Orb-It-Aller?

I do not understand the point of the orb-it-aller build. This is simply a criticism, so take it as such.

It seems all it is is a Meteorb sorc but instead of maxing meteor, you are expected to max fire ball.

I cannot make any sense of this decision. The synergie bonus to fire ball is the same, so why pick a skill that is useless? Essentially, you are trading up a fantastic boss-killer and synergie for... a synergie.

I suppose the clues in the context suggest one is expected to use Frozen Orb as the choice timered spell, but even then, I would certainly contest that stacking meteors is a far more efficient killer of bosses than even sniping with FO's sweet spot shot.

Agreements, disagreements, explanations, oh my!|||Two thoughts that come to mind immediately, while admittedly not being the only explanations because I am no expert on the build:

1) Points are tight in most sorc builds, and it might not seem like much, but choosing to max Fireball instead of Meteor will save you a minimum of one point =p

2) Some people don't like the playstyle of your 2 main attacks both being timered. Frozen Orb is a classic skill that many people are comfortable with for mowing down a Boss. For packs however Fireball is both non-timered, and has splash dmg that will also cause hit recovery on your mobs.

Meteor can also be used against packs, but is harder to aim and mostly requires an incredibly hearty merc while you wait for the Meteors to land. Fireball on the other hand can be immediately aim, and will impact mobs fast to interrupt them as they attempt to swarm your merc. It's definitely a playstyle issue imo.|||Quote:








It seems all it is is a Meteorb sorc but instead of maxing meteor, you are expected to max fire ball.




No that is not the difference. A Meteorb is a fire sorc with FO as back up. An orb-it-aller spends more points for FO and therefor fire and cold are more evenly balanced.


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I suppose the clues in the context suggest one is expected to use Frozen Orb as the choice timered spell, but even then, I would certainly contest that stacking meteors is a far more efficient killer of bosses than even sniping with FO's sweet spot shot.




If you insist on being wrong I suppose. Excluding Andy, certainly with budget gear FO is a much better boss killer. Pretty much only infinity can change this.|||I've played both a meteorb and orb-it-aller as my main MF sorc for a long time and never relied on fire to kill bosses, with cold mastery FO is definitely superior. A lot of guides wrongly tell you to put only the bare minimum in CM, so that might be your problem.

That being said, meteor is a very useful skill even when your main focus is FO, and definitely worth the 3 prereq points.|||Also, not everyone uses their sorcs solely for bosshunting. Meteorb is arguably superior in that regard because, yes, Meteor does do a buttload of damage to stationary targets. Meph, of course, is best fought with Cold, though, since CM offsets his high elemental resist but FM does not, so a stronger FO is better than Meteor for him.

However, for area MFing - definitely a worthwhile and lucrative endeavor - in places such as WSK, CS, Cows, Pits, AT, etc., Orbitaller is superior for its more balanced offense, that means you dont get stuck on FIs as much.|||a higher cm investement becomes soemwhat obsolete if you get infi|||All comes down to focus. really. The autor states in the guide that he dislikes meteor and never use it at all. If you read the Meteor guide you will learn that one of sasja's main purposes was to develop a build that could do enough damage to play 8 player games while still being able to solo. That's why it focus on the fire tree and FO is just a capable backup. The Orb-it-aller reflects the playstyle of his author, is designed to kill fast, be safe (he plays hardcore), and be powerfull untwinked (although in my opinion, Meteorb is as powerfull in this condition).

It is designed around Frozen Orb. He tailored the best possible Orb with the least points spent and picked the backup skill he thought would be more powerfull with the available points left.

Even though i find Meteorb to be overall better build for MFing several areas, I think one designed around cold as primary mean of damage will perform better in Chaos and Baal runs. it all depends on what you're looking for...|||Meteor is great for bosses who your merc can tank to keep still but the fireball becomes really important in the special high level areas like the pits/ancient tunnels/etc because you can spam it. Waiting for a meteor to hit in these areas requires a little bit more skill and doesn't always work out.|||Besides that you can cast an orb, and while you wait for the timer spam fireballs ^^ try to do that with fo/meteor|||so i haven't played since .09, my sorc is sitting with maxed orb and cold mastery atm, no clue where to go from here, the goal is killing andy and meph quickly

add meteor?