Elelar, Ultimative Melee Sorceress - XVc Updates in Progress

Nice guide, really looking forward for you to update it as I love melee build sorc

zimqo wrote:Nice guide, really looking forward for you to update it as I love melee build sorc

Thanks, a lot of it has been updated.  I just need to finish playing through Destruction and checking the ubers to make sure there aren't any changes/surprises.

aknazer wrote:

zimqo wrote:Nice guide, really looking forward for you to update it as I love melee build sorc

Thanks, a lot of it has been updated.  I just need to finish playing through Destruction and checking the ubers to make sure there aren't any changes/surprises.

The only thing that I would ask is if you will update the guide to be more specific, and not a wall of text. What i mean by this is the Gear section and skills. Just to give a better overview.

Other than that the guide is nice

Can you offer some end-game gear suggestion?Like the BiS items?
I get it with AoTOR and Starhawk, but the rest?boots,shield,gloves,belt,helm?

Pwntown wrote:Can you offer some end-game gear suggestion?Like the BiS items?
I get it with AoTOR and Starhawk, but the rest?boots,shield,gloves,belt,helm?

I'll work on getting it properly put into the guide, but here's a generic list. Note that these can change depending on your playstyle and the uber that you're doing. Also I'm not willing to say that these are BiS (this is subjective, will change for different ubers, and will change depending on if you go for the Starhawk rainbow setup or a more physical damage LL setup), but it should get you in the ballpark. Another thing is that I've been able to complete up to the Tricky ubers simply by using the lvl100 gear but MOing it up to 120, so that gear is a good place to start as well.

Gloves - Dex crafted with +1 sorc and CtC Stormblast, Baron Sludge's Bonecrushers, Centuria Insectorum
Boots - I forget and D2 isn't installed on my current Laptop for me to check (I used Dex crafted but I forget what attributes). Boots always felt a bit lacking to me for the melee sorc
Shield - Stormflyer SSU
Belt - Dex crafted with CtC Disintigration, Dementia, Ahriman RW
Helm - Veil of Magic, Eidolon RW, Cauldron RW
Neck - Klaatu, Black Dwarf, Witchmoon
Rings - Bad Mood Ring, Witchcraft, Orc Torque, Ripstar, Empyrean

Well, that 100lvl gear may be good, but i have hundres of sacred uniques including Armor of the Old Religion, Dervish of Aranoch, Starhawk, Dryhten Ealdor...and more...
But the points i`m just goona switch from psn/cold to melle, and i don`t know the states i should looking for or the brakepoints:D

Pwntown wrote:Well, that 100lvl gear may be good, but i have hundres of sacred uniques including Armor of the Old Religion, Dervish of Aranoch, Starhawk, Dryhten Ealdor...and more...
But the points i`m just goona switch from psn/cold to melle, and i don`t know the states i should looking for or the brakepoints:D

The breakpoints are in the General Tips section. If you've got all of those different SUs then feel free to try a couple of different things. The guide and the items I listed are all for a Rainbow setup, but I've used a physical damage LL setup decently as well (in fact you need it for several of the sub bosses in Yshari Sanctum).

In regards to the stats to be looking for, with a Starhawk things that add spell damage are good (to include -enemy resistances), along with standard physical damage things. The XV melee sorc does more raw physical damage than the previous versions so a Dryhten Ealdor/Steel Punisher with LL setup is more viable than before. The Khan dress works well with this setup, or if you get really lucky you get a Starhawk that passes the luck trial and throw 9x ED MOs on it for a high rainbow+physical damage weapon. My only thing with Khan vs AotOR is that I love Sacrifice for the meatshields and healing granted (since when Sacrifice kills the summoned enemies you gain HP) so I always have a hard time giving up Sacrifice for Khan.

Oh and since you mentioned the Dervish, I really don't like it on the melee sorceress, but it's wonderful if you set up an Arrow Swarm alternate gearing. I used both Arrow Swarm and Tantrum to good effect for fights that are anti-melee (Tantrum is how I did Kabraxis for example), and the melee spec/gear generally works well enough with the setup that you don't need to respec if only doing it 1-2 times (if farming then you should consider min-maxing your build for that uber).

Maybe I missed it, but what kind of merc is preferential for this build?

The Barbarian mercenary is the universal mercenary. With its decent damage and being a very nice tank, along with it's stunning and screen-wide stun, it's pretty good for a caster. Also, can't forget the Barbarian army!

The Exemplar mercenary is also decent with its Retaliate and its high survivability.

Sevarian wrote:Maybe I missed it, but what kind of merc is preferential for this build?

I prefer the Bloodmage. It's ranged, has good survivability/tanking thanks to Warp Armor+shield, has an AOE heal, and does good poison/fire damage to help cover for you when dealing with anti-melee enemies.

Warren1001 wrote:The Barbarian mercenary is the universal mercenary. With its decent damage and being a very nice tank, along with it's stunning and screen-wide stun, it's pretty good for a caster. Also, can't forget the Barbarian army!

The Exemplar mercenary is also decent with its Retaliate and its high survivability.

Remember that this is a melee build, not a caster build. As such you're generally going to be tanking, the stun isn't as useful compared to a caster, and both you and your merc share similar weaknesses. I prefer to pick mercs that compliment my build and help to cover my weaknesses, which for a melee build would be ranged casters.