The Zeal Sorceress jumps right into the fray, hacking and slashing through enemies like a knife through butter. If you think that the Sorceress is only adept at using abilities from afar, this build turns that notion on its head! Similar to the Dream Paladin, this Sorceress uses Passion-granted Zeal and Dual-Dreams to cut down her foes. This Passion-ate Sorceress can slay any foe, including Ubers!
Empowered by Lightning Mastery and Enchant, the Zeal Sorceress pumps out incredible amounts of Lightning and Fire Damage (and a smidgeon of Physical Damage from the weapon itself). You can farm anywhere on this build with Infinity equipped on your Mercenary. The main drawback of this build is that it requires expensive and highly specialized gear. With this in mind, the Zeal Sorceress is an incredibly fun and powerful goal for later on in the Ladder Season!
This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 75 before transitioning to it. Check out our Sorceress Leveling Guide and our General Leveling Strategies to reach Level 75.
Crazy High Damage ✔
Can Farm Everything ✔
2 Primary Damage Types ✔
Easy To Learn And Master ✔
❌ Expensive Gear
❌ Dangerous Playstyle
❌ Repetitive Skill Usage
❌ Somewhat Clunky Playstyle
Sunder Charm Setup
Patch 2.5 introduced a new way of breaking Immunities: Sunder Charms. Any enemy that would be Immune to your damage type(s) is instead reduced to 95% Resistance, before any other Resistance reductions apply. These Charms also reduce YOUR Resistance against the sundered damage types! Check out our post on Sunder Charms to learn more about these new Charms. The following setup potentially benefits from Crack of the Heavens and Flame Rift, enabling you to deal more damage to many enemies.
Gear Changes
Use Crack of the Heavens when facing Lightning Immune monsters to increase your damage against them. To optimize this Sunder Charm you need as much -% Enemy Lightning Resistance as possible. Equipping Infinity on the Mercenary accomplishes this.
Use Flame Rift when facing Fire Immune monsters to increase your damage against them. To optimize this Sunder Charm you need as much -% Enemy Fire Resistance as possible. Equipping Infinity on the Mercenary also accomplishes this.
Overall, Crack of the Heavens is more impactful than Flame Rift on a Zeal Sorceress.
Terror Zones
The new Terror Zone mechanic opens up a wide range of farmable areas. The following list highlights the best and worst Terror Zones for this build. Since this build deals both Lightning and Fire Damage simultaneously, it farms most Terror Zones efficiently on the Standard setup. Learn more about Terror Zones here and see how they stack up in our Terror Zone Tier List.
Best
✔ Barracks + Jail - High Density, Many Elite Groups, Quick Access, Breakable Immunities
✔ Worldstone Keep + Throne of Destruction - High Density, Many Elite Groups, Quick Access, Breakable Immunities
✔ The Tower Cellar - High Density, Many Elite Groups, Breakable Immunities, Boss
✔ Lost City + Valley of the Snakes + Claw Viper Temple - High Density, Many Elite Groups, No Immunities
✔ Pit - High Density, Easy Mobility, Many Elite Groups, Breakable Immunities
Worst
❌ Burial Grounds + Crypt + Mausoleum - Low Density, Few Elite Groups, Slow Access, Immunities
❌ Spider Forest + Spider Cavern - Low Density, Few Elite Groups, Immunities
❌ Outer Steppes + Plains of Despair - High Elemental Damage, Tanky Enemies, Immunities
❌ River of Flame + City of the Damned - High Physical Damage, High Elemental Damage Tanky Enemies, Immunities
❌ Travincal - High Elemental Damage, Tanky Enemies, Immunities
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Telekinesis (Max Last)
2. Teleport
3. Static Field
4. Energy Shield
5. Frozen Armor
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Lightning Mastery
2. Enchant
3. Warmth
4. Fire Mastery
5. Telekinesis
Damage
Utility
Attributes
Note: This section provides you with the standard Stat Point allocation. Build Variants may require different allocations!
Strength
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Strength your gear provides when equipped.
Dexterity
Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to reach max Chance to Block (75%). More Dexterity is needed at higher Character Levels. In addition to Dexterity and Character Level, Shield Bases also affect Chance to Block. This is the reason a Hyperion Dream is used on this build.
Vitality
Don't allocate any Stat Points into Vitality, because Energy Shield is being fully utilized. This build gets some Life from gear, buffs, and Charms.
Energy
Allocate any remaining Stat Points into Energy to fully utilize Energy Shield, which requires large amounts of Mana.
Essentials
Gear Options
Farming Spots
Mercenary
Playstyle
Breakpoints
Hardcore
Build Variants
Setup
This is the Standard Best in Slot (BiS) Zeal Sorceress featured in the beginning of the guide. It is the balanced "jack-of-all-trades" version, capable of performing the most tasks well. This variant is the point of comparison for all other variants. It carefully balances Damage, Magic Find, Defensive Stats, and Teleport mobility. Crack of the Heavens and Flame Rift increase your damage against their respective Immunities. This setup exceeds maximum Attack Speed (65% IAS) and achieves the 63% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint on Weapon-Swap.
Mercenary
The Standard Zeal Sorceress uses an Act 2 Holy Freeze Mercenary with Infinity for -85% to Enemy Lightning Resistance, -85% to Enemy Fire Resistance, and reduced monster Defense from its Conviction Aura. Fortitude and Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ruby Jewel of Fervor maximize this Mercenary's damage and survivability.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Telekinesis (Max Last)
2. Teleport
3. Static Field
4. Energy Shield
5. Frozen Armor
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Lightning Mastery
2. Enchant
3. Warmth
4. Fire Mastery
5. Telekinesis
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear your gear and enough into Dexterity to achieve maximum Chance to Block (75%). Put all remaining Stat Points into Energy to maximize the effectiveness of Energy Shield.
Video Guide
Summary
- The Zeal Sorceress requires a Passion (for Zeal), Dream Helmet, and Dream Shield at a bare minimum. An Infinity on the Mercenary is also needed for this build to reach its full potential.
- A Guardian Angel or Twitchthroe is needed to achieve maximum Chance to Block on this build, providing much needed survivability. Guardian Angel also provides Faster Block Rate, making for cleaner gameplay.
- Pre-buff Enchant for a massive boost to your Fire Damage. Equip +x to Skills/Fire Skills and/or +x% Fire Skill Damage-granting items (such as those listed in "Gear Options") prior to casting Enchant.
- The "Vs Physical Damage" Build Variant is incredibly tanky versus Physical Damage. Consider this approach if aiming to farm areas such as Worldstone Keep/Throne of Destruction, where there are often powerful melee monsters such as Death Lords or Undead Stygian Dolls.
- The Zeal Sorceress can farm virtually anything. With decent Magic Find and absurdly high Lightning-Fire hybrid Damage, this build dominates practically every Farming Spot, including Terror Zones. Even farming Uber Bosses for Hellfire Torches is highly effective on this build.
We hope you enjoy this build! Slice em' and dice em' with a Sorceress' fury!
Good luck!
Credits
Written by DarkHumility
Reviewed by MacroBioBoi
Changelog
- 13 February 2023
Updated to Patch 2.6 - 5 October 2022
Updated to Patch 2.5 Added Sunder Charm and Terror Zone sections - 19 April 2022
Updated to Patch 2.4