This skill is a prerequisite for Enchant and Hydra. Contrary to what others might say, Warmth is a matter of personal preferences, playing styles and skill selections. To some, maxed Warmth is essential, while to others, Warmth at all is an afterthought at best. How much should you put into Warmth? Let's take a look.
Warmth suffers from the same diminishing returns per skill point invested as many other skills like Fire Mastery, Find Potion, and Salvation. Yes, you still get some benefit from each added point, but each point added offers less benefit than the point before it, at least in terms of percentages. However, Warmth is also a linear skill in that it offers you a certain amount of extra mana regenerated per second, per skill level. How much Warmth you want and when to invest into it, depends on many factors, but the one you should never lose sight of is how much mana per second you are regenerating vs how much you actually NEED to maintain your playstyle.
Every skill point devoted to Warmth is TAKEN AWAY from other skills you could have invested in. From the perspective of the clvl 80 character, it doesn't matter, because they can have max warmth and two other skills maxed and prereqs and defense handled and still have points left over. However, from the viewpoint of the clvl 20, clvl 30, clvl 40, even clvl 50 character, Warmth is a serious matter that will affect your gameplay for the worse, one way or another, if you mismanage it.
Level 7 Warmth recovers mana at double the normal rate. To double THAT rate again (4x mana recovery) you need to go all the way to skill level 24 warmth. Now to get to 24 warmth, you need at least +4 to fire skills from items. That same +4 applies to a level 3 warmth to get to level 7 total. So in effect, given +4 to skills from items, you can get double mana recovery for THREE skill points invested into Warmth, but must invest seventeen more points to double that yet again.
So as with Fire Mastery, you get the most benefit from the first few points of Warmth. Frankly, unless you are playing a specialist sorcie with Cold-Only or Lightning-Only, there's no reason NOT to invest at least ONE point into Warmth. That alone makes a marked difference in mana recovery, reducing the time it takes to refill from empty to 92 seconds, down from 120 with no Warmth. That's big.
It takes two full minutes to recharge mana from empty to full with no Warmth. It takes 92 seconds with slvl 1 warmth, 60 seconds with slvl 7 Warmth, 44 seconds with slvl 13 Warmth, 33.5 seconds with slvl 20 Warmth, and 28 seconds with slvl 25 Warmth. However, all of this depends on your total amount of mana.
Using Magefist will add the equivalent of three extra levels of warmth to your mana regen. A Frostburn will add equivalent of four to seven extra levels of Warmth to your mana regen, depending on other factors. The Wall of the Eyeless shield can also substitute for Warmth, but depends on your kill rate and loses effectiveness against tougher foes. Civerb's Icon, Lennymo and Heavenly Garb can increase mana regen, and items like Nightsmoke or Howltusk can offer some mana recovery when you take damage, although that is not particularly desired. The more Warmth your character has, the less important these sort of items become.
The only tree that really suffers from level 6 to 18 is the cold tree. And it seems to me that players pursuing the ubersorcie, with lvl 20 blizz or FO, are the most prone to completely sucking it up during this time, trying to make do on Ice Blast alone, and thus getting the FALSE impression that gadzooks of warmth are needed just to survive.
Mana management is a matter of style, choice and efficiency. For example: if you don't have tanks (Barbarians or chars with minions) to team up with, you can't take out chasers with just firewall unless you blanket the screen or use extreme tactics. Someone trying to blanket the screen will need 1000 mana every fight, or nearly so. A little blaze in the same situation, and yeah, you have to do a little mousework running around, but how is this different from the mousework you have to do running around inside the firewall zone? The difference is that you can get the same kills with 40 mana instead of 1000. But then you have to pump Blaze (and some Fire Mastery) and this means a different plan than most "guide writers" are suggesting. Now is the 40 mana way "better" than the 1000 way? Not necessarily! If Blanket the Screen is your thing, that's fine, you'll need to max that Warmth. But that's far from the only way to get the job done.
Those who insist on maxed Warmth are the same players who advise a virtual indiscriminate use of the highest mana spells. But there is more than one way to beat the game. How much warmth is most efficient at clvl 20, at 30, at 40? If you've maxed Warmth by level 40, and spent 7 to 10 in prereqs, then you either have ONE modest attack spell and no defense, or no serious attack spells at all yet. This is not the way to build an ubersorcie, IMHO. One thing these folks who preach high warmth often forget to mention, is that their plans apply to clvl 60, or 70, or even 90, in a "dream setup" and NOT to a level 30 character with slvl 20 warmth. WHEN to add to warmth is just as important as how much to add.
Among Fire Tree skills, the ones that need Warmth the most are Firewall, Meteor and Fireball, in that order. Hydra can benefit from Warmth a great deal, also, because it's so costly, but you CAN get by without it because its very efficient over time, with a healthy duration. Inferno has some need for Warmth, while Firebolt and particularly Blaze need little to none at all. The skill that most demands help from Warmth is the very powerful but mana hungry Frozen Orb. In fact, this is the ONLY skill the sorceress has in which adding points to Warmth before pumping up the skill itself is desirable for mana efficiency. Every other sorcie skill, including all of the Fire Tree skills, benefit more from pumping up the skill itself than from leaving it low level and adding to Warmth. Keep that in mind as you mana your mana: Every skill point devoted to Warmth is TAKEN AWAY from other skills you could have invested in.
Warmth requires thought, so it give it some.
WHEN to pump Warmth is just as important to your strategy as HOW MUCH you eventually plan to get. If you get too little warmth for your playstyle, you'll feel it. But you can correct that by using mana pots for a while and pumping the warmth for a few levels or slowing down your pace for a few levels. On the other hand, if you go too far and put too much into Warmth too soon, and find yourself stuck without the offensive power to get the job done, you are stuck. Keep that in mind as you allocate your skill points.
Whatever you choose, choose it because it fits with your own style and plans, not because someone else told you that you need it or don't need it. Look at the numbers, fit them to your own character(s), and decide for yourself!
| Next Section | Main Page |