Want to know the best Sorceress build in Diablo 2 Resurrected? She’s one of the few magic-based Diablo 2 Resurrected classes, able to wield fire, lightning, and ice-based magic to annihilate the demonic forces of hell. The Sorceress has a low health pool and is woeful at melee combat, but she more than makes up for it by having a huge mana pool. If you ask us, though, her best build is the Frozen Orb build as it turns her into an unstoppable chilling machine.
If you’re coming back to Diablo 2 after some time apart or haven’t played the classic PC game before, don’t fret. We have a Diablo 2 Resurrected beginner’s guide to help you on your way. However, you’ve likely either played through the game once or just want the most optimal build.
To help you make the best Diablo 2 Resurrected Sorceress build, we break down all the key points. From the amount of skill or attribute points assigned to the equipment both the Sorceress and her hireling need. We’ll also explain the idea behind this build, why it’s so good for the Sorceress, and even go over more complicated details, such as Ethereal gear and equipping runes to make Diablo 2 Resurrected runewords.
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Diablo 2 Resurrected Sorceress ‘Frozen Orb’ build
The Frozen Orb build primarily uses just one skill, that of its namesake. The idea here is to hurl Frozen Orbs to the ground, shredding the area around them with Ice Bolts. Frozen Orb synergises with Ice Bolt, which can add 2% to Frozen Orb’s cold damage per skill level. Of course, since enemies can have immunity to cold, the build also includes a fail-safe so that your hireling can take out enemies for you. On top of that, the Energy Shield skill gives you more damage absorption and Warmth increases your mana recovery.
In PvP, the Frozen Orb build causes carnage thanks to the Frozen Orb spell’s area of effect and the slowdown effect. However, it’s also effective for Magic Find runs since you can use the Frozen Orb to shatter large groups of enemies. This build has a large variety of what you can use with it, so feel free to experiment and see what works for you.
Frozen Orb stats
The majority of the stats in this build should be spent on vitality and energy. You only need enough strength to wield the equipment and enough dexterity to block enemy attacks. Put most of the rest of your points into vitality, but since Energy Shield is your main line of defence, it may be worth popping a comparable number of points into energy.
Frozen Orb skills
Here are all of the skills you need to level up for the Diablo 2 Resurrected Frozen Orb build:
- Frozen Orb – 20
- Ice Bolt – 20
- Cold Mastery – 20
- Frozen Armor – 1
- Shiver Armor – 1
- Chilling Armor – 1
- Teleport – 1
- Static Field – 1
- Energy Shield – 20
- Warmth – 10 (or as many as you can)
Frozen Orb equipment
Before we dive into the equipment loadout, there are a couple of things that we should explain beforehand. First of all, a lot of the items have socketed items. Imbuing equipment with items such as gems or runes gives that item a boon that can make your build incredibly powerful. Adding an item to a socket is easy: click on the gem or rune you wish to move, then place it on top of the item you wish to socket. You can also remove gems and runes from weapons using the Diablo 2 Resurrected Horadric Cube recipe, though this destroys everything that’s socketed to that item.
This build also has runewords. To make them, you need to insert the runes into the item sockets in the order shown. For example, to give an item the ‘Call to Arms’ runeword, you need to insert, in order, the Amn, Ral, Mal, and Ist runes into that item’s sockets. Doing so grants the character using this item the buff associated with Call to Arms: the ability to cast Battle Orders even if they’re not a Barbarian.
You may have noticed that some of the hireling’s equipment has the Ethereal item flag. If an item is Ethereal, it grants a bonus to either damage or defence, depending on whether it’s on a weapon or armour. It also reduces any strength or dexterity requirements by ten points, and they repair themselves. There are downsides however, as if the Ethereal item breaks, it will stay broken. They also have half the durability of the regular version of the item, and about 75% of the sale value.
Here are all the weapons and armor pieces you can equip to complete the Frozen Orb build:
- Weapon – The Oculus with Call to Arms runeword (Amn, Ral, Mal, and Ist)
- Shield – Lifeless Wall (Grim Shield) with Splendor runeword (Eth and Lum)
- Helm – Harlequin Crest (Shako) with the Rainbow Facet. Rainbow Facet casts Blizzard when you die.
- Armor – Archon Plate, Dusk Shroud, or Mage Plate. Whichever one you go for, fill the sockets with the Chains of Honor runeword (Dol, Um, Ber, and Ist)
- Belt – Arachnid Mesh
- Rings – Ravenfrost and Stone of Jordan.
- Amulet – Mara’s Kaleidoscope, or any amulet with Faster Cast Rate, or +3 cold skills
- Gloves – Magefist, or if you’re going for a 125% faster cast rate, try Trang-Oul’s Claws
- Boots – War Traveler (battle boots) with enhanced defence
- Charms – Life Small and Cold Grand charms
Frozen Orb hireling
Your hireling is key to surviving encounters with large groups of enemies, especially those who are immune to cold spells. The best bet for a hireling is the mercenary you can recruit in act two on Nightmare difficulty. You should equip the following items onto this hireling:
- Weapon – Ethereal Colossus Voluge (elite polearm) with either the Insight runeword (Ral, Tir, Tal, and Sol) or the Infinity runeword (Ber, Mal, Ber, and Ist)
- Armor – Ethereal armor with the Fortitude runeword (El, Sol, Dol, and Lo)
- Helm – Ethereal Andarel’s Visage (Demonhead) with a Ral rune
The Colossus Voluge is primarily here for the four rune slots for the Insight runeword. Insight gives your hireling the Meditation perk that gives bonus mana recovery for all party members. On the other hand, the Infinity runeword gives your hireling a 50% chance to cast Chain Lightning whenever they kill an enemy. Both are good options, but given your Sorceress’s weakness to cold immune enemies, the Infinity runeword is our preference.
Andarel’s Visage is the best helm for a hireling in the game. It gives them additional strength, skills, life drain per hit, and attacking speed. By putting the Ral rune in this weapon, you’ll also give your hireling more fire damage and fire resistance.
That’s all of the equipment, stats, and skills you need to create Frozen Orb – the best Sorceress build in Diablo 2 Resurrected. There are plenty of other popular builds out there, and not just the best Diablo 2 Resurrected Paladin build. Check out the best builds for the Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Assassin, and Amazon.