A Question about a Meterorb Sorc.

[TrinityPower]

Im making my first Bnet MeteorOrb Sorc (well, actually more a FB/Orber as Im gonna split points tween FireBolt and FM to up FB damage as a preferance), and I was wondering if folks here think it safe to only put enough Dex in for any equipment prereqs.

Also, I am playing untwinked and was wondering at what lvl should I put my energy at? Thinking maybe 75-100 hard points for a bit better mana regen. If I can afford to go low-dex then the points in energy shouldnt hurt my points in Vita.

[SoM]

i've recently made a MF Meteorb sorc, shes at lvl 82 almost 83..

i went for

20 orb
20 ice bolt
20 fireball
1 in FM
20 meteor CM is at 8 atm rest will go in here

str - enough for gear, 84 str for Tal's set
no dex
rest in vita
no energy

i currently have 1200+ life 600+ mana with a lvl 82 insight merc so mana aint a problem

i just reread ur untwinked, so just get an insight act2 nm holy freeze merc and ur set..

[Jiggyness]

Lets see here, i made a meeorb mf sorc as well.

Shes lvl 85...Awesome char btw

now her stat points i neede quite a bit of str for equipment especially spirit, and im using full tals.
I didnt invest any points in energy, i dont have a insight merc and mymana i use maybe 2 pots in ONE full mf run, depending if i do baal. i used the rest on dexterity and vitality and am getting close to 1k life, i think i have 943 or sumtin.

i did

20 Orb
20 Meteor
20 fireball
and getting closer to 20 Fire mastery

[Jackson]

I think you should go with Mana pots rather than having points in mana.

[PhatTrumpet]

Im making my first Bnet MeteorOrb Sorc (well, actually more a FB/Orber as Im gonna split points tween FireBolt and FM to up FB damage as a preferance), and I was wondering if folks here think it safe to only put enough Dex in for any equipment prereqs.

Also, I am playing untwinked and was wondering at what lvl should I put my energy at? Thinking maybe 75-100 hard points for a bit better mana regen. If I can afford to go low-dex then the points in energy shouldnt hurt my points in Vita.
To actually answer your questions instead of just telling you about my own Sorc...

Base dex is fine. I prefer to get max block, but that's just my playstyle. Most people on softcore would say max block is unnecessary. I'd say if you plan to go without block at least make sure your Merc can hold his own.

You definitely do not need to invest any points into Energy, even untwinked. If you end up using an 'Insight' Merc you'll sorely regret placing any points into Energy. But if you insist, I'd advise that you play it by ear and only get enough mana to barely get by. It's impossible to place a particular number on it (like the 75-100 you mentioned) since you have no idea what kind of gear you'll find on your travels. You might go all the way to lvl 60 without finding any decent mana-boosting items; you might find Frosties and 3 or 4 mana charms by the time you get to Normal Baal. Who knows.

[MageChick]

I would agree that base dex is fine. I like playing with full tal + P spirit. That would take way too much dex for max block, and a Spirit monarch takes a good invesment in strength too. Investing the points in Vit is better in my opinion. You'll have to watch your gear, but I'm pretty sure that you won't need any investment in dex to wear your gear.

Find a pair of frostburns early to cover your lack of mana, and just wait to level up to the point where you can ditch them. It's kinda painful going through normal (with @#$% equipment at least), but it's gets easier in NM.

For the record

Lvl 90
20 Orb
7 Cold Mastery
20 Fireball
20 Metoer
20 Fire Mastey
13 + Firebolt (I messed this up and should have invested here earlier)

Equipment
Full Tal (P Topaz'd/Ist'd)
Magefist (up'd)
Spirit (35% FCR)
2x P Nagels
Rare boots with FWR/Fire Resist/MF

This and 6% FHR (I have 2 sc's with life/FHR) will get you to the best fast cast break point, and fastest hit recovery break point, and maxed resistances.

btw - I never used an insight merc either, at lvl 90 I can't deplete my mana orb no matter how hard I try. With just 1 point in warmth and + skills, I can cast orb+fireballs all day and never worry about it.

If you play on US East and need a pair of frostburns, you can generally find them on the trading forums (offer 1 pgem, and someone will take it). If that doesn't work, lmk I probably have an extra pair somewhere I can part with for a pgem or two.

/w *jak3676

[Prodics]

This is probably the best place to ask this, so what would be the best merc for a meteorb sorc (and merc equip) if you dont need the meditation from insight? I was thinking going one of 3 ways:

Act 2 Holy Freeze Merc w/ Infinity for conviction (or would it not be worth it?)
Act 2 Holy Freeze Merc w/ BOTD just to tank and deal massive physical dam
Act 2 Defiance Merc w/ Doom for Holy Freeze

But for now:
Act 2 Holy Freeze Merc w/ Obedience

As for the helm and armor go I was thinking just the standard Eth Gaze and Fort, but im open for any other suggestions.

[kuafu]

I'm using Holy Freeze merc w/ Infinity, and I think it's the best for meteorb. BOTD does give more physical damage, but 40% crushing blow on Infinity can match that. And the conviction aura just doubles your fire damages in hell, where most monsters have position resistance. For helm and armor, I'd say Andy + Fort (which are what I'm using now). When your merc is so strong, the 20%DR from Gaze is not that useful any more. You can Ral the andy if you like.

[xNamastex]

I have a lvl 91 meterorb - max block route.

Went a little overboard on Cold mastery vs firebolt synergy by about 5 skill points :(

I use mf socketed full tals + pemerald ss
Magefists and WarTravs
Soj + Natures Peace (for Dkey runs)
2x fire gcs + Gheeds
2isted baba + rhyme on switch

I use a holy freeze merc with infinity, ummed eth GA and ummed 20DR gaze.

Simply amazing in 1 player games - only the unique balrogs in Chaos give me trouble :)

You'll have fun with one.

[MageChick]

I was planning to built my merc up to infinity also - I've just never gotten there. It's really not needed for meteorb, although I'll admit, It'd be nice to have.

Here's what he has now:
Act 2: Holy Freeze
Eth Obediance (Mancatcher I think)
Eth Andy's (Ral'd)
Leviathon (PTopaz'd)

At level 90, I've never really thought about upgrading him anymore. He can pretty much 1 or 2 hit the countess, and generally does well everywhere else. I was focusing on expanding my MF ability next (neither of us needed more killing power), I had 2x Ist'd Alibaba, and was working on 4xIsted Monarch. I dropped all my fire GC's and SOJ's for mfsc's and P Nagels. The killing power of a high level meteorb is pretty amazing, fell free to scale it back a bit and focus on more MF if you like.

*edit* I should add that before you start building Ist'd weapons/shield, I'd pick up an S torch and Anni. (Those really help your killing power and allow you to focus your gear on more MF)

[emar]

Im making my first Bnet MeteorOrb Sorc (well, actually more a FB/Orber as Im gonna split points tween FireBolt and FM to up FB damage as a preferance), and I was wondering if folks here think it safe to only put enough Dex in for any equipment prereqs.

Also, I am playing untwinked and was wondering at what lvl should I put my energy at? Thinking maybe 75-100 hard points for a bit better mana regen. If I can afford to go low-dex then the points in energy shouldnt hurt my points in Vita.

I'll throw my two cents out here too.

First off you playing with others or totally solo? There would be a difference IMO.

I personally play with Max Block - preference of course. However, you may find yourself having some difficulties with minimal block and playing solo. If you are playing with others, go whichever way you feel you can play with reasonable success. I won't advocate minimal block though :shocked:

As mentionned, play the energy by ear. Investing points in energy honestly won't be that painful in the long run if you plan your character accordingly. Just don't go overboard with investing. With making characters, you will discover what you prefer in terms of stat investment, gear and the like - its a learning process, trial and error. Invest if you need it, if you think you wasted the points later - you can keep that in mind the next time around.

And honestly, don't listen to the folks talking nonsense about Tal's set, Infinity, Ist'd gear and the like - you won't acquire these untwinked for a very, very long time... if ever

Watch for mana charms, watch for + to mana gear and you should be ok in that regard. Hook yourself up with an insight staff or polearm on the merc and it should help ease mana frustrations. Keep in mind it won't keep your bulb full all the time, like some people may lead you to believe - but it will definitely regen it if you stop.

Have fun and good luck in your endeavor :thumbsup:

[MageChick]

emar and me seem to be disagreeing a bit lately.:cool: I think this is good thing. There's different ways to do things. He is a great person to take advice from BTW. But I think he's mistaken to say that you shouldn't "listen to the folks talking nonsense about Tal's set..." Infinity and Ists - OK maybe I went a little overboard - those will take a long time. But you can get tal's pretty cheap (about 1.5 hrs total value on US East) If you do the hellforge quest yourself, you may get lucky and pay for the whole set right there.

It may be difficult if you haven't played dii, before - but I think you should have some idea of what you want to do with your char, and how much time you're going to put into the game. Even if you're new to diabloii, if you've been playing these types of games for a while, you probably know yourself better than you think. Plenty of people are happy playing with friends and keep their char's to the lower levels. Some people just don't enjoy playing in hell games. I'll freely admit, I think it's more fun playing through the game the first few times, rather than just doing MF run after MF run, looking for stuff. For those who enjoy just playing the game at low levels, feel free to build your char's anyway that seems like fun at the time. I've enjoyed trying some really weird and stupid builds. I think eventually though you will decide that you want to see how uber/twinked/godly you can get a char.

It isn't really that hard to build up a nice amount of wealth. I just restarted myself (April), after droping the game back in 1.09. Within about 2 months of playing I was somewhere in the mid 80's and had a complete tal set. Yes, Infinity and IST'd gear will take a lot longer, but Tal set isn't that hard to get.

I'll argue that it's good to have a long term goal of what you want to do with your char. You're short term goal may be to beat the game on hell difficulty, a good mid term goal would be to complete a tal set, and the long term goal can be to build you own infinity or totaly tweak your gear. You don't ever have to actually reach any of your goals, but it gives you something to play for.

[kuafu]

...But I think he's mistaken to say that you shouldn't "listen to the folks talking nonsense about Tal's set..." Infinity and Ists - OK maybe I went a little overboard - those will take a long time. But you can get tal's pretty cheap (about 1.5 hrs total value on US East) If you do the hellforge quest yourself, you may get lucky and pay for the whole set right there...
Emar said untwinked.

[emar]

Bah... I had something typed out and for some reason I hit backspace and it went BACKWARDS...

I took an interpretation from the OP (mistakenly probably) where he referenced untwinked. I took it, ran with it, to mean - no trading, but rather finding the stuff.

Having joined/played with an untwinked group on East - no trading outside of the group - I have seen that it is considerably harder to acquire some key items. Sure we have come across a HR and have had Ist/Mal/Gul Forge drops, but nothing of the Infinity caliber. Someone had finally come across a Tal's armor in Pits, but no ammy so to speak of.

Anywho, if trading is in place then there is absolutely no reason he can't acquire any item he wishes - with enough time and effort. You are absolutely right in that regard (see I'm not completely oppositional :grin: )

[MageChick]

Emar said untwinked.

OK, sorry - just delete all my posts in this thread.:sad2::lipsrsealed: How did I miss that:shocked: :cry: (time to go to bed I guess)