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

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

Well, you've convinced me. Think I'll go for 200fcr tho :) I want something ... zzzippy ... and since we're not blocking :cool: ... it's fun time.

I'm thinking:
Griffons
35 fc Spirit
Arachs
Viper
Magefists
eTreks

and either HotO or Wizzy depending on jewellery fcr/skills etc.
Um runes in viper and griffons and then 12 (or 15) fhr from charms.

As an easy to aim for starting set-up, it looks pretty solid to me.
I figure with fireball/bolt, higher fcr = more damage and also I've never tried 200fcr tele :D Weeeeeeeeee.

Also, I may try a more damaging set-up on a prayer (undecided on Prayer yet mind) merc. Perhaps eCV Insight, eFort and a leech helm (gaze or something of that ilk). Thoughts?
 
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Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-aller”

I completely love your sarcastic approach to the way you made this guide.

Best thing I can honestly say I've read in along time Diablo related.
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Any, uh, rough guidelines on stat point distribution? (especially for single-player, i.e. no Spirit).

More specifically, would one be able to get away with no points spent on Energy?
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Str: 80-100, or thereabouts

Dex: nothing for no-block, ~70 for Wizardspike, or 150-200 for max-block... your call (personally I might consider using Wizardspike, but otherwise I wouldn't be spending anything in Dexterity)

Vit: everything else

Ene: nothing... however, you could spend 30-40 extra stat points into energy without breaking your build. I wouldn't add more than 30-40 though (actually, I'd probably stop at adding ~25 max).


I don't know if I'd go with max-block if I wanted to spend anything in Energy though - that 200-250 stat points that's not in your Vitality is a lot of life. Personally I'd rather have an extra 400-500 life and no-block. Otherwise just about any hit that gets past your shield will cause hit recovery (which will interrupt your spell-casting too), and sorcs have slow hit recovery.
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Thanks.

Another quick question: when and where would be the earliest/best opportunity to start hunting for Tal Rasha's set: NM Meph or NM Baal?
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

The orb, belt, helm and amulet can all be dropped by NM Meph, if I remember correctly (the amulet is quite rare though). But the armor is from a very high treasure class, and can't even be dropped by Hell Meph, let alone anywhere in Nightmare.

The easiest way to complete the set is to accumulate some trade-fodder (PGems, runes, etc.) and get one from someone else. :p

If you want to find it on your own, then Hell Baal is really the best for the armor - his odds with ~300 MF are something like 1:700, so it's not that rare. The amulet can be painful to find too because of its rarity, but it's actually pretty low-level so a lot of monsters can drop it. By the time you've found those two you should have already found the other 3 pieces.
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Still wondering about which should be the main skill. Orb or fireball.

A 20 pt frozen orb with 10 mastery and 5 prereq is a very cheap and strong attack, and would leave lots of points for the fireball (20+20+20 just leaving out the meteor). Also I'm not sure about the extra points in teleport.
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

*Sticky*Adding to library* :)
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Question on skill distribution:

When using Tal's Set, Magefist, Spirit and no skillers/Anni/Torch, you have +9 to fire skills and (likely) +2 to Fire Mastery. So, with your skill setup, you'd get a 2860 avg damage Fireball.

Using the same gear, 1 in Fire Bolt, 16 in Meteor, and 3 in other prereqs, you'd get a 2540 avg damage Fireball and a 5500 damage Meteor without spending any more skill points.

Now, I hate Meteor too, but I just don't understand why you would want to sacrifice an option like this just to gain 12% extra Fireball damage. Could you explain this decision a bit further?

Also: 5 skill points in Teleport? Sure, you're saving mana, but... Why man, why?
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

LordC said:
Now, I hate Meteor too, but I just don't understand why you would want to sacrifice an option like this just to gain 12% extra Fireball damage. Could you explain this decision a bit further?
Click to expand...

I can't speak for Socialism, but my Meteorbers used Meteor about 10-15 times all game (read: Act bosses and a couple of Baals minion waves, and that's it)... I'll take 12% extra damage to be faster almost all of the time, and be slightly slower at those few other times, thank you. Also, a synergized FO is a really solid boss killer - so the few times you'd normally use Meteor you're even less likely to use it with this build.


LordC said:
Also: 5 skill points in Teleport? Sure, you're saving mana, but... Why man, why?
Click to expand...

:D

... I couldn't agree with you more here.



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

Okay, so I just started the game on NM after finishing p8 Normal at level 49, and i've been having tons of fun so far...but I am considering switching out my Defiance merc for a Holy Freeze one. The reason for this is that I also have a Druid in latter stages of NM, and Hurricane is turning out to be nigh useless due to the sheer amount of cold immunes.

Since I won't be going for max block, i feel that slowing down enemies is somewhat crucial...more cruical than having an enormous defense bonus and STILL being hit everytime an enemy gets too close. Do you think I should stay with my Defiance merc or would HF be better suited, especially since I don't teleport all that much yet? (mana pool still too low to be jumping around the place everytime a horde comes along)
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Geelo the librarian said:
Okay, so I just started the game on NM after finishing p8 Normal at level 49, and i've been having tons of fun so far...but I am considering switching out my Defiance merc for a Holy Freeze one. The reason for this is that I also have a Druid in latter stages of NM, and Hurricane is turning out to be nigh useless due to the sheer amount of cold immunes.

Since I won't be going for max block, i feel that slowing down enemies is somewhat crucial...more cruical than having an enormous defense bonus and STILL being hit everytime an enemy gets too close. Do you think I should stay with my Defiance merc or would HF be better suited, especially since I don't teleport all that much yet? (mana pool still too low to be jumping around the place everytime a horde comes along)
Click to expand...

Your defence should be so low that defiance wont really make too much difference.... I would swap out for HF, as it will chill everything (including cold immunes), making it invaluable in hell. Pop him a nice 'Insight' for the mana regen aura (I forget its name) & you will also never need to worry about mana again.

As to the build: Why max firebolt & not meteor? I am in work atm, but as I remember they both give +14%/lvl fire dmg to FB dont they? & the meteor at lvl20 makes a very usefull high dmg third spell, also if your merc is in a doorway poking at one enemy, while 7 or 8 line up behind the first monster (happens to me a lot on countess runs), setting the ground on fire just in front of him for 10 secs at a time for 1k/sec fire dmg is very handy. All these figures are off the top of my head as I said, but am just curious as to the advantages of bolt over meteor?



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

how should my stats look like without all the extra +'s
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

So..this build looks great on paper, and Socialism talks about getting bored with it because its so overpowered. I want to believe him, and he didn't steer me wrong with the Budget Teleporting MF Hardcore Sorc, so I have faith. But.....

At what point am I going to start feeling overpowered? :wink: The TalRasha's set looks great, but what do you wear until you get that purple set of goodness? I ask because I'm struggling to do WSK runs at the moment. And I have to think its because of 1 of 3 reasons:

1. I'm not wearing the right gear (dont have the Tal Rasha set yet, only orb and belt so far)

2. I'm too low a level (level 76)

3. Tactics could be wrong? (kind of doubt its this, because as Socialism mentioned..you just point and shoot orb/fireball in a straight line) :)

Its the gloams? that give me the most problems, which I'm sure is no surprise. I've almost died many times to the alpha strike lightning coming at me, and only by ducking around the corner and quaffing potions have I survived so far. Its only a matter of time now before I die to them if I dont change something.

My skills so far:
Firebolt - 19(24)
Fireball - 20(25)
Froz Orb - 20(24)
Cold Mastery - 12(16)
Ice Bolt - 1(5)
Gear:
+26 res all circlet(Ptopaz)
Skin of the Vipermagi(Ptopaz)
Spirit sword
Visceratuant (PDiamond)
Magefist
Natalya's Boots
Amulet: +19 res all, 27 to MF
Ring: Cold res 19, Light res 24
Ring: 10% FCR, Light res 23
Belt: rare with 17% FHR, Fire res 23

Merc has Insight, Blackthorns face (shael), and Duress

So that gives me 75 res to fire, cold, light and about 615 life (low prob?) with 90 FCR and 72 FHR.

Should I wear a Blackthorns face myself for some lightning absorb and add some resistance charms to make up for losing the +26 all circlet? Or should I just level up to 85 before going into WSK? Leveling up would raise my Ice Bolt up 9 or 10 skill levels but thats about it. Or is my life pool too low to dance with the lightning gloams?

Bottom line, am I expecting too much, too soon, or is this build only "really good" when you get the full Tal Rasha's set going? Thanks,

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

WSK in hell? Even with full tals at lvl85+, gloams will make short work of you if you try to tank them. Teleport away from them as fast as possible.
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Jackthelad,

So I cant expect to clear all of WSK in hell mode when there are gloams present? My goal isn't just to get to Baal, I'd like to be able to clear the WSK to get all the boss packs along the way, and baal is the icing on the cake. Are you suggesting to 'reroll' the wsk until i dont get gloams present? Don't the terrorists win then? :)

I dont want to "tank" the gloams necessarily...just survive them and kill them :). My next thought is to maybe to countess and pit runs to level up a bit, maybe get some better gear that way? I tried hell cows, and I cant really kill them fast enough yet :(

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

You will kill them, but you will have to tele/cast frozen orb/tele/cast FO/tele/FO in their general direction until they are dead. My FO is at lvl26 with full tals, & it is as good as it is going to get without skillers & switching gear, which I dont intend to do. The pits is a lvl85 area, so you can get 99% of the best items in the game from running the pits, & I have been doing since lvl75 ish with relative ease (countess too).
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

Thanks Jack!

So really what youre saying is, it WAS my tactics, not so much my lack of gear or level? The FO doesn't reach the gloams across the screen, so youre saying to teleport towards them, FO, and then back right?

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

Not so much in & back, as the lightning will reach across a long way, more circle the screen/gloam pack while spamming FO. If you end up with a pack of cold immunes on the same screen then it will be very hard, as you will have to spam FO at the gloams, & also try to send off a fb or 3 at the cold immunes too. Generally, if you want speed in your mf runs, then yes- quit & re-roll so you dont get any gloams. Harsh but true.
 
Re: Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-allerâ€

meteor also shreds hell meph, or anyone whos busy not paying attention

i like this build, the first one i made wasnt great as it had too much str [156 hard points]
i remade it, and it works well for rushing and general pvm
 
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