diablo loves donutz
New member
Yes this build now has only one purpose...to kill Azn's fb sorc...
Btw, I named her Kortana instead of Flaming-Donutz
Btw, I named her Kortana instead of Flaming-Donutz
Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
- Thread starter diablo loves donutz
- Start date
Flaming Banana
New member
nooooo!!! halo freak! (i think)
i always make names that sound funny when i kill someone. even though half of them arent for pking =P
good luck with your hydra sorc!
i always make names that sound funny when i kill someone. even though half of them arent for pking =P
good luck with your hydra sorc!
You don't have to recommend Meteorb- Hydrorb keeps the Hydra theme, and is 100% PvM viable. In fact, Hydra/Orb is my favorite PvM character on the block. Just a fun build.
after reading this thread i wanna make myself a pvm hydra-orb, ssog could you please post your skill layout plz?
Cold Tree:
20 in Frozen Orb
1 in Cold Mastery
5 in prereqs
(optional) 1 in Frozen Armor (I like to get this, because it makes Teleporting a bit safer)
Lightning Tree:
1 in Static
1 in Telekinesis
1 in Teleport
Fire Tree:
1 in Fire Bolt
1 in Warmth
20 in Fire Ball
1 in Enchant
20 in Hydra
20 in Fire Mastery
Total = 92 or 93 points. Finishes up at clvl 81 or 82. Additional points go into Firebolt to boost your Fireball and your Hydra.
If you want to get really technical, I didn't put 1 in Fire Bolt and 20 in Fireball... I put something more like a 7/14 split, since it gave me a stronger Fireball that way. Play around with a skill calculator to see with each point whether you're better off putting it in Fire Bolt or Fire Ball.
As far as when to put the points... put 10 points in Orb and 1 in Cold Mastery AS SOON AS YOU CAN. A 10-point Orb will be more than enough to carry you through Nightmare. After that, I stop developing Orb and return to developing Hydra, since an underdeveloped Orb can kill in hell, but an underdeveloped Hydra has troubles. After I have 50-55 points in Hydra and synergies, I return to pumping the Orb.
Playstyle... Orb, Hydra, Teleport, Static Field, Frozen Armor all hotkeyed to right click. Fireball and Glacial Spike hotkeyed to left click. Orb and Hydra are both timered, so you'll be spamming FB, GS, Static, and Tele between casts.
melianor
D3 Wizard Moderator
Thanks for somebody putting a light on the Hydra-Orb. Lovely build. You use Fireball/GS for spamming and Orb/Hydra for laying down the big fields. I enjoyed playing Hydra/orb alot
yeah thnx for posting your skill layout,looks like a really fun build,just finishing building my light sorc( with infinity using merc)gonna wait till i got enough wealth to get a 15%nightwings just to give orb that little bit extra then im full steam ahead building a hydra-orb,gonna use an infinity merc merc for her too,not to break immunities just to make killing cold immunes with hydra a little quicker, thnx again
You don't need to wait for all that Godly Gear. My favorite thing about Hydra/Orb sorcs is that they're great no-twink or even naked characters. Very, very safe, and solid enough killing speed even without any help.
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
This thread comes up top when you google for "Hydra Sorc" so apologize for Thread Necromancy.
I got an idea. Essentially, hydras Synergies suck, 3% more damage per skill point invested really blows in the big picture. On the other hand, Orb really blows damage wise.
I'm thinking of instead doing a blizzspike build with hydra as a backup. The thing about blizzspike is that its damage is so overwhelming, you don't need to fully synergize it. Instead you'd want something that takes care of immunes and works well with a blizz build. You don't even need to max cold mastery due to the way it works.
Does Hydra have what it takes to make a viable alternative to a Blizzballer build?
BlizzHydra
Cold Tree:
20 Blizzard
20 Glacial
10+ Cold Mastery
Fire Tree:
20 Hydra
10+ Fire Mastery
With Prereqs and one point wonders, that makes 92 skill points. As with any build that's strapped for skill points, a ton of +skill items would make this work even better.
Playstyle would be rather unique. the only direct nuke doesn't do damage and instead only serves to freeze cold vulnerable mobs in place. Both Hydra and Blizzard can be placed on the right mouse button and serve to lay down mine fields.
Requesting For Comment.
This thread comes up top when you google for "Hydra Sorc" so apologize for Thread Necromancy.
I got an idea. Essentially, hydras Synergies suck, 3% more damage per skill point invested really blows in the big picture. On the other hand, Orb really blows damage wise.
I'm thinking of instead doing a blizzspike build with hydra as a backup. The thing about blizzspike is that its damage is so overwhelming, you don't need to fully synergize it. Instead you'd want something that takes care of immunes and works well with a blizz build. You don't even need to max cold mastery due to the way it works.
Does Hydra have what it takes to make a viable alternative to a Blizzballer build?
BlizzHydra
Cold Tree:
20 Blizzard
20 Glacial
10+ Cold Mastery
Fire Tree:
20 Hydra
10+ Fire Mastery
With Prereqs and one point wonders, that makes 92 skill points. As with any build that's strapped for skill points, a ton of +skill items would make this work even better.
Playstyle would be rather unique. the only direct nuke doesn't do damage and instead only serves to freeze cold vulnerable mobs in place. Both Hydra and Blizzard can be placed on the right mouse button and serve to lay down mine fields.
Requesting For Comment.
Ceramic Weasel
New member
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
I think synergized Orb has been shown to be better than Blizzard with a single synergy. There's a topic in the knowledge library I think, frozen orb vs. blizzard. It's a very good read.
I think synergized Orb has been shown to be better than Blizzard with a single synergy. There's a topic in the knowledge library I think, frozen orb vs. blizzard. It's a very good read.
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
Hydra: Skill +2 synergies + mastery
Blizzard: Skill +3 synergies + mastery (although cold mastery should never be maxed)
Sorry, doesn't work
Hydra: Skill +2 synergies + mastery
Blizzard: Skill +3 synergies + mastery (although cold mastery should never be maxed)
Sorry, doesn't work
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
No, oh no.
I read that post. Something like this: A single target standing still, lining up for perfect orb hits, takes mildly more damage from a single-synergized orb than from a single synergized blizzard. Oh wow. I mean, who'd have thought. In every other situation, orb is absolute weaksauce compared to blizzard. Groups, moving targets, you name it, blizzard burns them down while orb at best bores them to death. Also: Anyone who synergizes orb needs his CD key revoked.
Orb is a timered attack. Hydra is a timered attack. Blizzard is a timered attack. Orb + Hydra don't work. Fball+Hydra/Fball+Orb works, and Glacial+Hydra/Glacial+Blizzard work. Essentially, taking orb forces you to take Fball, and fball sucks as a synergy for hydra (3%) and does piss weak damage without synergies for itself.
Furthermore we're talking about a dual tree build. You shoot at targets that are mixes from immunes / nonimmunes for whatever skill you're using. Orb is easily completely negated by a few immunes in the way, where as blizzard doesn't care as to what's in its area, it hits everything the same.
The only problem with BlizzHydra is that glacial doesn't do damage, i.e. you don't have a non-timered damage spell. The plus side is that glacial freezes stuff and so you don't need block or particularly high hitpoints. Ice blast is an alternative in that it does do damage, but doesn't freeze scores of things as they run through your blizzard / hydra fields.
No, oh no.
I read that post. Something like this: A single target standing still, lining up for perfect orb hits, takes mildly more damage from a single-synergized orb than from a single synergized blizzard. Oh wow. I mean, who'd have thought. In every other situation, orb is absolute weaksauce compared to blizzard. Groups, moving targets, you name it, blizzard burns them down while orb at best bores them to death. Also: Anyone who synergizes orb needs his CD key revoked.
Orb is a timered attack. Hydra is a timered attack. Blizzard is a timered attack. Orb + Hydra don't work. Fball+Hydra/Fball+Orb works, and Glacial+Hydra/Glacial+Blizzard work. Essentially, taking orb forces you to take Fball, and fball sucks as a synergy for hydra (3%) and does piss weak damage without synergies for itself.
Furthermore we're talking about a dual tree build. You shoot at targets that are mixes from immunes / nonimmunes for whatever skill you're using. Orb is easily completely negated by a few immunes in the way, where as blizzard doesn't care as to what's in its area, it hits everything the same.
The only problem with BlizzHydra is that glacial doesn't do damage, i.e. you don't have a non-timered damage spell. The plus side is that glacial freezes stuff and so you don't need block or particularly high hitpoints. Ice blast is an alternative in that it does do damage, but doesn't freeze scores of things as they run through your blizzard / hydra fields.
Because you can't use a skill without maxing its synergy, no matter how trivially small the synergy bonus is, right? Let me guess, you also synergize FOrb.
Ceramic Weasel
New member
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
It's interesting you mention the casting delay of these skills, because that was my next thought. Orb/Hydra already suffers from annoyingly long casting delays, yet Blizzard's delay is 80% longer than Orb's. While you have a spammable attack, you acknowledge that it does negligible damage. Spike won't freeze everything you come across, and with the weaker Hydra, I can't see this being any safer or more powerful.
Then again, I never much liked the Orb/Hydra idea, so perhaps I'm automatically biased.
You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I'll take my synergized orb sorc, and keep my CD key too.
It's interesting you mention the casting delay of these skills, because that was my next thought. Orb/Hydra already suffers from annoyingly long casting delays, yet Blizzard's delay is 80% longer than Orb's. While you have a spammable attack, you acknowledge that it does negligible damage. Spike won't freeze everything you come across, and with the weaker Hydra, I can't see this being any safer or more powerful.
Then again, I never much liked the Orb/Hydra idea, so perhaps I'm automatically biased.
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
There's a sticky that suggests Hydra/Orb.
ok, lets go at this from a different angle.
If Hydra works nicely synergized, it'll also work nicely enough without any synergies because the synergies add so little per point. Without synergies, you have some 40-60 points left for another skill, preferrably one that isn't fire.
Different angle. The skill that should accompany hydra has the following qualities:
a) It's non-timered and spammable in between hydra cooldowns
b) It must be possible to use on the left mouse button because hydra is going to be on the right
c) It's not a fire spell
d) it has a huge damage output, enough to clear the screen within a matter of seconds in a populated game. This because hydra is ineffective if FI are in the mix, so these FI must be eliminated ASAP.
e) Conversely, the skill must not be affected by immunes present.
Orb has b/c
Blizzard has c/d/e
Nova has a/c/e
Charged Bolt has a/b/c
Lightning has a/b/c/e
Chain Lightning has a/b/c
There's a sticky that suggests Hydra/Orb.
ok, lets go at this from a different angle.
If Hydra works nicely synergized, it'll also work nicely enough without any synergies because the synergies add so little per point. Without synergies, you have some 40-60 points left for another skill, preferrably one that isn't fire.
Different angle. The skill that should accompany hydra has the following qualities:
a) It's non-timered and spammable in between hydra cooldowns
b) It must be possible to use on the left mouse button because hydra is going to be on the right
c) It's not a fire spell
d) it has a huge damage output, enough to clear the screen within a matter of seconds in a populated game. This because hydra is ineffective if FI are in the mix, so these FI must be eliminated ASAP.
e) Conversely, the skill must not be affected by immunes present.
Orb has b/c
Blizzard has c/d/e
Nova has a/c/e
Charged Bolt has a/b/c
Lightning has a/b/c/e
Chain Lightning has a/b/c
Ceramic Weasel
New member
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
I've read the sticky. I believe the general finding was that, while it looks okay on paper, in practice it's generally slow and crippled by casting delays. This post pretty much sums up my experiences with Hydra.
Regarding the synergy issue, I think you're dismissing them without really considering all the factors. A level 35 Orb with +15% cold skill damage from Tal's does about 577 damage per shard. Synergized, this goes up to 793. That's a difference of 216. Assuming Conviction and/or CM have reduced all target resistances to -100, the difference becomes 432. Now multiply that by the number of shards that hit targets on a well-placed Orb, and we're looking at around 8,000 damage difference, per second.
Likewise, a level 35 Hydra with level 35 FM deals 1,234 per bolt. Fully synergized we have 2,562, a difference of 1,328. Glossing over the affects of Tal's and/or Conviction and assuming your target's resist has been reduced to exactly 0%, that's a difference of around 3,984 per second per Hydra. With only 2 Hydras out the difference between synergized and unsynergized is 7,968 per second. If you can reduce your target's resistance below 0%, the difference can become much more.
These are both highly underestimated skills, with highly underestimated synergies. Though, I don't think they work all that well in combination.
I've read the sticky. I believe the general finding was that, while it looks okay on paper, in practice it's generally slow and crippled by casting delays. This post pretty much sums up my experiences with Hydra.
Regarding the synergy issue, I think you're dismissing them without really considering all the factors. A level 35 Orb with +15% cold skill damage from Tal's does about 577 damage per shard. Synergized, this goes up to 793. That's a difference of 216. Assuming Conviction and/or CM have reduced all target resistances to -100, the difference becomes 432. Now multiply that by the number of shards that hit targets on a well-placed Orb, and we're looking at around 8,000 damage difference, per second.
Likewise, a level 35 Hydra with level 35 FM deals 1,234 per bolt. Fully synergized we have 2,562, a difference of 1,328. Glossing over the affects of Tal's and/or Conviction and assuming your target's resist has been reduced to exactly 0%, that's a difference of around 3,984 per second per Hydra. With only 2 Hydras out the difference between synergized and unsynergized is 7,968 per second. If you can reduce your target's resistance below 0%, the difference can become much more.
These are both highly underestimated skills, with highly underestimated synergies. Though, I don't think they work all that well in combination.
Bakerskate
New member
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
I have one, shes badass. I use her to kill modders who join pvp. the only thing about pvm is infinity on your merc is needed. I do 5k each hydra and about 11k with fireball. I still need to faucet my shako and chuta. But you basically have it right
If you wanna see her in action add me and message me im usually on, Bakerskate22
I have one, shes badass. I use her to kill modders who join pvp. the only thing about pvm is infinity on your merc is needed. I do 5k each hydra and about 11k with fireball. I still need to faucet my shako and chuta. But you basically have it right
If you wanna see her in action add me and message me im usually on, Bakerskate22
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
Made one was fun fun fun and redid to save points ex-ladder-season as the mid to high to end items with effects and charges work so well - I will say one of the best AI helpful spells this Orb and Thunderstorm triggering will kill a lot.
even if it is 2007 date.
You kick *** - I PM OK?
Made one was fun fun fun and redid to save points ex-ladder-season as the mid to high to end items with effects and charges work so well - I will say one of the best AI helpful spells this Orb and Thunderstorm triggering will kill a lot.
I love seeing a SSoG post!
even if it is 2007 date.
You kick *** - I PM OK?
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thewrathofshane
New member
Re: Call me crazy, but...Hydra sorc?
http://www.diablofans.com/page/tool...1000000001010111010k111k11kkkl0l0l0l0l29lal00
This build seems solid enough for dueling. firebolt/ball will be main and hydra will be used off cooldown instead of meteor.
Lol such an old thread though.
http://www.diablofans.com/page/tool...1000000001010111010k111k11kkkl0l0l0l0l29lal00
This build seems solid enough for dueling. firebolt/ball will be main and hydra will be used off cooldown instead of meteor.
Lol such an old thread though.
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