Blizz or meteorb for mf?

[McTCM]

I have
Ptopaz Shako
chancies
Pnagels
Occy

(going to have Tal rasha Belt amu and Armor(Ptopaz'd))

my merc will have insight

so I wonder what sorc should I use?

[taiga]

If you want to run just mephisto and pindle, make a blizzard sorceress. If you like to run around in the pits, do meph, andy, shenk, eldricht and so on, make a meteorber.

[ProfessionalBerg]

Actually, it would be wise to make a metoerb even if you're only concentrated on Meph and pindle. Yes, it's true, it takes longer to kill Meph with meteor, due to 75% res. But I have a meteorb that annihilates Meph in about 12 casts. If I would let the burning fire do the job, it would take 9-10.

About Pindle, sometimes (quite often, actually) he's cold immune. And waiting for merc to kill him can take forever, unless your merc has "obedience" or any other crushing blow source. Meteorb takes pindle easily.

As an extra, you can do key runs (merc takes care of countess), baalrun easier, take on shenk and eldrich...Plus it is generaly much more flexible, if lacking raw power.

[ProfessionalBerg]

Actually, it would be wise to make a metoerb even if you're only concentrated on Meph and pindle. Yes, it's true, it takes longer to kill Meph with meteor, due to 75% res. But I have a meteorb that annihilates Meph in about 12 casts. If I would let the burning fire do the job, it would take 9-10.

About Pindle, sometimes (quite often, actually) he's cold immune. And waiting for merc to kill him can take forever, unless your merc has "obedience" or any other crushing blow source. Meteorb takes pindle easily.

As an extra, you can do key runs (merc takes care of countess), baalrun easier, take on shenk and eldrich, incinerate Andy, run pits...Plus it is generaly much more flexible, if lacking raw power.

Though I don't say blizz is bad! It runs cows better, it takes mephisto easily, it has great raw power...but...too many cold immunes.

[NoobXDon]

blizzballer
follow milady'sknight guide in the stickied thread.
blizzballer and meteorb are very similar. except one uses blizz as cold spell and had better balance, imho. blizzballers can have a stronger cold spell, but they lose the FO crowd control. a holy freeze merc will do the trick for you.

my blizzballer skills
20 ice blast or glacial spike (if you want a crowd controler, but with less dmg)
20 blizz
20 fireball
20 meteor
x points into Cold Mastery Total # plus skills + X = 17
(your final CM should be at lvl 17, so you can do the math to decide what x equals)
1 static
1 telekeniss
1 teleport
1 frozen armor
1 warmth
rest into Fire Mastery
core build finished at lvl 81+X.

stat points (not including what sorcs start at)
+15 str
base dex
+425 vitality
base energy

my blizzballers gear
tals set topazed helm/armor/cold facet orb *perfect stats on orb and belt
magefist
lidless
treks
2xFCR rings with life/mana/resist/MF/stats
switch = 5/4/2 cta and splendor troll nest
charms: torch/anni/gheeds/rest 7%and 6% mfsc/ and two 5 strength large charms
gear is str glitched, thanks to anni/torch/and 2x 5 str lc

merc: act 2 holy freeze
duriels (soon to be switched to skullders)
helm steal skull
weapon bonehew

LVL 89
MF: 400+ on switch
FHR: 50ish
FCR: 110%
RESIST: perfect
life (before bo)= 1400
mana (before bo)= 900

im not on my character so i cant tell you the exact dmg output on the characterscreen. (the character screen is full of lies anyway)

meteor is in the 13000 area
fireball is around 8k
blizz is about 4k
ice blast is in the 2k area

basically, the only thing that doesnt die in a few seconds is the countess and sometimes lister. (cold and fire immune) static and telekensis. let your merc clean up.

she is BY FAR the strongest, most effecient, best sorc i made for MFing so far. i hit EVERY spot and i cant remember the last time i died.

[Klæmint Vágadal]

Now there is a build I could use! What do you prefer, ice blast or glacial spike? Crowd control is nice, but so is high dmg:scratch:

[FrostBurn]

Ice Blast if all you are ever going to do is run bosses (in which case, you might as well build a pure Blizz sorc).

Glacial Spike if you intend to be active in Baal runs, and clear level 85 areas. One Glacial Spike will freeze solid any monsters (note: plural) within a 2.6 yard radius. Ever try hitting three separate monsters with three Ice Blasts? Tedious.

I went with Glacial Spike.

[NoobXDon]

i went with ice blast. in hindsight i think glacial spike would have been a slightly better choice? not quite sure, as my GS still freezes most monsters. It just does no dmg. its all a matter of preference, my holy freeze merc is all the crowd control i need.

[FrostBurn]

Some numbers:

Assuming +13 to all skills and not factoring in the +15% cold skill damage from full Tal's:

Build A
20 in Blizzard
20 in GS <----- 465-491 damage, freezes for 9.3 secs
1 in IB <----- 377-406 damage, freezes for 16.8 secs

Build B
20 in Blizzard
1 in GS <----- 293-322 damage, freezes for 5.6 secs
20 in IB <----- 1709-1763 damage, freezes for 10.3 secs

On damage
If Build A's GS strikes three targets within a 2.6 yard radius, the damage to all three will total (465-491)*3 = 1395-1473. Build B's IB does more damage, but its IB is applied to only one target. If A fires off three GS at targets in a 180 degree arc, it achieves total crowd control over B firing off three IB at three separate targets. In other words, when swarmed by mobs, A has better crowd control over B, and B sacrifices crowd control for more damage.

On freeze
Freeze length is effective at 1/4 duration in Hell difficulty.
Build A achieves 2.33 secs with GS, and 4.2 secs with IB.
Build B achieves 1.4 secs with GS, and 2.58 secs with IB.
Build A does less damage (unless each GS hits three targets at a time) but has more freeze length. Build B does more damage (but has to cast many more IB to achieve crowd control) and has less freeze length.

If a character is played to a high enough level, an extra 10-15 skill points can be invested in either Build A's Ice Blast to increase IB's damage and freeze length and to increase GS's damage, or Build B's Glacial Spike to increase GS's damage and freeze length and to increase the freeze length of both IB and GS.

[Klæmint Vágadal]

Oops, I forgot I was going to do Cow Runs, GS is going to be the one I choose ;)

[NoobXDon]

well written frostburn. bravo! i would like to see the differences in blizzard dmgs between the two builds, i assumed that Build B would have a stronger blizzard, and thus this is why i went that build.

for me, having a strong holy freeze merc and 105% FCR is all i need to control the crowds. spamming fireballs in a stream against very slow targets is like shooting fish in a barrel.

[FrostBurn]

Blizzard's damage is the same for both Build A and Build B. Which makes it a lot easier when deciding between IB vs GS.

Blizzard Receives Bonuses From
Ice Bolt: +5% Cold Damage Per Level
Ice Blast: +5% Cold Damage Per Level
Glacial Spike: +5% Cold Damage Per Level

The combo of 1 IB, 20 GS or 20 GS, 1 IB gives the same Blizzard damage.