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.
I'm sorta surprised no one caught this or said anything, but Trang's set bonuses doesn't work that way for the Sorceress, as noted in the Trang-Oul's Avatar wiki entry: because Fire Ball is a Sorceress skill, it gets capped at +3 when worn by a Sorceress, so that particular tactic doesn't work. So actually, it costs you +3 to all skills for a +3 Fire Ball -- +all skills trumps +single skill virtually every time.
Admittedly, I'm in a fortunate position to have most of the suggested equipment (aside from the Spirit monarch, Tal Rasha's Guardianship and the ever-elusive SoJ) on hand, courtesy of ATMA and a level 75 frost zealot pally. Hell is still too rough for him, alas, so I'll have to look for alternatives to prepare for when I start this sorceress up.
I plan to make the build as suggested, with the caveats that I take out two points from Teleport -- these will go into Enchant (for prereq purposes) and Hydra.
Yes, Hydra's damage will suck, it won't always hit, blah blah blah. The miss factor can be mitigated with a good merc and having Hydra between you and your merc (and the mobs) -- it's a matter of tactical placement. Even so, the damage isn't the important thing: the single biggest utility factor for Hydra is actually in scouting ahead for recon purposes. Your "spatial awareness", as it were, should be effectively doubled, depending on the situation and location, and should give you that much more time to be ready with FO/FB. I'm gonna give it a shot and see how it works, but I don't think it will impede the overall build in any way.
