Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism's Orb-it-aller

[Cyanight]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

The way I see most dual element builds, they are for early ladder. Your first mf character. With the build currently, it should have plenty of damage in 1-2 player games to run pit/chaos or whatever you want it for. I think the MF would be more beneficial. The extra skill points would just be overkill.

I agree, MF would benefit the character for early ladder. I still think its much easier to find Trangs Armor/Gloves than Tal's armor alone.

 

[Elyxthaxzus]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

First off, great guide Soc! love reading this stuff, often for nothing more then the approach to writing it yours was great, good laughs.

My question was...is there a specific reason to max firebolt over meteor as a synergy? looking at the summit (can't see my character right now to verify in game), both give a 14% per point bonus to FB. so for reasons of pure synergy, it would seem to be a potaytoe-potaato thing. Am i missing anything? (wouldn't be the first time )

my logic was - meteor and orb are both timed spells. meteor does tons of damage if used (doubt you use the firebolt in this build, since its basically a wimpy fireball), so if you run into a cold immune, wouldn't having an additional timed spell be more effective for killing rotation then a different spam spell that is simply a synergy? that way if you hot those CI's, you can Meteor-FBFBFB-meteor instead of just FBFBFBFBFBFB.

Unless theirs a hidden bonus im not aware of. And ill have to try out the cold approach here. Im used to a traditional meteorb approach (max fire mastery, only a few pts in cold mastry, 1pt in frost bolt), but I do find that I use orb more then anything else, save my meteor (love meteor, really fast killer, just gotta time it right). But I may sub meteor for firebolt unless there's a hidden synergy or reason im missing.

 

[FattyMcGee]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

My question was...is there a specific reason to max firebolt over meteor as a synergy?

The reason is because meteor requires four more points spent: three in prerequisites (fire wall, blaze, inferno) and one in meteor itself. Basically, by maxing meteor you take 23 skill points to give the same benefit to fireball that you could have by spending only 19 skill points in firebolt.

If the extra four skill points are worth it to you to have a second timered attack in another element, go for it!


-f

 

[Socialism1]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

If the extra four skill points are worth it to you to have a second timered attack in another element, go for it!

Heh. I don't think anyone's ever actually run into a situation where they were all: "Crap, if ONLY I had Meteor available right now..."

 

[Shanksie1337]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

I dunno, it's quite nice for nuking stationary bosses. When i run Mephi on my orbitaller (ex-meteorber) i do find myself thinking I'd quite like to splat a meteor on his head. Maybe not "oh crap" and certainly not make or break, Mephi was pretty much the only use i had for meteor and I stopped running him ages ago, hence the respec.

 

[FattyMcGee]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

I use meteor with my Meteorb when waiting for Diablo to spawn in the chaos sanc, or waiting for Baal's minion waves to appear. The burn stacking dmg does quite a nice job of taking down their HP more quickly than static alone.


That being said, I would not use meteor with this build. I'd prefer the fbolt + fball route, as meteor's residual burn dmg with this build is not really enough to warrant it being cast in those situations.


-f

 

[Raver]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Just solo'd hell with this build (75-82) and had a blast doing so. It made everything far too easy.

 

[Discipline]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

It is with great pleasure I am resurrecting this thread. Your build brought me the flexibility required for Hell (bosses, key holders, general lvl 85 area item hunts) and now a terrific build to begin the new ladder with. If there are some in doubt, look no further than this build to start the new ladder off.

My Mfing Gear Set-Up:
Tal Rasha Helm (socketed: P Topaz)
Tal Rasha Ammy
Tal Rasha Weapon (socketed: Ist Rune)
Tal Rasha Armor (socketed: P Topaz)
Tal Rasha Belt
Spirit Runeword Monarch Shield (Less than 35% FCR)
Chance Guards (Switched to Magefist when I finally got 35% Spirit Shield)
War Travs
Nagelring
Nature's Peace

Inventory:
Charm(s) to reach Faster Hit Recovery Break-point. Needs 6%
Gheed's Fortune
Several MF small charms
Torch and Anni for resists + skills.

End Result:
A hardy 400+ Magic Find Sorc.

Thanks so much Socialism for this splendidly terrific build.

 

[Soulless]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Hey Socialism! I'm thinking about going HC this ladder, and of course I'm making a sorceress (as always). I'm thinking of using your build because I've always wanted to make a FO/FB sorceress (as much as FO makes me puke because I must have made at least 50 sorceresses who used that skill...ugh). I may go with blizzard instead, but I can do both because of the respec.

I have a question for you, if you're still reading this. You said in your guide you had a 1.1k+ FO and 4K+ FB. Could you tell me what gear you had to get these numbers. I know that a 4k+ FB isn't really that hard to get, but I'm curious about the 1.1K+ FO. What equipment did you get to get a FO that powerful?

Or, did you simply factor in cold mastery while calculating that damage (around 550 FO, in addition to -100 resistance from CM would be around 1.1k with enough +skills gear)?

 

[zrk]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Durability = 8
Really, really tough to kill this character if you know your sorceresses. Stick to the tenets of safe teleporting; you’ll do fine. Might be wise to get “Battle Orders†cast before you teleport through the Claw Viper Temple in 8-player Hell untwinked, though.

8 to the most fragile character in the game? With worst recovery and block breakpoints, lowest life bonuses, without defensive skills. To be honest, i dont understand whats the mf-ing advantage of this build over your old tk orber

 

[Socialism1]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism's "Orb-it-aller"

Yep. Fragile but agile. It's all encapsulated in playstyle.

You're never (once above level 12) toe-to-toe, you have two screen-crossing straight-line attacks, and you can teleport. Badass.

Casters don't have, killspeed ceteris paribus, the same gear requirements as others. Tons of easy equipment options - hell, one of the best caster weapons in the game is available to you for nothing higher than an Amn at level 25.

Orb/TK is great when you need to teleport with bootstrap dirt-poor gear; I made no such claims with the Orbitaller.

No other set offers a more well-rounded endgame MF-to-breakpoint-to-survivability balance than Tal Rasha's Wrappings. And I don't think you can get better bang-for-your-buck than a sorceress that takes advantage of it.

 

[snewt]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Socialism is so sexy. I did the build two ladders ago and had mucho fun with it. *thumbs up*

 

[Professor Nothing]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Great guide--got my sorc to 70 (through nm) very quickly with this build. Though for hell, I respec'ed meteororb as fireball wasn't really cutting it for the cold immunes... but that could just be because I started hell too early.

 

[xXxGrimmxXx]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Howdy Socialism! First off, thank you for taking the time to read this, regardless of whether or not you reply to it.

I am a new HC player this season, and am liking it very much. Although I am indecisive about a sorceress build/gear setup for doing Hell MFing. I won't be in pubs, just myself in a 1 player game, mfing it up. I was thinking one of your HC guides might compete with my IK Barb in the MFing aspect.

I currently have at my disposal:

Shako
War Travs
Chanceguards
2x Nagel Rings
Vipermagi
Moser's w/ 2 PDiamonds
Whistan's
Spirit Broadsword
10% FCR, 9% CR, +15 Dex Ring
Full Tals
33% Spirit Monarch (Going to have to re-roll this :/)

I was intent on going with the Orb/TKer for Mfing Hell Meph, but instead of telekinesis being maxed, I was going to go for an Orb synergy. I know the strength req on war travs is high, but I figured if im investing them, I can upgrade my vipermagi while im at it, since the str would be covered.

Then I read this guide... and it seemed more straight forward...

You noted in your Orb/TK guide that you yourself actually use a spirit monarch for hell Meph mfing.. so I got confused on what to do...

I'm kind of just rambling on now...

I can't decide on Orb/TK or Orbitaller, and I can't decide on the skill layouts for either one...

The Orbital Sorc gear seems straight forward, but the Orb/Tk seems like it has a few variations. Like I noted above, you suggested one type of gear and then use another. Spirit Monarch= No max block, correct?

Help? Z.z Thanks.

I think I overcomplicate miniscual things like this @_@

 

[Socialism1]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

I am indecisive about a sorceress build/gear setup for doing Hell MFing.

I don't suggest Hell MFing being your first stop. Normal and Nightmare Baal are what will gear you up to get to Hell Baals. I normal Baalrun until ~45, then NM Baal ad infinitum until I'm rock solid gear-wise in Hell: you can get 90% of the most useful caster gear from NM Baal.

Side note: I don't MF. If I did and Mephisto is my endgame (i.e. I'm not rushing or questing through other stuff in Hell), I wouldn't leave NM Baal until I hit all these breakpoints:
- 105% FCR
- 75% block (unless I've twinked up a Spirit Monarch, at which point I'd do a Vitality build)
- 50%+ slow on mercenary (ideally, Kelpie Snare)
- 75%+ Cold / Lightning resistance (these are Mephisto's elemental attacks)
- Decent FHR%
- At least level 78

Your gear options are pretty solid; you really have very few restrictions on building a decent MFer with that kind of artillery.

Rule of thumb on blocking:
If you're dirt poor and have nothing, go max block.
If you have endgame shields ready that are wicked, flip a coin.
If you have a BO Barbarian 2nd cdkey or CTA on switch, don't.

For gear, don't look at pieces individually... look at them as breakpoint setups.

Good luck!

 

[muthu]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

tried to kill nm meph with this build at lvl ~60, soo slow and i nearly died 3times. if i do the "moat trick" my FO does too little damage, like 5% per cast,a and Fb does even less dmg... hope it gets easier later....

 

[zrk]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Rule of thumb on blocking:
If you're dirt poor and have nothing, go max block.
If you have endgame shields ready that are wicked, flip a coin.
If you have a BO Barbarian 2nd cdkey or CTA on switch, don't.

The marginal loss in life by getting max block is smaller, the better your gear(ie stat bonuses) is. Hence the usefulness function is plotted the other way, being more useful, the better your gear is. It also seems a dubious choice not to get it for a hardcore build especially, given the fact that the most dangerous monsters in the game are the striking boss packs who do 300% more damage(+ likely dr bonus forgone by not using storm) to non blockers

tried to kill nm meph with this build at lvl ~60, soo slow and i nearly died 3times. if i do the "moat trick" my FO does too little damage, like 5% per cast,a and Fb does even less dmg... hope it gets easier later....

Yeah, for that purpose Blizz is a more effective skill, and a much more damaging skill in general. Also for Andariel runs using the door trick. In both cases Blizz allows for virtually safe runs, teleporting to location aside.

 

[muthu]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

well its my first char in server, i was hoping to build some wealth with it guess i shoulda made blizzsorc first

 

[hubb]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

The marginal loss in life by getting max block is smaller, the better your gear(ie stat bonuses) is. Hence the usefulness function is plotted the other way, being more useful, the better your gear is.

Life loss - yes; usefulness - no. With BO and high-end stat equipment your hp cushion is large enough to handle what the game can throw at you, while if you're poor it isn't. With BO you essentially get twice as much HP for every point spent in vit, thus you get more from a vit build if you have it.

That being said, I'm not against max block if you're well equipped.

 

[MYK]

Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Life loss - yes; usefulness - no. With BO and high-end stat equipment your hp cushion is large enough to handle what the game can throw at you, while if you're poor it isn't. With BO you essentially get twice as much HP for every point spent in vit, thus you get more from a vit build if you have it.

That being said, I'm not against max block if you're well equipped.

I don't think you can ever get more out of vitality than you can with block, especially with good items. Stopping 75% of physical attacks is huge, and those are often the most deadly ones.

That said, I've seen enough people go either way and rocked Hardcore with the best of 'em and never looked back. :thumbsup:

tried to kill nm meph with this build at lvl ~60, soo slow and i nearly died 3times. if i do the "moat trick" my FO does too little damage, like 5% per cast,a and Fb does even less dmg... hope it gets easier later....

Why were you dying to Nightmare Mephisto? Static works to 25% HP in Nightmare, then Frozen Orb/Fireball should finish him off.

Mephisto should have been dead in seconds. I think you may need to review your tactics.