Meteorb... A few decisions.

[Greizer]

Meteorb... A few decisions.

Hi all. Currently building a Meteorb sorc on Eu Nl. I'm doing great except for one great decision: where shall I put my last 20 Skill points? :scratchchin: Currently my build is as follows:

20 Orb
20 Fireball
20 Meteor
6 Fire Bolt
1 Warmth (now that I think of it, why did I waste this point? :crazyeyes
1 Tele
1 Static
various prereqs
FM and CM are granted by the Tal Orb so no points in them for now.

I am lvl 86 and have 19 Skill points in storage. I plan to go a few levels higher eventually. The dilemma I face now is whether to maximise my Orb dmg or Fb dmg, or do a split between both? Since stuff is so cheap on Nl, I will get Infinity pretty soon, and also 2 SoJs. I already have Anni and Torch (courtesy of Equila, that beautiful individual, as is my Tal's set :nod With 1 Cold Skiller I will have 17 CM.

I really like Orb's "fire-and-forget"-nature, and it's easy to use since it can be put on right-click. However, there is the casting delay with it... I think I'd get more dmg from maxing Firebolt and pumping FM with the last few points. This relates to my other problem in a way, since Skill points will be tight:

I'd like to get Shiver armor for its +def% and "stops the enemy swing" effect, but the 2 points to get it cut into my dmg which is kind of a bummer. With a Defiance merc, Eth Treks and a near-perfect Tal armor, I should be able to get 6k+ defense, which while not that spectacular is a great help since I have no block.

The problem with Tal's set is that the +skills that it gives are +Sorc skills, meaning that it won't help the BO from Call to Arms. If I eventually manage to get a +6 BO CtA, my final BO level will be just 13 (+1 Anni, +2 Spirit, +2 SoJs, +7 CtA, +1 BC), which is not that great... I'd need to cut it to 11 if I were to make a CtA in a staff that has +3 Shiver armor. Lvl 11 BO only lasts 135 secs... I'd have to be casting it all the time. -.- Should I sacrifice some dmg in order to get that Shiver armor? Should I give up the Defiance idea altogether? Or should I get that staff and have 2 less lvls of BO? Decisions, decisions... Where would I be if I didn't do what other people tell me to, lolz. :wink: :jig:

 

[LeaTelamon]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

Well, I would probably put 10 hard points in FM and max fire bolt for synergy damage. If you are running with Infinity on your merc, it's kind of useless to spend any more hard points in CM except maybe one hard point for the day when you replace your Tal's, which will still work out wonders due to a decent amount of +skills.

 

[Greizer]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

It's very hard to beat full Tal's on a double element build. In fact I doubt if it's possible. On the CM, you misunderstood me. I won't put more points in that no matter what. For maximizing Orb dmg, I'd max Ice bolt. The +dmg from that adds up to over 4000 extra dmg per Orb. Sure, not all shards hit all the time, which complicates things even more. :scratchchin:

 

[Socialism1]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

Very possible to beat Tal Rasha's set, but you'd have to assume such improbabilities as Death's Fathom, some facets, and Nightwing's Veil. Or whatever that +coldskill helm is.

With your equipment setup and an Infinity, I'd beef up teleport if you were playing hardcore - but I assume you're not, so I'd recommend dumping into Ice Bolt to boost Orb damage. Fireball kills fast enough even without Infinity.

 

[Greizer]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

Hmm... You're giving me ideas here. Fathom & Nightwing's... There's really no need for -fres%, since if something is Fire Immune, I'll just use Cold on it whether Infy can break it or not. That's the beauty of a double-element build! :nod:

If I use Arach for belt, no problems with fcr either. Just need 10% from armor or a 20% amu. With 20% amu I could use a faceted Jeweler's of the Whale armor and make my dmg soar... Or use Guardian angel and block with Spirit shield! And have 90 all res for super safety. Some may say you don't need safety in sc, but I like the feeling of cruise control... :scratchchin:

Edit: Although where will my resists come from? And mf? That's the beauty of Tal's set: you get everything in a neat package that is hard to replicate even with gozu stuff.
Maybe Enigma for armor? I'd get some mf, spare gobs of str points and 2 Skill points to boot; they're notoriously tight on this build.

However, for now I will have to use Tal's set. Although things are cheaper on Nl, it's also harder to get good tradables since everyone has all the uniques and a great deal of socketables are useless because of Ladder only rws. However when a Hr costs 40 pgms, I will get there sooner rather than later. Still, any more Tal's-specific advice?

Btw I disagree Socialism; FB dmg sucks in many-player games without Infi or the synergy. I want to mf the Pits in 8-player games and right now I can't do it because neither my Orb nor FB is strong enough. 5k is not nearly enough dmg. So I've got to make this decision now and I want to be sure I won't regret it later. With the whole Df angle I may lean towards Orb though; there's just no comparable weapon for Fire.

 

[LeaTelamon]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

If you are planning to completely drop Tal's, I would probably go with Death's Fathom, alternatively HotO for more resistances, Chains of Honor, Magies (not so much for the fcr but for the +fire skill damage), Tal's amu, Arach, Spirit monarch, Harlequin Crest or any other neat rare helm you will find, duo SoJ or some fcr ring and War Travs.

And pump orb synergy then, and boost FM. That way you will get the most out of both trees. But with torch and Anni, I think you should be able to cap all resistances except poison.

Putting some facets in and you should still deal a decent amount of damage as well as having a relatively decent mf level (150ish from gear given no other mf sources).

 

[Greizer]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

The problem with Fathom is that it only gives 20 fcr... However the dmg is unmatched and as HRs are so cheap on Nl, I can probably get a +25% one with relative ease. This means that I'll need 20 fcr from amu, since I will not sacrifice a SoJ or take off that neat Nightwing's helm with its delicious 15% cold dmg. It's a real pity that it doesn't have mf, fcr or resists though. CoH to the rescue, as you point out: I had forgotten about it totally since I've never used it on any build (seriously, I've never made a CoH in the 5 years I've played D2). It also gives 25% mf which is yummy. If I put a ptopaz in my Nightwing's and Ist my Fathom, I will have ~120 mf (if I use Wartravs). Gheed's brings that up to 160. Still not quite 200; perhaps some scs to the rescue. It's a nice build, although I realize not the most cost-effective. (Not Tyrannicides-level though! :crazyeyes

If I replaced the CoH with Guardian Angel and the mf scs with resist ones, I could make a godly blocking Spirit sorc with 90% all res... Perhaps even pvp with it but I suppose my FB might be too weak for that. And I'd get eaten alive by FoH Palas and whatnot. :scratchchin:

So, you suggest pumping IB and putting the leftover points into FM? I'll have to check the German calc on which would be better, pumping FB or FM. I don't know how many Fire skillers I'll get yet either; that might also affect the resulting best choice.

Edit: What about the Shiver armor decision though? So far no comments on that.
Edit2: With the alternative gear setup, I'll have lvl 18 BO with Spirit and 16 without. The 20-sec difference in duration becomes negligible when it's between 185 and 205 secs. And I only lose +6% mana/life. I'll go with the staff CtA.

 

[Millard]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

i prefer frozen armor over shiver armor, i like the freeze proc and 1 extra talent point more than i like the slightly more defense.

as for the rest of your skills... i'd put 1 point in each cold mastery and fire mastery, just in case you ever decide to use something besides tals. then max firebolt and put the rest into fire mastery (after putting one point in frozen armor)

with decent +skills and infinity there's really no point in taking cold mastery past base, and the +2% icebolt synergy is pretty weak. might as well spend the rest of your points to make your fireball more powerful.

and FYI: unless your +all skills is ridiculously low, pumping firebolt is always better than pumping fire mastery.

 

[Greizer]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

I still haven't made this decision... Granted I haven't played much, but I still need advice people. :yes:

i prefer frozen armor over shiver armor, i like the freeze proc and 1 extra talent point more than i like the slightly more defense.

It's not for the defense, well not mainly. Frozen armor triggers only when the enemies hit you, while Shiver armor triggers the instant they try to swing at you. It's a no-brainer which is more useful, but I do dread spending the points, which is why I'm searching for a +3 staff atm. The problem is that it must have 5 sockets, and Warstaffs and it's Exceptional and Elite versions do not exactly grow on trees (pun not intended, lolz).

as for the rest of your skills... i'd put 1 point in each cold mastery and fire mastery, just in case you ever decide to use something besides tals. then max firebolt and put the rest into fire mastery (after putting one point in frozen armor)

with decent +skills and infinity there's really no point in taking cold mastery past base, and the +2% icebolt synergy is pretty weak. might as well spend the rest of your points to make your fireball more powerful.

Thing is, the Orb synergy is not 'weak'. As I said it gives over +4000 dmg if just 20 shards hit, and there's ~35 per Orb. But there's the casting delay to consider... And that unbreakable Cold Immunes might be too hard to kill with half-synergised FB, in 8-player games at least (even with Infinity; without it 5k FB is useless in 8-plr games). So I'm trying to figure out the optimal setup in a longer timeframe, considering both Fire and Cold immunes. I may sweat it too much though. I already wasted 1 point in Warmth... I'd rather drink more pots and have more dmg. I may just take Orb since I like it better and then rebuild once I get better gear and figure out the optimal skill setup.

and FYI: unless your +all skills is ridiculously low, pumping firebolt is always better than pumping fire mastery.

Yes; I tested this with the calculator and it's indeed no use pumping mastery over synergy.

 

[KremBanan]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

Go for Shiver Armor, if you have it in a CTA Staff its all good. You will get lower life ofc, but gain a skillpoint.

Orb vs Fireball: Go for more Fireball-damage. Orb is good enough as it is, and you will benefit more with a higher Fireball.

 

[Scudstorm]

Re: Meteorb... A few decisions.

Conventional wisdom says if you want to MF on a Meteorb, go with Tal's.

It is possible to beat Tal's with an expensive setup, as you can use res and mf charms to make up the loss (since you wouldn't want/need as many skillers). But, it is quite difficult and not worth the effort imo.

It all depends whether MFing is your means to get richer or the reason why you want to get richer. If all you do in D2 is MF with this sorc, by all means figure out a complicated setup.