, of course, shamelessly deny it. Anyway, it has proven one thing though - that the tips and strategies are truly great :) ========= Objective ========= This FAQ is intended to help out those who have problems/questions regarding the sorceress in DiabloII. I may not be the best person to ask, but I will try to help out with what my limited knowledge and wisdom can provide, so that it can be combined with the others to make out a perfect strategy guide. This FAQ is not written to satisfy all needs. it is aimed the help the beginners especially. They are the ones who needed an FAQ or walkthrough to get them started. If my FAQ was able to help ONE new gamer to like the game as much as I do, I already consider myself being very successful. ====================== For the Sorceress Only ====================== This FAQ is dedicated to the sorceresses in DiabloII. So, if you are playing other than the sorceress, go somewhere else! Some tips and strategies may not work for other character classes anyway. Also this is an in-depth FAQ, so don't expect to see some kind of literature craps here. If you are looking for other informations like the list of items/rares/uniques/HCRecipes or strategies for other classes, you won't find it here. ==================== General Instructions ==================== This FAQ is best viewed in Microsoft Wordpad with Courier New(Western) fonts size 10. If you notice some crappy spacing, change the fonts. Read the tutorial in other websites such as DiabloII.net. They have done a great job with it. My knowledge was solely based on what is written and this FAQ will not repeat what's already in there. So, I would assume that you have read it and possess some basic knowledge about EVERYTHING. I did this FAQ all by myself, no copying from any other source without giving relevant credits. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this but if you really going to rip off my work, make sure you do a nice job. Don't let me, or anyone notice the similarities. If I get emails like 'hey, did you copy from %#$@$'s FAQ?' or anything that indicates I'm the copycat. Well, who knows what I'm gonna do. I'd be too furious to know! (Of course, you can always try the good ol' way : ask permission) I think I should mention this. This WHOLE FAQ is based on my gaming experience and observations. Basically, it's all MY OPINION. Nothing official from Blizzard. So, read at your own risk and don't send me e-mails saying that I lied or something. This FAQ can only be found in www.gamefaqs.com. If you have read this FAQ elsewhere, please e-mail me about this as soon as possible. All information is much appreciated. My final instruction is that this FAQ IS and WILL NOT be a COMPLETE guide to the game. The way to use this FAQ/Walkthrough or whatever you call it, is to complement it with other wonderful FAQs on the internet, which will cover all other subjects in much greater depth. ======================= General Tips/Strategies ======================= 1) Check out the wares in the blacksmith on each Act. Take note of the Strength requirements, so that you will know how many points to put into Strength. 2) Do NOT miss out on chests, barrels, urns etc. These are the most common places to find rares. Characters now kick to destroy urns/barrels. So don't worry about losing weapon's durability. 3) You can guess some of the monsters resistances by checking their names. You don't think monsters with names like 'Burning Dead' will be scared of fire, do you? 4) Try to keep the rejuvenation potions. Although it only recovers a relatively small portions of life and mana, the healing is instant and is based on percentage. Besides, you don't get much for selling it anyway. 5) For the sorceress, it's advisable to run always. Learn to dodge attacks in this mode too, whether it's missiles or melee. When you're low in stamina, pause for a while and then press 'R' to walk. If you're forced to walk when there's monsters nearby, either take a stamina potion, or you can try this. When you see the monster is going to make a strike, press 'Ctrl' to make a boost. I would expect you to have a little bit stamina left to make a boost. This way, the monster will still continue his attack BUT miss. By then, you're already at a distance and can continue walking. Remember, one of the sorceress' main strength lies in her mobility. 6) You may ask, running makes the sorceress have almost zero defense against attacks. I would say : the best way to dodge missile attacks is to run away from it. As for melee, yeah, you are vulnerable to melee attacks when running. But, not if you cast -Frost Nova- or -Glacial Spike- beforehand, or have some speed boots. You WILL manage to escape before they hit you. Frankly, I've been doing this all the time, and I've been receiving far less hits this way. Moreover, I don't seem to entrust the life of the sorceress to her defense anymore; especially after suffering from that '8% a level ? will hit you' incident. More about this later. 7) If you find it hard to decide on how to put in skill points, you can always try buying staves from merchants. Choose the staff with the skills that you want, and then try it out to see how you like it. Don't worry, the sorceress is probably the richest character in the game. In fact, she's so rich, I don't know how to spend the money. I rarely use the money to repair her equipments because the sorceress seldom get hits. So I spend it all on buying staves and gambling. 8) If you think you can fight the monsters without much of a struggle, reserve the skill points. Learn to live with the annoying presence of the skill tab. Quit complaining about it because it's already something that cannot be changed. 9) An observation about cold : It seems that having resistances against cold will not only reduces the damage taken, but it will also shorten the duration time as well. This applies to both normal cold and freezing attacks. Furthermore, it will even affects the slowness one would get when hit with cold attacks. If a monster with high cold resistance is hit with cold attack, it will receive less cold damage, shortened chilling/freezing length and less penalty in terms of speed. I think the same applies to human players too. 10) A note about items of Regeneration. If you don't have an item that replenishes life, your life will NOT be healed by time AT ALL. It acts much like the Paladin's -Prayer- aura, but without the mana consumption. In fact, I have the Amulet and the Armor that gives me like 'replenish life +6' in total. Now, I can always enter a battle with my life at full. 11) Almost everything that's 'fast' will benefit the sorceress. I'm talking about equipments like 'fastest hit recovery', 'fastest walk/run' and 'fastest cast rate'. So give priority to these attributes when you have to make a choice between two equally good items. 12) I've read about chances of getting unique/rare items from Jarulf's Diablo Guide. If I remember correctly, it says something like : "Chances of finding rares/uniques will be increased if you clear up the whole level and killed all monsters" And this is what I think : When a game is generated, the locations of rare/unique items is set on the map at the same time. The rare/unique for the map may be in one of the chest or on one of the monsters itself. So, if you open that loaded chest or kill that particular monster, you will get the rare/unique items for the level. Which leads back to what I've read. If you clear up the whole level, open all the chests and kill all the monsters, it will almost ensures that you wlll get the rare/unique item for that level. But it will only work if: a) It implies to DiabloII as well as its predecessor. b) rare/unique items are NOT generated in real time in DiabloII. c) the levels have rare/unique items. If the level does not have it, you won't find it no matter what. This tip is definitely not confirmed, but I see no serious harm for applying it either. So, the next time you want to move on to another level, make sure you search the current level thoroughly. You may miss out some good stuffs. 13) " It's always good to go back and check places you've already visited. You might find rare items and stuff you missed earlier. " - Threads of Fate It's a norm for me to play a few games at the same time, and I'm playing both DiabloII and Threads of Fate(Playstation) right now. I come across this quote when playing Threads of Fate and I can't help to notice that this principle seems to apply to DiabloII as well. Although this tip can never be verified (by me at least), but I think it's worth sharing it to the DiabloII gamers. You can try this. When you have reached ACT IV, go back to Lower Kurast in ACT III. For some reasons, you will find a lot of rares this time round. I'm not sure if there are other contributing factors, but it's working. Another method you can try is when you have finished the game once. Let's say you have just finished Normal and started Nightmare. Play a few rounds in ACT I Nightmare and then go back to ACT IV Normal. It seems like you'll be playing a brand new map, so it's not surprising if you find rares. Then switch back to ACT I Nightmare and then back to ACT IV Normal again. Repeat until you're sick of it. 14) When choosing a battleground, look for features like : a) an exit b) refilling shrine/well nearby c) wide and spacious d) platforms with different heights e) obstacles that block melee attackers from charging towards. 15) A note about mapping skills to left mouse click. There will be times when you want to cast spells on the left button, but ended up charging to enemies instead. To avoid this from happening, press 'Shift' + left button. 16) You gotta love shrines - wells, mana shrine, mana recovery shrine. If you happen to find one, try this. Lure a bunch of enemies near the shrine. Then cast as many spells as you can. When you're empty, go hit the shrine and start killing again. The best spell to do this is of course -Frozen Orb-! ============= WALKTHROUGH ============= I've included some information on the most common monsters in each area. It seems that the amount of experience changes as you level up. It depends on your character level. I don't know the exact formula for it, so I would suggest that you visit other websites for more information. Anyway, I still make notes of the experience gained, so that you can figure out the best place to level up. Try to look at it as percentages and you'll get the rough idea. Bear in mind that some monsters in some areas DO NOT give you experience when defeated. So, it's better not to waste your time and resources in those areas. I hope you will find it as useful as I did. Also, there are some information on the uniques that I've encountered. I'm not sure how it may help you, but it's still nice to know whether it's worth the effort to kill it. I myself have more problems dealing with unique monsters than with major bosses (damn those lightning- enchanted bastards!) The level indicated is the level at the time I reach the place. Experience is accumulated WITHOUT doing optional areas or activating experience shrine, but killing ALL other enemies. This bit of information is useful when you want to make a character plan. For example, you know that you're going to deal with Andariel at level 13, so make sure that you already have an effective 'boss strategy' planned out at level 13. ======= Act I ======= ---------------- I) Rogue Encampment ---------------- NPC : Akara - healer - Den Of Evil (free 1 skill point) - The Search for Cain (magical ring, free item identification from Cain) Kashya - Sister's Burial Grounds (mercenary ally) Charsi - Tools of the Trade (imbue) Warriv - takes you to Lut Gholein (Act II) [ Note ] : 1) Talk to Akara for a personalised conversation. ------------------------- II) Blood Moor - evil beware! ------------------------- Level : 1 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Den Of Evil - this place is trouble - this cave has been purged of evil Optional Area : none Enemy : Fallen Exp 18 (1st time) Fallen Shaman Exp 32 Gargantuan Beast Exp 48 Quill Rat Exp 21 Zombie Exp 33 Unique : Corpsefire Exp 165 - Zombie - Spectral Hit Spells Recommended : -Firebolt-, -Charged Bolt- [ Note ] : 1) Fallen will net you experience only when slain for the first time. If they're raised, you get 0 exp for killing it again. ----------- III) Cold Plains ----------- Level : 3 Waypoint : Cold Plains Quest Area : None Optional Area : Cave Enemy : Dark Hunter Exp 31 Dark Spearwoman Exp 36 Fallen Exp 18 (1st time) Fallen Shaman Exp 32 Gargantuan Beast Exp 48 Unique : Bishibosh Exp 160 - Fallen Shaman - magic resistant, fire enchanted Stone Break the Jagged Exp 180 - Dark Spearwoman - mana burn Spells Recommended : -Firebolt-, -Charged Bolt- [ Note ] : 1) -Charged Bolt- is quite useful in this area. The bolts that missed may hit the monsters at the back. 2) There are actually two types of Fallen Shaman here, one will raise Fallen and the other is a mere minion. But they give the same amount of experience. ------------------------------------------------- IV) Burial Grounds - there is dark magic in work here ------------------------------------------------- Level : 5 Waypoint : None Quest Area : None Optional Area : Crypt, Mausoleum Enemy : Hungry Dead Exp 44 (pre-existent) Skeleton Exp 34 Unique : Dark Raven Exp 181 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Blood Raven' for more details.) Spells Recommended : -Firebolt-, -Charged Bolt- [ Note ] : 1) Hungry Dead summoned by Blood Raven will NOT net you any experience. Only those pre-existent ones will. ----------- V) Stony Field ----------- Level : 5 Waypoint : Stony Field Quest Area : Cairn Stone The Moldy Tome (initiate 'The Forgotten Tower' Quest) Underground Passage Optional Area : None Enemy : Carver Exp 42 Dark Ranger Exp 54 Foul Crow Exp 22 (pre-existent) Foul Crow Nest Exp 88 Hungry Dead Exp 44 Moon Clan Champion Exp 162 Unique : Moon Cloud Exp 110 - Foul Crow - fire enchanted Rakanishu Exp 210 - Carver - lightning enchanted Spells Recommended : -Firebolt-, -Charged Bolt- [ Note ] : 1) The Foul Crows that come out from the nest give no experience. 2) This 'Rakanishu', is he some kind of a hero to the Carvers? I often heard them calling out his name. (Frankly not only them, I also often called out his name) ------------------- VI) Underground Passage ------------------- Level : 6 Waypoint : none Quest Area : to Dark Wood Optional Area : Underground Passage level 2 Enemy : Fallen Exp 18 (1st time) Fallen Shaman Exp 32 Misshapen Exp 56 Skeleton Archer Exp 62 Vile Hunter Exp 54 Unique : Gray Claw Exp 280 - Misshapen - mana burn Spells Recommended : -Charged bolt-, -Ice Bolt-, -Inferno-, -Ice Blast-, -Frozen Armor-. [ Note ] : 1) This is where things can get a bit hard. I would assume that you have reached level 6 by now and should have one of the spells mentioned above. 2) The location of unique monsters varies for every game. If you are unlucky like me, you will encounter the unique (in my case it's 'Gray Claw') straight on. As you should realize it by now, the sorceress needs a wide battleground. So, at first, you may think you can find a decent place to fight it if you venture deeper. DON'T! You will end up meeting more monsters; and getting surrounded by those creepy crawlies is the last thing you want for the sorceress. (at least for now) 3) What should you do? One of the biggest improvement DII over its prequel is that, travelling between two areas involves no significant loading time. So, take advantage of it! Stay near the entrance. Avoid the urge to move too far. Take down as many regular monsters as you can, especially those near the entrance. When you are near death, forget about healing. Go up the entrance first, then heal. You can take some time off for -Warmth- to take effect too while you're there. 4) You may think I'm wasting my time here since this is a fairly easy area. Well, don't say it too soon. You'll be thanking me for this tip when you're playing on Nightmare/Hell difficulty or in other similar areas. --------- VII) Dark Wood --------- Level : 7 Waypoint : Dark Wood Quest Area : Tree of Ignifuss - this ancient tree has a magic aura about it Optional Area : None Enemy : Brute Exp 84 Carver Exp 42 (1st time) Carver Shaman Exp 64 Skeleton Archer Exp 62 Spike Fiend Exp 49 Vile Hunter Exp 54 Unique : Blade Tongue Exp 210 - Carver - stone skin Treehead Woodfist Exp 420 - Brute - extra strong, extra fast Plague Cloud the Quick Exp 310 - Skeleton Archer - extra strong Spells Recommended : -Charged bolt-, -Ice Bolt-, -Inferno-, -Ice Blast-, -Frozen Armor- [ Note ] : 1) Here's a tip : this is a wide area. Move along the sideway when exploring. Don't rush into the middle. Conquer the sideways first and then proceed slowly into the middle. That way, you won't have to deal with a large pack of monsters. -------------------------------------------------- VIII) Tristram - Tristram was no match for Diablo's fury -------------------------------------------------- Level : 8 Waypoint : Dark Wood Quest Area : Cain Gibbet - Deckard Cain, get to the Rogue Camp! Wirt's Corpse Enemy : Carver Exp 42 (1st time) Carver Shaman Exp 64 Carver Shaman Champion Exp 192 Night Clan Exp 72 Returned Champion Exp 204 Skeleton Archer Exp 62 The Returned Exp 68 Unique : Griswold Exp 955(!) - Walking Dead? - cursed Rot Fang Exp 310 - Skeleton Archer - cold enchanted Sharp Fang Exp 310 - Skeleton Archer - teleportation Spells Recommended : -Charged bolt-, -Ice Bolt-, -Inferno-, -Ice Blast-, -Frozen Armor- [ Note ] : 1) Explore the area SLOWLY. Secure a battleground and lure a small pack of enemies into it. Defeat the regular ones first, then proceed with the champion/ unique. 2) If you're wondering about Griswold's 'cursed', here's what it'll do: if he successfully land a hit on you, you'll be inflicted with the 'Amplify Damage' curse at the same time. 'Amplify Damage' will cause the next non-magical attack to hit for double damage until the curse expires. (I learned this from playing the necro). 3) Many will tell you to pick up Wirt's Leg. I'd say DON'T! Not yet. If you pick it up now, you have no where to put it but in the stash. It would be stupid to let it occupy the inventory space for the rest of the game. So, only pick it up when you want to play the cow level. Oh, but pick up Wirt's gold though. 4) As you might have noticed it by now, the champion edition of monsters gives triple the normal experience. The unique gives 5x the experience. ----------- IX) Black Marsh ----------- Level : 8 Waypoint : Black Marsh Quest Area : Forgotten Tower Optional Area : Hole Enemy : Blood Hawk Exp 29 (pre-existent) Blood Hawk Nest Exp 177 Brute Exp 84 Carver Exp 42 (1st time) Carver Shaman Exp 64 Night Clan Exp 72 Night Clan Champion Exp 216 The Returned Exp 68 Vile Archer Exp 63 Unique : Ooze Crawler Exp 320 - Carver Shaman - cursed Bile Lust the Slayer Exp 360 - Brute - extra strong Sin Vex the Unclean Exp 340 - Carvers Shaman - cursed Spells Recommended : -Charged bolt-, -Ice Bolt-, -Fire bolt-, -Frozen Armor- [ Note ] : none ----------------------------------------------- X) Forgotten Tower - this place holds many secrets ----------------------------------------------- Level : 9 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Blood Clan Exp 81 Dark Archer Exp 81 Dark Stalker Exp 78 Devilkin Exp 53 Ghost Exp 83 Ghost Champion Exp 249 Unique : Fireweb Exp 265 - Devilkin - lightning enchanted Bone Horn the Jagged Exp 415 - Ghost - fire enchanted Wind Maim Exp 415 - Ghost - extra strong Gray Slime Exp 405 - Dark Archer - mana burn The Countess Exp 390 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : The Countess' for more details.) Spells Recommended : -Charged bolt-, -Ice Bolt-, -Fire bolt-, -Frozen Armor-, -Static Field-. [ Note ] : 1) This is probably the first time you meet with the Ghost-like creatures. They often come in packs and attack in packs. Although, they move slowly, they are very dangerous to go melee with them. The fact that they have excellent defense and life, plus their insanely high attack rating makes them nothing easier to fight with than a unique monster. I once fought them with a barbarian with defense that goes like '8% a level ? monster will hit you'. At first I thought, 'Wow, 8%, that's low'. So, I charged in confidently without any strategy in mind; and boy, I got beaten up so badly, I couldn't even take one of them down with me! To make things worse, they can manage to stack themselves up into like one entity and perform continuous streams of attacks, which is needless to say, fatal. So, thank goodness you're playing a sorceress. -Frost Nova- them and they'll go REALLY slow. Later on, when you have -Chain Lightning-, these guys are the no.1 target for gaining easy experience. -------------- XI) Tamoe Highland -------------- Level : 9 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : Pit Enemy : Carver Exp 42 (1st time) Carver Shaman Exp 64 Dark Lancer Exp 90 Dark Stalker Exp 78 Devilkin Exp 53 Razor Spine Exp 77 Returned Mage Exp 55 Returned Mage Champion Exp 165 Unique : none Spells Recommended : -Charged bolt-, -Ice Bolt-, -Fire bolt-, -Frozen Armor-. [ Note ] : none ---------------------------------------------------------- XII) Monastery Gate - Uh.. the Monastery, Andariel's stronghold ---------------------------------------------------------- Level : 10 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Returned Mage Exp 55 Unique : none Spells Recommended : -Ice Bolt-, -Fire bolt-. [ Note ] : none -------------- XIII) Outer Cloister -------------- Level : 10 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Razor Spine Exp 77 Black Rogue Exp 86 Unique : none Spells Recommended : -Charged Bolt-, -Ice Bolt-, -Fire bolt- [ Note ] : none ------------ XIV) The Barracks ------------ Level : 10 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Horadric Malus Optional Area : none Enemy : Black Rogue Exp 86 Bone Archer Exp 98 Bone Mage Exp 66 Death Clan Exp 108 Death Clan Champion Exp 324 Devilkin Exp 53 Devilkin Shaman Exp 88 Devilkin Shaman Champion Exp 264 Unique : Rust Fist the Jagged Exp 490 - Bone Archer - extra strong Storm Hack the Quick Exp 430 - Black Rogue - lightning enchanted Viper Shard the Cold Exp 490 - Bone Archer - multiple shots The Smith Exp 890 - extra strong (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : The Smith' for more details) Spells Recommended : -Charged Bolt-,-Ice Bolt-, -Fire bolt-, -Static Field-. [ Note ] : none -------------------------------------------------- XV) Jail - if there was magic here, it's long gone now -------------------------------------------------- Level : 11 Waypoint : Jail level 1 Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Bone Archer Exp 98 Bone Archer Champion Exp 294 Bone Mage Exp 66 Death Clan Exp 108 Death Clan Champion Exp 324 Gargoyle Trap Exp 197 Tainted Exp 104 Wraith Exp 110 Unique : Gut Maul the Dark Exp 550 - Wraith - cursed Gloom Cloud Exp 490 - Bone Archer - extra fast Pitspawn Fouldog Exp 520 - Tainted - cursed, cold enchanted Direhawk the Mad Exp 490 - Bone Archer - extra fast Icefeast the Slayer Exp 490 - Bone Archer - aura enchanted Spells Recommended : -Charged Bolt-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, [ Note ] : 1) At this point of the game, I already treat myself a nice staff that grants me +3 to -Inferno- and +1 to -Ice Bolt-. So, this place seems like a breeze to me. As I've already said, the sorceress is rich, or going to be VERY rich. Start trying out on those fancy spells and see which one you like best. 2) There's a room in level 1 that SEEMS to have no entrance. At first you may thought it's the way it is because you can grab the gold WITHOUT getting into the room anyway. But the truth is the room IS accessible, that is by touching one of the walls nearby. This is supposed to be a BIG secret, but no one's making a big fuss about it. 3) You actually gain experience for destroying a trap. Don't miss out on it. -------------- XVI) Inner Cloister -------------- Level : 12 Waypoint : Inner Cloister Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Razor Spine Exp 77 Unique : Flamespike the Crawler Exp 385 - Razor Spine - cursed, fire enchanted Spells Recommended : -Charged Bolt-,-Ice Bolt-, -Fire bolt-, [ Note ] : none ------------- XVII) The Cathedral ------------- Level : 12 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Dark One Exp 71 (1st time) Dark Shaman Exp 104 Wraith Exp 110 Wraith Champion Exp 330 Unique : Storm Pus the Mad Exp 520 - cursed - Dark Shaman Bone Ash Exp 465 - Burning Dead Mage - magic resistant, extra strong, cold enchanted Spells Recommended : -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze- [ Note ] : none ------------------------------------------------ XVII) The Catacombs - this place chills me to the bone ------------------------------------------------ Level : 12 Waypoint : Catacombs level 2 Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Afflicted Exp 112 Afflicted Champion Exp 336 Arach Exp 147 Dark One Exp 71 (1st time) Dark Shaman Exp 104 Dark Shaman Champion Exp 312 Ghoul Exp 152 Ratman Exp 95 Tainted Exp 104 The Banished Exp 154 Unique : Puke Crawler the Hunter Exp 520 - Tainted - cursed Viper Horn Exp 520 - Dark Shaman - aura enchanted Foul Maim Exp 520 - Dark Shaman - teleportation Star Spawn the Dead Exp 735 - Arach - mana burn Bone Shade Exp 770 - The Banished - teleportation Mold Jade the Slasher Exp 560 - Afflicted - mana burn Foul Maggot the Witch Exp 560 - Afflicted - cursed Andariel Exp 1281 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Andariel' for more details) Spells Recommended : -Ice Bolt-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : 1) It's obvious that beating monsters in this place will net you the best experience in Act I. So, if you think a few more level ups would help to deal with Andariel, do so. ======== Act II ======== ----------- I) Lut Gholein ----------- NPC : Atma - Radament's Lair (10% discount on all items) Cain - The Horadric Staff Drognan - Tainted Sun Fara - healer Jerhyn - Arcane Sanctuary Meshif - takes to the Kurast Docks (ACT III) [ Note ] : 1) Talk to Drognan for a personalised conversation. 2) No discount for repairing items after the 'Radament's Lair' quest. ----- II) Sewer ----- Level : 14 Waypoint : Sewer level 2 Quest Area : Horadric Scroll (chest) Optional Area : none Enemy : Burning Dead Exp 130 (1st time) Burning Dead Archer Exp 137 (1st time) Burning Dead Mage Exp 93 (1st time) Dried Corpse Exp 132 Horror Exp 143 (1st time) Huntress Exp 119 Sand Raider Exp 179 Unique : Rot Spawn the Slayer Exp 685 - Burning Dead Archer - lightning enchanted Moon Flame Exp 660 - Dried Corpse - cold enchanted Radament Exp 2230 - Extra Fast (Refer to 'Boss Strategies: Radament' for more details.) Spells Recommended : -Ice Bolt-, -Ice Blast-, -Fire Ball-, -Lightning-. [ Note ] : 1) The only place the enemy wlll get resurrected is in level 3. So, stick around the first two levels if you want to gain experience. 2) The Burning Dead (archer,mage) are fire-resistant. I've tried using both -Ice Bolt- and -Fire Bolt- against them. As expected, the -Ice Bolt- takes them down with less hits. So, it's not really a mere guess. ----------- III) Rocky Waste ----------- Level : 15 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : Stony Tomb Enemy : Carrion Bird Exp 140 Dung Soldier Exp 140 Slinger Exp 113 Unique : Snot Growler the Hungry Exp 700 - Dung Soldier - spectral hit Star Hack Exp 700 - Dung Soldier - spectral hit Spells Recommended : -Ice Bolt-, -Ice Blast-, -Fire Ball-, -Lightning-, -Inferno-. [ Note ] : 1) Dung Soldier releases charged bolts if hit by non- magical attack. Now aren't you glad you're playing the sorceress? --------- IV) Dry Hills --------- Level : 15 Waypoint : Dry Hills Quest Area : Halls of the Dead Optional Area : none Enemy : Cave Leaper Exp 174 Saber Cat Exp 140 Spear Cat Exp 113 Undead Scavenger Exp 154 Unique : Foul Growler Exp 770 - Undead Scavenger - extra fast Sharp Break Exp 770 - Undead Scavenger - teleportation Spells Recommended : -Ice Blast-, -Fire Ball-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-. [ Note ] : 1) Cave Leaper will heal if it manage to hit you. Furthermore, it will be knocked back when being attacked too. So the best spell to use against it for now is -Ice Blast-, as it will freeze it in position. Therefore, it cannot heal itself and experience no further knockback. ----------------- V) Halls of the Dead ----------------- Level : 16 Waypoint : Halls of the Dead level 2 Quest Area : Horadric Cube (chest) Optional Area : none Enemy : Decayed Exp 160 (pre-existent) Desert Wing Exp 151 Hollow One Exp 252 Hollow One Champion Exp 1260 Mummy Sarcophagus Exp 608 Returned Exp 3 (1st time) Spear Cat Exp 113 Unique : Storm Wing Exp 800 - Decayed - fire enchanted Bloodwitch the Cold Exp 565 - Spear Cat - extra strong, cursed Spells Recommended : -Frost Nova-, -Ice Blast-, -Fire Ball-, -Lightning-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-. [ Note ] : 1) This place is a real piss off : those skelies just keep coming back! I remember getting most annoyed when playing the Amazon(Bowazon) here as I wasted so many of my arrows and -Town Portal- scrolls. What's worse, I only get 3 exp for doing that! 2) Again, thank goodness that you're playing the sorceress. It could never be easier for other characters. All you used up is just mana. If played right, you won't need to use mana recovery potions at all. 3) Here's a quick way to deal with them. Whenever you see a pack of skelies charging towards you, just -Frost Nova- them. Then, casually run past them to seek out the Hollow One, which should be nearby. If you encounter some more of skelies, cast -Frost Nova- again. Remember, you don't have to deal with them yet. If you find Spear Cats among the swarm, take them down first if you want, because they can deal some serious damage. 4) When you finally found the Hollow One, cast -Ice Blast- to freeze him. Then, use something damaging like -Inferno- to kill him quickly. You may also want to seek out more of the Hollow Ones nearby before finally dealing with the swarm. 5) When it's just the skelies left, cast -Blaze- to create some streams of fire. Then sit back and watch them burn! 6) There is a more straightforward method to use when you have -Chain Lightning-. More on this later. 7) You get experience for destroying a Mummy Sarcophagus. But the Decayed that comes out of it will not. So try this fun method : use -Inferno- right in front of the Mummy Sarchophagus. It's like killing two birds with one stone. --------- VI) Far Oasis --------- Level : 16 Waypoint : Far Oasis Quest Area : Maggot Lair Optional Area : none Enemy : Death Beetle Exp 170 Itchies Exp 124 Undead Scavenger Exp 154 Unique : Beetleburst Exp 850 - Death Beetle - magic resistant Haze Maw the Mad Exp 620 - itchies - teleportation Spells Recommended : -Frost Nova-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : none ----------- VII) Maggot Lair ----------- Level : 16 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Maggot Lair Optional Area : none Enemy : Black Locusts Exp 136 Death Beetle Exp 170 Rock Worm Exp 261 Rock Worm Egg Exp 1 Rock Worm Young Exp 88 Sand Maggot Exp 238 Sand Maggot Young Exp 80 Scarab Exp 187 Unique : Plague Eater Exp 935 - Scarab - magic resistant Death Venom Exp 850 - Death Beetle - cursed Cold Worm the Burrower Exp 865 - cold enchanted, magic resistant Spells Recommended : -Lightning-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : 1) Take advantage of the narrowness of tunnels. When encounter enemies like Scarab and Death Beetle, cast -Blaze- and run through narrow tunnels. They will chase after you, but not for long. Stop when you think you have done enough and trace back to where you started. Repeat if there's still some left. Collect goodies along the way. 2) -Lightning- works wonders here. Line the enemies up in a narrow tunnel and two shots of -Lightning- is all it takes to take most of them out. The same applies for high level -Inferno-. ------------- VIII) The Lost City ------------- Level : 17 Waypoint : Lost City Quest Area : none Optional Area : Ancient Tunnels Enemy : Fire Tower (trap) Exp 14 Marauder Exp 261 Marauder Champion Exp 783 Night Slinger Exp 142 Plague Bearer Exp 245 Tome Creeper Exp 211 Unique : Dark Elder Exp 1225 - Plague Bearer - extra fast, magic resistant Spells Recommended : -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : none ---------------- IX) Valley of Snakes ---------------- Level : 17 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Valley of Snakes Optional Area : none Enemy : none Unique : none Cool Find : none Spells Recommended : You don't need spells here. [ Note ] : none ---------------------------------------------------------- X) Claw Viper Temple - I sense strong magic within this place ---------------------------------------------------------- Level : 17 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Tainted Sun Altar - Top of Horadric Staff Optional Area : none Enemy : Bone Warrior Exp 3 Claw Viper Exp 144 Claw Viper Champion Exp 432 Embalmed Exp 213 Guardian Exp 336 Salamander Exp 192 Unique : Foul Skull the Impaler Exp 720 - Claw Viper - cursed Fangskin Exp 960 - Salamander - lightning enchanted, extra fast ( Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Fangskin' for more details. ) Spells Recommended : -Lightning-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fireball-, -Frost Nova-. [ Note ] : 1) Claw Vipers and Salamanders are deadly. Their only weakness is their low health. Avoid any chance of getting surrounded by these creatures. 2) -Ice Blast- will be able to freeze them, but it's slow and single targeted. Other cold spells seems to have little or no effect on them. Their dashing cold attack seems to defy the chilling effects. I still find that the safest way is to use -Blaze-. Create well-placed streams of fire for them to walk over it, hoping they will not survive the flames due to their low health. 3) But the main priority is to avoid their attacks by all means. They have the tendency to deliver multiple consecutive attacks, which leaves you not much of a chance for recovery. For the sorceress, it would means instant death. ----- X) Harem ----- Level : 18 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Blunderbore Exp 282 Dune Beast Exp 238 Invader Exp 288 Unique : none Spells Recommended : -Lightning-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fireball-, -Frost Nova-, -Chain Lightning-, -Glacial Spike-. [ Note ] : none ------------- XI) Palace Cellar ------------- Level : 18 Waypoint : Palace Cellar level 1 Quest Area : Portal Optional Area : none Enemy : Blunderbore Exp 282 Dune Beast Exp 238 Horror Archer Exp 221 Horror Mage Exp 123 Invader Exp 288 Unique : Spine Snarl Exp 1440 - Invader - aura enchanted Gore Skin Exp 1410 - Blunderbore - cold enchanted Fire Eye Exp 1440 - Invader - extra fast, fire enchanted Spells Recommended : -Lightning-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-, -Frost Nova-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Wall-, -Glacial Spike-. [ Note ] : 1) There are many ranged attackers. So -Fire Wall- is quite handy here. Cast it on them, and they will just stand still and take damage. Obviously, those skelies are resurrected without brains :) 2) The Horror Mages are a bit aggresive. They will seek after you if detected. Take advantage of this and let them come to you. Destroy them first, this way you can avoid a heavy 'projectile fight'. ---------------------------------------------------------- XII) Arcane Sanctuary - this place actually distorts reality... fascinating! ---------------------------------------------------------- Level : 18 Waypoint : Arcane Sanctuary Quest Area : Horazon's Journal Optional Area : none Enemy : Ghoul Lord Exp 299 Hell Clan Exp 245 Lightning Spire (trap) Exp 14 Specter Exp 251 Unique : Gore Fang the Shade Exp 1495 - Ghoul Lord - cursed The Summoner Exp 305 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : The Summoner' for more details) Spells Recommended : -Lightning-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-, -Frost Nova-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Wall-, -Glacial Spike-. [ Note ] : 1) This is my most favorite place in DiabloII. Great settings, tons of treasures, easy to kill monsters; Man, this whole place is like a bonus stage to me! Highly recommended if you want to gain a level or two, or even three! It is certainly the best place to gain experience in Act II. 2) The Specters and Ghoul Lords often drop rings, amulets, staves, wands and scepters. Needless to say, these are much sought after items, not only for the sorceress but also for the necro and the paladin. They would sell for a good price too. So, this is when you should start considering about 'gambling' and upgrading your equipments. 3) I have an incredibly fun time using -Chain Lightning- here. This is what I did. When there's enemies, doesn't matter if it's Specters, Ghoul Lords or Hell Clans; first cast -Frost Nova- then -Chain Lightning- them to death. It only takes about a few seconds. 4) There are actually four routes to take. One of them will lead to The Summoner, but it is random. The others will have treasure chests at the end of it. 5) I believe there would be one route suitably designed for each character. For the sorceress, I prefer the route with lots of platforms as to take advantage of the different heights. 6) Here's what I did. I finish one of the route in about 10 minutes, save and exit game, then start a new game, and begin killing monsters in the same route again. It nets me tons of magical items and experience points this way. You should try it too, as it's really effortless, with absolutely no risk of dying. (This is exactly when I undoubtedly feel that the sorceress rules!) 4) The Ghoul Lords can drain life, but it makes no difference to me. They still die like the rest. ------------------ XIII) Canyon of the Magi ------------------ Level : 20 Waypoint : Canyon of the Magi Quest Area : Tal Rasha's Tomb (true) Optional Area : 6 Tal Rasha's Tomb (fake) Enemy : Crusher Exp 328 Devourer Exp 317 Devourer Egg Exp 1 Devourer Young Exp 107 Hell Slinger Exp 182 Unique : none Spells Recommended : -Lightning-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-, -Frost Nova-, -Chain Lightning-, -Glacial Spike-. [ Note ] : none ----------------------- XIV) Tal Rasha's Tomb (true) ---------------- ------ Level : 20 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Orifice Optional Area : none Enemy : Apparition Exp 276 Gorebelly Exp 341 Unraveler Exp 406 Unique : Dragon Skull Exp 2030 - Unraveler - teleportation Duriel Exp 6005 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Duriel' for more details) Spells Recommended : -Lightning-, -Ice Blast-, -Inferno-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-, -Frost Nova-, -Chain Lightning-, -Glacial Spike-. [ Note ] : 1) A different set of spells is needed for the fight with Duriel. If you have problems defeating him, I'd suggest that you gain some levels, to 24 if you must, in Arcane Sanctuary or Canyon of the Magi. ========= ACT III ========= ----------- I) Kurast Dock ----------- NPC : Alkor - The Golden Bird (elixir +20 life) - Lam Esen's Tome (free 5 char points) Asheara - Blade of the Old Religion (free mercenary) Cain - Khalim's Will - Blackened Temple Hratli - Blade of the Old Religion Meshif - The Golden Bird (Golden Bird of Ku Y'leh) Ormus - healer - Blade of the Old Religion (magical ring) [ Note ] : 1) Talk to Hratli for a personalised conversation. 2) Act III is all about annoyance. You may want to consider hiring a mercenary to ease things up a bit. Asheara is the one to talk to if you're interested. By the way, listen to her gossips while you're there. Really cool tips. ------------- II) Spider Forest ------------- Level : 20 Waypoint : Spider Forest Quest Area : Spider Cavern Jade Figurine - I don't sense any magic about this item.. very strange. Optional Area : Arachnid Lair Enemy : Fetish Exp 260 (1st time) Fetish (range) Exp 214 (1st time) Fetish Shaman Exp 276 Flesh Beast Exp 330 Jungle Hunter Exp 317 Thorned Hulk Exp 403 Thorned Hulk Champion Exp 1209 Unique : Spirit Ripper the Tainted Exp 2015 - Thorned Hulk - teleportation Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Nova-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-, -Fire Wall-, -Chilling Armor-. [ Note ] : 1) You get 276 exp for blowing the Fetish Shaman's cover. Killing the Fetish that comes out of it will net you another 260 exp. 2) Flesh Beast are the critters that come out from the Dark Wanderer that you meet at the entrance of the Kurast Dock. 3) Jade Figurine may not necessarily dropped by the first unique that you encounter. I remember finding the Jade Figurine by defeating the unique in the Spider Cavern when playing the necro. That is the third unique. Sometimes it may not be carried by a unique at all but a champion. 4) -Nova- made its first appearance in the list of spells recommended. Although you may already get it earlier on, it is around this time that you can actually afford to use it on regular basis. 5) But THE spell to use here is the everyone's favorite -Glacial Spike-. Cold attacks that only chill are less effective against the ultra fast Fetish. But freeze works wonders. Not only you can halt them from attacking, you can reliably shatter them into pieces as well. Needless to say, it's the best way to prevent them from getting resurrected by the Shaman. 6) Another spell worth mentioning is -Chilling Armor-. With it activated, it will send out ice bolts when being attacked by those ever-so accurate ranged Fetish. Although the ice bolts does minor damage, at least the Fetish will be slowed with it, thus attack less often. Also, you can determine where those pellets came from and throw some -Chain Lightning- towards that direction. That would teach them not to play with that toy anymore. 7) The Fetish would make you love and hate them at the same time. While they are doing incredibly well in making your life a living hell. But at the same time, you will actually find them.. adorable. Personally, I couldn't help but to imitate the sounds that they make everytime I fight them - those 'ugh', 'eeyah', 'uuah' and their very own warcry - 'ablelelele'. I like the fact that they try so hard to sound 'threatening'. Some of them even disguise themselves as the self-proclaimed Shamans, as if putting on their mothers' wigs and aprons and dunno-where-they-get-from flamethrowers would scare off invaders. But the truth is they're just a bunch of innocent small kids trying their best to protect what's left of their territory. Can't really blame them for it, can you? ------------- II) Spider Cavern ------------- Level : 21 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Khalim's Eye (chest) Optional Area : none Enemy : Fiend Exp 222 Flame Spider Exp 410 Giant Lamprey Exp 383 Giant Lamprey Young Exp 129 Giant Lamprey Egg Exp 1 Poison Spinner Exp 372 Unique : Sezark the Burning Exp 2050 - Flame Spider - extra strong, cursed Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : 1) It's -Blaze- time again! Get the spiders to follow you into the blazing flame. Then pause, turn back and cast either -Glacial Spike- or -Ice Blast- to freeze them in place. Another fun area. So, you can consider gaining some experience here if you want. 2) -Frost Nova-/-Chain Lightning- combo works well too. But -Blaze-/-Glacial Spike- use up less mana. ----------- III) Great Marsh ----------- Level : 22 Waypoint : Great Marsh Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Bog Creature Exp 396 Bramble Hulk Exp 444 Drowned Carcass Exp 395 Fetish Exp 260 (1st time) Fetish (range) Exp 214 (1st time) Fetish Shaman Exp 276 Gloam Exp 241 River Stalker Exp 258 Unique : Shadow Maim the Hunter Exp 2220 - Bramble Hulk - stoneskin Steel Feast the Cold Exp 1975 - Drowned Carcass - extra strong Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Nova-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-, -Fire Wall-, -Chilling Armor-. [ Note ] : 1) River Stalker is the giant snake that spits poison in the swamp. They can be annoying sometimes, you get knocked back when hit with the poison. You have to hit for the head to completely kill it. 2) Drowned Carcass is slow. Perfect target for -Chain Lightning-. 3) Gloam has the ability to become invisible. But you can guess where they are if you look closely. -Frost Nova- and -Nova- will be able to track them down. But they can be cheap sometimes. The Gloams are large in numbers and can cast lightning from a great distance. If they come from all direction, it will be difficult to dodge those lightning. Can be quite painful, let me remind you. To avoid this from happening, hide behind a tree or something and let THEM come to you. When they 'materialise', kill them with ice or fire spells. I suspect they're lightning-resistant. 4) Whoa, camouflage is in the game. I have to say it's implemented VERY well. And the rumor has it that the Assassin have a skill similar to it. Now this is something that gets me excited all over again! I certainly have high hopes for the Assassin, and Blizzard better not screw it up. -'The Grandmaster of PvP', I can't wait! ------------- IV) Flayer Jungle ------------- Level : 22 Waypoint : Flayer Jungle Quest Area : Gidbinn - I must take this to Ormus Flayer Dungeon Optional Area : Swampy Pit Enemy : Flayer Exp 286 (1st time) Flayer (range) Exp 235 (1st time) Flayer Shaman Exp 303 Rat Man Exp 4 River Stalker Exp 258 Slime Prince Exp 479 Winged Nightmare Exp 330 Winged Nightmare Champion Exp 1650 Unique : Death Drool the Hungry Exp 20 - Rat Man - spectral hit Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Nova-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-, -Fire Wall-, -Chilling Armor-. [ Note ] : 1) Death Drool comes out together with a few Rat Man when you activate the Gidbinn altar. He will then drop the quest item 'Gidbinn' upon defeat. -------------- V) Flayer Dungeon -------------- Level : 23 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Khalim's Brain (chest) Optional Area : none Enemy : Dark Shape Exp 334 Flayer Exp 286 (1st time) Flayer (range) Exp 235 (1st time) Flayer Shaman Exp 303 Gloombat Exp 295 Soul Killer Exp 315 Soul Killer Shaman Exp 334 Undead Flayer Exp 286 Water Watcher Exp 213 Unique : Sin Eye the Hammer Exp 1175 - Flayer (range) - fire enchanted Mind Grumble Exp 1575 - Soul Killer - extra strong Witch Doctor Endugu Exp 1670 - Soul Killer Shaman - magic resistant, fire enchanted Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Nova-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-, -Fire Wall-, -Chilling Armor-. [ Note ] : 1) This place will be a lot easier if you have -Teleport-. Besides having to avoid travelling through the confusing tunnels, you can also gain some strategical advantage. Lure the enemy to chase after you. Find a fence and teleport over to the other side. Then you can cast spells safely from there. 2) When encounter Endugu and friends, remember not to deal with them ALL at one time. Lure a few of them out, take them far and then kill them. 3) Sometimes, when you see some golds lying on the ground, you know that you'll activate the traps once you try to pick it up. Well, use you mind power, -Telekinesis-! Be a Jean Grey wannabe! ------------ VI) Lower Kurast ------------ Level : 23 Waypoint : Lower Kurast Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Hell Buzzard Exp 300 Thrasher Exp 488 Tree Lurker Exp 339 Zakarumite Exp 297 Unique : Stormtree Exp 2440 - Thrasher - extra fast, lightning enchanted Mind Cloud the Grim Exp 1485 - Zakarumite - aura enchanted Mold Maim the Mad Exp 1485 - Zakarumite - cursed Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Nova-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : 1) My advice for this place : sell off everything, leave yourself almost naked. It's because this is the BEST place to level up in the whole ACT III. The annoyance is over.. at least for now. You may even consider this place as 'The Paradise' because it's a straightforward area, the enemies are easy to kill, no resurrecting creatures, no range attackers, lots of goodies to pick up, and the list goes on and on. So drop everything and start killing already! 2) -Glacial Spike- is still the best spell to use. The Zakarumite can move very fast, so not even -Frost Nova- will be able to slow them down enough. 3) You can forget about -Chilling Armor- for now and switch to -Shiver Armor- or -Frozen Armor- if you haven't do so. 4) About treasures in this place, it's quite common to find rare items here. You'll find lots of rare weapons especially, which will make you envious and wish you could wield that weapon as other characters would. 5) Now, if you have heard of the legendary 'Sigon's Guard', spend some time here and maybe you're lucky to find one. I found Sigon's Guard for both the sorceress and the paladin right here. So, it's a good idea to equip yourself some items that increases your chance of finding magical items. Remember, Sigon's Guard are sometimes DROPPED by monsters. ------------- VII) Kurast Bazaar ------------- Level : 23 Waypoint : Kurast Bazaar Quest Area : Sewers Optional Area : Disused Fane* Ruined Temple* Enemy : Hell Swarm Exp 219 Thrasher Exp 488 Sexton Exp 381 Zakarumite Exp 297 Unique : Grief Grumble the Hungry Exp 1095 - Hell Swarm - spectral hit Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : 1) * The quest item 'Lam Esen's Tome' may be in one of these optional areas. 2) The Sexton has the ability to heal the Zakarumite, and also teleport. So -Fire Wall- does not work very well as they can easily teleport away. 3) When I first come across the Sexton, I thought 'Boy, they are corrupted alright to be given a name like that.' But later I found out that it's actually the name of one of the developers of DiabloII. No pun intended. 4) The Zakarumites have become smarter. Whenever they are near dying, they will retreat in order to be healed by the Sexton. So make sure that you kill them before they come back to you with full life. ------ VIII) Sewers ------ Level : 23 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Khalim's Heart (chest) Optional Area : none Enemy : Gloambat Exp 295 Horadrim Ancient Exp 540 Horror Exp 8 (1st time) Stygian Watcher Exp 312 Undead Soul Killer Exp 315 Unique : Dire Hawk Exp 1575 - Undead Soul Killer - teleportation Sin Crawler Exp 2700 - Horadrim Ancient - spectral hit Icehawk Riftwing Exp 1475 - Gloambat - cold enchanted, teleportation Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Fire Wall-, -Frost Nova-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : 1) There are two exits leading to Upper Kurast. So, the sewers must be a shortcut or something. 2) In order to get to the chest with Khalim's Heart, you must first find a lever that will open the route to second level. To do that, I would advise you to have the automap activated at all time. 3) You would really wish for -Teleport- in this place. The area is big and confusing, it's even worse than Flayer Dungeon. ------------- IX) Ruined Temple ------------- Level : 23 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Lam Esen's Tome - May the black book brings black days to hell! Optional Area : none Enemy : Flesh Hunter Exp 311 Night Lord Exp 438 Spider Magus Exp 451 Wailing Beast Exp 479 Unique : Shadow Snell the Unholy Exp 2395 - Wailing Beast - cursed Pulse Killer the Hunter Exp 2190 - Night Lord - extra fast Blood Kill the Impaler Exp 2395 - Wailing Beast - fire enchanted Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Fire Wall-, -Blizzard-, -Meteor-. [ Note ] : 1) This is where I found 'Lam Esen's Tome'. In fact, I found the tome here almost everytime. I wonder why. 2) When you see monsters swarming at you the moment you enter, you know you have come to the right place. It is no joke, this can be one of the toughest battle in the game. The combination of monsters here is deadly. You face the powerful Wailing Beast, the fast-moving Flesh Hunter, the poisonous Spider Magus and the most dangerous of all, the life-stealing and meteor-casting Night Lord. 3) NEVER venture deep into this place in the beginning. All you'll get is deep shit. Stay near the entrance. Never let any of those monsters blocking your way out. 4) I hope you have -Fire Wall-, -Blizzard- or -Meteor- by now. The moment you step into this place, the monsters are sure to give you a really 'warm' welcome. Give them back something in return for their gesture. Now, what could be better than a gift from heavens perhaps? Cast as many -Meteor- as you can, if you have it, and then leave immediately. If not, -Fire Wall- or -Blizzard- works well too. Let them be for a while and then head back to cast some more. Repeat until the place is not that crowded anymore. 5) You can try using -Glacial Spike-, but it will only freezes those at the front. So use it only when there's no Night Lord around. ------------ IX) Upper Kurast ------------ Level : 23 Waypoint : Upper Kurast Quest Area : Sewers Optional Area : Forgotten Temple* Forgotten Reliquary* Enemy : Cantor Exp 419 Faithful Exp 360 Thrasher Exp 488 Winged Nightmare Exp 330 Zealot Exp 435 Unique : Dragon Maw the Destroyer Exp 1650 - Winged Nightmare - aura enchanted Soul Maw Exp 1650 - Winged Nightmare - cursed Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-. [ Note ] : 1) * The quest item 'Lam Esen's Tome' may be in one of these optional areas. --------------- X) Kurast Causeway --------------- Level : 24 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : Ruined Fane* Diused Reliquary* Enemy : Infidel Exp 509 Unique : Dire Eater Exp 2545 - Infidel - mana burn Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-. [ Note ] : 1) * The quest item 'Lam Esen's Tome' may be in one of these optional areas. --------- XI) Travincal --------- Level : 24 Waypoint : Travincal Quest Area : Compelling Orb Optional Area : none Enemy : Council Member Exp 696 Heirophant Exp 461 Night Lord Exp 438 Water Watcher Exp 172 Zealot Exp 435 Unique : Ismail Vilehand Exp 3480 - Council Member - extra fast, cursed Geleb Flamefinger Exp 3480 - Council Member - extra strong, fire enchanted Toorc Icefist Exp 3480 - Council Member - cold enchanted, stone skin (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : High Councils' for more details) Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-. [ Note ] : 1) I don't know whether it is random or not, but the quest item 'Khalim's Will' was dropped by Ismail Vilehand. 2) The walkthrough for this area is too lengthy, so I put it in Boss Strategies column. Be sure to check it out if you have problems in this area. --------------- XII) Durance of Hate --------------- Level : 24 Waypoint : Durance of Hate level 2 Quest Area : Portal Optional Area : none Enemy : Cadaver Exp 415 Council Member Exp 696 Dark Lord Exp 482 Mauler Exp 550 Undead Stygian Doll Exp 346 Blood Lord Exp 530 Unique : Moon Shard the Sharp Exp 2750 - Mauler - fire enchanted Storm Break Exp 1730 - Undead Stygian Doll - fire enchanted Bremm Sparkfist Exp 3480 - Council Member - aura enchanted, lightning enchanted Wyand Voidbringer Exp 3480 - Council Member - mana burn, teleportation Maffer Dragonhand Exp 3480 - Council Member - extra strong, extra fast Mephisto Exp 10714 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Mephisto' for more details) Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Ice Blast-, -Blaze-, -Chain Lightning-, -Fire Ball-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-. [ Note ] : 1) The walkthrough for this area is too lengthy, so I put it in Boss Strategies column. Be sure to check it out if you have problems in this area. ======== ACT IV ======== -------------------- I) Pandemonium Fortress -------------------- NPC : Cain - Hell's Forge Jamella - healer Tyrael - The Fallen Angel (free 2 kill points) [ Note ] : none ------------- II) Outer Steppes ------------- Level : 24 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Corpulent Exp 604 Doom Caster Exp 482 Doom Knight Exp 486 Flesh Beast Exp 0 Flesh Spawner Exp 622 Trapped Soul Exp 1 Unique : Ash Wolf Exp 3020 - Corpulent - lightning enchanted Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Frost Nova-, -Fire Ball-, -Chain Lightning-, -Shiver Armor-, -Frozen Armor-. [ Note ] : 1) Flesh Beasts that are spat out from Flesh Spawner give 0 exp for killing it. I for one hate killing monsters that gives me no experience. What's worse that those son of a b*tch are no easy kill either. No matter how high your defense might be, they can still manage to scratch you. What a nuisance! 2) -Shiver Armor- and -Frozen Armor- can ease a bit of the irritation. But it's much better to use -Glacial Spike- when dealing with them. Personally, I enjoy every moment seeing those pests explode into pieces. That's what they get when they keep pestering the sorceress! ----------------- III) Plains of Despair ----------------- Level : 24 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Izual Optional Area : none Enemy : Doom Caster Exp 482 Doom Knight Exp 486 Flesh Beast Exp 0 Flesh Spawner Exp 622 Pit Lord Champion Exp 1893 Trapped Soul Exp 1 Unique : Izual Exp 22760 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Izual' for more details) Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Frost Nova-, -Fire Ball-, -Chain Lightning-, -Shiver Armor-, -Frozen Armor-. [ Note ] : 1) Doom Casters seem to resist lightning spells. -Chain Lightning- doesn't work so well against them. 2) Doom Knight has high defense especially against missiles. Even the Amazon's always-hit cold arrow will miss. I have also seen -Glacial Spike- missed when trying to hit them with it. Use -Blizzard- instead to avoid this from happening. 3) A different set of spells required when dealing with Izual. 4) If you are wondering if I made a mistake with the experience gained for defeating Izual, I didn't. I have already double-checked it. Believe or not but he is really THAT generous! So it's evident that the best place to level up in ACT IV is here. Kill Izual again and again for easy experience. ------------------ IV) City of the Damned ------------------ Level : 24 Waypoint : City of the Damned Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Damned Exp 470 Dark Familiar Exp 439 Maw Fiend Exp 891 Pit Lord Exp 584 Stygian Dog Exp 0 Stygian Hag Exp 690 Unique : Black Drinker the Unholy Exp 3450 - Stygian Hag - cold enchanted Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Frost Nova-, -Fire Ball-, -Chain Lightning-, -Shiver Armor-, -Frozen Armor-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-. [ Note ] : 1) I remembered encountering Gloam-like monsters here. Now, if you happen to meet them, be careful. Their lightning attacks are not to be taken lightly, as it is fast and hard to avoid. It's best that you seek cover first and let them come to you. 2) The enemies here always attack in large. If you have to, retreat all the way to Plains of Despair to thin out the crowd. -------------- V) River of Flame -------------- Level : 24 Waypoint : River of Flame Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Blood Maggot Exp 627 Blood Maggot Egg Exp 1 Blood Maggot Young Exp 172 Grotesque Exp 918 Grotesque Wyrm Exp 0 Pit lord Exp 584 Strangler Exp 593 Urdar Exp 836 Unique : Plague Claw the Dead Exp 4180 - Urdar - teleportation Hephasto the Armorer Exp 7111 - extra strong, cursed, magic resistant (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Hephasto for more details)s Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Frost Nova-, -Fire Ball-, -Chain Lightning-, -Shiver Armor-, -Frozen Armor-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-. [ Note ] : 1) Here's tips on how to use -Blizzard-. For the best results, cast -Frost Nova- first. They will be chilled for a longer time when they enter -Blizzard-. They will take more damage when slowed. When enemies comes in large but have to pass through a narrow path e.g a door, cast -Glacial Spike- instead. It is to freeze those in the front and block those at the back. Then quickly follow up with -Blizzard- and keep freezing the front. --------------- VI) Chaos Sanctuary --------------- Level : 25 Waypoint : none Quest Area : Diablo Optional Area : none Enemy : Doom Knight Exp 486 Oblivion Knight Exp 717 Storm Caster Exp 711 Venom Lord Exp 699 Unique : Gray Head the Unclean Exp 3555 - Storm Caster - lightning enchanted Lord De Seis Exp 3391 - Oblivion Knight - extra strong, aura-enchanted, thief Infector of Souls Exp 3664 - Venom Lord - extra fast, spectral hit Grand Visier of Chaos Exp 3364 - Storm Caster - extra strong, fire enchanted Diablo Exp 28223 (Refer to 'Boss Strategies : Diablo for more details) Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Frost Nova-, -Fire Ball-, -Chain Lightning-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-, -Meteor-, -Thunder Storm-. [ Note ] : 1) The walkthrough for this area is too lengthy, so I put it in Boss Strategies column. Be sure to check it out if you have problems in this area. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This marks the end of the walkthrough. If you have questions to ask, you know what to do. By the way, what do you get for finishing the Normal difficulty with a hardcore sorceress? Well, you get the title 'Countess'! At last, the sorceress can finally escape the fate from being 'damned' for once! Also, if you're not too exhasted, try out the bonus stage - Moo-Moo Farm. Not that it's a good place to level up, but it's certainly a place for a good laugh! ============== BONUS STAGE! ============== ------------ Moo-Moo Farm ------------ Level : 26 Waypoint : none Quest Area : none Optional Area : none Enemy : Hell Bovine Exp 74 Hell Bovine Champion Exp 222 Unique : The Cow King Exp 335 - Hell Bovine - magic resistant, lightning enchanted Spells Recommended : -Glacial Spike-, -Frost Nova-, -Fire Ball-, -Chain Lightning-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-, -Meteor-, -Thunder Storm-. [ Note ] : 1) To unlock this area, do the following : a) finish the game at one difficulty; b) go back to Act 1 Rogue Encampment of that difficulty; c) get Wirt's Leg from Tristram; d) purchase a Tome of Town Portal, or if you happens to have one with you, use that; e) put Wirt's Leg and Tome of Town Portal into Horadric Cube. f) press the cube's 'transmute' button, and a portal leading to the Moo Moo Farm will be accessible. 2) Just when I thought the Stygian Dogs are too much to handle, the cows give me another shock of my life. If you can see enemies in the automap, trust me, this place will scare the shit out of you! 3) There are many ways to do this area. But having ice apells will make things a lot easier. Try this. Use -Frost Nova- to slow them down first. When all are chilled, cast -Blizzard- in the midst and run in circles around them. Then just count the cows as they fall. (By the way, turn on the sound when attempt this.) 4) Although this is supposed to be a bonus area, you will still die. It's totally optional whether to explore this place or not. If you think you can't beat them with the spells that you have, skip it for now. 5) Also, because it is optional, the Cow King does not qualify to be in Boss Strategy column. --------------- Boss Strategies --------------- -------------- I. BLOOD RAVEN -------------- Level : 5 Attack : Bow and Arrows Special : Fire Arrow Summon Hungry Dead Exp : 181 Spell : -Charged Bolt-, -Firebolt- [ Strategy ] : Early in the battle, she will constantly summon Hungry Deads from the ground. That would be your best opportunity to lay some shots. If you missed the moment, she'll be so hyperactive, you can hardly ever find her standing still. So, try to take down as many Hungry Deads and Skeletons as you can, to prepare the battleground. After the area has been cleared, it will be just you and Blood Raven. As she's always on the move, try to identify her running patterns and make some good guess shots. By shooting more bolts, it will increase the chance one of them will hit. -Charged Bolts- seems to work quite well. Of course, when she starts attacking, you're the one who would be running around instead. But at the same time, the opportunity to make a clear hit will also arise. It's kinda risky though, so make sure you brought along a sizable amount of healing potions to keep your life up. Here's a tip for range attackers : When you see her shoots an arrow AND run, chances are her next attack will be *multiple shots. So, for the *multiple shots sessions: when she shoots the first arrow, dodge it like normal but quickly counter-attack with something fast like -Firebolt-. If she's hit with it, she may run OR continue her shooting. And if she continues, dodge some more and counter-attack. You should be able to land 2-3 hits this way. You can even use melee to defeat her, as you can still score a hit with that Dexterity of yours. Make sure you're using a 'Fast' or a 'Very Fast' weapon. (Recommended only in Normal difficulty) If all the above methods didn't work for you, there's still one way you can try. Enter the Crypt or Mausoleum and then back again. You will notice Blood Raven will start summoning Hungry Deads again. Hit her when she does it. * When I mention multiple shots, it's not to be mistaken with the Amazon's -Multi-Arrow- or -Strafe-. It's just a few shots of arrows that's fired successively in normal speed, nothing special. But you can expect her standing still for quite some time when doing this. That's exactly what I see as an opportunity. " Rest now, Blood Raven. " ---------------- II. THE COUNTESS ---------------- Level : 9 Attack : Fire Axe Special : Fire Wall Exp : 390 Spell : Any offensive spell will do. [ Strategy ] : If you have beaten the game once, chances are you couldn't even remember a fight with someone by the name of 'The Countess', as it was an easy and effortless battle. But I will still make some notes in case someone's stuck with it. Maybe not in Normal, but she may pose more of a challenge in Nightmare/Hell difficulty. You never know. First off, she may move in formidable speed, but her attacks are rather slow and weak. It's easily avoidable. Even if you get hit, it's nothing to worry about either. I've tried standing still to receive a few hits before. It turns out that the damage is not too severe, even for the sorceress. As on how to finish her off, it may requires some strategies though. Do not try to cast a spell when she's chasing after you; you'll be interrupted. Try doing this instead. Find a spacious spot and stand still. Wait for her to come to you. When you see her trying to make a strike, dash away quickly. In return, counter-attack with anything of your choice. Repeat until she's dead. -Static Field- comes highly recommended. -Firebolt- works well too. If you have -Frost Nova-, -Ice Bolt- or -Ice Blast-, it almost ensures that you will never get a single hit from her Fire Axe attack. Other things to take note of this battle is that she may cast -Fire Wall- right at the doorways when she first sense your presence. I think she does this to discourage you from coming in and out as you wish. This, of course does nothing to stop you from getting those precious treasures. Also, I noticed that she doesn't like to go out of her 'chamber' often. I have once lured her outside of it. But she quickly turned back the moment she stepped outside the door, sorta like she's shy or something. It's funny watching her doing it. " I hope to find other such treasures! " -------------- III. THE SMITH -------------- Level : 10 Attack : Hammer Special : none, really. Exp : 890 Spell : -Ice bolt-, -Ice Blast-, -Frost Nova-, -Fireball-, -Static Field-, -Blaze-. [ Strategy ] : He reminds me of 'The Butcher' in Diablo. He has the same fast stunning attack, which makes him extremely dangerous to go melee with. So keep your distance ALWAYS. I remember fighting him with Storm in Nightmare difficulty. Storm had kept her -Energy Shield- and -Shiver Armor- activated. She also had her life near full at all time. Then I was careless at one time, as Storm could not dodge one of his attack. Guess what happened? The computer lagged for about 5 seconds and POW, she died in one bloody shot! This is just too ridiculous! Be extra cautious when dealing with him. As The Smith can move in relatively high speed, it's recommended that you use spells like -Ice Bolt- and -Frost Nova- to slow him down. Then alternate to use something fast like -Fireball- or even -Static Field- to do some real damage. Or better, use -Ice Blast- all the way. It will slow him down AND deal great damage at the same time. -Blaze- is also highly recommended. Make streams of fire along the walls and let him chase right behind. The safest location to have this fight is at the Outer Cloister waypoint, all the way back. As this battle may take some time, you may want to take a break or something by getting back to the Rogue Encampment through the waypoint. You can also get the free healing from Akara if you want. That will lower the risk of the sorceress getting killed. After a few rounds, The Smith will eventually fall. But don't forget to head back to the Barracks to fetch what you're looking for : the Horadric Malus. " I hope the sister appreciate this thing. " ------------ IV. ANDARIEL ------------ Level : 13 Attack : Poison Claws Special : Poison Spray Poison Projectile Exp : 1281 Spell : -Static Field-, -Ice Bolt-, -Ice Blast-, -Frost Nova-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball- [ Strategy ] : Our necro guy said that Andariel is NOT using -Poison Nova-, so I made up names for her attacks. Nothing official, let me remind you. Well, how am I supposed to know their names! It's not like she screams out "Poison Spray!" or "Spray of Death!" when she does it. Geez. Back to the subject, let's discuss about her attacks first. She has three known types of attack : melee that does both physical and poison damage. The other two is ranged attacks: one is a single fast-travelling projectile; the other is a wide-area spray attack. The projectile, though fast, is quite easy to avoid. The sprays, however, requires more finesse to attempt an escape. Both are equally damaging but they will dissipate after travelling some distance. Take advantage of this. If you can't avoid the sprays by running diagonally, try to outrun it. Hope that it will dissipates before it reaches you. If you can't avoid her attacks, you will most probably be inflicted with poison condition. For the sorceress, life seems to drop at an incredibly alarming rate. So whenever this happened, forget about healing first. You will waste the healing potion anyway. Quickly find your way back to the entrance and go up to level 3. While you're there, wait for the poison effect to subside, THEN only consume a healing potion or two. Don't worry, the poison won't kill you. Life will stop dropping when it reaches 1. Go back down when you're ready for the second round. As for antidote potions and poison resistant equipments; although it may helps, is not a necessity. To take her down, you will need some good spells. As you are expected to be at level 13, you should have a handful of spells besides everything into -Warmth-. If you have only -Firebolt-, you CAN defeat her. But the problem is you will need more of healing potions and not to mention, PATIENCE. It will be a lot easier if you have cold spells like -Ice Bolt-, -Ice Blast- and -Frost Nova-. They work wonders against Andariel. The slower Andariel gets, the less often she attacks. But it will REALLY be a piece of cake if you have -Blaze-. The fastest way to defeat her is : cast -Blaze- and make a stream of fire for her to walk over it. When she's in the middle of it, you may cast -Ice Bolt- or -Frost Nova- to slow her down. She will eat more flames this way. If you can't get her into the fire, try to make use of the doorway. Make a stream of fire as you walk past a door and taunt her to chase after you. That should burn her up a little. Repeat until she's dead. Also, you can try using -Static Field- on her. It works well too. But I would suggest that you slow her down first, this way you get less retaliation. Spell NOT to be used in this battle is -Inferno-. This is what happened. I used a Slvl4 -Inferno- just to try things out. It turned out that the damage is too slow; it leaves the sorceress open for attack. Andariel casts Poison Spray while I'm doing this and the sorceress eats three sprays straight! Man, you should've seen the instant drop in life. It will make almost anyone to swear out his/her most frequently-used curses, which in my case, WTF! So, AVOID using it here if you can. " The evil queen has fallen. " ----------- V. RADAMENT ----------- Level : 15 Attack : Normal Physical Special : Extra Fast Poison Breath Dark Projectile Heal/Raise Minions Exp : 2230 Spell : -Static Field-, -Ice Bolt-, -Ice Blast-, -Frost Nova-, -Blaze-, -Fire Ball-, -Fire Bolt-. [ Strategy ] : This can be difficult if you don't know the way. The key to this battle is to prevent the minions from getting the healing and resurrection from Radament. To do this, you will first need to secure a place FAR away from Radament. When I said far, I mean really, REALLY far. Radament's 'influence' has a very long reach, it can be about 2-3 screens away. Once you have found the ideal location, start luring the minions in to get them butchered. Do this until all minions are down. This may be a tiring and time consuming task but it is by far the safest way to deal with Radament. Another method you can try is to use -Ice Blast- on each and every of his minion. By doing this, they will be shattered into pieces by the freezing attack. Thus, it's impossible for them to get resurrected. Without the minions, Radament is nothing to be feared of. Both his Poison Breath and Dark Projectile only do minor scratches. His most damaging attack is probably his normal physical attack, but that is nothing either. So, finish him off with anything you like. You can even insult him by using the measly -Fire bolt- to kill him. " What a misguided monster! " ------------ VI. FANGSKIN ------------ Level : 17 (18 Recommended) Attack : Normal Physical Special : Extra Fast, Lightning Enchanted Dashing Cold Attack Exp : 960 Spell : -Blaze-, -Fire Wall-. [ Strategy ] : You may find it surprising to find a seemingly ordinary unique to be placed under the Boss Strategies column. But in my opinion, he's more than deserving to be considered a major boss in the game, at least for the sorceress. It's simply because Fangskin, a unique Salamander, has everything it takes to be the PERFECT 'sorceress killing machine'. The extra-fast attribute for the already speedy Salamander is a major hindrance for any kind of sorceress. It leaves almost no opportunity for the sorceress to cast a spell safely. Cold spells will only do like reducing the speed from 'super ultra fast' to 'ultra fast', which is not much of a help I'd say. So, conquering by speed would be out of the question. The REAL thing to be feared of is actually his Dashing Cold Attack. Although his normal attack is as damaging, but it is THIS surprise dashing attack that causes instant death. One of the attack's main strength is its long reach. At first, you may think that you could cast a spell or two since you were able to keep a distance. But you can bet that he would suddenly charge towards you with his overwhelming cold attack. Now, if the attack connects, the sorceress will be pushed back and get chilled at the same time. Then he will be likely to continue his attack. If the sorceress are pushed against a wall; and she doesn't have any 'fast recovery' and cold resistant equipments on; in another word being cornered; then undoubtedly, she will be stunlocked to DEATH. But this seldom happens, especially when you already know that you should avoid being cornered at all times. As if he's not powerful enough, he's been granted lightning enchantment. Now, what could be worse. Cast something multi-hitting like -Inferno- and he'll be sweating like hell! I can assure you, you wouldn't want to try that. So multi-hitting spells are out. You will need something that you can cast out fast and deals great damage. -Static Field- fits the requirements, doesn't it? But wait, he is lightning enchanted, that means lightning resistant! -Static Field- will do as much damage as other spells will but you have to get close to score a hit. Not very wise, I would say. So -Static Field- is also out. It seems like I can talk about this forever but what you're really interested in, I assume, is how to defeat him. After such long discussion, you should realised it by now that many spells are rendered useless in this battle. For that, you need specific spells, namely -Blaze- and -Fire Wall-. I've never been so rigid when it comes to which spell to use, but to ensure a battle with zero casualty, I have to make an exception. This is exactly how I defeated him. As I've mentioned before, the position of the unique monster varies for every game. In my case, Fangskin is to the sorceress' left. The moment I stepped into Claw Viper's Temple level 2, I quickly move the sorceress to the right, the opposite direction of Fangskin. If done right, it should not attract Fangskin's attention. Then deal with the monsters that's already there. You SHOULD NOT be having problems dealing with them, as I will be wondering how you manage to get this far in the first place. If you're really stuck, refer back to the 'Walkthrough : Claw Viper's Temple' for tips on how to defeat them. Try to thin out as many enemies as possible, so that you will only have to deal with Fangskin. I will now assume that it's just you and Fangskin. Get his attention and start the fight. He will start chasing after you. Cast -Blaze- when he does, and create streams of fire by running away from him. Let him walk over it and take damage. Repeat until he's dead. Sounds easy, doesn't it? But practically, you should know that you may run a chance of running out of stamina. You can remedy the situation quickly with a stamina potion OR you can retreat and head back to level 1. Wait until all stamina is recovered and continue to second round. Another situation may occur is that you encounter Fangskin right in front of the level 2 entrance, together with a bunch of other Claw Vipers. If you are really that unlucky, then I would suggest that you spend some time levelling up to level 18 to gain -Fire Wall-. Get -Fire Wall- by either putting a skill point into it OR head back to town and buy a staff with -Fire Wall-. When you have -Fire Wall-, this is what you should do. I would assume that Fangskin and friends are right in front of the entrance, waiting to feast. Bravely, step into level 2 and cast a -Fire Wall-, two if you can, in front of the entrance. Then quickly get back to level 1. The -Fire Wall- that you cast will continue to take effect in level 2 even when you're at level 1. So wait some time for it to burn. That would take a few of the them down. It's normal to get hit when you're doing this. So keep life at full with healing potions. Then repeat this routine, but try to increase the number of -Fire Wall- casted each time. More -Fire Wall- deal more damage. Hopefully, Fangskin will die eventually this way. There is another method that I found out recently. If you can manage to get past all the enemy and reach the altar, you will have the advantage to cast spells without the fear of retaliation. It's simply because you're protected by the different height that the altar provides. The best way to do this of course, is to use -Teleport-. That would be the solution when you face him in Nightmare/Hell difficulty. " Who would've thought that such primitive beings could cause so much trouble. " ----------------- VII. THE SUMMONER ----------------- Level : 19 Attack : staff Special : Glacial Spike Fire Wall Fire Ball Frost Nova Dunno-what curse (doesn't matter anyway) Exp : 305 Spell : -Fire Wall- and everything else [ Strategy ] : The only thing to look out for is his Fire Wall. Counterattack with a -Fire Wall- on him and he's dead. That's it. I don't think he deserves further elaboration. But you can try something though, use -Telekinesis- to kill him. -Fire Bolt- would be too much for him. " That couldn't have been Horazon. Poor wretch. " ------------ VIII. DURIEL ------------ Level : 20 (24 if you must) Attack : Claw Special : Freezing Aura Stun Exp : 6005 Spell : -Frost Nova-, -Static Field-, -Blaze-, -Nova-, -Fire Wall- -Thunder Storm-, -Blizzard-. [ Strategy ] : Duriel has been receiving a lot of attention in the DiabloII forum and naturally being throned as the most difficult boss to defeat in the game. It's not hard to see why. First off, there's one misconception to be cleared. Duriel does NOT have a cold attack. In fact, he has an attack that stuns, much like the Barbarian's -Stun-. What's chilling or slowing you down is actually the Freezing Aura. It looks and works like the Paladin's -Holy Freeze- aura. But the difference is there's nothing holy about it, just cheap. -Holy Freeze- does no damage, it will only slows one down to a certain percentage. I would assume that Duriel's Freezing Aura works about the same. With it, the sorceress will suffer a major slowdown in movement and spellcasting rate. The battle is set in a small chamber with no apparent exit nearby. By looking at the automap, there IS actually a mark that indicates a door at the north but it's not to be reached. This means that it's a closed battle : a great disadvantage to the sorceress indeed. You should know by now that the sorceress gains advantage by speed and space. With this two being seriously handicapped, it would really requires pure skill, and not to mention some really good luck to win this battle. The fastest way, which is also the best way to defeat Duriel is to use -Static Field-. I find that he's specially vulnerable against it. This is how you should do it. The first thing you do when you step into Duriel's chamber is cast a -Frost Nova-. You don't have to wait until you see him. He'll be charging at you in high speed definitely. If he really missed the -Frost Nova-, cast it again. Make sure he's chilled at ALL time. Having Duriel in his full speed is too much of a risk to take. When he's chilled, make a distance and cast -Static Field-. Hopefully, your sorceress' -Static Field- is at a decent skill level to score a hit. But you will only manage to lay one or two hits before you have to cast another -Frost Nova-. By right, at this time you will see Duriel's Freezing Aura starting to take effect. The sorceress will be chilled in an unavoidable situation. But you can reduce the slowing effect by equipping some boots with 'fast walk/run'. This method requires no aiming, so it's quite easy to pull. But you should check on Duriel's life from time to time by moving the cursor over him. When you see that his life is near critical, finish him off with -Blaze- if you have it. If not, continue to use -Static Field- or any other spells that you see appropriate to kill him. -Nova- is one good example. But this method will only apply if you have -Static Field- that works, which I would say not many young sorceresses can afford it. I'm talking about -Static Field- of level 3 and above. I have Slvl3 -Static Field- and still get a lot of misses. For those with low level or no -Static Field- at all, either gain a few level up to put more skill points into it OR you can try the following methods. You can use -Blaze- all the way. It sure works but it would take quite some time to finish him off. So make sure that you bring along loads of stamina potions if you want to attempt this. Nothing's worse than to be forced to walk in this battle. Although there's no exit to this place, you can actually get out from the scene using -Town Portal-. Take advantage of this. You can try casting a few -Fire Wall- and leave through the Town Portal, with Duriel kept burning in the flame. Sure, it would take many -Town Portal- scrolls to do this, but remember, life is more precious than hundreds of -Town Portal- scrolls. Sometimes you just can't afford to die, especially when you're in Nightmare/Hell difficulty. What's more if you're playing a hardcore character. Dying is certainly no longer an option. Here's another one. The first time I beat Duriel is using sorceress Storm. At that time, I didn't realise the power of -Static Field- yet. But Storm was already at level 24 by the time she reached Duriel (too fond of hanging around Arcane Sanctuary to collect goodies). So, with the newly gained power, I used -Frost Nova-, -Thunderstorm- and -Blizzard- to defeat him. It's quite an easy battle I would say. I first casted -Frost Nova- to chill him, then -Thunderstorm- and started running. It wasn't long until he recovered from -Frost Nova-, so I casted another one. But this time, I added -Blizzard- to deal more damage. I kept doing this for some time and Duriel fell not much later. So, you can try this method if you found that none of the above methods applicable. When it's Hell/Nightmare, Duriel seems to have high resistance against cold. That means Duriel's on steroid. Well hopefully by then, you already have a pair of 'Fastest Walk/Run' boots. It is the boots that determine the outcome of this battle. You will have to try something extremely risky, but it works. When he's charging towards you, run diagonally from him. Example, if he's charging from north, run to east or west. But you cannot do it too soon. You have to time your dash- away exactly when you see he is going to stop his charge and start his attack stance. That's less than a second to do it. It's tough but if you're used to 'timing' games, it should be a piece of cake. If you're fast enough, you'll be able to dodge his charge attack. When you see him stopped to recover, that's when you cast spells. This is why I said that this battle requires pure skill and some good luck. If you have listened to me and have been practising with dodging/avoiding by running, you will be able to do it. ----------------- IX. HIGH COUNCILS ----------------- Level : 24 Attack : Normal Physical/Elemental (depends on enchantment) Special : Lightning Zap Heal Hydra Exp : 3480 Spell : -Frost Nova-, -Static Field-, -Blaze-, -Thunder Storm-, -Blizzard-, -Meteor-. [ Strategy ] : This battle can be easy, can be tough. It depends on the preparations that you've done beforehand. Let's get straight to the map. The map for Travincal is not random, but the shrines are. The position of the Blackened Temple is always North and the waypoint is always at the west. 'W' indicates water area. 'WP' means waypoint. Area (h) is actually the Blackened Temple. The other alphabets will be explained later on. ______________________________________________________________________ | (d) | | ______________________________________________________________ | | | ______ _______ ____________________ _______ ______ | | | | | _| | | | | |_ | | | | | | | (f) | | Compelling | | (f) | | | | | | | |_ | | Orb | | _| | | | | | | | | | (h) | | | | | | | | | |_______| |____________________| |_______| | | | | | | | _____ _____ _____ _____ | | | | | | | (f) | | | | | | | | | | (f) | | | | | | | | W | | W | | W | | W | | | | | | | |______| |_____| |_____| |_____| |_____| |______| | | | | (g) | | | | ____ ________ __________________ ________ ____ | | | | | | | | | ________ | | | | | | | | | | | | W | | | | | | W | | | | | | | | WP | |________| | | | | |________| | | | | |(c)| | | | | | | | (e)| |(c)| | | | | (e) | | (e) | | (e) | | | | | | |____| | |________| | |____| | | | |___________________ | | ___________________| | | | ____ ______ | |______ ______| | ______ ____ | | | | | | | | |______ | | ______| | | | | | | | | | | | W | | | | | | W | | | | | | | | | |______| | | | | |______| | | | | | | | |_ ____________ |_| |_| ____________ _| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (b) | | (b) | | | | (b) | | (b) | | | | | |______| |____________| | | |____________| |______| | | | | | | | | | |____________________________| |____________________________| | | | |__________________________ (a) __________________________| |_____ _____| | | | | No matter what strategies you may want to employ, the first thing to do is to secure the waypoint. Make sure you know the way back when things get ugly later. Once you have done that, you will have quite a bunch of enemies to take care of. Use your best tactics against them, be it -Glacial Spike-/-Chain Lightning- or -Glacial Spike-/-Blaze-. It doesn't matter. As long as you keep yourself on the move, then it's fine. Those -Meteor- and -Blizzard- will have a hard time hitting you this way. The best sequence to traverse this place is of course, in alphabetical order. It is to prevent from fighting a large crowd at the same time. The center area is the most dangerous to explore, so I suggest after securing area (a) and (b), go fight the monsters in area (c). Area (d) is very close to the Blackened Temple, so keep a low profile when you're there. After finished (d), go all the way back to (a) and start from there. Area (e) may be a bit challenging, but you now have a wider area to fight. You gain advantage by that. Lure a few of them back to area (b) and kill them. Finish them off little by little. Once cleared, sneak into area (f) through the sideways. You don't want to attract the attention of the high councils yet. Kill the rest of the monsters. When you have done all of the above, by right, it will be just you and the councils in this whole area. Slowly, approach area (g) from (e). Kill the water watchers if you want. Stand still in area (g) for a while. If it doesn't attract anyone, move a step forward to the Blackened Temple. Wait some more. If there's still no one's coming out, repeat until someone does. If done right, it should first attract a council member. It is easy to kill him as he can be frozen. So start with -Ice Blast- or -Glacial Spike-, then a -Fire Wall- and quickly follow up with -Ice Blast-/-Glacial Spike- again. Keep him frozen until he's dead. Repeat the luring process to attract some more of the councils. The next in line should be the High Council Ismail Vilehand, and he may be followed by one or two council members as well. If it is so, then I would suggest that you lure them all the way back to the waypoint. It's the safest location that I can think of. Once you get them to the waypoint, it's time to make them regret for following you. Use your most powerful spells against them without the concern for mana. Cast like 10 -Blizzard- in a row or place -Meteor- like crazy and let them eat all of it. When you're out of mana, do NOT hesitate to go back to Ormus for refill. I suppose the 'correct' way to deal with them is actually using -Frost Nova-/-Static Field-. But heck, a chance like this only comes once in a blue moon. Do you really want to waste this opportunity by using the ol' boring way? Go have fun with the mindless spell- casting, because that's what playing the sorceress is all about! If you have successfully killed him, then you will have no problem with the rest. Remember, you have to kill all three High Councils in order to complete the 'Blackened Temple' quest. " The temple's power is in naught. " ----------- X. MEPHISTO ----------- Level : 24 Attack : Normal Physical Special : Charged Bolt Lightning Ice Sphere Poison Explosion (when near) Exp : 10714 Spell : -Frost Nova-, -Static Field-, -Blaze-, -Fire Wall-, -Thunder Storm-, -Blizzard-, -Meteor-. [ Strategy ] : In my opinion, this is the most challenging battle in the game. I will explain to you why very soon. But first take a look at the map. 'L' indicates lava area. Mephisto will always be at the North, while the rest of the High Councils reside in area (a), (b) and (c) separately. Area (d) is the panel that will activate the route to the Portal. But you must defeat Mephisto first before you can do that. The rest of the alphabets will be explained later on. (a) Bremm Sparkfist - aura enchanted, lightning enchanted (b) Maffer Dragonhand - extra strong, extra fast (c) Wyand Voidbringer - mana burn, teleportation ______________________ | | | Treasures | | | | | | | __________| Mephisto |__________ | | | | | L | | L | ____|_____| |_____|____ | | | | ______|__ _________________ _________________ __|______ | | | | | | | |________ | (d) | ________| | | | | |______| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (b) | | (c) | | | | Portal | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ______ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (g) | | | | | (h) | (i) | | | | (j) | | |_______________| ____| | | |____ |_______________| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | L | | L | | | | | | | | | |__________| |__________| | | | | (a) | |_________________ _________________| | | L | | L | | | |______________| (e) |______________| | | | | (f) | | | | entrance | | | |_________ _________| |______________________| What's difficult is not having to deal with Mephisto, but it's the magnificent trio that give the most trouble. Fight all three of them together and you have no choice but to restart the game. What makes them such a bad-ass is none other than their healing factor. Have the three united and they will heal among themselves. Then it will take forever to finish this fight. So the best strategy to employ is 'divide and conquer'. Take them out one by one. The first High Council you'll meet is Bremm Sparkfist, who is enchanted with lightning and 'Blessed Aim' aura. He can be found in area (a). It's not unusual that he's accompanied by a few of the council members and sometimes a few Blood Lords as well. Get to area (e) and start from there. Move step by step towards (a), hopefully that will attract the small ones first. Kill them all with Bremm being the last to remain standing. There is a general way to deal with all of the High Councils. But it requires -Blaze- to do it. If you do not have -Blaze-, be in for a tough fight because I'm not sure how to do it either! Before I forget, let's take a break and talk about something else. In my previous FAQs, whenever I mention a battle being difficult, there will always be someone sending me emails like 'Nah, he was nothing. I beat the shit out of him in seconds. You just don't know how the game works. Ask me any question and I will answer you'. Mails like this never cease to amuse me. What I really meant was it is difficult to come up with a solution that has the minimum requirements in order to complete. Sure I can easily say 'Level up to 50 and you will have no problem' or 'Fight the monsters in the final dungeon so that they will drop the Excalibur'. But that is not the solution what most are looking for, and definitely not the way I'm gonna do it. I'm trying to see things as what a normal kid who has little or no previous gaming experience would see as difficult. It's also my way of saying 'Hey kid, you're not the only one. I think he's tough too!'. So don't think of me as a loser or something. I certainly have no problem finishing the game. But I do welcome any other solutions that will help the readers to decide which strategy is the best to employ. Please send it to this email address - samminh@hotmail.com. I think you already know how to use -Blaze- by now. Stick to the walls when running and make him chase after you. Simple as that. But if you do not have -Blaze-, either buy a staff with -Blaze-, or you can try the following methods. [ Bremm Sparkfist ] : He is lightning enchanted so if you want to use -Static Field-, make sure you put a lot of points into it already. If not, you will fall faster than he does. Multi-hitting spells like -Inferno- are totally out. The best spell to use, in my opinion, is -Blizzard-. Although it's not as good as -Blaze- but it's okay. To do it, cast like 3 -Blizzard- in a row along his path. Or better, since he'll be chasing after you definitely, cast -Blizzard- right in front of you. That will make him catch the cold from the beginning till the end. When Bremm is killed, you now have a choice to choose your path. Choose either to fight Wyand Voidbringer (mana burn, teleportation) which is on the RIGHT or Maffer Dragonhand (extra strong, extra fast) which is on the LEFT. Both choices are equally sucks but if I have to make a choice, I would choose the latter. Of course if you think you're strong enough, take them both out. [ Maffer Dragonhand ] : It wasn't kidding when it says that he is extra fast. My sorceress is already equipped with the 'fast run/walk' boots and yet, that guy sticks to her like a leech! I'm telling you, that lewd act can be considered as sexual harassment already if it happens in the real world. So the opportunity to cast a spell safely is really rare. To do it, you have to keep running at all time. When you see him stop to hit you, or stop to cast -Hydra- or heal, that's when you also stop and cast a spell or two. -Blizzard- is not that effective anymore as he will only be hit once, or twice the most. -Static Field- would be the ideal spell to use. When you have the opportunity to cast a spell, you're normally not too far from him. Perfect setup for -Static Field-. But using -Static Field- is not enough though. You will need some other spells preferably to deliver the final blow. So use your most powerful spell against him when he's dying. -Glacial Spike- is a good choice. [ Wyand Voidbringer ] : Mana burn should scares you off a bit, but if you are already a master of.. running(?), it's not really a problem. What should be the concern is his 'teleportation' ability. At first, I didn't notice the other 'feature' that the enemy's teleport can do. They normally died before they could do it. But it's not until this battle that I realised that when he teleports, he regains health as well! I bet this is what really happened : Teleport is actually a time-distortion process. He freezes the time. Then casually, he would take a break and grab a snack from the fridge; sit back and watch the TV or something; and then continue to fight again. He must have forgotten where he started so he figured anywhere will do. We wouldn't know all this because the time has stopped. So, that would explain how he regained health and ended up in different places every time he did it. (Damn, why can't the sorceress do the same, huh?) To deal with him, you can use the same strategy as with Maffer in the beginning. When you hurt him enough, he will start teleporting. Try to get him to area (f) if you can, as to take advantage of the small space there. Now stand right in the middle, he will teleport back and forth within the small area. Continue to cast -Static Field-, he will be within range to take damage. As for the finishing blow, the best spell that I can think of is -Thunder Storm-. -Thunder Storm- will auto-track his position and you can rely on the tempest to end all of his misery. Having a large mana pool really helps in this battle. Time is a main factor as you will want to finish the fight as soon as possible. The longer you take, the more they will heal themselves. Mana potions and rejuvenation potions will truly make a difference. But if you do not have it, it's not a big deal either. When you're out of mana, go back to level 2 and let -Warmth- do its job. But you must expect that the enemy will also heal himself down there. So plan to finish him off with one good shot. The best strategy to deal with them all is of course, to combine all of the methods mentioned above. If you have all the spells mentioned, then it should be a piece of cake. Cast -Blaze- and -Thunder Storm- in the beginning and starts running. When you see him paused, cast either -Static Field- or -Blizzard-. Then continue running. -Blaze- and -Thunder Storm- will severely do damage on him. He will eventually fall before you know it. -------------------------------------------------------- That's about it for the appetizers. It's time for the main course - The Lord of Hatred. Of all the attacks that he has, the one that you should look out for is his Ice Sphere attack. (Again, I made up the names) It travels in demonic speed and the damage usually leads to an instant death. Even if you manage to survive it, it will leave you chilled for a while. That will make it hard for you to avoid his other forthcoming attacks. I have come across a few solutions suggested in the forum. They would advise that you take the advantage of the lava pits as to keep a safe distance from Mephisto. I think it's a GREAT idea, you should try it too. Try to make Mephisto get to area (g) and you stay on the other side of the pit - area (i) or (j). Launch anything that you like since most of the sorceress spells are ranged. There is even one guy who manage to get Mephisto trapped between the stairs in area (g), so he's immobile for the rest of the fight. What a great move! But personally, I wasn't able to do it. But it's definitely worth trying. I have a method of my own on how to deal with him. This is exactly how I will do it. I first lure him into area (b), then I will quickly move to area (i) and wait. By right, he will be on the other side of the wall-area (h). I will know when he's there because I can see the spell effects from the other side. Now, I will quickly charge to the doorway and cast a spell that stays on like -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall- or -Meteor- on him. Soon after, I will quickly turn back to area (i) again. The spell will continue to take effect while I seek protection from the other side of the wall. So I don't have to worry about the deadly Ice Sphere attack. If at anytime he realise my trick and decides to chase after me, I will run past him and get to area (h), with him in area (i) instead. Just when he wants to prove that he's not as stupid as I think he is, I repeat the same ol' trick again. Poor fella, I really pity him. No cure for stupidity yet. That's how I defeated the almighty Mephisto. As for the best way to deal with him, it's really your choice. My method would be a bit time consuming but safe, and the suggestions from the forum is more straightforward and fast. Up to you. --------- XI. IZUAL --------- Level : 24 Attack : Cold Sword Special : Frost Nova Exp : 22760 Spell : -Frost Nova-, -Static Field-, -Blaze-, -Thunder Storm-. [ Strategy ] : For a fallen angel, I'm quite disappointed with him. He is not much of a threat since he only has two kinds of attack, both are cold-based. I already boosted the cold resistance to MAX, so HE'S the one who has the trouble killing me! Although a strategy may not be needed, I will make notes of it anyway. Imitate him by casting -Frost Nova- to slow him down. Then cast -Static Field- to do damage and continue to run. Repeat the same process and he will eventually dies. You can also use -Blaze- to do it. As usual, cast -Blaze-, get him into the fire and the flames will soon consume what's left of him. Or if you're too lazy to do anything, cast -Thunder Storm-. You can just concentrate on running and refresh when -Thunder Storm- runs out. The hell thing must have gotten into him. I've tried standing still just to test out how damaging his Cold Sword is. But instead of hitting me with the sword, he casted -Frost Nova-. Yet I continued to stay within range, hoping for his sword attack. But what he stupidly did was either stand still and do nothing, or cast -Frost Nova- again. He never seems to learn that he would kill me a lot faster if he uses his sword instead. In addition, what's IRONIC is that he called Tyrael a fool. Well frankly, I really don't think he's qualified to call anyone's a fool except himself. The lack of rationality and not to mention, the losing of his sanity may be due to the fact that he lost his most prized possession - the holy runeblade 'Azurewrath'. If he gets his sword back, then maybe, he will be more of a challenge. " He was corrupted to the core. I pity him. " ------------------------- XII. HEPHASTO THE ARMORER ------------------------- Level : 24 Attack : Hammer Special : Curse - Amplify Damage Exp : 10714 Spell : -Frost Nova-, -Static Field-, -Blaze-, -Thunder Storm-. [ Strategy ] : I'll get straight to the point. This guy is similar to The Smith, but beefed-up in every single way. He is magic resistant, extra strong and can sometimes inflict the 'Amplify Damage' curse if he manage to land a hit. As with what you use against The Smith, use -Blaze- to kill him. It's the best spell to use. If you don't have -Blaze-, try the following methods instead. -Frost Nova-, -Static Field- and run. Repeat that three simple steps to kill him. -Thunder Storm- works well too. Cast it and concentrate on running. Refresh when needed. If you're wondering about other strategies, consider also the use of -Teleport- because it can be of help too. One thing to remember is to bring along some stamina potions with you. There isn't a place nearby that you can actually paused the battle and take a break. But of course, you can always cast a -Town Portal- back if you want. Now, if you're inflicted with the curse, avoid any chance that you may be hit again. Even if you manage to get life to full, he can take you down in one shot. Do not take the risk, especially when playing in Nightmare/ Hell difficulty, or when playing a hardcore character. Either let the curse times itself out or go back to town and get healing from Jamella. ------------ XIII. DIABLO ------------ Level : 26 Attack : Normal Physical Special : Ice Fist Lightning Inferno Flame Nova Fire Serpent Fire Wall Bone Cage (when you try to escape through -Town Portal-) Exp : 10714 Spell : -Static Field-, -Thunder Storm-, -Blizzard-, -Fire Wall-, -Meteor-, -Frost Nova-. [ Strategy ] : Terms like Lightning Inferno, Flame Nova and Fire Serpent was not originated by me. So does the info on the Bone Cage, as I never had the chance to try it out myself. It was all taken from the DiabloII forum. However, the strategies provided here are figured out by myself. A map will drawn out to facilitate the explanation. Note that the map may be slightly different for everyone. But the main idea is still there, try to adjust a little bit. There are 5 seals in the Chaos Sanctuary and you will need to break all 5 in order to release Diablo. But that's not all. You will also need to defeat the 3 guardians which will appear in area (a), (b), (c) when you activate the corresponding seal. Only then will the Lord of Terror appear in the the center of the map. a) Lord de Seis - extra strong, aura enchanted, thief b) Grand Vizier of Chaos - extra strong, fire enchanted c) Infector of Souls - extra fast, spectral hit ______________________ | | | (1) | | ____________| | | | (a) |____________ | | | | |____________ | | | ____________| | | | | | | | | | _______ _________| |_____ _____ | | | | | | | (2) |_____| |_________| (4) |_ |____ | | (b) Diablo (c) | ____| | | _____ _________ _______| | (3) | | | | (5) | |_______| |_________ | |_____| | | | __________ | | | | | | | _____| | | | | | | | | | | |____| | | ____ | | | | | | | | | | _____| | | | | | | | |__________| | | | | | | entrance | |________ ________| | | | | No matter what you may want to do, don't activate any of the seals yet. Concentrate on clearing the WHOLE area first. As this is the final battle, it's not going to be easy. The most fearsome enemy here is definitely the Oblivion Knights. They can cast a variety of curses, the homing Bone Spirit, and the deadly elemental projectile. It is these guys that make it hard for hardcore characters to survive until the next difficulty. Two shots of projectile and you're gone. This is why having high resistance in this place really helps. With them so powerful, the only one that will truly find them desirable would be the necromancer. Revive a few of them and the necro is unstoppable. At this time I feel like the game is trying to tell me something; that the necro is far more superior when it comes to magic and wizardry. Frankly, I don't have a lvl30 necro yet. But the potential of Revive and Bone Spirit is so evident, I begin to feel.. envious. I now consider the necro a character worthy to explore. Who knows, maybe I will come up with a necro guide next. If you have problems dealing with the enemies here, you can follow the same strategies used to deal with the guardians. After you have cleared the whole place, you can open the seals in whichever sequence you desire. If you ask me, I would do Lord de Seis first, followed by Grand Visier of Chaos and finally Infector of Souls. This way I won't be too exhausted when fighting Diablo later. Seal 1 : Lord de Seis Seal 2 : Grand Vizier of Chaos Seal 3 : nothing Seal 4 : nothing seal 5 : Infector of Souls Right after you open the seals, quickly make your way back to the center area. You will have a wider place to fight there. [ Lord de Seis ] : The hardest among the three. One thing to note is his Thief ability. I don't know whether it has to do with the aura or not. But all I know is that when you're influenced by the aura and if he manage to hit you, a potion in the belt will drop to the ground. Of course, the potion is not gone and you can still pick it up. But what it's trying to do is to make it hard for you to heal. You will have to access the potions in your inventory instead. Hope that won't make it too troublesome for you. To kill him, it may be an extremely risky task. It depends on what spells that you have. The ideal choice would be -Fire Wall-. If not -Blizzard-, -Meteor- and -Thunder Storm- will also do. Here's how to do it : Stop at your spot and let him settle himself first. When you see him launch his first attack, start running. When the opportunity to cast a spell arise, cast the spells mentioned above. -Fire Wall- will do the most damage, as he will be standing still. But what's risky now is that you must keep yourself within his sight. That is to make him stay at his position. You can do it by running in circle. If not, he will chase after you and leave the -Fire Wall-. Then you will have to repeat the whole process. So a pair of 'fast walk/run' boots is highly desirable. The faster, the better as it makes it easier to dodge the Bone Spirit. [ Grand Vizier of Chaos ] : -Blizzard- is the spell to use here. His weakness will be revealed when he cast the homing missiles that drain mana. For the best results, do this. As you will deal with him together with his gang, get near them and cast a good -Frost Nova-. With all of them chilled, cast a -Blizzard- or two right in the midst of them. Then run in circles around them. They will be confused with your ever- changing position and will stay within the -Blizzard- area to take damage. Piece of cake. [ Infector of Souls ] : You can use the same strategy used to deal with Grand Vizier. ------------------------------------------------------ If you want to witness Diablo's arrival, kill the last guardian right in the center area. The earth will starts shaking and the walls will start trembling. Soon after, you will hear someone mumbling something and you will know that the Lord of Terror has come. Someone in the forum suggested to throw in some of the best spells like -Fire Wall-, -Blizzard- and -Meteor- in where Diablo will appear. Some even reported that he will be half dead when he comes out if you apply this trick. But I didn't try it. He's not that difficult in my opinion. The key to win this battle is to have a good grasp of his fighting patterns. If you keep your distance, he will either cast Fire Wall/Flame Nova or he will charge and attack you. When you're near him, he will either cast Fire Serpent or Lightning Inferno. Sometimes, he will use Ice Fist if you're close enough. As of how damaging these attacks are, I'll leave it to your discovery. When you know how he fights, it's not difficult to figure out the way to defeat him. This principle applies to other characters as well. If you can, try to figure out a way to defeat him on your own. You will feel more satisfied since this is already the last battle. But as always, I will still write down my way of defeating him. Here it goes. Run around for a while in the beginning. This is to reduce the initial lag. When you see things are getting smoother, it's time to fight. Repeat the following procedures : Stay out of sight, meaning the only one you will see on the screen is the character that you're playing. But have a good estimation of where he is, and in what direction will he be charging at you. When you see him charging at you, dash away diagonally. You will find him paused and basically do nothing for a second or so. This will be the best opportunity to cast your most effective spells against him : -Static Field-, -Fire Wall-, -Blizzard-, -Thunder Storm-, -Meteor-. But don't be too greedy, though. Run when it's time and remain out of sight again. Simple and easy. I'm not sure if I underestimated him. But if you have problems dealing with him, do NOT hesitate to send me an email, got it? ================== SORCERESS SKILLS ================== I have absolutely no idea how to do the skills growth charts. But luckily, Larry, who happens to be another DiabloII FAQ writer, was kind enough to let me 'borrow' some of his works. What a great guy, huh! There is no one way to develop a sorceress, as it really depends on how you want to play. Quite a number of factors need to be considered when taking up a skill. First, you must decide how you're going to use the sorceress : Cooperative(CoOp), Single Player(SP), or Player vs Player(PvP). If you're playing CoOp, match the skills according to your fight buddies. In SP, you got to have spells that works for both the enemies in groups as well as for boss fights. When it's PvP, bear in mind that some spells may not work well against other human players. But the ultimate test is, to develop a sorceress who can deal with ALL types of monster AND other characters as well. Sounds impossible since the amount of skill points is so limited but really, the ultimate sorceress does exist. However, I'm still doing research on it, so there's not going to be a level up guide yet. Throughout the guide, I'm going to introduce concepts which you might already know. Concepts that you're familiar with but no one comes up with the 'official' terms yet. Well what the heck, I'll be the first to do so. Laugh at it if you want, but what matters is that you get what I'm trying to say. Basically, sorceress spells can be categorised into 5 main types. Active : Instant spells. Damage is usually done right after it was casted. Often comes out as projectiles. Examples - -Ice Bolt-, -Fire Ball-, -Lightning-, -Frozen Orb-. Third Party : Better known as 'summon' spells. There are 4 spells that have the word 'summon' in the spell description, namely - -Blizzard-, -Thunder Storm-, -Meteor-, -Hydra-. Some may refer it as 'cast and forget spells', 'hit and run spells' or 'spells that stayed on'. But it's the same thing. Defensive : Also known as protective spells. It serves to protect the sorceress from possible harms. Example - -Frozen Armor-, -Chilling Armor-, -Energy Shield-. Utility : Usually not used for offensive purpose. But it helps by offering strategical advantages in some tacky situations. Example - -Telekinesis-, -Teleport-. Passive : You already know what it is. I hope you get the rough idea about this. Further explanation will be provided as we go through the skills one by one. ======================================================================= COLD SPELLS ======================================================================= -------- Ice Bolt -------- Creates a magical bolt of ice that damages and slows your enemies. ========================================= Slvl Cold Damage Cold Length Mana ========================================= 1 3- 5 6.0 sec 3 2 4- 6 7.4 sec 3 3 5- 7 8.8 sec 3 4 6- 8 10.2 sec 3 5 7- 9 11.6 sec 3 6 8-10 13.0 sec 3 7 9-11 14.4 sec 3 8 10-12 15.8 sec 3 9 11-13 17.2 sec 3 10 12-14 18.6 sec 3 11 13-15 20.0 sec 3 12 14-16 21.4 sec 3 13 15-17 22.8 sec 3 14 16-18 24.2 sec 3 15 17-19 25.6 sec 3 16 18-20 27.0 sec 3 17 19-21 28.4 sec 3 18 20-22 29.8 sec 3 19 21-23 31.2 sec 3 20 22-24 32.6 sec 3 ----------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Chills enemy Low mana cost [ Weakness ] : Low Damage Hard to aim Slow Single hit [ When to use ] : As it is hard to aim, it's advisable that you map -Ice Bolt- onto the left mouse click when use. However, it's not to be perceived as a useless spell at later stage. The main usage of -Ice Bolt- is to chill, so you have to make comparison with other cold spells to decide which has the best cold length. If the cold length for -Ice Bolt- is greater than -Frost Nova-, then use it instead of -Frost Nova- when dealing with bosses. [ Comments ] : This is one of the skills that you get to choose from when you get the first skill point. If you happen to find a good staff early on but equipping it will make you have no spell to use (like switching the initial firebolt staff with other staff). Then you can't go wrong by putting a point into this skill, as it is a pre-requisite for -Glacial Spike-. ( Unless of course you have no intention of getting -Glacial Spike-) [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ------------ Frozen Armor ------------ Increase your defense rating and freezes enemies that hit you. ================================================= Slvl Def Bonus Duration Freeze for Mana ================================================= 1 30% 120 sec 1.2 sec 7 2 35% 132 sec 1.3 sec 7 3 40% 144 sec 1.4 sec 7 4 45% 156 sec 1.5 sec 7 5 50% 170 sec 1.6 sec 7 6 55% 184 sec 1.7 sec 7 7 60% 198 sec 1.8 sec 7 8 65% 212 sec 1.9 sec 7 9 70% 224 sec 2.0 sec 7 10 75% 236 sec 2.1 sec 7 11 80% 248 sec 2.2 sec 7 12 85% 260 sec 2.4 sec 7 13 90% 272 sec 2.5 sec 7 14 95% 284 sec 2.6 sec 7 15 100% 296 sec 2.7 sec 7 16 105% 308 sec 2.8 sec 7 17 110% 320 sec 3.0 sec 7 18 115% 332 sec 3.2 sec 7 19 120% 344 sec 3.3 sec 7 20 125% 356 sec 3.4 sec 7 ------------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Defensive [ Strength ] : Freezes enemy Defense bonus [ Weakness ] : Only works for melee Deals no damage Freeze doesn't work against bosses and human players [ When to use ] : Have it activated when you want enemies to be frozen. One of such occasion will happen when you encounter enemies like 'Fallen' and 'Flayer'. These enemies, you don't just want them killed. You want them destroyed thoroughly so that they cannot be revived. To do this, you need them to be frozen first, then kill it. The -Frozen Armor- can take care of the freezing, if you don't have -Ice Blast- or -Glacial Spike-. [ Comments ] : As the description says, -Frozen Armor- freezes enemies that hit you. This is the main difference between -Frozen Armor- and the other two in the series of cold armors: -Shiver Armor- and -Chilling Armor-. While it would serve adequately in the beginning, it will quickly becomes limited in terms of functionality. First of all, -Frozen Armor- will only freezes enemies; they will not receive any damage from -Frozen Armor-. Moreover, bosses and human players cannot be frozen. So it's not much of use against them. The defense bonus may yet function, but still it's relatively low compared to the other two. If you consider to put another point into it, I'd suugest that you reserve it for -Shiver Armor-. [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ---------- Frost Nova ---------- Creates an expanding ring of ice that damages and slows all nearby enemies. ========================================= Slvl Cold Damage Cold Length Mana ========================================= 1 2- 4 8 sec 9 2 4- 6 9 sec 11 3 6- 8 10 sec 13 4 8-10 11 sec 15 5 10-12 12 sec 17 6 12-14 13 sec 19 7 14-16 14 sec 21 8 16-18 15 sec 23 9 18-20 16 sec 25 10 20-22 17 sec 27 11 22-24 18 sec 29 12 24-26 19 sec 31 13 26-28 20 sec 33 14 28-30 21 sec 35 15 30-32 22 sec 37 16 32-34 23 sec 39 17 34-36 24 sec 41 18 36-38 25 sec 43 19 38-40 26 sec 45 20 40-42 27 sec 47 ----------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Chills enemy Excellent cold length Fast Wide radius No aiming required Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : Low damage High mana increase per skill point [ When to use ] : Mainly used when dealing with bosses. -Frost Nova- has the best cold length at Slvl 1. Coupled with its speed and wide area of effect, it's indeed a highly favorable spell to use. With it so effective, you may also want to use it when dealing with a large horde of low magic- resistance monsters. Sometimes, you don't need to freeze the enemies, just chill them will be good enough. Moreover, you will be able to chill more monsters with -Frost Nova- than you can freeze with -Glacial Spike-. [ Comments ] : Possibly the best supportive spell in the game. It set the monsters up, making them stay closely to each other. Not only the sorceress, but other characters will also benefit from the chilling power of -Frost Nova-. One possible strategy might be : the sorceress will first 'arrange' the monsters into one big pack with -Frost Nova-. Kill one of them and the necromancer can cast Corpse Explosion when the monsters move right within the radius. Possibly replaced only by -Frozen Orb- in terms of functionality. But other than that, I strongly recommend -Frost Nova- for both single player and multiplayer game. ( It's not like you have much of a choice either, it's a pre-requisite for those damaging wide area effect high level cold spells that you're dying to get) [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point --------- Ice Blast --------- Creates a magical sphere of ice that damages and freezes your enemy. ========================================= Slvl Cold Damage Freezes For Mana ========================================= 1 10 3.0 sec 6.0 2 17 3.2 sec 6.5 3 24 3.4 sec 7.0 4 31 3.6 sec 7.5 5 38 3.8 sec 8.0 6 45 4.0 sec 8.5 7 52 4.2 sec 9.0 8 59 4.4 sec 9.5 9 66 4.6 sec 10.0 10 73 4.8 sec 10.5 11 80 5.0 sec 11.0 12 87 5.2 sec 11.5 13 94 5.4 sec 12.0 14 101 5.6 sec 12.0 15 108 5.8 sec 13.0 16 115 6.0 sec 13.0 17 122 6.2 sec 14.0 18 129 6.4 sec 14.0 19 136 6.6 sec 15.0 20 143 6.8 sec 15.0 ----------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Freezes enemy Better freeze time [ Weakness ] : Hard to aim Slow Single hit [ When to use ] : Has a better freeze time compared to -Glacial Spike- at Slvl1. That makes -Ice Blast- a prefered choice when freezing a single enemy for supportive purpose. One of the example is when coupled with -Fire Wall-. You can cast -Ice Blast- to freeze enemy in place while the real damage is done by -Fire Wall- casted right beneath him. This way, you will enjoy a lower mana cost and a longer freeze time. [ Comments ] : You will most probably get it for it's a pre- requisite for -Glacial Spike- and -Shiver Armor-. So the question is not whether to get it or not. It's more like whether to put more points into it or not. Putting more than one point into this skill, I would really think twice. This situation may occur when you only want to get -Shiver Armor- and have no intention to get -Glacial Spike-. The only freeze spell that you're going to get is -Ice Blast-. If it so, think about this for a second - enemies often come in packs and attack in packs. If you want to put another point into -Ice Blast-, it would be MUCH better to reserve it for -Glacial Spike-. You will get better damage per skill level and the bonus of radius effect. It cost exactly the same - one skill point. [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ------------ Shiver Armor ------------ Increases your defense rating, freezes and damages enemies that hit you. ============================================================== Slvl Def Bonus Duration Cold Damage Cold Length Mana ============================================================== 1 45% 120 sec 6- 8 4 sec 11 2 51% 132 sec 8-10 4 sec 11 3 57% 144 sec 10-12 4 sec 11 4 63% 156 sec 12-14 4 sec 11 5 69% 168 sec 14-16 4 sec 11 6 75% 180 sec 16-18 4 sec 11 7 81% 192 sec 18-20 4 sec 11 8 87% 204 sec 20-22 4 sec 11 9 93% 216 sec 22-24 4 sec 11 10 99% 228 sec 24-26 4 sec 11 11 105% 240 sec 26-28 4 sec 11 12 111% 252 sec 28-30 4 sec 11 13 117% 264 sec 30-32 4 sec 11 14 123% 276 sec 32-34 4 sec 11 15 129% 288 sec 34-36 4 sec 11 16 135% 300 sec 36-38 4 sec 11 17 141% 312 sec 38-40 4 sec 11 18 147% 324 sec 40-42 4 sec 11 19 153% 336 sec 42-44 4 sec 11 20 159% 348 sec 44-46 4 sec 11 -------------------------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Defensive [ Strength ] : Chills enemy Best defense bonus Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : Only works for melee Low damage [ When to use ] : You can only cast one ice armor at one time. So choose your armors wisely. Cast it when there's more melee enemies than ranged. Also, use it when dealing with bosses and human players. I have heard someone killed Duriel with -Shiver Armor-. When it's used for PvP, -Shiver Armor- will chill enemy when melee attacked. That will prevent stunlocks. [ Comments ] : It's already working fine at Slvl1. If you want to get more of it, I'd suggest that you use items to boost the skill levels. Also wear equipments that have 'thorns' ability as well. It would raise the total damage dealt per hit. Just let the damage accumulate and -Shiver Armor- may actually kill. [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ------------- Glacial Spike ------------- Creates a magical ice comet that freezes or kills nearby enemies. ====================================================== Slvl Radius Cold Damage Freezes For Mana ====================================================== 1 2.6 yards 16- 24 2.0 sec 10.0 2 2.6 yards 23- 31 2.1 sec 10.5 3 2.6 yards 30- 38 2.2 sec 11.0 4 2.6 yards 37- 45 2.3 sec 11.5 5 2.6 yards 44- 52 2.4 sec 12.0 6 2.6 yards 51- 59 2.6 sec 12.0 7 2.6 yards 58- 66 2.7 sec 13.0 8 2.6 yards 65- 73 2.8 sec 13.0 9 2.6 yards 72- 80 2.9 sec 14.0 10 2.6 yards 79- 87 3.0 sec 14.0 11 2.6 yards 86- 94 3.2 sec 15.0 12 2.6 yards 93-101 3.3 sec 15.0 13 2.6 yards 100-108 3.4 sec 16.0 14 2.6 yards 107-115 3.5 sec 16.0 15 2.6 yards 114-122 3.6 sec 17.0 16 2.6 yards 121-129 3.8 sec 17.0 17 2.6 yards 128-136 3.9 sec 18.0 18 2.6 yards 135-143 4.0 sec 18.0 19 2.6 yards 142-150 4.1 sec 19.0 20 2.6 yards 149-157 4.2 sec 19.0 ------------------------------------------------------ [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Freezes enemy Area attack [ Weakness ] : Fixed radius Low increase in freeze time per skill level [ When to use ] : This is the highest level freezing spell for the sorceress. Proven useful on many occasions when enemies are too dangerous to let them do anything at all. It's also used to 'vaporise' most enemies to prevent them from leaving a corpse thus getting resurrected. The perfect choice for left button spell. [ Comments ] : As useful as it might be, but I would choose NOT to upgrade this skill with more than one point. The reason is mainly because of the insignificant increase in freeze time. Although the damage increase is okay, but there are other spells that give more upgrades per skill point. I use -Glacial Spike- mainly as supportive spell in order for spells like -Fire Wall- and -Blaze- to deal real damage. Besides, there is one hidden attribute that -Glacial Spike- has. It can sometimes cause instant death to a normal enemy. Although it rarely happens, especially with high level enemies, I still want to get the most out of -Glacial Spike- as it has a chance to kill enemy regardless of the life it has left. Imagine, 1 shot of Slvl 1 -Glacial Spike- that does 16-24 damage kills an enemy that has 300 life. I'm getting a huge return here! [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Point -------- Blizzard -------- Summons massive shard of ice to destroy your enemies. ====================================== Slvl Cold Damage Duration Mana ====================================== 1 16- 24 4 sec 23 2 20- 28 5 sec 24 3 24- 32 6 sec 25 4 28- 36 7 sec 26 5 32- 40 8 sec 27 6 36- 44 9 sec 28 7 40- 48 10 sec 29 8 44- 52 11 sec 30 9 48- 56 12 sec 31 10 52- 60 13 sec 32 11 56- 64 14 sec 33 12 60- 68 15 sec 34 13 64- 72 16 sec 35 14 68- 76 17 sec 36 15 72- 80 18 sec 37 16 76- 84 19 sec 38 17 80- 88 20 sec 39 18 84- 92 21 sec 40 19 88- 96 22 sec 41 20 92-100 23 sec 42 -------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Third Party [ Strength ] : Chills enemy Wide Area attack Great against all enemies [ Weakness ] : Sometimes miss High mana cost [ When to use ] : The only third party spell in the cold tree. But it's all you ever needed as it's already sufficient to use it against all types of monsters. To use it, you must first learn the nature of this spell. When you cast -Blizzard-, the spell will affect a wide area. But within that area, there will be blind spots where no damage will be dealt. If an enemy happens to be on that spot, he will be safe from the damage. Also, the ice shards that fall may need some time to hit target. If the enemy is running too fast, he will be able to run through -Blizzard- without taking any damage at all. So from the two reasons mentioned, it can be deduced that -Blizzard- is best used when dealing with slow moving monsters. Now what could have been better in keeping enemies in slow-mo if not -Frost Nova-? Cast -Frost Nova- first and then -Blizzard-, you will see enemies take more damage. Another question you may ask : What about range attackers? They don't have to move at all. There is always a chance that they may stand right in the blind spots. So does this means that -Blizzard- doesn't work well against them? Well, when it comes to range attackers, I always prefer to use either -Fire Wall- or -Meteor-. But -Blizzard- is not totally hopeless in this situation. One of the main strength of -Blizzard- is that it can stack. So stack up a few -Blizzard- in the same area to eliminate the blind spots. That would make -Blizzard- just as effective as -Fire Wall- or -Meteor-. [ Comments ] : Fantastic spell! For every skill point put into it, not only will you get increase in damage, but also increase in spell duration and cold length as well. The only concern is that the mana cost will also increase. So make sure you do not neglect -Warmth- when taking up this skill. A high level -Warmth- will ensure that you won't be too exhasted after a few cast of -Blizzard-. Above all, I would say that -Blizzard- is a must for those who wish to specialise in cold. ( Let's face it, a spell that bears the same name with the developer itself can't be sucks, can it?) [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Points -------------- Chilling Armor -------------- Increases defense and discharges an ice bolt in retaliation against ranged attackers. ================================================== Slvl Def Bonus Duration Cold Damage Mana ================================================== 1 45% 144 sec 4- 6 17 2 50% 150 sec 5- 7 17 3 55% 156 sec 6- 8 17 4 60% 162 sec 7- 9 17 5 65% 168 sec 8-10 17 6 70% 174 sec 9-11 17 7 75% 180 sec 10-12 17 8 80% 186 sec 11-13 17 9 85% 192 sec 12-14 17 10 90% 198 sec 13-15 17 11 95% 204 sec 14-16 17 12 100% 210 sec 15-17 17 13 105% 216 sec 16-18 17 14 110% 222 sec 17-19 17 15 115% 228 sec 18-20 17 16 120% 234 sec 19-21 17 17 125% 240 sec 20-22 17 18 130% 246 sec 21-23 17 19 135% 252 sec 22-24 17 20 140% 258 sec 23-25 17 -------------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Defensive [ Strength ] : Chills enemy Defense bonus Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : Only retaliates against range attacks Low damage [ When to use ] : When attacked with range attacks, be it magical or non-magical, it will send out ice bolts to the the enemy that does it. Useful when dealing with Quill Rats and Fetish with range attacks. It's also great to have -Chilling Armor- on when duelling with with an Amazon or another sorceress. Both of them use range attacks most of the time. [ Comments ] : A way to counterattack against range attackers - it's something that even the paladin's 'Thorns' aura could not provide. While it does no serious damage, you will at least know where the attacks came from. You can cast -Chain Lightning- towards that direction or summon -Hydra- to take care of it. In addition, the ice bolts do help by slowing the enemies down. That will reduce the frequency of the enemy's attack. [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ---------- Frozen Orb ---------- Creates a magical globe that sprays a torrent of ice bolts to lay waste to your enemies. ========================================= Slvl Cold Damage Cold Length Mana ========================================= 1 32- 35 8 sec 25 2 38- 41 9 sec 27 3 44- 47 10 sec 29 4 50- 53 11 sec 31 5 56- 59 12 sec 33 6 62- 65 13 sec 35 7 68- 71 14 sec 37 8 74- 77 15 sec 39 9 80- 83 16 sec 41 10 86- 89 17 sec 43 11 92- 95 18 sec 45 12 98-101 19 sec 47 13 104-107 20 sec 49 14 110-113 21 sec 51 15 116-119 22 sec 53 16 122-125 23 sec 55 17 128-131 24 sec 57 18 134-137 25 sec 59 19 140-143 26 sec 61 20 146-149 27 sec 63 ----------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Chills enemy Great Damage Covers almost the whole screen Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : Sometimes miss High mana cost [ When to use ] : It's best that you get -Frozen Orb- right at level 30. With it, you can breeze through Nightmare difficulty with ease. However, at later stage such as in Hell difficulty, enemies will have higher HP. It's going to take more than a few casts just to kill a SINGLE enemy. The high mana cost will also hinders you from keep on using this spell as main offense. For that, you will need the help of -Static Field- in reducing mana consumption. With -Static Field- as the main offence and -Frozen Orb- as the starter(to initially chills enemy) and the finisher, Hell will indeed be a lot easier to conquer. Casting Frozen Orb requires some aiming. I have drawn out some diagrams so that you have a hint on how to use effectively. # enemy # you This is one of the most common situation you'll be facing. If you cast -Frozen Orb- aimed at the enemy, chances are the enemy will not take any damage at all. It's simply because the orb itself deals no damage. What damages is actually the ice bolt that's sprayed out of it. So the correct way to do it is to place the pointer right next to the enemy. The ideal location to place the pointer is shown in the next diagram as X. Note that it's better to also keep a small distance when doing it. Then cast -Frozen Orb- with it mapped onto right mouse button, or press together with 'Shift' button if mapped onto left mouse button. # enemy X # you If done right, the enemy will take up to 5 ice bolts from -Frozen Orb-. That make it around 160 damage at Slvl 1. Not bad, huh? With it so damaging, you won't even bother to switch to other spells when you're only dealing with a single enemy. If they attack in groups, try to 'rearrange' their formations into something like this: # E1 # E2 # E3 X # E4 # E5 # E6 # you # E7 This would be the PERFECT setup for -Frozen Orb-. Enemy 4 and 5 will most probably take the most damage, while E1, E2, E3 will manage to get 2-3 hits. E7 will also eat ice but normally only 1 ice bolt will reach it. As for E6, the ice bolts will be blocked by E5 and therefore takes no damage. If you manage to set enemies like this always, you will then get the biggest return for every cast of -Frozen Orb-. You may even end up using less mana that you would have if you opt to use other spells like -Glacial Spike-. Here's another formation which will also optimise the usage of -Frozen Orb- : # E3 # E2 # E1 X # you As you can see, it's a straight line. E1 will usually takes 5 ice bolts while E2 and E3 will only take 2-3 separately. If you want E2 and E3 to take more ice bolts, move closer to E1 when casting the orb. The formations mentioned above are just a few examples. Monsters are ever moving - that will leads to almost unlimited possible setups. So I'll leave the rest to your discovery. [ Comments ] : " It was love at first sight. She looked simply amazing in every way. But after a while, I found out she's not what I expect her to be. So I ditched her. But fortunately, it was not too late for me to realise what a fool I've been. I should've appreciate the way she is. Now we're back together and things have never been the same again. I simply cannot live without her. She's the greatest. " Does this sound familiar to you? That's exactly what happened to me and 'Frozen Orb'. The first look at it, it really stunned me. It makes -Glacial Spike- looks like some kind of a joke. Everything fell with only one cast and I'm very impressed. Well, that's everything, EXCEPT one. It's the one that I'm SUPPOSED to kill! I keep casting -Frozen Orb- but he just won't die! Like he's invincible or something. I got so fed up, I switched back to the good ol' -Glacial Spike- to finish him off. When I look at the mana, it's already empty. Urggh, one real sucker that is! So, after considering the high mana cost and the absurd 'misses', I decided to put it aside for good. Everything went back to normal, I continue to use -Glacial Spike-/-Chain Lightning- combo. Easy hack- and-slash. Then when I reached Act II Nightmare, things have changed somehow. Suddenly all the skeletons refused to be freezed and went on hyper mode. I wonder what the shaman's been feeding them when I'm dealing with Diablo. -Chain Lightning- also suffered a power loss and inflicted damage next to nothing. There I found myself struggling when killing monsters. Then I thought to myself - maybe it's time to change strategy. Due to the increased magic resistance of monsters, I considered combos with -Glacial Spike- and -Frost Nova- were out at the moment. Those spells were not able to slow or freeze them long enough. So, I have to wait until I have more skill points to allocate into -Cold Mastery-. Then will I be able to use them again. That leaves me not much of a choice, so I figured I'd give -Frozen Orb- a second try. I always keep myself open to the possibility that maybe it's not the spell that is flawed. Maybe it's just me who do not know how to use it yet. The second time I used it, man, it's like a totally new experience. It's really strange, y'know. What started out being perceived as a useless mana sucker turns out to be the most powerful spell in my arsenal. What a fool I am to complain about the lack of powerful spells available, when I already had it all along with me! It's like she's always there and I was just too ignorant to even learn how to appreciate the way she is. Luckily, it was not too late to mend my ways. Right now, -Frozen Orb- and I are inseparable. I will NEVER start another sorceress without -Frozen Orb- ever. She will always be in my special place, for the place shall always be reserved just for her. She's simply the best! (In case you're wondering, the special place is actually the 'F5' button) [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Points ------------ Cold Mastery ------------ Passive - increase the damage of your cold attack by piercing enemies resistances to cold =================== Slvl Percentage =================== 1 23% 2 34% 3 42% 4 49% 5 55% 6 59% 7 63% 8 65% 9 69% 10 71% 11 73% 12 75% 13 77% 14 79% 15 80% 16 82% 17 82% 18 83% 19 84% 20 85% ------------------- [ Type ] : Passive [ Strength ] : Reduce cold resistance No mana consumption [ Weakness ] : Diminishing value for every skill point added [ When to use ] : Activated all the time. [ Comments ] : Before the game comes out, I have prejudice about this skill. I mean reduce resistance, what good is that? -Fire Mastery- increases damage, now that is good. -Lightning Mastery- reduces mana consumption, good for conserving mana. But reduce resistance? I don't think so. For this skill alone I thought of dropping the whole Cold tree and concentrate on Fire and Lightning. But THAT is before I realise what Cold does in the game. To understand the usefulness of this skill, you must first understand what cold resistance does. If a monster with high cold resistance is hit with cold attack, it will receive less cold damage, shortened chilling/freezing length and less penalty in terms of action speed. If you manage to lower enemy's resistance, then you will get the exact opposite effects - more damage, longer chilling/freezing length and more slowdown in action. Cold's main strength is to slow and to freeze, so -Cold Mastery- is really appropriate. We should be glad that -Cold Mastery- deals with resistance, and not doubling the amount of damage alone. [ Recommended ] : 5-7 Skill Points ======================================================================= LIGHTNING SPELLS ======================================================================= ------------ Charged Bolt ------------ Creates multiple, randomly directed bolts of electrical energy. ======================================== Slvl Lightning Damage Bolts Mana ======================================== 1 2- 4 3 3.0 2 2- 4 4 3.5 3 3- 5 5 4.0 4 3- 5 6 4.5 5 4- 6 7 5.0 6 4- 6 8 5.5 7 5- 7 9 6.0 8 5- 7 10 6.5 9 6- 8 11 7.0 10 6- 8 12 7.5 11 7- 9 13 8.0 12 7- 9 14 8.5 13 8-10 15 9.0 14 8-10 16 9.5 15 9-11 17 10.0 16 9-11 18 10.5 17 10-12 19 11.0 18 10-12 20 11.5 19 11-13 21 12.0 20 11-13 22 12.0 ---------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Increase number of bolts Great for large pack of enemies Great for PvP too [ Weakness ] : Not all bolts will hit Low damage [ When to use ] : When encounter enemies that comes in large pack. Also useful in PvP where the bolts move in unpredictable manner. Players will then find it hard to dodge. [ Comments ] : Now if any spell gets upgraded more than just in terms of the amount of damage it will deal, it's definitely a good spell. Not only will -Charged Bolt- increase in damage with every skill point added, it will also increments the number of bolts by 1 as well. At Slvl 20, it deals out 22 bolts - that is A LOT! The mana consumption is negligible too, if you manage to put a few points into -Lightning Mastery-. The only weakness I can see is the low damage it dealt. Apart from that, let's put it this way. If this skill is given to the paladin, I will have no doubt to boost it as the first skill to reach level 20. But for the sorceress, there are many other choices that are way much better than -Charged Bolt-. [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Point ------------ Static Field ------------ Creates an electrical field that reduces life of all nearby enemies by one third =================== Slvl Distance =================== 1 3.3 yards 2 4.0 yards 3 4.6 yards 4 5.3 yards 5 6.0 yards 6 6.6 yards 7 7.3 yards 8 8.0 yards 9 8.6 yards 10 9.3 yards 11 10.0 yards 12 10.6 yards 13 11.3 yards 14 12.0 yards 15 12.6 yards 16 13.3 yards 17 14.0 yards 18 14.6 yards 19 15.3 yards 20 16.0 yards ------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Damage dealt according to enemy's health Constant mana cost [ Weakness ] : Sometimes miss Can be resisted, as with all lightning spells Misleading radius of effect [ When to use ] : It started out as a weak spell. Mainly used when dealing with bosses. But its true power will be revealed once reach Nightmare Difficulty. Then it shall stay and never leaves its throne as the most effective spell for the sorceress. To fully optimise this skill, equip yourself with items that gives you 'fastest cast rate'. [ Comments ] : If you ask a paladin about how they feel about Thorns, or ask a necromancer about Corpse Explosion, you can expect exactly the same reply if you ask a sorceress about -Static Field-. This is the ONLY sorceress spell that is enemy-dependent, meaning this spell deals damage according to the monsters' health. If a monster is high in life, it will receive more damage. That makes it highly favorable when you wish to play in harder difficulties. More health means more damage. So plan to get a high level -Static Field- before going for Nightmare. But there is one other thing that I would like to mention as of what I have experienced. -Static Field-, although it is a spell, can actually miss. Here's why I said that. I think I have a good estimate of how far a skill with 4.6 yards could reach, thanks to my experience with the Barbarian's Leap. So I'm quite sure the enemy is well within range when I cast a 4.6 yards -Static Field-. It turns out that -Static Field- sometimes hit, sometimes miss. Which leads me to think, does -Static Field- has a hidden attribute that indicates the chances to hit? Or maybe it misses because of resistance - perhaps lightning resistance will not only reduce the amount of damage, but will also reduce the radius of effect as well? Maybe some of you who are smarter could figure this out? [ Recommended ] : 3-20 Skill Points ----------- Telekinesis ----------- Uses the power of your mind to pick up items, use objects and knockback enemies. ============================ Slvl Magic Damage Mana ============================ 1 1- 2 7 2 2- 3 7 3 3- 4 7 4 4- 5 7 5 5- 6 7 6 6- 7 7 7 7- 8 7 8 8- 9 7 9 9-10 7 10 10-11 7 11 11-12 7 12 12-13 7 13 13-14 7 14 14-15 7 15 15-16 7 16 16-17 7 17 17-18 7 18 18-19 7 19 19-20 7 20 20-21 7 ---------------------------- [ Type ] : Utility [ Strength ] : No distance constraint Great for multiplayer [ Weakness ] : Low damage [ When to use ] : Used mainly to pick up items and open/kick chests, urns, barrels etc. Excellent for multiplayer when the sorceress will have a better chance to first lay her hands upon the goodies dropped by monsters. Too bad -Telekinesis- cannot be used to loot corpse. [ Comments ] : Believe it or not, I have used -Telekinesis- to kill. You may ask - why would I wanna do that? It's simply because -Telekinesis- is the least damaging spell for the sorceress. The perfect tool for show offs. I used it mainly to ridicule, to taunt and to insult some weak opponents like The Summoner. Then I can go around saying 'Nah, he was nothing. I didn't even raise a finger to kill him. My mind power is already too much for him!' [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ---- Nova ---- Creates an expanding ring of lightning to shock nearby enemies. ================================ Slvl Lightning Damage Mana ================================ 1 1- 20 15 2 8- 27 16 3 15- 34 17 4 22- 41 18 5 29- 48 19 6 36- 55 20 7 43- 62 21 8 50- 69 22 9 57- 76 23 10 64- 83 24 11 71- 90 25 12 78- 97 26 13 85-104 27 14 92-111 28 15 99-118 29 16 106-125 30 17 113-132 31 18 120-139 32 19 127-146 33 20 134-153 34 -------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Fast Wide radius No aiming required Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : High mana cost [ When to use ] : Good for thinning out a crowd of enemies. The best setup for this spell is having enemies surround you from every direction. The more enemies it hit, the more it's worth the mana consumption. Also useful as a non-aiming spell when dealing with bosses and human players. [ Comments ] : High mana cost but only does average amount of damage. The usefulness of -Nova- is completely overshadowed by -Frost Nova-. Although -Frost Nova- does less damage, it serves its purpose as the excellent supportive spell. Whenever an opportunity to cast a nova spell arise, I would always choose -Frost Nova- over -Nova-, just for the extra chilling effects. [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Point --------- Lightning --------- Creates a powerful lightning to lay waste to your enemies. ================================ Slvl Lightning Damage Mana ================================ 1 1- 40 8.0 2 1- 48 8.5 3 1- 56 9.0 4 1- 64 9.5 5 1- 72 10.0 6 1- 80 10.5 7 1- 88 11.0 8 1- 96 11.5 9 1-104 12.0 10 1-112 12.0 11 1-120 13.0 12 1-128 13.0 13 1-136 14.0 14 1-144 14.0 15 1-152 15.0 16 1-160 15.0 17 1-168 16.0 18 1-176 16.0 19 1-184 17.0 20 1-192 17.0 -------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Fast Area attack Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : Slow recovery time Low minimum damage [ When to use ] : Don't be deceived by the look of it. Enemies do not have to be run through by the lightning bolt in order to take damage. Enemies being near enough will also be afflicted. To help you understand how lightning works, I've drawn out some diagrams to explain it. # enemy ^ # enemy X ------> ^ ^ # you # you This is a common situation. If you aim -Lightning- by placing the pointer in X, the bolt will manage to deal damage to the enemy, even though the bolt does not directly passes through it. If you understand this, then you would have no problem understanding the next one. # E1 # E1 ^ ^ # E2 ^ # E2 ---------> ^ ^ E3 # E3 # ^ X ^ ^ # you # you What would you do in a situation like this? If you aim lightning at E2 or E3, it would be stupid. The correct way is to aim for either X or E1. Then all three of them will be hit by the lightning attack. Think of it as a piercing attack, and you'll see that -Lightning- is more favorable to use if against enemies that run in a straight line. I hope you get what I mean so far, as I will further use this basic information to explain -Chain Lightning-. [ Comments ] : My advice, don't stop at -Lightning-. You ain't see nothing yet. Go for the next skill in line, -Chain Lightning-. If you think -Lightning- is good, wait till you see -Chain Lightning- in action. It rocks! [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point --------------- Chain Lightning --------------- Creates a bolt of lightning that arcs through several targets. ================================ Slvl Lightning Damage Mana ================================ 1 1- 40 9.0 2 1- 50 10.0 3 1- 60 11.0 4 1- 70 12.0 5 1- 80 13.0 6 1- 90 14.0 7 1-100 15.0 8 1-110 16.0 9 1-120 17.0 10 1-130 18.0 11 1-140 19.0 12 1-150 20.0 13 1-160 21.0 14 1-170 22.0 15 1-180 23.0 16 1-190 24.0 17 1-200 25.0 18 1-210 26.0 19 1-220 27.0 20 1-230 28.0 -------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Fast Area attack Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : Slow recovery time Low minimum damage [ When to use ] : -Chain Lightning- works best when dealing with enemies more than one. If you're only dealing with one, it will work just like what normal -Lightning- would do. I'll go straight to how you should aim when using -Chain Lightning-. # E1 # E2 # E3 # you This is a simple one. No matter who you aim, -Chain Lightning- will be able to make connection with the three of them. The reason is that the enemies have kept just the right distance for -Chain Lightning-; not too near and not too far. # E1 # E2 X # E3 # you This situation is more likely to occur compared to the previous one. Now if you aim for E3, which I'm sure most will, chances are the lightning will NOT arc to those at the back. You will waste it as the distance between E3 and his closest target may be too far. For this, I suggest that you aim for E1. Use what you have learned from -Lightning-. This way, all three of them will be struck by the first stream of -Chain Lightning-. From there, -Chain Lightning- will try to connect with as many enemies as it can. If E1 is off screen, aim for X instead. [ Comments ] : One of my favorite spell in DiabloII. I will never get tired seeing -Chain Lightning- in action. The way it bounces back and forth hitting enemies is really a sight to behold. But sadly, this spell will only be upgraded by damage. Unlike the Amazon's Lightning Strike, there is NO increase in number of hits. Too bad, if not for that, I would surely recommend this spell to everyone I know. [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Point -------- Teleport -------- Instantly moves to a destination within your line of sight. ============ Slvl Mana ============ 1 24 2 23 3 22 4 21 5 20 6 19 7 18 8 17 9 16 10 15 11 14 12 13 13 12 14 11 15 10 16 9 17 8 18 7 19 6 20 5 ------------ [ Type ] : Utility [ Strength ] : Come out instantly [ Weakness ] : High mana cost Limited by the small viewable range [ When to use ] : Because of the small viewable range of the game, this skill may not seem to be as useful as some may thought. A fast enemy will easily catch up with you when you try to escape. Therefore, it's recommended that you don't do only one cast. Do a double or even a triple consecutive -Teleport- to really gain some distance. But be careful not -Teleport- yourself into a bigger mess! [ Comments ] : Like the Barbarian's Leap attacks, this skill is limited by viewable range. To say that this spell is a must for the sorceress may not necessarily be true. You can live without it. But you will lose out on some advantages it will provide if you do not have -Teleport-. One example is like in Claw Viper's Temple. With -Teleport-, you can gain advantage by settling yourself on the altar. Therefore you will suffer no harm. Conversely, not having -Teleport- will confirm an unavoided confrontation with the sorceress killing machine, FangSkin. A bad choice indeed. But then, you can always opt to use staff to grant you this skill. The need for -Teleport- is strictly occasional in my opinion. [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ------------ Thunderstorm ------------ Summons a deadly thunderstorm that strikes your enemies with bolts of lightning. =========================================== Slvl Lightning Damage Duration Mana =========================================== 1 1-100 32 sec 19 2 11-110 40 sec 19 3 21-120 48 sec 19 4 31-130 56 sec 19 5 41-140 64 sec 19 6 51-150 72 sec 19 7 61-160 80 sec 19 8 71-170 88 sec 19 9 81-180 96 sec 19 10 91-190 104 sec 19 11 101-200 112 sec 19 12 111-210 120 sec 19 13 121-220 128 sec 19 14 131-230 136 sec 19 15 141-240 144 sec 19 16 151-250 152 sec 19 17 161-260 160 sec 19 18 171-270 168 sec 19 19 181-280 176 sec 19 20 191-290 184 sec 19 ------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Third Party [ Strength ] : Great Damage Auto aim [ Weakness ] : Short duration Sometimes miss [ When to use ] : -Thunder Storm- may sometimes miss. To avoid this, keep enemy as slow and stationery as possible. Think of it like.. Ion Cannon. Target will be locked and the coordinates will be taken. But it requires a few miliseconds to send down the lightning attack. So it's necessary at your end to keep enemy not too far away from where the explosion may take place. [ Comments ] : As I've said before, if a spell gets upgraded not just in power but in other things as well, it's definitely a good spell. So what does a skill point means to -Thunder Storm-? With every point added, the spell will get an increment of 10 damage to both minimum and maximum damage(!), a longer duration time, an increase in frequency of attack, while the mana consumption stays the same. At Slvl 20, -Thunder Storm- deals 191-290 damage for about every second and lasts for 184 seconds. Now the question is : Is there any other spell that will give you so many upgrades for one skill point? You should know the answer by now. I think I made it clear enough for you to make a decision. [ Recommended ] : 20 skill points! ------------- Energy Shield ------------- Creates a magical shield that consumes mana instead of health when you take damage. ================================== Slvl Absorbs Duration Mana ================================== 1 15% 144 sec 5 2 23% 192 sec 5 3 30% 240 sec 5 4 35% 288 sec 5 5 40% 336 sec 5 6 43% 384 sec 5 7 46% 432 sec 5 8 48% 480 sec 5 9 51% 528 sec 5 10 52% 576 sec 5 11 54% 624 sec 5 12 56% 672 sec 5 13 57% 720 sec 5 14 58% 768 sec 5 15 59% 816 sec 5 16 61% 864 sec 5 17 61% 912 sec 5 18 62% 960 sec 5 19 63% 1008 sec 5 20 63% 1056 sec 5 ---------------------------------- [ Type ] : Defensive [ Strength ] : Share damage between health and mana Low mana cost [ Weakness ] : Damage absorbed may be too low [ When to use ] : A note about -Energy Shield- based on my observation. There are times when I will run past enemies to avoid melee attacks. I'm already very good at it. So I know when a melee attack will hit and when it will miss. But when I have -Energy Shield- activated, it seems like even though the attack missed, I still suffer the mana loss from it. The reason I'm saying this is that there's no drop in the the health bulb and the sorceress didn't let out a groan or something. What I noticed was a small lightning sparked from the golden sphere and mana was then reduced. But why would mana be deducted from a miss? It really had me puzzled. Anyway, to avoid mana loss from the expected-to-miss melee attacks, cast -Energy Shield- only when there's range attackers around. (That's what I've been doing right now) [ Comments ] : Insignificant at Slvl 1. So if you're serious into getting this skill, be sure to allocate at least 3 skill points into it in order for it to work effectively. Otherwise, skip it totally. But be sure not to neglect Vitality if you wish to drop this skill. Low in life and no support from this skill, you will not survive even a single blow from hell creatures. [ Recommended ] : 3-9 Skill Points ----------------- Lightning Mastery ----------------- Passive - reduces the mana required to cast your lightning spells. =================== Slvl Percentage =================== 1 15% 2 23% 3 30% 4 35% 5 40% 6 43% 7 46% 8 48% 9 51% 10 52% 11 54% 12 56% 13 57% 14 58% 15 59% 16 61% 17 61% 18 62% 19 63% 20 63% ------------------- [ Type ] : Passive [ Strength ] : Reduce mana consumption of lightning spells No mana consumption [ Weakness ] : Diminishing value for every skill point added [ When to use ] : Activated all the time. [ Comments ] : I think the description is clear enough. If you have invested into many lightning spells, be sure to put at least a point into it. Then just let your equipments raise the skill level. Remember, this skill does NOT directly make your spells more powerful. They just become more mana-friendly. [ Recommended ] : 1-9 Skill Points ======================================================================= FIRE SPELLS ======================================================================= -------- Firebolt -------- Creates a magical flaming missile. =========================== Slvl Fire Damage Mana =========================== 1 3- 6 2.5 2 4- 7 2.5 3 6- 9 2.5 4 7-10 2.5 5 9-12 2.5 6 10-13 2.5 7 12-15 2.5 8 13-16 2.5 9 15-18 2.5 10 16-19 2.5 11 18-21 2.5 12 19-22 2.5 13 21-24 2.5 14 22-25 2.5 15 24-27 2.5 16 25-28 2.5 17 27-30 2.5 18 28-31 2.5 19 30-33 2.5 20 31-34 2.5 --------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Low mana cost No mana increase [ Weakness ] : Low Damage Single hit [ When to use ] : If you have both -Ice Bolt- and -Fire Bolt-, it's advisable to alternate between the two. First use -Ice Bolt- to slow enemy, and then switch to -Fire Bolt- to do damage faster and with lower mana consumption. It can be easily done by mapping -Ice Bolt- to the left button and -Fire Bolt- to the right or vice versa. [ Comments ] : This is the first spell that you get to play with. It comes with the staff. But is it worth a REAL skill point into it? If it serves as a pre-requisites, then I would advise that you put one but only one skill point into it. There is really no purpose to invest heavily into this spell. Skill points are better invested elsewhere. [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ------ Warmth ------ Passive - increase the rate which you recover mana. =================== Slvl Percentage =================== 1 30% 2 42% 3 54% 4 66% 5 78% 6 90% 7 102% 8 114% 9 126% 10 138% 11 150% 12 162% 13 174% 14 186% 15 198% 16 210% 17 222% 18 234% 19 246% 20 258% ------------------- [ Type ] : Passive [ Strength ] : Increase mana recovery rate No mana consumption [ Weakness ] : none [ When to use ] : Activated all the time. [ Comments ] : I'm sure you have heard a lot of comments about -Warmth-. Most will say to boost it Slvl 20 as soon as you can. You will never go wrong with it. But I would like to remind you of something. -Warmth- does not DIRECTLY make you more powerful. It will only improve your overall gameplay. When you're stuck with some major bosses, putting the reserved skill points into -Warmth- won't help in getting you through. You need points into some real spells. Knowing this, a maximum 20 would seems to be too much. I would suggest that you balanced out the skill points into other spells as well. The number of points into -Warmth- depends on the spells that you have. If your main strategy revolves mostly with high level fire/ice spells, then more points into -Warmth- seems appropriate. But if you are using mostly spells with low mana cost (lightning spells), you don't need a high level -Warmth-. A low level -Warmth- means you need to have more patience and wait for mana to recover at a slower rate. That's all. [ Recommended ] : 7-20 Skill Points ------- Inferno ------- Creates a continuous jet of flame to scorch your enemies. =================================== Slvl Fire Damage Range Mana =================================== 1 3- 6 3.3 7 2 4- 7 3.3 7 3 6- 9 4.0 8 4 7-10 4.6 9 5 9-12 5.3 10 6 10-13 5.3 10 7 12-15 6.0 11 8 13-16 6.6 12 9 15-18 7.3 13 10 16-19 7.3 14 11 18-21 8.0 14 12 19-22 8.6 15 13 21-24 9.3 16 14 22-25 9.3 17 15 24-27 10.0 17 16 25-28 10.6 18 17 27-30 11.3 19 18 28-31 11.3 20 19 30-33 12.0 21 20 31-34 12.6 21 ----------------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Powerful upgrade per skill point [ Weakness ] : Damage is slow Immobile when casting [ When to use ] : The biggest weakness of -Inferno- is that you have to stand still to deal damage. So it's best that you freeze, or at least chill enemy before continue with -Inferno-. [ Comments ] : Great looking spell. At high level, you can use this spell to challenge Diablo in an Inferno fight. Cool huh? If you are serious about -Inferno-, make sure you reserve a lot of skill points for it. It sucks at low level. [ Recommended ] : 3-20 Skill Point ----- Blaze ----- Creates a wall of fire in your wake to scorch your enemies. ============================================== Slvl Average Fire Damage Duration Mana (per second) ============================================== 1 18- 37 4.6 11.0 2 28- 46 5.6 11.5 3 37- 56 6.6 12.0 4 46- 65 7.6 12.0 5 56- 75 8.6 13.0 6 65- 84 9.6 13.0 7 75- 93 10.6 14.0 8 84-103 11.6 14.0 9 93-112 12.6 15.0 10 103-121 13.6 15.0 11 112-131 14.6 16.0 12 121-140 15.6 16.0 13 131-150 16.6 17.0 14 140-159 17.6 17.0 15 150-168 18.6 18.0 16 159-178 19.6 18.0 17 168-187 20.6 19.0 18 178-196 21.6 19.0 19 187-206 22.6 20.0 20 196-215 23.6 20.0 ----------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Third Party [ Strength ] : Great against melee attackers Low mana consumption [ Weakness ] : Easily run out of stamina [ When to use ] : Best used against melee fighters because the way -Blaze- deal damage is to have the enemy followed exactly the sorceress' footsteps. So avoid running in zigzag, keep it as straight as you can. You can make use of the geography too. Look for features like doors, walls, narrow tunnels etc to help you. [ Comments ] : Well, I don't think I have to say anything more of this spell. It's the most mentioned spell throughout the whole guide. Frankly, I don't have -Blaze- the first time I played the sorceress. I really struggled especially when dealing with enemy that uses fast melee attack like the Smith. Now if you ask me to play again without -Blaze-, the answer would definitely be NO! [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Point --------- Fire Ball --------- Creates an explosive sphere of fiery death to engulf your enemies. =========================== Slvl Fire Damage Mana =========================== 1 6- 14 5.0 2 13- 21 5.5 3 20- 28 6.0 4 27- 35 6.5 5 34- 42 7.0 6 41- 49 7.5 7 48- 56 8.0 8 55- 63 8.5 9 62- 70 9.0 10 69- 77 9.5 11 76- 84 10.0 12 83- 91 10.5 13 90- 98 11.0 14 97-105 11.5 15 104-112 12.0 16 111-119 12.0 17 118-126 13.0 18 125-133 13.0 19 132-140 14.0 20 139-147 14.0 --------------------------- [ Type ] : Active [ Strength ] : Area attack Fast recovery [ Weakness ] : Small radius compared with -Glacial Spike- [ When to use ] : It's best used when enemies are travelling closely to each other like Ghosts. One of -Fire Ball- main strength is its fast recovery. So if the strategy you want to use is hit and run, -Fire Ball- is a much prefered choice. [ Comments ] : Smaller radius of effect makes -Fire Ball- inferior to -Glacial Spike-. As the two are very much alike in terms of the strategy they provide, you will see not much of a use for -Fire Ball-. I personally do not favor active spells. The less the better. Even if I want to have a strong active spell, I would choose -Glacial Spike- over -Fire Ball- as the damage increase is about the same. So I will either skip it or put only one point as pre-requisite. [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point --------- Fire Wall --------- Creates a wall of flame that blocks or burns your enemies. ============================================== Slvl Average Fire Damage Duration Mana (per second) ============================================== 1 32- 42 4.6 22 2 51- 60 5.6 24 3 70- 79 6.6 26 4 89- 98 7.6 28 5 107-117 8.6 30 6 126-135 9.6 32 7 145-154 10.6 34 8 164-173 11.6 36 9 182-192 12.6 38 10 201-210 13.6 40 11 220-229 14.6 42 12 239-248 15.6 44 13 257-267 16.6 46 14 276-285 17.6 48 15 295-304 18.6 50 16 314-323 19.6 52 17 332-342 20.6 54 18 351-360 21.6 56 19 370-379 22.6 58 20 389-398 23.6 60 ----------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Third Party [ Strength ] : Wide Area attack Great against range attackers [ Weakness ] : Hard to aim High mana cost [ When to use ] : Especially useful when dealing with range attackers, as they will normally stand still when launching their attacks. Perfect setup for -Fire Wall-. Place -Fire Wall- right beneath them, they'll be toasted within seconds. -Fire Wall- is also great in PvP too. Place a -Fire Wall- right in front of you, I'm sure no one will be stupid enough to try using melee attacks on you. [ Comments ] : If you're looking for the spell that gives the most damage per skill point, search no more. -Fire Wall- is easily the most damaging spell in the game. Not only will it deal insane damage, it will also get upgraded in duration and distance with every skill point. Too bad the mana cost will also increase as well. [ Recommended ] : 3-20 Skill Points ------- Enchant ------- Enchants equipped weapon of targetted character or minion Adds fire damage to melee weapons Adds one-third fire damage to ranged weapons ====================================== Slvl Fire Damage Duration Mana ====================================== 1 8-10 144 sec 25 2 9-11 168 sec 30 3 10-12 192 sec 35 4 11-13 216 sec 40 5 12-14 240 sec 45 6 13-15 264 sec 50 7 14-16 288 sec 55 8 15-17 312 sec 60 9 16-18 336 sec 65 10 17-19 360 sec 70 11 18-20 384 sec 75 12 19-21 408 sec 80 13 20-22 432 sec 85 14 21-23 456 sec 90 15 22-24 480 sec 95 16 23-25 504 sec 100 17 24-26 528 sec 105 18 25-27 552 sec 110 19 26-28 576 sec 115 20 27-29 600 sec 120 -------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Unique [ Strength ] : Great for multiplayer Coop [ Weakness ] : Doesn't benefit sorceress much Low damage increase per skill point High mana cost [ When to use ] : In Coop, when there's not much you can do to help your party members, you can always enchant their weapons or their minions's. Every bit helps. [ Comments ] : Practically the most useless spell for the sorceress. A wise sorceress will not engage herself into a melee battle. -Enchant- is one of the early spells developed. There are actually some other skills that will work together with -Enchant-. But they were taken out as seen inappropriate. Why -Enchant- is not taken out as well, I ask the same question too. Perhaps there is something about this skill needs to be discovered? [ Recommended ] : 1 Skill Point ------ Meteor ------ Summons a meteor from the heavens to crush and incinerate your enemies. ==================================================== Slvl Fire Damage Average Fire Damage Mana (per second) ==================================================== 1 40- 50 16- 21 17 2 52- 62 23- 28 18 3 64- 74 30- 35 19 4 76- 86 37- 42 20 5 88- 98 44- 49 21 6 100-110 51- 56 22 7 112-122 58- 63 23 8 124-134 65- 70 24 9 136-146 72- 77 25 10 148-158 79- 84 26 11 160-170 86- 91 27 12 172-182 93- 98 28 13 184-194 100-105 29 14 196-206 107-112 30 15 208-218 114-119 31 16 220-230 121-126 32 17 232-242 128-133 33 18 244-254 135-140 34 19 256-266 142-147 35 20 268-278 150-154 36 ---------------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : Third Party [ Strength ] : Wide Area attack Great against range attackers [ Weakness ] : Long delay time Hard to aim [ When to use ] : Especially useful when dealing with range attackers, as they will normally stand still when launching their attacks. Perfect setup for -Meteor-. But when dealing with melee attackers, you can still use -Meteor-. The trick is to place it IN FRONT of you. Make some good guess on when it will land and try to keep him near the spot by running around. [ Comments ] : I love all third party spells. Although -Meteor- is hard to aim due to the delay time, but I still find it favorable. Have a good grasp of its timing and it can be as powerful as -Fire Wall- when mastered. [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Points ----- Hydra ----- Summons a multi-headed beast of flame to reduce your enemies to ashes. ============================================ Slvl Hydra Fire Damage Duration Mana ============================================ 1 6-12 12 sec 21 2 8-14 13 sec 23 3 10-16 14 sec 25 4 12-18 15 sec 27 5 14-20 16 sec 29 6 16-22 17 sec 31 7 18-24 18 sec 33 8 20-26 19 sec 35 9 22-28 20 sec 37 10 24-30 21 sec 39 11 26-32 22 sec 41 12 28-34 23 sec 43 13 30-36 24 sec 45 14 32-38 25 sec 47 15 34-40 26 sec 49 16 36-42 27 sec 51 17 38-44 28 sec 53 18 40-46 29 sec 55 19 42-48 30 sec 57 20 44-50 31 sec 59 -------------------------------------------- [ Type ] : True third party spell [ Strength ] : Great as scouts Excellent against range attackers Great for PvP [ Weakness ] : High mana cost Low damage(?) [ When to use ] : The only TRUE third party spell for the sorceress. So -Hydra- is a spell that have the advantages that no other spell could provide. Take a look at the situations below : # enemy # enemy -------------- -------------- barriers barriers -------------- -------------- 2 screens away ------------> X # you # you The situation above is quite normal to happen. The enemy is not seen, about 2 screens away. What can you possibly do to hit the enemy without moving forward? It's none other than by casting -Hydra- at X. That way the sorceress will suffer NO possible retaliation. An extremely useful strategy to use against the likes of the Oblivion Knights. Here's another one. . X . # enemy _._ | | | w | | a | | l | # you | l | |___| The dots indicate a barrier that acts like a fence that will only allow missiles to pass through. How do you take advantage of this situation? You can try to move forward and expose yourself to the enemy. Then cast other third party spells and quickly run back to your original position. But this method may still run a chance of getting hit. If you cast -Hydra- in X, you won't have to worry about the risk. This situation is common in places like Jail and Flayer Dungeon. Also applicable when dealing with Mephisto. To get the most out of -Hydra-, it's advisable that you cast at least 3. Here's how you should do it. X # enemy X X This is what I called 'The -Hydra-'s Deadly Triangle'. If you look at it, no matter where the enemy may go, at least one of the -Hydra-s will score a direct hit. Of course if you can, try to keep the enemy right in the middle. You can use spells like -Glacial Spike-/ -Frost Nova- to freeze/chill enemy. Or you can use -Teleport- or run around in circles to confuse him. If applied, you will find that none of it will not be wasted. That is for the idiotic monsters. What about human players? X <----------- # enemy --------> X X The triangle can be easily broken by smart human players. That is, by running in the directions indicated by the arrows. Well, they only think they are smart. Actually, they are heading exactly where you would want them to be. When you know where they'll be heading, you know what to do. So -Hydra- is also an excellent manipulative spell to use when it comes to PvP. Hydra's Deadly Triangle ----------------------- I will give you some tips on how to setup the triangle. With the basics, use your creativity to outwit your opponent. # enemy # you This is a common situation. Now where would be the first ideal location for hydra? If you cast it in between you and him, he can easily avoid it by running upwards. The smart way is to place it in X. X # enemy # you If you cast it in X, what will he do? If he continues to charge at you, he will receive direct hit from hydra. Then you can easily avoid his attack by a cast of -Teleport- and set yourself up in the exact positions but in the opposite directions. Then the second and the third hydra can be casted in the same line. # you X X # enemy X That is usually the situation when dealing with monsters. Human players will probably choose another direction. Let's say he breaks off by running to left or right. X X -----------> # enemy # enemy X # you # you No matter where he goes, block him by placing a hydra right in front of him. Right now, you should cast something to protect yourself. Cast -Blizzard- right at your spot to prevent him from running at you. If he's smart and still wants to attempt an escape, there's not much of a choice left but to run in between the two hydras. I think you will now know where to put the final hydra. X # enemy X X # you There it is. The triangle is set. Now he will be so confused, he will not know the right way to escape the attack anymore. No matter where he goes now, he will be right in the middle of a triangle, one after another. Just place a hydra in front of him and you set yourself another triangle. There's absolutely no way he could escape not being hit by one of the hydras. While you can depend on the damage done by the hydras to kill, it's advisable that you use other spells as well to finish him off more quickly. Use lots of third party spells if you can and also -Frozen Orb-. They are all great for PvP. This setup is tried and true. I have killed quite a number of players with it. Whether you will be able to do it or not, it's strictly individual-dependent. What I've said may not reflect what truly happened either. Everything happened so fast. I may have inserted -Blizzard- and some other spells every now and then. But what you must understand is the concept of it. Be ever changing and unpredictable when dealing with human players. It is not really the same thing as when dealing with those empty- headed skeletons, you know. After all, as what I've told everyone, you are NOT COMPLETELY finished with DiabloII unless you tried PvP. Really, dealing with computer AI will bore you someday. But with human players, trust me, they will surprise you everyday. Even at this moment, this guide may already be cracked by other players and becomes a thing of the past. [ Comments ] : I have heard complaints about the low damage done by -Hydra-. Frankly I don't really see their point. The numbers indicated are supposed to be the damage done PER BOLT. Without taking considerations of resistance, let's do some calculations, shall we? Let's start with Slvl 1. One bolt deals 6-12 damage. So the average damage would be 9. There will be 3 fire serpents taking care of the aiming. They spit bolts for about every 1 second. So that makes it : 3 x 9 = 27 damage per second. The spell lasts for 12 seconds. So, the total damage would be 27 x 12 = 324 damage. That's for Slvl 1. Now let's do the same with Slvl 20. -Hydra- does 44-50 damage per bolt for 31 second. So it roughly does 47 x 3 = 141 damage per second and 141 x 31 = 4371 total damage. Now tell me, THAT is low? It IS relatively low when compared with -Fire Wall-. But what ISN'T? -Fire Wall- is the most damaging spell in the game. No doubt about it. If every spell is compared to it by the damage dealt, all others will look like sh*t. It's not fair being compared like that. -Hydra- has to be the most unique spell on its own. There are situations where only -Hydra- will be able to take advantage of. No other spell will do. Compare the damage dealt with both spells on different types of enemies. I bet -Hydra- will have a better score in some situations. Try to look at -Hydra- as for the strategy it provides, and you will do this spell some justice. Other questions you may ask : 1) Monsters have resistance for it, so the total damage will be much lesser than expected. - -Fire Mastery- should take care of it. 2) That's the damage if the monster is stupid enough to stand still to take damage. - this is why it's important that you don't cast only ONE hydra at a time. Strategically place three of them, you will get the effect as if they're standing still. Besides, what are spells like -Glacial Spike- and -Frost Nova- for? 3) The damage is too slow. I'd probably be dead before -Hydra- finish the rest of their ammos. - You DO know that you can move after casting -Hydra-, don't you? Well, don't be lazy! Run around and do something to support your buddies. 4) The serpents do not always spit fire at the same direction. That prevents them from scoring maximum damage. - Would you rather have a big giant snake that does triple damage instead of 3 separate small ones? Maybe it's a matter of preference but I think 3 small ones is better. It raises the chances to hit. It's better to deal damage little by little than to have a big ball of fire that often misses. That's all I can think of. Feel free to challenge me for a debate on this. If you can convince me NOT to take this spell, trust me, I won't be offended. In fact I'd be grateful. (I'm contradicting what I've said earlier, am I not?) It's because I love this spell so much, it's hard for me to let go. The limited number of skill points doesn't consent my love for it. [ Recommended ] : 1-20 Skill Points ------------ Fire Mastery ------------ Passive - Increase all damage caused by your fire spells. =================== Slvl Percentage =================== 1 18% 2 32% 3 43% 4 52% 5 60% 6 66% 7 70% 8 74% 9 79% 10 81% 11 85% 12 87% 13 90% 14 92% 15 93% 16 96% 17 97% 18 98% 19 99% 20 100% ------------------- [ Type ] : Passive [ Strength ] : Increase damage of lightning spells No mana consumption [ Weakness ] : Diminishing value for every skill point added [ When to use ] : Activated all the time. [ Comments ] : I think the description is clear enough. If you have invested into many fire spells, be sure to put at least a point into it. Then just let your equipments raise the skill level. [ Recommended ] : 1-9 Skill Points ========================= Something You Should Know ========================= DiabloII gamers are complaining about the sorceress being too weak. If I can, I would use all my wits to prove how wrong they are. However, what they said is not entirely wrong. I'm going to reveal some information that may not be known by most. Hope you will have a slightest idea on why the sorceress becomes what she is now. As a victim of favoritism myself, I really feel for her. It's not really her fault. It's just some jerks who don't like magic users, wanted her to be as weak as possible. So the next time you wanna say something bad about the sorceress, think about what I'm about say. -Static Field- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What seems to be the most powerful spell for the sorceress is full of limitations. It can be resisted and can actually miss. Not only that, instead of reducing 1/3 of enemy's life, it becomes 1/4 as opposed of what it's originally intended. The first Whoopee. -Energy Shield- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was meant to absorb 100% of magic damage and 50% of physical damage. That's for Slvl 1. By adding more skill points, it will be absorbing more physical damage. And what has it becomes now? It absorbs 15% of all damage. Is that something to be happy about? You may say - you have to put in more skill points into it! So, even if I succeeded in allocating all 20 points into it, what do I get? A maximum of 63%. Whoopee. When the game first came out, -Energy Shield- is the FIRST spell I checked. It's because I know how much it means to the sorceress. It is this spell that will save her from NOT having the passive skills like the Amazon's evade/avoid/dodge, the Barbarian's Natural Resistance, the Necromancer's Bone Armor and the Paladin's all-powerful Salvation aura. You can bet I have a tremendously high hope for this spell. And did it fail me? You already know the answer. If you tell me that the sorceress will be way too powerful if given the original -Energy Shield-. Then let me ask you, will she NOT suffer the mana deduction from it? Will she NOT die when both the mana and life becomes empty? If you want to raise the penalty, fine. Do like increasing the mana consumptions to 100, that's the price I'm willing pay. Or reduce the duration is okay too. But certainly not reduction in power, anything but that. -Frozen Orb- ~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's actually a freezing spell. Otherwise it wouldn't be called 'Frozen' Orb, would it? It is supposed to be the MOST damaging spell for the sorceress, something for the sorceress to die for. Now it only chills. Whoopee. -Warmth- and -Enchant- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Warmth was intended to recover HEALTH. What does this means? It means that in the original plan, a fighter mage prototype actually existed. So, it's not ridiculous when someone was trying to create a melee aorceress. To further proving this, take a look at -Enchant-. -Enchant- was one of the early skills developed. It may seems like a useless skill right now. It's not like other players is going to be oh-so grateful when you enchant their weapons. Do you know why it's like that? Because it was meant to cast on herself! With -Warmth- that will keep her life at full and -Enchant- to inflict more melee damage, that means she actually has the option to becomes a fighter! A fighter mage to be more precise. Just imagine having to cast -Glacial Spike- and then bong someone with her staff, I would say it's a deadly combo!. If she has the option to be a fighter mage, early spells like -Charged Bolt- and -Ice Blast- would last longer. Getting high level spells may not be necessary anymore. Why can't she do it now? She can, but she will struggle, and struggle for nothing. To be a fighter, she needs to have high attack ratings and also life. What she's lacking is the skill that resembles something like 'Staff Mastery'. A skill that will increase both the damage and the most important of all, the attack ratings. Why the plan was taken out, I'm not sure. Maybe they couldn't figure out where to fit the mastery into one of the trees, so they dropped it totally, and made -Warmth- to recover mana instead. Whoopee. -Ice Bolt- ~~~~~~~~~~ Even -Ice Bolt-, you may ask. I ask the same question too. What makes the sorceress so fearful that people want to ensure the sorceress stay as low as possible? -Ice Bolt- was intended to chill for 8 seconds at Slvl 1, and gets another 8 seconds for every skill level. If it is as good as the original, I may consider to put points into it. Imagine having Slvl 5 -Ice Bolt- that chills for 40 seconds. You don't have to worry about Duriel stay chilled! Duriel will be in slow-mo all the time. But now, it starts out with 6 seconds and incremented by 1.4 seconds for every skill point into it. Whoopee. And some may say that would be too powerful. WTF is so powerful about it?! The damage is still weak, it still comes out slow and hard to aim, that's the price to pay! Geez, I don't think I will ever understand what they're thinking. All they know about is making the character weak, they forgot about making the character playable. There goes the hint on why the sorceress the way she is now. It is because of SOME f**king beta testers, that's why. When asked for feedbacks, they only say the sorceress being too powerful, and NOTHING else. Only the sorceress get mentioned as being too powerful?! I should be playing the beta instead of them! Heck, you can bet when the next project's coming up, I'm not going to sit back and let them screw my character again! I will buy a plane ticket and fly all the way to Blizzard headquarter and BEG Bill Roper to let me play the next beta. (Or is there a simpler way?) --------------------------------------------------------------------- I've been a sorceress fanatic long before the game comes out. Thankfully, DiabloII.net has been very faithful in feeding me with the latest info. The notions of the necromancer is going to rock or the paladin is going to rule, has long existed then. But I didn't care. My eyes would only get widely open when there's an article on the sorceress. I would read the same article a couple of times, over and over again. Then I would fantasize about the adventure-would-be with the sorceress. How she's going to toast monsters with the point of her finger, crush them into pieces when she thinks they are too ugly for her style or zap them just to see how funny they will look. It feels good to even think about it. I have sworn to make the sorceress the best character there is in DiabloII. But hmm, I guess Blizzard forgot that there's such a person like me existed. So they figure they can screw up the sorceress because nobody will notice it anyway. But to me, it's either the sorceress or no DiabloII at all. The necromancer gets all the power up he ever needed at level 30 - Revive, Fire Golem and Bone Spirit. That is what he gets for being labeled as the weakest character against Andariel in the beginning. The end rewards make all the endurance worthwhile. Now, can I say the same about the sorceress? You may think the sorceress is still a strong character despite of the 'nerfing'. Maybe you're right. You may also think I'm making a big fuss over a small matter. You're not wrong either. But I'm not drawing a conclusion here. Only time will tell whether Blizzard has done the right thing. [ Patch 1.03 ] : Gosh, they really did it! They nerfed the necro and the barbarian! But hey, it's not my fault, okay? This FAQ was released AFTER the v1.03 patch. At first I thought of removing the whole 'Something You Should Know' column because it has become dated. But later when I think back, it's because of that column this FAQ exists. That's the first article I wrote. So I decided to leave it unaltered, sorta give a background history about the sorceress if anyone's interested. So don't send me your curses as I'm not the real culprit here. Even if the FAQ was released before the patch comes out, what I said may not be taken seriously anyway. If you wanna blame someone, it's not going to be me. If you ask me if I'm happy about it, well NOT to say that I am happy but sort of.. 'enlightened'. Right now, many things have become clear to me. The patch really tells a lot. If you have followed the development of DiabloII right from the beginning, you will know that what Blizzard did was merely fulfilling what they have said earlier. They are keeping their promises. If there are some necro fans who are f*cked up by this decision and try to take the sorceress down as well, they can forget about it. The sorceress has already been nerfed BEFORE the game was out. Of course the sorceress struggled but she has learned to live with it. Perhaps this is something everyone should learn. ========= Wish List ========= After seeing what they did to the sorceress, I have decided to come up with a wish list for the upcoming Expansion for DiabloII. No, it's NOT all about complaining. Rather, it's just a small reminder on what Blizzard might have left out apart from their original intentions. With it, I will make myself heard by sending the list to Blizzard everyday via email. Maybe everyday is not frequent enough. Let's make it every one hour. No, make it EVERY 10 MINUTES! My hope is that out of every 10 things I wrote, ONE will make it into the final product. ( It is something I should've done when they were doing beta-testing. I really regretted for not doing anything to stop the sorceress from getting seriously nerfed. Luckily, it's not too late afterall! ) 1) Set items are too underrated. I believe it is intended that there will be arguments like 'Set Items vs Unique Items' or 'Set Items vs Rare Items'. The bonuses for a complete set should be more rewarding, more unique. Instead of the usual bonuses that can be found in other single items, a complete set should give something that will make players to really scratch their head over the choices. Bonuses like 'cannot be frozen', 'freezes target' and '+5 to mana after each kill' are examples of some tasty bonuses which I'm sure, most would wish to see more in complete set items. Personally, I wish to see something that favors the sorceress especially. Something like '10% of magic damage turns to physical damage'. Meaning, if the sorceress is equipped with items that give a bonus like that, her spells will deal 10% of physical damage, 90% of magic damage. This will open up a whole new world for the sorceress : a) Sorceress will be less dependent on -Static Field-, which allows other possible setups when building a sorceress; b) It's an alternative way to deal with high resistant monsters as well as other human players; c) Like Bone Spear, Vampire/Bat or Leech/Locust items will work for the sorceress through spells; d) Combination with -Enchant- will raise the physical damage of it, thus improve the usefulness of -Enchant- (not necessary to be implemented); Having it will not make the sorceress being too powerful. When dealing with enemies that have low resistance, the amount of damage dealt should be the same. What it does is just raising the minimum damage the spells will do when dealing with high resistant enemies. That's all. If you think that power must come with a price, then what you can do is to make it.. harder to get. Make it as a complete set bonus. Then players will have the argument on what equipment setup will be the best for the sorceress - Set Items vs Unique/Rare Items. 2) I don't know if I should say this, but I think gambling is one of the biggest imbalance element in the game. Remember what Blizzard said about a unique item being truly unique? It doesn't hold true anymore. Almost everyone has the same standard equipments, mostly consist of unique items. It's all thanks to gambling. So much for coming up with a more user-friendly trading system. As you can see, nobody trades anymore. Who wants to trade when money is so easy to acquire and you can basically gamble for everything you ever need? To balance things out, gambling should be taken away. That will make other items as much desirable, if not more, as unique items. Then the trading system will start rolling again. But to take away gambling entirely will surely create havocs among the gamers. Also NPCs like Gheed will have nothing else to do if not for gambling. So what I suggest is that if can, make gambling conditional. Meaning players can only gamble under certain conditions. a) Make it only available in Hardcore game - not only will it encourage more people to play Hardcore, but I seriously think the idea of gambling is for Hardcore(HC). In HC, players need to depend heavily on equipments in order to survive. As HC character will die permanently, it's important that players will be able to create the SAME character over and over again. Gambling will be able to provide the solution. Then they won't grief so much over a loss of a HC character, thus will not be discouraged to try again. So gambling should remain fully functional in Hardcore. b) In Single Player and Multiplayer game, well it's a bit complicated. First, implement a button that will refresh the equipments available with one push. It will allow players to not having to leave the trade menu. This is a very important feature as what I'm suggesting is to make gambling limited in terms of the number of times one can gamble. I suggest to make gambling made available only ONCE every level up. That means every time a player levels up, he/she will get a chance to gamble with the money that he/she currently has. If the player have decided to gamble, he/she should gamble it all in one try. After that, he/she will have to wait for another level up to gamble again. Players will have another reason to look forward to the next level up. Of course if players do not wish to gamble for now, they can always reserve it for future use as it can be accumulated. It's not really the same thing with or without this feature implemented. With it, players will try to get as much gold as they can before gambling. But with the limited amount of gold that can be deposited in the stash, it will force players to carry the gold with them. When players are loaded with gold, they tend to be more cautious with their surroundings and scout for any Player Killer in the game. This calls for a different kind of strategies indeed. Needless to say, the game will become more challenging. 3) At first I thought the idea of having a mercenary was to have a companion that will travel with the player right from the beginning. The mercenary levels up with the player, watches his back while fighting hordes of monsters, casts a healing or protective spells when either one of them is hurt. While human players are not entirely reliable, players can count on their mercenary to keep their precious findings. Sort of like he/she will grow up with the player. Players will be thankful for their company as they will no longer have to face the forces of evil alone anymore. That would create a special bond between players and their mercenaries. Victory is shared and becomes more meaningful. When it comes to PvP, it will be more challenging too. Not only will the players have to defend themselves, but protecting their mercenary is just as important. Sometimes it's better for YOU to die than to have the mercenary slaughtered. For if the mercenary dies, it will really gets to the player. Players will mourn for their deaths and blame themselves when they fail to protect. It's like losing a brother/sister or a close friend. It may take another few months to raise another mercenary with the same high level. So through this, players will learn that sometimes it's better for them to block the fatal blows rather than by their mercenaries. Then they will learn the true meaning of 'sacrifice'. Something which I think not many games out there will be able to let players experience this. (Hint : good selling point, eh?) ( Imagine, just when you thought you are powerful enough to take out any human player. In a duelling mishap, you failed to even protect your own mercenary. Now, can you continue to claim yourself to be the most powerful and unrivaled? What is the new meaning of 'true power' to you? Which power do you think requires greater strength and intelligence : the power to destroy, or the power to protect? Think about it ) I believe this is what Blizzard was intended to do at first. I know idea like this is nice to have but hard to implement. So I am not terribly disappointed when the idea of mercenary didn't turn out the way I expected. The reason I'm writing this down is just as a reminder. Who knows, maybe I will get to see it in Diablo III or Warcraft III? 4) One handed weapons for Sorceress and Bowazon Let's talk about Bowazon first. Almost every character in the game has the option to equip a shield without sacrificing much of power. Barbarian can always opt to equip a shield when needed (if he choose to master sword, mace or axe). Sorceress can equip a shield too. You can hardly find a sorceress with a staff anymore. They will either be equipped with a Sigon's Guard or a triple Diamond shield. Necromancer is a natural user of shield. It's because wands, the class-specific weapon for necro, can be wielded single- handedly. As for paladin, well, shields are tailor-made for paladin. Nuff said. That's about every character, except for a Bowazon. I know, if an amazon wants to equip a shield, she should concentrate more on Spear and Javelin skill tree. In another word - play a Javazon that throws javelin. But what if players still prefer bow to javelin/spear. There isn't a way for a bowazon to accommodate both a shield and a bow. That would be one of the biggest disadvantage when playing a bowazon. So it is my suggestion to make crossbow a one-handed weapon. I know it's not going to be easy, because there's got to be a way to indicate what arrows/bolts to use. It is now being done by putting the arrows/bolts on the left and the bow on the right. For this, I would like to suggest further that arrows/bolts should be accessed directly from the inventory, not from the left hand anymore. This way, the left hand can be used to equip a shield instead. That would make a Bowazon possible of equipping a shield. If a penalty should be imposed, then decrease the damage like what's done with the barbarian for wielding a two- handed weapon with one hand. If there is a problem about the artwork for it, then maybe a new type of bow can be invented perhaps. I would imagine something like a one-handed bowgun. Yeah, I think that's it - a bowgun. I bet it's going to look extremely cool on the Amazon! 5) As for the sorceress, maybe it's just me but I think she looks kinda stupid wielding a war sword (Culwen's Point) but never uses it to slash enemies. It's just not her style. For that, I would suggest a new class of exceptional weapons be created just for the sorceress. This time make it one-handed. But I don't have the idea what it would be. Almost every type of weapons has been covered and can be seen in DiabloII. Out of crazy ideas, maybe it can be a sling or something. Then the sorceress will be like a gladiator and acts like in 'David vs Goliath'. Or it can be a knuckle that fits into her hand. With it, she can slap any b*tch she encounters and causes a knockback. Or it can be a crystal ball that has a homing ability, much like a boomerang. But no matter what kind of weapons it might be, what's important is that there will be a one-handed weapon that can give +2 to all skill levels (Arch-angel modifier) exclusively for the sorceress. That's not the end of it. But it's all I can think of for now. I will try to get as many ideas as I can until the expansion is out. Hopefully, 3-5 ideas will manage to get into it. So, wish me luck! ===================== Questions and Answers ===================== This part may contain some offensive materials that may upset certain groups of people. It mostly does not have to do with the guide, just some rantings, self-justifications, comments and stuffs. If you find it too.. disturbing, please discontinue reading. You can send e-mails to me, and I hope to post the answers here. You don't really have to ask a question. Just drop a mail saying things like 'I know how you feel, bro. Damn those lightning bastards!' or 'Asheara's cool but I like Charsi better. Do you know she has a 'thing' for the Barbarian? Love it when she flirts!'. I have also received comments on my 'unconventional' way of writing FAQ. Some like it, some don't. Judging by the way I'm writing, I may not stand the chance to be the best FAQ writer around. But it doesn't matter to me. As I've said earlier, I don't write FAQ to impress ANYONE, and certainly not trying to win an award or something. It is just my way of showing how much I love the game. If I like a game or a certain aspect of it, I will write an FAQ for it. Simple as that. I don't seek fame nor recognition. If I do, there are many other ways besides literally spending days writing an FAQ with basically NO PAY at all. What can I possibly get from all this? Basically nothing. Hoping to even get appreciated seems to be too much to ask for nowadays. But does that stop me from writing FAQs? Hell NO! I have already had my schedule all lined up for the next generation of games. It takes more than 'your FAQ sucks!' or 'you make me sick!' to stop me from writing! ( Having the time to write and the money to buy the upcoming PS2 and its games are my biggest obstacles yet. ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Who's your favorite NPC in the game? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, I know. No one would ask a question like that. But I want to answer it anyway (this is my FAQ, remember?). It's none other than 'Asheara' (Act III). I like her attitude. One of her most memorable lines would be 'Why play fair, when you can hire some of us.' Sounds cool, isn't it? In my opinion, maybe the Amazon should sound more like her. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. This FAQ's great. So are you going to come up with an Amazon or a Paladin guide? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm afraid the answer is no, for the time being. I mean I do like other characters, but I'd rather stay focused on the sorceress. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Who's your favorite character in DiabloII? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Isn't it obvious enough? I dedicated the whole FAQ for her! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. My computer is lagging. Do you know how to fix it? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm no techie, so I can't really answer technical questions. For any technical problems, please report it to support@blizzard.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Why don't you give out the details of your sorceress level up, and we'll decide for ourselves? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you sure you need that? I'm sorry to say that I didn't keep a record of it. But even if I do, don't you think it's better NOT revealed? Being secretive can be advantageous sometimes. Here is what happened when I played a multiplayer game with some friends. At first, they thought I put a lot of points into -Meteor- since they see me casting it so frequently. So they started gathering those fire resistant armors. But the fact is, I don't even have a single point in -Meteor-! You can actually FAKE the skill points with the sorceress. Isn't it cool? --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. I can't beat Duriel. Help!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please try not to send emails like this. It's hard for me to give the right advice. Give more details like what skills you have, which part of the guide didn't work for you, and so on. Then I'd be gladly to help, if I can. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. How to beat a Barbarian in PvP? He used Whirlwind and Leap Attack all the time! --------------------------------------------------------------------- I have received lots of emails about duelling. But most of it lacked some crucial information like what skills your opponent used, the skills that you're using(specify what you have AND what you used), what tactics did he used that killed you and so on. I can't always list out every possible strategy as it is indeed a tiring task. So please help me out by providing more details, okay? Duelling in DiabloII is not much different from playing fighting games like Street Fighter or King of Fighters. The key in defeating a Barbarian is PATIENCE. If what he used is Whirlwind and Leap Attack, it will not be that hard. Personally, I fear a Frenzy Barbarian more but that's a different story. To know how to beat him, first know the weakness of his attack. Let's start with Whirlwind. Whirlwind's weakness is obvious - slow. Sorceress gains advantage by speed and space. If the barbarian volunteered to slow himself down, why not make the best out of it? When he uses Whirlwind, run diagonally to escape it. As it is so slow, you will manage to escape it if you keep in mind that you should ALWAYS keep a distance. Then you can cast ANY spell to kill him. If it is Leap Attack, do the same but keep a longer distance. Leap Attack is deadly when close. If you manage to escape it, cast anything you like. That is if he attacks first. If he waits for you to cast a spell first and THEN attack you, then I would suggest that you try to keep a distance and cast -Hydra- instead. -Hydra- will manage to piss him off a bit. Hopefully that will make him lose his patience and attack you. If he attacks you with Whirlwind or Leap Attack, you know what to do. Do you get the concept right now? Just remember, he who attacks first loses the battle. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Aren't you taking the sorceress thing a bit too personal? I like the necromancer but doesn't mean I don't like other characters as well. I've played with all of them. I think all characters have their own strengths and weaknesses. I don't think the sorceress has been treated unfairly like what you have said. The sorceress is a very powerful character. She can go solo in Hell/Hell in an 8 player game. I think the sorceress is fine the way she is. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I don't know how to answer an email like this. I don't always have the answer for everything. What I will do is either to agree or disagree with it. For this one, I will have to agree with most of it. Maybe the sorceress had just gone through a normal balance routine which happened in other games as well. So it shouldn't be a big fuss. But whether she is still a powerful character or not, I would say it's too early to tell. Until now, I still think playing the sorceress is not easy. The main reason is her weak -Energy Shield-. It makes it impossible to make one careless mistake. And we all know careless mistakes are hard to avoid in spite of the lag. If they fix -Energy Shield- or come up with a solution that will make the sorceress not die in one shot, I will keep my mouth tightly shut. I promise :) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Why do you emphasize on changing the items? If you want to improvise the sorceress, why not change the sorceress' skills instead? That is more effective. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, changing the skills directly is more effective. I agree. But, I think we have to be more realistic of what we want to change. Modifying the skills will have greater impact than just adding a few lines into the source codes. There are still the balance factors need to be considered also. With all the planning and restructuring, it may not be feasible in terms of time and money. But requesting to see more varieties of items in the expansion is not too much to ask for in my opinion. So I'd rather see the characters being improved in terms of the items can be equipped than to have the skills being upgraded or downgraded for that matter. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. What would be a good strategy for an Amazon to defeat Duriel? I tried several times but in that small place, with me being frozen most of the time seems rather impossible! I tried to use cold and freezing arrows, fire and explosive but nothing!! I'm at level 22 and it's boring trying to make anoter level!! --------------------------------------------------------------------- First of all, you do know I'm writing a sorceress FAQ, don't you? It surprises me to find someone asking an Amazon question. But anyway, if I know how to do it, I'd be gladly to help. I suppose the best way to deal with Duriel with an Amazon is to use Jab. If you can, put one point into it and find yourself a nice pike. Then Duriel wil be piece of cake. If you insist on NOT putting a point into Jab, well be in for a tough fight. I hope you have AT LEAST a 'fast walk/run boot' equipped. The faster the better. As you may already know, there's not going to be much of an opportunity to launch a strike safely because of the freezing aura and stuffs. What I would suggest you to do is this : 1) First cast -Town Portal- INSIDE the tomb when you get in. This way you can find a way out when things get ugly later; 2) Keep yourself running at all time. So bring along some stamina potions with you if you can. 3) While running, avoid Duriel's deadly attacks by running diagonally. Run to the side. Then you will find Duriel stopped for a brief moment to catch his breath. It's less than a whole second but that is exactly when you should launch your attack. I would suggest that you use Ice Arrow. That's the best attack to be used against him for now. Since the damage done by Ice Arrow is minor compared to the life that Duriel has, do expect the battle to take some time. Leave through the -Town Portal- to refresh yourself when needed. Don't be stingy about the -Town Portal- scrolls. Remember, your life is more precious than hundreds of them. As you can see, it's a tough act to pull. But it's certainly NOT impossible. I have used the same strategy with the sorceress. The only difference is to replace Ice Arrow with -Static Field-, that's all. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. My sorc has 10 in vitality and only 85 HP. She is Clvl 22. Since I'm planning to play her up to lvl 50 or more, I'd like to know how to avoid getting killed by even the smallest of monsters. What in earth should I do? Monsters have 11% chance of hitting me and that's with -Shiver Armor-. Should I allocate more points into Vitality or should I just try to completely avoid all attacks, (physical and magical)? --------------------------------------------------------------------- I've read the debate on this issue before in DiabloII forum. You can expect many will answer your question with a no, and a few will beg to differ. As for me, I would say THAT is not a simple question to be answered with a vague yes or no. Although your email can be considered as lengthy, it still lacked some crucial information I need in order to help. It's because putting points into Vitality depends heavily on which skills you take. It would take a long time to go through all possible options. To make things short, I will only discuss one small aspect of it - -Energy Shield-. Consider the following : Less/No Energy Shield = More Vitality More Energy Shield = Less Vitality If you think concentrating on certain skills will help you beat monsters with little life, then it's not going to be -Shiver Armor-. Don't believe entirely on what's said about '11% a level 22 monsters will hit you'. These are the reasons : a) Monsters are usually of higher level than you. Those in hell are of level 70+. So defense doesn't reflect exactly the chances enemy will hit you. b) That's 11% monsters will hit you with a NORMAL attack. Many monsters have special attacks like Charge and Leap that will boost their attack ratings. c) Defense will only work when standing still. I would say that's the stupidest thing for a sorceress to do. d) Defense is useless when it comes to magic attacks. They always hit. That's all I can think of. But I'm sure there's going to be more reasons on why you shouldn't rely on defense so much. So I think the best way to avoid attacks is still to run away from it or avoid the possibility enemy will hit you. Therefore, the skills you should be considering instead are -Teleport-, -Hydra-, -Glacial Spike- and -Thunder Storm-. These skills will greatly lower the risks of getting even a single hit. When you can avoid from getting hit at all, then defense and the amount of life you have doesn't really matter anymore, does it? If you think you need a clearer answer than this, then I would suggest that you send in your a) skill allocation plan - state which skills you're planning to use against the monsters in hell. b) dream equipments - what's important is to state which items that help avoid attacks e.g. Sigon's Guard, or items that reduce damage e.g. triple Diamond shield and life boosting equipments. Then I would be able to provide a more specific answer to your question. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. One thing I completely disagree with you is on -Warmth-. I think this is the most important skill in the game in the game! I mean you still need attack spells, but I put 10 points into -Warmth- by the time I was level 20! Because it's a set time that your mana comes back, regardless on how much you have when you level up. You put more points into Energy which gives you more mana and it also regenerates quicker! Now at Slvl 12, my -Warmth- helps me bring back the man from a level 9 -Frozen Orb- in 3-4 seconds!!! So I really never run out of mana especially cause -Glacial Spike- is SO low (which you also looked down upon, which is my favorite spell out of all the classes!) so I think you should rethink the importance of -Warmth-, and maybe put something in your FAQ about how it worked wonders for me. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The original post is actually much longer than this, so I think of writing a summary would be more appropriate. From what I can make out of it, I think your skills allocation should be something like this. Clvl 42; Few points into -Chain Lightning-, Slvl 12 -Warmth-; Slvl 20 -Glacial Spike-; Lots into -Static Field-; Building up -Frozen Orb-; First of all, I would like say something about emails. Yeah, I enjoyed reading the comments and the praises that you have for my FAQ. I really REALLY do, so don't stop and keep 'em coming! But I would really appreciate it if you separate your real question from the other stuffs. That would definitely save me a lot of time figuring out what you truly wanted to know. Therefore, you can get your reply sooner! Let's start with -Warmth-, shall we? No, I didn't say -Warmth- is a bad skill to invest into. I mean who wouldn't enjoy a Slvl20 -Warmth-? With mana recovered to full in just a blink, -Warmth- is definitely a skill not to be neglected. But sadly, the number of skill points available is very limited. Like it or not, some choices, and not to mention sacrifices have to be made. Let's do a comparison with -Warmth- and -Fire Wall-/-Thunder Storm-. With every one skill point invested, you'll get : -Warmth- : an increase of 12% in mana recovery. -Fire Wall- : an increase in damage (19/18 MIN, 18/19 MAX), a wider radius, a longer duration. -Thunder Storm- : an increase in damage (10 MIN, 10 MAX), a longer duration, an increase in frequency of attack. Of course, it's not fair to be compared like that. But what I want you to understand is the preciousness of ONE SKILL POINT. Isn't it clear that a skill point is better spent into spells like -Fire Wall- and -Thunder Storm- than in -Warmth-? Just imagine you're duelling with a necromancer. What would you rather have : a Slvl 20 -Warmth- or a Slvl 20 -Fire Wall-? Is mana recovery more important to you or killing your opponent more quickly your main priority? Moreover I can always remedy the loss in mana recovery rate with mana/rejuvenation potions or with equipments. But for the power in spells, I never seem to get more than enough of it. I hope I made it clear enough for you to see things from my point of view. Now you understand what I said about -Warmth- earlier is not without base. As for -Glacial Spike-, hey, it's MY favorite too! I always have it mapped on the left click and it never leaves. But whether it's worth more points into it, I would say it depends on your playing style. I have seen people using only -Glacial Spike- for ALL types of enemies. Surprisingly, they are doing quite well, even up to hell difficulty. I bet you must be one of them. But this is what I thought. Which combo will make enemy fall faster? Glacial Spike(GS)/GS or GS/Fire Wall(FW)? Imagine this. a) GS/GS : GS, GS, GS, GS, GS, GS... b) GS/FW : GS, FW, GS, GS, FW, GS... I think you should know the answer by now. As for my playing style, killing enemy fast is my main priority. It's a harsh world out there on the battle.net, you know. If I put all the skill points into -Glacial Spike-, I wouldn't have survived the constant challenges from PKer around the world. Using -Glacial Spike- against NORMAL monsters is excellent. But if I were to use only -Glacial Spike- against PKer, I'll be laughed at so badly, it will be a disgrace to the sorceress. So I will always use -Glacial Spike- or -Frost Nova- for supportive role, not for main attack. I still think that -Glacial Spike- is only worth one true skill point. I'm writing all this down is by no mean to say or prove how wrong you are. I always encourage everyone to figure out their own character. Make it and love it. So it's not my style to say that you're wrong and I'm right. And I'm NOT always right either. But you are always welcomed to challenge me for a debate, and I wlll try my best to let you know what I think otherwise. ========= CREDITS ========= I did this FAQ all by myself, so there are not many people that I can give credits to. Just want to express my special thanks to : a) God for everything, b) My family for being so tolerant of my anti-social behavior, c) CJayC for posting this FAQ in www.gamefaqs.com, d) DiabloII.net for writing such nice things on the sorceress, e) Larry for helping me up with the Sorceress Skill section, I think that's it for now. The End.