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I am going to be creating a Cold Sorcie for team play (No summoners in the party, so I needn't worry about corpses), and I will be using Blizzard, one of the armors, and either Ice Blast of Glacial Spike. I would like to know two things. First, does the chilling radius of Glacial Spike just chill, or does it do damage as well? Second, which one would you use and why? I know that I am not using Frozen Orb, and I am planning on keeping it that way. Blizzard should be enough crowd control on its own anyway, IMO.
<span style="color:red">Now lounging in the Amazon Basin.
I don't have a straight answer for you, but here are some numbers to help other people answer:
slvl 20 Glacial Spike, with Blizzard (synergy) at slvl 20 does 225-242 damage over a radius of 2.6.
slvl 20 Ice Blast with Blizzard at slvl 20 does 657-692 damage to one target.
Glacial Spike does damage to every monster it freezes.
If I was making a cold Sorc, I probably wouldn't use an armor. Instead, I would max out Blizz, Ice Blast, Glacial Spike, and Cold Mastery (remaining points in Ice Bolt). Just don't get hit! That's what teleport is for.
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Quote:I would like to know two things. First, does the chilling radius of Glacial Spike just chill, or does it do damage as well?
The splash radius of GS
freezes opponents as well as doing damage.
Quote:Second, which one would you use and why?
Well, Iceblast is much more mana efficient for single opponents, and the freeze duration is much longer(IIRC). GS affects a decent sized radius though. It's a tough call. Myself, I'd go for GS, as it's much better for shutting down bad boss packs all at once. Just keep spamming it, and the monsters may never move(except the leader of course). I think it's better for a party, as a helping the tanks kind of spell.
If I was playing solo alot though, I would use Iceblast, as it is more damage for my mana vs act bosses/individual leaders. Packs I can break up with good tactics when solo, but sometimes party members could use the extra help of an area affect freeze.
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At lev 20 a single-synergy Blizzard will do ~ 1.2k damage/shard. There is your "damage for buck". GS can freeze crowds, saving grace a lot of times.
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My Blizzard Sorc focused on maxing Ice Blast first and got most of that done before I got Blizzard. Blizzard is second and takes advantage of the synergies both ways. Only focus on Glacial Spike after that.
The problem is that Blizzard ony gives a slightly longer freeze time to Glacial Spike (about 60% total when maxed) and not damage. That means that when spamming Glacial Spike you'd be spending a lot more mana for a lot less damage.
Glacial Spike really comes into its own when you're about level 65 and it's almost maxxed. Then you're doing about 2/3 the damage of Ice Blast, but can spread the damage a cross a group of enemies.
YMMV as always, but good luck and let us know how it goes.
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