MF sorc question. Input needed

[Power_Play]

I'm not a big fan of sorcs but hell, I'll try one.

I've found out so far it's best to have a pure cold sorc and let your merc take care of the Cold Immunes. My question is... what cold sorc?
Should I go blizzard? (which seem to be quite popular)
Or should I go Orb with energy shield (and some static for good measure)

I WILL go for an vita-build stat wise because I have zilch in items and have to do this thing untwinked.
So input please, is it better to do vita/blizz-sorc or better to do vita/orb-sorc with full synergized ES???

[Valar-Wrath]

I'd say go with orb, its tons more safe and it can still take out meph fairly easy.

Max:Orb, Telekinises, Teleport.

17 into Cold mastery with +skills.

1 into ES

rest into warmth/ice bolt/static

Have your merk tank while you static then finish him off with a few orbs.

And if I may add, IMO max block route is better and safer. You can trade a few measely pgems for a whistans and achieve max block fairly easy. But that is just my opinion. GL :thumbsup:

[Power_Play]

I'd say go with orb, its tons more safe and it can still take out meph fairly easy.

Max:Orb, Telekinises, Teleport.

17 into Cold mastery with +skills.

1 into ES

rest into warmth/ice bolt/static

Have your merk tank while you static then finish him off with a few orbs.

And if I may add, IMO max block route is better and safer. You can trade a few measely pgems for a whistans and achieve max block fairly easy. But that is just my opinion. GL :thumbsup:

I don't even have the Pgems yet and I hate to distribute statpoints when I'm not even sure I'll get the gear I'm dreaming of....

[Ratel-OWNS-Ity]

buy a Bone shield of Deflecting and use that till you can do normal cows and collect flawless and then cube them to get the Pgems to trade for the whistans and you will be set.

[Ankeli]

go for the blizz sorc ^^ raw power > shooting here and there with orb :p

[Valar-Wrath]

raw power > shooting here and there with orb

Ha, I strongly disagree. Maybe in sc but in hc, Safety > killing power

[Lezbian_Midget]

a cheap way to go ( this is what i started with both ladder 1 and 2 season) is orb. skills i used are maxed orb, 10 CM, 10 icebolt, and then i go a fire skill. if you want to be cold only, max icebolt and then go CM. 1 point into ES, warmth, teliport, and static. for stats i go base of 110 strength and rest vita. reason for 110 strength is i like to plan for items like thunder gods(main reason), war travlers, and skulders; and get mana, life, and res from charms. I am sure people will disagree with this build, but i have never lost one of these sorcs and mfed/paed with them, even with cheap cheap gear. also make sure you get a Holy freeze act 2 merc.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

The whistan's theory involves being able to keep your resists up with a bunch less resists than a diamonded ward or ancients pledge or something will give.
I'm still shield over not, but it's not only a question of being able to get a good block shield.

Anyways, as to the actual question asked, Orb kills meph just as fast as blizzard if you know how to aim. Orb also doesn't rely on trying to get meph to stand still for you, which can be a problem if you can't tank him yourself, nor can your merc.

Orb is also just fine killing speed throughout all of NM, IE you can MF in NM baals perfectly easily with orb.

As such, orb wins on the untwinked sork, IMO.

EDIT: After reading the midget post above me, CM >>>>>> Icebolt and then some. PERIOD. Then multiply that by infinity if you have anything not resembling perfect gear. For meph runs you want, idealy, -175% total before icebolt starts helping you more. If you plan on killing DC, -195%. You're not going to hit either of those marks with a 10/10 split on an untwinked sork.
The plausible exception would be if you plan on using the sorc to own NM and gather gear for one to do Hell, in which case -125% for meph, -150% for baal.
Note that I disagree with that build in general, but I'm only going to argue the part that is just plain wrong ^^

[Bluejay451]

Personally, I'd go with Blizzard. I find it to be much more fun than Orb, and that's always a plus :innocent:

Not to mention, you can just use the moat trick to keep Meph still. Basically, max Blizzard, CM, and then the other synergies. Very strong girl. Norm and NM are a breeeze, and for hell, with Orb you'd have the same problems as a Blizz sorc anyway-Cold immunes.

As for safety and energy shield...you shouldn't be getting hit to begin with. When you teleport through Durance 2, just hug the wall, you shouldn't have much of a problem. At least, I never have. And for those resists with max block (which I STRONGLY recommend), Moser's is excellent...lets face it, saving 50 or 60 points in Dex is still only about 100 life....not tremendous, IMO. You could also aim for around 60% blocking. Anyway, them's my 2 cents.

[det]

I should have at least a few starter items to spare, like a Spectral Shard, Stealth armour, Rhyme Shield. Could toss them your way after tonights KTA game?

BTW..I am building a meteorb sorc right now and practicising my tele skills with NM Meph since I was lv 60 or so. Even without first drop, I get a lot of uniques...just crappy ones so far..but still....

Of course, while we are dreaming here: I never had the GULs to buy me a Tals Armour or Ammy, so I am going the route of the next best stuff IMHO.

Wizspike, Viper, Thundergods, Stormshield, Peasantcrown (Shako is on my Druid still)

[stevethatsmyname]

I wuv blizzard... mostly cause vs meph you cant use moat trick with orb. And moat trick means you take zero hits. Of course then theres the issue with getting from durance 2 wp to durance level 3, which accounts for 90% of my deaths :innocent:

[Power_Play]

I should have at least a few starter items to spare, like a Spectral Shard, Stealth armour, Rhyme Shield. Could toss them your way after tonights KTA game?

BTW..I am building a meteorb sorc right now and practicising my tele skills with NM Meph since I was lv 60 or so. Even without first drop, I get a lot of uniques...just crappy ones so far..but still....

Of course, while we are dreaming here: I never had the GULs to buy me a Tals Armour or Ammy, so I am going the route of the next best stuff IMHO.

Wizspike, Viper, Thundergods, Stormshield, Peasantcrown (Shako is on my Druid still)

Those would be nice to have. Just to get me started :)
I already changed my mind on the vita thing and going for max block with a rhyme shield.

The only sorc I ever had was on SC and that was a perfect res, DR blocksorc which could tank hell lister (and hell ancients even with the most horrible mods) without blinking. Meteorb sorc she was.
She was my main MF at hell mephy (and baal, and pindle, and, and, and) so I do know how to aim my orbs (whereas I never got blizzard to work on my weathermistress)

I also found a nice meteorb guide (with skill placements) which looks like it will go a long way.
I think I'll use that one. (coupled with at least a point into one of the cold armors)

@BLuejay:
SHOULD never get hit. But I like to be prepared just for that single fana/extrastrong/cursed/conviction hit that's heading my way at times when I'm not cautious enough. ;)


SO:
Stats:
STR: around 110
DEX: enough for max block
VIT: Everything else
NRG: Base (or as needed in the beginning. But I think I'll just use pots)

Skills:
Orb: Max
CM: Max (orb will be main)
Meteor: Max
FM: Max
FBall: 10
Static: 1
Teleport: 1
All preqs and a single point into frozen armor

[stevethatsmyname]

ok so since you can aim your orbs then you should probably go orb... unless you want to try something new!

I could never get the hang of geting the perfect obs every time, i often would miss when he sidesteps and i could never keep my merc alive long enough to keep him in 1 spot. So i naturally prefer blizzard.

[Power_Play]

ok so since you can aim your orbs then you should probably go orb... unless you want to try something new!

I could never get the hang of geting the perfect obs every time, i often would miss when he sidesteps and i could never keep my merc alive long enough to keep him in 1 spot. So i naturally prefer blizzard.

I got the hang of it after several thousands of MFruns, PA's and cowruns. :surprise:

Sure, not EVERY orb is spot on. But with a merc that can tank mephi (so he can keep him in one spot) I was able to target my orbs at the perfect range.
I had meteor maxxed which was also great on single non-moving targets. Problem was I couldn't find out the exact lead on single moving targets. So meteor is more utility skill against cold immunes.

[det]

I found that I use FB more than Meteor, so I maxed that and Meteor. I might leave FM where it is (5 pts I think) and put points into Firebolt as that gives 14% more damage (FM only 7%)

Could also check if I have a spare pair of Frosties, not sure though..

[Silvervixen]

I found that I use FB more than Meteor, so I maxed that and Meteor. I might leave FM where it is (5 pts I think) and put points into Firebolt as that gives 14% more damage (FM only 7%)

Could also check if I have a spare pair of Frosties, not sure though..

This is how i build one of my favorite sorcs.

The Orber:

If you don't have lots of the really nice gear i think Orb is the best choice. You can get a powerfull orb with not to many invested points, witch leaves room for more safty oriented skills.

This is how i would distribute the points:
(taken from mamory so its not totaly accurate)

20 Orb
Your main killing skill, should be maxed at lvl 50

10-15 Cold Mastery

The amount of points you put here will very greatly on to things. What this sorc will be built for, and what your gear will be. If you plan on only running meph you can even max this skill Meph is one of a very fiue monsters that have 75 cold res in hell. For ordinary monsters mlots of people think that 18 points with + skills is more than enough. I tend to agree. Your choice. My main orb has 28 points with + skills, way to much since i run meph with my MF sorc. But i didn't know i would get that many + skills on my items. And diden't have them when i started her. She is my first char in the new ladder season

10-20 ES

This is HC and survival is the most important factor, as long as you're not building a glass-canon. Again depending on your items more or less points go here. With lots of + skills you can do with less. Aim at 50%-75% DR

10-20 telekineses

To make sure you don't run out of Mana when you get hit you need this skill. + skills has no effect. If safty is your main consern and you play untwinked i would max this. Did it in several KTA sessions.

For a second element i would not go with Meteor and Fireboll, if you don't have lots of +skills. I prefer FW. Its a skill that has no synergies, and can be very powerfull with just the skill and mastery. I think i have like 3-5 hard points spent in FW and FM and i can kill in 4 person games in hell with it, its slow but doable. I do have a lot of + skills...The traditional meteorber is great for example with a full set tals sorc with fire as main element and orb as secondary for fire imunes. But not if Orb is your main skill.

Then you will need one point in one of the coldarmors. Your + skills will take care of the rest.

So my main sorc looks something like this:

20 Orb
20 Orbs synergy (black out and to lazy to look it up)
16 CM
10-15 ES
15 Telekinasis
3-5 in FW
3-5 in FM
1 in cold armor
1 in Static

Cant really rememember the exact ditribution.

My target was/is to get my orb damage to 1k. Still a little bit short...=( Later on i decided that i need a secondary element for the cold immunes i need to kill while i PA mules. And as stated i have put way to many points in CM and ES but i have 13 + skills (some of them cold only)

There is no way to build a soc that don't get hitt. Even with 75% block with my storm i sometimes get hit. Just make sure you can take them. ES really helps but you need to put points in Telekineses in order to have Mana left when you get hit. Only real danger is Manaburn monsters, just be fast with either a juv or a mana potion and you should be able to tele out just fine. If you don't plan on doing a lot of teleporting you don't need to but any points in this. And if you plan doing a lot of teleporting you can but some points in this but never max it! Remember that your + skills will help here and when you get to higher lvls you will have more mana.


Vix

[Power_Play]

This is how i build one of my favorite sorcs.

The Orber:

If you don't have lots of the really nice gear i think Orb is the best choice. You can get a powerfull orb with not to many invested points, witch leaves room for more safty oriented skills.

This is how i would distribute the points:
(taken from mamory so its not totaly accurate)

20 Orb
Your main killing skill, should be maxed at lvl 50

10-15 Cold Mastery

The amount of points you put here will very greatly on to things. What this sorc will be built for, and what your gear will be. If you plan on only running meph you can even max this skill Meph is one of a very fiue monsters that have 75 cold res in hell. For ordinary monsters mlots of people think that 18 points with + skills is more than enough. I tend to agree. Your choice. My main orb has 28 points with + skills, way to much since i run meph with my MF sorc. But i didn't know i would get that many + skills on my items. And diden't have them when i started her. She is my first char in the new ladder season

10-20 ES

This is HC and survival is the most important factor, as long as you're not building a glass-canon. Again depending on your items more or less points go here. With lots of + skills you can do with less. Aim at 50%-75% DR

10-20 telekineses

To make sure you don't run out of Mana when you get hit you need this skill. + skills has no effect. If safty is your main consern and you play untwinked i would max this. Did it in several KTA sessions.

For a second element i would not go with Meteor and Fireboll, if you don't have lots of +skills. I prefer FW. Its a skill that has no synergies, and can be very powerfull with just the skill and mastery. I think i have like 3-5 hard points spent in FW and FM and i can kill in 4 person games in hell with it, its slow but doable. I do have a lot of + skills...The traditional meteorber is great for example with a full set tals sorc with fire as main element and orb as secondary for fire imunes. But not if Orb is your main skill.

Then you will need one point in one of the coldarmors. Your + skills will take care of the rest.

So my main sorc looks something like this:

20 Orb
20 Orbs synergy (black out and to lazy to look it up)
16 CM
10-15 ES
15 Telekinasis
3-5 in FW
3-5 in FM
1 in cold armor
1 in Static

Cant really rememember the exact ditribution.

My target was/is to get my orb damage to 1k. Still a little bit short...=( Later on i decided that i need a secondary element for the cold immunes i need to kill while i PA mules. And as stated i have put way to many points in CM and ES but i have 13 + skills (some of them cold only)

There is no way to build a soc that don't get hitt. Even with 75% block with my storm i sometimes get hit. Just make sure you can take them. ES really helps but you need to put points in Telekineses in order to have Mana left when you get hit. Only real danger is Manaburn monsters, just be fast with either a juv or a mana potion and you should be able to tele out just fine. If you don't plan on doing a lot of teleporting you don't need to but any points in this. And if you plan doing a lot of teleporting you can but some points in this but never max it! Remember that your + skills will help here and when you get to higher lvls you will have more mana.


Vix

Hmmmz, sounds like a plan. IMO meteor is only effective with nice synergies and against non-moving targets. So firewall would do the same without the nasty synergies. (and firewall is instant instead of waiting to drop...)