How do you survive on sorceress?

I have 65+ elemental res, 30 chaos res, 800hp and 300 energy shield but every map white enemy just kills me (yeah even white - not to mention rare and bosses) in a second and nothing helps. I definitely don't get how this game works or it is just trash balance.
I deal enough damage and kinda get how it scales and how to improve it further but man survivability...
Now im at the end of act 3 so its not a "skill issue" or something, i pass the maps almost with no hits because of this strange scaling.
Can someone explain it to me please? How do I improve survivability? And how to resist mage from physical damage if mage don't build armor but energy shield?

You need to spec into defensive layers. You probably over emphasized damage and neglected your defences. Sacrifice some damage and grab nodes that give you more energy shield, possibly get mind over matter. You could also get the passive that makes you take 20% of physical as chaos damage since you have some chaos res it's better than nothing.

just a heads up m8, tell everyone your character level if you want more meaningful advice because having 800 life at lvl30 might be a lot and having it at level 80 is probably really bad so people will have a better idea of what you are dealing with if they know your level.





generally with energy shield its a hit and run mechanic, you do some damage, take some damage then back off a little so your es can recharge. once your es is down you basically dont have defences until you let it recover.

thats where mechanics like faster start of es recharge, faster es recharge rate etc come into play.


resists are really important, sounds like ur on top of that. keep pushing for capped resists.




its hard to say tho without more info, sometimes people spec too much damage and need more defences on gear and tree, sometimes getting more damage is the answer and just kill things faster so they dont pose a threat.

I just finished act one with Sorc. ice nova and frost bomb, easiest act one I had so far, everything freezes, so defensively its great.

Im using Ice Nova + Frostbolt + Light Bolt.

But only finished Act 1, so......

frost magic and skeleton warriors

You can use Arctic Armor for an extra layer of protection. Look for gear with life and energy shield.

From what I've seen so far, stack ES, invest into ES nodes at the start of the tree, use chill (ice nova is great, knockback and chill in one pack) and wait your ES go back up before being aggressive. Also, use skills that deal damage while you move, like frost bomb, flamewall and fusilade+unleash+SRS, to enhance your damage.

Mind Over Matter and Mana Regan is your best friend

sounds like either shield management issues and/or just to low hp (so you get killed instantly when shield is down)