VenomousVixen's Complete Sorceress Guide

Combat: Special Multi-Player Considerations

Additional Combat Tips

The deadliest pair of characters always involves a sorc working together with a char that can "tank" for her. This includes necromancers using a golem and amazons using a valkyrie. In larger groups, sorceresses are no less effective. Here are some tips to make your sorc more effective within groups:

1. When a melee char is engaged in combat, cast offensive spells such as FW, Meteor, CL and SF at whatever that char is fighting. However, do not stack FWs too much, if at all, since that can cause serious lag. Also watch to see if the melee char you are playing with actually uses your spells to his or her advantage. If you have placed an AoE spell, and the melee char does not seem to be willing to lead monsters in such a way that they are damaged by the spell, then you may be wasting your time with such spells.
2. Use cold spells liberally. FN, GS and FO are good choices. Cast only as many as you need to keep the monsters chilled, since some spells fill up the screen with distracting graphics and cause lag. BLZ is highly effective at slowing monsters, but it is not easy to see through; try to use something else like FN if you can.
3. If there are other sorceresses in the game, try to choose spells that complement the spells that they are using. For example, if you see a lot of cold spells from them, then try to use fire or lightning, since this offers the best chance of hitting a monster with spells that it does not resist well. Also, it is a lot less boring compared to seeing the same spells over and over again.
4. Stay out of the monsters's way during combat, but also, keep out of the way of your allies. If someone who is tanking for you needs to back off in order to use a health potion, you do not want to be blocking the way.
5. Use Teleport to better position yourself relative to the rest of the group. Running around too much amidst a large group may cause confusion and players bumping into one another.
6. Do not stand in the middle of doorways, since your allies may not be able to get past you. Remember that if an ally wants to stand in a doorway for some reason, you can always use Teleport to get where you need to go.
7. If you happen to have Enchant, do not forget to use it on your allies (and their minions).
8. If one of your allies is getting mobbed, and you have Telekinesis hotkeyed, consider trying to use it to push some of the monsters away from that player.
9. If the battle is not going well, and you are not busy dodging monsters, consider making a TP so that your allies can escape. They may be too busy fighting for their lives to easily make a TP.

Coping with Lag

Sad to say, lag is part of the game. Out of all the char classes, it is most deadly to sorcs because of their low HP, and in my opinion is the best argument a sorc has for wearing high-DR armor. This is because during lag, you may end up getting mobbed or otherwise be standing still for excessive amounts of time, which is exactly when DR would come into play. A DR that allows the monsters an 80% chance to hit (for example) is poor protection, but it is better than no defense at all. In any case, while there is sometimes nothing you can do to prevent lag, understanding when lag occurs due to player-controlled events can help keep you alive.

One thing to always keep in mind is that some spells cause more lag than others. Spells such as BLZ, FO, FW, Meteor, and Hydra, which require that a lot of graphics be displayed, can contribute to lag. The more of these you cast (regardless of whether you stack them), the more lag you might get. In fact, there is currently a bug in the game that draws spell animation twice for other players whenever you cast a spell. Keep this in mind, even though your allies may not openly complain about all the lag you are causing them. At the same time, if you are playing with a sorc who is wildly casting spells that are causing far too much lag to justify their use, there is no harm in asking this person to change tactics. Whether or not you want to try to cope with such a player is up to you.

Another time lag occurs is when you are entering new areas of an act. For example, leaving town at the start of an act can make the game appear to freeze while the data for the new area is being loaded. Other "firsts" that cause lag are opening chests and barrels and such, and casting a spell for the first time. There are some things you can do to help reduce the danger you are in during these times. First, when leaving town for the first time, do not run out of town but move slowly, so that if lag occurs, you are not too close to any monsters that may be just outside waiting. Second, as soon as you are out of town, cast some offensive spells that you expect to be using (i.e. The ones you have hotkeyed), so that the relevant graphics are loaded into your computer's memory. When you soon encounter some monsters, the game should not get especially laggy when you start to use those spells "for real", since the graphics have already been loaded. Third, if you have not lately opened any chests, barrels, stashes and such, wait until the area is free of monsters before you do so. Fourth, turn off the overhead map. You have no need for it at the very beginning of each new area, and it is always a source of lag. More generally, turning off the overhead map as much as possible during game play can noticeably reduce the lag when multiple players or monsters are on the screen.

Sometimes the lag can get very bad and you may even lose server connection. One way to tell if the game is badly lagged is by watching your mana orb while you are casting spells (perhaps move your cursor over it to see the mana count). If you do not see your mana being used up or regenerating at all, then the game is badly lagged. During that time, no matter what you see on the screen, there may be monsters (new or old) attacking you. Even though your screen is not updating properly, you can sometimes still issue commands to your char. Running is risky, however, since you cannot see where you are going; you might end up running into a new pack of monsters. And anyway, if you run, you have only your shield for defense, whereas if you stand still, your shield can block and your armor (such as it is) can work for you. Some people try to exit the game as soon as possible in the hope that they will not die during the lag interval. You might instead try to cast some spells in the hope that they will keep you alive until (and if) you start to get proper screen updates again. Aside from periodically drinking potions, some good spells to try are FN, Nova and SF. Together, they will slow and damage anything that is near you. You do not need to target these spells, so you can cast them blindly and they will still be effective. If you have Meteor or BLZ, consider stacking these spells on top of yourself, in the hopes that they will kill whatever may be attacking you. Casting them on top of yourself does not mean casting them where you guess you might actually be on the map, but rather, casting them over the center area of the screen. Remember that your char is always centered in the middle of the screen. Do not be fooled into thinking something like "well gee, I was a few yards to the left when the screen stopped updating properly, so I should cast BLZ over to the left". Wherever you go, there you are: in the middle of the screen. With this in mind, you can also cast fire spells around yourself, such as FW and Hydra. And definitely do not forget to renew your cold armor and ES.

If you feel fairly certain that there is an area you can blindly run to which has no monsters in it, then that can be a good option. To run most effectively in this situation, point your cursor at the furthest point away from you in the direction you want to run. Then click repeatedly while your sorc is running. The reason why you click repeatedly, instead of holding down the mouse button, is that while you are lagged, you might accidentally click on a monster (you would have no idea of this, since the info on the screen is not updating properly), in which case, you would be inadvertently telling your sorc to run right up to it. That is obviously very bad. Repeated clicking allows your sorc to keep moving the same direction while constantly selecting new targets on the ground. If you accidentally click on a monster, it is not a problem since in a short moment you will be re-targeting just beyond it, thus allowing you a chance to run past it. Blindly running may sound like a scary thing to try. But as the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.

TOP