Blizzard or frozen orb

Drezzek

New member
Blizzard or frozen orb

Id like to have a poll on what is the best attack for an ice sorc.

I like when I look blizzard and see the insane damage it is capable of with the right syns.... but then again I see so many sorcs that use frozen as their main attack... can anyone explain in detail which is better?

I will be using the results of this poll to come to a decision of which skill I will use for my sorc. Happy voting and thanks for any advise!!
 
Id like to have a poll on what is the best attack for an ice sorc.

I like when I look blizzard and see the insane damage it is capable of with the right syns.... but then again I see so many sorcs that use frozen as their main attack... can anyone explain in detail which is better?

I will be using the results of this poll to come to a decision of which skill I will use for my sorc. Happy voting and thanks for any advise!!

I was trying to find an old thread that was a debate on orb and blizzard. It was very informative and I believe tests were done on orb damage and blizzard damage. Couldn't find it. Maybe it was wiped out with one of the crashes that hit these forums a while ago. Anyway, the were some main points.

Blizzard - Very powerful/Limited range/Short duration - The best way to damage targets is to have them walk through it during its animation. During the testing, larger monsters took the most damage. Non-cold immune monsters get chilled if not destroyed.

Frozen Orb - Strong/Aimed properly at one target-Stronger/More range/Short duration - Orb does less damage if you only hit targets with a few ice bolts. (Now if a target is not cold immune, then it will be chilled if not destroyed.) If however you hit a target in it's "sweet spot" the damage is huge. That spot is having the orb explode in the center of the target so all bolts radiate out. OUCH!

It really depends on what you use it for. Now based on this post, you may have figured out that I favor FO. No doubt Blizzard is powerful but I like my sorcs to be versatile. It really comes down to your style of play. Hope this helps!



 
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1 piece of advise that would help drasticly in coming to a decision is what the damages on a propery syned blizz and orb are..
ie
max blizz damage at lvl ___ = ?
max FO damage at lvl ___ = ?
that would help alot and I would appreciate any more input people are willing to give me!!

As was already stated, I can easily see why FO is so popular for dual builds as there is only 2 skills to max to get the best of it, where as for blizz for max (although im assuming max is INSANE) is 5 or so skills (not looking at tree atm :rolleyes: )

Keep voting please!
 
1 piece of advise that would help drasticly in coming to a decision is what the damages on a propery syned blizz and orb are..
ie
max blizz damage at lvl ___ = ?
max FO damage at lvl ___ = ?
that would help alot and I would appreciate any more input people are willing to give me!!

As was already stated, I can easily see why FO is so popular for dual builds as there is only 2 skills to max to get the best of it, where as for blizz for max (although im assuming max is INSANE) is 5 or so skills (not looking at tree atm :rolleyes: )

Keep voting please!

You're asking for max damage so go Blizzard. Just so you know, I voted Blizzard because you were asking what was the best attack for an ice sorc.



 
pvm fo
pvp bliz

I second this statement, but there are shades in this, but overall "pvm fo
pvp blizz,"

The problem with blizzard in pvp (es - styel) is that unless you want to sacrafice a lot of damage, you're going to have to prebuff. Many find this to be bad mannered, and most tournys don't allow prebuff. But you could still compete in them if you put a memory in your switch. So pvp orbers are easier to make, but pvp blizzards are stronger (and a lot more fun).

In pvm, frozen orb is so great because you can get a second element. This can completely destroy in rushing, and creates a lot of versatility in where you mf. If you are only going to mf mephisto, I would go with blizzard.



 
I would say the same as many others here:

PvP - Blizzard/Ice Blast possibly FO/ES

PvE - FO/other element


But if you are going PvP I think the best choice is a Fireball sorc.
 
Speaking from a strictly PvM perspective...

Everyone acknowledges that FO is much better for dual-elemental builds... but even if I were building a pure Ice Sorceress, I'd still prefer FO to Blizzard. It takes a lot of practice to aim properly, but once you master the art of popping orbs in the "sweet spot" (so the monster gets hit by all bolts), then FOdeals more damage with just 20-40 points invested than Blizzard does with 60-80 points invested.

Frozen Orb also has a shorter timer, is easier to aim, spreads its damage out over a much larger area, and provides DRASTICALLY more chill. I prefer it in every way possible over Blizzard in PvM, even for single-tree sorceresses.
 
Why not both?

Use both to make a super cold mf sorc:

20 ice bolt
20 ice blast
20 glacial spike
20 blizzard
20 orb
5 cold mastery

1 warmth, static, telekenesis, teleport

Done at level 99

Don't need more than 5 into mastery since plus skills should raise it to the maximum neagtive cold resist to which monsters can be reduced.

Just raise orb/blizzard up evenly. Orb is better against some monsters and blizz against others.

Try it you'll like it!
 
That build is fine, but it may still slow you down. It won't work for pvp at all. Also, how many people actually get to level 99? One thing that I'm surprised no one has pointed out yet. In pvp, a high blizzard is practically unabsorbable. Orb gets drained easily while blizzard remains strong.
 
For pvp it would have to be modified

Something like 5 into glacial 20 into Cold mastery. Still probably not as good as ES/blizz though.
 
I prefer forb for the most part, but I have to say there are times when blizz would work better, i.e. slow or stationary mobs, packs around my merc, tight quarters with bottlenecks like ancient tunnels, etc.

But in wide open spaces I like orb better. It's a lot easier to control, and it works well with fireball/meteor. Overall I like orb better.
 
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