The Fire Wall Sorceress, as the name implies, is a Sorceress build whose primary attack is Fire Wall. This build can be very fun to play and, with the proper gear, can become devastatingly powerful. One thing to keep in mind is that the listed damage is per second, while the Fire Wall lasts for 3.6 seconds, so the spell actually does significantly more damage than the tooltip indicates. The trade-off for this power, however, is a somewhat counter-intuitive targeting system that can have a steep learning curve. Fire Wall is not like most skills in Diablo II, where the preferred targeting method involves clicking on a monster. While this can be effective with Fire Wall in some situations, to get the most out of the spell, you will have to learn how to make the best use of the way the Fire Wall "grows." When a player casts Fire Wall, the wall expands from the cursor at a right angle to the character. That is, if you draw a straight line between the Sorceress and the cursor, the Fire Wall will intersect the line at a 90-degree angle (see the image at the bottom of the Skills section of this guide). This can be both beneficial and frustrating. It allows the Sorceress to destroy enemies around corners or in other places where the monster can't reach her. However, it can also be difficult to get a monster into the wall, as it has a relatively thin area of effect. Often times, growing the wall in the correct direction requires you to click far away from where the target monster actually is on the screen, which can sometimes lead to Fire Walls that miss the target altogether. This may be frustrating for some players, though it may be a welcome challenge and a change from the usual for others. This can be a surprisingly effective build for leveling, though players without the proper gear may run into some challenges in late Nightmare and Hell with immunities.
Frozen Armor: 1 Point. This will provide you with a nice boost to your armor, as well as freezing attackers. Keep this skill active at all times, but don't worry about putting more than 1 point in it.
Glacial Spike: 20 Points. This skill serves two purposes for the Fire Wall Sorceress. First, it can be useful to freeze enemies before laying a Fire Wall on top of them, ensuring a speedy death. Second, it allows the Sorceress to take the heat off of her Mercenary when he is battling fire-immune monsters in the later difficulties.
Cold Mastery: 1 Point. This is a cheap way to increase the damage of your Glacial Spike, but you'll only want to put 1 skill point in here, and let the +Skills from your items do the rest of the work.
Lightning Spells[]
Static Field: 1 Point. I don't really find that I use this skill very often, though it can be nice to have when facing the rare monster in Hell that has unbreakable immunities to both Cold and Fire.
Teleport: 1 Point. Teleport serves the obvious role of travel workhorse, but can also make your life easier when attempting to grow a Fire Wall in a specific direction, making it a unique offensive tool in addition to providing important defensive utility.
Warmth: 20 Points. A primary synergy to Fire Wall, and with +Skills will also take your mind off your mana.
Inferno: 1+ Points. A prerequisite to Fire Wall, but also a deceptively powerful synergy for it. This is one of the candidates to spend your remaining 18 skill points on.
Enchant: 1+ Points. A nice spell for parties and to boost the damage of your mercenary. This is the second option for your remaining skill points.
Fire Mastery: 20 Points. A given. Will significantly increase the damage of Fire Wall, as well as adding a nice boost to Enchant.
Spending Excess Skills[]
Fire Wall's 90-degree growth pattern
As I have mentioned, the remaining 18 skill points you will have after maxing the base skills for this build are best spent in either Inferno or Enchant. There are benefits to choosing either path, so make your decision based on your preferred play-style. The numbers I will present in this section are based off of having all of the gear listed below. It does not include Charms or the extra damage from your Mercenary's Conviction Aura, so most of these numbers will actually be higher in practice.
Inferno: Though Fire Wall only receives a 1% damage bonus per point invested in Inferno, the incredibly high damage of Fire Wall actually makes for a substantial return. With only 1 prerequisite point in Inferno, your Fire Wall will be dealing 25,649-25,859 fire damage. If you put your remaining 18 points into Inferno, this will increase to 28,200-28,431; an increase of 2,551-2,572.
Enchant: Rather than boosting the damage of your skill, investing your spare points here will increase the damage of your Mercenary instead. This will also help him dispatch of Physical Immunes more quickly. With only 1 point in Enchant, the skill will add 547-756 fire damage to each and every attack that your Mercenary lands. Putting your 18 points here will increase this to 2,254-2,711 per attack; an increase of 1,707-1,955. It also increases the attack rating bonus by 162% over the 1-point Enchant.
As you can see, 18 points in the Inferno synergy will result in a higher increase in damage than if the points were put into Enchant. However, you must also take into account how often a monster will be taking damage from your Fire Wall versus how often your Mercenary will attack and whether you prefer team or solo play. In the end, it really comes down to personal preference, as both are certainly worthy choices.
Gear[]
Helm
Amulet
Weapon
A Rare Circlet
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels 2 Open Sockets +All Resistances (up to 20) +Strength (up to 30) +Life (up to 60) 20 Faster Cast Rate
+1-3 to Sorceress Skill Levels (varies) 40% Faster Cast Rate +10-20% to Fire Skill Damage (varies) +10-20% to Lightning Skill Damage (varies) +20-30 to Energy (varies)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.10 or later)
The +Skills, open sockets, and resistances are necessary, the other mods are nice bonuses. Both sockets should be filled with +5/-5 Fire Facets. Use a Harlequin Crest until you can get your hands on this.
OR a Rare with similar stats to the circlet (replacing the open sockets with +mana).
With +3 Sorceress Skills and +20% Fire Skill Damage. This should be socketed with another 5/5 Fire Facet.
+1 to All Skills +0-49 to Life (+0.5 per Character Level) 3-5% Life Stolen per Hit (varies) +50 to Maximum Stamina
(Only Spawns in Patch 1.09 or Later)
More +Skills and FCR.
Nice bonuses to your Strength, Vitality, and Poison Resistance. Waterwalk are a good alternative for their higher Life bonus, but the Strength on Treks make them the better option.
Since this build doesn't usually have much trouble with mana, the life bonus here is more appealing than a Stone of Jordan, and a low life leech BK ring is certainly easier to get your hands on.
+1 to All Skills +40% Increased Attack Speed +250-290% Enhanced Damage (varies) Adds 5-30 Fire Damage 7% Life Stolen Per Hit +2-6 to Battle Command (varies) +1-6 to Battle Orders (varies) +1-4 to Battle Cry (varies) Prevent Monster Heal Replenish Life +12 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 To All Skills +25-35% Faster Cast Rate (varies) +55% Faster Hit Recovery +250 Defense Vs. Missile +22 To Vitality +89-112 To Mana (varies) Cold Resist +35% Lightning Resist +35% Poison Resist +35% +3-8 Magic Absorb (varies) Attacker Takes Damage of 14
CTA is nice for the life bonus provided by Battle Orders, though a wand with Lower Resist charges can make a very powerful alternative.
+Skills to boost your BO.
Your standard Annihilus and Hellfire Torch are, of course, recommended. Otherwise, try to stockpile Fire Spells skillers and Small Charms with Life, Mana, and Resistances (if needed).
Mercenary[]
An Act II Nightmare Defensive Mercenary with Holy Freeze Aura is the Fire Wall Sorceress' ideal companion.
+100% Enhanced Defense Adds 6-22 Cold Damage - 4 Second Duration 15% Slower Stamina Drain 6-8% Life Stolen per Hit (varies) 6-8% Mana Stolen per Hit (varies) Damage Reduced by 15-20% (varies) Magic Damage Reduced by 10-15 (varies)
+100-150% Enhanced Defense (varies) +2 To All Skills 20% Increased Attack Speed 8-10% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies) +25-30 To Strength (varies) +10% To Maximum Poison Resist Fire Resist -30% Poison Resist +70% 15% Chance To Cast Level 15 Poison Nova When Struck Level 3 Venom (20 charges)
(Ladder Only) (Only Spawns In Patch 1.10 or later)
Either are powerful options. Try to find an ethereal one if possible.
20% Chance To Cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when Struck +25% Faster Cast Rate +300% Enhanced Damage +200% Enhanced Defense +15 Defense +X To Life (Based on Character Level) Replenish Life +7 +5% To Maximum Lightning Resist All Resistances +25-30 (varies) Damage Reduced By 7 12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana +1 To Light Radius
50% Chance To Cast Level 20 Chain Lightning When You Kill An Enemy Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped +35% Faster Run/Walk +255-325% Enhanced Damage (varies) -(45-55)% To Enemy Lightning Resistance (varies) 40% Chance of Crushing Blow Prevent Monster Heal +0.5-49.5 To Vitality (+0.5 Per Character Level) 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30 Charges)
In any elite ethereal armor. Fort is great for the huge damage boost and the bonuses to life and resistances.
Preferably in an ethereal Colossus Voulge or Cryptic Axe. I highly recommend having this Rune Word available before attempting to progress your Fire Wall Sorceress past Nightmare. Otherwise, Hell will likely be too difficult due to Glacial Spike's relatively low damage and the plethora of fire-immune monsters. When you do have it, however, it will provide an incredible boost to the damage of your Fire Wall, as the Conviction Aura reduces monsters' resistances by 85 and is capable of breaking immunities.
