DiGi's PVP Orb Sorc Guide

[DiGiTaLiS]

Bare with me this is my first guide

The PVP ORB Sorc

Skills
Cold Spells
Max - Ice Bolt
Max - Frozen Orb
Max - Cold Mastery
1 into Frozen Armor (pre-req)
1 into Shiver Armor (your best armor, will provide the best defense bonus)
1 into Ice Blast (pre-req)
1 into Blizzard (pre-req, and can be used in dueling still does decent damage with one point.)
1 into Glacial Spike (pre-req)
1 into Frost Nova (pre-req)

Lightning Spells
1 into Charged Bolt (pre-req)
1 into Static (pre-req)
1 into Nova
1 into Thunderstorm (used as a stun for dueling)
1 into Lightning (pre-req)
1 into Chain Lightning (pre-req)
16+ into Telekenesis (synergy for energy shield)
1 into Teleport (obviously your most used skill)
All left overs into Energy Shield

Fire Spells
1 into Warmth (with all + skills this will get to level 20 and your mana will never go down when teleporting or orbing)

Gear
I will post the gear that I use. Note that it can be changed

Armor - Dusk Shroud Chains of Honor, Perfect Upped Vipermagi (-5/5 cold or Um), or +3 Energy Shield Ormus Robes
Helmet - Nightwing's Veil (socketed with -5/5 die cold), or Shako
Belt - Arachnid Mesh (really no other choice, +1 Skills 20 FCR. GG)
Weapon 1 - Heart of the Oak Flail 40 res, or Death's Fathom. (i'd go with HoTo because of the 10 more fcr.)
Shield 1 - Spirit (35 FCR +2 all skils, Res, big boost to mana, GG)
Boots - Sandstorm Treks (+to strength)
Gloves - Magefist (20 FCR, +1 to fireskills (warmth))
Amulet - Mara's Kaleidoscope, or one of the dupe ammys (fletch i think)
Rings - 2x Stones of Jordan
Weapon 2 - 6bo Call to arms Flail
Shield 2 - Lidless or Spirit

Charms
1x Cold Skiller with 12% FHR
8x Cold Skiller with +Life (plain gc's will work too if you can't afford these)
+20/X Sorc Torch (attributes are important)
+20/X Anni (again attributes)
7x 20 life charm with +mana or res
2x 5 fhr with mana/all resist

Stats
Strength - Not to much you should have +40 if you use the Anni and Torch I recommended.
Dex - None
Vita - all the rest
Energy - around 100-110ish

If you follow this guide you will have roughly 1.2k Orb Damage perf res in hell and decent life (my orber is with out life sc's so life is pretty low.


FCR Frames
0% = 13
9% = 12
20% = 11
37% = 10
63% = 9
105% = 8
200% = 7

FHR Frames
0% = 15
5% = 14
9% = 13
14% = 12
20% = 11
30% = 10
42% = 9
60% = 8
86% = 7
142% = 6
280% = 5
1480% = 4

Dueling Strategies
I'll just post a few that are quite common in duel games

Orb Sorcs
Well this all depends on who is the better dueler and who's character is more well built. Just try to remember where you launch your orbs and not to confuse theirs with yours and you should be good.

Light Sorcs
Usually very easy just don't let them name lock you and let them sit in one place and cast their lightning. If they can't stay in one place then they can't beat you. Just teleport in a circle around them casting an orb and they'll eventually teleport into one. Usually a 1-2 hit kill.

Fire Sorcs
Esh, from the fire sorcs that I have dueled these guys are really tough. There's rarely a fire sorc that you'll be able to beat unless they are complete ******s. The only way you'll have a chance is if you just wait it out and hope they teleport into one of your orbs. You have to be very quick to dodge they're fireballs because it's usually a 1 or 2 hit kill on you.

Blizzard Sorcs
Pretty easy, just teleport around them and don't let them cast a blizzard on you or teleport into one of their blizzards.

Bone Necros
Pretty tough but it's manageable. Teleport in large circles around them and cast orbs into the center of it. They'll eventually tele into one of them and die.

Poison Necros
Extremely easy. Just avoid their poison nova and blast em with an orb.

Charge Paladins
Pretty easy if they don't sorb. Don't let them name lock you and get a good distance in front of them while casting and orb after a few teleports. They'll charge into the orbs and die in 2-3.

Smite Paladins
Pretty much the same as charge paladin. Tele in front of them, cast orb.

Hammerdins
Can be tough if they sit in one place and spam hammers then tele to another place and do the same. Just avoid their hammers and cast orbs to where you think they'll tele.

FOH Paladins
A well built FOH Paladin will kill you in one hit. Two hits if you're lucky. If they don't get you in one hit you HAVE to take em in one orb or get lucky and cast a second orb and hope he dies before he casts FOH

Trap Assassins
In my opinion the hardest opponent for the orb sorc. In my opinion they are pretty lame characters for dueling and I hate dueling them. Though there is usually one or two in every duel game so you're gonna have to make do with them. If you get lucky and are able to get out of town (yeah most trappers are lame and TG.) Cast an orb right away then get out of the traps striking distance. Try to get close and cast another orb then get away again. Pretty hard in my opinion.

Whirlwind Assassins
Pretty tough. They will usually mind blast and you'll be stuck and that's usually when they get you. Try to get a good distance from them and cast and orb and hope for the best.

Bowazons
Hard in my opinion. Try to cast an orb then teleport away from their arrows as quickly as possible then repeat. Not much more I can say.

CS Javazons
Eh, if they can farcast you lose, If not, easy win. It all depends on if they farcast or not. If they do, hope for the best and try not to let them name lock you ??? If they don't just teleport out orb them before they can strike. Simple enough

Tornado Druids
Really hard. Teleport around and don't let them get you with a tornado. They usually have a lot of life so be paitent and don't teleport to close.

Shapeshifter Druids
I haven't dueled many of these guys but the ones I have were pretty easy. Just teleport around them and orb them.

Whirlwind Barbarians
Pretty easy. Just get a good distance ahead of them while teleporting and keep casting orb. They usually have a ton of life so be really paitent and don't tele too close.

If i missed any chars I probably haven't dueled them or forgot.

[RaZzor]

Too much energy I'd say, even this is some kind of ES sorc

[Shift]

No way, thats how you want a PvP orber, lots into ES and lots of Nrg, and none in vita. Nice guide Digi.

[tigeroip]

why is ur dmg so little, i had a sorc with 1.25k + dmg

[A.D.]

Orb's damage is misleading. I'm not 100% sure, but if you get hit with one of the small icebolts then that's how much damage it deals. And on top of that if the orb itself actually hits a person it does considerably more damage.

But still Cold builds are low-damage builds, compared to the fireballs, meteors, and lightening builds that do massive damage.

Also I'd just put 20 for telekensis. 16 points is where the absorb evenly absorbs two points of damage with one point of mana, there is no diminishing return formula for the telek bonus.

Also my vita/nrgy count is usually the opposite.. You get more mana per energy point then you get health per vita point.

[DiGiTaLiS]

hmm, my orb dmg isn't that low.. tiger are you using fathom opposed to hoto?? because fathom adds more damage then hoto does

[Nbega]

nice build i was thinking of making one soon and was gonna ask for a good build plus ive dueled you and it works great

[Dan]

dude u need to find a 5 life sc and wear that 1337 life

[Bartender]

d2tables.com For BP Tables.

[DiGiTaLiS]

ZOMGZ anyone have a 5 life sc???