PvP Blizzard Sorceress Guide

Blizzard Sorceress Guide for PvP and PvM

PvP Rank: A Class / PvM Rank: A Class

Introduction

Blizzard Sorceresses are one of the most powerful builds for PvP and are equally capable in PvM. The biggest weakness of most Sorceress builds in PvP is having their elemental damage heavily absorbed to the point that they don't deal significant damage against other players. As a Blizzard Sorceress, however, other players will find it extremely difficult to gear for extremely high over stacked cold resistance because their cold resistance will be lowered by more than 200% with Cold Mastery which means absorb is rarely a significant problem for a Blizzard Sorceress. You can expect to one shot or two shot most other players with Blizzard of Ice Blast even if they have very high cold resistances and absorb equipped. The A Class rating for PvP takes the difficulty to resist and absorb a Blizzard Sorceress into account which makes Blizzard Sorceresses the highest rated Sorceress class for PvP in Diablo II.

Blizzard Sorceress Skills

This build is built with Stormshield for maximum damage reduction, faster block rate, high resistances, and the ability to use a -5 5 Cold Facet jewel for negative cold resistance but you can switch to a Spirit Monarch Shield for +2 to all skills at any time. The build is built this way to be competitive vs physical builds while still having a major advantage against other elemental builds.

Recommendation: Blizzard Sorceress

Stats: 156 Strength (enough for Stormshield and Spirit), 0 Dexterity, all remaining points in Vitality, and 0 Energy.

Skill Points:

20 Blizzard

20 Cold Mastery

20 Ice Blast (synergy for Blizzard)

20 Glacial Spike (synergy for Blizzard)

20 Ice Bolt (synergy for Blizzard)

1 Frozen Armor

1 Teleport

1 Warmth

1 Static (optional for PvM)

Your final points can be used to upgrade your Frozen Armor to Shiver Armor and then optionally Shiver Armor to Chilling Armor.

Blizzard Sorceress Gear

Weapon

Death's Fathom (Cold Facet'd) - Gives +3 to Sorceress Skills, 20% faster cast rate, up to 30% increased cold skill damage, up to 40% lightning resistance, and up to 40% fire resistance.

Shield

Stormshield (Cold Facet'd)/Spirit Monarch (Tal Thul Ort Amn) - Stormshield gives a 35% physical damage taken reduction, has 60% cold resistance, 25% lightning resistance, and faster block rate. Stormshield is recommended for PvM, for dueling cold builds that lower your cold resistance, and for fighting physical damage builds. You can easily switch to a Spirit Monarch Shield (Tal Thul Ort Amn) for +2 to all skills, 55% faster hit recovery, vitality, magic absorb, 35% cold resistance, 35% lightning resistance, and 35% poison resistances when fighting builds that don't require very high cold resistance or reduced physical damage taken.

Weapon Switch

Call to Arms (Amn Ral Mal Ist Ohm) - Used for up to +7 to Battle Orders with a Spirit Monarch for another +2 to all skills.

Helmet

Harlequin Crest (aka Shako) (Cold Facet'd) - Gives +2 to all skills, 10% physical damage taken reduction, high life per level, high mana per level, and a 50% better chance of getting magic items. You should switch to a Nightwing's Veil for +2 Sorceress Skills and up to 15% increased cold damage only if it's the difference between two shotting or one shotting an opponent.

Body

Chains of Honor Archon Plate (Dol Um Ber Ist) - Gives +2 to all skills, all resistances +65%, 8% physical damage taken reduction, 20 strength, 70% enhanced defense, replenish life, and a 25% better chance of getting magic items.

Gloves

Trang-Oul's Gloves - Gives 20% faster cast rate, 25% increased poison damage, and 30% cold resistance.

Belt

Arachnid Mesh - Gives +1 to all skills, 20% faster cast rate, and 5% increased mana. Arachnid's Mesh is recommended over Snowclash which gives +2 to Blizzard, 15% to maximum cold resistance, 15 cold absorb, and Chilling Armor (which can be allocated without Snowclash at a high level) for its +1 to Cold Mastery and 20% faster cast rate.

Belt Vs. Cold Builds (when using a Spirit Monarch)

Snowclash - When using a Spirit Monarch shield you can switch to a Snowclash against cold builds which gives +2 to Blizzard, 15% to maximum cold resistance, Chilling Armor, and 15 cold absorb which is helpful against Hurricane Druids and other Cold Sorceresses.

Belt Vs. Lightning Builds (when using a Spirit Monarch)

Thundergod's Vigor - This belt should be used against lightning builds for +10% to maximum lightning resistance, 20 lightning absorb, 20 strength, 20 vitality, and a 5% chance to cast level 7 Fist of Heaven when struck.

Feet

Ethereal Sandstorm Trek - Gives up to 20% faster run walk, 20% faster hit recovery, up to 15 strength, up to 15 vitality, up to 70% poison resistance, and repairs durability which allows it to be ethereal for increased defense.

Feet Vs. Fire Builds

Hotspur - These boots should be used against fire builds for +15% to Maximum Fire Resistance, 15 life, and 45% fire resistance. Hotspur boots can be Up'd to Demonhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Shael rune, and Tal rune. Hotspur can also be Up'd a second time to Wyrmhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Lem rune, and Ko rune.

Amulet

Mara's Kaleidoscope - Gives +2 to all skills, 5 to all attributes, and up to all resistances +30%.

Amulet (high end)

Rare Amulet - +2 to Sorceress Skills, 10% faster cast rate, all resistance +20%, an over stacked resistance, life, and/or dexterity.

Rings

Wisp Projector - This ring is recommended for PvM for its up to 20% lightning absorb, magic find, and level 2 Oak Sage. In PvP if you don't need the lightning absorb you can switch to a Nature's Peace ring for level 5 Oak Sage, reduced damage taken, and up to 30% poison resistance. Your second ring if you still need faster cast rate to reach the 63% barrier should be a 10% faster cast rate ring with all resistances, an over stacked resistance, and life. If you are using the high end Sorceress amulet with faster cast rate you should use a Bul-Kathos's ring instead for +1 to all skills and life or an elemental absorb ring.

Rings (Absorb)

One ring can be switched to a Raven Frost which gives 20% cold absorb when dueling cold damage builds, you can use one Wisp Projector which has 20% lightning absorb when dueling lightning damage builds, and you can switch to a Dwarf Star which gives 15% fire absorb when fighting fire damage builds.

Charms

Hellfire Torch for +3 Sorceress Skills, Annihilus for +1 to all skills, one Cold Rupture Grand Charm to break cold immunities should be used for PvM, one +1 Cold Skills Grand Charms with 12% faster hit recovery, and +1 Cold Skills Grand Charms with life. The rest of your charms should be small charms with life and resistances.

Mercenary Type

Act 2 Holy Freeze Mercenary - Gives an aura that slows the attack speed and movement speed of enemies.

Mercenary Weapon

Ethereal Insight (Ral Tir Tal Sol) - Gives up to level 17 Meditation which provides high mana regeneration. Infinity is not needed on Cold Sorceresses because the cold resistance of enemies will be lowered by more than 200% with Cold Mastery giving them -100% cold resistance. With the addition of the Cold Rupture Grand Charm cold immunities will also be broken without using Infinity.

Mercenary Armor

Ethereal Fortitude (El Sol Dol Lo) - Gives 300% enhanced damage, all resistances +30%, high life per level, 5% to maximum lightning resistance, and a 20% chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck.

Mercenary Helmet

Ethereal Andariel's Visage (Ral'd) - Gives +2 to all skills, 10% life stolen per hit, -30% fire resistance, and 30 strength. Ral gives 30% fire resistance but you can also use a 30% fire resistance jewel with other great modifiers which is even better.

Budget Mercenary Weapon

Insight (Ral Tir Tal Sol) - Gives up to level 17 Meditation which provides high mana regeneration.

Budget Mercenary Armor

Duriel's Shell - Gives all resistances +20%, 50% cold resistance, 15 strength, life per level, and cannot be frozen.

Budget Mercenary Helmet

Tal Rasha's Helmet - Gives 10% life stolen per hit, 15% to all resistances, and 60 life.

Note: Ethereal items don't lose durability on mercenaries.

Blizzard Sorceress Strategy

Blizzard Sorceresses are capable of very high damage and pierce the cold resistances of enemies with their Cold Mastery making their cold damage difficult for opponents to absorb. Many builds will be one shot by Blizzard or sometimes two shot if they have high cold resistance. The challenge then becomes landing a Blizzard on the opponent which can sometimes be difficult to aim. It just takes practice. It's also sometimes useful to attack some opponents at the corners of your screen to keep a distance. With the very fast Teleport speed of a Blizzard Sorceress you should try your best to never get attacked while standing still.

Blizzard Sorceress Leveling Items

An Ancient's Pledge Large Shield (Ral Ort Tal) can be used once you reach level 21 for very high resistances. You should also switch to a Spirit Crystal Sword (Tal Thul Ort Amn) at level 25 for +2 to all skills, up to 35% faster cast rate, 55% faster hit recovery, vitality, mana, and magic absorb. A Skin of the Vipermagi armor is a great early game option that can be used at level 29 for +1 to all skills, 30% faster cast rate, up to magic damage taken reduced by 15, and up to all resistances +35%. A Smoke runeword (Nef Lum) can also optionally be used as a budget option body armor for 20% faster hit recovery and all resistances +50%.

And that's all for the Blizzard Sorceress Guide. You can also check out the most popular crafted items here Crafting Guide.