Ice/Fire sorc - lots of q's, sorry

[Tilia]

Hi there

I'm building a hydra sorc with ice too, either blizard or frozen orb... I built one before but I didn't know anything about building then so couldn't get past the Council in Travincal on NM with her.. I don't know much more now but am making a better go at it this time.

So far I am lev 18 with 1 in all I need to get hydra, blizzard and teleport and 2 in warmth.

Basically I love ice as it stops them coming at me and you can stop those annoying ressurected meanies coming back when you ice em, but I know how much I love Hydra so I want to use that too.

Can people advice on the build?

Do people put anything in warmth? I keep running out of mana so should I be adding to warmth or just keep heaps of mana on me?

I saw a tip to use blaze to deal with Duriel... is there anything I can use instead that will be on the build so that I don't have to waste points on stuff I won't use later?

What kit should I work towards? I am still learning about this stuff and finding it hard to make sense of it all.

What merc would be best, I like the one's from act 2 as they kick *** (I'm a "those who fight and run away, live to run away another day" player :azn: ) and I rely on them to tank for me but is there a better merc to get? I'm just starting act 2 so I don't know whether to re-roll on a merc or keep my amazon?

Sorry to be a complete numpty in all this but I can only learn by asking q's and I don't have enough playing time to use trial and error.

Thanks heaps :flip: :flowers:

Tilia

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Do people put anything in warmth? I keep running out of mana so should I be adding to warmth or just keep heaps of mana on me?
Tilia

Only one point in warmth is needed. Early you struggle for mana but you will be fine later. Some folks don't put anything in energy. I would put no more than 50 in energy. Collect and socket your armor and helm with saphires/Tirs.



I saw a tip to use blaze to deal with Duriel... is there anything I can use instead that will be on the build so that I don't have to waste points on stuff I won't use later?
Tilia

Buy a staff with blaze on it. Especially a 2 socket staff so you can make the leaf runeword in it (Tir-Ral).

The Leaf runeword is your friend. Shop for a 2 socket fireball (plus 2-3 to fireball) and make Leaf. It will see you through to your hydras.



What kit should I work towards? I am still learning about this stuff and finding it hard to make sense of it all.
Tilia

Do something like this. When you get Orb advance it to around 8 and stop. Put 1 in Cold mastery and fire mastery. Work on your hydras and then fireball before you come back to Orb.



What merc would be best, I like the one's from act 2 as they kick *** (I'm a "those who fight and run away, live to run away another day" player :azn: ) and I rely on them to tank for me but is there a better merc to get? I'm just starting act 2 so I don't know whether to re-roll on a merc or keep my amazon?
Tilia

I recommend the defiance merc. Shop for a 3 socket spear and put the best elemental damage gems in it that you can. You will be suprised what even 3 chiped topaz in the spear will do. Yes, he can go for most of normal with no life leech.

[melianor]

Hi there

I'm building a hydra sorc with ice too, either blizard or frozen orb... I built one before but I didn't know anything about building then so couldn't get past the Council in Travincal on NM with her.. I don't know much more now but am making a better go at it this time.

So far I am lev 18 with 1 in all I need to get hydra, blizzard and teleport and 2 in warmth.

Basically I love ice as it stops them coming at me and you can stop those annoying ressurected meanies coming back when you ice em, but I know how much I love Hydra so I want to use that too.

Can people advice on the build?

Do people put anything in warmth? I keep running out of mana so should I be adding to warmth or just keep heaps of mana on me?

I saw a tip to use blaze to deal with Duriel... is there anything I can use instead that will be on the build so that I don't have to waste points on stuff I won't use later?

What kit should I work towards? I am still learning about this stuff and finding it hard to make sense of it all.

What merc would be best, I like the one's from act 2 as they kick *** (I'm a "those who fight and run away, live to run away another day" player :azn: ) and I rely on them to tank for me but is there a better merc to get? I'm just starting act 2 so I don't know whether to re-roll on a merc or keep my amazon?

Sorry to be a complete numpty in all this but I can only learn by asking q's and I don't have enough playing time to use trial and error.

Thanks heaps :flip: :flowers:

Tilia

Skills you should max for Hydra/Frozen Orb
20 Firebolt
20 Fireball
20 Hydra
1-xx Fire Mastery
20 Frozen Orb
1-xx Cold Mastery

Utility spells:
1 Static Field
1 Telekinesis
1 Teleport
1 Warmth

I have played this build and its alot of fun. You spam Fireball, plant your Hydras inbetween and also some Frozen Orbs. Killing mobs around the corner with Hydras is just plain comfortable :)

Later when you get some +skills those skills will be more useful than just at base level. Still you should place 1pt.

Leave energy at base. Yes you will need alot mana in the begining and drink alot of mana potions, still it will be worth it. Later you can get one of the Act 2 Mercs that have Defiance or Holy Freeze and then you simple give him an Insight runeword in a 4 socket grey scythe (or better polearm) and you will have no mana problems anymore, due to the "Meditation" auro on the runeword.

Dealing with Duriel: easy.
Buy a 2 socket staff with "grey" name in Act one at Akara. Hunt the Countess for the runes TIR and RAL. Stick then in the staff to make "Leaf". Now you have a lvl 6 Firewall at your disposal. Together with Static Field and you Merc killing Duriel will be easy with Firewall.

Otherwise on the way to Hydra and Frozen Orb, place 1pt in the skills you need to get there and save up on the rest. While using the "Leaf" staff and hitting mobs with melee attacks until you get Fireball and later BLizzard works fine.

Blizzard combined with Firewall will keep you going until you get Hydra and Frozen Orb. From then on place your saved points either into Frozen Orb until it is maxed and then continue on the Fire Tree. With the Leaf runeword you Firetree will be nicely boosted until Frozen Orb is maxed.

Also look for other useful cheap to make runewords like, Lore helmet, Stealth armor. The runes can be had form the countess in a few runs and you will benefit so much from them!

Read more about runes and runewords here:
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runes.shtml
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords.shtml
Just remember, the name of the item you put runewords in, needs to be grey, otherwise it won't work!

regards, meli

[Tilia]

thanks heaps guys... that's wonderful.

Off to continue my build with new info.

Cheers

[Tilia]

Skills you should max for Hydra/Frozen Orb
20 Firebolt
20 Fireball
20 Hydra
1-xx Fire Mastery
20 Frozen Orb
1-xx Cold Mastery

Been thinking... thing I i want to use Ice as my main weapon and just have Hydra from fire.. so I would use Galacial Spike (not Blizzard, sorry) most often... I just prefer Ice to fire as it slows the monsters down..

Is Ice not as effective damage wise as fire?


Leave energy at base.

So where would i be best putting my points if I don't really need strength? Put them all in vitality? Still learning about all these things..

[zarfen]

Fire deal higher damage then cold, according to the lcs, however, the damage from coldspells can be 100% managable of killing any monster not coldimun due to the cm -enemy resist. Go for a blizzballer, more on ice spells than the build listed here. search for it or look in the sorc guidplace

edit : oh, sorry, did not see that you meant glacial spike
go with a blizzballer and use something like this

20 blizzard (for bug damage to fire immunes)
x in glacial spike (as much as you like, for slowing and freezing the monsters)
x in cm
20 fireball
20 hyda (if you want hydra, else I suggest meteor)
x in fire mastery

Its better if you check some actual guide though =)

[jonw]

I've played sorcs almost exclusively for the last couple of years, and my current frozen orb/hydra sorceress (lvl 85 now) is something of a letdown. Mostly I'm disappointed in the low damage in fireball and hydra, which don't have a synergy, whereas the meteor/fireball synergy generates tons of damage even without great items.

The nice part is throwing hydras out around corners and taking out souls without getting hit -- THAT is cool. However I can see that even with incredible gear this sorceress isn't going to be the killing machine that my meteorb has been.

The orb/hydra sorc is fun enough to play, so go for it - it's a game, right? But I really enjoy unloading those 10K fireballs and will probably go back to meteorb or try some other build on the new ladder.

(Current gear for this lvl 85 is modest: Vipermagi, Shako, Tal Ammy/belt/orb, Stormshield/Spirit, and a couple of fire gc's)

[melianor]

Been thinking... thing I i want to use Ice as my main weapon and just have Hydra from fire.. so I would use Galacial Spike (not Blizzard, sorry) most often... I just prefer Ice to fire as it slows the monsters down..

Is Ice not as effective damage wise as fire?



So where would i be best putting my points if I don't really need strength? Put them all in vitality? Still learning about all these things..

Your damage output with Hydra/Fireball will not be high enough, if you do not synergize both with Firebolt. Blizzard will do good enough damage without a synergy and some points into cold mastery. Your build will certainly not be the killer machine like jonw mentioned, but you can easily participate in 8 player Baals and clear the whole game alone from Normal to Hell.

You can simply put points into Vitality and into STR so that you can wear the "Spirit" runeword in a Monarch shield. There is also a way to go with blocking which involves using Stormshield or other blocking shields you might aquire later. Blocking involves raising dex and str to bea able to use the shield. Read about Blocking in the Meteorb guide, that you can find in the library sticked at the top.