Diablo II: Meteorb Skill Layout

This should have been posted when Malice became a Matriarch, but better late than never. Guides on how to build a Meteorb in Diablo II have been done and redone to death, however this is an explanation on how I built my current magic finder and how she is used.

The skill setup is very traditional:

Frozen Orb - 20
Meteor - 20
Fireball - 20
Fire Mastery - 20
Static Field - 1
Teleport - 1
Warmth - 1
Cold Mastery - 1+

However I like to provide a breakdown of when the points were allocated:

Warmth - 1
Firebolt - 1
Static Field - 1
Fireball - 1

This will bring us to character level 12. Static Field is used only on unique boss monsters while Fireball has become the main skill, replacing Firebolt. From here onward we'll be trying to max out Fireball to level 18, which bring us to character level 29 with some points saved up to obtain Frozen Orb.

Fireball - 19
Fire Mastery - 1
Ice Bolt - 1
Ice Blast - 1
Frost Nova - 1
Glacial Spike - 1
Blizzard - 1
Frozen Orb - 1
Cold Mastery - 1

At character level 30 Frozen Orb becomes the main skill with Fireball as a backup for Act bosses.

Frozen Orb - 2
Fireball - 20

Fireball is now maxed, time for Frozen Orb now.

Frozen Orb - 20
Telekinesis - 1
Teleport - 1

This brings us to character level 49, still in Act I of Nightmare. At this point everything becomes rather simple. Spam Frozen Orb until all monsters are dead since there aren't any immunes yet. Act bosses should still be weakened with Static Field before finishing them off with Frozen Orb.

Inferno - 1
Blaze - 1
Firewall - 1
Meteor - 20

At character level 68 Meteor has been introduced to the character's arsenal. It's uses are rather limited in Nightmare due to Frozen Orb's power, but it will come into play later on in Hell. It does however synergize with Fireball nicely to add some punch to that spell.

Fire Mastery - 20

This is basically all that is left to max until the character has completed questing, at level 83. From this point onward Cold Mastery is what should be maximized to increase the killing power of Frozen Orb for general magic finding purposes.

In Hell Fireball replaced Frozen Orb as the main killing spell. However Frozen Orb is used to chill/slow the monsters before Fireball is spammed to finish them off. For normal monsters Meteor is only used for stationary(ish) targets, such as those the mercenary is tanking or Unravellers.

Act bosses are dealt with fairly simply. First use a Frozen Orb to chill them and their minions, then Static Field to cut their health in half. Then hit them with Meteors and Fireballs until finished off. Since Meteor is a timed spell normally 2-3 Fireballs can be launched in between Meteor casts.

Any area or boss can be run with this build, even the Countess due to her cold/fire dual immunity as long as a powerful mercenary is present. She's especially good at Andariel, Mephisto and Pindleskin runs. Since these are the main boss runs for magic finding, equipping any future characters is a simple matter.