Budget non-squishy nova sorc (build)

I have been following the "starter" variant of this guide, but it's just EXTREMELY squishy. I have been dying from archers in the tower while farming runes all the time: https://maxroll.gg/d2/guides/nova-sorceress-guide

Instead I came up with something like this, she is ALMOST indestructible now.

1.

Helm: Coven (skills, fcr)
2. left hand: Spirit
3. shield: Splendor (fcr + skill) - can be Spirit instead ; if you have two good Spirt rolls you can replace Coven with something else (like Bulwark or

Shako)
4.

Belt:

Gloom's Trap (more mana)
5. gloves:

Frostburn (more mana)
6.

Boots: do not matter; just 30 FRW (you can craft

Safety Boots though to stack more + damage reduced by X)
7. rings/ammy: do not matter, you just need +10FCR to reach a breakpoint; stack "damage reduced by X"
8. torso: Gladiator's Bane +

Mal in the socket

swap:

1. Memory runeword staff +9 to

Energy Shield (you can find 4os staff that gives 3

Energy Shield)

The

Key is Memory + Gladiator's Bane + stack as much of damage reduced by X on rings + ammy as you can (you can also craft

Safety Boots). Also first thing max out

Energy Shield +

Telekinesis

Memory combined with skills etc gives lvl ~30

Energy Shield, which absorbs ~86% of dmg, the remaining ~14% is eaten up by Gladiator's Bane + other items that grant flat damage reduction.

Resistances do not matter; only poison can hurt you, but i just keep a few antidotes in the

Belt.

FCR is ~70 which is good enough for farming tower and Sanctuary. Farm keys and runes, trade for everything else

Unlocks at lvl 85

Enjoy!
---

edit: a bit more refined variant with a bit more budget

1.

Helm: Coven
2. hand: Crescent Moon Runeword
3. shield: Spirit
4.

Gauntlets:

Frostburn
5.

Belt:

Arachnid Mesh
6. ring 1: 10 FCR

Safety Ring
7. ring 2:

Dwarf Star (Magic Damage reduced by 15)
8.

Boots:

Safety Boots
9. amulet: 20 FCR amulet
10. torso: Gladiator's Bane with

Mal
11. inventory:

Crack of the Heavens

That amounts to damage reduced by ~28, magic damage reduced by ~38, still 105 FCR breakpoint, breaks immunities

I

Mal'd my Vipermagi, and that was the one thing that prevents me from dying (besides all-out Gloam attacks). I think you can run whatever you want with that

Mal, and get away with it. The Memory staff is helping out a ton too!

Great work!

Just tested it, stacked some

Safety Boots and FCR safety rings, she can easily whitstand several corpse explosions from

Nihlathak, so I guess that is nice also. : D

silly question but are you remembering to turn on

Energy Shield? I died several times because i forgot to cast it lol

louner wrote: 2 weeks ago

Just tested it, stacked some

Safety Boots and FCR safety rings, she can easily whitstand several corpse explosions from

Nihlathak, so I guess that is nice also. : D

I stack some pdr and full hp mode, in my case, I can hold around 7

Corpse Explosion.
80% FR + some fire absorb + 40 pdr

Mal is not that good....try

Vex

I use

Sol in shield.

FD2R wrote: 1 week ago

silly question but are you remembering to turn on

Energy Shield? I died several times because i forgot to cast it lol

Yeah, at least once during

Baal run.

leox wrote: 1 week ago

Mal is not that good....try

Vex

I use

Sol in shield.

Vex is interesting, although imo you can mostly ignore resistances.

---

I edited the original post, added another variant

louner wrote: 1 week ago

FD2R wrote: 1 week ago

silly question but are you remembering to turn on

Energy Shield? I died several times because i forgot to cast it lol

Yeah, at least once during

Baal run.

leox wrote: 1 week ago

Mal is not that good....try

Vex

I use

Sol in shield.

Vex is interesting, although imo you can mostly ignore resistances.

---

I edited the original post, added another variant

My build is different, I dont use

Energy Shield. And nilahank only need fire resistance and slightly poison res.

I look into my

Key run

Nova sorc,
it is nearly 90 fire absorb, nearly 40 pdr (anti small monsters , half

Corpse Explosion), 20 mdr.

oh well... now I understand why you said that resistance is not consider and use

Mal...

Energy Shield take mdr but not resistance....interesting.

good to see another branch of

Nova sorc...in end game build, I can even add

Stormshield...


I add so many defense is due to careful calculation, damage is enough, add -res or + skill does not increase speed. while decrease skill or less points also okay...

@louner

Is there a good place to shop a +3

Energy Shield staff?

Even before I saw this post I would pick up and check almost every base staff that would drop. Now that I've been looking for ES I've come across a half dozen +1, but nothing higher.

R0b0yt0 wrote: 2 hours ago

@louner

Is there a good place to shop a +3

Energy Shield staff?

Even before I saw this post I would pick up and check almost every base staff that would drop. Now that I've been looking for ES I've come across a half dozen +1, but nothing higher.

I honestly have no idea I bought that staff from another player

louner wrote: 2 hours ago

R0b0yt0 wrote: 2 hours ago

@louner

Is there a good place to shop a +3

Energy Shield staff?

Even before I saw this post I would pick up and check almost every base staff that would drop. Now that I've been looking for ES I've come across a half dozen +1, but nothing higher.

I honestly have no idea I bought that staff from another player

Hehe, alright. Figured I'd ask. +7 is good, but +9 would be better.

Looks like I just have to wait for RNGeezus to bless me for now. Hoping an orb/staff will roll with +all/light/ES, but won't hold my breath. Best I've found is +2 all/+2 ES on an orb.

Discussion on how to get a Memory base:
forums/memory-base-t1658102.html

What do you do against lightning immunes? I don't see any

Conviction or negative lightning res in that build.

I think you need

Crescent Moon at least. But

Nova is kind of low damage, so it doesn't really shine until you have griffon and Infinity.

I don't personally love

Nova sorc on a super budget, although it is ok / not much worse than other options.

On a super budget build, I like the

Frozen Orb /

Hydra combo. Deals with most immunities, both are fire and forget skills / let them destroy, so you have decent survivability since you can spend a lot of time moving around if need be.

Hydra also destroys bosses quickly.

R0b0yt0 wrote: 1 hour ago

Hoping an orb/staff will roll with +all/light/ES, but won't hold my breath.

+all sorc cannot roll as a staff mod. This roll would be on a magic (blue) staff. Your ideal gg base for a

Nova sorc would be +3 to ES,

Frozen Armor, and thunderstorm (your buff skills). You need a normal/superior base so you can roll Memory into it.

Knappogue wrote: 1 hour ago

R0b0yt0 wrote: 1 hour ago

Hoping an orb/staff will roll with +all/light/ES, but won't hold my breath.

+all sorc cannot roll as a staff mod. This roll would be on a magic (blue) staff. Your ideal gg base for a

Nova sorc would be +3 to ES,

Frozen Armor, and thunderstorm (your buff skills). You need a normal/superior base so you can roll Memory into it.

I know it can't be on a normal/socketed staff. But one can wish for a +2 sorc and then +3 to light or buff skills in a magic/rare.

Already rolled a Memory into a +1 staff for +7 ES; makes currently for lvl 37 w/

Battle Command. Would just be cool to have +9.