The Secrets of the Nova Sorceress [ Nova Sorceress Build ]

Nova's always been a relatively easy build with end-game equipment, but sunder charms, combined with a good set of equipment, has made it extremely simple to play - the point that it's hold down the right mouse button and toggle with your hotkeys as you go.
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#Alzorath
#Diablo2

[@MrLazyleader]

If anyone was wondering. You can wear ethereal weapons on a caster. As long as you don't hit with the weapon, you keep your durability.

[@Alzorath]

yup, though it was still important to note that you also can't recharge charges :(

[@xXVintersorgXx]

Thought you lost durability on death.. is this just an "other game" thing I'm remembering wrong

[@thestoicsocieties]

@@xXVintersorgXx Not sure, I Play Hardcore like real manly man alpha omega big pp

[@dwrecked9329]

@@xXVintersorgXx I had that same question. Apparently weapons don't lose durability unless you actually hit the enemy with them. If you put throw on left click, it'll never lose dura. I'm not sure if armors are the same.

[@MrLazyleader]

@@dwrecked9329 You don't hit enemies with your armor. Armor loses durability when you get hit.

[@TheDazeez]

Lol… 20 years playing never knew that was the curse Baal did, I always cussed at my computer “why am I losing health with ES when my mana is full!!!” Thanks for the clarification for me 😂

[@Alzorath]

I abhor that curse lol - I understand why it's there, but good lord is it punishing - generally speaking, I just don't usually fight him on any ES builds, but had to capture some for the b-roll for demonstration purposes (the succubi aren't as bad, since you can still shred them quick - only baal takes so many casts)

[@TheDazeez]

@@Alzorath is it a curse that Nec has? Or a unique one?

[@Alzorath]

@@TheDazeez unique sadly - that and the defense curse they use are monster only :(

[@dabakrada5077]

I highly value your content. I find myself going back to these skill videos all the time for all classes. I really like the build videos too because you show the early gear. I'm looking forward to more build videos. Thanks!

[@Alzorath]

just glad it helps :) - here's hoping they don't change too much about the skills in the future (other than fixing bugs), or I might have to remake some of them ;)

[@MortaresD2]

Finally a good video on infinity nova sorc. It helped me a lot! Thanks, OP.

[@chrisschmitz237]

Also make cresceent moon in a war sword so when you use anything else its less storage space. Crystal sword 6 boxes vs war sword 3 boxes

[@Alzorath]

for aesthetics, if I do end up biting the bullet (I have the resources, I just hate burning them since new runewords will be coming) - I'll probably make it in a long sword, since they're the best looking aesthetically imo :)

[@MrLazyleader]

I've respecced my sorc probably ten times now and the best build I came up with was the Frost Nova + Frozen Orb sorc. Now that you can cast between FO, Frost Nova is a great way to eliminate all the small creatures running around you. Blizzard deals insane damage, but you never hit all the mobs, so you either let them live or waste time singling out the survivors. You max FN, FO, Blizzard and Ice Bolt. Remaining points go into Cold Mastery. During Baal waves or before Diablo spawns you can also precast Blizzard for additional damage. (Frost) Nova is much safer also for cows, since they are all affected by the stun lock. Other cold skills always leave room for cows to hit you. I play on game pad and so far it has been an ice blast.

[@pone2376]

I am considering to play frost nova. The only thing I doubt now is to have Energy Shield or not. What is your consideration? Did you try Energy shield?

[@AlekTrev006]

Same here !! I settled on that as my best chance to get through Hell-diff to eventually unlock T-Zones and potentially get a Light Sunder, finally 😏

[@Alzorath]

Yea, blizzard is mainly a boss killer, while orb/fnova/etc. are much better at sweeping trash in general (and yes, I chuckled a bit at the dad joke ;) )

[@MrLazyleader]

@@pone2376 I have analysed ES more often than is good for my sanity. If you can afford Infinity, then by going Nova, you have enough points to spare for ES anyway. I'd also carry Infinity myself and let my prayer merc wear Insight. But using ES has disadvantages which balance out the advantages so if you go for a skill that has more synergies, maxing those synergies is better than going ES. Short form is, ES gives you more effective health vs physical damage like cows and fetishes but less health against all elemental damage since ES ignores your resistances. If you go for ES I'd never go Hybrid (below 90% ES) because then you still need to go for resistances on gear to protect your health. If you aim for 95% ES, you need zero resistances which is convenient now with sunder charms. While the remaining 5% elemental damages still reaches your life, it's so little that this is outhealed by prayer/meditation immediately so resistances serve no purpose. You still need a few hundred life points anyway to protect yourself against poison or the blood mana curse. For poison you still need high resistances so andariels visage or venom ward can help you reach your goal. As a league starter ES can be very strong if you buy a memory base with 3 ES and 3 FO. You don't have points for Frost Nova, so this is not your final build. You wear memory in your main hand since it's basically a poor mans obsessions as long as you don't need resistances. This way you can use the sunder charms early on without any drawback. I also wore a 15% cold +3 ES Ormus which helped me getting to 90%+ ES and is also very cheap. For FO FN you don't have any points left for ES and Telekinesis anyway so don't even bother. Now the cons of using ES: 1. Since your resistances are ignored you receive 4x as much elemental damage. This means even with 3k mana and telekinesis which would bump the 3k to an effective health pool of 4k, you would still only have an effective health pool of 1k against elemental damage. This is horrible considering getting to 3k mana isn't easy. 2. If your mana is higher than your life the succubi curse you with blood mana. This will make you pay life instead of mana for your spells. If you want to access all areas you will encounter this curse and thus increase your chance of dying. 3. Mana drain is still a thing. It's not as lethal but effectively reduces your health pool when you are affected by it. 4. If you wear memory in your 2nd slot, you cannot wear Call to Arms. This is actually a huge deal. 5. Baal will destroy you. He constantly, sometimes many times in a row, casts a fire which halves your current mana. If you want that juicy green essence, I wouldn't go for ES. It's possible to kill Baal, but not worth the hassle. 6. Once you die, it's almost impossible to retrieve your corpse and you might lose a lot of xp. Without gear your ES is way too low to protect your life and your life is way too low to protect yourself. Conclusion: As a final build I would only go for ES if you know you don't access the risky areas or maybe for the infinity nova version. As a cow killer an ES sorc can be quite nice. What do I wear currently? Full Tals actually with +5 -3 cold facets. Death's Fathom is not only expensive, if you care for resistances and mf, you have to compensate for this on sockets and other items which makes the benefit really marginal, at least according to my spread sheets. The best all around build would be 3 piece Tals with an +3 FO +3 FN Obsession. If your base only covers one of the two skills, it's about as good as full tals, but again more expensive. Keep in mind tal orb gives +15% cold damage. Since the set bonus covers resistances I can use facets, so I'm at +30% cold damage through gear which is the same as a perfect Death's Fathom. As Rings I wear 1 BK3 and 1 SoJ. The SoJ together with CtA gives me enough mana to not spend points in energy. I wear rare gloves and boots to over cap my resists to compensate for the lower resist curse in Chaos Sanctuary. My merc wears an Insight and I still prefer Prayer since it keeps your health up, so I only need potions in emergencies and not constantly to keep me at max.

[@MrLazyleader]

@@pone2376 To add to my previous point. I wouldn't use FN as the only damage source because it does not deal enough damage for larger single targets. FN+FO is a match made in heaven and you have enough points to max all synergies.

[@Gurgur94]

about to set up my first nova sorc going for maxroll´s hc setup got everything but the charms for it in the stash just need to lvl the sorc gonna be fun

[@Dawnarow]

I Finally started leveling my sorceress with this build because I knew it was going to be easy mode, but... I never expected it to be THAT laid back. I got from 91 to 95.4/96 maaaaybe 97 in about 5 days? Just logging on for 3 terror zones and sometimes extending my stay a bit ^___^. This build is beyond craycray, but I'm still debating to have only 3-4 charms and tomes vs 7charms and cube. The shortcut to opening the cube is worth remembering since I had forgotten and saw a video yesterday reminding me of its existence. Whew, quite a few clicks I saved myself for the 95 to 96-97! To Note: I've had my -54LR and pondered upgrading to -55 infinity since before Ladder1/S1 started~ I was aching to play it! I will be making a nova/cold orb like I did a decade ago S0Oon for pvp xD... have we had news for the extra storage yet? 😢 It would really rivet this game as my favorite if they did... it's the only complaint that I have left (mules) instead of the >option< to buy storage instead of being forced to make mules and spreadsheets to find our crafting mats and whatnot. What I don't understand is that we can't buy another D2 account via our blizzard accounts (Obviously you can buy more accounts with other emails and it's definitely more secure to do so). It just feels gross & cheap that it isn't addressed yet. Sunder charms' addition is basically -18 squares, too :( Thank you for making videos. My Top 3 D2R content creator ;'P Clearly a runner up for other people!

[@Alzorath]

I generally run 5 skillers, 1 sunder, 1 torch, 1 anni, and 5 small - with cube and a tp tome (currently hoarding unid rares and plan to do a big batch of identifications in a few months - which will mark 1 year of farming by making strictly b-roll and tests) - but yea, either way this is a very chill build for sure, probably the most relaxing of the sorc builds, with hydra being a close second. Sadly no news on extra storage, but it would be nice :( (wager the most we'll get is more character slots if anything though). Glad you're enjoying the videos though :) - as long as the videos are helpful, I've reached my goal.

[@MrLazyleader]

Ty for the video. May I suggest you activate the permanent health and mana numbers on the globes? This would greatly improve the guides for me so I don't have to watch the entire video again in hopes of you hovering your cursor over the globe at some point.

[@jameshaulenbeek5931]

Seeing the numbers doesn't really matter though. The orb shows how much life or mana you have.

[@MrLazyleader]

@@jameshaulenbeek5931 you can compare it to other builds

[@dwrecked9329]

I've been running Nova sorc for a few weeks. perfect armor and crescent moon + lidless so I can drop the str for monarch. Will hopefully have a self wielded infinity eventually. Never had so much fun on a build before

[@Alzorath]

she is a super relaxing build, for early MF another good shield is Splendor - a little less useful than lidless, but a lot easier to make if SSF (and has MF)

[@blo5980]

I am wondering if it is possible to build a nova/immortal ES version while staying away from mana curse (i.e. max life> max mana but sufficient mana for nova spam). I am prepared for dropping some skiller for life/mana GC(of course the lesser the better).

[@omniunown]

I like to use a nova sorc for easy mode key and rune farming. She can do it with no endgame gear, as long as you have reasonable resists and FCR. One ladder I found a wizardspike as my only decent item, and she ran just fine even with the extra dex investment

[@Alzorath]

wizardspike is a great option for the more budget-oriented takes on this (suicide branch is really solid too) - since it gives you most of the FCR you'll need :) - and generally in p1, this is enough to kind of relax through everything (I only worry about 'min-maxing' this if I'm going to be doing p5 or higher on it - since part of nova's power is reaching a damage point to consistently stagger)

[@shawmeck9323]

Love this content. The hell cow run at the end, I assume it's players 8?

[@Spongey1985]

im loving nova/es with cmoon/spirit, frostburns, dual soj, arachs, vmagi and griffs with light facets, and infinity on merc. i never get anywhere close to low mana. i'm running holy freeze though and i think i'll try prayer to help with poison. edit: prayer merc is definitely the way to go. thanks!

[@hangmingzhang5067]

prayer with insight and the new cure helmet is a blessing when on budget, Mizan never lived so long😅

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Love your video thank you buddy!

[@Alzorath]

thanks :) - hopefully will have a few more in this vein in the near future

[@kristopherleslie8343]

@@Alzorath always top content

[@bobnewkirk7003]

cant believe I missed this when it rolled out. Nova/ES is what I ended S1 with and enjoyed it greatly past the initial Hell Clear. about the only thing i could add is keep a Memory staff with a +3 ES staff mod on swap for a quick +9 ES pre-buff. Nova, With or Without Infinity and Sunder, is my favorite key farmer and a great 2nd character to a Pally starter for a Torch Running set. with easy access to gear and a weapon that only costs UM, which you can farm right away in hell, its probably the easiest "midgame" spec to build out for an alt; 100% can recommend. Endgame I fell in love with the self-equip infinity as you can run an Insight/Prayer merc on ES and forget about your potion belt all together, only issue is you are pretty short on MF so you get slightly pigeon-holed into Rune/Key farming. Still need to get a feel for the Frost Nova build, but given Cold Mastery functions like a free Infinity, I'm thinking that even at lower paper damage it will behave much the same as a traditional nova build and be a fun alternative with cheaper gear.

[@Alzorath]

yea, people still really sleep on nova sadly - frankly, I prefer it over the other lightning builds, and it's super consistent to boot.

[@bobnewkirk7003]

@@Alzorath Dbrunski just did a comparison on all the endgame builds and the Nova build actually took the top spot for CS. I think a lot has to do with how the immunities stack up in there, but it was really interesting to see Nova beating out Light. He was running the Self-equip infinity set :D

[@smalps-gaming]

Love the self wielding version myself!

[@mr.anderson2513]

Just actually got this game and this build jumped out to me.

[@Alzorath]

it's a ton of fun, not super new player friendly, but is pretty easy to do once you get your bearings with potion use and mana management.

[@64Runal]

This will be my first ladder on D2R. What build do you recommend for a sorc and leveling at ladder start if I plan to eventually play this build once I get some gear?

[@Alzorath]

I usually start with Hydra/Orb and then only switch to this after I have moderate quality gear at least.

[@chrisschmitz237]

You can do infinity build with 105 fcr. I have like 3-4 builds i jump around with and 105 fcr infinity holding is 1

[@Alzorath]

yup, this version is a 105 infinity - it's the 200 that's impossible with infinity (if you get a 20FCR amulet, you can actually use Ormus' Robes in place of vipermagi though for extra punch specifically on nova)

[@ryancooper3629]

How does your mana stay topped off constantly? I'm toying with a nova build and even with an insight merc nearby my mana just evaporates as soon as I start casting nova. Aldurs boots seems to help a bit but even so I constantly find myself having to run away because I'm going oom and will die if I stick around. In the video your mana seems to stay topped off or nearly topped off constantly. Currently running: Crescent Moon Spirit Facted Griffons CoH Magefist Arach 2xBK (didn't have any SOJs handy) Maras Aldurs Boots (tried silkweave as well) Merc is just an insight merc with treachery and a leech helm.

[@Alzorath]

almost all of my stat points are in energy - so in full gear she has ~3k mana before any battle orders and such, which with regen boosting functions will keep her relatively topped off. The lower your mana, the more you'll need to drink mana potions while playing (insight still greatly minimizes that). SoJ's help a ton with boosting your max mana.

[@shannonnezul4903]

Man Nova/Forb/Firewall is my go to league starter. Its not gfg but it works.

[@bronzesun21]

i have some general questions about d2. been trying out sorc recently but i always run into the same issue in d2 even back in the day. once i get to level 70 or so the gear that drops is almost always bad and way below level for the difficulty that im playing in. hell mode mobs and bosses drop the same stuff that i get in nightmare and sometimes even normal. and its the same rares/elites/set items over and over. the gear that my sorc has is all way below her level and nothing level 60 or above will drop even though im level 82. the gear that has high magic find that actually drops when i kill stuff is weak and i cant survive in hell mode with it. i want to be able to try out different builds i see but across every class i make the same thing keeps happening. how can i actually get level appropriate items while in single player beyond nightmare mode?

[@Alzorath]

level requirement is not reflective of an item's power - there are level 80+ items that are garbage, and low level requirement items that are best in slot. The higher level an enemy, the higher level items it can drop, but it can still drop lower level items too - just the nature of the magic find system, but most the best runewords you can make and even uniques you'll find, rarely have level requirements over 60 with only a handful of exceptions (stuff like arachnid's mesh, certain crafted items, etc.) It's more important to look at what an item gives you - you can have low level boots that give amazing resists example, and high level boots that give absolutely nothing worthwhile.

[@bronzesun21]

@@Alzorath ah I should have worded my original comment better. Basically what I mean is that the item req level being low isn't the sole issue. It's that the items stats seem to be consistently weak. Like in hell mode for example, my sorc can kill mobs but the armor that usually drops is low defence. I see no improvement in stats over what I was getting in nightmare mode. So it's like facing harder content but the stuff that drops is at the same level of stuff I already have equipped or weaker. If a weapon drops the damage/affixes its pretty on par with stuff that drops in nightmare so it makes hell mode content tedious. I'm stuck in act 2 and and killing andariel and other mobs keeps giving the same drops that aren't strong enough to use to push on through the following acts.

[@AlekTrev006]

Master Alzorath, wouldn’t the ‘best’ damage potential ultimately be from your Sorc wielding a Crystal Sword Crescent Moon, allowing for Spirit in offhand Monarch… then have the Merc w Infinity, and add in you having a Lightning Sunder Charm ? By my rough maths, that would result in first breaking immunes to 95… then -17 from the Infinity (78 res now), then the further C-Moon reductions apply, and would seem to deal still heavy damage to OG Immunes, and SEVERE damage to non-immunes ?

[@jinshin85]

Then you will have mana issue

[@Alzorath]

As Jinshin mentioned this introduces a TON of mana issues unfortunately, which is a problem when pulling the energy shield variant, and self-wielded infinity actually adds a lot of punch even though you lose the plus skills. (also worth noting, infinity can also give up to -55% resist if you're self-wielding )

[@Romansbook]

Currently on D2R: I’m using a +3 Nova Obsession Griffons socketed 5/5 Eth infinity Thresher on Merc. This combined with Vmagi and 2/20 amulet with fcr rings and arachs clears p8 cows in about a minute

[@Nearalias]

So you're forgoing the Insight on merc for mana upkeep?

[@davidshoup5046]

are you using a monarch shield?

[@MB-ln4yx]

Did u use frozen armor, shiver armor or chilling armor because I see your character has it but you don’t say which or how many points you put into it.

[@HatredLLC]

If you're looking to pvp with this build then definitely max thunderstorm and static,you can one shot low res chars with it as well as stun to namelock for nova

[@RPDBY]

what about Eschuta's Temper, is it worse than infinity due t the lack of minus light res?

[@Alzorath]

yup, outside of very specific setups, this is because +% elemental damage from gear adds to the mastery %, rather than multiplying it (so +% damage for fire/lightning is less impactful for the sorceress, while -% resist is less impactful for cold sorcs due to that mastery)

[@hoayuko]

Prayer merc WILL add synergy bonus to meditation aura. So those health and mana regen will be blazing fast !

[@Alzorath]

yup - it's the main reason for choosing the prayer merc - the double stack helps combat poison damage :)

[@MikeySassounian]

Got any thoughts on gerke shield or gladiator bane? I see these on the immortal builds a lot

[@Alzorath]

they're more of a gimmick/pvp tool than necessarily something I'd run consistently for normal play.

[@MikeySassounian]

Good to know. I’m trying this out on HC and there’s a lot of places to play with things. Wiz spike is a really good weapon…. Lots of mana. Any thoughts on resistances? Needed not needed?

[@Alzorath]

@@MikeySassounian for HC I'd keep them up, but in SC not needed really - most your damage is going into energy shield (and ES ignores resist for better or worse, it's always 0%)

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

They're fun for Zealchantresses!

[@matheus8106]

hello ! i l lbe member to check out the advices ! CAN I ASK SOME QUESTIONS - I LL BE SO HAPPY IF YOU ANSWER =) ? 1)Wich armor you mercenary is using? 2)Which Rune i put in vampires gaze helmet on mercenary ? 3)I am using spirit on shield and crescent moon on weapon till i get infinity. When i get infinity i can put CTA and Spirit on W and stop using crescent moon ? 4) i am lv 76 and in stats tree i put max NOVA, STATIC FIELD, LIGHTING MASTERY, ENERGY SHIELD, and now i am putting all the rest in Telekinesis. I am wrong ? PS: i want to make a full damage lighting to breake all the resistences in hell like your sorc. I am using crack of heavens, crescent moon, spirit on shield, griffons with rainbow lighting facet and ormus + 3 nova with rainbow lighting facet. IF i make a mistake on build can u correct me ???? THANKS MY BROTHER

[@AlexGeh]

Any other viable helms other than Lore -> Shako -> Griffons?

[@Alzorath]

Jeweler's Diadem of the Magus would be pretty strong w/ rainbow facets (griffon's is better though), or a 2 socket from Larzuk Archangel's of Magus w/ rainbow facets - but griffon's is better. That said any +skill helmet will work until you get griffon's.

[@RPDBY]

how good is nova sorc with magic find gear? is blizz sorc or nova sorc better when equipped with mf gear

[@Alzorath]

Nova sorc is better for rune/base/crafting supply farming since she's an amazing zone sweeper - boss killing is a bit easier with hydra or blizzard sorcs (same for boss pack stomping), so they would be your better selections for unique/set/rare farming.

[@lucretius8050]

The new cure runeword for mercenary would be good for boosting prayer

[@Dartlin]

Nova is such a low point investment it makes for a great crowd control (control meaning crowd crushing lol) if you want to make blizzard with nova or even fire and nova for unique farming you can just use nova when there's fire immunes and if using infinity you can break those and then use fire on some bosses for more damage (higher average damage depending on skill distribution)

[@Alzorath]

yup, Nova, Firewall, and Orb are the best 'secondary' skills on the sorceress for each element - just so point friendly :)

[@idbgrr]

hello i have a question , i want to play Nova sorc with light sunder charm , isnt it better to use Crescent moon weapon over Infinity on main hand cuz Crescent gives -35% To Enemy Lightning Resistance and infi will be about ~17 ?

[@Alzorath]

Infinity has the same mod, except up to -55%, this stacks with conviction.

[@mapron1]

@@Alzorath Infinity for nova sorc has one huge disadvantage - you need to wait for conviction aura to tick and set, and that can be FOREVER for this fast build. My personal preference is Crescent (tho it less -res, but it works on first cast)

[@mapron1]

with sunder, you now loger working with 'immune' monster, so lower resist and convi works on 100%, not 20%. edit: sorry for misinformation, that's not true anymore.

[@Alzorath]

@@mapron1 the -55% on Infinity actually works constantly, it's the same modifier as is found on crescent moon, just a different value (so there's no waiting for conviction to take hold to use that -55%) As far as sunder, sadly, they patched it so that Conviction and Lower Resist still function at 1/5th efficiency if the monster is sundered and was previously immune.

[@mapron1]

@@Alzorath Really? I missed that. It's great news. edited my wrong comment above.

[@ssiliezar88]

Idk if I missed it but what player difficulty is this?

[@Alzorath]

Players 1, Single Player for bg footage - functions well at the important player difficulties (P1 for unique hunting for sets/rares/uniques, p3-p5 for bases, jewels, charms, runes, etc. from trash mobs)

[@bradysimpson]

Just made a frenzy barb with BOTD and Death CBs. Put frenzy on right click. Click and hold. Lazy af, but still tons of fun.

[@Alzorath]

I do love click and hold builds lol, mainly because I a lot of my test runs while watching stuff - since if it's fast while I'm distracted, it's even faster when I'm not ;)

[@imrekalman9044]

Ultimate lazy build is probably the summon necro. My favourite. 😁

[@Alzorath]

I love my lazy builds on each of the classes - if I can right click to win, I'm set ;)

[@Luca_Brasi_881]

Zealot requires only 3 keys. Zeal, Holy Shield, Vigor/Teleport. My favorite lazyboy char

[@Asrudin]

I personally prefer a 200 fcr build which needs eschuta or suicide/wiz spike if you want to add a facet or hoto. Eschuta will allow you to go 1 soj. Suicide and wiz can use 2 ( with 2/20 amulet) You could even use occy or spirit but need 2 fcr rings then. With perfect gear you have -35% enemy light res on facet eschu, facet viper and facet griffs. With sunder charm it seems to de enough dm for me to own 1 player hell basically everywhere. As for 8 players the damage can be lacking in some areas but can just avoid those areas. I prefer using max energy shield and energy stat build so I use insight. With the infinity nerf being only 1/5th effective on sundered monsters, I dont think it is worth the price but of course it would still not be useless. If you want a sorc that owns hell on 8p in all areas, make a blizzard sorc.

[@Alzorath]

Worth noting - Infinity didn't get a 1/5th nerf, Conviction did - Infinity provides up to -55% Lightning Resist before conviction, it provides up to -72% when conviction is applied on an immune/sundered, and up to -140% when conviction is applied to a non-immune.

[@Asrudin]

​@@Alzorath That is only if you wield it yourself though? the -55% on merc only helps merc lightning damage iirc. In which case I would much rather have the FCR and +skills from eschuta and spirit. +5 all skills , 75FCR and -5 enemy light res VS -50 enemy lightning res, 35% frw The first pieces of -enemy light res are important, yes, because sundered monsters start at 95% resistance, so even -10 does 3 times more damage than 0. -35 vs 85 certainly doubles the damage which is still significant, but at the cost of so much. Factoring in +skills and maybe hitting a higher breaking point, you might not even be better off on pure damage.

[@felipemira]

is this viable for hardcore?

[@thenuclearrabbit]

Yes.

[@SirSilicon]

Mana Shield is now very good because of the Mana steal bug fixing. It's dangerous if you get the Mana curse from witches (next to nilathak) or normal amp damage curse. So having some life is important. With a 17 meditation Insight you can be good even at 2.5k mana wich is very easy to get.

[@Alzorath]

it's extremely viable once you have endgame gear, it can be a minor struggle if you don't though, since you'll find it harder to stagger enemies with the nova in hell difficulty.

[@gustavocapricornus8609]

What is the benefit of Telekinesis?

[@Alzorath]

greatly reduces the mana penalty for using energy shield.

[@KoniecPsot]

how points stats dex to max block or no?

[@Parasmunt]

Since she wont be getting increased chance to block (it might be viable to use a shield that has that for her even if she sacrifices Spirit) it will be considerably more than 200 dexterity. I have never found it a worthwhile investment for her.

[@AfroDominus]

I still feel hoto and 35fcr spirit and replace armor for enigma or Coh gives better results while leaving infinity on your merc . I don’t feel like I run out of mana so I don’t feel it’s necessary to have insight on the merc

[@Alzorath]

-55% Resist all will generally beat out even +6 skills, especially if you're not hitting the 200% breakpoint.

[@AfroDominus]

@@Alzorath alright is good to know thank you!

[@Alzorath]

(not saying the HotO/Spirit setup is bad - it works just fine, it's just a lot of people sleep on infinity since a lot forget about that -%lightning resist on it, since they only view it as a mercenary weapon - similar to how it's slept on for summoners, due to a lot of people forgetting that conviction drops enemy defense a ton)

[@supernova743]

Baal only casts the blood mana curse if your mana is higher than ypur health.

[@Alzorath]

correct, though this build generally wants higher mana than life (also worth noting the same rule applies to the succubi variants that cast it too)

[@GorcStew]

is there a reason why nobody is running self-wielding insight sorc with infinity merc instead? :S U get 35% faster cast with insight so u can wear frostburns with it and jack ur mana shield/survivability

[@Alzorath]

you lose a ton of damage output per second with insight, and if your merc is using the insight, you get meditation + double (or triple if you use cure) prayer.

[@jlinkous05]

Please add "Can my grandma play this?" at the ends. Consider that knowledgable folk would level to 50 and have level-appropriate gear, and then give it to grandma. Could grandma clear Cows with Nova Sorc? Yeah, it's just one button!

[@defilerzerg9152]

Dream Sorc is peak lazy for me. My main skill is literally Telekinesis.

[@Jay7ona]

Quick breakdown? Besides duel dream?

[@defilerzerg9152]

@@Jay7ona CoH, Magefist, WarTrav, Arach, Mara, SoJs. CtA PB as a main hand, so I don't have to switch; Infy on a merc and Light skillers. Skillwise: Lightning Mastery, Enchant, Warmth, Telekinesis, rest between Fire Mastery and ES. Not a conventional setup, maybe does slightly less damage than an optimal one from MaxRoll. But it works for me, I just jump from pack to pack, picking the gold that drops around me with Tk. For bosses, one or several basic attacks kill them dead.

[@Alzorath]

I actually have a Melee Dream sorc on the docket, but I have been considering doing another video that would involve a tick-sorc

[@defilerzerg9152]

@@Alzorath would love to see your take on it!

[@Parasmunt]

Never liked mana shield. Can be brought down with manaburn. Dodgy for hardcore. Vitality is the way, my sorc has 2500 hp.

[@Alzorath]

The mana burn bug was fixed in resurrected a few patches back, it's far less risky now than in LoD.

[@matteospadazzi8374]

I'm currently running nova this ladder and just reached 200fcr breakpoint griffon 25 2/10 amulet vipermagi 35 hoto 40 spirit 35 trang gloves 20 10 fcr all res ring 10 fcr all res ring it works so fast with sunder and griffon that inifnity isn't needed at all good video though

[@cjdig86]

Infinity wielding is still a better build though. It allows you to have insight on merc, which allows you to be invincible with energy shield and never need a single pot. Also, you do so much more damage with a -55% infinity that everything melts within 2 or 3 novas in an 8p game.

[@alexfisher7402]

just give her an Infinity Scythe -55 res LOL

[@AlAtar360]

I would make another crescent moon in a low level weapon if I were you though. The wasted points in dexterity hurt my eyes. lol. You could make the character even better and it wouldn't cost you a thing considering how cheap this runeword is.

[@Alzorath]

Probably hurt even more that I am a fan of max block on a lot of teleport heavy builds, since you never actually move, you always have 75% damage reduction ;)

[@Eng.Valkov90]

My testing too many times, full tal rasha set for -15% enemy set bonus plus 3 x rainbow x/-5 enemy. In this case max rezZ, 105 cast easily, 2500+ mana, 80% es, 250% + mf, from 3 to 5 skiller’s dmg is around from 5 to 5500 on nova. This setup beat grifon, coh or eni + sp web nvm, tried too many times, this is the best setup !

[@whateverppl1229]

10:54 I play afk sum necro. I make a cows, (summon skellies on the way to cows) and then afk, look over, oh everythings dead, move 5 feet and repeat

[@sagitter140]

105 FCR isn't the goal ... the breakpoint for lightning is 117 FCR

[@Alzorath]

117 is only Lightning and Chain Lightning. Nova doesn't use the special cast animation, the breakpoints are 63 (9/5), 105 (8/5), and 200 (7/4) (and Lightning/CL breakpoints are 52 (14/6), 78 (13/5), 117(12/5), 194 (11/5), and 200 (11/4)) Note: that's FCR ( Total Cast Frames / Action Frame )

[@sagitter140]

@@Alzorath yeah mate but I played the full Season 1 the energy shield nova and you still want to use lightening on the single target (baal for example) especially when u are cursed since it burns a lot less mana and u still help the merc a lot in killing it faster … so 117 for me was still a useful BP to reach (personal opinion ofcurse)

[@Alzorath]

@@sagitter140 I mean, Nova/ES is a 104 point build, meaning even at 99, you'd only have at most a base level 6 lightning... unless you ditch a lot of nova damage or a lot of ES durability.

[@sagitter140]

@@Alzorath Yep, my nova does 3950 of lightning damage (4700 nova damage) which with infinity it's enough to do damage being safely away from single target especially when cursed ... cuz you have noticed using nova when cursed u'll have to drink 1 full rejuice every 3 / 4 secs otherwise and on single target boss it just make no sense since Nova damage is just slightly more then lightning damane but consume far more. Still this was just for the sake of sharing different experiences / tests :)

[@mentab23]

I just failed to cresceentmoon in jared's stone :/ this game bro

[@damonmcintosh876]

Uhhhh.. where's Frostburn?

[@ESP4thaWin]

You forgot your damn boots!

[@Alzorath]

9:45