Frozen Orb/Hydra Build

The Forums seem a bit dead, but you regulars should still be around with your wisdom and opinions.



Still searching for something new to try (which is foolish, I know, this game is ancient) and I need your opinions here.



Frozen Orb -- Max

Cold Mastery -- Max



Hydra -- Max

Fire Mastery -- Max

Fireball -- All Extra



105% FCR would probably be an ideal breakpoint and neither spell is spammable, so the FCR only really helps teleport. Working Energy Shield in is possible with spares going to telekenesis and massive prebuffing energy shield with only 1-pt in.



Not much in the way of Cold/fire gear (like fire/light Eschutas, which just won't work, lack of damage) so +skills will probably be best.



Helm: Shako! (Probably with a 5/5, if it applys to Hydras, or a Shael)

Body: 'Chains of Honor'

Weapon:'Heart of the Oak'

Shield: 'Spirit'

Boots: Treks for the +str, vitality, and FHR

Gloves: Magesfist

Belt: Arachnid

Amulet: Mara's

Rings: 2x Stones of Jordan



Don't know what you would want in the invetory... Fire skillers would likely give a better damage boost (the returns of +skills on Orb and Cold Mastery are pretty bad, correct?)



Gotta get a set of fire skillers



So...



Whatcha think?|||Hydra is 'new' mostly because it's rubbish

I haven't tried it extensively with a high-end setup (Infi?) though. I would stay away from ES since you don't have points to spare and with those attacks your mana should do fine at base energy. You don't have to max CM, just get it to lvl 27 (-150%) after +skills.

Cold skillers are tempting since you can spend less in CM and save some points for fire ball (also, high level orb owns), but I'd still go with fire since hydra needs all the help it can get.|||Should've mentioned this is for PvP.

Some Random Hydra Sorc (with massive fire skills/facets) was having a pretty fun time in a duel game I was in. It was pretty surprising. Orb in itself kick butt, ES/Orbers.

Hubb, I'm just gunna start PMing these to you, thanks man |||u could use a DF instead of hoto and make up for the missing 10 fcr by switching to a 2 sorc 10 fcr amu or a 2 20 circlet (cold/fire cold/cold or fire/fire faceted). if u have an amu like that, maybe use nightwings veil. the added cold dmg is enormous and u don�t loose a skill or the breakpoint

also u should look for a rare/magic orb with 2 sorc 20 fcr 3 orb 3 hydra 2 soc (but that is prolly not gonna happen )|||if its for pvp i would put all skills in orb while lvling

then reset when at what ever pvp lvl u want and go pure hydra then rest in orb/cm

ud be surprized how good 3/4 stacked hydras are againts chargers/telestompers ^^

a very fun dueling and pvm build imo |||Levelling isn't and issue. I've got a mule full of tokens and characters that I just respec when I want to try something new Nothing is around for too long.



Wish there was some combination of lightning/fire... Charged Bolt + Hydra or something using an Eschutas. Nightwings is a great idea.



What about maxed thunderstorm and lightning mastery, then maxed hydra and firemaster with remaining points going into telekenesis? Play like a trapsin by laying hydras and stun with tk. Could also go energyshield route here and use lightning skillers to boost the thunderstorm damage (which never misses, but any kind of minion stack ruins it) Going lightning you could use Eschutas and a Griffons Eye. Might even be worth using a Vipermagi and going for 200% FCR and just tele-dancing around hydras and auto-aim thunderstorm smacks 'em up (using TK whenever )|||Quote:




What about maxed thunderstorm and lightning mastery, then maxed hydra and firemaster with remaining points going into telekenesis? Play like a trapsin by laying hydras and stun with tk. Could also go energyshield route here and use lightning skillers to boost the thunderstorm damage (which never misses, but any kind of minion stack ruins it) Going lightning you could use Eschutas and a Griffons Eye. Might even be worth using a Vipermagi and going for 200% FCR and just tele-dancing around hydras and auto-aim thunderstorm smacks 'em up (using TK whenever )




Bit late but I guess I should throw in a word ...

I fear that such a TS/hydra sorc wouldn't work well, the skills hydra and TS don't help each other strategically, but instead just add as mid/low range damage dealers. I'm sure you already know everything I'm about to write, but I do feel the need to explain what I was referring to in the previous sentence.

TS works best when you hunt down people, where it can interrupt your fleeing opponent allowing you to possibly land a hit. It can of course also work in the opposite situation, when you are preforming a "tactical retreat" or dodging around your opponent, where it may interrupt him or at least deal a bit of damage.

Hydra is useless in both situations imo. Firstly it takes to long for it to fire and hit a fleeing opponent, they'll simply be able to teleport/run away from it. Secondly when retreating it takes to long to cast and set up a safety zone of hydras, unlike a trapper you cannot drop them in quick succession to prepare for when your opponent catches up.

Hydra works best when you have the time to set up a number of them in one location, where the combined damage is supposed to kill anything entering this zone. For this tactic to work you need two things:

1) Something to force your opponent into this zone. Other then against melee opponents this probably means a long range spell that forces them to engage you directly. TS obviously cannot help with this task.

2) When they are in the zone you need something to keep you safe while they take damage, unless you can outtank them, which is rather unlikely to be the case for a sorceress. Teleport dodging does help, but while you move, so does your opponent, and a most of your hydra damage will be missing. Trappers excel in this department with their stun of course. TS fires to seldom to provide a good stunning skill, and even if maxed there's very few low range opponents that will actually be stunned by it in a consistent manner.

I 99.999% sure that telekinesis will just not be worth casting for the sake of stunning. True, I haven't actually tested it, but the lack of "swirls" and the need of direct aim makes it vastly inferior to both physic hammer and mind blast.



Now I've rambled on enough I think ...|||I gave it a test, and its useless. Oh well...