blizz or orb?

[Massacre]

Sup everyone, well i started up again im a lvl 13 sorc woot! Ive decided to go cold but i cant decide on whether i should go with the orb or blizzard skill. Both skills are very usefull but there are dmg differences and also skill point differences. Also i dont quite have too much of an idea on where to put the points. Ive read a guide one an HC blizzard sorc and i liked it but im not sure if its right for me. I play useast Softcore ladder I am leaning a lil more towards an MF sorc any insight would be appreciated thx for the help.

[fledgeling]

I dont have much experience in blizzard sorcs. Personally I find them too irritating to play, because I have been spoiled by frozen orb. You should just decide, how will you use your sorc.

MF:
andy/mef - both sorcs should do ok, orb uses static, blizz perhaps the moat trick

rushing - orb is MUCH better IMO, because she needs only 40/50/60 points to max frozen orb - so you can put 20 in teleport + you kill everything on screen easily (and in theory at least, you could go dual tree)

blizzard - requires level 92 to finish (a lot of time!!!), level 1 teleport / level 0/1 warmth..

blizzard is better in CS - she delivers much higher damage. Orb can still kill, but it takes more time, while blizz sorcs can do these "seal mini raids" (some people here do them, I dont)

as for dueling - I have no clue.. Id stick with orb

ah, blizz is easier to level up 1-30

[j1mb0x99]

In my experience, I prefer orb. I built a blizzer to try it out and while yes, the damage is much higher, you lose a ton of control. With orb you know where it will go and you know you will hit at least some. With blizz I've noticed monsters walk right through it and not get hit once. Other times they get completely pummeled in one cast.

-JiM

[goomba]

In my experience, I prefer orb. I built a blizzer to try it out and while yes, the damage is much higher, you lose a ton of control. With orb you know where it will go and you know you will hit at least some. With blizz I've noticed monsters walk right through it and not get hit once. Other times they get completely pummeled in one cast.

-JiM

most of us blizzers spam ice blast to freeze a group of monsters, then drop the frozen rain on them...

as for dueling with them, an ice blast/or glacial spike isn't as easy as just spraying orbs like a fire hose in the general direction of the opponent, it can be pretty hurtful on a "finished" blizzer as well.

[sickobanza]

i say orb sorc is a lot more effective and faster in MF runs since u have extra points to dump into teleport to keep the mana down. u can also use the MF orber to do rushes.
orb duelers are a lot easier also, since orb covers almost full screen if shard hits, the cold length is very long that give u some time to tele and orb again

[Akukami]

The answer is that it depends on what you're most comfortable with. Orbers give off spread damage, and it's much easier to control mobs with. Additionally, you don't have to work on aiming too much. However, the damange itself can sometimes be too weak.

On the other hand, Blizzers deal lots of damage in a hurry, but crowd control is much harder because the damage is in a single place. This also means that you'll have to be a bit good at aiming. One trick I learned when controlling mobs was to use Glacial Spike and Frost Nova to freeze or slow them down long enough to Tele away to a safer spot.

If you're just getting a feel for using a Sorc, go with an Orber. Once you're confortable with it, switch to a Blizzer to sharpen your aim some more.

- Akukami

[phool]

blizzard is at its most effective against tightly packed crowds of slow moving (not frozen still however) creatures, and big ones in open spaces.

Your most important crowd control skill should be teleport.

[Akukami]

blizzard is at its most effective against tightly packed crowds of slow moving (not frozen still however) creatures, and big ones in open spaces.

Your most important crowd control skill should be teleport.

Then you wouldn't actually be controling the crowd, you're running away from it.

Have you tried using Frost Nova or Glacial Spike?

- Akukami

[phool]

I have both hotkeyed on my blizz.

I'm baffled that you can't imagine, without an explanation, how teleport may be used to herd monsters, not just run away from them.

[j1mb0x99]

Another good blizz method is to lay a blizz in the middle of a pack and then just run around in circles. That way they keep pathing through the blizz.

-JiM

[CdMagicFind]

Orb is less points, less damage, more range. It gets orb "pop" too, where the ball explodes on the actual mob and hits them with most if not all the shards.

Blizzard is a lot more points, more damage, targeted multi-hitting. It gets moating too.

Also, I'd like to note that one of the better ways to lower tele cost is to put points in warmth. At least, second best to actual points. It lets you use Enchant as a secondary on an orber, too.

And the whole second tree thing, but that's not as great as it seems. =/

[acwclassic]

for me i clearly prefer blizzard
got a blizz sorc lvl 84 with about 2700 dmg blizz (+3 skills)
in a 8 people game i can easy killing wizir myself in sekunds and infector takes just some moment more.
about aiming and hitting
people say that blizzard misses a lot of the times and monsters just run by, well thats not true jsut spam blizz (they last in 4 sek and you can cast one every 2 seks) with 2 running all the time + your sending in ice blast in the delay time noone will ever get by your blizz and die will die fast.
If theres monsters everywhere around you just found and edge and spam blizz and icebolts before you.

as for orb i find that you dont have that controll over the masses if there monsters everywhere a orb isnt stopping them, merely make them run more slowly. you can kill wizir quite easy anways if there not a lot of knigths around but against infector you stand no real change and they will spread everywhere if your alone.

as for svs my blizzer do quite fair with namelock (a bit lame but without it you got no real change) if you opponent dont tele out of range all the time and i found out that there only a few that actually does this..
If you know how to tele however orb is so much better in duelss
hit and run tactics=)

But in summary i prefer blizz just for the killing speed and controll in cs=)
This based on experience playing with both builds a lot this and earlier ladders

/acwclassic

[CdMagicFind]

4 seconds to kill something still counts as missing.

Blizzard probably kills large fasters than Orb but not with the same simple safety and control.

But Blizzard as a single skill is obviously better, or else people would all go orb since it's a lot less points.

Edit - And Glacial Spike and such don't help enough to outweigh much, imo.

[acwclassic]

4 seconds to kill something still counts as missing.

Blizzard probably kills large fasters than Orb but not with the same simple safety and control.

But Blizzard as a single skill is obviously better, or else people would all go orb since it's a lot less points.

Edit - And Glacial Spike and such don't help enough to outweigh much, imo.


you use ice blast not glacial
main reason it freezes target so they stop under blizz
and also more damaga to single monster than glacial about 1,5k with +3-4 skills

[goomba]

you use ice blast not glacial
main reason it freezes target so they stop under blizz
and also more damaga to single monster than glacial about 1,5k with +3-4 skills

spike freezes too... and it freezes more than one if I recall correctly.

most people don't level it as fast as ice blast, which is why the damage is lower. (ultimate damage at "finished" levle 92 blizzer is close enough to warrant just using spike to spam between blizzards)

that being said, when I was experimenting with my rep/orber an earlier experiment was an orb+spiker. spam orb, but also spike to freeze the monsters in front, once frozen, spam static+orb... so long as there weren't any oblivions around, or so long as infector wasn't cold immune it was also able to do seal raids, just slower than the blizzer.

[acwclassic]

spike freezes too... and it freezes more than one if I recall correctly.

that being said, when I was experimenting with my rep/orber an earlier experiment was an orb+spiker. spam orb, but also spike to freeze the monsters in front, once frozen, spam static+orb... so long as there weren't any oblivions around, or so long as infector wasn't cold immune it was also able to do seal raids, just slower than the blizzer.

your rigth i was wrong about that spike sure frezes the monsters, but the damaga is at least 1/3 more on ice blast to a single monster.
This doe to it takes +15% from spike and bolt, while spike only take +5 or 3% (not sure about the exact score but around there)
there not to hard 2 freeze the 2-3 first monsters with blast and then spam blizz and i prefer killing of monsters for monster so i can concentrate more on them still living than taking down all at the same time but slower.
spike seems to work just as good its more a matter of "taste" then and since blast is better in duels more people skill it first.

but i still state that blizz is far better for a ladder/cs sorc for mf and andy and meph raids i prefer static + orb

[Akukami]

I have both hotkeyed on my blizz.

I'm baffled that you can't imagine, without an explanation, how teleport may be used to herd monsters, not just run away from them.

I'm baffled that you assume you think I don't know how to herd with Teleport. I find it more effective to freeze them in place, or slow them down, but that's my playing style. :thumbsup:

- Akukami

[goomba]

but i still state that blizz is far better for a ladder/cs sorc for mf and andy and meph raids i prefer static + orb

I can't disagree with that statement. :thumbsup:

I also prefer at least 1 pt in static on any sorc, it was annoying using ray's lvl 92 blizzer which didn't have any in static...

[Akukami]

I can't disagree with that statement. :thumbsup:

I also prefer at least 1 pt in static on any sorc, it was annoying using ray's lvl 92 blizzer which didn't have any in static...

You could've leveled it to 93 if you wanted....

- Akukami

[Dabljuh]

Which reminds me. My first sorc was a glacial spike sorc which turned out to be too weak in hell. I haven't tried one ever, instead I've built magezons, which, due to pierce, I think may be ultimately superior. Problem with magezons is that they don't do enough damage on single targets, or their lack of "cold mastery"

Anyhow, has anyone tried a fully synergized glacial spike sorc recently?

[Akukami]

Anyhow, has anyone tried a fully synergized glacial spike sorc recently?

I highly doubt it, mostly because Glacial Spike is mostly a PvM skill; Orb and Blizz already have the majority of Sorc PvM covered. However, you can make an PvP Sorc using Ice Blast.

- Akukami

[goomba]

You could've leveled it to 93 if you wanted....

- Akukami

I actually got her like 1/10th to 93 from doing mini-raids (and which is what pushed the fballer to 89 finishing those mini-raids) before quitting.