Opinions Sought on Blizzballer and Cold Mastery
Greetings to the Collective,
I am reviewing my Blizzballer's skill placement as I have 4 skill points to spend. I visited Arreat Summit's Bestiary to look up monsters' Cold Resistances (CR), and did some number crunching. The monsters below are all from Hell WSK and Throne of Destruction, unless indicated otherwise.
0% CR
Horror Mage, Steel Scarab, Unholy Corpse, Pit/Venom Lord, Council Member, Serpent Magus, (Horror Mage, Invader, Plague Bearer)*, (Blood Maggot, Strangler, Maw Fiend)**, Storm Caster***.
20% CR
Zakarum Priest, Doom Knight***.
25% CR
Doom Knight, Storm Caster, Soul Killer.
33% CR
Black/Burning Soul, Undead Soul Killer, Fiend, Death Lord, Demon Sprite, Fire Boar, Embalmed*.
50% CR
Zakarum Zealot, Specter, Assailant, Cadaver, Unraveler, Horadrim Ancient, Black Lancer, Minion of Destruction, Fetid/Rancid Defiler, Hell Temptress, Pit Lord**, Venom Lord***, Baal.
75% CR
Warped One, Urdar**, Mephisto.
*Ancient Tunnels
**River of Flame
***Chaos Sanctuary
Please note that I play at /players8, so achieving optimum damage output is ideal and preferable. My Blizzballer currently does 4220 Blizzard (maxed) damage, 1193 Ice Blast (11 hard skill points) damage and 830 Glacial Spike (maxed) damage, with slvl 17 CM at -100% to enemy cold resistance. I have 4 skill points to spend, as below (all damage numbers are averages):
Plan A: Maintain current damage output and spend those 4 skill points in the fire tree instead.
Plan B: Spend 4 skill points in Ice Blast to increase its damage and synergise Blizzard.
Plan C: Spend 4 skill points in Cold Mastery to increase it to -120% to enemy cold resistance.
Plan D: Hypothetical, but please assume that it is possible. Take 1 skill point out of Ice Blast, and spend 5 skill points in Cold Mastery to increase it to -125% to enemy cold resistance.
Blizzard's damage output
Ice Blast's damage output
As you can see, Plan B will increase Ice Blast's and Blizzard's damages, but cold resistant monsters will take less damage. Plan C and Plan D will not increase the damage to non-cold resistant monsters, but cold resistant monsters will take more damage compared to Plan B. As for Plan A, it is there for reference; at clvl 99, I'll have another 4 skill points to invest in the fire tree.
I'm assuming that the info on Arreat Summit's Bestiary is correct. I'm almost certain on the path that I must take, but since more opinions can be helpful, I very much would welcome your input.
Greetings to the Collective,
I am reviewing my Blizzballer's skill placement as I have 4 skill points to spend. I visited Arreat Summit's Bestiary to look up monsters' Cold Resistances (CR), and did some number crunching. The monsters below are all from Hell WSK and Throne of Destruction, unless indicated otherwise.
0% CR
Horror Mage, Steel Scarab, Unholy Corpse, Pit/Venom Lord, Council Member, Serpent Magus, (Horror Mage, Invader, Plague Bearer)*, (Blood Maggot, Strangler, Maw Fiend)**, Storm Caster***.
20% CR
Zakarum Priest, Doom Knight***.
25% CR
Doom Knight, Storm Caster, Soul Killer.
33% CR
Black/Burning Soul, Undead Soul Killer, Fiend, Death Lord, Demon Sprite, Fire Boar, Embalmed*.
50% CR
Zakarum Zealot, Specter, Assailant, Cadaver, Unraveler, Horadrim Ancient, Black Lancer, Minion of Destruction, Fetid/Rancid Defiler, Hell Temptress, Pit Lord**, Venom Lord***, Baal.
75% CR
Warped One, Urdar**, Mephisto.
*Ancient Tunnels
**River of Flame
***Chaos Sanctuary
Please note that I play at /players8, so achieving optimum damage output is ideal and preferable. My Blizzballer currently does 4220 Blizzard (maxed) damage, 1193 Ice Blast (11 hard skill points) damage and 830 Glacial Spike (maxed) damage, with slvl 17 CM at -100% to enemy cold resistance. I have 4 skill points to spend, as below (all damage numbers are averages):
Plan A: Maintain current damage output and spend those 4 skill points in the fire tree instead.
Plan B: Spend 4 skill points in Ice Blast to increase its damage and synergise Blizzard.
Plan C: Spend 4 skill points in Cold Mastery to increase it to -120% to enemy cold resistance.
Plan D: Hypothetical, but please assume that it is possible. Take 1 skill point out of Ice Blast, and spend 5 skill points in Cold Mastery to increase it to -125% to enemy cold resistance.
Blizzard's damage output
Code:
Monster's cold resistance(%) 0 20 25 33 50 75
Plan A: 4220 damage, -100%CM 8440 7596 7385 7047 6330 5275
Plan B: 4545 damage, -100%CM 9090 8181 7954 7590 6818 5681
Plan C: 4220 damage, -120%CM 8440 8440 8229 7891 7174 6119
Plan D: 4139 damage, -125%CM 8278 8278 8278 7947 7243 6209
Ice Blast's damage output
Code:
Monster's cold resistance(%) 0 20 25 33 50 75
Plan A: 1193 damage, -100%CM 2386 2147 2088 1992 1790 1491
Plan B: 1562 damage, -100%CM 3124 2812 2734 2609 2343 1953
Plan C: 1193 damage, -120%CM 2386 2386 2326 2231 2028 1730
Plan D: 1105 damage, -125%CM 2210 2210 2210 2122 1934 1658
I'm assuming that the info on Arreat Summit's Bestiary is correct. I'm almost certain on the path that I must take, but since more opinions can be helpful, I very much would welcome your input.