So, its been… too long. Like 18 years or something. Remember farming Mephruns and whatnot with an Orb-sorc. Decided to make that my first character cuase nopstalgia.
Im currently in NM act 1 and I have just made my second respec away from Blizzard and into Orb as I hit lvl 30. I have a vague memory of me hating Blizzard with a passion and I still see ppl loving the blizzard build. So here I am trying to find out of I missed something. Why is it even a thing?
Let me just tell you, I now understand wny I hated Blizzard. It feels like a hit or miss. Almost like its bugged cause sometimes it feels like mobs are locked out of its effects. They can sit in it and wont be affected even if I recast (no its not immunity). It seem to happen alot more when there is a slight elevation or of they are standing on steps. It Can happen anytime and anywhere though.
Aside from that which feel like an actual bug the spell is just soooo slow.
Blizzard doesn’t have the downside of having its shards eaten up like Frozen Orb does.
Even if its lower than DPS at full gear it hits very hard while your gearing, does a ton of aoe damage, provides crowd control, and is very safe from a distance unlike orb which is close-mid range.
Orb is great and an extremely high damage build but Blizzard is just so easy to play it’s hard to not be “strong”.
Thats the thing though. So many mobs that are not even affected by Blizzard and the fact that its slower… I mean I find myself much much safer with Orb while lvling. Everything went smoother as soon as I switched over to Orb.
That the shards might get “eaten” I can accept but thats not much of an issue I think. Maybe because things die so much faster now after I switched.
So, are you saying that I am the only one that is noticing the “glitchyness” of Blizzard?
No, but when you use it enough you just get use to the way it works.
It’s like when people say “Druids and Paladins are not good starting characters because Tornadoes and Hammers are difficult to aim” but nobody who’s put in 50+ hours has that same opinion.
Blizzard definitely has an issue with movement on your target but you don’t really experience that often in Chaos Sanctuary / Baal / Most bosses where everything wants to run you down or Mephisto farming where he’s very fidgety and tends to get himself hit despite the targeting weirdness.
Try leading enemies through your Blizzard (if you ever go back) instead of dropping it on them. It should help with the shards just flat out missing.
I found this and thought you might find it helpful. They include some images with how Blizzards targeting works and I thought maybe it would help you decide between the two a little easier.
He really did but I honestly understood Frozen orb to be better for damage as long as I played the expansion before the remaster. Seeing it presented like this is actually really refreshing to see Blizzard comparable and coming out ahead.
I’ve always played Blizzard / Fireball / Nova for PvP and Meteor/Hydra/Orb/Lightning I passed over a lot and just understood them to be " PvM builds "
Well if you hit 96, and get infinity, you can drop all but 1 point in cold mastery and use both orb and blizzard with ice blast or glacial spike support!
i notice the problems of blizzard not hitting some of the targets right below it. it is yet another thing they need to fix and address but i still feel in the long run while MF and gearing blizzard is more powerful and safer to play until Endgame bosses and BiS gear loadouts
Blizzard is a dot skill. Dot skills never feel as good as direct damage skills. Yes its quirky but it kind of wrecks as well. Try not name-locking mobs and aim at their feet it works most of the time.
but I honestly understood Frozen orb to be better for damage as long as I played the expansion before the remaster. Seeing it presented like this is actually really refreshing to see Blizzard comparable and coming out ahead.