CoH: Orb of Storms or Ball Lightning?

I'd like to replace my dual-curse blasphemy setup with a CoH, so would need a 4L, and I see some people use Ball Lightning, which I've never tried. Is there really a difference between using Ball Lightning and Orb of Storms, or are they really quite as similar as they seem and just a question of feel? Besides BL using more mana that is.
THank you

ball lightning strikes much faster in a specific direction, and orb requires you to be casting lightning spells for it to strike rapidly. With the entire skill tree of +AoE nodes, storms can reach almost the entire screen. Either option is better than blasphomy. On my quad curse ball light build (5, if you wanna count singularity), i used offensive curses on orb of storms, and defensive curses on CWDT+ball+COH; and cwdt+ball+blind+flee for shits.

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Glorn2 wrote:

ball lightning strikes much faster in a specific direction, and orb requires you to be casting lightning spells for it to strike rapidly. With the entire skill tree of +AoE nodes, storms can reach almost the entire screen. Either option is better than blasphomy. On my quad curse ball light build (5, if you wanna count singularity), i used offensive curses on orb of storms, and defensive curses on CWDT+ball+COH; and cwdt+ball+blind+flee for shits.

Hey thanks. Does Herald of Thunder count for casting lightning spells with Orb?

I can't seem to tell if Herald of Thunder activates additional strikes of the Orb of Storms, or if the Orb is simply firing by itself (the gem description says "frequently"). there is something else activating it. I think I see it firing additional bolts when using Lightning Warp, but it's actually kind of hard to see when it does fire. Would the OoS fire additional bolts if Herald of Storms is activated within range?

what weapons are you using?
blade flurry works amazing for curse on hit right now. way better than orb of storms if you ask me.

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xMustard wrote:

what weapons are you using?
blade flurry works amazing for curse on hit right now. way better than orb of storms if you ask me.

Thanks, but I'm casting, and CoH doesn't seem to work with totems.

orb of storms is a tool used for fighting bosses or other targets that require you to evade shit.

ball lighting is better for cursing trash but it is still only directional

optimally you want blasphemy if speed is the issue here


those 3 are the best options for spellcasters so long as we dont throw ee into the mix

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Saltychipmunk wrote:

orb of storms is a tool used for fighting bosses or other targets that require you to evade shit.

ball lighting is better for cursing trash but it is still only directional

optimally you want blasphemy if speed is the issue here


those 3 are the best options for spellcasters so long as we dont throw ee into the mix

Thank you. How does EE affect things?
I'm actually trying Herald of Thunder now with CoH + Shaper of Desolation, seems to work as long as there is trash around to kill -- with some bosses however this doesn't work. Don't know how happy I am with it. Blasphemy is such a nice stable thing to be sure, but with dual curses it's pretty hard on the mana.

What's the rest of your build? Which skill are you clearing/fighting with, and how quickly are you moving?

Your best cursing option will generally depend on what the rest of your build is and what you're doing. I get a lot of mileage out of Orb of Storms for CoH, but then I also accept a slower playstyle/clearspeed than a lot of folks do. What's your set-up?

Thank you. I guess I'm just so hung up on curses, they're so good, I almost never want only 1! Especially playing a witch with Whispers of Doom right next to almost everything I'm going to get anyway.

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1453R wrote:

What's the rest of your build? Which skill are you clearing/fighting with, and how quickly are you moving?

Your best cursing option will generally depend on what the rest of your build is and what you're doing. I get a lot of mileage out of Orb of Storms for CoH, but then I also accept a slower playstyle/clearspeed than a lot of folks do. What's your set-up?

For my questions here I am trying two different versions of flameblaster-ishers. (These are Orthogenesia and Elektrizitas in my character tabs.) One of them is a lot faster than I am used to, I am normally slow and steady and non-meta, there OoS is working well (Orthogenesia). For Elektrizitas I am trying something else, CoH with HoT, and that seems to work great. I am in the processess of transitioning out of Flametotem as secondary damage dealer with her and will probably replace that with a CwDT, using both curses again just to make sure + IC. Still just in the mid 60s with both :-) Thanks for your input!