I'm a Tal's Set sorc in the new D2R season wanting to Primary Cold (Orb) damage and Secondary Fire damage. I plan to p1-p3 farm hell mostly.

I was planning on doing 20 Orb/10 Cold Mastery rest fire, but I have some questions:

Should I max Ice Bolt for the synergy damage for Orb?
Should I max cold mastery?
What is the best fire skill to be my secondary element damage with frozen orb?
EDIT: I want to try Hydra, but how bad is it? Was thinking 20 Hydra / 20 Fire Mastery and would still have a ton of talents left.

This post was edited by Micamack on Mar 4 2026 08:40pm

Yes
Yes
Shako with Pul rune

I don't see what Shako and Pul rune have to do with anything.

I've gone orb hydra plenty of times and it's fine on lower player count, especially with full tals and a spirit.

Since you aren't breaking immune, no need to max cold mastery. Get it to ~lvl 16 so it drops res by 100.

Don't bother maxing ice bolt as the increase to orb is modest at best. Better to pump more to fire to boost hydra and use both spells constantly until you hit immunes then focus down with one element. Get a strong merc.

I've also done fireball and firewall. Ball is more twitchy fast paced than hydra. Firewall is wonky to aim (im on xbox) but the damage is huge.

This post was edited by jlhromeo on Mar 6 2026 01:03am