Blizzard vs. F.O.

[Gene]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

Greetings, all.
I've always assumed that FO was the cold skill for a sorc to shoot for, but
some references I've picked up on here in the group (Hello, Mickey, what is
a snow queen?)and an overdue look at synergies (yeah, about a year and a
half overdue) have led me to finally question that assumption. I have a
sorc 'on the verge' at level 26 and am wondering if I should wait 'til 30
and get FO, or do the blizz thing.
Any and all suggestions about skill point allocations and gear are welcome
if you recommend the blizzard route. I've had great fun with FO, but want
to know if the other approach is viable in hell.
Thanks for your suggestions.
gene

 

[alice]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

FO is awesome up to NM as it sprays is enough to kill everyone even
without any synergy. In Hell, you need to calculate the distance, so
it will spray out right at the monsters' faces. As a matter of fact,
getting the synergy (Ice Bolt) is not worth it since it only increases
the damage a little. So, this allows for 2nd skill from a different
tree, most commons are perhaps Fireball, other choices include Chain
Lightning, Meteor, Nova, and others that I don't know.

As for Blizzard, usually people go pure cold (get all synergies, a lot
of Cold Mastery and few in cold armor of choice). With the right
gears, she can kill Lister's packs instantly in an 8 player game. With
okay gears, she still does very well. She may need help in Claw Viper
Temple and River of Flame when doggies are around. Pure Blizzard
sorcie is IMHO the best MF'er as she has little to no trouble at all
running Mephy, Andy, and Pindle.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

"gene" <genejackson@sprynet.com> wrote in message
newsTuZd.11183$cN6.8655@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
> Greetings, all.
> I've always assumed that FO was the cold skill for a sorc to shoot for,
but
> some references I've picked up on here in the group (Hello, Mickey, what
is
> a snow queen?)and an overdue look at synergies (yeah, about a year and a
> half overdue) have led me to finally question that assumption. I have a
> sorc 'on the verge' at level 26 and am wondering if I should wait 'til 30
> and get FO, or do the blizz thing.
> Any and all suggestions about skill point allocations and gear are welcome
> if you recommend the blizzard route. I've had great fun with FO, but want
> to know if the other approach is viable in hell.
> Thanks for your suggestions.
> gene
>
>

First off, have you put any points into any Fire or Lightning skills? That
would make a difference

A fully Synergized Blizzard kills anything that is not Cold Immune
veryveryvery quickly, probably faster than any other attack skill in the
game. It still kills with little or no synergy investment, but the power is
just awesome if you decide to go all Cold.

The only problem with this plan is that if you play solo more than you do in
a party, the Cold Immunes can be tough sometimes, when you have to rely on
Static Field and your merc to take them out.

FO kills fairly well in Hell with no synergies, (IMO) the extra 20 points
aren't worth the small boost you get for the investment.

short

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

short wrote:
> "gene" <genejackson@sprynet.com> wrote in message
> newsTuZd.11183$cN6.8655@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
>>Greetings, all.
>>I've always assumed that FO was the cold skill for a sorc to shoot for,
>
> but
>
>>some references I've picked up on here in the group (Hello, Mickey, what
>
> is
>
>>a snow queen?)and an overdue look at synergies (yeah, about a year and a
>>half overdue) have led me to finally question that assumption. I have a
>>sorc 'on the verge' at level 26 and am wondering if I should wait 'til 30
>>and get FO, or do the blizz thing.
>>Any and all suggestions about skill point allocations and gear are welcome
>>if you recommend the blizzard route. I've had great fun with FO, but want
>>to know if the other approach is viable in hell.
>>Thanks for your suggestions.
>>gene
>>
>>
>
>
> First off, have you put any points into any Fire or Lightning skills? That
> would make a difference
>
> A fully Synergized Blizzard kills anything that is not Cold Immune
> veryveryvery quickly, probably faster than any other attack skill in the
> game. It still kills with little or no synergy investment, but the power is
> just awesome if you decide to go all Cold.
>
> The only problem with this plan is that if you play solo more than you do in
> a party, the Cold Immunes can be tough sometimes, when you have to rely on
> Static Field and your merc to take them out.
>
> FO kills fairly well in Hell with no synergies, (IMO) the extra 20 points
> aren't worth the small boost you get for the investment.
>
> short
>
>
I am glad this question was asked here, I am just starting a new sorc in
the Chaos Empire mod. I may give the blizz thing a try!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

On 15 Mar 2005 00:16:27 -0800, "Alice" <malice_diablo@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>FO is awesome up to NM as it sprays is enough to kill everyone even
>without any synergy. In Hell, you need to calculate the distance, so
>it will spray out right at the monsters' faces. As a matter of fact,
>getting the synergy (Ice Bolt) is not worth it since it only increases
>the damage a little. So, this allows for 2nd skill from a different
>tree, most commons are perhaps Fireball, other choices include Chain
>Lightning, Meteor, Nova, and others that I don't know.

FO really starts to shine as a secondary when (not if!) you put some
points in cold mastery. Consider an ok-level FO (i'd say, 29) with CM
above 15 after +skills as strong as a 5k fireball - which needs a lot
more points. Still, with the common FO/FB-Build, you'll have to juggle
around quite a bit when you face Lister and his buddies.
IIRC TCells and Mickey discussed the level of CM earlier (read: last
season) and came up with the conclusion, that is a good idea to max
Cold Mastery for a MFing FO/FB-Build. Depends largely on gear
methinks. But trust me, theres a steep increase in killing speed when
you start putting points in CM.

Cheers Kai

 

[Gene]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

"short" <shorts@zoominternet.net> wrote in message
news:39o85vF64sfe5U1@individual.net...
>
> "gene" <genejackson@sprynet.com> wrote in message
> newsTuZd.11183$cN6.8655@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> >
> > Greetings, all.
> > I've always assumed that FO was the cold skill for a sorc to shoot for,
> but
> > some references I've picked up on here in the group (Hello, Mickey, what
> is
> > a snow queen?)and an overdue look at synergies (yeah, about a year and a
> > half overdue) have led me to finally question that assumption. I have
a
> > sorc 'on the verge' at level 26 and am wondering if I should wait 'til
30
> > and get FO, or do the blizz thing.
> > Any and all suggestions about skill point allocations and gear are
welcome
> > if you recommend the blizzard route. I've had great fun with FO, but
want
> > to know if the other approach is viable in hell.
> > Thanks for your suggestions.
> > gene
> >
> >
>
> First off, have you put any points into any Fire or Lightning skills?
That
> would make a difference

Well, I started this character with plan to do an FO/FB sorc. So, w/o
thinking, (actually, not properly judging how little the synergy for FO
boosted the skill, I put 9 pts into icebolt. In addition to those points
spent, I have one in all reqs for FO, which I can't get yet since I am only
at lvl 28. (Hangs head in shame and) I confess that I have also put 6
points into Fire bolt and two into fireball, and have saved 10 points. So
if i want to do blizzard, those 8 points in the fire tree are probably
wasted, and if I wanted to do FO/FB, the points in icebolt are wasted. So,
since the consensus seems to be that blizzard is quite powerful w/o being
fully synergised, I'll go that route, and develop fire as a secondary. It
will be an interesting journey, as it will be my first foray into blizzard.
Thx for the advice.

gene

>
> A fully Synergized Blizzard kills anything that is not Cold Immune
> veryveryvery quickly, probably faster than any other attack skill in the
> game. It still kills with little or no synergy investment, but the power
is
> just awesome if you decide to go all Cold.
>
> The only problem with this plan is that if you play solo more than you do
in
> a party, the Cold Immunes can be tough sometimes, when you have to rely on
> Static Field and your merc to take them out.
>
> FO kills fairly well in Hell with no synergies, (IMO) the extra 20 points
> aren't worth the small boost you get for the investment.
>
> short
>
>

 

[Gene]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

"Kai Scholz-Starke" <bergzwerg@arcor.de> wrote in message
news:hg3e319gh96ppl7lu8jvnfd18ca5hsn0e8@4ax.com...
> On 15 Mar 2005 00:16:27 -0800, "Alice" <malice_diablo@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> >FO is awesome up to NM as it sprays is enough to kill everyone even
> >without any synergy. In Hell, you need to calculate the distance, so
> >it will spray out right at the monsters' faces. As a matter of fact,
> >getting the synergy (Ice Bolt) is not worth it since it only increases
> >the damage a little. So, this allows for 2nd skill from a different
> >tree, most commons are perhaps Fireball, other choices include Chain
> >Lightning, Meteor, Nova, and others that I don't know.
>
> FO really starts to shine as a secondary when (not if!) you put some
> points in cold mastery. Consider an ok-level FO (i'd say, 29) with CM
> above 15 after +skills as strong as a 5k fireball - which needs a lot
> more points. Still, with the common FO/FB-Build, you'll have to juggle
> around quite a bit when you face Lister and his buddies.
> IIRC TCells and Mickey discussed the level of CM earlier (read: last
> season) and came up with the conclusion, that is a good idea to max
> Cold Mastery for a MFing FO/FB-Build. Depends largely on gear
> methinks. But trust me, theres a steep increase in killing speed when
> you start putting points in CM.
>
> Cheers Kai

Thank you both for your replies. Quite helpful, even if they reveal my
present build to be a bit faulty (see my reply to short below. Since I
don't mind (too much) struggling through normal difficulty, I'll start
another to get the FO/FB one right.

Thanks again
gene

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

sidekick <sidekick39spam_bust@adelphia.net> had this idea for a movie:

>I am glad this question was asked here, I am just starting a new sorc in
>the Chaos Empire mod. I may give the blizz thing a try!

Have you tried Frost Nova? It has greatly buffed synergies in the CE mod.


--
Slaughter is its own reward.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

Stephen van Ham wrote:
> sidekick <sidekick39spam_bust@adelphia.net> had this idea for a movie:
>
>
>>I am glad this question was asked here, I am just starting a new sorc in
>>the Chaos Empire mod. I may give the blizz thing a try!
>
>
> Have you tried Frost Nova? It has greatly buffed synergies in the CE mod.
>
>
I haven't tried it in CE...I guess I have a lot of things to try! LOL

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo (More info?)

"gene" <genejackson@sprynet.com> had this idea for a movie:

>Greetings, all.
>I've always assumed that FO was the cold skill for a sorc to shoot for, but
>some references I've picked up on here in the group (Hello, Mickey, what is
>a snow queen?)

It's a name some use to refer to a all cold sorceress (I called my Blizzard
sorceress last season Snowfrau ;-) Usually fully synergised Blizzard with
high cold mastery.

>and an overdue look at synergies (yeah, about a year and a
>half overdue) have led me to finally question that assumption. I have a
>sorc 'on the verge' at level 26 and am wondering if I should wait 'til 30
>and get FO, or do the blizz thing.

If the points are available, Blizzard tends to do a lot more damage than FO,
since Blizzard scales up well with having lots of strong synergies, whereas FO
has one very weak one (which most people skip in favour of pumping cold
mastery instead, for good reason). However, for builds developing another
tree and thus only have limited points to put into cold (e.g. fireball or
fireball/meteor or fireball/hydra sorceress that wants a cold attack), frozen
orbs tends to give the most "bang for your buck" (most effect for points
invested).


--
Slaughter is its own reward.