Diablo II: More Sorceress Skills Revealed

Spoiler alert: This story contains information and screens of the game's later skills and spells. The following information may ruin some of the game's surprises.

If any Diablo II character enjoys spectacular leaps and bounds in power, it is the sorceress, who learns even more powerful spells as she advances to higher levels. Although the Diablo II beta only reveals the lower-level spells in her repertoire, GameSpot witnessed a few of her stronger spells at Blizzard's offices.

In the fire school of magic, the sorceress gains the ability to summon great meteors to smash her foes, as well as fire-breathing hydras that resemble the guardian spell from the first game. The meteor sets the immediate area on fire and tends to destroy any enemies in the blast radius. The hydras look like flaming, writhing snakes, and spew deadly fire bolts at all nearby enemies.

The sorceress' new cold spells include another upgrade to the frozen armor that provides protection against ranged attacks, and a blizzard spell that slashes a large group of enemies with sheets of ice.

As the sorceress' lightning-school spellbook opens up, she'll gain access to more useful miscellaneous magic, including a variation of Diablo's mana shield, as well as some awesome new lightning spells. It appears that the lightning spells will have the highest ceiling in terms of possible damage dealt. Of course, as with all the spells and skills in Diablo II, any of the abilities are subject to change as imbalances are detected by the game's many testers. However, from what we could tell, the sorceress will become extremely powerful as she achieves higher level.