is Meteorb good for starting Ladder?

[MaxAttack]

I recently restarted playing Diablo2 so I am starting from scratch to build up my wealth. I usually went BlizzardSorc in the past when I started to MF but I wanted to try something new so I made a Meteorb.

She is currently lvl 56 and it seems to me that Meteorb build does low damage compared to the Blizzard build. So what do you guys think about it?
Is it a good idea to start with a Meteorb sorc when all you got are items from free games or is it better to start with a Blizzard sorc? Is there any cheap equipement I can get to start MF with a Meteorb sorc knowing that it require a lot of +skills to be good?

[iLoveSoccer]

Yeah they are good, many ppl choose them.

[AnimeCraze]

The orb damage is per spike, so it amounts to a high damage if used properly.

[handofnaz]

Personally, I've found Blizzard sorcs to be more effective at initial MF. Them, or pure Orb/ES sorcs. That's working under the assumption that you'll be hitting Meph almost exclusively, of course. Of the two, Blizz sorcs obviously stand to have far greater potential damage, and with barely decent gear at that.

I wouldn't want to throw you off your current build, though, since you mentioned that you wanted to try out a Meteorb this time around. Meteorbs are great too, but I see them more as second MF characters, which the initial cold sorc works to outfit. Some might say that it defeats the purpose of creating an MF character to begin with, but I believe in different specialties and MF areas/targets for different builds.

Meteorbs are fab, but I'd highly recommend starting out with a Blizz first.

[Norrit]

I'd definitely keep the Meteorb and do the mephisto glitch (there's a topic about that here in this forum). Meteorbs dont kill bosses using orb. They kill them using meteor. Have you ever seen the damage that stacked meteors do to a boss? Also, andariel have a negative fire resist, making fireballs/meteors the spells of choice to kill here like you would kill a fallen.

I think you're just playing it wrong. This character isn't a frozen orb sorc with a fire attack backup. It's more like a fire sorc with the orb as the backup! Play it like you would play a fire sorc (fireball as main attack and meteor/static to kill bosses) and just switch to orb to kill the fire-immune guys. On later stages of the game (specially once you want to move to pindleskin/eldritch/shenk) you won't regret it, as those guys usually are cold immune (thus, impossible for a blizz sorc to run)

About gear, run mephisto and andariel in nightmare at least until you can get a pair of magefists and a skin of the vipermagi. Then proceed to hell and try to get a wizardspike (those can be gotten for pgems in trade games). From there, sky is the limit, as you'll have decent to good fast caster rate (20% from magefists, 30% from skin of vipermagi and 50% from wizardspike, total 100%, try to get a 10% faster cast rate amulet or ring to reach the most useful breakpoint) and lots of resists (75% from wizardspike alone plus between 25-35% from skin, not even mentioning anya's quests). Once you move into hell, find a common (white) Monarch shield and make a "spirit" runeword (tal-thul-ort-amn) on it. You'll be more than set to mf anywhere in the game.

[jcldude]

I have never needed to do the moat-trick to take Mephisto with my meteorb sorc. The Merc holds up very well while tanking Hell Meph and I generally just Meteor, FO, FO, FO, Meteor - until he is down. It takes around 10-15 seconds (use longer time getting down there). This will naturally be faster as you get more points into Fire Mastery and carry more skillers. Btw, this is using a nice and simple full Tal's gear. The merc usually gets a couple of health pots and a rejuv during this fight.

The only place I have had a hint of problem is in the Worldstone Keep where I frequently pop into fire/cold immunes and often have to just wait for my merc to take them down (I dont have Infinity to help me out).

Btw I recommend getting full Tal Rashas set and choose either Spirit for +2 skills, fcr, fhr or go full block with Stormshield. I do full block and generally dont worry to much about getting hit either.

[AnimeCraze]

You mean meteor/FB/FB, not meteor/FO/FO.

[MaxAttack]

Thanks for your answers, I will let her a chance and continue to level her up to see her full potential. It's true that right now im using her more as a Orb Sorc than Meteorb, I will start to put points into meteorb right now and see how it goes with NM meph.

About the gear, I think the best option is Tal set but it's little bit expensive for someone who starts. Is tal armor still worth aroun Um and Tal ammy a Pul?

for the other set (Vipermagi,Magefist,Wizardspike) it's a good idea I already have everything except the Vipermagi that I can easily get from trade but for me, even if I have to say that Wizspike is a great weapon for caster, it seems to be a waste of points to put some in Dex while I will get a Spiri shield and that sets lacks of mf.

I will see what I can do to get a Tal set and how it will be with a Meteorbs.

[AnimeCraze]

If you have wizard spike, you can probably go with a spirit or an occy, if you can withstand the random teleport.

[ProfessionalBerg]

I just chill Mephisto with FO, static him fast to ~50% health, and use a few fireballs. Takes him down in no time whatsoever.