This guide is based on information gathered from Lurker Lounge, Chaos Sanctuary, and personal experience playing a Lightning-only sorceress in both single player and on USWest realm with my sorceress, "Levin_YZilla".
In this guide, I am assuming you do know what each skill/spell for a sorceress does, therefore, there are no detailed explanations of how each skill/spell work. Also, I am assuming you do know what the items I point out in this guide are, or at least know where to find out if you don't. (Basically, don't ask me.)
Text like these indicate what my Sorceress, Levin_YZilla, was like regarding the preceding topic.
Also, I should point out that I spent most of my sorceress's time playing in games with more than 1 people. However, although I had a friend help me get though the quests portion of the game, I have done most parts alone, attempting to lvl in 3+ player games. Besides the fact that I like playing in a team, I chose to do this because soloing all the way using my computer was simply impossible. Playing on a Pentium 166 with 80MB of EDO RAM, Voodoo2, and a fairly old 4GB low speed IDE hard drive means one thing, L-A-G. Every time I enter a new area, use a way point or meet a new monster, my game would freeze for the next few seconds to load what ever new that it needs to load. This results in 1 frame per 3 second animations, death-without-seeing-what-hit-me, 10 second stand still entering Duriel's chamber, and worst, a full 30 second freeze when Diablo is released. For being in a party, I will have more chance of surviving during times when the LAG Monster attacks, or simply, have someone send me a Town Portal if I die.
On another note, I did significantly boost Levin's strength when I transferred almost everything from my lvl 59 necromancer. Having a Stone of Jordan at lvl 21, and using a triple perfect diamond Tower Shield at lvl 23 gave me an extremely high advantage. Pictures will be added at later dates once I take a few more and organize the ones I already have.
Other than that, I died A LOT. No matter how hard I tried, the LAG Monster came out victorious.
Anyway, enough with my sorrow, lets get on with the guide.
I started writing this guide around the beginning of January 2001. From there, it spent a week on the Lurker Lounge, where many sent in their opinion and experience with a Lightning only/oriented Sorceress.
February 14th, 2001 - First official release of this guide.
February 15th, 2001 - Reposted guide with some typo/info corrections. Damn spell check. That'll teach me not to write anything important while ICQ messages are going off in all directions. Wait, no, it doesn't...
A properly built lightning only Sorceress can be very strong in 2 or more player games. Since she would use Static Field as her main damage dealer, it makes little difference if it's a solo, or a full 8 player game.
Specializing in only one skill tree means that skill points can be concentrated.
Not specific to LoS, but playing a character which uses magic mainly means much easier time recovering bodies, since you do not have to rely heavily on items/weapons.
The spells you will be using most are all available early on (Static Field at lvl 6, Nova at lvl 12, Chain Lightning at lvl 18.)
At higher levels, lightning mastery will help lower mana cost, and allows you to spend less points in energy.
Makes heck of a good treasure hunter.
Cons
A LoS is fairly weak from lvl 3 to about 12 until Nova and Lightning can be acquired. This is mainly because Charged Bolts are weak and unpredictable, and monster HP and your max mana is not high enough to make Static Field, available at lvl 6, an efficient spell to damage monsters with.
No fire-tree means no Warmth. And no ice-tree means no ice-related armor of any kind, and no chilling/freezing/shattering monsters.
Lightning spells have a very large damage range. Which means you can deal quite a lot of damage in one cast, then do pathetically low damage the next.
The mastery does not make each spell deal more damage.
Teleporting uniques are a pain in the @$$ for a LoS. Since they would teleport and heal once their life is low, it's almost impossible to get a finishing spell into it after Static Fielding it. Lightning resistance makes this situation even worse.
Build steadily up to 75 to wear a tower shield. Raise it higher if you have left over points, and want to wear exceptional items that require high strength.
Dexterity:
No points here unless you want to use Culwen's Point (45 dex) or Spectral Shard (51 dex). I would recommend against this, however, because +1 to skills is not very efficient or useful since you will be specializing in only a few spells, and 1 more skill point into each does not make much difference in their performance later on. As for Shard, 10% resistance to all does not make much difference once you learn to use teleport effectively to avoided magic attacks, and a Wrym's Wand of Magus can be BOUGHT in later difficulties to substitute for the +50 mana and fastest cast rate, while having no dex or st requirement.
Vitality:
Invest in vitality as you see fit. However, keep in mind that later on you will have Energy Shield to reduce the amount of damage you take HP wise.
Energy:
Keep putting points into this, since you will need all the mana you can get due to the lack of Warmth helping your mana regeneration.
Early on, find and use all the +mana and +regenerate mana item you can find. Having no Warmth means you need to raise your max mana/regeneration as much as possible through items.
The faster you can cast, the better. Lightning spells are generally low cost, and deal less damage. This means, you need to pump in a lot of spells to kill anything. Even SF takes quite a few casts to lower monster HP enough for a finishing skill when monsters begin to have high HP and lightning resistance. Faster cast rate would allow you to do this in a very short period of time.
Keep in mind, however, that sometimes having one more Fast Cast item does not make a difference. Considering fastest cast as +2, and fast cast as +1, the relation ship of casting bonus and actual casting time bonus is show below:
- Casting Time Bonus (Fast as +1, Fastest as +2)
Actual -Casting Time Bonus (%)
+1
+8%
+2
+18%
+3
+30%
+4
+30%
+5
+44%
+6
+63%
+7
+63%
+8
+86%
+9
+86%
*Thanks to Beleg for pointing this out for me on the Lounge forum
As you can see, at (+3, +4), (+6, +7) and at (+8,+9), the actual cast rate bonus is the same. This sometimes makes having a fast cast and a fastest cast have the same effect depending on how many bonuses you already have. Having 3 fastest cast (wand/scepter, Magefist, Wall of Eyeless) and 2 other fast cast is the maximum that can be achieved.
Weapon:
Early on, find wands and usable scepters that gives to +mana and/or has fast cast. You may want to use the Fire Bolt you get from your first staff until you're confident to move onto weap/shield combo, or be a true LoS and move onto a higher damage weapon to melee with ASAP, since Charged Bolts is simply too inefficient to kill with even in early levels. Later on, find and use any wand/scepter that has fastest cast. Any other stats would be a bonus. Look for resistance and +mana, but fastest cast is a must.
Levin used a Scepter of Magus, until it was given to a friend, then bought a Wand of Magus. She hasn't found a replacement of it yet.
Helm:
Early on, any helm with decent +mana or resistance will do. Even a "Chipped Sapphire Gemmed Cap" will make a difference when you're just starting. Eventually, move on to Perfect Skull helms, rare helm with high resistance, and if available, Tarn Helm.
Armor:
Look for rare mage plate with good resistance. Look for a Heavenly Garb if you need mana regeneration badly. Use Silk or Goldskin if you don't mind investing in strength. However, you may want to have a Twitchthroe (unique Studded Leather) to wear for its increased chance of blocking. This will be explained in "Playing a LoS" section.
Levin switched over to a Twitchthroe ASAP when she finally acquired one though gamble. It happened at level 26, and she is still using it as her main armor.
Gloves:
Magefist, for its Fastest cast. You may also want to have a Frostburn if you find yourself running out of mana too quickly. Frostburn's +40% maximum mana gives more mana regeneration per second that Magifist's +25% mana regeneration.
Belt:
Any belt with 3+ rows for potions, and has good resistance. Nightsmoke is desired because of its 50% dmg goes to mana. Also look for a Lenymo (unique Belt), if you can deal with having only 2 rows for potions, since it has +30% to mana regeneration.
Boots:
Anything with good resistance and walk/run speed increase. Tearhaunch serves this purpose well, but a rare boot with higher resistance might be better. A fastest walk/run speed boot will be useful too before you gain enough mana to constantly use Teleport.
Shield:
IMO, a shield is more important to a LoS than any other kind of sorceress. I will explain why in "Playing a LoS" section. Look for shields with increased chance of blocking and dmg generates mana. Eventually, move on to a 3 perf diamond tower shield, but continue using a high-blocking shield if you find yourself being stun locked from missile attacks. If you think you have adequate resistance, and confident you can put up with ranged attacks, look for Wall Of Eyeless for its fastest cast rate.
While using WoE as her main shield, Levin also had a spare 3D Tower Shield she would use where magic attack monsters were more common.
Jewelry:
Again, look for fast cast and resistance. Other stats to look for are +sorc skill lvl, reduce dmg, and +mana.
Other things:
A LoS is still very playable with only a few fastest cast items. So much so that you can practically play "naked". Have a set of items that gives to +find magic item, and you can make yourself a very effective treasure hunter.
Besides her normal gear for killing and leveling, Levin had a gear set aside for item hunting. This gear included everything from a Double Perfect Topaz Gemmed Crown, Gull Dagger, Goldwrap Heavy Belt, Milabrega's Orb Kite Shield, and other miscellaneous jewelry. Wearing all these, Levin had almost +200% chance of finding magic items.
This spell is very effective at early levels. Then again, this is your ONLY practical offensive spell until level 12. The mana/damage ratio of CB increases dramatically as more skill points is invested. However, damage of each individual bolt is weak, and makes this spell impractical at later acts, despite its ability to quickly fill the whole screen with lighting. Invest only 1 point in this skill. Invest more if only you're absolutely sure of what you're doing.
Static Field:
Without question, this IS your main damage dealer.
Build this skill up to at least lvl 10, when it would almost cover the whole screen, save for a few tiles in the corner. It should eventually be maxed out. However, you may want to conserve some points to invest into Thunder Storm and Energy Shield during lvl 24~30 of your LoS. You will be needing them.
Some, however, prefer find SF under lvl 5 to be adequate. I, however, feels that it is much safer to max SF, and be able to hit monsters from as far away as possible.
Also, you CAN kill with static field. Once a monster's life is reduced so much that it is below 0.5, the game would round it down to 0.
Telekinesis:
Use it to open doors from far away to avoid ending up under a monster's claws, or become and bull's-eye for ranged monsters. Its offensive value is practically non-existent, so don't bother. Also, you CANNOT use it to recover your corpse.
Besides its obvious uses, you can also use this skill to enter a Town Portal (while in town) access your Stash from a distance, activate shrines, use a Way Point, enter the Act2 trap door, or even rescue Cain from his cage in Act1, Quest3. Invest exactly 1 point.
Nova:
Although limited in range, Nova will become your finishing skill for a while, even after Chain Lightning is acquired. Nova's limited damage range makes it much more predictable, and practical for finishing off monsters. However, its short range makes it hard to use, and in order to achieve maximum effectiveness, you will need to put your LoS in the MIDDLE of a large group of monsters. Despite all these problems, Nova is still a very effective spell to use in Normal, and early part of Nightmare. Beyond that, use Nova mainly to weaken already weak monsters when it would be time consuming to keep using SF. You can still use this as a finishing spell from time to time, if properly invested. Invest into Nova occasionally taking your max mana and where your LoS is into consideration. In my opinion, unless you have chosen to use less SF and rely heavily on Nova to weaken monsters, invest no more than 5 points into Nova. If you plan not to take your LoS into hell, a high level Nova will help clean out masses of monsters very quickly, but will require you to return to town regularly to recharge mana.
Levin used Nova exclusively as THE finishing skill until about level 27 when I realized the power of Thunder Storm, and noticed she absolutely could not keep up casing multiple Nova to finish large number of monsters who had more and more HP. Eventually, however, Levin had more than enough mana to cast a low level Nova over and over again, and begun using it to weaken and sometimes kill monsters. It was still fairly effective against monsters in Act3 Nightmare, and the Demon Lords in Act4 Nightmare.
Lightning:
Like most lightning spells, the main disadvantage of this spell is its large damage range. It takes less time to cast than CL, however still too long in most situations. Use it in early levels to pick off fleeing monsters out of Nova range that's already seen enough SF from your side.
Invest 1 point in lightning, since it's a pre-requisite for CL and beyond.
Chain Lightning
Although its slow casting speed and ridiculously large damage range makes it somewhat unpopular among sorceresses, it is still very effective during the mid period of the game. Use this spell along side with Nova to finish off monsters weakened by SF. Sometimes it's better to use Nova to quickly kill off a large mob, while other times it's obviously safer to hang back and shoot in Chain Lightning. Also, CL uses less mana than Nova, making it more practical when you don't have Warmth to speed up mana regeneration.
Invest only 1 point.
Teleport
This spell will become your best friend. Early on, its mana cost is astronomical, but eventually overlooked. Use it to put yourself in the best Nova casting position, getting away from a swarm of monsters, traveling through annoying sections of a map (Arcane Sanctuary, River of Flame...) and recovering your corps.
Invest 1 point into Teleport.
Thunder Storm
Believe it or not, this "passive" skill will become the non-SF main damage dealer.
Although fairly weak early on, TS becomes absolutely deadly once it reaches higher levels. Damage per bolt, duration, as well as how frequent of bolts increase as spell level rises. At lvl20 , you can get at least 1 bolt every second that does more than 190 damage for 3 minutes. All this for only 19 mana, or less if you have Lightning Mastery. Although not extremely effective against large groups, you should not be facing a large group of monsters in the first place.
Against single uniques, TS really shines. The reason should be fairly obvious, in that it would target and hit the unique repeatedly until it falls, or the effect of TS runs out.
Also, since its passive, you only have to recast it once its effects dissipates. All this makes TS a must for people who want to play through Hell.
Max this skill ASAP.
Energy Shield
This is a must for a LoS, and most sorceress. Build up this skill, however, do not over do it. If you do get hit a lot, adjust your strategy to avoided getting hit, rather than build up ES. You may find yourself running out of mana very quickly. You can always buy used up health potions.
Start off easy, and only keep a few points in this skill. Once you feel that you have enough points in other skills, invest further in ES.
Lightning Mastery
Think of this spell as your Warmth. Having no real Warmth, your mana regeneration is slow. By lowering mana cost of spells through LM, you will increase how many casts you can make with a full mana orb. The effectiveness of LM is debatable for a LoS, since her main spells are already low cost (SF is only 9 mana) and by the time LM becomes available, you should already have a fairly large mana orb.
You should not need to put more than 1 skill point into LM. Even if you have decided to use Nova and raise it a lot, you should have tons of mana by the time you reach lvl 30.
Put only 1 point into LM, and use +skill level items to raise it further. Invest more if you manage to raise your LoS's level very high.
There are basically two types of LoS. A high SF, and a low SF.
A low SF LoS will need to concentrate slightly more on defense, and building up vit and ES. I do not have much detailed info on a low SF LoS. It would be appreciated if someone would send me a detailed email about their experience with a low SF LoS, preferably if you have already gotten into Hell.
A high SF LoS, on the other hand, uses her distance to keep as far away from monsters as possible, therefore does not need to worry too much about vs. melee attacks. In my experience, this style of playing a LoS is much easier, especially against unique monsters. The idea of killing Diablo without having him even a screen close to you is simply irresistible.
In the following sections, I will be mainly speaking of a high SF LoS, although some strategies also applies to a low SF LoS.
In the beginning, a LoS will only have Charged Bolt at her disposal.
Even after SF is acquired, its mana cost is still too high for such a low level character. There is not much point of using 9 mana to reduce 20 HP down to 15.
If you want to be a true LoS from the beginning, discard your staff at the first sign of a usable higher damage weapon. Otherwise, use the Fire Bolt that comes with the staff to kill off single strong monsters, while using CB to thin down groups.
Unless you have a buddy to help you at all times, I recommend staying out of the Monastery until lvl 12.
Early Stages (lvl 12 ~ 20's)
Use SF to weaken monsters, and follow up with a Nova or Lightning.
Your SF lvl should be fairly high already, and you should have invested enough points into energy to at least somewhat keep up with casting Nova.
Once CL is acquired, begin using it as your main finishing skill, and reserve Nova for finishing off large masses only.
Skip certain LEB and teleporting uniques if they are not part of a quest. Sometimes, it's simply too much trouble finishing them off for a few items. Reserve enough points to invest in Teleport and ES along the way.
You should be able to handle at least Act3, maybe even kill Diablo before you reach 24.
Nightmare (lvl 20's and beyond)
Once you reach lvl 24, you should invest every point you get into Thunder Storm. Only stop to invest a point into Lightning Mastery. At this point, you do not need more than 1 point in mastery.
Most monsters in nightmare can be killed with SF, followed by a CL, Nova, or TS bolt. For uniques, always kill their minions first. Afterwards, try to find a spot to trap them, and cast SF. TS will do the rest.
Hell and beyond
Eventually max out TS, then invest extra points into ES and maybe Nova, if you continue to use it to weaken enemies. CL's large damage range makes it extremely unpractical at this point, and should almost be ignored.
Other than that, it's all about staying out of monsters' reach while you SF and TS them to death.
Since I was never a big dueling person, (*cough, lag*) I do not have any insights in this area. However, if you have experience dueling with a LoS, please let me know.
Special thanks to "-ipark" for helping me get trough tough portions of the game, and for helping me countless times in recovering Levin's body.
Also, thanks go to "Bolty" for the Lurker Lounge, the only site besides Chaos Sanctuary I visit everyday, and "VenomousVixen" for his excellent sorceress guide, available on the Lounge.
Other thanks go to all those who commented on my first draft of this guide on the Lounge forum, and those who contributed to LoS discussions in later threads.
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