Sorceress Leveling Guide

Playstyle & Progression

• Enter Lut Gholein and pick up a Belt from Farah and fill up on Potions.
• Skip Radament for now, you don't need the Skill Point from this Quest until you reach Level 18.
• Use Nova to destroy high density of monsters. Start with Static Field whenever you face an Elite Group.
  Note: The beetles in Act 2 don't trigger their Charged Bolts when hit by Static Field! Use this strategically to avoid the massive damage you otherwise take.
• Pick up any Orb you come across and check them for +x to Nova. If you have 20% Faster Cast Rate from your jewelry, use them for increased damage.
• Create and equip your Stealth at Level 17.
• Try to reach Level 18 before you go to Act 3. Use the fake Tal Rasha's Tombs to get there if necessary. Pick up Teleport and kill Radament now to get the parallel point into Nova.
• Make your way through Act 3. At Level 19 you can put on a Gemmed Cap. The Sorceress can feel rather squishy without it, especially in Act 4.
• Your target for the end of Act 3 is at least Level 19.8.
• Continue your progress all the way to Baal. Kill Izual for the extra Skill Points before killing Diablo. Finish Quest 1 and 2 in Act 5 for the Socket reward and the Runes required for Ancient's Pledge. Create the Runeword as soon as you have them and put it into your stash.
• After killing Baal, open up The Secret Cow Level and look for a Crystal Sword or Broad Sword while Leveling up to 25. Once you have a Sword Base for Spirit, use your Act 5 Quest 1 reward to socket it. Kill the Waves in the Throne of Destruction to reach Level 26, then visit Akara to respec before you enter Nightmare difficulty.

Gear Checklist

Playstyle & Progression

• Blizzard becomes your main Skill to combat enemies after the respec. When facing melee targets, place it between yourself and them. While moving through the Blizzard area they can get hit multiple times. As ranged enemies don't move a lot, put it on top of them to reach the highest impact.
• Use Static Field against tanky monsters. Beware that it has a smaller radius after the respec!
• Cast Glacial Spike to freeze targets that would overwhelm you or to deal additional damage while Blizzard is on Cooldown.
• Start the Nightmare difficulty by shopping for Coral Heavy Gloves, a Garnet Belt of the Colossus and Coral Heavy Boots of Haste (or similar).
• Complete Quest 1 for the Skill Point and continue to the Black Marsh Waypoint.
• Farm The Countess until you acquired the Runes mentioned from the checklist below. Create Spirit Crystal Sword and Lore Cap. Equip them as soon as you can.
• If the Spirit Crystal Sword has more than 28% Faster Cast Rate, you only need a single +10% Faster Cast Rate Ring or Amulet to reach the 63% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint. Fill up the other jewelry slots with useful stats like Resistances, Life, Mana or +x to Skills.
• Shop a Wand of Lower Resistance from Akara or Drognan between Levels 30 and 35. You only need to check Wands with a red background again. Keep it in your inventory and use Lower Resist against all Act bosses starting at Level 36.
• Your gear is now ready for the rest of the campaign. Still look out for upgrades as you are slaughtering monsters!

Gear Checklist

Playstyle & Progression

• Continue your progression through the Acts. The gameplay stays the same for most of it. Blizzard, static field and a lot of teleport.
• When you reach the Chaos Sanctuary in Nightmare, kill Lord de Seis first. He has a chance to spawn Immune to Cold. Just reset the area if he is.
• Complete all Skill Quests in Nightmare. Skip the Den of Evil Quest in Hell. You only deal Cold Damage at this point and there are a lot of Immune to Cold monsters in here. Come back to it when your Meteor reaches Skill Level 10+.
• Focus your attention on Elite Groups and skip anything that is Immune to Cold in general. There are 2 more areas that you need to face some of them, the Chaos Sanctuary and the Ancients fight.
• Chaos Sanctuary:
  All 3 Seal bosses have a chance to spawn Immune to Cold and Immune to Fire. You might have to reset this area a bunch of times to get past it. Teleport to the center and open a Town Portal. Slowly fight your way to the top right Seal (Lord de Seis) and open it. Check if he is Immune to both elements. To save some time, don't kill him just yet. Return to the center and fight your way to the bottom right Seal (Infector of Souls). Open the seal and check his immunities. When both Lord de Seis and Infector of Souls are not immune to both, kill them before going to the top left Seal (Grand Vizier of Chaos). He is the least likely to cause a reset.
• Ancients:
  Korlic is always Immune to Cold, Talic always Immune to Fire and Madawc always Immune to Lightning. All of them have the chance to be immune to one more Element. Start the fight and check the immunities of all of them. There are many other annoying or dangerous Affixes they can have. Try to avoid Korlic with Teleportation, Extra Strong and Lightning Enchanted. The Might and Fanaticism Auras should also be avoided! Reset the fight by opening a Town Portal until you get a nice set of Affixes. Kill off Talic and Madawc first by running in circles, cursing them with lower resist and casting blizzard in their way. Kill Korlic with meteor. You'll have to take some hits here, or he'll just dodge the impacts with his leap attack.