MeteOrb vs Blizz (PvM, MF)

[w-igor]

i had both. 2 MeteOrbs, few Blizz.
im just thinking which one is better overall in your opinion? everyone say - "blizz is the best mf char". really?
lets say both chars are about 80-85 lv (thats the level most people have, right?) and they cant afford infinity, 30+ skillers, 20life scs (just like most people).
thats what i think about it:

Andy NM - both kill her fast enough
Andy Hell - isnt it the same speed ? maybe Blizz is 1-5sec faster. Blizz.
Meph Hell - Blizz is few saconds faster. Blizz.
The Pit - Blizz wont do it. Noone can do it better than MeteOrb. MeteOrb.
Pindle - Blizz.
Shenk - MeteOrb.
Eld - MeteOrb.
Terror Key - MeteOrb.
Hate Key - MeteOrb.
Nihlathak - MeteOrb.
Norm Rush - (FO) MeteOrb.
NM Rush - (FO) MeteOrb.
Hell Rush - (immunes) MeteOrb.
Norm Leveling - (FO) MeteOrb.
Baalruns - (immunes) MeteOrb.

15 things to do, MeteOrb wins 11:3 (but im not 100% sure about one or two 'rounds'. but they arent very important at all)
Vs Andy and Meph hell (many people say those are the best mf places) MeteOrb is only few second worst (im not sure about Andy, but i think Blizz will do it a few secs faster...). Blizzard cant do many things MeteOrb can. MeteOrb can do everything Blizz can.

but yeah, Meph+Andy and maybe Pindle can be the most important... so what do you think about those 2 chars? Which one is better overall ? for poor players.

ps. i have full tal MeteOrb. but sure, not everyone can afford tal... so i tried to do something without tal armor... without ANY armor. Shes still great. I also dont have torch and anni on her. So any player can afford MeteOrb.

[Katase]

My first char was a meteorb. Until I had tals, i was using a 4os dusk shroud, a shako and a war travler i found. But even then, before I had shako, i used a 3 ptopaz helm. It was so ghetto :) My first item that I could afford was occy, I thought i was rolling.. wizspike is what really let me start hitting meph..

Either way, I just think that meteorb is a great build able to hold her own in Hell. Only prob is dual immunes, and the act bosses arent dual immune so they're (dual immunes) are merc meat.

[kuafu]

Just to be fair, you need to add Ancient Tunnel to the list (which Blizz wins too I think), to show that Blizz could find all items in the game if they choose to.
I agree though that Meteorb is more versatile overall.

[w-igor]

forgot about ancient tunel. but here also MeteOrb isnt much worst i think... but im not sure how good blizz is here. dont remember

[sirpoopsalot]

From my understandinging, Andy has crappy fire resistances to begin with, so I would think it would be a Meteorb in both NM and Hell (spam fireball). Oops, forgot about CM - I guess that's a wash then.

BTW, cold-immunes don't spawn in the Ancient Tunnels, so definitely a Blizzie there.

[Hector]

To be honest, who really does MF with 30+ skill adders? Not sure why you assume that. Also, Blizz sorcs don't use Infinity simply because it's not useful for them (Cold Mastery does the -res job, and cold immunities do rarely break). Insight would be the choice for Blizz sorcs and it removes the need of any Mana gear.

I believe the Blizzard sorc is superior due to her much, much lower reliance on items, specially +skills, so she can load up on MF gear more than Meteorb can. No need for Infinity means you can have endless Mana via Insight, and Cold Mastery ensures you do enough damage even with very little +skills.

Maybe it's just me but I never felt my Meteorbs "packed a punch", they always felt weak compared to my other sorcs. Whetever the Blizz sorc can't do, I would just use a pure Lightning Infinity sorc instead (such as Key runs, Diablo or Baal runs). The Meteorb is sure more versatile but the build is one I didn't really fell in love with.

[MageChick]

In case anyone can't tell - from any of my other posts - I'm strongly in favor of Meteorb. This was my first char, and she's always been a pleasure to play. I don't think there's any reliance on gear for a meteorb. Tal set is nice (i'm still using mine), but really not needed.

I started out with @&%! gear like everyone else. Yes, you need to choose a build that is playable early, but it's nice to find a build that you can grow with as you eventually become wealthier.

Early in the your MF life (when you're total net wealth is less than 1 pul)
Just focus on building your mana pool, life and resists. If you can get some +skills from something you find, great, but not necessary. I think I had a Sigon shield and a Sazabi helm for the longest time. I eventually found a pair of frostburns or magefists and I thought I was godly. I was running the countess a lot, and had lots of low level runes (I was selling the T keys for 5 pgems if I remember). Check out some of the dirt cheap rune words too (for mercs - Honor/Obedience/Insight/Strength; for you - Leaf/Lore/Memory/Rhyme/Splendor/Stealth). Just build what you can with whatever you find. I remember when I couldn't afford a 4os shield, but 4os swords are droping all over the place (There's nothing wrong with a spirit sword). For jewely, i just used whatever magical stuff I found

Middle career (less than 1 HR total net wealth)
Try to move up to an occy and lidless, If you can find a shako, great, otherwise find a tiara or just keep the Lore. There's lots of good, cheap, unique armors (Vipermagi, Silks of the Victor, even Arkain Valor is cheap now). Here I'd recommend a pair of frostburns or magefist if you didn't pick them up before. For your merc - try to focus on life leach, damage and resists. If you can get him a tal helm, insight, and some rare armor, you're doing good.

Late career (less than 2 HR total net wealth)
Time to move to TAL set. The armor is the only expensive piece (1 HR on US East). You can pick up the amy for pul-um, the rest is just pgems. After you have TAL, work on your jewely and boots/gloves. I'm a fan of buiding Spirit monarch's, but lidless is a great shield too (unless you're trying to block with it). Tal Set + Magefist + Spirit Monarch + FCR ring will get you to a nice cast rate on your fireballs. Tal Set + Spirit will also get 6% away from your target FHR (faster hit recovery). You can make this up with boots or charms, or just leave it. This is also a great time to start working on building some MF items. You can get a low Gheeds for pgems, and don't throw away those 4 and 5% MFsc's

End Game (3+ total HR)
This is the time to pick up a Sorc Torch, cheap ones go for as little as 1 hr. If you can get a perfect (35% fast cast) Spirit Monarch, you can drop the fast cast ring and stay at top killing speed. 35% FCR Spirits run about 1 HR. I found one 30% Nagel and bought the other, those will cost you a pul each. But 29% and below can be had for pgems. Most people will try to get War Trav's here, nice boots. Don't forget to get an Anni too, but those will cost you like 3 hrs, so it can wait.

Happy MFing.

[emar]

I'm all confuzzled by you list on which is superior... Appears very, very biased :D

Hate key is the summoner - He is never immune. They both have tele here, so neither is superior. I wouldn't drop MeteorOrb on this...

And C'mon, Norm, Nm, Hell rushing? MeterOrb wins because why?

No Immunities in Norm that should be of concern...
No Boss Immunites in NM that should be of concern...
Hell... You are just killing the bosses right?

Anywho, I'll give the build props for being versatile, yes she can take on more types of Monsters. However, I'm with Hector on this - this char doesn't really have the oomph that other sorci builds do.

Additionally, I have also found, through experience - Blizzard sorcis to be far less item dependant and considerably stronger. You run across a CI, get the merc to take care of it or tele past it. Simple as that...

I have a Blizz sorc currently (over your lvl 85 restriction there) She is fully capable of running: Andy, Countess (if I want), Summoner, Tunnels, Trav, Meph, CS (if I want), and Hell Baal. The merc is not pimped out in Infinity or anything. A simple Insight CV and he's rocking.

I like the Blizz build and with all restarts I make (Ladder, and the like) I will make a Blizz sorc. The MeteorOrb is just weaker in comparaison IMO for what I want/like to run.

[MageChick]

Honastly I think we need to exclude the keys from the MFing department. IIRC keys drop at about 1/12 odds for each - MF% doesn't matter at all. You also can't convince me that you're running the summoner for anything other than keys - he drops @^%!. It's probably best to run the keys with a low MF hammerdin.

As for rushing - if you're just doing the typical g rush thing it doesn't much matter, but if you're actually trying to help someone through the levels (i.e. killing most things) meteorb does a better job. Meteorb is better for general playability, but yes, you can go around everything with a blizz sorc. They only area I've had problems with blizzard exclusivly is ancients and some uniques in choas - this makes meterob better for hell rushing.

emar's point is valid that rushing is pretty much a tie - and I'll argue that key finding isn't a sorc specialty anway. If you eliminate these 6 "wins" from the meteorb side that brings your ratio to 5:3 which I think is more accurate. Both have their advantages/disadvantages, but it's pretty close.