Ultimate MF Blizzballer Guide

[jkanzlerbaby]

Ultimate MF Blizzballer Guide

Ultimate MF Blizzballer Guide
by Jason Kanzler​

Introduction:

I've seen a whole lot of people asking what the best MF sorc is and whatnot, and I've seen even more incomplete and unjustified answers. That's why I'm writing this guide. I believe the Blizzballer is a versatile enough character to MF anywhere without having to worry about getting killed. For those who were wondering, a Blizzballer is a sorceress who uses Blizzard and Fireball/Meteor as her main spells. Be forewarned that this is by no means a cheap build.


Stat Point Allocation:

This is basically the same as every other cookie cutter build in the universe, with the exception that absolutely no points are placed into dexterity in order to achieve max block. These are guidelines for the amount of points that should be spent in each attribute after factoring all the points that will be given from items and base values.

Strength: +(96-X) to (116-X) Where X is equal to the amount of strength added from miscellaneous charms
Dexterity: +0 IMO sorcs don't have to worry about max block because they should never be close enough to a monster to be hit
Vitality: +ALL This should be obvious
Energy: +0 Since we won't be using energy shield, there is no need for any points here


Skill Point Allocation:

Ice Bolt: 1 Prerequisite
Ice Blast: 1 Prerequisite
Frost Nova: 1 Prerequisite
Glacial Spike: 20 Your main crowd control spell and a synergy of Blizzard
Blizzard: 20 Your damage powerhouse for the Cold Tree. You'll drop Meph in seconds with it.

Static Field: 1 One point is all you need for the great effects of Static Field
Telekinesis: 1 Prerequisite
Teleport: 1 You wouldn't be an effective MFer without a fast way to get around

Warmth: 1 With +skill items this will be high enough to keep your mana regen through the roof
Fire Bolt: 1 Prerequisite
Inferno: 1 Prerequisite
Blaze: 1 Prerequisite
Fire Wall: 1 Prerequisite
Fire Ball: 1+X One point for prerequisite, then after everything else has the specified amount of skill points, start pumping this
Meteor: 1 Your powerhouse for the Fire Tree. You'll use this against Andy and cold immune monsters.
Fire Mastery: 20 Maxing this will skyrocket your fire damage output, so it's pretty much essential

So why no Cold Mastery?!?! Well, not to get ahead of myself, but with the items you and your mercenary will be using, it would be a complete waste of skill points to put anything into this spell. Yes that's right: not one single point needs to be put into Cold Mastery.


Equipment:

I had a difficult time deciding what equipment the Blizzballer should use, especially since there are so many options for sorcs to MF with. I came to the conclusion that using Tal Rasha's full set would be the most effective way to balance the sorc. I could have gone with a more straight MF setup, but i would have been sacrificing resists and other incredibly useful mods. The one downfall of using full Tal Rasha's is that it does not have a huge number to +skills, but all that really means is it will take you 1 second longer to kill your MF targets, so it's not so bad in the big scheme of things.

Tal Rasha's Lidless Eye Swirling Crystal (Ist) Make sure you get one that give +2 to Cold Mastery. Socketing it with an Ist is optional since you are going to be weapon switching for maximum MF anyway, but incase you want to do some cow runs or the like, its not a bad idea to have that extra bit of MF. Also, there really isn't anything else useful enough to socket it with.

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest Death Mask (Perfect Topaz) It's really a sin that the creator couldn't realize that a sorceress has absolutely no use for life leech. But the resists are nice, and it's necessary to complete the set.

Tal Rasha's Guardianship Lacquered Plate (Perfect Topaz) This is an insane armor, not just because of the resists or defense, but because it gives 112% MF when socketed with a Perfect Topaz. Just an all around great item.

Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth Mesh Belt This is basically the reason why no points are putten into Energy Shield. 37% damage to mana is plenty for most situations. Try to get a perfect 15% MF.

Tal Rasha's Adjudication Amulet Very nice amulet. +2 to all skills and 50 to life is big.

Spirit Runeword Monarch Shield (TalThulOrtAmn) It would be wise to try trading for this item since it would be a pity to end up rolling a low FCR making one yourself. All around great mods for any caster. Too bad it has such a high strength requirement.

Chance Guards Chain Gloves These are pitiful gloves except for the MF. If you don't mind losing 25-40 MF, then I guess Magefists or a nice pair of caster crafted gloves would do well.

War Traveler Battle Boots The faster run/walk speed and +10 to strength really help. Oh yeah, they also have SICK magic find.

2x Nagelring Purely MF purposes. The other mods absolutely suck.

On Switch Call to Arms Runeword Flail (AmnRalMalIstOhm) This will act as both the best prebuffer ever (battle orders) and a source of MF. It's just amazing

On Switch Monarch (IstIstIstIst) 100% MF. What more could you ask for?


Charms:

The only two charms that this build requires are Annihilus and Hellfire Torch. Just try to get ones that have great stats (if that's not too much to ask :wink3: )

As far as other charms go, it's all a matter of personal preference. If you want max MF, get a Gheed's and some 7% small charms. If you feel your resists are lacking, grab some 5% resist all small charms. If you want to do more damage, get some +skilltab grand charms. Of course the best possible charms that you could get would be 5% resist all +20 life small charms, but those are really expensive.

Mercenary Info:

You'll want to get an Act 2 Defensive merc from Normal. Why not Holy Freeze merc?? Because you will already have enough crowd control from Glacial Spike. The enhanced defense from Defiance aura will keep you alive longer because you will get hit less often. But really it's a matter of preference.

And now the equipment (which is actually the bread and butter of the Blizzballer build):

Ethereal Infinity Runeword Colossus Voulge (BerMalBerIst) Besides INSANE damage, this runeword gives your merc a slvl 12 Conviction Aura. This is the main reason why you don't need any points into Cold Master. The Conviction Aura, combined with +skills from Tal Rasha's set, will give a grand total of -170% to enemy cold resists!! This means that when killing Mephisto, he will have a lousy -95% resistance to cold. How almost feel bad for him.

Ethereal Fortitude Runeword Archon Plate (ElSolLoDol) Huge damage boost for your merc and a good source of resistances. This is an obvious choice.

Andariel's Visage Demonhead (Perfect Topaz) The life leech keeps your merc alive and the MF will help you get better items!


Summary:

At clvl 85 you will have the following:
About 1170 life (before Battle Orders)
About 650 mana (before Battle Orders)
80% Faster Cast Rate
+12 to all skills
+170 resist all
About 459% magic find

Thanks for reading my guide and I really hope you enjoyed it and that it inspired you to make a Blizzballer. I also hope it wasn't too horrible (since this is my first guide ever).

Thanks! :grin:

 

[Ankeli1]

Uhmm... The conviction on your merc won't get affected by the +skills that tal's provide. :scratch:

 

[jkanzlerbaby]

I didn't mean the +skills would affect the Conviction Aura. I meant that with the +14 to Cold Mastery that the sorc gear provides (-85% cold resist) and the slvl 12 Conviction Aura (-85% all resist) will give you a combined total of -170% enemy cold resists. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[Jackson1]

Erm... sort of. It doesn't quite work that way vs. immunities though.

And about the no block thing... I sort of disagree, because sometimes you do make mistakes in teleing, or when certain ranged monsters attack you..

 

[FrostBurn]

Right, first off, it looks like you've put a degree of effort and spent some time in writing this up, which is much more than can be said of some of the other so-called 'guides' floating around in here. You even spell properly, which is very pleasant to the eye. Since it looks like you've taken the effort, I'll take the effort in phrasing my reply to you.

You should give credit to Miladys-Knight who, as far as I know, is the original author of the Blizzballer guide. I take it you know that Miladys-Knight's guide is in the stickies, and I'm pretty sure you must have read it.

'Ultimate' is a subjective word. What is ultimate to one person, may not be to another person. Rather, it may be better to use a more objective word or phrase to describe your guide. Since your build is rather expensive, uses Infinity, and maxes vita, an example could be 'Expensive MF Blizzballer Guide Utilising Infinity Runeword'. Something like that.

Your description of strength allocation can be confusing, especially to those who do not understand how +str from items contribute in keeping other gear equipped. Likewise, a max vita sorc is your personal opinion based on your playstyle. There are other players who play differently and would not hesitate to max block.

20 in FM and 20 in Fireball but 1 in Meteor?? Using your skill setup of +12 to all skills, +1 fire skills from Magefist, +2 FM from Tal's orb and not factoring in Tal's +15% fire damage, your fireball will do 2173 damage and Meteor a pathetic 3930 damage. Instead, 1 in FM, 20 in Fireball and 20 in Meteor, with the same setup, will double Fireball's damage and 2.5x Meteor's damage. I suggest you play with a skills calculator to work out the optimum damage output.

The one downfall of using full Tal Rasha's is that it does not have a huge number to +skills, but all that really means is it will take you 1 second longer to kill your MF targets, so it's not so bad in the big scheme of things.

This sentence suggests that using unique items over full Tal's will increase your kill speed for a Blizzballer. There is no objective data to suggest that. Subjectively, my full Tal's Blizzballer is more than a match at kill speed and kill efficiency against any Blizzballer using a similar unique items setup.

Your gear selection looks fine, for someone who has the wealth and wants to build a max vita sorc using a Spirit monarch. There will be others who would want to build differently, so some alternative gear selection would be useful. Also, there will be many who can't afford two Ist runes, much less a four Ist'ed monarch on switch and CTA. As I mentioned earlier, this build is expensive, and should be highlighted in the title. Or cheaper alternatives provided.

Many people will also not know the FCR breakpoints. Full Tal's grants 50% FCR, and even a 25% FCR Spirit will help the sorc reach 9 frames per cast. But if people want to reach the next breakpoint of 8 frames per cast, some suggestions on how to do so would be helpful.

The biggest expense, however, looks like it will be from your Fortitude and Infinity wielding merc. There are people struggling to scrape enough for a Fort on their char, much less on their merc. Again, cheaper suggestions would be helpful.

Although you may feel a Defiance merc is ideal, others will not. A list of the pros and cons of each variety of merc will be more informative. Earlier in your guide you suggested max block, since 'sorcs don't have to worry about max block because they should never be close enough to a monster to be hit'. In that case, you don't need a Defiance merc since you're not going to be in melee range in the first place. It would be a different story if you were a max block sorc wearing Stormshield and played in such a way that you were constantly within melee range.

Summary
A good effort, but there is a lot more work that needs to be done in order for it to be considered for stickying.

Good luck.