About Meteorb..Why?

[Load]

I have been hearing
If your going to use FB more than Meteor then you should put:
10pts Firebolt
10pts FM

OR

20pts Firebolt
1pt FM

I got really confused so I chose to do the research my own.

I opened up Hero Editor..

And I found out..

Max Firebolt and 1pt FM:
FB Damage: 1711-1943
Meteor Damage: 3389-3615, 335-365 Linger

10 Firebolt and 10 FM:
FB Damage: 2002-2273
Meteor Damage: 4192-4472, 497-542 Linger

20 FM:
FB Damage: 2067-2347
Meteor Damage: 4685-4997, 678-739 Linger

As you can see..putting 20pts into FM is more effective than 10pts Firebolt/10pts FM and Max Firebolt/1pt FM.

Why do people even say..to put skill points into Firebolt?

I don't really get it.

-Load

[AnimeCraze]

Your comparison isn't even fair. Try 11 FM 10 FBolt instead to make a fair comparison. It shows 11/10 is very slightly better. Second, the figures shift once you have more +skills. Try doing this with 10 +skill and see drastically different results.

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

At any given level you want the number of points placed into Fire Ball synergies to be 10-11 greater than your displayed slvl Fire Mastery (10.43 to be more accurate, but skills only come in whole number quantities).

Your calculations involve a Sorceress with +0 Skills. Like AnimeCraze said, once you have +Skills, the shift towards Fire Bolt begins.

Basically, to maximize Fireball damage, you want:

The sum of:

The # Hard Points into Meteor
The # Hard Points into Firebolt

... to be 10-11 higher than:

The Level of Fire Mastery including +Skills

[Load]

Oh!!!!

Thank you thank you.

Sorry for the dumb question! :sad2:

-Load

[Zionel]

Basically, to maximize Fireball damage, you want:

The sum of:

The # Hard Points into Meteor
The # Hard Points into Firebolt

... to be 10-11 higher than:

The Level of Fire Mastery including +Skills

Hey, this is an interesting topic for me too :)

To make sure i get this right:

Lets say u have 20 points invested in Meteor, 1 point in Fire bolt and 1 point in FM. If the character has +14 skills, it has 15 points in FM.

Wich, if i get u right means: total of 21 hard points invested in Meteor and Fire Bolt, 15 points in FM with +skills. Now u should pump Fire Bolt until u reach a total of 25-26 (4-5 skills), then continue with 1 point in both Fire Bolt and FM after that.

Correct?

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

^ Yes. (10 Chars)

[PhatTrumpet]

It works like that with every spell that combines a synergy with some other sort of damage enhancement. This includes Blessed Hammer and Concentration. If you make a spreadsheet that calculates the damage multiplier for different combinations of mastery/synergy, you'll see a diagonal line on which the multiplier is maximized. Depending on the per slvl bonus of each, this may mean more mastery than synergy (e.g. Chain Lightning) or more synergy than mastery (e.g. Fire Ball).

It's a completely different ball game with cold skills, however, since monster resistance varies.

[Tinitha]

Oh!!!!

Thank you thank you.

Sorry for the dumb question!

-Load

Not dumb question, m8... I had same trouble when calculating my sorc's points distribution.
U can see all that working with this skill calculator...

http://www.d2items.com/skills.php?class=sor

Have fun!

Tin

[sasja]

Not dumb question, m8... I had same trouble when calculating my sorc's points distribution.
U can see all that working with this skill calculator...

http://www.d2items.com/skills.php?class=sor

Have fun!

Tin
Tinitha, that calculator is hosted on an item-selling site - please link to this calculator instead: http://stud4.tuwien.ac.at/~e9325732/skillcalc.html.

Some people wonder why it's not more advantageous to max Fire Bolt and be satisfied with one point in Fire Mastery as Fire Bolt gives almost the same bonus to Meteor as Fire Mastery (7% versus 5%) and double the bonus to Fire Ball (7% versus 14%). The reason is that Fire Mastery's 7% is added after the synergy bonus, whereas Fire Bolt's bonus only works on the base damage - a huge difference for the Meteorb who already has one maxed synergy for both Meteor and Fire Ball. Take an example with a Fire Ball of average base damage 250. The Meteorb's maxed Meteor adds 20 * 14% = 280% to that giving a total damage of

250 * (1 + 2.8) = 950

One more point in Fire Bolt means 14% extra synergy:

250 * (1 + 2.94) = 985

But put that point in Fire Mastery instead and she gets a 7% bonus to her whole damage:

950 * 1.07 = 1016.5

(Ignore for the moment that the first point in Fire Mastery gives a 30% bonus - the principle should be clear).

However, at high levels Fire Bolt gains on Fire Mastery, especially for Fire Ball. If you feel that you end up using Fire Ball more than Meteor, you may save some points from Fire Mastery and put them in Fire Bolt instead. This is even more notable with a lot of +skills, as they will not help your synergies but will add to your Mastery.

As a rule of thumb, if you play untwinked or mostly have low level items, you'll probably use Meteor as much as if not more than Fire Ball and not have that many +skills - so use the suggested skill point distribution. If you're twinking and will end up with more than +10 skills and feel more comfortable with Fire Ball, think about putting up to 5 points in Fire Bolt instead of Fire Mastery. If you're planning an mf-career for your Meteorb (see end game notes), bear in mind that she will have fewer +skills in full mf gear. Never take less than 10 points in Fire Mastery, as that will hurt your Meteor a lot and not be that much better for your Fire Ball. Check the skill calculator (http://stud4.tuwien.ac.at/~e9325732/skillcalc.html) to finetune the optimal skill point distribution, bearing in mind that it doesn't count the after burning of Meteor which is enhanced by Fire Mastery but not by Fire Ball/Bolt.

[Tinitha]

My apologies for the selling-items site link... I had no idea of that.

Tin.