Experienced Sorcerers
#1
This is my 1st time playing the game with a sorcerer and want to know

> What weapons or spells should I use against the following enemies:

1.Animals

2.Undead

3.Demons

When I played the game using a warrior a member gave me a list such as this and it was very helpful, so If any of you sorcerers have a moment your assistance is much appreaciated

Thanks
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#2
WEAPONS.

swords on animals and demons, maces and staves on undead, Axes work well on both. (This is in terms of damage effectiveness vs. the given monster type.)

SPELLS.

these are all generel comparisons, certain monsters have resistances or immunities to certain spell classes.

Lightning on animals, Holy bolt on undead, otherwise use fire. and a mix of both on demons based on their resists. Demons tend to lean towards being immune to lightning more than fire (I.E. storm, riders or steel lords)

For those pesky advocates use stone curse and then blast them, trap succubis in groups, stone curse the center one and then hit her with a fireball, it will then kill all the others with splash damage, provided the damage on it is high enough.
Do unto others before they do unto you
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#3
Just a point; Steel Lords are immune to fire, and lightning is the only element that can hurt it in hell difficulty.

Most succubi are able to be hurt by fire, however in higher difficulties some do change resistances such as Hell Spawns and Soul Burners(one of the dreaded triple immunes in hell difficulty).
"The axe? Aye, that's a good weapon, balanced against any foe. Look how it cleaves the air, and then, imagine a nice fat demon head in its path. Keep in mind, however, that it is slow to swing - but talk about dealing a heavy blow!"
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#4
Swords do 1.5x damage to animals and 0.5 damage to undead
Maces do 0.5x damage to animals and 1.5 damage to undead

All other weapons(staves/axes/shields/etc) do 1.0x damage to animals/undead.

ALL weapons do 1.0x damage vs demons.

Since there is practically nothing but demons in hell(dlvl 13-16) it isn't that important which weapon type you use. The only non-demon that can occur in hell is the lava maw. It's an animal, so it's probably better to have a sword version of your weapon so you can be lazy and never switch weapons.

I haven't really noticed any pattern in resistances/immunities of monster types in classic diablo. Only thing that I've seen consistently is practically everything is immune to magic(which is the crappiest element in terms of damage anyway, makes no sense to me). Then it's either killable with fire or lightning. There are tri immunes but those only occur in hell difficulty.

Jarulf's Guide has a list of resistances/immunities in it.

Download it here:

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/jarulf/

Or view the online version here:

http://members.core.com/~dfrease/JGFrame.html
-Ell_man
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#5
Quote:There are tri immunes but those only occur in hell difficulty.

Well, there is that unique knight on 13 or 14, Rustweaver, a doom guard I think. He's triple immune on all difficulties.
"The axe? Aye, that's a good weapon, balanced against any foe. Look how it cleaves the air, and then, imagine a nice fat demon head in its path. Keep in mind, however, that it is slow to swing - but talk about dealing a heavy blow!"
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#6
At most stages of the game, you will have one favorite fire spell and one favorite lightning spell, and switch back and forth between these depending on the resistances of the monsters. This is really the key to playing the sorcerer: know the resistances of your enemies and use the spell that they are least resistant to. When needed, you can usually figure these out by trial and error (if you keep shooting it and it's not dying, it's probably either resistant or immune to that spell).

There aren't many obvious trends when it comes to monster resistances. In the early game, most red-colored monsters are resistant or immune to fire. When it comes to ugly cave demons with double attacks, demons that throw or breathe fire should be attacked with lightning, while demons that throw lightning should be attacked with fire. But in most cases, you just need to figure it out as you go.

As far as weapons go, the only time a typical sorcerer should be swinging a weapon at a monster is if none of your spells seem to be killing it. Most monsters can be killed much more effectively with spells than with any weapon.
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#7
Yes, Nustyl is right. Your staff does exactly 100% damage to all monster classes (So you don't suffer against undead as badly as Warriors or Bards.) For the record, you shouldn't even be heading down beyond dlvl 2 until you've gained a couple of levels in Charged Bolt and Holy Bolt to add onto your already slvl 2 Firebolt, though constantly repeating dlvls 1 and 2 for books is a good idea. You should have Holy Bolt for dlvl 3 for two reasons:

1) There is always a skeleton-class monster, thus undead. This is due to the presense of Leoric, who is a poster-boy for the requirement of HB
2) It's highly possible that you'll wind up with a Burning Dead/Horror mix, Fire and Lighting-resist respectively. Charged Bolt is far too erratic to kill the Burning Death, and Firebolt does squat against Horror. Holy Bolt covers both bases adequitely.

So why did I recommend Charged Bolt? It's fabulous crowd control. Undoubtably the best spell for clearing out libraries, shrine rooms, and the large four-pillar rooms. Back yourself into a corner, spam CB, and listen to the deaths of monsters for miles around.

Later on you get to play with the big spells: Fireball and Chain Lightning. Both are unparalleled in sheer killing power. Until then, practice Firewall trapping (Maybe take in a few games of Fallen Pong™), it will serve you well later.

There's also a third reason why you should have Holy Bolt for dlvl 3.

3) Black Death.

Walk on up to any Diablo vet, utter the words "Black Death" to them and watch the reaction.
When in mortal danger,
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout.

BattleTag: Schrau#2386
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#8
Hi,

A good introductory guide to the mage is Sorcerer 101 by Armin at Freshman Diablo http://www.arewehavingfunyet.com/diablo/diablo.shtml

As Nystul pointed out, unless playing a variant (not a good idea for your first go with a class), the mage uses spells almost exclusively. Even triple immunes are Stone Cursed before being bashed either with a stick or by your Golem or both. The only real question is which spell is best to use, and that normally boils down to your best fire or lightning spell depending on resistance and immunity.

When learning the resists, I made up an XL spreadsheet to help. Amongst other things, it has the possible monsters for each dungeon level color coded for the best type spell (fire or lightning) to use. If you would like a copy of that spreadsheet, send me your e-mail address.

EDIT: The XL spreadsheet is based on the information in Jarulf's Guide which is available at http://www.lurkerlounge.com/jarulf/ and online at http://members.core.com/~dfrease/JGFrame.html

--Pete

How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?

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#9
Ell_man,Oct 7 2003, 05:21 AM Wrote:Only thing that I've seen consistently is practically everything is immune to magic(which is the crappiest element in terms of damage anyway, makes no sense to me). 
Ever double-Flashed a group of NM Azure Drakes?? ;)

My tank mage lives for that!! :lol:

Or how about stun locking the hell out off The Vizier with Blood Stars?

My personal favorite is spamming Bone Spirits at Gorash with a warrior before he reaches you and have him fall with one swing!! :P
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#10
Damn you guys are good
What a great bunch of comments from all, Thanks!

I will also be checking out all the links you guys posted as well, thanks
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#11
Just found Deebye's excellent guide for Tank Mages ( http://www30.brinkster.com/deebye/strat/dbtmg1.html ) yesterday and it advised that I should do lots and lots of Normal Hell runs looking for the Stormshield.

I created a game, and when Doomcloud (I assume it was this lightning demon) fell in a gooey pile on the floor of 13 he dropped a gold tower shield. That was downright exciting.

It's still mostly unclear if dotAramaki is a TM proper, or a hopped up Muscle Mage, but it's nice to know that I needn't decide Right Now.

I just wanted to pop in to reaffirm that 'dreams really do come true' for those who dream about defeating the forces of evil in a little town far away from here....

Cheers.
dotPlaid
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