What Sorc build for PvM

[vmxa]

Thinking about doing a Sorc and I am not finding a clear picture for PvM. Any guides for some good builds for 1.10? I have seen a few, but it is not clear which makes more sense for a serious killer.

[Zingydex]

Fire/cold is my usual build; 20 points in Frozen Orb plus a pumped-up fire skill of some kind. Lightning is tougher to work with due to its wildly inconsistent damage, and single-tree sorcs will be crushed somewhere along the line in hell.

I'll leave recommendations on published guides to people who've read a lot of them. Personally, I like the following framework:

20 Orb
1+ Cold Mastery
10-20 Warmth
1+ Static Field
1 Teleport

... plus prerequisites. Many players advocate going with less Warmth, but I detest being a slave to the bottle, so to speak. With a beefed-up Warmth, you can sling Orbs around without sucking down blues every few seconds.

As for fire spells, that's up to you. I've seen Fire Ball, Meteor, Fire Wall, Hydra ... it depends on what you're comfortable with. If you want to spam something, go with Fire Ball. If you prefer to hide out and snipe (like me) Hydra is right up your alley. If you're confident your merc and your Orb can keep the monsters more or less in place, Meteor and Fire Wall can destroy them. It's all about play style.

[vmxa]

I am interested in that combo, but I am trying to find out some more about blizzard before I chose.

I played Wolf/Barb/Necro through Hell and found the Necro did not do enough damage, so I want to get a Sorc that will be able to kill well as it goes along.

[hexisle]

I am interested in that combo, but I am trying to find out some more about blizzard before I chose.

I played Wolf/Barb/Necro through Hell and found the Necro did not do enough damage, so I want to get a Sorc that will be able to kill well as it goes along.
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If you are going to do a lot of Baal/Meph runs I would recomend meteor/orb sorc.

20 Orb
20 Meteor
20 Fireball
20 Fire mastery
Enough points in cold mastery to lower cold resistance (dont forget +skill points count)
1 Static
1 Teleport
and all pre reqs

This build was the first build I used on ladder. She is now lvl 84 and is running meph full time to try and outfit my other characters.

Hope this helps

[vmxa]

Does the Orb allow some form of damage other than fire? IOW what do you do when you run into fire immunes in Hell?

[lfd]

Does the Orb allow some form of damage other than fire? IOW what do you do when you run into fire immunes in Hell?
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Er, yes. Frozen Orb, as the name suggests, is a cold skill, and as such deals cold damage rather than fire damage. This information is available in the skill trees and by hovering your mouse pointer over the frozen orb skill icon.

[Zingydex]

I am interested in that combo, but I am trying to find out some more about blizzard before I chose.

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Blizzard is of little use unless heavily synergized, which rules out a second element - which in turn rules out soloing.

[vmxa]

Blizzard is of little use unless heavily synergized, which rules out a second element - which in turn rules out soloing.
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That is what I was wndering, so many combo around. CL/FO is another one that seems to offer a bit of fun.

[hexisle]

That is what I was wndering, so many combo around. CL/FO is another one that seems to offer a bit of fun.
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Chain Lightning is always fun :w00t:

Lightning damage can be a bit erratic though. Frozen orb/Fireball is a winner with enough fast cast.

[vmxa]

I still have not found any guides or recommendtions for Meteor? I seen a lot of post saying they are very powerful, did they fall out of favor with 1.10? If so why?

[Zingydex]

Meteor does pack a big wallop (not to mention the burning patch it leaves behind), but it can be tricky to aim, since it impacts a couple seconds after you click the mouse. Hence you need to predict where a monster will be before you fire it off.

Fireball, with comparable damage, is much easier to hit with and lacks Meteor's spell timer. Therefore, with the lazy, maximum-damage-with-minimum-effort mentality of a lot of D2 players these days, it has become the preferred weapon for many fire sorcs.

[hexisle]

Therefore, with the lazy, maximum-damage-with-minimum-effort mentality of a lot of D2 players these days, it has become the preferred weapon for many fire sorcs.
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A fully synergised meteor is brilliant for meph runs. you can drop 12k burning rocks on his head from across the moat and he cant do a thing about it.

In my experience most people use meteor for PvM sorcs and, the much easier to use, fireball for PvP. The only difference when creating your sorc is that meteor sorcs go for fire mastery, fireball and meteor maxed. While fireball sorcs go firebolt, fireball and meteor.

Hope that helps :)

[vmxa]

Thanks all.

[vmxa]

I never found any guides for 1.10 on fire and I am at level 14 now. I am going with FO and Hydra.

I don't know how it will work out, but it should be something different from what Ihave done so far. A few of the useful spells will not be available without some item giving it, such as teleport or static. I have a stave with telekinisis.

[Sirbub]

Hey Vmxa

Here is a light sorc guide I found you may like,its the one I am going with and I kinda like her. I know its not fire but worth looking at.

http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=563

Sirbub

[Zingydex]

I never found any guides for 1.10 on fire and I am at level 14 now. I am going with FO and Hydra.

I don't know how it will work out, but it should be something different from what Ihave done so far. A few of the useful spells will not be available without some item giving it, such as teleport or static. I have a stave with telekinisis.
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Being a hydra/orb man myself, I'll give you props for that choice. Nothing quite like killing ranged monsters from around a corner while they unload their preferred attack on the wall. ;)

It's simple enough to drop the three points into the lightning tree it takes to get static and teleport if you so desire.

[vmxa]

I like that sites guides and I had looked at all 5 they had posted. I was leaning towards the CL/FO at first.

I decided that I was not to confident about avoiding being toe to toe much and I was not sure about being able to manage those spells in tight spots with little room to move.

So I figured being able to cast hydra would allow me some leeway, maybe.

Right now I am sitting on nearly all my skill points at level 16. I have not used many only one in Fire Bolt and Fire Ball and one in Ice Bolt and one in warmth. I have a super staff that has +2 for ice bolt, telek and 2 sockets.

I just switched to Def merc in Lut. So I am not sure if I should continue to sit on points or pump the FB or what. So long as I can get by without choosing, I will.

It was so much easier to use the werewolf, sigh. After just doing a Necro, I miss my wolf and barb and not having to worry about wading in.

[south]

Hi just a few words late :)
-Lightning takes too much mana to use, but you could use a prayer merc + insight polearm, I unretired my lightning sorc after the new runewords.
-To solo effectively you need a good merc for 2 purposes first hold the crowds in place while you pummel them, second kill off dual inmune bosses.

[vmxa]

Yup a good merc to get some meat between you and the other(s) is a good thing.

I used Blizzard on Diablo and did mostly hit and run, so it is off to Act V and soon to get my FO.

[vmxa]

So as to not be one of those that never follows up, here is my status.

Switched to Holy Freeze merc in Act II of NM, no real reason, but it seemed as good as any and may slow down a few cold immunes in Hell.

Finished Act II in NM so far at level 53. FO is so powerful. I have not run into many immunes, but I know they are coming later. One had Fire and Cold immune, where those are my two trees. I had a level 2 CL item, so I used it. Oh it was the worm in the Maggot Lair.

This character has so far been even easier than the Druid, much better than my Necro and Barb.

I have rarely used Hydra and I may have made a poor choice there, but I am not sure I would have been happier with Meteor. Fireball was very good through all of Normal mode.