| One of the rebellious women who have wrested the secrets of magic
use from the male dominated Mage-Clans of the East, the Sorceress is
an expert in mystical creation ex nihilo. Though somewhat lacking in
the skills of hand-to-hand combat, she compensates for this with
fierce combative magics for both offense and defense. Solitary and
reclusive, the Sorceress acts based on motives and ethics inscrutable
to most, sometimes seeming capricious and even spiteful. In reality,
she understands the struggle between Order and Chaos all too clearly,
as well as her role as a warrior in this battle.
Her stature
may be small but that's certainly no reflection of her capabilities or
capacity of being an offensive character. Her speciality lies in
3 areas of magic; cold, fire and lightning, each of which contain its
own mastery. Much of the three trees are taken up with projectile
attacks, either direct streams, missiles of one form or the other and
'from above' skills such as the 'Thunder Storm', 'Blizzard' and
'Meteor'. The latter set are particularly useful when you first
get sight of an approaching mob, targeting just in front of them so
they have to walk through the storm before reaching you.
Although strategy can't be discussed at this time, her trees are
strictly focused on magic so she'll have to be aware at all times of
her opponents resistances/immunities. This will be more
difficult in Diablo II as monsters' resistances and immunities are not
displayed, only their health status.
Of all the
characters' skills the Sorceress' appear the most familiar at first,
'Telekinesis', 'Teleport', three of lighting and four fire based
skills all return from Diablo. Mana Shield has made its
way back also in the form of Energy Shield {slightly altered as some
physical as well as all magic attacks now take from mana
reserves}. The Guardian spell also returns in the form of
'Hydra' {fire tree} so she too has a faithfully ally.
Of course
there has to be a weak area and the Sorceress' lies in melee combat.
As her strength will be relatively low she'll not have the option of
wearing some of the heavier armour affording her the added protection
they bring and there will be occasions when she may find herself with
no other option but to go toe to toe with an opponent. In
situations like this she needs to rely on 'Frozen Amour' for some
added AC and likes of 'Shivers' to reduce their ability to attack.
It's comforting to know that she at least has the 'Teleport' skill,
well once she reaches Clvl 18. Until then it would be prudent to
avoid melee combat at all costs. |
