Followup 3 - Melee Sorceress - Apr/25/2000

Melee Sorceress and Necromancer
 With the lack of stat caps, it seems off the bat that melee characters will be a solid option for ALL classes. The Amazon, Paladin and Barbarian can choose very strong melee paths, so I'll be trying Muscle Ma'am and Muscle Mummy (sorry, bad pun).
 
Muscle Ma'am
 I've got her up to just shy of clvl 12, solo, and she finished the next to last Act I quest. So far, not just doable, but very fun! She was lucky indeed to find a great weapon early on: A Triumphant Hand Axe of Blight. Adds +1mana for each kill she has, and does poison damage when she hits. The key seems to be use of her cold tree. Frozen Armor gives her some protection, and chills or freezes those that hit her. Versus mobs, especially boss mobs, she would use a Frost Nova to slow them down (dmg itself was small, slowing was the key), then hack them up with her axe. A hp-regenerating belt also was a very nice addition. Her damage in melee is pretty small, so use of cold is heavier than I would like. Note also the blending/smearing of normal / style / variant lines here. A sorceress who uses a fair amount of cold is highly normal - many players prefer that. Ones that go cold- only and specialize are a very strong 'style'. What I've played so far is a melee+cold style, without many restrictions per se - i just want to see how well she can do in melee. At some point later (much :) the line will be crossed with playtesting by many, where stronger restrictions much closer to original Muscle Mage come in, and less use of magic. So when you see 'Melee Sorceress' think of a VERY broad category where the player likes to mix it up, has pushed physical stats more than others, and has (more than likely) focuses some on cold tree. Specific names or tags (MM) would be a specific and restricted subset. Obviously, everyone who likes melee can do the Melee Sorc as they like, and no two will look alike even by lvl 12.
 
Other interesting points:
- In coop, she would get full share of exp from the party, even though she would not kill as fast.
- With no elixirs, trying to balance the stats will be very very hard. Especially for a MS who needs them all.
- The action is very fast paced. With no mana shield and low hp, being able to slow down the foes is very nice indeed.
- As in D1, at low lvls, str bonus to damage is pitiful.
- Using almost no spells would be rough, but I still have hope will be playable. Using a socketed cold item to get cold damage or skull gem for life and mana stealing would help. But this route would be NO less tougher (and as cautious) as in D1.
- Here's a key difference though: wide open spaces. Lack of choke points and formations is a major difference I'm seeing in D2. The D1 MM would totally live and die by using a choke to fight one monster at a time. More was death. That's why I was _needing_ the cold to slow/freeze things so I could face just one at a time in melee. There was a ton of step back and maneuver :)
 
Look for a Melee Necro report later this week.
Also look for other posts on jack-of-all-trade versatile approaches, a Javelin Amazon, non-magic BAR, effect of not distributing stats or skills...
 

Charis