Is orb/hydra better than meteorb for us console players?

Hello again all, I’m currently running a meteorb (level 88), and just got my first

Token of Absolution and was wondering if a respect to orb/

Hydra is still viable in the updated 2.4? I know in the ptr

Hydra was overpowered but then got nerfed for the live patch.

One of my main reasons is that we can’t really target things on console the way can with a mouse.

Meteor and blizzard are basically useless for me because it’s close to impossible to lead a target the way I could on a computer, so usually by the time the spells hit the target is almost always out of the impact zone. At least with

Meteor I can lay down a good area of fire and try to pull monsters into it.

I’ve tried firewall and that is unusable as well, I liked

Fireball, but the damage didn’t get high enough to be viable (maybe it is now in 2.4?)

Orb is a perfect skill for us console players in that you don’t need to aim as much. There’s even been times I’ve shot it in the wrong direction and it still hit my target! Damage is a bit lack lustre but it’s definitely better than wasting mana and time trying to get a blizzard to actually connect - at least for me.

I’ll probably wait until I get a second

Token of Absolution so I can spec back if needed, but what does everyone think?

I reckon for console, HydraOrb > MeteOrb.

This is because, you need to time and aim meteors. Hydras are more forgiving.

I've been running HydraOrb since back in the original and love it. Just did dclone with no problems. I'm on PC though. But I found it annoying trying to aim with

Meteor/firewall/

Fireball even on PC. So I would definitely say go for HydraOrb.

Nate wrote: 2 years ago

Hello again all, I’m currently running a meteorb (level 88), and just got my first

Token of Absolution and was wondering if a respect to orb/

Hydra is still viable in the updated 2.4? I know in the ptr

Hydra was overpowered but then got nerfed for the live patch.

One of my main reasons is that we can’t really target things on console the way can with a mouse.

Meteor and blizzard are basically useless for me because it’s close to impossible to lead a target the way I could on a computer, so usually by the time the spells hit the target is almost always out of the impact zone. At least with

Meteor I can lay down a good area of fire and try to pull monsters into it.

I’ve tried firewall and that is unusable as well, I liked

Fireball, but the damage didn’t get high enough to be viable (maybe it is now in 2.4?)

Orb is a perfect skill for us console players in that you don’t need to aim as much. There’s even been times I’ve shot it in the wrong direction and it still hit my target! Damage is a bit lack lustre but it’s definitely better than wasting mana and time trying to get a blizzard to actually connect - at least for me.

I’ll probably wait until I get a second

Token of Absolution so I can spec back if needed, but what does everyone think?

PC player here, but even after the nerf,

Hydra still kicks ass.

Since you are console im going to assume you are doing a lot of solo games. I have a max orb,

Hydra sorc i mf with. Clears pretty easy everywhere, but i am using Infinity merc as well. You can also do max orb/

Nova with Insight merc. Just static-orb,

Nova anything that gets close. Telestomping on console takes practice.

I respecd to hydraorb when 2.4 hit and I love it. I did a budget merc setup for now so no Infinity but it plays pretty great. You can cast all 6 hydras in a little over a second and

Concentrate on relocating or spamming orb after. It is super fast for p1 but I havent tried it in anything higher, not very many mf games available lately.

If you are the type to walk and clear.

Hydra+orb is very forgiving in higher player games. Use hydras as scouts forward. I went max orb which allowed me to max

Fire Mastery,

Hydra, 10 hard points into

Fireball.

Hydra does 1534-1718 at lvl 37 with 442% Mf on me. Meph/Diablo/

Baal all go down quickly.

So I did not only the respec but also switched to a

Frenzy merc. What a world of difference in clear speed. The

Frenzy merc is fast and when

Fade kicks in from Treachery he’s much much tankier. I also put a Lawbringer on him which is great for undead crowd control. I definitely miss Insight, as hydras are expensive to cast, but I’m taking much less damage, so I just chug mana pots often.

But definitely

Hydra orb with a

Frenzy merc is a winning combo!