The Sorceress, with the elements Cold, Lightning, and Fire at her fingertips, is the most versatile Character in the game. She is by far the strongest early game Character that helps you accumulate gear for any other Character you want to play in the future. She heavily relies on her Cast Rate, making the Affix +x% Faster Cast Rate extremely important.
Harnessing the native ability to Teleport, the Sorceress gets where she's going fast and can melt enemies almost instantly using Static Field
Nova and Fire Ball are the notable early game Skills, that can carry her to victory. Especially throughout Normal, these 2 Skills are a joy to use.
Incredibly powerful Skills like Blizzard and Meteor make her unrivaled in farming Andariel and Mephisto for gear. Even other farming areas are easily accessible with little to no gear.
And finally there is Lightning, which can do all content (excluding Ubers) once you’ve created an Infinity for your Mercenary.
All this power comes with a downside: she is rather squishy and gains little Life per Level/Vitality point. This being said, the Sorceress is still the best Character to start with on both Softcore and Hardcore.
Attributes
Every Character has the Attributes Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Energy. At maximum Level, a Character has access to 505 Stat Points which can be allocated into the Attributes. While Vitality only affects the Life pool and Energy only affects the Mana pool of your Character, Strength and Dexterity have additional uses:
Strength: Generally, Stat Points are only allocated to this Attribute to wear your gear, however, Strength has an additional use: it increases the Physical Damage portion of melee attacks.
Dexterity: Generally, Stat Points are only allocated to this Attribute to wear your gear, however, Dexterity has 4 additional uses:
It increases the % Chance to Block up to 75 while using a Shield.
The Attack Rating of every attack is increased, improving the Chance to hit your target.
Every 4th Stat Point into Dexterity increases the base Defense of the Character by 1.
On ranged builds, Dexterity increased the Physical Damage potion of your attacks.
Starting Attributes of the Sorceress
Strength
Dexterity
Vitality
Energy
10
25
10
35
Base
per Level
per Stat Point
Life
40
+1
+2 per Vitality
Stamina
74
+1
+1 per Vitality
Mana
35
+2
+2 per Energy
Breakpoints
Breakpoints are an integral way to improve your Character's performance. For in-depth explanations on them, please check out our article on Breakpoints & Animations.
Attack Rate
Due to her Skill set, which leads to some unique builds, Attack Speed can be a Breakpoint the Sorceress cares about. Due to the complexity, Attack Speed would go beyond the scope of this post. Check out the d2planner to simulate your Breakpoints.
Block Rate
When using a Shield, the Sorceress has a % Chance to Block. When successfully blocking, it enters a block animation. Increasing your +% Faster Block Rate decreases the time your Sorceress needs to execute it.
Faster Block Rate
0
7
15
27
48
86
Block Frames
9
8
7
6
5
4
Cast Rate
The Sorceress' Cast Rate determines the rate at which she can use spells. Increasing your +% Faster Cast Rate decreases the time required for a cast. The Action Flag determines at which Frame the used Skill is actually triggered.
Normal:
Faster Cast Rate
0
9
20
37
63
105
200
Cast Frames
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
Action Flags
7
6
5
4
Lightning / Chain Lightning:
Faster Cast Rate
0
7
15
20
23
35
52
63
78
117
194
200
Cast Frames
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
Action Flags
7
6
5
4
Hit Recovery Rate
When being hit, there is a chance that you get stunned. Increasing your +% Faster Hit Recovery decreases the time your Sorceress needs to recover from this stun.
Faster Hit Recovery
0
5
9
14
20
30
42
60
86
142
280
Hit Recovery Frames
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
Skill Trees
Structure Every Character has 3 Skill Trees to allocate their Skill Points into. Each Skill Tree consists of a total of 10 Skills, and you can assign a maximum of 20 points per Skill. These Skills are placed into 6 rows, which represent the 6 Skill tiers. While tier 1 is available at Character Level (clvl) 1, the other tiers become available at clvl 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30.
Skill Points Every Character gains access to 110 Skill Points (98 from Levels and 12 from quests).
Prerequisites Not every Skill is available right away. The arrows on the Skill Tree show the prerequisites needed to obtain skills further down the Tree. Example: You have to put a Skill Point into Ice Bolt and Ice Blast to gain access to Glacial Spike.
Synergies A lot of Skills have Synergies, which are Skills that passively boost the strength of another Skill. The main Skill shows how much a Synergy increases its power per Skill Point allocated into it. Example: The base Lightning Damage of Lightning is increased by a summed up multiplier which increases by 10% for each Skill Point allocated into Power Strike, Charged Bolt, Chain Lightning, and Nova.
Build Guides
The Sorceress has a variety of builds to choose from:
Tal Rasha's Wrappings is the Elite Set, which was exclusively designed for the Sorceress. This Set is among the strongest, being used rather frequently. Especially the combination of Belt, Armor and Amulet is often used on Magic Finding setups. Long term, this Set gets out scaled by setups that focus on a combination of Uniques and Runewords.
Every Character has exclusive items that only it can use. For the Sorceress, these are Orbs. They can spawn with 0-3 "Staff mods" with the range of +1-3 to the Skills added by the Staff mods. In addition to the Orbs, the Sorceress benefits from Staff mods on the non Character specific Weapon type "Staves".
Base Items
Staves
Normal
Short Staff
Long Staff
Gnarled Staff
Battle Staff
War Staff
Exceptional
Jo Staff
Quarterstaff
Cedar Staff
Gothic Staff
Rune Staff
Elite
Walking Stick
Stalagmite
Elder Staff
Shillelagh
Archon Staff
Orbs
Normal
Eagle Orb
Sacred Globe
Smoked Sphere
Clasped Orb
Jared's Stone
Exceptional
Glowing Orb
Crystalline Globe
Cloudy Sphere
Sparkling Ball
Swirling Crystal
Elite
Heavenly Stone
Eldritch Orb
Demon Heart
Vortex Orb
Dimensional Shard
Set and Unique Items
Staves
Normal
Bane Ash
Serpent Lord
Spire of Lazarus
The Salamander
The Iron Jang Bong
Infernal Torch
Exceptional
Razorswitch
Ribcracker
Chromatic Ire
Warpspear
Skull Collector
Elite
Ondal's Wisdom
Mang Song's Lesson
Orbs
Exceptional
The Oculus
Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye
Elite
Eschuta's Temper
Death's Fathom
Lore & In-Game dialogue
In this section you will find the lore of the Sorceress as well as the in-game dialogue she uses while travelling through Sanctuary.
Lore
The female mage clan of Zann Esu is one of the oldest of the ancient clans, although little is actually known about them. Centuries ago, the fourteen powerful covens of Esu witches convened for the first time in generations. What they discussed is not known, but the witches left behind their former lives and, as a group, disappeared into the Eastern jungles. The exact location of their community is a mystery. Until recently, their only contact with the outside world occurred during the recruitment missions. Once every seven years, the Zann Esu visit certain families across Sanctuary. These families have only one thing in common - they each have a seven-year-old daughter. Always good-natured and polite, the Zann Esu visitors meet the girls, ask a few questions and then leave. A select few of the girls are visited a second time and offered apprenticeships. The families of those chosen enjoy good fortune for many years. The Zann Esu, or Sorceresses as they are generally known, are on a quest for the "perfect" magic in its purest form. They feel that the other disciplines of magic are haphazard, and have instead chosen to focus strictly upon elemental magic. They mold the base elements into whatever magical forms they need - threatening all other magic disciplines with obsolescence. In order to achieve perfection in these elemental transmutations, they choose only those daughters of Sanctuary with the highest level of attunement to the magical elements. The Sorceresses believe that it is through the search for perfection that they will attain ultimate purity and ascend to their destined role as the most powerful mages in Sanctuary. For centuries they have studied in secret, perfecting their art and biding their time until the Emergence of Evil. Then, they will face their greatest challenge, either proving the purity of their magic or fading from existence. The Zann Esu oracles have decreed that the time of the Emergence is at hand. The destruction of the Prime Evils is to be the great test of their clan. Recently, Sorceresses have appeared mysteriously throughout Sanctuary to do battle with the minions of Evil wherever they are found.
Act 1
Blood Moor (Entering) Den of Evil (Entering) Den of Evil (All monsters killed) Burial Grounds (Entering) Blood Raven (After Kill) Cairn Stones (Clicking one) Tree of Inifuss (Clicking it) Tristram (Entering) Deckard Cain (Saving in Tristram) Forgotten Tower (Entering) The Countess (After Kill) Monastery Gate (Entering) Horadric Malus (Picking up) Jail (Entering) Catacombs (Entering) Andariel (After Kill)
"Evil beware!" "This place is trouble." "This cave has been purged of evil." "There is dark magic at work here." "Rest now, Blood Raven." "These stones radiate powerful magic." "The ancient tree has an aura of magic about it." "Tristram was no match for Diablo's fury." "Deckard Cain, get to the rogue camp!" "This place holds many secrets." "I hope to find other such treasures." "Ahh, the Monastery. Andariel's stronghold." "I hope the Sisters appreciate this thing." "If there was magic here, it's long gone now." "This place chills me to the bone." "The evil queen has fallen."
Arcane Sanctuary (Entering) The Summoner (After Kill) Tyrael (After talking to him)
"What a misguided monster." "I sense strong magic within this place." "Who would have thought that such primitive beings could cause so much trouble." "This plane actually distorts reality! Fascinating!" "That couldn't have been Horazon. Poor wretch." "Diablo and Baal have escaped me. Next time, vengeance."
Act 3
Jade Figurine (After picking up) The Gidbinn (After picking up) Lam Esen's Tome (After picking up) High Council of Zakarum (After Kill) Mephisto (After Kill)
"I don't sense any magic about this item, very strange." "I must take this to Ormus." "May the Black Book bring a black day to Hell." "The temple's power is annulled." "Mephisto shall no longer darken our souls with hatred."
Act 4
Izual (After Kill) Diablo (After Kill)
"He was corrupted to the core. I pity him." "Terror stalks Hell no more."
"My magic will break this siege." "Harrogath can rest easy now." "Follow me." "Could this be a trap?" "Your power was no match for me." "The Ancients must be close." "The power of the Worldstone watches over me." "The last of the three has fallen."
