My Blizzard-Fireball sorc build guide

[CloudStrife_xz]

Since you spend most of the time after a build is finished on MFing (rather then on questing and lvling), most of the monsters you'll fight will have high CR (e.g. Mephisto). The fastest way to do a meph run is to use the moat trick with Blizzard, leaving static out of the game.

Yet, while your Blizzard "rains blows of death on them", you'll notice it will mostly miss, because Blizzard hits moving targets much better.

True. It this situation GS is better.

True also when the monster that's walking towards you isn't "fire immune physical immune superunique".

Now ask yourselves, which situation is more likely to occur?

yeah hes absolutely right :thumbsup:

 

[spencerjrus]

glacial spike is not needed in this build imho.

 

[Zadokal]

Wewt this looks fun!! Ima try it. WHCL. If anyone wants to join me somewhere along the way /w *harry.p.ness. <----with the period.

I think Im gonna go with the original posters build, though with some CM thrown in somewhere. Also, Im gonna use an Act4 merc, cause Ive always wanted to try one out, and GS does what a HF merc would do.

 

[Rastaputin]

few comments stemming from my own experience (i've made 3 blizz sorcs). i found ice blast to be at best an annoying spell. it shoots out quite slowly and compared to fireball, does not cut it as a 'high damage spamming spell'. its bonus is that is freezes. glacial spike also does this, but does so collaterally. for me there was no choice - i either got a longer freeze length for glacial spike or higher damage for an annoying spell which was not needed. i can't understand an extra need for damage - a spamming spell with blizzard. blizzard does a ridiculous amount of damage coupled with cm. most enemies will be either fire or cold immune. for the cold immunes, fireball, for the fire immunes, spike and bliz.

 

[melianor]

few comments stemming from my own experience (i've made 3 blizz sorcs). i found ice blast to be at best an annoying spell. it shoots out quite slowly and compared to fireball, does not cut it as a 'high damage spamming spell'. its bonus is that is freezes. glacial spike also does this, but does so collaterally. for me there was no choice - i either got a longer freeze length for glacial spike or higher damage for an annoying spell which was not needed. i can't understand an extra need for damage - a spamming spell with blizzard. blizzard does a ridiculous amount of damage coupled with cm. most enemies will be either fire or cold immune. for the cold immunes, fireball, for the fire immunes, spike and bliz.

The main point about Iceblast i think is apart from the huge damage, that it freezes alot longer than Glacials spike. In hell Iceblast can freeze for 5 seconds with maxed synergies. I agree though, that with less FCR its pretty slow and even with decent FCR it cannot compare to the speed of FB or GS.

 

[himeji]

hey...with a build like this do you really get enough dmg with blizz and fireball to be okay soloing in hell against immues? i dont mean killing them in 1 hit but being able to kill them somewhat fast because if you only have 2 synergies for each of your main skills (blizz and fireball) then the dmg for fireball is only around 2k and the blizz dmg is about 2k also....is it really strong enough to mf and stuff?

I've built the following char from scratch, and she can hold her own pretty well in hell difficulty, although next time I would build otherwise: blizzard, ice blast, fire bolt, fire blast. Even with crappy gear, you dont have to worry about blizzard dmg (over 2k). I hardly use the synergy spell, and dumped extra points in cm. Now the dmg from fireball is somewhat disappointing (lvl 22, below 2k). +Skills from items might boost the fire dmg, but prolly meteor (as stated in the guide) gives more bang for invested points than the fire bolt syn. I need to spam several fireballs to kill a simple fi monster, sometimes I even skip them because it takes too long. Also, as said in one of previous posts, you don't need dexterity for blocking (only if you're playing a melee sorc). I did some meph runs in hell (with bo from friendly barb), only problem she had was with mana burn monsters. So dex is around 75 (still waiting for wizspike).

To guide writer, good job :thumbsup:

 

[cracked sash]

This build sounds really interesting, though I would be giving up orb (my favorite sorc skill). I tried the Meteorb build on my last sorc, and CL/FO before that, both rocked.

The low CM on this build worries me though, but maybe my Nightwings socketed with 5/5 cold facet will help out. I level all my characters to lvl 90, so I will have a few points to beef up CM as well. If I am going to use Nightwings there goes my full Tal set. Guess I will go HOTO, COH, Arachnid Mesh, Magefist, War Travs, and my dual fire faceted up'd Mosers. :thumbsup:

I wish I had a Deaths Fathom to max out Bliz. Thou someone on this thread said a weak Blizzard works well, we shall see.

My other 2 sorcs had max block, but maybe I should go all vitality this time.

-Sash

 

[wise_man]

few comments stemming from my own experience (i've made 3 blizz sorcs). i found ice blast to be at best an annoying spell. it shoots out quite slowly and compared to fireball, does not cut it as a 'high damage spamming spell'. its bonus is that is freezes. glacial spike also does this, but does so collaterally. for me there was no choice - i either got a longer freeze length for glacial spike or higher damage for an annoying spell which was not needed. i can't understand an extra need for damage - a spamming spell with blizzard. blizzard does a ridiculous amount of damage coupled with cm. most enemies will be either fire or cold immune. for the cold immunes, fireball, for the fire immunes, spike and bliz.

The fact that you made 3 blizz sorc explains exactly what mislead you.
In a blizz build Blizzard does more then enough damage.
In other, more balanced builds, It definitely needs a spamming spell in between Blizzards.
Since nothing comes for free, it is expected that since IB freezes enemy, its damage will be slightly less then Fireball. Combining freezing + its damage I'll take it over Fireball anytime.
The facts are right: Fireball is better at damage, GS is better at freezing.
The conclusion is wrong: Ice Blast is better because it combines the two (at the obvious cost of being a bit inferior in each).

 

[red_beard_neo]

Also, Im gonna use an Act4 merc, cause Ive always wanted to try one out, and GS does what a HF merc would do.

Yeah, good luck with that. Tell us how it turns out.

As for the build, does IB/GS really do enough extra damage against fire-immunes to make it worth ditching CM? Or does the cold become more of a "hold 'em up while the merc kills 'em" deal?

 

[Miladys-Knight]

Blizzard is a good killer. The GS is for packs of non-boss monsters it does decent damage and all frozen monsters shatter when they die. This means that they can't be resurrected. The build is complete early which means that you can put more points into cold mastery if the blizz isn't doing enough damage.

 

[knuckle_sammich]

For those of you that can afford it, a cold aura or defense aura merc from act 2 equipped with doom runeword would help bring down enemy defenses to cold.

Doom
Hel + Ohm + Um + Lo + Cham
Axes, Hammers & Polearms only

5% Chance To Cast Level 18 Volcano On Striking
Level 12 Holy Freeze Aura When Equipped
+2 To All Skills
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+330-370% Enhanced Damage (varies)
-(40-60)% To Enemy Cold Resistance (varies) <--- oh yeah!!
20% Deadly Strike
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
Freezes Target +3
Requirements -20%

 

[Zarhrezz]

For those of you that can afford it, a cold aura or defense aura merc from act 2 equipped with doom runeword would help bring down enemy defenses to cold.

Doom
Hel + Ohm + Um + Lo + Cham
Axes, Hammers & Polearms only

5% Chance To Cast Level 18 Volcano On Striking
Level 12 Holy Freeze Aura When Equipped
+2 To All Skills
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+330-370% Enhanced Damage (varies)
-(40-60)% To Enemy Cold Resistance (varies) <--- oh yeah!!
20% Deadly Strike
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
Freezes Target +3
Requirements -20%

Only for the cold damage done by the merc himself though.

 

[kookaroo113]

i have a stupid question

i got a stupid question....how the hell can something be immune to physical thats like saying im immune to being stabbed in the face...i know its kinda random but ive always wondered taht :scratch:

 

[wise_man]

i got a stupid question....how the hell can something be immune to physical thats like saying im immune to being stabbed in the face...i know its kinda random but ive always wondered taht

It's simple. All you have to do is use your imagination.

Think of a ghost. If you try to stab it in the face your hand will go right through it without hurting it.

Another example is Achiles. After being dipped in the river, he was immune to all physical damage, except in his ankle. He's face looks ordinar, and act ordinar, but if you try to stab it, your knife will stop at his skin, due to the blessing from his dip in the river.

 

[Jek]

It's simple. All you have to do is use your imagination.

Think of a ghost. If you try to stab it in the face your hand will go right through it without hurting it.

Another example is Achiles. After being dipped in the river, he was immune to all physical damage, except in his ankle. He's face looks ordinar, and act ordinar, but if you try to stab it, your knife will stop at his skin, due to the blessing from his dip in the river.

Or just think Superman. :lol:

just started my blizz/fireball on ladder.

 

[spartacvs]

Or just think Superman. :lol:

just started my blizz/fireball on ladder.

Tell us how it goes. BTW aren't you the guy who wrote a javazon guide?

To put my 2 cents, I will add a few comments.

As for the merc, I agree that the act2 merc is slow. But, I found the defiance one to be one that survive the better.
That lead me to another topic: dex. I, personnaly, avoid max block when I can but there is something to consider: the combination of block + defiance aura from your merc. That's why I decided to goal for like 50% block. That's enaugh to take a few hits while being able to stand the elemental attacks (with good resist of course).

I actually have a pure cold sorc on ladder. Purpose was to have a first char as mf and I know that, whatever the built, if you have absolutely crappy items, you're gonna have a hard time in hell. But being a one element only drive me to the same problem: cannot do hell. So I'm starting to think for my next built. Hammerdin, summoexploder or a dual sorc? There is many things to consider. What built? What spell I'd like to use? What items I can have and want to use? I don't really like the hammerdin (while I respect his power). For my part, I cannot stand the occy teleport and I'm too poor to afford a hoto runeword. So that leave me with tal set.

I'm pretty happy with my cold sorc right now and I thnink it was a good choice. My tactics are pretty much like the one of a hammerdin. Cast a storm, retreat, cast another one. As for the choice of GS over IB, I think GS is better and here's why. When I cast a storm, some monsters can get across it. So I finish them with IB. So blizz is the crowd control while IB is for a specific target. Another thing that hasn't been discussed is dmg/mana. IB is more effecetive in that matter. And the less point in energy, the more in vita.

meteord vs blizzball? It's a matter of preference. Orb is a better spell to cast in front of you while you move. And, that's what peoples say, orb is more powerfull if not fully synergised. But I prefer to cast a blizz, retreat, come back and cast another one on standing targets or taugh ones. I find that a better tactict than sitting there, cast my spells while I receive a load of attacks.

 

[izrafel]

Only for the cold damage done by the merc himself though.

DAMMMMN when i saw the doom runeword post i was quite excited... booo

 

[elias2]

...

For a build like this to work you need nice items...
Mainly because you need cm and cant afford to put allot of skills into it..
Unless its sp, then it would work fine...

+Skills.
2 helm
2 Amulet
1 armor
2 rings
3 wepond
0-1 shield
1 fire (gloves, rather use thes then frost and stack up on fireskillers)
1 Belt
-----------------------
12-13 is resneble amount of + skills. You need lvl 17 cm so you have to go with 4 cold skillers and rest fire or put 3-4 skills in cm and all fire skillers.
Moste important is to have a strong main attack and use the other one as backup/slow or you will be slower killing. Highest dmg comes from fire skills so they are probebly good main attacks. My first 1.10 character was pure fire sorc. Second was Fireball/orb sorc. I soloed hell with that sorc. Fronze orb made nice dmg but moste came from fireball... Havent played diablo2 since then but i think this was how i did it.

20 FO
1 CM
1 F Armor
Pre req cold: 5
20 firebolt
20 Fireball
20 firemastery
1 warmth
1 static
1 Telekinesis
1 teleport
------------
91 skills = lvl 80

At higher lvls you can get teleport or go with meteor but then you have to waste 3 points before getting to it. At lvl 99 you could get lvl 16 meteor.

And lvl a normal defencia merc. Youre def will be really nice with him. Also you wont have much use for HF merc because you allredy got FO. Mana shield was worhless when i used to play because resists and manashield dident work.

 

[spartacvs]

20 FO
1 CM
1 F Armor
Pre req cold: 5
20 firebolt
20 Fireball
20 firemastery
1 warmth
1 static
1 Telekinesis
1 teleport
------------
91 skills = lvl 80

Your built is like a meteorb except you made a "mistake". Should have maxed meteor rather than fireball. Fireball receive the same synergy % from either meteor or firebolt, And firebolt is useless in hell, unlike meteor.

Also, I never recommand to put a point in any armor. You should use a orb on your weapon switch. Furthernore, I think chilling armor is better so you save some points. Of course that doesn't work if you have mf equipment on the switch.

 

[spartacvs]

There's a mistake in my previous post.

Should have maxed meteor rather than fireball
should be replaced by
Should have maxed meteor rather than firebolt