Ice-Weilding Blizz Sorc?

[Niniux]

I have been tossing around the idea of building a dual Dreamer for a while and was looking through the runewords when Ice popped out at me. CtC Frost Nova, ITD and +Cold Skill Damage.

What bow would you build it in? Obviously you'd use this in conjunction with a Nightwing and Cold Facet... Would this be a viable variant build? Would a merc+enchant be enough to deal with immunes?

[Ed from Russia]

I think it's a pretty cool idea, but wonder why you would make a Blizz sorc if you have a bow like this. Some suggestions
- Enchant (synergized and points in Fire Mastery)
- A decent-range Static Field
- maybe Energy Shield
- If you're adventurous consider Hydra, Thunderstorm, ..

With a Great Bow you reach 13 frames (with zero additional IAS) and it doesn't require too much investment in dexterity / strength. If you wear highlords and Laying of Hands you get to 11 frames which is very decent.

Note that with Ice you shouldn't invest too much in Cold Mastery, as Ice gives -20% resistance already and beyond -150% nothing happens. So it should be lvl 23 including equipment bonuses.

[redground]

why nightwing? you could also use a dream and a dragon, for double dmg boost. And give your Might Merc a Pride pole.

That might give you a pretty decent dmg output.

[droid]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would imagine the frost nova ctc isnt that great since the skill doesnt power up much even when you fully synergize it, and I wouldnt think that the bonus to cold damage would be that much more than what you'd get from the +5 skills you're giving up (occy/hoto+spirit) to wield a bow, and you'd be losing levels on your buff skills too. Bows dont go great damage, anyway, without auras or zon skills, so you wouldnt be firing that many arrows, it'd be more or less a staff with a string.

About the only thing really going for it is the HF aura, to slow enemies and keep them in your blizzard AOE longer?

[Master Zap]

I have been tossing around the idea of building a dual Dreamer for a while and was looking through the runewords when Ice popped out at me. CtC Frost Nova, ITD and +Cold Skill Damage.

What bow would you build it in? Obviously you'd use this in conjunction with a Nightwing and Cold Facet... Would this be a viable variant build? Would a merc+enchant be enough to deal with immunes?


I'm with Ed and it's totally viable. Even if it it was a plain hunters bow. Enchant is going to add huge damage on it's own. (and cover the Ar your going to need)

100% Chance To Cast Level 40 Blizzard When You Level-up
25% Chance To Cast Level 22 Frost Nova On Striking
Level 18 Holy Freeze Aura When Equipped
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+140-210% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
+25-30% To Cold Skill Damage (varies)
-20% To Enemy Cold Resistance
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
20% Deadly Strike
3.125-309.375 Extra Gold From Monsters (Based on Character Level)


Let's see here.

Level 40 Blizz, Dominating!, but this mod happens so infrequently as to be utterly useless.

Level 18 holyfreeze.
15.3 yard radius (most of the screen)
enemies slowed by 53% (godly!)
Base aura damage 28-29
Cold Damage +X To Your Attack = 155-160 damage.
Level 22 Frost nova = 60-70 damage
+30% cold damage (wooot!)
-20 enemy res (kinda pointless with cold mastery, but may save a point or two)

Let's assume you focus on building around the bow as your primary attack. Maxing blizz and frozen Orb to synergy the ctc frost nova adds 200% damage.

With Nightwing's faceted you'll get another 20% skill damage bump + the 30% on the bow itself (perfect roll!)

65 avg damage + 250% skill bonus = 162.5 damage upon Frost Nova Ctc.
Sounds pretty low opinion. But the negative res like conviction will virtually double these cold numbers.

the 158 avg cold on striking turns into : 237 damage (only a 50% skill boost on this one)

The freeze aura becomes : 42 damage per ping

then add in the fact that your screen sized Static ( you might want to drop a couple points here) drops everything to half life (and fast!) , coupled with a High level prebluffable chant. Your damage will be fine. With pierce you'll be getting multiple ctc's per well aimed shots.

I'd still use a conviction merc. With the minus resist and + gear you should only need a couple points in cold mastery. This saves points and will boost all your elemental damages including that shexy chant. Perhaps even better for your damage is the near auto hit you'll have from dropping enemy's defense 83%

If you dropped the nightwings for a Dream helm you'd still be at 150 damage on the Ctc for Frost nova

a Dream would grant you another damage form and 1-648 damage added to attack and up to 108 damage per shock pulse.

Light mastery at only level 20 (I bet yours is 350-400%) adds 278% more damage , turning dream's damage into 1800 added per shot and 300 damage on the pulse.

I think this is a better investment then Nightwings unless you plan to spam orbs too in addition to using the bow attack.


I'd say the the frost nova is more of a crowd control effect that will slow everything it hits in addition to the Freeze aura effect. Should add a ton of saftey, even if it's not "GG" damage itself.

I think Ice is best on a FA Zon with a strafe backup.

[Niniux]

How much damage will that Frost Nova do synergized?

The reason I was thinking Blizz Sorc is that it's a viable MFer without Ice but it seems like Ice would compliment the skill quite well. I could use Frozen Orb instead. Warmth, Enchant, FM, Frozen Orb and Blizz for Frost Nova synergy or Ice Bolt for Frozen Orb Synergy?

Add a Nightwing and your Orb will be doing some nice damage while you pluck away between casts. Razortail for Pierce?

I'm thinking maybe for a Hardcore Build?

[redground]

I still think that a dream helm will be better for your bow attack. You can also wear a dragon armor to have that nice dmg boost. You will have 3 auras to improve your elemental dmg.

I think that a Price Pole on a Might Merc will also help you a lot. You actually not even need to use frozen orb to kill mobs.

[Niniux]

True. I just think if I were to go that route then just going with a Demon Machine and a Dream Helm/Dragon Armour would be more beneficial for a pure Archer.

Hmm, yeah, Ice is probably not worth the runes for a Sorc. :)

[redground]

i´d take that bow and give it to a act1 merc.. will help me a lot on chaos runs. my stupi act2 merc dies all the time (it is my fault, i know that)

But i agree with you.
As a different build, making it unique is a really good option.

Same as getting a Doom for your weap.