Fireball question

[Die Spiney]

What would give my spell more damage. Placing 1 point in fire bolt, 1 in fireball, and 10 points in fire mastery : or : Placing 1 point in fire bolt, 10 in fireball, and 1 in fire mastery?

I ask because I have a CL sorc and will only have about 12 to 14 points to spare once the CL is maxed and synergies are taken care of.

[PhatTrumpet]

9 times out of 10, putting points in the skill itself rather than synergies and/or masteries will net you the most damage. You really only see the contrary when considering maxed-out or nearly-maxed-out skills that either 1) have a very high per-point synergy bonus and very few points in synergies, or 2) start to tail-off damage-wise at extremely high skill levels. This can happen with skills like Fire Claws, Holy Fire, and also, at extremely high skill levels, Fist of the Heavens.

[krischan]

Fireball will deal pathetic damage if it isn't maxed and fully boosted by fire mastery, at least one synergy and fire skill bonuses, so better forget about it if you have a CL sorc and better invest into something else. If you insist on having fireball, consider wearing two parts of the Trang Oul set which will give you L20 fireball. Even then it won't be worth using. BTW, you will need 100 skill points just to maximize and fully synergize CL with maxed lightning mastery, so I doubt you will have another 12 points for your fireball plans (maximum is 110 at L99).

L10 fireball with L1 fire bolt and L10 fire mastery: 163-201 damage
L20 fireball from TO set with L10 fire mastery: 385-437

In comparison L40 CL with L40 lightning mastery, fully synergized (nova, charged bolt, lightning): 16-9335

The numbers come from http://www.d2skills.com/

[Aneth]

Fireball will deal pathetic damage if it isn't maxed and fully boosted by fire mastery, at least one synergy and fire skill bonuses, so better forget about it if you have a CL sorc and better invest into something else. If you insist on having fireball, consider wearing two parts of the Trang Oul set which will give you L20 fireball. Even then it won't be worth using. BTW, you will need 100 skill points just to maximize and fully synergize CL with maxed lightning mastery, so I doubt you will have another 12 points for your fireball plans (maximum is 110 at L99).

L10 fireball with L1 fire bolt and L10 fire mastery: 163-201 damage
L20 fireball from TO set with L10 fire mastery: 385-437

In comparison L40 CL with L40 lightning mastery, fully synergized (nova, charged bolt, lightning): 16-9335

The numbers come from http://www.d2skills.com/

That won't even work. Remember the rule on +oskills, he'll only get +3 fireball from trang's set.

[AnimeCraze]

What would give my spell more damage. Placing 1 point in fire bolt, 1 in fireball, and 10 points in fire mastery : or : Placing 1 point in fire bolt, 10 in fireball, and 1 in fire mastery?

I ask because I have a CL sorc and will only have about 12 to 14 points to spare once the CL is maxed and synergies are taken care of.I would go for either utility skills, nova, or orb. FB does crap damage at the # of points you are putting in.

[Eilo Rytyj]

I would go for either utility skills, nova, or orb. FB does crap damage at the # of points you are putting in.

Nova is even worse than an unsynergised FB. Even at a full 40 points invested, Nova simply blows compared to Orb. Orb only requires 25-26 points and you've got a hell-viable second element

[SSoG]

Nova is even worse than an unsynergised FB. Even at a full 40 points invested, Nova simply blows compared to Orb. Orb only requires 25-26 points and you've got a hell-viable second element

FROST Nova is pretty good, though, since it'll give you more chill per point than Frozorb (since Frozorb has 5 prereq points while Nova has 0). It's also handy that it gives 360 coverage and isn't timered. Great utility spell, sort of like having your own Holy Freeze aura as long as you remember to keep refreshing the chill.

[krischan]

That won't even work. Remember the rule on +oskills, he'll only get +3 fireball from trang's set.

Ah yes, I forgot that little detail :duh:

[TheFaceless]

13 hard points in FO and just one in CM with + skills will give you a spell well capable of killing in hell. It may not be as fast as a 5+K CL, but it gets the job done.

[Die Spiney]

13 hard points in FO and just one in CM with + skills will give you a spell well capable of killing in hell. It may not be as fast as a 5+K CL, but it gets the job done.

Well, that is an interesting thought. Now I am torn between cold or fire. I cannot seem to remember any cold immune/lit immune critters, however I know there are fire immune/lit immune critters out there. The reason for me being torn is that I found a great wand (http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j230/tomjonessinger/firewand.jpg)and have changed my thought process from fireball to fire wall. I do not like that firewall is timered, but then again, so is frozen orb.

My gear is as follows

wep1 3 sorc Esuchtas ( spell? )
shield1 spirit monarch
wep2 prior wand
shield2 Lidless
ammy 3 lit skill ammy
Hat 2 sorc skill rare coronet
armor COH
glove Frostburn
Belt Crendendum ( that silly set belt )
boot Caster boots
inven Sorc Torch

So now I ask, what would be better, Firewall or Frozen Orb? I am at cLvL 88 and I have 13 skill points at the moment awaiting placement. I am forgoing the synergy with the lit nova at the moment as my CL seems to kill ok. My choices for skill placement seem to be thus:

Fire Mastery - no pre reqs and all points can go here. There is one point here now.
Fire wall - 2 Prereqs and then all points can go here.
Frozen orb - not sure of how many prereqs but have to add in another for the cold mastery. Once that is done, the rest of the points can go there.

So, what to do? The fire immune/lit immune critters that I know exist make me hesitant to go the fire route. The manny prereqs make me hesitant to go the cold route. I forsee myself leveling up to about 90 or maybe 91. Beyond that, is anyone's guess. Basically, there are 2 for sure points to be had and any after that is gravy. Honest opinions are welcome. For those who do the math, thats even better, and thanks for the prior math in the thread.