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

[Nares]

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

If that's the case, why not max Fire Mastery instead of Fire Bolt? Or do like a 10-10 split or whatever is optimum?

The optimum split I found was 15 firebolt, 5 fire mastery at 0 +skills. +skill shift it further towards firebolt, though I would always leave a minimum of 1pt in fire mastery.

 

[snewt]

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

Really enjoying this build. *Thumbs up*

 

[Spells]

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

What stats should i go for, just starting out, w/ nothing?

 

[DeadInside.DOA]

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

What stats should i go for, just starting out, w/ nothing?

Well luckily because of 1.13 you can respec so stats are alot easier. Early on your biggest problem is mana so you can definately pump energy. Put vitality to a comfortable level and str enough to wear whatever gear you need to wear. Dex can be left alone unless your going for wizspike.

later on once you get better gear you can go for more of the twinked optimum approach, enough str for 156 for monarch, no energy, no dex unless going max block, everything else in vit.

 

[Syrannosauruss]

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

How do you survive in hell? I'm level 83, vmagi, spirit sword, lore helm, rhyme shield, and magefists, and I get wrecked in 4-5 hits.

 

[Rustox]

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

How do you survive in hell? I'm level 83, vmagi, spirit sword, lore helm, rhyme shield, and magefists, and I get wrecked in 4-5 hits.

The key to succes lies in the MERC
- I prefer A2 - Holy freeze merc.

Get a eth bugged armor, do a stone(runeword) in it and woopty, you got 4-5k + 75all res merc. Now if you're rich you add infinity for the -res, this really improves your damage outcome of your spells. If you're stuffed with a ton of runes, get a hold of a simple 4s pike, do a insight, and you won't have to worry about energy, ever.


Now as for the helm:

Eth andyface perfect = Rich solution. - Combine it with a ral rune for fireres/etc. Depends on your needs really.

Perfect tal rasha mask socked with ral/etc. = Decent solution.


-----

Sorcs are not designed to tank, that's why you got the merc. If you teleport correct, you can place the merc between you and the boss, keeping you alive while you can spam happily ever after and do all the MFing you want.

Cheers

Rustox

 

[Syrannosauruss]

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

The key to succes lies in the MERC
- I prefer A2 - Holy freeze merc.

Get a eth bugged armor, do a stone(runeword) in it and woopty, you got 4-5k + 75all res merc. Now if you're rich you add infinity for the -res, this really improves your damage outcome of your spells. If you're stuffed with a ton of runes, get a hold of a simple 4s pike, do a insight, and you won't have to worry about energy, ever.


Now as for the helm:

Eth andyface perfect = Rich solution. - Combine it with a ral rune for fireres/etc. Depends on your needs really.

Perfect tal rasha mask socked with ral/etc. = Decent solution.


-----

Sorcs are not designed to tank, that's why you got the merc. If you teleport correct, you can place the merc between you and the boss, keeping you alive while you can spam happily ever after and do all the MFing you want.

Cheers

Rustox

I've got a Shaftstop on him right now, and a random life leech helm. Vampgaze/Shaftstop seems like a better choice, because of the huge DR.

 

[NDIII]

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

Crown of thieves is actually another budget, decent helm for a merc. 10-15ll, 30fr, good defense and probably something else I forgot about.

Remember that dr does nothing against act bosses who tear up your merc the fastest. According to arreat summit, act bosses do 1,000% damage to your merc and if you merc has something like 70% dr then act bosses will do 930%damage which is not much of an improvement a all ~.~

 

[derley]

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

The gear listed in guide must be gotten before A3+ hell correct? That means all your gear from hightmare ye?

Untwinkability = 9

Neck: Tal Rasha’s Pearl Necklace (10% FCR) 2Mal \ ist?
Body: Tal Rasha’s Purple Dino Suit (10% FCR)* 3Mal \ x2Ist
Shield: “Spirit” Monarch (35% FCR, 55% FHR)
You cant get 35 one unless you got big luck. You will craft 1 or 2 times and your best luck will be like 31. To get 35 one you need like Ist+

Set bonus: 50% all resists, 25% FHR, -15% enemy fire resist, +15% cold damage, nice life/mana adds, +3 skills, etc.

Well thread full of "N Tal Arm \ Amu O 3Mal\2Ist" etc. Poor untwinked sorceress cant buy this ones and wont get set bonuses.

Net effect: need 6% FHR, some resistances
see about 35fcr shield. but you can use 10fcr rings.

* socket with Sol, Shael, Um, Ist runes or whatever
** socket with cold/fire facet, 15% all resist jewel, Ist rune or whatever

untwinked char cant socket anything with Um and Ist.

*** Wisp Projector for Baal teleporters… else +120 mana Bahamut ring!
**** Dwarf Star | Stone of Jordan | Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band | Nature’s Peace | whatever adds to your utility
untwinked cant have anything except dwarf's maybe.

Playstyle = 9.5
Ridiculously easy to play since your spells fire in straight lines – just aim in the general direction of baddies and they die. If you’re experienced with proper teleport technique and have a solid enough (broadband) connection to not -need- the supersafety of Orb/Teleport/TK, this build is probably the absolute best magic finding character you can start a season with.

Well I'm at lvl80 have half gear you listed and I can kill nothing in A4-A5 hell.
I can't even start farm simple mobs like Eldrich+Shenk coz I cant kill it no metter how much time\mana I spend. Dead merk = no Insight = I cant stay long and run out of mana\pots.
Ppls suggest get some Chains of Honors \ Infinity... for merk ets.. thanks guys.. its 2Ber+, never seen this rune by this char. If one day I get Infinity why I need this zero damage build? Why zero? Because half mobs immune to cold and dont want to die from FB, maybe because of 1 point in firemastery.

Magic Find = 10
This character unlocks the full potential of the Tal Rasha Sorceress set without compromising damage, speed, or applicability (immunes). Enough said.

To get full Tal need to farm full hell, to farm full hell need to get full Tal.
I'm bad MFer? From lvl65to76 i did like 300runs with MF around 90%, bad luck maybe.
I have no skill? ye, push 4 buttons requare a lot.

===
Sorry for whine guys, just got to A5 and feel useless.
Maybe 5lvls later all will be fine, but this is not I expected from this build.

 

[Eggmanz]

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

Congrats for being the only one to not manage with this setup!

A couple of pointers :
- running for the ammy/armor isn't THAT hard
- you don't need ists in your sockets or anything
- for the spirit, until you can get a 35 one, use a 10 fcr ring =)

the main thing you need is the tal set.

 

[Aravash]

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

Speaking of allocating points, I have a question about where to allocate points if leveling beyond the endpoint of this build or if choosing not to spend 5 points in teleport.

The obvious choice seems to be to boost frozen orb. However, I'm a bit confused as to whether cold mastery or ice bolt would be a better use of points. Socialism seems to halfheartedly recommend putting points in ice bolt, but against non-cold immunes the 5% lowered resistances per point in ice mastery seems like it would be more effective than the 2% bonus from ice bolt.

Am I misunderstanding the way resistances work? Does a 5% reduction in resistances not necessarily equate to a 5% increase in damage?

 

[MYK]

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

The gear listed in guide must be gotten before A3+ hell correct? That means all your gear from hightmare ye?

The gear/items listed is part of the guide so titled: Rich (but not filthy) Bastard Gear Setup.
Nowhere does it mention items for untwinked play, except maybe the reference to the Orb/TK guide, which is golden for untwinked Sorceress information.

Well I'm at lvl80 have half gear you listed and I can kill nothing in A4-A5 hell.
I can't even start farm simple mobs like Eldrich+Shenk coz I cant kill it no metter how much time\mana I spend. Dead merk = no Insight = I cant stay long and run out of mana\pots.
Ppls suggest get some Chains of Honors \ Infinity... for merk ets.. thanks guys.. its 2Ber+, never seen this rune by this char. If one day I get Infinity why I need this zero damage build? Why zero? Because half mobs immune to cold and dont want to die from FB, maybe because of 1 point in firemastery.

I'm sorry that you've seemingly misinterpreted the guide. CoH and Infinity are not required for this build to function.
In fact, this is the best build for anyone that doesn't like trading for duped runes/items; it does fantastic without them.

To get full Tal need to farm full hell, to farm full hell need to get full Tal.
I'm bad MFer? From lvl65to76 i did like 300runs with MF around 90%, bad luck maybe.

This isn't a guide on how to get Tal Rasha's set. There are plenty of item setups that will also work with the Orb-it-aller.

I have no skill? ye, push 4 buttons requare a lot.

While being far from a game of Chess, Diablo 2 does require a modicum of skill. From seeing where and how to aim Fireball and when you should drink a healing potion to selecting equipment to fit specific breakpoints, it's far from a skill-free game, especially when considering rather fragile Sorceress builds.

I haven't bothered to write out specific items, because I'm not entirely sure that you're not just pulling my leg here, being a 1 post member and all. So...

Speaking of allocating points, I have a question about where to allocate points if leveling beyond the endpoint of this build or if choosing not to spend 5 points in teleport.

The obvious choice seems to be to boost frozen orb. However, I'm a bit confused as to whether cold mastery or ice bolt would be a better use of points. Socialism seems to halfheartedly recommend putting points in ice bolt, but against non-cold immunes the 5% lowered resistances per point in ice mastery seems like it would be more effective than the 2% bonus from ice bolt.

Am I misunderstanding the way resistances work? Does a 5% reduction in resistances not necessarily equate to a 5% increase in damage?

It really depends on your target(s) and other -ECR% items you're using.

IE: Extra mastery isn't going to help against targets that are already at -100% and so on. In those cases, in makes sense to boost Ice Bolt. There's a lot of variations in monster resists; figuring out your common MF/run targets should be the priority.

Thanks to Onderduiker's Monster Resistances.xls, it's a snap to check MonRes. So check that out: http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=716009

If you play in a lot of the more normal spots in the game where monsters typicaly have 0 or over 130 Cold Resist, getting CR to level 17 or -100% is pretty common.
If you're baal running or Meph killing, you may wish to optimize a bit.

Here's the resists from the typical high-life or boss targets:
Andy: 66
Mephisto: 75
Achmel the Cursed: 66
Lister the Tormentor: 70
Baal: 50

Other resists in the Throne Room vary:
Serpent Magus: 0
Doom Knight: 25
Horadrim Ancient: 50
Pit Lord: 0
Death Lord: 33
Undead Soul Killer: 33
Assailent: 50
Burning Soul: 33

Pushing CR to level 27 (-150% ECR) doesn't seem to be so bad if you're running Baal. Lister is CI quite often anyways, so he's a bit of a pain for most Fireball/Orb builds; hope you have a decent merc!

 

[alitewithlite]

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

is it practical to switch out orb for blizzard? and whats the optimum for blizzard synergies/cold mastery?

 

[cornail]

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

Though I have been playing for years, I have never played a high-lvl sorc ('cause mainstream). But now, as I have been playing SP softcore lately, I decided to build a sorc, mainly because of the convinience of tele. I have to main questions:

1) Is this a good all-around build to matriarch her, have some 200% MF, run bosses, pits/ancient tunnels? The cause for this multifunction use is that I don't want to get bored with e.g. only meph running. i have some poor-man's gear (remember, SP) for her atm: spirit sword+monarch, viper, magefist, lore helm etc.

2) What's the technique to handle a nastier pack of archers and not die? (Can they be immune to cold?) With a trapsin or a fishymancer I have great crowd control, no problem. How it is managed in this case?

Thx.

 

[Aonghus]

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

Can someone recommend a good keybind setting for this? I am playing it now and enjoying MFing NM alot, cannot wait until I can actually do hell with some confidence.

 

[Hapsnykel]

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

1) Is this a good all-around build to matriarch her, have some 200% MF, run bosses, pits/ancient tunnels? The cause for this multifunction use is that I don't want to get bored with e.g. only meph running. i have some poor-man's gear (remember, SP) for her atm: spirit sword+monarch, viper, magefist, lore helm etc.

2) What's the technique to handle a nastier pack of archers and not die? (Can they be immune to cold?) With a trapsin or a fishymancer I have great crowd control, no problem. How it is managed in this case?

Thx.

1) I've been doing Andy, Countess, Mephisto, Diablo, Pindle, Baal, Ancient Tunnels with this build with ease

2) The archers that are normally close to countess are immune to lightning so they pose no real threat, otherwise its just heavy use of teleport and casting.

 

[baal's-uncle]

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

i have a few quick questions, i am interested in this build however:

1. I have full tal's set, except armor. what else could i use to replace it? or is it full tal's or nothing at all?

2. What are some other viable shield options? besides spirit?

3.Don't have cta, i am pretty poor, just started playing again about a month and a half ago, am i doomed without it on weapon switch?

4.Being poor, can't really afford to make a tank for a merc, what can i do?

 

[Hapsnykel]

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

i have a few quick questions, i am interested in this build however:

1. I have full tal's set, except armor. what else could i use to replace it? or is it full tal's or nothing at all?

2. What are some other viable shield options? besides spirit?

3.Don't have cta, i am pretty poor, just started playing again about a month and a half ago, am i doomed without it on weapon switch?

4.Being poor, can't really afford to make a tank for a merc, what can i do?

1. It works fine without other stuff then Tal's set. You can use Skin of the Vipermagi instead - in fact if you havent got full Tal's i would only use the amulet and perhaps the belt - replace the weapon with a spirit sword and the helmet with runeword Lore or a shako, perhaps even Peasent crown.

2. Upped Viscerataunt, Whitstan's, Moser's Blessed Circle (if you wanna go the max block route) or you can get a Lidless Wall - but i dont see any reason to not get a spirit shield, you can most likely buy a white monarch for pgems and the runes are easy to get from Countess.

3. I don't have a cta, but im doing fine, clearing Andy, Countess, Mephisto, Pindleskin, Diablo, Baal, Ancient Tunnels.

4. Put your Tal's helmet on your merc for life leech, make a Smoke armor and an Insight polearm or a Kelpie Snare for the slow effect (works wonder on any boss, makes Baal cake - up it if possible).

 

[Cyanight]

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

Socialism have you ever thought of using Trang gloves/armor so you could save 18 skill points in fireball? Put 20 points in Firebolt and Fire Mastery. I know this ruins the whole tal set idea but it really does save you 18 skill points.

 

[CrushingBlow]

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

Socialism have you ever thought of using Trang gloves/armor so you could save 18 skill points in fireball? Put 20 points in Firebolt and Fire Mastery. I know this ruins the whole tal set idea but it really does save you 18 skill points.

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.