Need help with my Orber/firewaller

[iewcce]

Hi! im making a orb/firewall sorc and need some help.. What lvl of coldmastery is overkill in pvm? ive heard that lvl 17 is highest needed. is that true? is all above unessesary? ty for replys!

[HegemonKhan]

it's up to u if u wanna do slvl 17 cm or slvl 20 cm

i'd just put the 3 more pts in for slvl 20. at the very least it can help u against anyone who tries to pk you. slvl 20 definately makes a difference in pvp (or pk threat). for that alone i'd raise it to slvl 20 instead of slvl 17.

there is quite a bit of debate as whether slvl 17 is the limit or if slvl 20 makes a difference.

but meh, just decide if u gonna do 17 or 20, it's not that much a difference or hardly harms your build anyways.

[Zelator]

Go for 20. 17 is max for those monster who have 0% cold res only, and most monsters got more than that in hell. The 3 points extra in CM (15% more -res) will help.

[Akse]

I have a 66 lvl orb firewall.. That firewall is damn useless tbh :)

[HegemonKhan]

usually (or at least for me) the point/reason for a dual (2) elem sorc, is to be able to do a full rush, which includes being able to do hell diablo, on your own (solo).

a cold (orb/bliz) sorc is the "best" build. keep reading for why that is (see below).

a cold (orb/bliz) sorc can fully rush (except hell trav and hell cs. see below for hell cs. info about hell cs also can be applied to dealing with the cold immune super unique council member in hell trav that u must kill to rush) and also kill most of d2's areas and monsters. u also have it's chill/frozen/shatter effect to help u too (unless dealing with cold immunes).

a cold (orb/bliz) sorc can completely clear hell cs except for oblivion lords (don't have to kill though for diablo) and the specific seal boss oblivion lord, seis (u DO have to kill for diablo).

the reason for the secondary elemental damage is for killing hell seis (or the hell trav super unique council member(s) who is(are) cold immune) since he's(they're) cold immune. this means a skill from the sorc's fire or lightning skill tree.

for using fire damage: firewall/meteor/fireball/(or even: enchant + weapon) + 1 pt static (lightning skill) (if seis or whoever isn't lightning immune)

for using lightning damage: nova/thunderstorm + 1 pt static

[fledgeling]

iewcce - could you please elaborate what do you plan to do with your sorc? PvM is in fact quite broad - do you plan to rush mules? Do you plan to do mephisto runs? Andariel? Or maybe diablo? Perhaps you want to "just play" - through all areas of the game?

***
Speaking of rushing, if you play classic Id recommend staying lord (= not killing diablo).

btw. Im ignorant about LOD - do the mules have to get rushed to act4, or finish act4 before the conversion?

[Krupa]

u have to rush them to act 3 hell. after that u can convert and the chars stay in hell

in my experience pure cold sorcs can have a hard time in nm cs with seis and will have in hell @ viper temple if the altar is crowded or in rashas tomb when the room is filled with cold immunes. at least one of that happened each rush i made...
so in my experience, one tree sorcs can´t rush solo without recreating games

[HegemonKhan]

it is true that some times u get cold immunes in nm (like seis in cs) or surrounding needed quest object/location (like the snake alter u mentioned),

but besides this,

(with the possible need to reset and make/join another game) cold sorcs can completely rush except for nm trav (i think the cold resistant one is always cold immune in nm, but i could be wrong), hell trav, and hell cs. so for a cold sorc to completely rush (solo'ly) they need lightning or fire spells to kill cold immune nm and hell trav council member and hell seis.

i forgot, is duriel cold immune? in nm ? in hell ?

[iewcce]

no endboss is immune.
My orb/firewall works great:) can rush to hell act3 without problem or new-game so far!

[Akse]

De seis is not a problem.. he is just 1 guy. Static and lightning can kill him easily. Those vipers on the other hand can be a problem sometimes.