Hardcore Frozen Orb/Fire Ball Sorceress; Socialism’s “Orb-it-aller”

[Geelo the librarian]

Okay, so I just started the game on NM after finishing p8 Normal at level 49, and i've been having tons of fun so far...but I am considering switching out my Defiance merc for a Holy Freeze one. The reason for this is that I also have a Druid in latter stages of NM, and Hurricane is turning out to be nigh useless due to the sheer amount of cold immunes.

Since I won't be going for max block, i feel that slowing down enemies is somewhat crucial...more cruical than having an enormous defense bonus and STILL being hit everytime an enemy gets too close. Do you think I should stay with my Defiance merc or would HF be better suited, especially since I don't teleport all that much yet? (mana pool still too low to be jumping around the place everytime a horde comes along)

[jackthelad]

Okay, so I just started the game on NM after finishing p8 Normal at level 49, and i've been having tons of fun so far...but I am considering switching out my Defiance merc for a Holy Freeze one. The reason for this is that I also have a Druid in latter stages of NM, and Hurricane is turning out to be nigh useless due to the sheer amount of cold immunes.

Since I won't be going for max block, i feel that slowing down enemies is somewhat crucial...more cruical than having an enormous defense bonus and STILL being hit everytime an enemy gets too close. Do you think I should stay with my Defiance merc or would HF be better suited, especially since I don't teleport all that much yet? (mana pool still too low to be jumping around the place everytime a horde comes along)

Your defence should be so low that defiance wont really make too much difference.... I would swap out for HF, as it will chill everything (including cold immunes), making it invaluable in hell. Pop him a nice 'Insight' for the mana regen aura (I forget its name) & you will also never need to worry about mana again.

As to the build: Why max firebolt & not meteor? I am in work atm, but as I remember they both give +14%/lvl fire dmg to FB dont they? & the meteor at lvl20 makes a very usefull high dmg third spell, also if your merc is in a doorway poking at one enemy, while 7 or 8 line up behind the first monster (happens to me a lot on countess runs), setting the ground on fire just in front of him for 10 secs at a time for 1k/sec fire dmg is very handy. All these figures are off the top of my head as I said, but am just curious as to the advantages of bolt over meteor?

[quangbang]

how should my stats look like without all the extra +'s

[MrGohl]

So..this build looks great on paper, and Socialism talks about getting bored with it because its so overpowered. I want to believe him, and he didn't steer me wrong with the Budget Teleporting MF Hardcore Sorc, so I have faith. But.....

At what point am I going to start feeling overpowered? The TalRasha's set looks great, but what do you wear until you get that purple set of goodness? I ask because I'm struggling to do WSK runs at the moment. And I have to think its because of 1 of 3 reasons:

1. I'm not wearing the right gear (dont have the Tal Rasha set yet, only orb and belt so far)

2. I'm too low a level (level 76)

3. Tactics could be wrong? (kind of doubt its this, because as Socialism mentioned..you just point and shoot orb/fireball in a straight line)

Its the gloams? that give me the most problems, which I'm sure is no surprise. I've almost died many times to the alpha strike lightning coming at me, and only by ducking around the corner and quaffing potions have I survived so far. Its only a matter of time now before I die to them if I dont change something.

My skills so far:
Firebolt - 19(24)
Fireball - 20(25)
Froz Orb - 20(24)
Cold Mastery - 12(16)
Ice Bolt - 1(5)
Gear:
+26 res all circlet(Ptopaz)
Skin of the Vipermagi(Ptopaz)
Spirit sword
Visceratuant (PDiamond)
Magefist
Natalya's Boots
Amulet: +19 res all, 27 to MF
Ring: Cold res 19, Light res 24
Ring: 10% FCR, Light res 23
Belt: rare with 17% FHR, Fire res 23

Merc has Insight, Blackthorns face (shael), and Duress

So that gives me 75 res to fire, cold, light and about 615 life (low prob?) with 90 FCR and 72 FHR.

Should I wear a Blackthorns face myself for some lightning absorb and add some resistance charms to make up for losing the +26 all circlet? Or should I just level up to 85 before going into WSK? Leveling up would raise my Ice Bolt up 9 or 10 skill levels but thats about it. Or is my life pool too low to dance with the lightning gloams?

Bottom line, am I expecting too much, too soon, or is this build only "really good" when you get the full Tal Rasha's set going? Thanks,

-MrGohl

[jackthelad]

WSK in hell? Even with full tals at lvl85+, gloams will make short work of you if you try to tank them. Teleport away from them as fast as possible.

[MrGohl]

Jackthelad,

So I cant expect to clear all of WSK in hell mode when there are gloams present? My goal isn't just to get to Baal, I'd like to be able to clear the WSK to get all the boss packs along the way, and baal is the icing on the cake. Are you suggesting to 'reroll' the wsk until i dont get gloams present? Don't the terrorists win then?

I dont want to "tank" the gloams necessarily...just survive them and kill them . My next thought is to maybe to countess and pit runs to level up a bit, maybe get some better gear that way? I tried hell cows, and I cant really kill them fast enough yet :(

-MrGohl

[jackthelad]

You will kill them, but you will have to tele/cast frozen orb/tele/cast FO/tele/FO in their general direction until they are dead. My FO is at lvl26 with full tals, & it is as good as it is going to get without skillers & switching gear, which I dont intend to do. The pits is a lvl85 area, so you can get 99% of the best items in the game from running the pits, & I have been doing since lvl75 ish with relative ease (countess too).

[MrGohl]

Thanks Jack!

So really what youre saying is, it WAS my tactics, not so much my lack of gear or level? The FO doesn't reach the gloams across the screen, so youre saying to teleport towards them, FO, and then back right?

-MrGohl

[jackthelad]

Not so much in & back, as the lightning will reach across a long way, more circle the screen/gloam pack while spamming FO. If you end up with a pack of cold immunes on the same screen then it will be very hard, as you will have to spam FO at the gloams, & also try to send off a fb or 3 at the cold immunes too. Generally, if you want speed in your mf runs, then yes- quit & re-roll so you dont get any gloams. Harsh but true.

[amdZeroNineEight]

meteor also shreds hell meph, or anyone whos busy not paying attention

i like this build, the first one i made wasnt great as it had too much str [156 hard points]
i remade it, and it works well for rushing and general pvm