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[REP]

READ THIS BEFORE READING THE GUIDE:
This guide may not be the most strategically sound as of now (6/9/08). It was written years ago, before the advent of new strategies and popular new dupes/rare items. There may now exist better alternatives to the gear listed. Any questions? Contact me via EMAIL at jzhang91@gmail.com - it is the ONLY thing that I check regularly. AIM: not so much, Realmgaming: only when I have time, JSP: only when I'm in a D2 mood.

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PVP TG/NK Hydra Sorc Guide, By: REP

Before you start: If you hate long guides with explanations and other things, this is not the guide for you, if you do like them, keep reading

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1. Introduction
This guide is for people that generally like to bm (bad manner), I chose to write this guide because I was sick of other people bm'ing me, so I decided to bm back with this PVP Hydra Sorc Build. There are 2 different variations of this build, one is the 200 FCR Build, in which people actually feel like tele'ing around and using Fire Ball. The other variation is the more damage build, still passes the 105 FCR Breakthrough Point. You don't need to be extremely rich to make this guide, but you need be able to at least afford decent gear

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2. Stuff to know
BM=Bad Manners
TG=Town Guard
NK=Naked Kill
Sorb=Absorb
CTA=Call to Arms (gives BO)
BO=Battle Orders
BC=Battle Commands
ES=Energy Shield
Facet=Rainbow Facet, gives +3-5/-3-5 to a random element (Fire, Cold, Lightning, or Poison)
SC=Small Charm
GC=Grand Charm
More acronym's and stuff found HERE

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3. Stats
Strength: Enough for gear, shouldn't be too much, probably around 75
Dexterity: None, I have found max block ineffective on a Sorc
Vitality: Rest
Energy: 50-75, you will need a bit of Mana for Energy Shield

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4. Skills
1 Point in: Blaze, Fire Wall, Meteor, Enchant, Inferno, Chain Lightning, Lightning, Charged Bolt, Telekenesis
Hydra: Recommended: 20 (duh), this is going to be your main attack
Fire Ball: Recommended: 20, this is going to be your secondary attack and is a synergy to Hydra
Fire Bolt: Recommended: 20, synergy to Hydra
Fire Mastery: Recommended: 20, passive bonus to all fire skills
Energy Shield: Recommended: 1, uses mana as a shield, very useful
Warmth: Recommended: 1, helps regenerate mana, really useful w/ Energy Shield
Teleport: Recommended: 1, obviously very important skill for all Sorcs
Extra Points: You can 1 in Chilling, Frozen, and Shiver Armor
More Extra Points: Meteor (acts as a synergy to Fire Ball) or Warmth (mana regen, great for ES)

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5. Gear
Okay, for the gear, I'll post my recommended gear for both the 200 FCR Build and the Damage Build, I'll also put some other items for those of you that can't afford the extremely "leet" items

WEAPON #1:
All Builds: A +3 Sorc Skills/20% Fire Damage Eschutas, socketed with a 5/5 Fire Facet (+3 Sorc Skills, 25% to Fire Damage, FCR, and Energy)
Other Possible Choices: Occy (+3 Sorc Skills, FCR, Res)

SHIELD #1:
All Builds: 35 FCR Spirit Monarch (+2 Skills, Res, FCR, and more)
Other Possible Choices: Lidless Wall Grim Shield, socketed with Um, PDiamond, or Fire Facet (+1 Skills, FCR, Mana after each kill)

WEAPON #2:
All Builds: CTA (obviously the higher the better)
Other Possible Choices: None, if you don't have a CTA, don't bother getting a second weapon

SHIELD #2:
All Builds: Spirit Monarch (+2 Skills)
Other Possible Choices: Lidless or Sigon's Shield (+1 Skills)

Helm:
200 FCR Build: +2 Sorc Skills, 20 FCR Rare Circlet, Res, Life, Mana, Strength are also nice mods that you want to look for
Damage Build: +3 Fire Skills 20 FCR 2os Magic Circlet w/ 2x 5/5 Fire Facets
Other Possible Choices: Shako (+2 Skills, Life, Mana) or Delirium (+2 Skills)

Armor:
200 FCR Build: Up'd Skin of Vipermagi w/ 5/5 Fire Facet (+1 Skills, 30 FCR, Res)
Damage Build: 15% to Fire Fire Ball Ormus w/ 5/5 Fire Facet (20 FCR and alot of damage)
Other Possible Choices: Enigma (+Strength, 2 Skills, DR), COH (Res, Strength, DR, 2 Skills), or Que Hegan's Wisdom (FCR, FHR, +1 Skills)

Belt:
All Builds: Arachnid's Mesh (+1 skills, 20 FCR)
Other Possible Choices: Tals Belt (FCR), Dungoes (DR, Vita), Rare Belt w/ 24 FHR and decent Res mods

Gloves:
All Builds: Magefists (+1 Fire Skills, 20 FCR, Mana Regen)
Other Possible Choices: Trang's Gloves (20 FCR, 30 Cold Res)

Boots:
All Builds: Rare boots w/ good Res mods, strength, FHR, and FRW (good boots would be: 20 FHR, 18 Str, 47 Cold Res, 48 Light Res, 49 Fire Res, 30 FRW)
Other Possible Choices: Silkweave (good for people w/ mana problems) or Sandstorm Treks (Strength, Vita, Poison Res)

Rings:
200 FCR Build: 10 FCR Rare Rings, try to find some with some of the following mods: Res, Str, Life, Mana
Damage Build: SOJ or BK (+1 skills)
Other Possible Choices: None

Amulet:
All Builds: Rare Amulet w/ +2 Sorc Skills, 20 FCR, Res, Life, Str, Mana (Armageddon Fletch for USEast NL, 2 Sorc Skills, 20 FCR, 18 Str, 55 Life, 59 Mana, 21 Res if I remember correctly)
Other Possible Choices: Maras (+2 Skills, +20-30 Res), Tals Ammy (+2 Sorc Skills)

Charms:
All Builds: 9x Fire GCs, Anni, Sorc Torch, 9 SCs w/ 20 Life/5 Res
Other Possible Choices: As many Life Charms as you can get

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6. Basic Strategies:
-Make sure you cast Precasts, BC, BO, ES, and Chilling Armor if you have it
-If you used the 200 FCR Build, make sure you tele around alot, a good pattern to follow is this: tele, fire 2-3 FBs, tele, fire 2-3 FBs, it doesn't have to be aimed at your enemy, because sooner or later, they'll slip up and run into one of your FBs
-If you want to TG/NK, sit in town, when the area in front of town is safe, run out and cast a Hydra, then quickly run back in, keep doing this and your Hydras will do all the work for you =)
-Don't bother dueling Sorbers, you most likely won't win

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7. Specific Dueling Strategies:
Dueling Strategies for people that don't want to sit:

Barbarians
WW/Conc/Frenzy: Make sure you tele around a lot. As long as you keep casting Hydras or FBs and keep teleing around, you'll eventually be able to win. Be careful though, Barbs have insane Life/Defense and usually have stacked Res and Sorb.

Amazons
JavaZon: Make sure you stay out of range of their Javas.
BowZons: It's usually very hard for Sorcs to duel Bowzons. Not only do they use Guided Arrow, which is a Guided Attack and will turn invisible after a while, they can also use Multi, which can easily kill a teleing Sorc. My advice: cast hydras and tele away like crazy.

Paladins
Zealers/Smiters: Most of them won't bother Zealing/Smiting, they'll probably charge, look in Charger section.
Charger: These are extremely hard opponents, they tend to name-lock and desync (when their position on the screen is different from the position in the battle.net server). When they desync its extremely hard to see them coming, they just tend to pop out right at you. Make sure you tele around a lot so they can't get a name-lock.
FoHers: Use stacked Res/Sorb. Get a 4 P-Topazed Monarch and a Thundergod's Vigor and 2x Wisps. Hit them before they hit you.
Hammerdins: IMO, these are easy to duel. Most people that duel with hammys don't know how to use them. Just keep your distance and cast Hydras/FBs. If you happened to stumble upon one of the more experienced hammerdins, make sure you stay out of their screen, they'll try to name-lock you and tele ontop of you and cast hammers. As long as your off of their screen, they can't name-lock you.
Hybrid Pallys: Vindicator/Templar, etc... I've never personally had experience dueling them, so I'm afraid I cant leave you with any advice.

Sorceresses
Fireball, Orb, Chain Lightning, etc...: Tele like crazy and launch FBs as much as you can. Hydras won't work very well because Hydras tend to attack pretty slow and will most likely miss.
Cheap TGers/NKers (Blizzard, Meteor, Fire Wall, etc): Simple, take the WP to Cold Plains, and tele back to kill them. They're usually too busy watching town and spamming: "gg pub hide in town more? s/e plz" to notice what actually goes on behind them.

Necromancers
Boners: Same strategies as the Sorc strategies
Summon: IMO, also extremely easy. A few Hydras takes care of their minions easily. From there on, just launch FBs.
Poison Neceros: These are a lot harder to duel, just sit in town, run out, cast a hydra, and tele back into town.

Druids
Elemental Druids: Treat them like a Hammerdin, stay out of their Hurri/Twister/Nado range and launch FBs at them. They can be a little tougher because they like to tele around. Make sure you kill their Oak Sages first. Cast a few Hydras, because Hydras will help you get rid of Sages, Bears, etc.
Rabies, Fire Claw, and other Melee Druids: Very easy, they are practically defenseless against you. They can't tele while they're in Bear or Wolf mode, and they can't charge like Pallys either. Just keep your distance and FB at them like crazy.
PvP Summon Druids: These guys are really cheap, they sit in town and cast bears at you, just make sure you stay out of their bear-casting range, and summon Hydras to attack any bears they may summon.

Ahh finally, the last class, The Assassin
Trapsins: If they TG, then follow the Sorc TG Strategy, if they don't, treat them like Guided Arrow Zons, tele around and hit them before they hit you.
Martial Arts or WW Sins: Treat them like Barbs, except the fact that they a probably faster, but have lower life, res, defense, etc. Tele out of their attack range, then cast Hydras or FB at them.


Sorb Gear:
Fire: Dwarf Star Ring, Rising Sun Amulet, Hotspurs Boots
Lightning: Wisp Projector Ring, Thundergods Vigor Belt, 4x PTopazed Monarch (+96 Light Res, good vs FoH)
Cold: Nightwing's Veil, Raven Frost Ring

How to piss a lot of newbs off from town:
After you do the cast Hydra/run back into town strategy, and you nk someone. Use telekenesis on their gold and pick it from town. I've gotten over 500k gold in 1 duel game from this method (originally suggested by gangstadj864, found in http://diablorealm.n...o...pic&t=16846)
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8. Comments/Feedback:
I'm open to criticism, just don't overdo it. If you have any suggestions, comments, etc, you can IM it to me (Screen Name: Chinese Druggy), message it to me on battle.net (Accounts: Start, Vegetarian, BattleCruisers on EAST), or you could just PM me (most convenient for most people).

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Thank you for reading my guide, I hope you enjoyed it.

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EDIT 1: Added Poll
EDIT 2: Added the "Before you Start"
EDIT 3: Added Link to Kaoz_Nik's Acronym Page
EDIT 4: Added Specific Dueling Strats/Sorb
EDIT 5: Added "How to piss newbs off from town."

[DonutRvB]

Just a little something that might help the guide.

Look in 1.10 patch changes, and look for the word "hydra".

Actually, I'll do it for you.

Closed some PvP loopholes/exploits
Terminated the casting of 'absentee' skills such as the Sorceress' Meteor, Firewall, Blaze, Hydra; the Assassin's Sentries; the Druid's Volcano; etc. when the player enters town. This prevents declaring Hostility and doing immediate damage to the unsuspecting.

Of course, there's always a chance I'm wrong. However, I'm pretty sure hydra was patched.

[REP]

Nope, I have a PVP Hydra Sorc, and if you play East, I can show you that it works, I think the above message means if you enter TPs

[DonutRvB]

Well it said "terminated" them "when the player enters town"

meh

[0460553]

From what I see, you've got a decent draft laid out and many key points explained; however, if this is truly a PVP-oriented guide, there would be more than just the "Basic Strategies". You add the Specifics and we'll add the Sticky.

Peace and blessings,
Sean

[REP]

Ok, thanks Sean =)
Afk now, working on specifics...

[REP]

bump, got the specifics

[0460553]

Thanks for a true PVP Hydra Sorc Guide, REP. It is thoroughly researched information and rigorous testing experiences which have led to the final product shown here.

*STICKIED*

Peace and blessings,
Sean

[Country_haus_2005]

its a nice guide and i agree with people bming you but why sink down to their lvl...just not to fun people that bm nk and tg have no other lives anyways. also the rare amulet ive never seen one with 20fcr and sorc skills crafted yes but not rare.

[SKaRTeH]

How much damage would these hydras do with/without GC's ?

[REP]

With GCs and 200 FCR Gear, my lvl 80 Hydra Sorc (not yet finished) does a 12-13k Fire Ball and a 4.5-5k Hydra. I think with damage gear, it would do around a 14-15k Fire Ball and a 5-5.5k Hydra.

Thanks for the sticky Sean

[REP]

Okay, WTF, why was this unstickied? Is there a mod out there that secretly hates me? If a mod doesn't mind, can you resticky it plz?

[GotRice]

I unstickyed it

Nice guide

















lol jk i didnt unsticky

[REP]

Haha, gangstad, search in this for "How to piss a lot of newbs off from town" under 7. Specific Dueling Strategies. I used your "steal gold by using telekenesis from town" idea.

[DonutRvB]

I would very much enjoy to see at least one thread where pvp does not involve stacking.

It's not impossible to duel a FOH'er without using ridiculous amounts of lightning res, i've done it with all my characters without sorbing.

[REP]

TY whoever restickied this guide. Much appreciated.

[Kevin]

I made this sorc to the tele around and attack version and it does great for pvp. The only problem is it lacks damage, not majorly but in some cases it takes 2 fireballs where a pure fber it would take 1. It kills all other casters in 1 hit and 2-3 for a decent barb and smiters.