Level 13, need some spell selection advice

[johnnyputrid]

About to hit 13 on my human sorc, who happens to be my first arcane caster to make it past 6. My current loadout is:

Lvl 1 - Expeditious Retreat, Jump, Magic Missile, Shield
Lvl 2 - Blur, Resist Energy, Sorching Ray, Web
Lvl 3 - Displacement, Frost Lance, Haste, Suggestion (Suggestion will likely swap to Rage once I can get Mass Charm Monster)
Lvl 4 - Phantasmal Killer, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
Lvl 5 - Cone of Cold, Protection from Elements
Lvl 6 - Disintegrate

I'm pretty much set on picking up Dimension Door as my last lvl 4 spell, and Greater Heroism as my lvl 6 choice (scrolling GH is starting to get pretty expensive and in a full party, those scrolls go real fast). Level 5 spells are where I'm not so sure as to what to pick.

What spell would be most useful for a primarily-nuker? It looks my choices would be end up being either Ball Lightning or Couldkill - but since I have no experience with any content past the Desert and the Orchard, I'm in unknown territory here. It looks like I'll probably end up having both spells eventually, but I'm not sure which one would be the most useful to get first. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[LethalSmockMaker]

About to hit 13 on my human sorc, who happens to be my first arcane caster to make it past 6. My current loadout is:

Lvl 1 - Expeditious Retreat, Jump, Magic Missile, Shield
Lvl 2 - Blur, Resist Energy, Sorching Ray, Web
Lvl 3 - Displacement, Frost Lance, Haste, Suggestion (Suggestion will likely swap to Rage once I can get Mass Charm Monster)
Lvl 4 - Phantasmal Killer, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
Lvl 5 - Cone of Cold, Protection from Elements
Lvl 6 - Disintegrate

I'm pretty much set on picking up Dimension Door as my last lvl 4 spell, and Greater Heroism as my lvl 6 choice (scrolling GH is starting to get pretty expensive and in a full party, those scrolls go real fast). Level 5 spells are where I'm not so sure as to what to pick.

What spell would be most useful for a primarily-nuker? It looks my choices would be end up being either Ball Lightning or Couldkill - but since I have no experience with any content past the Desert and the Orchard, I'm in unknown territory here. It looks like I'll probably end up having both spells eventually, but I'm not sure which one would be the most useful to get first. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Few suggestions

Lvl 1: consider Nightshield over Shield - same protection from enemy MM's, but a resistance bonus is typically more important to a sorc than extra AC for a nuker.

Lvl 4: For me this is one of the tougher levels... some great choices avail, so few slots. Casting stoneskin is nice, but you can get a wand from the Twelve. Think about switching out for Enervation and Solid Fog, and save DDoor for later levels and specific quests. Fire Shield is another good option, but can be scrolled as well.

Lvl 5: CoC is great. Prot from Elements is good just depending on how much you solo vs group. Consider CloudKill and Dismissal (nice for mephits, etc). If you're just specc'd for fire/cold, save lightning for when you can add a couple levels of enhancements to it. Your nuking right now is Firewall, Firewall, and umm... Wall of Fire.

Lvl 6: I'm a huge fan of Flesh to Stone, and took this even before Disintegrate. GH I waited for my 3rd slot, as yes you can scroll till then. You didn't say whether you'd been to Gianthold yet, and that's where Fts really shines. Between tap runs in Orchard, a quick run to the Bloodstone and Fire Greaves chests in Desert and even a few select areas in GH, you can solo loot run and have plenty money for GH and other scrolls, and get some good rare items in the process.

[drachine]

1st: hypnotism, jump, nightshield, tumble
2nd: blur, resist energy, scorching ray, web
3rd: chain missiles, displacement, haste, suggestion
4th: fire shield, phantasmal killer, repair critical damage, wall of fire
5th: ball lightning, cloudkill, cone of cold, prismatic ray
6th: acid fog, disintegrate, flesh to stone
7th: delayed blast fireball, finger of death, waves of exhaustion
8th: otto's irresistable dance, polar ray, repair critical damage mass
9th: energy drain, hold monster mass, wail of the banshee

i would leave rage to the bards. never met one that does not carry it.