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(PVP) Fireball Sorceress Guide
by Noober

24.02.05

Even longer then my WolfBarb guide!

Introduction
What is a Fireball Sorc?
A sorceress who focuses on the fire tree for it’s offensive capabilities, in particular the spell ‘Fireball’.

Why play a Fireball Sorc?
Damage (reasonable damage is approximately 18-25K)
Can fully utilise the 200 Fast Cast Rate (FCR) breakpoint unlike other Sorceresses
Most agile class in the game (low-mana, fast cast teleport)

Why not play a Fireball Sorc
Vulnerable to absorb
Fire Immunes *shudder*
Very fragile, you will need teleport skills

Stat Placement
Strength: As will almost every PvP build, only enough for equipment. This includes charms (i.e. if you have an Annihilus). It should be obviously pointless to invest more then what you require for all your equipment.
Dexterity: Here you have a choice, either plan for max block with [Dexterity Required = (2*clvl*75 / Shield Block) + 15] your end game shield or invest no more points then required for your equipment (in particular Wizardspike). If you expect to duel WWbarbs and in general melee, I strongly recommend you get max block.
Vitality: Max or invest on a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio with Energy Shield (see below).
Energy: This depends entirely on whether you choose to take Energy Shield, and how much you choose to invest in energy shield. See the Energy Shield caption in the stat section for more information.

Skill Placement
The pure Fireball Sorceress has two main variations: Fireball based, and Energy Shield based. Because you will not have sufficient skill points to max both all Fireball’s synergies and masteries as well as Energy Shield and Telekinesis, it is important to make a decision before you begin your build. Below is an analysis or each build.

Fireball-based: This will obviously do more damage then an Energy Shield based build. However another key advantage is that without extreme prebuff, and Energy Shield build is not able to reach the 200 FCR point, which is very deadly for PvP. It should also be noted that absorb can be dealt with more easily with this build (though extreme absorb is still impossible to overcome). This build can at high levels still max Telekinesis and place a few points in Energy Shield. With pre-buff you can reach a decent level of Energy Shield. At high levels you may also choose to put points in Frozen Orb/Cold Mastery instead of Energy Shield. Note however, this is not a Meteorb Guide, go look at C Elegans guide if you want one. Even a 50% Energy Shield requires investment in Energy (stat), however.

Max the following skills in this order:
20 Fireball – Your main skill. Max it.
20 Firebolt – Faster then Fireball, with less godly equip may do more damage, not as good for walls. Also a synergy.
20 Meteor – Only for the synergy. If you play PvM, you may consider this higher priority then Firebolt.
20 Fire Mastery – More damage, what else do you want?

One-point wonders:
1 Warmth – Compulsory. Take a level of this almost immediately.
1 Frozen Armour – I put a point in early, you may choose to do this differently.
1 Teleport – If you plan on surviving, put a point in.
1 Static Field – Not good for PvP, but it only costs you a single point.

Variations
20 Telekinesis – Required for practical use of Energy Shield (it’s a synergy that reduces mana lost by Energy Shield).
1+ Energy Shield – Can be (pre-)buffed to high levels (see equipment). I personally use this. Remember that Warmth is boosted by all those Fire Charms I hope you have in your inventory. It is possible to get +31 to Energy Shield from items (with overkill pre-buff). Boost Energy in accordance with the level of Energy Shield you can attain.

20 Frozen Orb – Good damage, freezes and the synergy is negligible.
1+ Cold Mastery – Put in a point and let your +skills take hold.

Excluding variations, total points required to complete build: 84 (level 73 after all skill quests have been completed).

Energy Shield-based: Maxing Energy Shield and Telekinesis over Fire Mastery will result in less damage and therefore difficulty in dealing with absorb. The returns are 95% less damage taken from most sources. HOWEVER, you will NOT be rendered almost immune to Open Wounds and Poison, making you an easy target for WWsins and Beast WWbarbs. Elemental damage also requires large amounts of mana to absorb. If you choose to follow this path, expect to place most (if not all) points that would otherwise be investing in Vitaliy into Energy.

Max the following skills in this order:
20 Fireball – Your main skill. Max it.
20 Firebolt – Faster then Fireball, with less godly equip may do more damage, not as good for walls. Also a synergy.
20 Meteor – Only for the synergy. If you play PvM, you may consider this higher priority then Firebolt. Will not work for PvP.
20 Telekinesis – Required for practical use of Energy Shield (it’s a synergy that reduces mana lost by Energy Shield).
1-20 Energy Shield – You only need a level 40 Energy Shield to achieve 95% (the cap) absorption. Only place the number of points required to reach this level with all equipment on.
1-20 Fire Mastery – Maxed last. Use whatever spare points from Energy Shield (the only exception being below).
1-20 Warmth – Compulsory. Take a level of this almost immediately. Being a Fire sorc, it may not be necessary to add additional points, however depending on the quality of your equipment, it may be of higher priority then Fire Mastery.

One-point wonders:
1 Frozen Armour – You may not have enough points to be able to put one here, but nevertheless I recommend it.
1 Teleport – If you plan on surviving, put a point in.
1 Static Field – Possibly a waste of a point, but it does speed up some boss runs a little.

This character will have points invested all the way to level 99 and depends a lot on your equipment.

Equipment
Some things to note when considering equipment:
- The most important thing to remember is what type of sorceress you want:
-> Energy Shield based will want items that boost universal sorceress skills, not just the fire tree. Still maintains frequent teleporting (at least they should), but keeps an Energy Shield in case of a lucky hit. Completely destroys Bone Necro’s.
-> Damage based, non-energy shield builds usually have such equipment as +3 fire skills amulets over, for example, a Mara’s Kaleidoscope. The best builds for overcoming absorb, and they use their massive damage to kill before they get killed (hopefully).
-> FCR based, non-energy shield builds use items like Wizardspike instead of Eschuta’s Temper as they value FCR more then damage. They rely on speed to avoid hits as well as to overwhelm the enemy.
-> A balanced build will require both maxed resists, decent Fast Hit Recovery (FHR) as well as decent cast rate (105 or 63 usually) and damage.
-> Pre-buff Based. I personally never bother as it takes too long and won’t allow for backup equipment in the stash. Basically this Sorceress has both the advantages of an full Energy Shield build and almost equal damage to a damage build (or almost equal FCR to a FCR build). +31 from items gives a full energy shield with just nine points. It may be worth the time consumed if it is a tournament, however I simple can not be bothered moving around so many charms.
- Don’t just plan your main equipment, plan your stash too! If you ever want to play a Fist of the Heaven’s (Templar) paladin put a lot of stack resist and absorb (remember good manners is one piece of absorb/max resists (or some people allow for both))!
- Fast Hit Recovery is very important to a Sorceress in PvP, don’t’ listen anybody who tells you otherwise. See the strategy section for further details. Suffice to say, without FHR you will have even less of a chance against Druids and Barbarians.
- Like I said in the stat section, it is highly recommended that you get max block with a shield of choice (hopefully Stormshield) if you plan on ever dueling melee (especially dual-wielding WWBarbarians). When you are not dueling melee, simply switch to a Lidless Wall.
- When socketing items, you should in general be looking for Rainbow Facets. The important stat isn’t the +% to damage, but the -% to enemy resistance. The +% damage stacks with your mastery, which makes it far less significant. -% resistance however not only increase damage by a large amount, but make dealing with absorbers much easier.

Main Weapon
Eschuta’s Temper Eldritch Orb (Elite Unique Orb) – Only if you have a +3 Sorceress version. Has good cast rate and a slight boost to your damage and a decent jump in mana.
Heart of the Oak Flail (Runeword Ko+Vex+Pul+Thul) – An excellent, if expensive, weapon. The resists provided, the FCR equal to Eschuta’s and the 15% mana boost puts this on almost equal footing with Eschuta’s. Replenish life may be a deciding factor for an Energy Shield Sorceress.
Wizardspike Bone Knife (Elite Unique Dagger) – Huge resists and 50% FCR. What else could you ask for? Mana? It has that too .
The Oculus Swirling Crystal (Elite Unique Orb) – I hate it for it’s teleport mod, though it may have it’s merits (i.e. getting you out of Dance of Death). Less cast rate then Eschuta’s diminishes its appeal, but the mana is nice. Quite a lot cheaper then a perfect Eschuta’s, however.
Arch-Angel’s/Volcanic Orb (Rare/Magical Orb)( – A Volcanic Orb with a natural +3 Fireball will deal a lot of damage, but have little cast rate even with the ‘the magus’ suffix. Same applies to Arch-Angel’s only the damage is less (with better secondary stats). If you are not aiming for 200 FCR, these can be quite godly (with a natural +3 Fireball).
Mang Song’s Lesson Archon Staff (Elite Unique Staff) – More skills then Eschuta’s + Lidless, but less cast rate (a lot less) and has no block or the other mods on Lidless. I do not recommend this. –to enemy resistance is the main reason I mention this.
Leaf Short Staff (Runeword Tir+Ral) – No FCR kills this. Excellent for leveling though.
Arch-Angel’s/Volcanic Staff/Orb (Magical/Rare Staff/Orb) – Mainly for leveling.

Shield
Lidless Wall Grim Shield (Exceptional Unique Shield) – Mana, skills and FCR. The only reason you don’t use this 100% of the time is because of its low block (do not max block for this shield, do it either for Stormshield or Whitstan’s). Not particulary expensive.
Stormshield Monarch (Elite Unique Shield) – Good block and the still godly damage reduction. Use this against Wind Druids and melee (the exception being below). You could also strength glitch this item (i.e. use + Strength items to equip it, then use its own +30 Strength mod it hold it).
Whitstan's Guard Round Shield (from the Orphan's Call set) – Only for the block. Cheap too. Possible budget choice.
Sanctuary Large Shield (Runeword Ko+Ko+Mal) - Cheap, nice block, resists and fast hit recovery. Only placed in a large shield for the low requirements, you may wish to change to a higher block shield. Slow Missiles is EVIL however and is generally regarded as bad manners (you will understand when it is used against you!).

Weapon Switch
Call to Arms Crystal Sword (Runeword Amn+Ral+Mal+Ist+Ohm) – Plenty of extra life and mana, and +1 to skills . No other choice if you can afford this.
Lidless Wall Grim Shield (Exceptional Unique Shield) – Purely for the +1 boost to CtA.
Sigon’s Guard Tower Shield (From the Sigon’s Complete Steel set) – Cheaper then Lidless, but has higher Strength requirement. Doesn’t really matter which you choose to use.

Armour
Ormus’s Robes Dusk Shroud (Elite Unique Armour) – Try to find one with (depending on your Sorc type) +3 Fireball, Energy Shield, or Teleport (to save a few points). This armour is particularly favorable from a damage point of view (due to the +3 boost, not just the +% to elemental damage). Very rare and possibly expensive though. Don’t forget the FCR.
Skin of the Vipermagi (Exceptional Unique Armour) – Not only is this the best leveling armour, but it’s cheap, has good resists, +1 skills and most importantly 30% FCR. Useable all the way to 99, the armour the armour of my choice on my godly 200 FCR Sorc.
Chains of Honor Archon Plate (Runeword Dol+Um+Ber+Ist) – Expensive, but good. The lack of FCR make it a less favourable choice. Use when you need to stack resists. Damage reduction is good if you use a Shako (see helms).
Enigma Breast Plate (Runeword Jah+Ith+Ber) – Use in a breast plate (or mage plate) so you do not need to invest any points at all into Strength. This is the only reason (beside the DR and +2 Skills) for choosing this armour.

Helmet
.08 Valkyrie Wing Winged Helm (Exceptional Unique Helm) – Not only does this helm have a GODLY +30% FCR, but it also has a GODLY +30% FHR and a GODLY +30% Fast Run/Walk. In my opinion, the GODLIEST helm for a 200 FCR Sorc. Only non-ladder though, and avoid the duped 123 defence ones (or get them for half the price of a legit one).
Arch-Angel’s Rare Circlet of the Magus (Rare Circlet) – If you can get on with nice secondary mods (e.g. good resists, strength/dexterity, open sockets, mana/life etc.), then you have a godly helm. Hardest to get in the game, of course.
Harlequin Crest Shako (Elite Unique Helm) – Classic greatness. Skills, mana, life and damage reduction. The +skills, being universal, will affect your Call to Arms (CtA) too!
Volcanic Circlet of the Magus (Magical Circlet) – Pure damage, nothing more.
Peasant Crown War Hat (Exceptional Unique Helm) – The best budget choice.

Belt
Arachnid’s Mesh Spiderweb Sash (Elite Unique Belt) – Top choice, bar none. Skills, FCR and mana.
Verdungo’s Hearty Cord (Elite Unique Belt) – Damage reduction (maxed with Stormshield) and life. You may choose to use this against melee.
Gloom’s Trap Mesh Belt (Exceptional Unique Belt) – Mana belt, no other significant features.
Thundergod’s Vigor War Belt (Exceptional Unique Belt) – Strength and vitality. Maybe lightning absorb/max resistance too?

Gloves
Magefist Light Gauntlets (Normal Unique Gloves) – +1 Fire Skills, 20% FCR, 25% mana regeneration. Cheap and hands down best.
Trang-Oul’s Claws Heavy Bracers (From the Trang-oul’s Avatar set) – 20% FCR and 30% cold resistance. Only against Cold Sorc’s, otherwise use Magefists.
Frostburn Gauntlets (Normal Unique Gloves) – +40% max mana! Top choice for Energy Shield builds.
Bloodfist Heavy Gloves (Normal Unique Gloves) – Hit recovery and life.

Boots
Classic Rare Boots – Most of these are dupes, but the godly affixes on these can’t be understated. Obviously if you dislike using dupes, don’t bother with these. But +50% to main resists and high stats can be quite enticing…
Silkweave Mesh Boots (Exceptional Unique Boots) – The 10% max mana makes this a tier one choice for Energy Shield users.
Sandstorm Trek Scarabshell Boots (Elite Unique Boots) – Strength, Vitality, Poison resist, hit recovery and repair durability (i.e. get an ethereal pair if possible).
Waterwalk Sharkskin Boots (Exceptional Unique Boots) – Dexterity and life. Increased maximum fire resist may also prove useful.

Amulet
Arch-Angel’s Crafted Caster Amulet of the Magus (Crafted Amulet (caster)) – The only way for an amulet to reach 20% FCR is through the caster craft and the ‘the magus’ suffix. Also very important is the +2 to sorceress skills. Secondary (though still very important) affixes are resists/dual-stats. A good dupe that fills this role is Armageddon Fletch (even though it is a rare with impossible stats). Highly recommended for 200 FCR.
Mara’s Kaleidoscope (Unique Amulet) – +2 skills and high resists. Even a little stat bonus. Don’t forget the +2 skills adds to your CtA.
Volcanic Magical Amulet (Magical Amulet) – Hopefully with 10% FCR/100 life. The damage build’s top choice.

Ring
Rare/Crafted Ring of the Magus (Rare/Crafted Ring) – 10% FCR from each ring will help you immensely on your path to 200 FCR (should you choose to). These are extremely expensive to get legitimate so you may want to try and find the duped version (e.g. Bonemasters on USwest). Look for resists/life/mana as secondary stats.
The Stone of Jordan Ring (Unique Ring) – Don’t expect to find one, but if you play non-ladder you’ll find thousands of dupes. +skills is the main benefit, however these are also the best rings for a Energy Shield Sorc because of its huge mana bonuses.
Ravenfrost Ring (Unique Ring) – If you don’t want to get frozen (remember, being frozen has no effect on casting speed). Also if you want to hose cold sorcs.

Charms
x9 20 Life/5 Resist All small charms (duped)
x9 xx Life/x Resist All small charms
x9 xx Life/FHR small charms
x10 +1 Fire Skills grand charm with Life
x1 Annihilus small charm
x9+ 15 Life/70 Mana bugged small charm (Is also duped as well as bugged. Very bad manners with Energy Shield, though a huge boost. Expensive too (9x 3/20/20 for a permed). USeast only.).

Pre-buff (optional)
x10 +1 Lightning Skills grand charm
+3 Lightning Skills amulet
+3 Energy Shield Ormus’s Robes Dusk Shroud
‘Memory’ Staff with natural +3 to Energy Shield (+9 Energy Shield total)
+3 Lightning Skills circlet
x2 The Stone of Jordan Rings
x1 Arachnid’s Mesh Spiderweb Sash
TOTAL: +41 Lightning skills, +2 from Annihilus and Call to Arms (Battle Command) = +43 Lightning Skills!

Resist Equipment (optional)
Monarch with x4 Ort/Topazes
Monarch with x4 Thul/Sapphires
Snowclash Battle Belt
Thundergod’s Vigor War Belt
The Rising Sun Amulet (VERY BAD MANNERED!)
Nokozan Relic Amulet
3 Socket Helm with x3 Vex/Ohm/Lo
Death’s Hand Leather Gloves (Death’s Disguise set)
Crafted Caster Belt with 10% Magic Damage reduction
x2 Raven Frost Ring
x2 Dwarf Star Ring
x2 Wisp Projector Ring
Griswold’s Valor Corona socketed with x2 Ohm or x2 Thul
Waterwalk Sharkskin Boots
Hotspur Boots

Strategy
Firstly, to play a sorceress well, you must learn how to teleport and avoid combat. Even Energy Shield Sorc’s will die if they try to tank a Barbarian or other tier 1/2 melee build. The same applies to PvM.

For Player versus Monster/Machine (PvM) try to have your mercenary tank the enemy while you pelt them with fireballs (or meteors for bosses). Fireball has good range so you can attack enemies off screen, this is made a lot easier by a maphack. To make a mercenary (melee only) attack a specific target, simply teleport next to the victim and run back a little. Your merc is your only weapon against immunes.

If you are an Energy Shield (ES) build then feel free to try and divert some attacks from the mercenary to yourself. Be especially careful of mana burners, a hit or two can completely drain you. And be mindful of the fact that poison will not be affected by your shield.

In general for Player versus Player (PvP) you dodge their attacks with teleport while throwing the occasional Fireball. 200% FCR will make a surprisingly big difference. Though it may be difficult with 200% FCR, you can change your right-click spell during the tele animation. Once you start get good at this, pubs shouldn’t even notice a delay between teles and Fireballs. Also try to stay out of range of radius of effect abilities like Leap and Conviction. Being the fastest class in the game (except perhaps desynch characters) you have no excuse for being caught by Fist of the Heavens and Conviction!

Dealing with absorb: The only way to fight absorb is to increase your damage, usually at the cost of FCR. Another possibility is by wearing a lot of -5% resist rainbow facets (e.g. 6 in weapon, 4 in armour, 3 in helm). This will severely weaken you and against a good build (like a WWbarb), not to mention causing bankruptcy. If an enemy absorbs you to a stage where there is no reasonable possibility of your victory (e.g. Hotspurs, Rising Sun, x1 Vex/x2 ruby helm, x4 Ral shield, x2 Dwarf Star’s), simply don’t duel them.

WWBarbs: Firstly, get decent hit recovery. Secondly, you stand no chance if you try to tank them. Thirdly, Leap is the most evil ability in the game. A good BvC (Barbarian versus Caster) character/player will be able to firstly Leap (which is maxed) and put you into double hit-recovery. The ability has, at high levels, a range enough to fill more then an entire screen. Once you are in hit recovery, the Barb will tele whirl and try to keep you in Dance of Death (short continuous triangular whirls around you). This will put you into block/hit recovery lock. Even an Energy Shield sorc cannot withstand this treatment for long. But even without leap, a good namelocking tele-whirling Barb is a match for a excellent Sorc. The only way to save yourself is to do a lot of defensive teleporting, staying out of screen and hoping for that lucky hit. But his will only incense the Barb and likely you will be the victim of BM (Bad Mannered (i.e. lots of)) absorb. Against good duelers you will not win.

Bone Necros: Energy Shield = dead Necro. If you don’t have ES then the only real threat is IBS (Invisible Bone Spirit). And absorb of course…

Wind Druids: If they are going to recast minions (to block your fireballs) and cyclone armour, you are in trouble. You will need high FCR to quickly overwhelm the Druid during a lapse of concentration. Learn to avoid Tornadoes should they namelock you as two or so will kill you (though a few Fireballs should kill them too). Stormshield is a welcome asset here as the Druid deals physical damage. Remember, to tele and Fireball requires 14 frames with 200 FCR; whereas a Druid with Hurricane on needs only to tele.

WWsins: First thing to do is kill the Shadow Master, or its Mind Blast will cause you much grief. Against an Enigma (aka ‘ghost’) WWsin you must be VERY skilled indeed to beat a good player (put on some FHR to avoid complete stun-lock). They key to beating Bramble sins is to understand the limitations of Dragon Flight. Off screen tele/shots are especially effective. Dragon Flight is a buggy skill, not even I understand the exact problems. ES also will not help against Venom or Open Wounds.

Additional Resources
Arreat Summit (items and general information):
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp
Skill Planner:
http://www.d2skills.com/
Character Tables:
http://www.d2tables.com/

Additional Credits
C Elegans - For help with design/layout issues .

Please post any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism you may have.

-Noober

Post reserved for additional strategies in the future.

hmm. this one seems interesting. think i will try one. but whu do you say:

Max the following skills in this order:
20 Fireball – Your main skill. Max it.
20 Fire Mastery – More damage, what else do you want?
20 Firebolt – Faster then Fireball, with less godly equip may do more damage, not as good for walls. Also a synergy.
20 Meteor – Only for the synergy. If you play PvM, you may consider this higher priority then Firebolt.

why in this order? will this say that i shouldn't start putting points in meteor or firebolt before fire mastery? or that you just recommend that these skills shold be maxed first? just wondering...

Whoops, Fire Mastery should be last. I went all points into Bolt, then Fireball till Meteor which got a single point, the rest going into Fireball until Mastery which got one point then back to max Bolt then Meteor then finally Mastery. Hope you understood that...

Oh, and get then utility skills as early as possible.

I am adding this guide to the sticky thread as well.

Note that this Fireball built can be played excellently also as a pure fire Meteor/Fireball sorc in PvM. Just max Firemastery, not Telekinesis or Energy shield.

You will then have:

20 Fireball.
20 Firebolt
20 Meteor
20 Fire Mastery

Remaining skills points you can spend freely, or as recommended in Noober's guide above.

Equipment is about the same as for PvP. Since Meteor is times but Fireball is not, it's often good to bomb monsters with a Meteor first, them go Fireball-Fireball and by the time the Meteor hits not much is left.

Thanks C Elegans !