This is not a topic about preference, this is about viability
I seriously do not get why people actually believe Frozen Orb is even good. I have no idea why it actually irritates me to no end the sheer stupidity and utter level of incompetence from people who try and rationalize using ORB.
It’s almost as if the people using orb are copy pasting what is on sites like maxroll/diablofans…etc all of which are garbage sites… hell I cannot ever find anything on maxroll. I digress. People like raxx and mrllamasc aren’t really being fair to their viewers.
If you’re going to make a cold Sorc then Blizzard is the proper build for that type of sorc and here are 6 basic reasons why.
Blizzard does more damage than frozen orb because it uses less skill points
Orb has only 1 Synergy where Blizzard has 3
Orb has to be done directly in front of enemies,blizzard can be done scattered and at a distance
Orb Only has 1 attack, blizzard has itself plus either glacial spike or Ice blast.
Blizzard can kill an entire horde with one casting, Orb requires multiple castings
Blizzard has Snowclash while orb has no dedicated belt
Frozen Orb is a good alternative/spam element attack for a Fire Ball/Meteor sorc. It still packs a hell of a punch if you can get it to explode right on top of an enemy.
I’ve been playing a dual element Blizzard/Hydra sorc, and she’s doing well.
You might be right, but is it not the case that monsters that stand still inside a Blizzard, can occasionally not get hit at all?
I seem to recall seeing this happening a few times, although of course the Sorceress can just repeatedly cast Blizzard and sooner or later everything’s going to get hit… right?
Frozen Orb is incredible in Nightmare difficulty I use it to get through Nightmare almost every time I make sorc. It’s also a great secondary attack for a Tal Rasha Meteor/Fireball/Frozen Orb build (MeteOrb or Orballer). Above all else though Frozen Orb is just a cool/awesome spell that’s why people like it even if it’s not the best or even kinda sucks (though I imagine an endgame build using a Cold Sunder with things like Death’s Fathom and Nightwings Veil could make a pure/focused Frozen Orb build pretty strong)
Blizzard can accessed 6 levels before orb not too mention the total synergies which jack up it’s damage even further so there is no possible way anyone can seriously say Orb is better than Blizzard in that regard and anyone waiting 6 levels in NM to use ORB over blizzard is delusional.
There is a way to aim Blizzard so enemies can’t dodge it, and they get taken out far faster by casting blizzard almost off screen
6 levels is nothing. I’m normally not even using spells from level 1-42, or if I am it’s like Warmth Static Field Teleport Enchant type stuff, or Fireball maybe. So now you’re level 42 after rushing and baal runs, and sure you could go blizzard, I have nothing against blizzard I’ve used it plenty too. And with that said, yes Frozen Orb in nightmare is what I do. If you prefer to use blizzard, go ahead. But I’m not delusional.
So, I take it you’ve never blasted through Nightmare with Frozen Orb then? It’s one of the most viable things there is. Far better than Blizzard. Blizzard is for endgame stuff. Sure it does okay while leveling and in Nightmare, but Frozen Orb is superior there. Better efficiency, better coverage, more kills, more XP, faster
Frozen orb is only 40 point investment. It might not hit as hard as blizzard but I appreciate that you can mix it with spells of other elements, and it’s quite powerful for only 40 points.
Orb is for NM only, on Hell FOrb is good only with DF-Ormus-NW combo on /p1-2 max, but generaly not worth cuz with the same combo Blizz is 10x stronger and has IBlast and ez own /p3+
Generaly hyb Sor is good only on very high lvl and with good gear and on /p1
There are sunder charms so hybrid builds are totaly useless in D2R, also better just skip some mobs than go ~40-50% dmg hyb.
I play frozen orb/es build for 20+ years and you are wrong. Frozen orb build is one of the best in my opinion. Can be extremely durable build and it kill bosses well. Yes, its not good for farming solo on high player setting, but you dont need that to play the game and farm items.
Except it doesnt, blizzard builds are using a lot skill points most of the time. A lot more than orb. Thats why orb build can comfortably invest in telekinesis and ES.
You just provided counter argument to you own first point .
Orb need more skill to land perfectly, if it hits boss in right way,it can do a lot more dmg than orb from unskilled player. Blizzard on other hand is great for big group of enemies but kind of suck at killing solo targets because hit mechanic of blizz is not very reliable.
Which is advantage for orb as you dont have to use more dmg skill to help blizzard. Using skills as a lot more comfortable fir irb build as you dont need to switch between teleport/blizzard/ica blast/glacial strike all the time.
It depends. If you are not on high player setting yes. If not, orb actuaky cover more space with dmg and kills groups easier.
I find that it’s much easier to kill nihlathak with frozen orb than with blizzard. He stands in 1 spot and blizzard rarely hits him. But frozen orb easily hits him.
Ofcourse blizzard is overall better but FO has its uses. 20 hard points in FO + 17 (or a little more) soft points in mastery is the best value complimentary skill for a multi-element sorc. I 2-shot most non-cold immunes with it (that i care about) after static up to players 4-5.
Honestly i’d rather people keep being ignorant about it because i farm nihlathak keys super easy as my poor ash meteorb sorc and exchange them at a nice rate to other keys.
Isn’t it great that we can come together and share our opinions of this game?
Never mind the tendency of us clashing with each other… After all this game we enjoy kind of makes us do that anyway. MY OPINION IS BETTER THAN YOURS!!!11!!1 RAWR!!!
I wasn’t much interested in daytrading. I did manage to get a barb able to take on the ubers at 4 players, max difficulty/monster power through trading and finds. He was a beast (on a budget).
Then loot 2.0/RoS came out, and my gear was instantly rendered garbage.
Frozen Orb is fine. Has massive AoE and hits a lot better than Blizzard that misses targets. Damage is lower sure but it has other advantages. Works great as hybrid build with Fire skills.
I’d like Blizzard to cover its area better at the cost of damage. Clear speed would probably be the same if it hits all targets with less damage but it would be nicer to use.
Anyway there are a lot worse balance issues in D2 like melee and bow builds and no, Mosaic isn’t a solution.
Maybe Im different or special, but I think early patches were the best, before Ubers Inferno was a real challenge and I have tons of fun with AH and multiboxing few CM Wizzs :]
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