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So I just moved into hell for the first time in this game (LOD) and I have a cold/orb sorc, but 1/4 of the guys are cold immune. I have all of the lighting skills selected at just one lvl as an exploritory deal, but I don't know the best way to take advantage of lighting skills... they seem to be pretty useless actually, any ideas?

I always like chain lightning for it's multiple guaranteed hits for each shot. and with lightning skills you have to look what the avarage dmg is as that is what really matters....

@Anubis: Are you playing 1.10 for the first time with this sorc? If so, you are in trouble. The Frozen Orb (FO) cold built is not really viable anymore, since monsters at Hell difficulty have double the amount of hitpoints now than in 1.09. The only cold spell I could recommend as a main attack is Blizzard, with a lot of Cold Mastery (aim for 17 with + to skills). If you have many saved skill points, you could make a Chain Lightning (CL)/FO sorc, that works in 1.10. Just be careful to check out the synergies.

If you play 1.09, then you don't have any big problems, just put all your remaining skill points in CL and get yourself a good merc (for instance a Holy Freeze merc) and give him a big polearm and lots of life leach.

Im in 1.10, lvl 71 with 310-329 (or something like that) orb damage and cold mastery up to 95% - my lighting skills are at about 4 a piece giving the average chain lighting damage something like 60 (which seems to let them heal up more than I can hurt them)

tell me more about this merc to help, how can you choose one? I guess I haven't really looked at them before...

thanks for the reply btw

With the 1.10 synergy effects, it is very important how you spend your skill points. Ideally, a CL/FO built should have 18-20 in Lightning, 20 in CL and 20 in LM (Lightning Mastery).

Realistically, your character will not reach a higher level than late 80's, so let's say you have 15-20 skill points left to allocate. Max out CL first, put the rest in LM. FO will be your main skill, you use CL + your merc only agaist cold immunes.

The Merc is actually more helpful than one may think, and for a sorcess the act 2 Desert warrior is the best choice, since you can take advantage of his aura. You can choose from Defensive, Offensive and Combat, and you should go for a defensive one. If you plan to play the areas, a Merc with the Holy Freeze aura is the best. This one you must rent at Nightmare, he is the Defensive. If you plan to do mostly boss runs, a merc with the Defience aura might suit you better. That one you rent either in Normal or Hell, and he is also Defensive. If your merc is going to be of any use, it's very important that he is the same level as you, and that he has good equipment. My suggestion is that you go back to Act 2 Nightmare and get a HF merc, then you give him an armour with very high defense, a polearm that does lots of damage, and make sure he has lots of life leach. The merc can use ethereal items without wearing them out, so you can take advantage of the +50% bonus ethereal items have Give him Tal Rasha's mask, Crown of thieves or some other helmet with life leach, socket his weapon with an Amn rune for life leach or a Shael rune for attack rate. My Meteorb Sorc's Merc has a Bonehew (unique polearm) with an Amn and a Shael, and Ta's mask.

If you rent a HF merc in Nightmare, he will be many levels lower than you. This means you must level him up, and this is best done where you found him. Merces are very sensitive to XP penalty, so to gain good XP, he must kill things himself and the monsters must be approximately the same level as he. So play through Nightmare again, from Act 2, and level up your merc. Put on a lot of Magic Find gear (topazed helmet, armour) in order to make it less tedious If you don't want to level up your merc, wait until Act 2 Hell and rent a Defiance Merc, he will then be the same level as you.

Good luck!

wow, that sounds like some excellent advice, ill definitely check out the mercs in the manner suggested. Thanks!