Thunderstorm or Firewall???

[Colossus-ilVec]

Im gonna build a PvM MF Cold sorc (Frozen Orb with max syn.) but I want a backupspell from another tree. As Im going to have FO as mainattack I wont be able to use syn.based spells from the other trees so that leaves me with either Thunderstorm or Firewall. Which of these two spell will suit best as backup? Which of them deals the most damage and which of them is the most easy too use? Im quite a noob so I have never seen Thunderstorm in action, how does it work? :scratch:

Peace :)

[aclockworkprple]

I say firewall. Maxing firewall and fire mastery will get you a pretty high damage spell for the points. Might want to consider maxing FO, CM, FW and FM before putting any points into ice bolt, as it really doesn't add that much damage to your frozen orb. However, the problem with firewall is that you have to get monsters to stand in it. This requires a good merc who won't die much. Defiance mercs from act2...normal or hell difficulty I believe are very good at not dying, and can take this while your fire wall does its job against those cold immunes.

Thunderstorm isn't that great, even when it, and lightning mastery are maxed. What it does is you cast it, and it lasts for a certain period of time. During this time it will periodically drop one (yes, 1) lightning bolt from the sky onto a single monster. Never misses. Thats it really, nothing great. You pretty much just fire and forget.

[Colossus-ilVec]

I say firewall. Maxing firewall and fire mastery will get you a pretty high damage spell for the points. Might want to consider maxing FO, CM, FW and FM before putting any points into ice bolt, as it really doesn't add that much damage to your frozen orb. However, the problem with firewall is that you have to get monsters to stand in it. This requires a good merc who won't die much. Defiance mercs from act2...normal or hell difficulty I believe are very good at not dying, and can take this while your fire wall does its job against those cold immunes.

Thunderstorm isn't that great, even when it, and lightning mastery are maxed. What it does is you cast it, and it lasts for a certain period of time. During this time it will periodically drop one (yes, 1) lightning bolt from the sky onto a single monster. Never misses. Thats it really, nothing great. You pretty much just fire and forget.


Thanks for the advice :D

Keep ur opinions rolling in folks :howdy:

[Darkwell]

I say firewall. Maxing firewall and fire mastery will get you a pretty high damage spell for the points. Might want to consider maxing FO, CM, FW and FM before putting any points into ice bolt, as it really doesn't add that much damage to your frozen orb. However, the problem with firewall is that you have to get monsters to stand in it. This requires a good merc who won't die much. Defiance mercs from act2...normal or hell difficulty I believe are very good at not dying, and can take this while your fire wall does its job against those cold immunes.

Thunderstorm isn't that great, even when it, and lightning mastery are maxed. What it does is you cast it, and it lasts for a certain period of time. During this time it will periodically drop one (yes, 1) lightning bolt from the sky onto a single monster. Never misses. Thats it really, nothing great. You pretty much just fire and forget.


I'm interested in ts also and am curious as to how frequently does ts hit? Every 2 sec? 4 sec? 10 sec? Thanks.

Darkwell

[Penndragon]

You can easily use teleport tricks and such to stick enemies in one place while you spam firewall ... think of the moat trick, and apply it to any level or stage. TS when souped up and what not is great for pvp and bosses, but as a secondary attack skill, try again.

[aclockworkprple]

Agreed, Thunderstorm is good for a pure orb build in PvP, but it doesn't have much use in PvM. Anyways, to answer you question darkwell, the more points you put into thunder storm the more often it triggers. With only 1 point its ~5 seconds per attack I'd guess. With maxed its more like every second (Had an orb/TS sorc back in 1.09)

[Darkwell]

Agreed, Thunderstorm is good for a pure orb build in PvP, but it doesn't have much use in PvM. Anyways, to answer you question darkwell, the more points you put into thunder storm the more often it triggers. With only 1 point its ~5 seconds per attack I'd guess. With maxed its more like every second (Had an orb/TS sorc back in 1.09)


Thanks for your reply. I did a search and found a thread(~5 weeks ago) that linked to a very handy skill calculator. For slvl 1 it's 4.3 sec and for slvl 20 it's 1.6 sec, with a scale down between. Thanks again.

Darkwell