Dreadful Sorcerer

[gouldec]

Thanks. UPDATE:

Having made some changes on the back of this advice, I am now at Lvl 33 with DPS of 990. STR 424, DEX 324, INT 65.

I am doing a mix of physical, piercing, poison, cold, vitality, bleeding damage - too many types maybe...? I have a sword with cold/vit damage

My strategy is chuck in a trap or two, throw knives, then hit fast on what's left with a flash for emergencies. Seems to be working in Normal Act 4 so far.

Just checking though - for throwing knives, do all non-weapon %s apply? e.g. the cold damage and slow% from glacial rings, poison damage from Shadow Veil, +% cold/bleed/vit damage from dreadful medallion, as well as skills-based damage enhancers and "20% chance of freeze" on a frozen buckler? Not quite sure what the principle is and I couldn't find a clear explanation on other threads.

[Irma2]

The freeze from Frozen Buckler won't work. Knives don't get weapon effects like ...of Harrowing or flat damage effects and, seeing as a shield is a weapon, freeze chance won't apply either. The only boosts you get from weapons are +% modifiers and proc skills like Study Prey.

You should get all the +% modifiers, though, as these are global.

[gouldec]

Ta.

So I need to find a way of adding some cold, vit etc. damage to the kinves first before the % increase can apply? Do skills do that (e.g. in Storm tree)?

[Irma2]

They should do. I've noticed enemies taking Burn damage (Brimstone) from Knives with my Magician.

Cold and Vit damage aren't going to do an awful lot on a Str-based toon, though.

[gouldec]

...The only boosts you get from weapons are +% modifiers and proc skills like Study Prey.

What's the definition of a +% modifier and a proc skill? And what's an example of a +% modifier, if you wouldn't mind?

[jaelrin]

What's the definition of a +% modifier and a proc skill? And what's an example of a +% modifier, if you wouldn't mind?

Something like a sword with +15% Cold damage would add +15% to any cold-based attack of yours, no matter it's source.

Proc skill - skills with a chance-on-hit activation. Example: http://www.gamebanshee.com/cgi-bin/s..._Items.id=1497

[Irma2]

Proc skill should read granted skill. Sorry, my wording was poor. So any skill that you don't get from your masteries but which can proc due to it being on a weapon. Mbuti's Advocate and Study Prey is the best example. You won't get proc skills like +5% Chance to Stun on Knives.

+% modifiers are anything that increases a particular damage type by a %. Most elemental suffices (...of Brimstone, ...of the Storm, ...of Rime, etc) consist of a flat modifier (20 Fire Damage) and a % modifier (+18% Fire Damage). You get the % boost on Knives, not the flat boost.

[gouldec]

Thanks chaps.

So, if I am holding that Ramrod weapon, my knives will do an acidic spurt? I should just test that

[Irma2]

It will probably only proc on one knife in the flurry. That's how it works with artifact procs. I was quite excited about getting Might of Hephaestus X9. Alas, you only get it X1.