Sorceress Cold Spells

Sorceress Skills
All Skills Cold Spells Fire Spells Lightning Spells

The Cold spells have less raw damage than fire or lightning, but add the bonus effect of chilling or freezing the target, and thanks to Cold Mastery's ability to lower resistances, these spells can be the strongest in the game, despite their lower total damage numbers.

Cold vs. Frozen

• Chilled monsters are slowed, often for quite a time. They have a % chance to shatter into pieces when they die.
• Frozen monsters are stunned into motionless until they thaw. The Freezing effect usually lasts just a second or two. Boss monsters can not be frozen (just chilled). All frozen monsters will shatter into ice cubes when they die, leaving no corpse.

Ice Bolt

Required Level: 1
Prerequisites: None
Synergies: The damage of Ice Bolt is boosted by points in the following skills:

• Frost Nova: +15% Cold Damage Per Level
• Ice Blast: +15% Cold Damage Per Level
• Glacial Spike: +15% Cold Damage Per Level
• Blizzard: +15% Cold Damage Per Level
• Frozen Orb: +15% Cold Damage Per Level

Details: This spell shoots a small snowball that damages and slows the target. There is no splash, the spell slows rather than freezes, and the damage isn't high enough to use it long term, even with the huge cluster of synergies added in recent patches.

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Mana Cost: 3
Damage	3-5	4-6	5-8	6-9	7-11	8-12	9-14	10-15	12-18	14-20	16-23	18-25	20-28	22-30	24-33	26-36	29-39	32-42	35-46	38-49
Cold Length (seconds)	6	7.4	8.8	10.2	11.6	13	14.4	15.8	17.2	18.6	20	21	22.8	24.2	25.6	27	28.4	29.8	31.2	32.6

Frozen Armor

Required Level: 1
Prerequisites: None
Synergies: Frozen Armor is boosted by points in the following skills:

• Shiver Armor: +10 Seconds Per Level
• Shiver Armor: +5% Freeze Length Per Level
• Chilling Armor: +10 Seconds Per Level
• Chilling Armor: +5% Freeze Length Per Level

Details: Provides a defense bonus and freezes any melee attackers that strike the Sorceress. Only one of the Frozen Armor, Shiver Armor, Chilling Armor defensive spells may be active at once.

• PVP: Chills, rather than freezes.
• Since few Sorceresses choose their equipment with an eye to raising their defense, this spell isn't especially useful to most builds.

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Mana Cost: 7
Defense Bonus %	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	100	105	110	115	120	125
Duration (seconds)	120	132	144	156	168	180	192	204	216	228	240	252	264	276	288	300	312	324	336	348
Freeze Length (seconds)	1.2	1.3	1.4	1.5	1.6	1.8	1.9	2	2.1	2.2	2.4	2.5	2.6	2.7	2.8	3	3.1	3.2	3.3	3.4

Frost Nova

Required Level: 6
Prerequisites None
Synergies: Frost Nova's damage is boosted by points in the following skills:

• Blizzard: +10% Cold Damage Per Level
• Frozen Orb: +10% Cold Damage Per Level

Details: Creates and expanding ring of ice that damages and slows enemies. The radius is the same as that of Nova, about 2/3 of the visible screen.

• This spell doesn't do enough damage to kill effectively with, but it's a great defensive aid, instantly chilling every monster within a dozen yards of the Sorceress.

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length (seconds)
1	9	2-4	8	6	14	12-16	13	11	19	25-32	18	16	24	40-49	23
2	10	4-6	9	7	15	14-19	14	12	20	28-35	19	17	25	44-54	24
3	11	6-9	10	8	16	16-21	15	13	21	31-39	20	18	26	48-58	25
4	12	8-11	11	9	17	19-25	16	14	22	34-42	21	19	27	52-63	26
5	13	10-14	12	10	18	22-28	17	15	23	37-46	22	20	28	56-67	27

Ice Blast

Required Level: 6
Prerequisites: Ice Bolt
Synergies: Points in the following skills boost the damage of Ice Blast.

• Ice Bolt: +8% Cold Damage Per Level
• Glacial Spike: +10% Freeze Length Per Level
• Blizzard: +8% Cold Damage Per Level
• Frozen Orb: +8% Cold Damage Per Level

Details: Shoots a large snowball that hits with splash damage, freezing the target and chilling nearby monsters.

• PVP: Players are chilled, not frozen.
• Bosses, Champions, and SuperUniques can not be frozen.

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)
1	6	8-12	3	6	8.5	46-53	4	11	11	106-116	5	16	13	182-194	6
2	6.5	16-21	3.2	7	9	54-61	4.2	12	11.5	122-132	5.2	17	14	205-218	6.2
3	7	23-29	3.4	8	9.5	61-69	4.4	13	12	137-147	5.4	18	14	227-241	6.4
4	7.5	31-37	3.6	9	10	76-85	4.6	14	12	152-163	5.6	19	15	250-264	6.6
5	8	38-45	3.8	10	10.5	91-100	4.8	15	13	167-179	5.8	20	15	273-287	6.8

Shiver Armor

Required Level: 12
Prerequisites: Frozen Armor, Ice Bolt, Ice Blast
Synergies: Shiver Armor receives bonuses from points placed in the following skills:

• Frozen Armor: +10 Seconds Per Level
• Frozen Armor: +9% Cold Damage Per Level
• Chilling Armor: +10 Seconds Per Level
• Chilling Armor: +9% Cold Damage Per Level

Details: Provides a larger defensive bonus than Frozen Armor, and damages melee attackers. It chills, rather than freezes, as Frozen Armor does.

Mana Cost:	11
Cold Length:	4 Seconds

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Defense +X%	Damage	Duration (seconds)	Slvl	Defense +X%	Damage	Duration (seconds)	Slvl	Defense +X%	Damage	Duration (seconds)	Slvl	Defense +X%	Damage	Duration (seconds)
1	45%	6-8	130	6	75%	17-22	190	11	105%	31-39	250	16	135%	47-58	310
2	51%	8-11	142	7	81%	19-25	202	12	111%	34-43	262	17	141%	52-63	322
3	57%	10-14	154	8	87%	21-27	214	13	117%	38-46	274	18	147%	56-68	334
4	63%	13-16	166	9	93%	25-31	226	14	123%	41-50	286	19	153%	61-73	346
5	69%	15-19	178	10	99%	28-35	238	15	129%	44-54	298	20	159%	65-77	358

Glacial Spike

Required Level: 18
Prerequisites" Ice Bolt, Ice Blast
Synergies: Points in the following skills provide a bonus to Glacial Spike.

• Ice Bolt: +5% Cold Damage Per Level
• Ice Blast: +5% Cold Damage Per Level
• Blizzard: +3% Freeze Length Per Level
• Frozen Orb: +5% Cold Damage Per Level

Details: Shoots a large snowball that hits with substantial damage and a large splash effect, freezing the targeted monster and anything within 2.6 yards.

• A very popular support skill; many Sorceresses map this to their left click button for emergency use (clicking on open space with targeted spells on the left click will simply run to that spot, just as having Attack or other melee skills on the left click does).

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Mana Cost	Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)	Slvl	Mana Cost	Damage	Freeze Length (seconds)
1	10	17-26	2	6	12.5	56-67	2.6	11	15	114-128	3.2	16	17.5	185-202	3.8
2	10.5	25-34	2.1	7	13	63-75	2.7	12	15.5	128-143	3.3	17	18	201-218	3.9
3	11	33-42	2.2	8	13.5	71-84	2.8	13	16	143-158	3.4	18	18.5	216-234	4
4	11.5	40-51	2.3	9	14	85-99	2.9	14	16.5	157-173	3.5	19	19	232-250	4.1
5	12	48-59	2.4	10	14.5	100-113	3	15	17	171-188	3.6	20	19.5	247-266	4.2

Blizzard

Casting Delay: 1.8 Seconds
Required Level: 24
Prerequisites: Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Frost Nova, Glacial Spike
Synergies: Points in the following skills boost the damage of Blizzard:

• Ice Bolt: +5% Cold Damage Per Level
• Ice Blast: +5% Cold Damage Per Level
• Glacial Spike: +5% Cold Damage Per Level

Details: Blizzard is an area effect spell, calling down an icy storm that chills and damages everything over a wide area. Targets are chilled, not frozen, and the damage is gradual instead of all in one blast, but the total damage dealt is the highest of any spell in this tree.

• Blizzard requires a certain play style, since its damage is dealt over several seconds to an area, instead of in a more targeted shot like most Sorceress spells. Monsters will need to be herded together, or a tank used to get them to hold still while Blizzard rains down its damage.

Duration:	4 Seconds

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Mana Cost	DPS	Slvl	Mana Cost	DPS	Slvl	Mana Cost	DPS	Slvl	Mana Cost	DPS
1	23	51-86	6	28	138-178	11	33	276-322	16	38	448-500
2	24	69-104	7	29	155-196	12	34	310-357	17	39	500-553
3	25	86-123	8	30	172-215	13	35	345-393	18	40	552-606
4	26	103-141	9	31	207-250	14	36	379-428	19	41	603-658
5	27	120-159	10	32	241-286	15	37	414-464	20	42	655-711

Chilling Armor

Required Level: 24
Prerequisites: Frozen Armor, Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Shiver Armor
Synergies: Points in the following skills boost the effects of Chilling Armor.

• Frozen Armor: +10 Seconds Per Level
• Frozen Armor: +7% Cold Damage Per Level
• Shiver Armor: +10 Seconds Per Level
• Shiver Armor: +7% Cold Damage Per Level

Details: Chilling Armor provides a slightly smaller defensive bonus than Shiver Armor (but larger than Frozen Armor). While the other two boost special effects against melee attackers, this one reacts to incoming projectiles by firing an Ice Bolt back in the direction of the missile.

• Since most Cold Sorcs have a constant stream of ice covering most of the screen, the damage returned from this defensive spell is largely irrelevant at higher levels.

Mana Cost:	17

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Defense Bonus %	Damage	Duration (seconds)	Slvl	Defense Bonus %	Damage	Duration (seconds)	Slvl	Defense Bonus %	Damage	Duration (seconds)	Slvl	Defense Bonus %	Damage	Duration (seconds)
1	45%	5-8	170	6	70%	11-17	200	11	95%	21-30	230	16	125%	34-45	260
2	50%	6-10	176	7	75%	12-18	206	12	100%	22-33	236	17	130%	37-49	266
3	55%	7-11	182	8	80%	14-21	212	13	105%	26-35	242	18	135%	41-53	272
4	60%	9-13	188	9	85%	17-24	218	14	110%	28-38	248	19	140%	44-57	278
5	65%	10-15	194	10	90%	19-27	224	15	120%	30-41	254	20	4-6	164	—

Frozen Orb

Casting Delay: 1 Second
Required Level: 30
Prerequisites: Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Frost Nova, Glacial Spike, Blizzard
Synergies: Each skill point in Ice Bolt adds: +2% Cold Damage Per Level
Details: One of the more awesome spells in the game, Frozen Orb fires out a glowing orb of ice that spins across most of the visible screen, emitting dozens of tiny Ice Bolts in all directions.

• Frozen Orb requires some skill to use, since the damage is highest right where the orb is targeted, and especially at the point it expires with one final swirl of ice. Enemies must therefore be within effective range, and not blocked by walls or other obstacles.
• As with all casting delay Sorceress skills, Frozen Orb can and should be teamed with another spell that can be cast during the second delay.
• In earlier versions of D2, this spell was bugged so that monsters the Orb passed over took minimal damage. It was therefore necessary to aim just to the side of targets. This bug was fixed in v1.09.

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length	Slvl	Mana Cost	Cold Damage	Cold Length
1	25	40-45	8	6	27	90-95	13	11	30	146-151	18	16	32	206-211	23
2	25	50-55	9	7	28	100-105	14	12	30	158-163	19	17	33	220-225	24
3	26	60-65	10	8	28	110-115	15	13	31	170-175	20	18	33	234-239	25
4	26	70-75	11	9	29	122-127	16	14	31	182-187	21	19	34	248-253	26
5	27	80-85	12	10	29	134-139	17	15	32	194-199	22	20	34	262-267	27

Cold Mastery

Required Level: 30
Prerequisites: None
Synergies: None
Details: Cold Mastery provides a constant passive bonus by lowering the resistance of all the targets of her spells.

• Resistance is only lowered to her spells; not for others in her party, including cold-using minions.
• Cold Mastery does not break immunities, but can reduce resistances into negative values, greatly increasing the damage of her spells.

Skill Level Progression [e]

Slvl	Enemy Resistance -X%	Slvl	Enemy Resistance -X%	Slvl	Enemy Resistance -X%	Slvl	Enemy Resistance -X%
1	20%	6	45%	11	70%	16	95%
2	25%	7	50%	12	75%	17	100%
3	30%	8	55%	13	80%	18	105%
4	35%	9	60%	14	85%	19	110%
5	40%	10	65%	15	90%	20	115%