PvP Frozen Orb Sorceress Guide

Frozen Orb Sorceress Guide for PvP and PvM

PvP Rank: A Class / PvM Rank: B Class

Introduction

Frozen Orb Sorceresses are close in capability to Blizzard Sorceresses in PvP and are also very capable in PvM. Frozen Orb is easy to aim and has screen wide coverage making it easy to hit moving enemies. When fighting a Frozen Orb Sorceress other players will find it difficult to gear for over stacked cold resistance because their cold resistance will be lowered by more than 200% with Cold Mastery from the Sorceress tree. The damage of Frozen Orb, however, splits into a ton of cold shards which makes the damage of Frozen Orb easier to absorb when compared with a Blizzard Sorceress. Ice Blast is also recommended because it can be fully synergized after maxing out Frozen Orb and all of its synergies. You can expect to two shot most other players with Ice Blast even if they have very high cold resistances and high cold absorb. The A Class rating for PvP takes the screen wide coverage of Frozen Orb into account but also weighs in that the Frozen Orb shards are easier to absorb when compared to Blizzard.

Frozen Orb Sorceress Skills

This build can use Stormshield for maximum damage reduction, faster block rate, high resistances, and the ability to use a -5 5 Cold Facet jewel for negative cold resistance but you can also use a Spirit Monarch Shield for +2 to all skills and 35% faster cast rate at any time. The build is built this way to be competitive vs physical builds while still having an advantage against elemental builds.

Recommendation: Frozen Orb Sorceress

Stats: 156 Strength (enough for Stormshield and Spirit), 0 Dexterity, all remaining points in Vitality, and 0 Energy.

Skill Points:

20 Frozen Orb

20 Cold Mastery

20 Ice Bolt (synergy for Frozen Orb and Ice Blast)

20 Ice Blast

20 Blizzard (synergy for Ice Blast)

1 Frozen Armor

1 Teleport

1 Warmth

1 Static (optional for PvM bosses)

Your final points can be used to upgrade to Shiver Armor and optionally Chilling Armor.

Frozen Orb Sorceress Gear

Weapon

Death's Fathom (Cold Facet'd) - Gives +3 to Sorceress Skills, 20% faster cast rate, up to 30% increased cold skill damage, up to 40% lightning resistance, and up to 40% fire resistance.

Shield

Stormshield (Cold Facet'd)/Spirit Monarch (Tal Thul Ort Amn) - Stormshield gives a 35% physical damage taken reduction, has 60% cold resistance, 25% lightning resistance, and faster block rate. Stormshield is recommended for PvM, for dueling cold builds that lower your cold resistance, and for fighting physical damage builds. You can easily switch to a Spirit Monarch Shield (Tal Thul Ort Amn) for +2 to all skills, 55% faster hit recovery, vitality, magic absorb, 35% cold resistance, 35% lightning resistance, and 35% poison resistances when fighting builds that don't require very high cold resistance or reduced physical damage taken.

Weapon Switch

Call to Arms (Amn Ral Mal Ist Ohm) - Used for up to +7 to Battle Orders with a Spirit Monarch for another +2 to all skills.

Helmet

Nightwing's Veil (Cold Facet'd) - Gives +2 to all skills, up to 15% increased cold skill damage, 20 dexterity, and 9 cold absorb. This helmet is recommended to greatly increase your cold damage to make it more difficult to absorb Frozen Orb's damage.

Body

Chains of Honor Archon Plate (Dol Um Ber Ist) - Gives +2 to all skills, all resistances +65%, 8% physical damage taken reduction, 20 strength, 70% enhanced defense, replenish life, and a 25% better chance of getting magic items.

Gloves

Trang-Oul's Gloves - Gives 20% faster cast rate, 25% increased poison damage, and 30% cold resistance.

Belt

Arachnid Mesh - Gives +1 to all skills, 20% faster cast rate, and 5% increased mana. Arachnid's Mesh with Death's Fathom, Trang'Oul's Gloves, and a 3%+ faster cast rate amulet reaches the 63% faster cast rate breakpoint. If you are using a Spirit Monarch shield when fighting an elemental damage build instead of a Stormshield you don't need faster cast rate on the amulet slot.

Belt Vs. Lightning Builds (when using a Spirit Monarch shield)

Thundergod's Vigor - This belt should be used against lightning builds for +10% to maximum lightning resistance, 20 lightning absorb, 20 strength, 20 vitality, and a 5% chance to cast level 7 Fist of Heaven when struck.

Feet

Ethereal Sandstorm Trek - Gives up to 20% faster run walk, 20% faster hit recovery, up to 15 strength, up to 15 vitality, up to 70% poison resistance, and repairs durability which allows it to be ethereal for higher defense.

Feet Vs. Fire Builds

Hotspur - These boots should be used against fire builds for +15% to Maximum Fire Resistance, 15 life, and 45% fire resistance. Hotspur boots can be Up'd to Demonhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Shael rune, and Tal rune. Hotspur can also be Up'd a second time to Wyrmhide Boots in the Horadric Cube using a Perfect Diamond, Lem rune, and Ko rune.

Amulet (when using a Spirit Monarch shield)

Mara's Kaleidoscope - Gives +2 to all skills, 5 to all attributes, and up to all resistances +30%.

Amulet (when using a Stormshield)

Caster Amulet - +2 to Sorceress Skills, 3%+ faster cast rate, all resistance, an over stacked resistance, life, and/or dexterity.

Rings

Wisp Projector - This ring is recommended for PvM for up to 20% lightning absorb, magic find, and level 2 Oak Sage. In PvP when you don't need the lightning absorb you can switch to a Nature's Peace ring for level 5 Oak Sage, reduced damage taken, and up to 30% poison resistance. You should also use a Bul-Kathos's ring for +1 to all skills and life or an elemental absorb ring when fighting elemental builds. If you can't afford a +2 Sorceress Skills amulet with 3%+ faster cast rate to reach the 63% barrier you can also use a 10% faster cast rate ring with all resistances as a budget option.

Rings (Absorb) - Your Bul-Kathos's ring should be switched to a Raven Frost which gives 20% cold absorb when dueling cold damage builds, you can switch to a Dwarf Star which gives 15% fire absorb when fighting fire damage builds, and you can use one Wisp Projector which has 20% lightning absorb when dueling lightning damage builds.

Charms

Hellfire Torch for +3 Sorceress Skills, Annihilus for +1 to all skills, one Cold Rupture Grand Charm to break cold immunities should be used for PvM, one +1 Cold Skills Grand Charms with 12% faster hit recovery, and +1 Cold Skills Grand Charms with life. The rest of your charms should be small charms with life and resistances.

Mercenary Type

Act 2 Holy Freeze Mercenary - Gives an aura that slows the attack speed and movement speed of enemies.

Mercenary Weapon

Ethereal Insight (Ral Tir Tal Sol) - Gives up to level 17 Meditation which provides high mana regeneration. The Infinity runeword isn't needed to lower the resistances of enemies because Cold Mastery lowers enemies cold resistances by more than 200% with Cold Mastery giving enemies -100% cold resistance. A Cold Rupture Grand Charm should also be used in PvM to break cold immunities.

Mercenary Armor

Ethereal Fortitude (El Sol Dol Lo) - Gives 300% enhanced damage, all resistances +30%, high life per level, 5% to maximum lightning resistance, and a 20% chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck.

Mercenary Helmet

Ethereal Andariel's Visage (Ral'd) - Gives +2 to all skills, 10% life stolen per hit, -30% fire resistance, and 30 strength. Ral gives 30% fire resistance but you can also use a 30% fire resistance jewel with other great modifiers which is even better.

Budget Mercenary Weapon

Insight (Ral Tir Tal Sol) - Gives up to level 17 Meditation which provides high mana regeneration.

Budget Mercenary Armor

Duriel's Shell - Gives all resistances +20%, 50% cold resistance, 15 strength, life per level, and cannot be frozen.

Budget Mercenary Helmet

Tal Rasha's Helmet - Gives 10% life stolen per hit, 15% to all resistances, and 60 life.

Note: Ethereal items don't lose durability on mercenaries.

Frozen Orb Sorceress Strategy

Frozen Orb Sorceresses have screen wide damage which makes them great at dealing damage against fast moving builds. Even high life characters like Barbarians and Druids with absorb can be taken down with some patience. Necromancers of all varieties are typically an easy fight for this build but if a Necromancer is using two Raven Frosts again it will just take patience. With the very fast Teleport cast speed of a Frozen Orb Sorceress you should try your best to never get attacked while standing still.

Frozen Orb Sorceress Leveling Items

An Ancient's Pledge Large Shield (Ral Ort Tal) can be used once you reach level 21 for very high resistances. You should also switch to a Spirit Crystal Sword (Tal Thul Ort Amn) at level 25 for +2 to all skills, up to 35% faster cast rate, 55% faster hit recovery, vitality, mana, and magic absorb. A Skin of the Vipermagi armor is a great early game option that can be used at level 29 for +1 to all skills, 30% faster cast rate, up to magic damage taken reduced by 15, and up to all resistances +35%. A Smoke runeword (Nef Lum) can also optionally be used as a budget option body armor for 20% faster hit recovery and an easy all resistances +50%.

And that's all for the Frozen Orb Sorceress Guide. You can also check out the most popular crafted items here Crafting Guide.