This build has been working very well for me! It's mostly used for farming frags/keys/cows/inferno cows/PL's/Lich King. I know that the cow set is the usual end game sorc go-to gear, but this is a good stepping stone before you find cow queen gear.
The Gear
Tal Rasha's Wrappings- Shoot for 3 sockets and +2 lightning mastery on the Swirling Crystal, and high resists on the helm/amulet/20 stats on the belt.
Gloves- Purifying Flame with level 7 cleansing aura (these will be HUGE for quickly removing curses and the lower resist is amazing).
Boots- Death's Advance with 10% damage reduction and -20% enemy lightning res.
Shield- Malevolent is a good choice here. It has a high% block, and the conviction aura it provides stacks with the conviction aura that Ta's set gives you. Emblem of the Edyrem is probably a better choice overall.
Rings- 2x Wisp Projector for awesome lightning enhancements including + to lightning skills and -enemy light resists. The oak sage provided by the rings will add more life to you and your merc too! I've seen some sorc builds use stone of jordans. I've tested both and prefer wisps. Wisps add more damage/life for this build, sojs add more fcr/mana.
Weapon switch- Short Circuit and Stormshield/Malev/Emblem of the Edyrem This will help a lot with those pesky light immune monsters. I'll explain why I don't use CTA on weapon switch later...
Charms- Abyss Sphere/Torch/Anni (try to get one with a nova OR energy shield bonus/Othuyegs's Eyeball/Belial's Tome/4x Light Skills grand charms/8x Arcane Essence small charms. Limited space to pick up items you say? Just open up that Abyss Sphere like a cube and move your unid items to it until you are ready to ID them all in town with Cain.
Enchants
Helm- 1 to sorc skills and either 5% fcr or 2% max mana
Weapon-Scroll of massive mana/fcr or max mana scroll
Armor-Scroll of Massive Mana and sorc skill scroll
Gloves-Sorc skill scroll
Belt-Lightning damage scroll
Boots-Sorc skill scroll
Shield-Scroll of damage reduction if you are using Malev like me.
Sockets- Lightning Facets all around. You CAN use a few Horadric Jewels if you need more fcr...but you wont do as much damage. Yup...facets are still better for damage (especially in the next patch when -resists will remove immunities on monsters) because of the -lightning resists. King Jewels are another option, but I still like facets the best.
Merc
Act 2 PRAYER (yes...prayer) merc. His aura combined with the life regen aura on Devil's Bargain (his helm) will make your life regenerate nearly as fast as your mana does. Trust me on this and just try it out.
Helm-Devil's Bargain socketed with ed/ias or ed/max damage jewels
Armor-The Husk of Kaalutsocketed with ed/ias or ed/max damage jewels. The poison damage aura will also help with lightning immune monsters and help your overall damage on other monsters.
Weapon-Insight with level 17 meditation aura for even faster mana regen.
Merc Enchantments- Not sure here...You could shoot for more damage reduction? I used scrolls of massive life on the armor and weapon myself.
Skills
Warmth- 1 point
Frozen Armor- 1 point
Static Field- 1 point
Nova- MAXED
Charged Bolt- MAXED
Lightning- MAXED
Chain Lightning- 1 point
Lightning Mastery- MAXED
Telekinesis- MAXED You have to have 20 HARD skills points into this for the energy shield synergy to work. A level 20 Energy Shield absorbs 75% of damage, and Telekinesis helps as a bonus for Energy Shield in the following way:
Each point in Telekinesis makes Energy Shield's damage absorption more effective. By default, for each point of damage absorbed by Energy Shield, 2 mana points are deducted - a 200% ratio. Each hard skill point in Telekinesis makes Energy Shield 6.25% more effective. For example, with 8 points in Telekinesis, 1.5 mana points are deducted for each point of damage absorbed - a 150% ratio. With 16 points in Telekinesis, one point of damage absorbed equals one point of mana loss - a 100% ratio. Soft skills points do NOT work with synergies.
Energy Shield- enough points to reach 95% damage absorbed. Don't forget to factor in the extra skill points that Battle Command and your gear/charms grant you before putting hard skill points into this!
Note: Once the next patch drops, I plan on negating chain lightning altogether and dropping those extra points into the new and improved thunderstorm. I don't use "lightning" on left click like others as your Nova will do more than enough damage.
Stat Points
Strength-enough to wear your gear
Dexterity-Enough to achieve max block (75% when you hover your mouse cursor over "defense")
Vitality-Nothing
Energy-Everything else. Mana is your lifeblood with energy shield!
Strategy
Make a barb. Seriously do it. Level him as much as you'd like and fill him up with warcry grand charms/torch/anni/tome and anything that adds to barb skills for gear. Max battle command/battle orders/ and shout. This server lets you run multiple windows of Diablo II with one cd-key. I run my sorc fullscreen and my barb windowed. Party up with your barb and have him cast his warcries on you. You will have more life/mana than using cta on weapon switch AND you will be able to run short circuit for lightning immune monsters on your weapon switch. Not to mention that the warcries will last an entire mf run (frags/cows/keys/PL's/Lich King) so you wont have to recast them.
Teleport right on top of everything and cast lower resist followed by static until half their life or so is gone/followed by nova. You will be able to tank all hits with crazy fast mana/life regen, and your merc wont take as many hits cause the monsters will be focused on attacking YOU instead. Don't have to worry about mana burn monsters either! This build can also run inferno cows very well!
Please understand that this build is for mainly farming frags/keys/cows for high runes and blue organs/and PL's/Lich King. It isn't the BEST nova build but WILL help newbies move towards something better with the cow queen set.
I'm also going to try Stormshield out over Malev once the new patch drops because I will be able to reach the 75% damage reduction increase by wearing it. More tanking! Maybe I'll add some fcr/sorc skill enchants to it.
I am aware that some choose to use "all skills" enchants rather than "sorc skills" because it raises lower esist to the point of using immunites and gives you more life/mana with CTA. I'd just rather use my barbs warcries for more life/mana/longer duration and Short Circuit on weapon switch. We are talking strictly PVM here, not PVP. O_o
Thanks for taking the time to view my guide! I have plenty of spare Tal and Mav sets to spare for newbies, and I am always willing to help a brother out with a rush. Holler at me using the account name "Gothix".
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Originally Posted by VoodooQT
