Max damage for FO?

[UrbanHeroics]

What is the max damage that is attainable for the frozen orb? I want to build one, but i want to be sure it will be effective in hell.

[Lyrs]

Frozen orb is an end game skill that can kill with 20 invested points. I've seen it go up as high as 1k per shard; however, 400 per shard is enough.

[UrbanHeroics]

what would be the best gear for a frozen orb sorc?

[Lyrs]

read the guide

that info is in there

[jakotaco]

what would be the best gear for a frozen orb sorc?

depends on alot, pvm or pvp? ES or not? want block? any backup skills? budget? :azn:

On a sidenote: According to my calculations maximum damage would be 1642-1714 per shard! But that gear wouldn't be the best in all other purposes :rolleyes:

[SSoG]

Frozen Orb is a wonderful skill. It can kill without any synergies and without any good gear. A slvl 20 Orb with 1 in Mastery and maybe +5 or +6 skills will still take out monsters in Hell.

It's hard to get a good damage estimate on Orb, because it's power lies in the ability to spray shards EVERYWHERE. If it's doing 350 damage per shard (slvl 25 Orb, no synergy), that may not look like much... but if the orb explodes inside a monster it gets hit by 13 shards, which means 4550 damage. Plus he'll probably get hit by several other shards on the way in, bringing the total shards up to maybe 18, for 6300 damage. Plus all of his monster friends are getting hit by incidental contact, and Cold Mastery is making sure that the shards are dealing at least full damage, if not double. It's not inconceivable for a measly little slvl 25 Frozen Orb with decent Cold Mastery to deal 20,000 damage per cast (almost half that to one monster, and the rest spread about among all of his friends). Then again, if you aim it poorly, that same Orb might deal as little as 5,000 damage.

I can assure you, Frozen Orb will be quite effective in Hell, even with really cheap/junky gear. The biggest trick is going to be learning to aim it properly (you want as many shards to hit as possible- and if at all possible, you want the orb to explode inside of an enemy). Outside of that, don't worry so much about synergies or l33t gear- Frozen Orb is more than capable of killing all by its lonesome.

[SSoG]

On a sidenote: According to my calculations maximum damage would be 1642-1714 per shard! But that gear wouldn't be the best in all other purposes :rolleyes:
You're a little bit off.

Perfect Nightwings w/ PFacet, Perfect Dimensional Shard w/ PFacet, 4PFacet Monarch, Perfect Ormus w/ PFacet (total of +95% Cold Skill damage, +5 skills), combined with +3 Cold Skills ammy, Arachnid's, 2x SoJ, Torch, Anni, 9x Cold GCs (+19 more skills, total of +24). That's a slvl 44 Orb, fully synergized, with +95% Cold Skill Damage, for a ridiculous 1683-1755 damage. Bear in mind that you'll also have a Slvl 37+ Cold Mastery, which is enough to guarantee that anything not CI has -100% cold resist (except for in PvP, of course). That means each shard is really doing 3366-3510 damage (except against cold immunes, against whom the shards do nothing). If you can get an orb to explode in the middle of a monster and nail them with 15 shards, that's 51,570 average damage. Not too shabby, all things considered. That's better than a comparably geared Blizzard Sorc could manage unless she hit a monster with 6 shards, and the Frozen Orb Sorc requires 40 fewer skill points, to boot.

[PhatTrumpet]

I got this (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=467243) a while ago... includes +1 skills from CtA switch.

[UrbanHeroics]

how hard is it going to be to get ahold of a fathom in non-ladder? how expensive are they if i can get one?

[SSoG]

I got this (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=467243) a while ago... includes +1 skills from CtA switch.
Ah, thanks, forgot all about that fancy schmancy CtA. Back in my day, if we wanted Battle Commands, we partied up with a barb... *grumble grumble grumble*


how hard is it going to be to get ahold of a fathom in non-ladder? how expensive are they if i can get one?
Like I said before, the beauty of Orb is that you don't need great gear for it. I wouldn't even bother spending anything to get a Fathom- dual spirits will work beautifully, instead. I don't know how hard those are to buy Non-Ladder... but you could always make your Orb Sorc on Ladder, you know! Like I said, her independence from high-end gear is really impressive. Orb Sorcs make PHENOMINAL first characters to make your fortune with.

[UrbanHeroics]

i always play on nonladder cause thats where all my friends play. I realize that the fathom isnt a necessity, but i would like to get the best setup i could get. does anyone know how hard it is to get one nonladder?

[UrbanHeroics]

where would i be getting my resists from in hell with this build? i was thinking about going with CoH for the crazy resists on that and maybe a maras. any other ideas for getting resists on this build?

[taiga]

You can allways go with ES and ignore resists...

[UrbanHeroics]

thats true, but i was going to make a backup attack with CL for those pesky CI. i guess i could just go ES since i will be playing party most of the time, i was just seeing what other options i have for resists.

would it be effective to max CL and lite mastery and put one pt in ES and max telekenesis?

[jakotaco]

You're a little bit off.

Perfect Nightwings w/ PFacet, Perfect Dimensional Shard w/ PFacet, 4PFacet Monarch, Perfect Ormus w/ PFacet (total of +95% Cold Skill damage, +5 skills), combined with +3 Cold Skills ammy, Arachnid's, 2x SoJ, Torch, Anni, 9x Cold GCs (+19 more skills, total of +24). That's a slvl 44 Orb, fully synergized, with +95% Cold Skill Damage, for a ridiculous 1683-1755 damage. Bear in mind that you'll also have a Slvl 37+ Cold Mastery, which is enough to guarantee that anything not CI has -100% cold resist (except for in PvP, of course). That means each shard is really doing 3366-3510 damage (except against cold immunes, against whom the shards do nothing). If you can get an orb to explode in the middle of a monster and nail them with 15 shards, that's 51,570 average damage. Not too shabby, all things considered. That's better than a comparably geared Blizzard Sorc could manage unless she hit a monster with 6 shards, and the Frozen Orb Sorc requires 40 fewer skill points, to boot.

Oops, I was at least thinking of the correct gear but I somehow calculated at slvl 43 and +95%... But you're right slvl 44... :embarassed:

And to ensure absolut max I'll throw in Battle Command (Cta) and skill shrine for a maximum of slvl 47 and 95% bonus :cool: which brings damage to 1806-1884 and -250 enemy coldresists...

[UrbanHeroics]

I have almost finished the build and I have a orb that does about 1200 damage. The only things that i need now are the 20/20 shield and some cold facets! and yes, you all were right, this is extremely efficient in hell. I can see the monsters life drop VERY quickly when i blow one up inside of them.

[Maccat]

I believe the legendary SSOG is wrong here. A 20/20 armor would be more effective because you cannot get a +3 Frozen Orb OR Cold Mastery Ormus. Therefore it would only be a 20/-5 armor with 20% FCR compared to a 20/20 + 100 Life possibility. I'm probably wrong but I just thought I'd post it.

[yelopen]

I believe the legendary SSOG is wrong here. A 20/20 armor would be more effective because you cannot get a +3 Frozen Orb OR Cold Mastery Ormus. Therefore it would only be a 20/-5 armor with 20% FCR compared to a 20/20 + 100 Life possibility. I'm probably wrong but I just thought I'd post it.

I believe you're right :innocent:

[PhatTrumpet]

I think the point is that a 20/-5 Ormus' is going to be way cheaper than any 20/20 armor and still gets the job done as far as max dmg is concerned

[SSoG]

I believe the legendary SSOG is wrong here. A 20/20 armor would be more effective because you cannot get a +3 Frozen Orb OR Cold Mastery Ormus. Therefore it would only be a 20/-5 armor with 20% FCR compared to a 20/20 + 100 Life possibility. I'm probably wrong but I just thought I'd post it.
Legendary SSOG? Never heard of him.

Anyway, a 20/20 armor is doesn't offer that much. You have so much -% Enemy Resists from Cold Mastery that the difference between -5% on an Ormus and -20% on a 20/20 is pretty literally nothing. Seriously, there is no benefit whatsoever to having more than -199% enemy cold resist, which you'd hit with that rig with ease. A 20/20 and 20/5 armor would deal exactly the same amount of damage at all times with that setup. All a 20/20 armor would do is save you 3 skill points in Cold Mastery (you'd only need slvl 4 instead of slvl 7), leaving you free to spend those points elsewhere... but Ormus gives you +3 to a single skill, which is enough to make up the difference.

After that, it just comes down to mods. Which would you rather have, 100 life or 20% FCR, +10-15% Regenerate Mana, and +10-15% Fire/Lightning damage? Me, I'd rather have the Ormus. 100 life is just 5 perfect scs of Vita, while you'd be hard-pressed to replicate that Ormus using charms. The FCR, in particular, will come in handy while spamming Static, Teleport, or Glacial Spike (or even handier if you have a secondary attack).

[UrbanHeroics]

I'm up to 1.5k damage with my orb now. :grin:

[Maccat]

Haha, I do believe I'm check mated. Atleast I had my one good shot, to me, I took your queen and felt like it was over. I do agree the Ormus' Robe is better I'm just stating the fact that there's no such thing as a +3 Frozen Orb Ormus' Robe in case you added the extra three skills into your equation.

[SSoG]

Haha, I do believe I'm check mated. Atleast I had my one good shot, to me, I took your queen and felt like it was over. I do agree the Ormus' Robe is better I'm just stating the fact that there's no such thing as a +3 Frozen Orb Ormus' Robe in case you added the extra three skills into your equation.

Hehe, if it would make you feel any better, I could point you to hundreds of different times that I've been wrong. It just happens that you were a bit unlucky, and this wasn't one of those times. I knew that Ormus couldn't get +3 FO, and didn't factor that into the calculations. :smiley: