First time poster so go easy please. 
I had a few questions concerning the latest orb changes and I also wanted some input from the regular sorc players on a few pro’s and con’s of how I was thinking of playing it versus all the build videos out there from numerous streamers/content creators.
1-2H staff. Why is this not even an option?
I used one on the PTR with a greater AS roll and it hit like a truck in comparison to the wand/focus setup I was using. Sure, I get that it is a little slower overall but what are the biggest cons here with the latest changes?
Also, for those thinking about using a staff setup, why wouldn’t we be using the frozen orbit aspect on this slot specifically for the 120% increase? The only option I have seen discussed is the dual barrier option increases on the wand-focus setup. This is where the regular sorc input comes in…wouldn’t 120% frozen orb damage outclass 55% barrier even based on the slower staff attack speed?
2-Iceheart Brais. Everywhere, everyone says Tibault’s. Absolutely, fantastic pants that synergizes well but has anyone seriously tested the Iceheart Brais pants for the consistent vulnerable procs from nova? Aren’t they a lot closer in power than some people think? Am I off base here? Pro’s and cons here?
3-Enchantment master node. Considering what this build does and how it operates, why is this node not taken by anyone? Is it additive damage now or something? If it isn’t, wouldn’t it be worth grabbing over taking say, tactician on another board? I definitely understand that it is out of the way but thoughts here would be appreciated.
4-Harlequin/Starless. Shouldn’t these be absolutely BiS? I did not hear these mentioned for end game use. Maybe they might be on some build guides later once the season gets moving but I did not hear a single mention of these 2 items specifically for end game. Secondly, would you run Starless in place of Tal Rasha or would you run it with it? Thoughts here would also be appreciated.
5-Esu’s vs Flickersteps. I suppose maybe aside from higher end pit runs, why are Flickersteps not mentioned as BiS for speed runs, NMD’s and Helltides? I do plan on using unstable currents to gain that extra 25% attack speed, FYI. Pro’s and cons here?
I look forward to having an excellent discussion and hopefully learning some new things since I normally do not play the class on the regular.
Thank you for your time!
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1- Best Frozen orb build need the Unique Amulet Fractured Winter Glass which will randomly spawn a conjuration. Each conjuration will give you a Conjuration mastery which can scale indefinitely and give you lot of damage as one stack = 6% damage. If you use this build, is better to use Wand for higher attack speed as more conjuration will spawn with higher speed but you need to have enough mana regen or mana cost reduction to sustain your attack rate.
2-Iceheart Brais is suitable for Frost Nova/Ice shard build but this will get nerfed in S4 with smaller size. Frozen orb build focus on kill your enemy not freeze them with high dps, so Tibault will could be better or just normal pant with Everliving aspect for difficult content.
3- Enchantment master increase the effect of all your enchantment to 20%. It depends on the effect, it mostly use for TP enchantment fresh farm build as it shorten the cool down of evade TP. If you put frozen orb, I think the effect will be 40% x 20% Frozen orb spawn = 48%. Dont use it on fire bolt enchantment for Devouring blaze as this has no benefit.
4- Harlequin is best in slot for +Skill rank and damage reduction, but its cooldown is worse than Legendary helm with greater affix unless you so lucky to get a new Shakro roll on GA of cooldown or maximum life. You wont find it mention in Maxroll guide as they assume most of us not having Uber Unique. In PTR many use Concussive Strikes Aspect on helm for 20% damage if they cant find Shakro. But this depends on lucky hit and not work on Boss until you stagger him. Starless sky is good with the 40% multiplicative damage and resource cost reduction but it has a low stat. I still need to test whether a normal ring with conceited but roll with max attack speed and resource generation Greater affix will be better than this Uber. Will let the dummie tell me the answer. Frozen Orb with Winter Glass build scale with attack speed and mana regeneration / cost reduction.
5- Esu is good for critical chance, but some may use Flickersteps for Winter glass Frozen orb build with Unstable Currents to refresh the ult. Unstable Currents is the best ult for Winter Glass build as it increase your attack speed also the number of conjuration masteru. I have not tested how many extra conjuration mastery can spawn with this Ult, but it is safer to use Esu as critical strike give you 50% damage. In higher tier PIT I think players may use boots Exploiter Aspect as the monster HP get higher and they will become Unstoppable before you can kill them, Exploiter give you 40% damage.
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Thank you Macro for the welcome!
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My plan was to use this aspect on a 2H setup. One of the videos did mention that the FW would not proc off the second cast now but would off the first. Was more or less looking for confirmation of that.
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More fun is what I am after but bossing will be quite important too. Fair assessment on Tibault’s then. Correct on Starless as well. My original thoughts were 2 slots of mana regen and quite possibly just the one roll if Starless was acquired. Might just have to start with 2 as a safeguard. Thank you for your input on that.
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Fair enough. My plan was to run with enchantment master and try and stretch for the main 6 boards this build has to use.
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So very true. Especially to the people that may not play the game a lot.
Interesting take and noted on using both uniques together. I guess I will try that out once that time comes.
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In PTR, I was using the Flickers with Raiment and even on tier 80, it was a cakewalk. I assume with the DPS nerf overall to the build that we would have to fully play at range instead. This is valuable information and thank you for spelling that out in the way you did.
You are 100% on my thought path here. I am planning on using the teleport enchantment for the easier content and firebolt for the heavier pit runs alongside the frozen orb enchantment. At what level? I do not quite know yet…guess I will see where I might have to make that switch.
Again, thank you! Big help!
Hello,
1 - Don´t use staff at all because I loose 1 aspect with a damage multiplier. I always use wand (for increased luck hit) and the off hand gear. Its a very personal choice.
2 - I tried Iceheart Brains but I didn´t like it. Tibault Will will be severely nerfed in season4. Anyway I don´t use it in my sorc. I prefer the Temerity to keep a barrier 100% up and use both StormWell and Conceited Aspects imprinted somewhere. I need the barrier as additional protection because I don´t use any Sorc Shields. I prefer keep everything under Crowd Control using Blizzard + Ice Spikes for high dmg and freezes, Meteor with stun option, Frost Nova for freezes and Lighting spear with stun option.
3 - I use Enchantment master in my build but I guess its addictive. Not clear to me yet.
4 - I always use the Esu´s boots because I don´t use any ultimate skill but If you are going to use one, the best in slot is the FlickerStep for fast ultimate CD decrease or even reset if you evade through a group of mobs.
Well I am not recommending anything but just explaining how I use CC in my favor instead of Sorcerer shields.
I am using FO since the start of S3 to make everything vulnerable with blizzard + ice spikes + fireball and Chain Lighting + fire bolt in enchantments and it works perfectly, triggers the 45% of tal rasha with zero effort. I can do all contents with easy including solo world boss in less than 4 minutes, Duriel in less than 2 minutes. All good for me as i am not 1 billion damage fan. I played the PTR and works even better because the new unique amulet and the new itemization (at least in the PTR) scales much higher than the current system. The only content I don’t do hard is the Gauntlet. I am just a game player not a competitor ;).
Anyway, everything is a very personal choice. My build requires a very dynamic playing style as it requires to keep everything under CC as many time as possible. I play NMD 100 with only 6K armor and barely die. I don´t need to cap because controlled mobs don´t hurt you.
Just wanted to say thanks to Olive and Macro, I did input a few of your suggestions and with the mid-way point of the season coming up, I am glad to announce the build was a smashing success. Did a 112 pit last night and can definitely push higher with my weird and off the wall FO build.
About the only thing I did not go ahead with was the staff set up. It was just too hard to give up the extra aspect and even with a very high attack speed, it did affect pit levels and their completion time.
Enchantment Master was a huge win. Fully recommend going out of your way for this node.
2H staff was a small loss but not by a lot.
Tibault’s over Iceheart for pit runs was a must but I do very much prefer the Iceheart’s for everything else.
Harlequin was not required, believe it or not. Maybe in the 120+ range it would be but I thought for sure I would need the +4 to all skills and especially the CDR. It is nice but I achieved my best runs without it. I even have a fully masterworked Harlequin which my rogue is using…
Esu’s over Flickers for pits. It is in every sorc’s best interests to stay the hell away from bosses altogether and play at max range. Outside of that, I have had zero issues keeping my Unstable ultimate available for when I really need it. I was a little surprised by this but I am glad it worked out the way it did and I was able to get my cooldowns in a really good spot where I am able to keep my shields alternating pretty well during nasty packs and bosses.
I am a little disappointed in not finding a lot of 2 or 3 GA’s that are usable but thankfully we still have half the season to go.
Thanks again!
- 2h is an option. Most people don’t because they either want to get Tal Rasha’s 4th stack, which means putting a Poison or Shadow Temper on their weapon, and they don’t want to giveup the Chance to cast extra Frozen Orbs for that, so they compromise one temper each on wand and focus. The other problem is attack speed, you need to be attacking a certain number of times to proc enough Conjurations from Winterglass to get enough stacks from Conjuration Mastery, as this is one of Sorc’s few big multipliers. So they use 1H to get the most attack speed possible.
Though really the real answer is most people just follow cookie cutter builds on the internet, and those use 1H, they didn’t bother testing it out themselves which is better.
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Iceheart is a joke, to any Frozen Orb sorc. That just gives you a frost nova. Why do you need a frost nova? Everything should be frozen and vulnerable from your Frozen Orbs. Tibault’s gives you flat 20%x multiplier. It is far superior. Though honestly I think normal Legendary pants outperform Tibault’s but Sorc is damage starved and need all the damage it can get.
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Not sure why people don’t take Enchantment Master node. I take this in my Hydra build, but people seem to think it’s not worth the points for FO I guess. Like I said, they’re just following cookie cutter builds on the internet. Enchantment Master has nothing to do with damage though. It’s there to let you spawn more Ice Blades, which is huge in this build.
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Harlequin is absolutely BIS. It gives you around 30% damage buff, 20% DR, and CDR while it’s at it, and has HP. There is nothing better. Starless is debatable. There are Aspects that rival the 40x multiplier, and you can get better stats on a legendary ring and two tempers one of which is an offensive temper and the other can be a resource temper to help you spam Frozen Orb. Most guides actually tell you to run both Tal Rasha and Starless for your endgame FO. With the recent revelation that Tal Rasha is bugged, I am actually considering removing it from my build.
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Why do you need Flickerstep? Are you running an Ult? Some people like to run Esu’s for the Crit% chance and Crit damage. If you are running an Ult Flickerstep is a no-brainer, but if you aren’t getting 100% uptime on Unstable it might not be worth doing.