Elemental Strike Team Character Planning and Team Organization Advice

Character Planning
I thought I'd offer a few thoughts regarding playing the various roles within the team. Players are of course free to choose any path they wish within the bounds of the rules, and don't have to heed any of my advice here. :)

Fire Sorceress
This character is probably the least-handicapped of all the characters, as a Fire-only sorceress can still be quite a force to reckon with. Inferno or Fireball, though weaker than other options, would be the most friendly to group frame rates. Meteor is the strongest path, bar none. I don't expect this to change even with the spell timer in D2X. You will have a team help protect you, and tanks to hold monsters still for you. Hydra, Blaze, and Firewall are all very attractive, but talk with your team before you choose these paths, to make sure everyone can handle the graphics load.

Lightning Sorceress
The strongest combo here would be max allowed Static at any given time, and Thunderstorm. If a Nightsmoke belt turns up, that could help make Energy Shield "pay for itself". Planning your char out in advance is recommended, so that you will know how many points you want to put where, and do so at the earliest opportunities. Nova is a good option only if meditation will be plentiful. Ask your paladin. Once D2X comes out, perhaps chain lightning will become a viable option, as well.

Cold Sorceress
Mana is going to be your greatest enemy. The cold tree does not generally function well without some Warmth to back it up. Blizzard can be a strong killing spell with high mana efficiency. The rest are ALL mana hogs, and even with help from skull helms and other mana regen items like Lennymo or Civerb's Icon, you'll be feeling the Mana crunch. My best recommendation is to conserve mana and very sparingly chill or freeze things to assist others with kills or safety, and then to unleash the full fury of your cold powers (with applicable drinking of potions) at key moments only, when your strength is really needed. Orb is viable only if there is meditation on hand. (You should have seen the addiction factor for the original EST Cold Sorcie: cryin the blues any time the paladin was away in town, or not available to play).

Bow Amazon
Not really sure what to advise for this role. High level Decoy would allow for cheap recasting. Adding to Pierce will obviously help a great deal, now that elemental effects also pierce in 1.03 and later. Things might be a little tricky in the mana department, unless there is plenty of meditation on hand. Frozen Arrow is incredibly powerful, though. The original EST bowazon became a prime damage deal in Hell difficulty.

Javelin Amazon
Don't be afraid to spend money on javelins, even early in the game. You're not here just to provide another decoy. Your elemental skills and even some straight throwing of missiles against key opponents, are vital to your role. Coordinate with the team paladin to determine how much, if any, meditation he plans to offer. The melee lightning skills (especially charged strike) become more attractive if mana regen will be plentiful.

Barbarian Protector
Within all the restrictions on this character, there is still one option for offense: a piercing scepter and the Goblin Toe boots. Gambling on Light Plated Boots is cheap, and everyone will need nice rare boots sooner or later. You can get a piercing weapon as soon as Act 3 Normal, at Ormus. Piercing/Goblin Toe would leave you strong against general monsters, but weak vs bosses and champs. Not too bad, considering your restrictions. And this would allow you to avoid Dex, adding instead to Vit and Str.

There are other offensive options, as well, if that one does not appeal to you. Pumping Battle Cry could lower enemy defenses by so much, even a Necro could get hits. :) Then you could use weapons with more damage on them. Or you could pump defense, vitality and blocking, and try to play the role of pure tank.

The uberpath is the support path: War Cry for stun effect (and some damage), high Battle Orders to increase everyone's life, mana, and mana regen rate. This would probably be the funnest way to go for many players, because it is the strongest route available within the rules.

The right branch of the war cries tree holds lots of options, too: Grim Ward, Find Potion -- but unless both your cold sorcie and bow amazon opt out of freezing skills, and stick to chilling ones only, you will effectively be shut out of having corpses at your disposal. Coordinate your planning with them.

Finally, you will need at LEAST four points into Leap if you are to have Range enough to maneuver in places like River of Flame and Arcane Sanctuary.

Paladin
Plenty of options here. One of them includes socketed scepters with bonus to certain skills. Meditation would certainly aid the spellcasters. Smite's stun effect and always-hits attribute are attractive. Lots of other options. Be creative and have fun. :) Also, make sure to coordinate your char design with your teammates. The single largest variable on the EST is whether or not the paladin will be serving up mana regeneration. A lot hinges on that choice, so talk with the team about it.

Team Organization
Not everyone who applies will stick it out. Be choosy to begin with, or your chances will be slim.

For the first EST, I took a pool of applications through email, then weeded out those who did not show up at two consecutive meetings. That left us with exactly eight players (out of twenty or so to begin with), but two of them wanted the same role and I flipped a coin. The coin-toss loser was not interested in the other role, though he tried it for one night, then departed.

Of four eventual replacement players, only one stuck through to the end for us, so don't put too much stock in your ability to replace people.

* Figure out the most dedicated players on your team and take care of them.
Don't give the grease to the squeaky wheels, give it to your core team. You'll be more likely to finish, even if some players depart along the way.

* Stick together.
Don't tolerate lone rangers. If people want to run off and solo, they can do that anywhere else. The EST balance functions best as a whole unit. The only place you can't fit everyone into one place at one time tactically is the Maggot Lair. Some allowances need to be made in the Arcane Sanctuary, too, but you can cut problems almost to nil by making sure everyone wisely stays to one side, never blocking the middle.

* Expect No Shows.
You're going to have to catch up some people on quests and such, probably frequently, due to absences. Just be prepared to redo quests and don't hassle over it.

* Coordinate Gambling.

* Those Who Die the Least, Hold the Most Gold

* Certain areas of the game will take a few hours to complete. Make sure players will be able to devote the extra time now and then.

* Full-clearing all three difficulties is not only viable, but fun. The game's over when you 3dot, so what's the rush? Up to you and your team, though.

* Coordinate tactics and skill use based on who is present. Ice transforms the battlefield. It's lack will be keenly felt. FPS-eating skills have to be kept in check most times. Lack of tanks will change things, too.

* If your Paladin specializes in Meditation, as ours did, your sorcies can cut loose. If not... they are going to have to manage their mana wisely.

* Get some sturdy players for the Javazon, Paladin and Protector Barbarian roles. Those are tougher to play in that they lack offense, must draw the team heat, and require patience. They are also more likely to die in general, and specifically when lag is bad. Some players just aren't happy with support roles of this kind. Meditation is the uberpath for the Pally. The team will find it tougher if he specializes in Defiance or Prayer instead, but that could also be interesting. Battle Orders and War Cry are the uberpath for the Barb. War Cry in combo with Meditation would give the Protector a prominent role and allow him to shine. The Javazon's uberpath is Decoy/Fury. Plague Javelin could also be fairly strong, but runs into some conflict with the Necro, whose poison nova is weaker but has longer duration. The team should decide whose poison attack should take precedence, unless the Jav player opts out of Plague Jav altogether. An alternate Javazon path could be Dodge/Charged Strike -- much more viable if there is Meditation on hand. Other options are weaker, but might be fun.

Good Luck.

- Sirian