Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

[Animation]

Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

All,

I remember fondly in the way way long ago times how much fun I had with a pre-1.10 Firewall / Frozen Orb sorc I used to have on the realms. I know that Firewall in particular took a hit with 1.10. Still, I'm wondering if it is viable in the 1.12a environment for single player PVE only.

Can a solo single player FW/FO sorc work?

I was thinking:

Firewall 20
Fire Mastery 15+
Frozen Orb 20
Cold Mastery 10+
Teleport 1+
Static Field 1+
Warmth 1
Pre-requisites 8

Str 60-70
Dex 2 points per level for high/max block
Vitality everything else
Energy at base with items (or will FO require some investment?)

Merc Act 2 NM Holy Freeze with (eventually) the elite thresher that cases Decrepify plus a Tal Rasha mask.

The reason I only put Fire Mastery at 15+ and Cold Mastery at 10+ is that I have some vaguely silly idea of also pumping Static up to 5 base, and pumping up Teleport to 10 base, so that it is 15-18 with +skill items. I also sorta want this character to be a power-rusher for other alts (I have 2 PCs on a LAN at home so I can rush my own characters).

But, SF and TP oddities aside, is this viable for a build? Is there any point?

Thanks,

Lewis

 

[MYK]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Firewall is cool, but not too many monsters tend to stand on the Firewall unless you can stop them in place with merc/cold spell. Seeing as in hell you'll probably use FO against everything no Cold Immune, Cold Immunes won't get stuck in place by Cold Spells.

Fireball is nice since you can spam it all over to hit things that may or may not be moving.

The other reason not too many pick the FW/FO sorceress is because it's stupid.
..Okay, okay, I'm kidding! Jeez! I didn't mean it.... The real reason is that both spells are on a timer. It sort of counter-acts the "rushing" aspect you're seeking.

Check out this post: http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6767321&postcount=7

And The Reapers Toll is pretty much my favorite mercenary weapon. So that's a good pick, of course.

 

[Animation]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Myk,

Thanks for the response!

I already happen to have a high level Fireball / FO / Meteor sorceress, as well as a high level Pure Blizzard sorceress. I can rush with them, but by "rush" I don't necessarily mean killing super fast (though thats fine). I mean being able to teleport-explore without eating a million mana potions. Most of my high level sorceresses have low base energy and "decent" but not great mana pools with items. It is plenty of mana to play, even on my Fireball sorc, but my mana pool gets crushed when I'm teleporting all over the map 50 times.

So, I kinda want a Sorceress that can kill in Normal and Nightmare "decently", but that can also teleport with almost no mana cost. I NEVER rush myself past Act 5 NM so the character doesn't really have to be viable in high levels. I guess since I picked my Blizzard-only sorceress through Hell, I could also opt to skip Firewall entirely and just make this character FO + TP.

I'd either do:

FO 20
CM 10
FW 20
FM 10
SF 10
TP 15
Warmth 1
Pre-reqs 8

OR I could just suck it up (in more ways than one I suppose) and go with:

FO 20
CM 15
TP 20
Static Field 15
Warmth 1
Pre-reqs 6

Oh well, I'll dwell on it!

Lewis

 

[MalVeauX]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Heya,

Firewall & Orb is completely viable. Old school. Anyhow, just keep glacial spike handy. Spam it and drop a FireWall under their frozen in place butts.

Alternatively, you could go with Hydras for more fun and do the same thing.

But FireWall is great for it's skill requirements. You don't even need maxed mastery. And neither does Orb. Leaves you plenty of wriggle room for your other skills. Especially if using a good set of gear with high skills (or just Tal rasha).

Cheers,

 

[EnerSense]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Fire Wall/Orb is viable. You just have to play differently than if you had fireball. If you like spamming spells then obviously this spell is not for you. You also need to 'aim' it properly. If you cast it in front or behind the sorceress, it will run East-West. If you cast it to the immediate left or right of the sorceress, it will run North-South. You can also use your merc as was mentioned to keep monsters in place. This is what I do:

1) Use teleport spell to bring merc close to you.

2) Merc runs towards monsters and melee monsters run toward merc.

3) When they clash, simply cast fire wall and the monsters become barbeque. The monsters forget that they are burning because the merc is attaking them.

4) Repeat

I actually learned that trick from sirpoopsalot. I've used firewall in my last three builds which are actually tri-elementalists. Now if you want it to be viable for 8 players, you should max FW/FM and have +skills.

 

[Animation]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Thanks for the additional replies!

Lewis

 

[MYK]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

If you don't need to go past nightmare, Teleport/Orb/Nova is an option.

 

[Socialism]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Endgame +skills will make teleport snazzily no-cost-esque at around 10-ish.

Static field is king in classic, but the only build I'd max it out for in LOD is an Enchant/SF/Firewaller.

Else, again, +skills are enough to keep it at 1 for me.

Orb/Teleport is a great build - with or without ES/TK. Check this.

 

[Animation]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Thanks!

Lewis

 

[lumpor]

Re: Viability of FW/FO Sorceress?

Never put a single point in energy

I would also leave teleport and static at 1

Max firewall, then orb, then fm, then cm. Rest in ice bolt

Since you don't benefit that much from both a might merc or a hf merc, you might want a cold a3 merc.

Of course, a3 mercs can't wield infinity or insight.

If you want your merc to wield insight, I strongly recommend a prayer merc.