TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cold Sorceress Introduction & Overview
Cold Sorceresses are the most played characters in Diablo 2 Resurrected patch 2.5. This is mainly because Sunder Charms were introduced to the game, so no monsters are immune to cold anymore. With the unique mechanics of the Cold Mastery skill, every enemy’s cold resistance is greatly reduced, and the damage delivered is so huge that it makes every single cold attacking skill viable. If you want to farm dense areas on player1 difficulty, like the cow level, your best choice is a Frost Nova Sorceress. If you want to do Magic Finding, you should go with a Frozen Orb + Energy Shield sorc. If you want to play in party, or play on higher player difficulties, you should go with a Blizzard Sorceress build.
🔸 Can solo any game content, even in player8 difficulty
🔸 Hell Chaos run and Hell Baal runs doable in 2-3 minutes
🔸 Harcore viable
🔸 Budget builds are viable
🔸 The best build for magic finding
While you can make a variety of Cold Sorc builds and have multiple gearing options as well, one thing that is the same for all Cold Sorcs is the mercenary. Your mercenary should be alive at all times! Choose an Act2 Prayer Merc (as Prayer synergyses with Meditation), and have an Insight weapon on him to grant you Meditation Aura, resulting in ultra fast mana recovery. Cold Skills consume a high amount of mana, and some of the Cold Sorc builds are Energy Shield based, so have an Insight-wielding merc is a must!
Cold Sorceress Pros and Cons
Pros
|
Cons
|
Cold Sorceress Gameplay
Playing solo: Gameplay is very similar for all of the Cold Sorc builds. Firstly, get an Insight weapon for your mercenary. Then get a Cold Sunder Charm as soon as possible. The most effective way of finding a Cold Sunder charm is by farming Terror Zones. Move by Teleport and cast Blizzard, Frozen Orb, Ice Blast or Frost Nova until enemies are dead. Try to get a Call to Arms runeword for switch weapon, as the Battle Orders skill provided by it can almost double your life and mana. Always use Frozen Armor for improved defense and survivability, and depending on your build you might want to use Energy Shield aswell. Make sure you reach 75% all resistance when geared. Use walking instead of running, so you can preserve your defense. Make sure that your mercenary has great survivability so he always stays alive! Lastly, once your character is fully geared and is at a high level, enjoy the carnage it creates on any player difficulty!
Playing in a party: Needless to say, you should be the teleporter of a party if you are group-farming bosses, as your teleportation speed will be the quickest, and survivability should only be an issue if your resistances are low. For dense area farming in a higher player count party, use Blizzard to deliver the maximum amount of damage. You won’t be able to tell the difference between Player1 and Player8 difficulty when casting Blizzard, since everything gets one-hitted. If you have a CTA and there is no barbarian present, you should provide Battle Orders for the party.
Playing Hardcore: If you play on Hardcore, an Energy Shield based build is a must, as it has a lot better survivability than a life-based build. Max out Energy Shield and its synergy, Telekinesis. Get a swap weapon with high +Energy Shield skills (a memory staff with +3ES base grants you +9 level to energy shield). Try to get your Energy Shield skill up to Level40 in order to cast an ES that absorbs 95% of the damage, as a few % can make a huge difference in survivability. Put all your available stat points on Energy to boost your mana, and wear items that provide a high amount of Energy while also provide resistances simultaneously. Your merc’s Prayer Aura will constantly heal you, ideally you don’t even need to use any potion. But better be safe than sorry, stock up your belt with Full Rejuvs to prepare for the worst case scenario. Always play cautiously, and when farming areas where you are likely to get Cursed or under an effect of Auras, have sufficient resistances and damage reduction to protect yourself. Watch out for your Mercenary’s life too, as he always must stay alive.
Cold Sorceress Breakpoints
Note: Each second in the game consists of 25 frames or “ticks”. Your breakpoints decide how many frames it will take until you can attack/cast a skill/recover from a hit/ block a new hit.
Faster Cast Rate
- Aim for 63% (9 frame) or 105% (8 frame) Faster cast rate.
Faster Hit Recovery
- Faster Hit Recovery is beneficial, but it only makes a minor difference. Having one or two +Cold skill charms with 12% FHR could be worth it.
Faster Block Rate
- Faster Block Rate is only needed if you play Hardcore. Wear a Guardian Angel in combination with a Stormshield Monarch for high FBR %.
Cold Sorceress Skills
|
Cold Spells
|
Lightning Spells
|
Fire Spells
|
Firstly put skill points on your Lightning and Fire skill tree. Depending on what build you go with, max out its main attacking skill and put all the remaining points on its synergies.
Skill notes: *Cold mastery is capped at level 37 (-200% Cold Resistance), so don’t put more points on it once you reach lvl37 geared.
*If you play Hardcore, Max out Energy Shield and Telekinesis first for optimal survivability.
Cold Sorceress Stat Points
Strength
Allocate enough Strength points to be able to wear your gear.
Dexterity
Allocate enough Dexterity points to be able to wear your gear. If you play Hardcore, allocate enough points to have 75% chance to block with a Guardian Angel and Stormshield on.
Vitality
Put all your points on Vitality if you play a non Energy Shield based build.
Energy
Put all your remaining points on Energy if you play an Energy Shield based build.
You can re-stat your character by the quest reward of Akara’s Act1 Den of Evil Quest, or by using Token of Absolution.
Cold Sorceress Mercenary
You should have an Act2 Prayer Aura mercenary equipped with an Insight runeword weapon for optimal mana recovery.
Cold Sorceress Item setups
Ladder Starter Cold Sorc Gear
Helm: Tal Rasha’s Horadric Crest
Amulet: Any amulet with +skill, + all resistances or +Faster Cast Rate
Weapon: Spirit Crystal Sword / Wizardspike
Switch Weapon: Memory runeword Staff
Shield: Spirit Monarch / Moser’s Blessed Circle socketed with Pdiamonds
Switch Shield: none
Body Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi (preferably upgraded)
Belt: Tal Rasha’s Belt / Trang Oul’s Belt / Nightsmoke / Crafted Caster Belt
Rings: Any ring with 10% FCR and other useful stats like allresist, life, magic find, etc.
Gloves: Magefist / Trang Oul’s gloves / Frostburn
Boots: 30% FRW boots with additional resists or FHR
Charms: Cold Sunder Charm, Any charm with +skill, life, resist or FHR will help.
Notes: Aim for 75% all resistances. You can use magic and rare items in any of your gear slots, and can also use them for your Mercenary.
Mercenary Gear
Helm: 3*Perfect Diamond socketed helm / Tal Rasha helm socketed with Perfect Diamond
Body Armor: Any useful rare body armor
Weapon: Insight Polearm
Advanced Cold Sorc Gear
Helm: Nightwing’s Veil socketed with +5/-5% Cold Facet
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope / 2 to Sorceress skills 20% FCR crafted amulet
Weapon: Death’s Fathom socketed with +5/-5% Cold Facet
Switch Weapon: Call to Arms Crystal Sword
Shield: Spirit Monarch
Switch Shield: Spirit Monarch
Body Armor: Ormus’ Robe +3 to your main attacking cold skill, socketed with +5/-5% Cold Facet
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Rings: 2*Stone of Jordan / 2*10FCR rings with +resists, life, and/or mana
Gloves: Trang Oul’s Gloves
Boots: Natalya’s Boots
Charms: Cold Sunder charm, Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheed’s Fortune, Small Charms with @all resistances, life, faster hit recovery, Cold Skillers (with +life, +FRW or +FHR optimally)
Note: Aim for 105% FCR
Mercenary Gear
Helm: Crown of Ages socketed with Um runes
Body Armor: Ethereal Upgraded Guardian Angel socketed with Um rune
Weapon: Insight runeword in an elite two-handed ethereal Polearm, preferably Thresher
Magic Find Cold Sorc Gear
Helm: Harlequin Crest Shako (Socket it with Ist rune)
Amulet: 40-50% Magic Find amulet
Weapon: The Oculus socketed with Ist rune
Switch Weapon: 6*Ist Crystal Sword / Alibaba socketed with 2 Ist
Shield: Spirit Monarch
Switch Shield: 4*Ist Monarch
Body Armor: Skullder’s Ire socketed with Ist
Belt: Goldwrap / Arachnid Mesh
Rings: 2*Nagelring
Gloves: Upgraded Chance Guards
Boots: War Traveler
Charms: Cold Sunder charm, Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheed’s Fortune, Small Charms with 7% Magic find (and also @all resistances if possible)
Mercenary Gear
Helm: Crown of Ages socketed with Um runes
Body Armor: Ethereal Upgraded Guardian Angel socketed with Um rune
Weapon: Insight runeword in an elite two-handed ethereal Polearm, preferably Thresher
Note: Switch to your magic find weapon/shield when killing bosses. Aim for at least 63% FCR.
Hardcore Cold Sorc Gear
Helm: Harlequin Crest Shako (Socket it with Thul / Um rune)
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope
Weapon: Heart of the Oak Flail / Wizardspike
Switch Weapon: Call to Arms
Shield: Stormshield Monarch socketed with Thul / Um rune
Switch Shield: Spirit Monarch
Body Armor: Ethereal Upgraded Guardian Angel socketed with Zod rune
Belt: Thundergod’s Vigor
Rings: Wisp Projector / Raven Frost / Dwarf Star
Gloves: Trang Oul’s Gloves
Boots: Upgraded Hotspur
Charms: Cold Sunder charm, Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheed’s Fortune, Cold Skill Grand Charms with +Life, Magic Small Charms (with +all resistances, +life or +mana)
Note: Aim to overprotect yourself for situations when you get cursed with spells such as Lower Resist and Amplify Damage or get under an effect of an aura such as Fanaticism or Conviction.
Mercenary Gear
Helm: Crown of Ages socketed with Um runes / Upgraded Ethereal Crown of Thieves socketed with Um
Body Armor: Ethereal Upgraded Guardian Angel socketed with Um rune / Ethereal Fortitude runeword / Ethereal Treachery runeword
Weapon: Insight runeword in an elite two-handed ethereal Polearm, preferably Thresher
