frozen armor: worth it?

[zuriel]

I always thought frozen armor was a 1-pt wonder for all sorcs. However, I noticed in Sasja's meteorb guide, he does not include frozen armor in his build. Was this a mistake on his part?

If I plan to make a versatile pvm meteorb sorc (key runs, all kinds of mf), should I invest a point into frozen armor? Maybe even shiver armor?

[prion]

You don't want Frozen but Shiver and Chilling.

Frozen actually kinda sucks, because it only takes effect when you get hit. Sure it freezes monsters solid, but it requires you to actually be hit. I only use it on non-cold builds.

Chilling will actually protect you from skeleton archers--the arrows will not hit at all. Same result with hydra's fire bolts.

As for Shiver, it will increase your defense, and chill monsters as they begin their melee attack--you can teleport out from under their slowed attacks.

Having either on will increase your defense, coupled with a Defiance merc will decrease your chance to be hit by a decent amount. Shiver has a better defense bonus so use it when there's no ranged attacks goin on.

[Taikis]

You should see what chilling armor does when you are being attacked by a huge mass of blow dart Fetishes :fortuneteller:

[EnerSense]

Most people use shiver armor because it helps the sorceress against melee attacks. As mentioned before, it slows these attacks and makes it easier to teleport away. If faced with many ranged attackers, I just simply have my sorc teleport away from danger. One thing to remember is that you can shop around for a staff that casts shiver or chilling armors. (I'm not sure of frozen because I haven't seen any.) You can then cast it on switch and save yourself a couple skill points.

[Leohappy]

you definitely want some sort of cold armor, because sorc is typicall most vulnerable during teleporting
i think frozen armor is actually better than other types because it stops the monster completely for a moment, instead of slowing them

[Mikk0]

i always go frozen armor for every non es sorc.. you'll get hit while teleing etc so the freezing efect might give you the extra 0.000000001 sec to tele out :rolleyes:

down side of chilling armor is the required preqs.. but its wonderfull armor anyways :thumbsup:

all in all.. frozen/chilling is wirth it shiver isnt

[MYK]

I liked the effects of shiver armor best. I didn't know which one to use to I spent a point in each.
It seems that Shiver Armor will chill/cold whatever monster Swings at you. I'm sure I've read this from a bunch of forums/posts.

[MaStAViC]

My Sorceress is currently level 89, and I finally added Shiver Armor to her skills. I saved two skills points because I was not sure of whether I wanted to use them for a cold armor or not. I finally decided to after looking at how much it will help with defense. My Sorceress has approximately 2,500 base defense, but with Shiver Armor (just one base point into it, but brough to about level 13 with items) and my Defiance mercenary, her defense soars to nearly 7,000, which I think is very worth it.

I have met a few people on Battle.net who advocate greatly for Shiver Armor, and many who have about 10 base skill points (and over 20 total skill points) into Shiver Armor. I am not sure if using that many points is worth it. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Chilling will actually protect you from skeleton archers--the arrows will not hit at all. Same result with hydra's fire bolts.
Can you clarify on this? With Chilling Armor activated, a Sorceress is immune to the attacks of Skeleton Archers and Hydras?

I hope that posting on own experience with Shiver Armor will help you,
Victor Ly

[yuqing]

Can you clarify on this? With Chilling Armor activated, a Sorceress is immune to the attacks of Skeleton Archers and Hydras?
Chilling has a chance to deflect (like completely negate, no damage at all) projectiles in the shape of a bolt or arrow (i.e. Guided Arrow, Fire bolt, charged bolt. NOT fireball however, as it has splash damage.) I believe shiver also has the same capabilities except for melee attacks. I'm not quite sure the chances of it doing this or if increased levels will increase the chance to negate, but it appears not.

[kykle]

i think the chance to block is about 30%

[prion]

seems quite a bit higher in my experience, but Chilling armor is a fairly new addition to my skill set.

[fledgeling]

sorry for reviving the thread - but does this "chance to deflect" work vs frozen orb (e.g. Sorc vs Sorc)?

[JoeJTang]

If it does, it would have the probability applied to each individual Ice Bolt, but the Frozen Orb itself would rend through you since it's an Area of Effect spell and not a projectile like a Fire Bolt or Arrow.

[GargonCerlan]

A couple simple questions, but will likely yield some complex answers:

Do the cold armors work before or after blocking and energy shield?

A) For example, I have ES and frozen armor and I'm hit by a fallen. If all of the damage of the hit is blocked by a shield, does it count as a hit and the fallen can still be frozen, or only if the hit is not blocked?

B) Similarly, if I have on chilling armor and I'm hit by a fallen, does the damage that is redirected get applied before or after the energy shield? (i.e. would the damage defelected be 100% of the fallen's attack as opposed to 5% of the fallen's attack assuming a 95% ES)

[prion]

the fallen takes the listed cold damage, the armor do not "reflect" damage in any way.

[GargonCerlan]

the fallen takes the listed cold damage, the armor do not "reflect" damage in any way.

That's what I thought. I got thrown for a loop when they started talking about the chance to deflect a ranged attack, which I understood as just ignoring it, but earlier posts made it sound that the damage they did were redirected back at them and added to the ice bolts damage. Thanks for the clarification.