yeah I run a basic build
3-tals set
shako
isted occy
35 fcr spirit monarch
chancies
2 nagels
war travs

merc:
16 med eth cv insight, eth fort, eth andies

"Glacial Spikes are ~33% or 1/3 faster than Ice Bolts and Ice Blasts, but are the same size. Although Ice Blasts apply more damage to a single target, Glacial Spikes can damage (and freeze) multiple targets within their radius of effect, which can result in greater damage per second against multiple targets."

check here for more details:
https://www.theamazonbasin.com/wiki/index.php?title=Glacial_Spike

this is what i do, i use both (pvm)

with bosses: ice blast
with groups of monsters: glacial spike

i use "f" for ice blast and "g" for glacial spike with my blizz sorc;)

Thx! I've just checked and confirmed GS has AoE dmg!

With 17 Med Insight, it's absolutely doable. Next ladder I might use GS more.

Thx bunch

Nobody still has answered my question. Why use ice blast at all; Does it deal more damage??

Some ppl already answered your question.

Yes, vs a single target.

yes, just for you to have an idea, atm my blizz sorc (that has shitty gear) deals:

1459-1527 dmg with ice blast, and

857-918 dmg with glacial spike

(of course using the same gear)

That's more like it. Thanks. Then it makes sense.

This post was edited by Taurean on Jul 25 2022 06:32pm

Depends if you go ES or vita. Going ES you’ll spend around 60 skill points in your cold skills so going for iceblast is the best choice to get top dmg.
Iceblast getting max dmg with blizz, ice bolt and iceblast maxed.

It can be a few reason.

Some players don't think about the AoE from glacial.
They didn't bother to hotkey the skill.
Lazy to swap back and forth from iceblast and glacial depending on how many targets it will hit.
Just looks at screen damage and see big numbers 'so this is my other skill'.
Glacial is only 1 point in while iceblast is higher level (most likely not).

This post was edited by Djsem on Aug 6 2022 07:11pm