Hello all,

I play Classic diablo farming CS all the time, cuz I jsut love Frozen orb and it was still good in classic,

I was wondering if I buy RotW, is there a way to make Frozen orb viable again now? or should I stay in classic to enjoy my frozen orb?

Yeps, me too!!

Well, I do;

20 orb, 1 mastery, no synergy
1 tk, 1 tele, no static
And then max hydra, it will be 100% maxed at exactly lvl 99.

I play like this and love it.

In p8 its only good vs lower fire res monsters, so its not stomping all - but for all my favorite areas its a blast and very nostalgic.

I clear TZ a1,2,3 and love it 😊 and for a day or two before this stoney tomb just outside town in a2 is an a85 with ceazy drops and no fire immune.

It ts actually very good in large parts of a5 if you care for that.

For cs runs, you should consider another...

Solo orb only,
I got one of those. Mf'ed DF and all. Awesome journey, but even in gg gear its really bad outside of some dueling....

is it viable in chepa gear to get started ? like lore/2xspirit/stealth/etc?

and not even 1 in static?!?!

This post was edited by num2007 on Feb 26 2026 04:59pm

More than viable.
Its really good.

This is my 3rd ladder doing so.
Lvling as fire early is of course perfect with pots,
Then comes orb and this carries you pas nm ancients and baal.

Then at 50 with small hydra its easy to kill andy with orb taking down the fallen...

And then bam, your at stoney tomb.
Casting hydras in past doors and around corners and when the hydras are quickly set I spam frozen orb, TK chests and tele around to enjoy, postition and keep merc healthy.

Very engaging and fun play.

Get insight pole and cure helm for a life regen merc - they all synergies and allows you mana enough for this.

Even just a 4 sock topaz armor and a 3 sock topaz helm is ok.

Nono

First math is as stated. You reach the final relevant synergy at 99 exactly.... so who could be non-autistic enough to run lvl 19 in a skill for that? 😅

But its also not needed.
Fire MELTS low fire res monsters and orb MELTS low cr monsters.

For bosses and elites setting up all hydras I doubt you could even do dmg faster with static. They are just gone in an instant...


(And statix unlike in classic is hell capped at 50% health....)





This post was edited by MissYou on Feb 26 2026 05:06pm

wait

20 in forzen orb
1 tele ,1 tk
20 hydra
20 fire mastery?

rest is in fireball? and then firebolt?

do you go max block?

This post was edited by num2007 on Feb 26 2026 05:07pm

Exactly.
Well, I do a little fireball and bolt until Orb, then orb - but keeping cold mastery at 1.

And then after I go hydra plus fire mastery.


Fast lvling and good drops in stoney tomb even p1... so quickly your like 75-80 and can consider when you want to solo rest till baal and begin TZ

Max block isnt possible early.
In my opinion.

To be considered for later, but likely just higher dmg as you then kill before they hurt you - and dont go to areas with blood lords etc.
At least this is my strategy.

My 100% full orb has ES and max block stormshield.
Honestly I think she dies faster due to such low dmg...

Ya but you’d have to leave classic mode who wants to do that 😂