Spectral Blade + Crimson = Bread and Butter... This will do 105% Weapon Damage + 45% bleed in an AOE
Wave of Force + Alabaster = Knockback and Stun.
Mage Weapon + Obsidian = +34% physical damage and 45% knockback.
Ice Armor + Indigo = +50% armor and an aura that slows nearby enemy attack and move speed
Mirror Image + Crimson = 2 Images that can can throw down additional Spectral Blades that hit for 70% of my damage.
Slow Time + Crimson = 140% Additional Damage !!!!!!!
Glass Cannon = 20% Additional Damage
Illusionist = The ability to throw additional Mirrors if necessary
Blur = Ability to reduce melee damage and to compensant for Glass Cannon
imho the wizard isn't designed to do dps through melee weapons.These skills that he/she has are designed to survive,mitigate damage and support friends in co-op play.If some1 wants to hack and slash with wizard he can do it but not with the most efficient way.Barb and monk are designed for these things.
You don't actually have to use a melee weapon for this build. Magic weapon isn't being used for the melee procs... its simply being used to up weapon damage which is what spectral blade is dependant on.
Techniquely, with this build I just get whatever the highest damage weapon i can find is... and equip it.
About those knockback effects: since you have Slow time with the crimson rune, wouldn't it be kinda bad to knock them out of the bubble? How about switcing Wave of Force to Frost Nova with the golden rune (5 sec cooldown) so they stay in the buble? Magic Weapon rune to crimson perhaps?
Frost Nova might be a good idea as freezing is essentially stunning. The reason I originally went with wave of force was the fact that it does physical damage. The magic weapon with obsidian reads as +34% physical... now if thats just weapon damage or all physical damage has yet to be seen.
I can't do the Crimson magic weapon though.... "Melee Attacks burn enemies with fire for 70% of weapon damage for 3 seconds." My interpretation is that this only procs on actual melee attacks rather than skills.
Spectral Blade + Deep Cuts - Same as before
Wave of Force + Alabaster - 5 Second Stun every 15(12) seconds
Magic Weapon + Indigo = New bread and butter -> 8 enemies hit for 18% weapon damage with every melee attack (144% weapon damage spread as an AOE)
Diamond Skin + Obsidian = For the enemies that aren't stunned.
Frost Nova + Golden = 4 Second Freeze every 5(4) Seconds
Slow Time + Alabaster = 10 seconds of +140% attack speed (to proc the lightning from magic weapon) every 24 seconds.
Evocation - 3 second CD decrease on WoF, 1 Second CD decrease on FN (making it perma freeze), 6 second decrease on Slow Time (allowing me to cast my attack speed proc more often
Astral Presence - to help with the stun/freeze spam
Blur - Really no other passive interests me for this build so 20% melee damage reduction cannot hurt.
You don't want a knockback on your 'auto attacks' (and that's what a spectral will be in your case) at all, as a melee. Only knockback that works for melee is 'on use' to get away from mobs
Since Spectral is AoE'ish skill, i think that Ignite would work better
I don't think it adds knockback to spectral... the exact phrasing is melee attacks.
this build has no spenders and lots of contradicting attempts at survivability.
there are few ways to make a melee wiz without any spenders that still does damage without sacrificing placement or survivability.
here is my half arsed attempt at making crits and lightning shield my source of damage, making force my attempt to keep damage up while still having a final resort of escape...
this build has no spenders and lots of contradicting attempts at survivability.
there are few ways to make a melee wiz without any spenders that still does damage without sacrificing placement or survivability.
here is my half arsed attempt at making crits and lightning shield my source of damage, making force my attempt to keep damage up while still having a final resort of escape...
imho the wizard isn't designed to do dps through melee weapons.These skills that he/she has are designed to survive,mitigate damage and support friends in co-op play.If some1 wants to hack and slash with wizard he can do it but not with the most efficient way.Barb and monk are designed for these things.
It's more about the novelty and irony of having a wizard who uses Melee, not about how effective it is.
Ice Armor with Indigo rune: Could be ok but that indigo would be best used in Diamond skin to save your life more.
skip Ice Armor go Energy armor for +20% armor, no glass cannon. Galvanizing ward, Blur, Evocation for
constant Diamond Skin. Illusionist like Unstable Anomaly in my opinion are both not worth the effort, get
diamond skin and Wave of Force with stun and you'll always have an out.
Mirror Image: could be good but those level 7 runes might not grow on trees, use it for the SB you were planning on or
or Slow Time.
With the familiar you will have a weapon damage factor of 4.5 (total damage each cast of SB times weapon damage, so divide by 3 to get damage per hit per point of weapon damage) (with indigo rune in SB) Which means familiar with a Crimson rune could be about the only way your going to be alive with this build in Hell or farther... So 100 damage weapon, times 4.5 then divide by 3 = damage per hit of SB with all level 7 runes = you doing 150 damage per hit with SB but with precision from energy armor the damage could be.... so much more. That is as long as Familiar increases damage for each hit of SB. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XcWVQO!VWY!YacYaZ
This would add to the confusion and still allow full melee http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XhWVQO!VWY!YYcYaZ
Or Simulacrum for mirror image, just as good.
With that build you could change out alabaster in energy shield for crimson if you need it, and you could add glass cannon and not have much lost on defense but doing a very basic math with it (I didn't double check ! :)) the glass cannon would add 30 damage to each hit of SB), may or may not be worth the effort or Blur to mitigate damage from melee, or Astral Presence to add to mana shield all 3 are an option (in place of evocation) for this build depending on where and what your killing...
I'm with Xhion I don't see melee builds lasting in later game, hell or inferno. The first build I think needs diamond skin with the indigo rune because it is about the best shield your going to have. I personally am going to try ray of frost and arcane torrent for damage since gold rune lowers AP use in RoF to 3 with a level 7 rune so lower level gold runes will still lower AP requirements to point where I can cast it without arcane power going down.
Ice Armor with Indigo rune: Could be ok but that indigo would be best used in Diamond skin to save your life more.
skip Ice Armor go Energy armor for +20% armor, no glass cannon. Galvanizing ward, Blur, Evocation for
constant Diamond Skin. Illusionist like Unstable Anomaly in my opinion are both not worth the effort, get
diamond skin and Wave of Force with stun and you'll always have an out.
Mirror Image: could be good but those level 7 runes might not grow on trees, use it for the SB you were planning on or
or Slow Time.
With the familiar you will have a weapon damage factor of 4.5 (total damage each cast of SB times weapon damage, so divide by 3 to get damage per hit per point of weapon damage) (with indigo rune in SB) Which means familiar with a Crimson rune could be about the only way your going to be alive with this build in Hell or farther... So 100 damage weapon, times 4.5 then divide by 3 = damage per hit of SB with all level 7 runes = you doing 150 damage per hit with SB but with precision from energy armor the damage could be.... so much more. That is as long as Familiar increases damage for each hit of SB. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XcWVQO!VWY!YacYaZ
This would add to the confusion and still allow full melee http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XhWVQO!VWY!YYcYaZ
Or Simulacrum for mirror image, just as good.
With that build you could change out alabaster in energy shield for crimson if you need it, and you could add glass cannon and not have much lost on defense but doing a very basic math with it (I didn't double check ! :)) the glass cannon would add 30 damage to each hit of SB), may or may not be worth the effort or Blur to mitigate damage from melee, or Astral Presence to add to mana shield all 3 are an option (in place of evocation) for this build depending on where and what your killing...
I'm with Xhion I don't see melee builds lasting in later game, hell or inferno. The first build I think needs diamond skin with the indigo rune because it is about the best shield your going to have. I personally am going to try ray of frost and arcane torrent for damage since gold rune lowers AP use in RoF to 3 with a level 7 rune so lower level gold runes will still lower AP requirements to point where I can cast it without arcane power going down.
I personally think Melee wizards WILL be viable. I don't think blizzard would have even wasted the energy designins skills like mage weapon and spectral blade if they are going to never be used. I'm confident that blizzard will balance up melee wizard abilities if so deemed necessary.
I hope your right using SB, with MW, and Frost nova with crimson rune to get 110% damage while still having the appearance of melee could serve you well. This is the best combo I can think of: 24/7 diamond skin, 24/7 slow time effects, hp regen, frost/MW/SB combo where available for max damage (more than familiar with crimson would). It is also very precise with pinpoint barrier, but crimson for resists would be just as good really, you'll need a lot of survival gear but Prodigy/diamond skin/energy armor/slow time Miasma should make you a tough old bird. Below are the same links, I like Battle.net's calculator appearance better.
I hope your right using SB, with MW, and Frost nova with crimson rune to get 110% damage while still having the appearance of melee could serve you well. This is the best combo I can think of: 24/7 diamond skin, 24/7 slow time effects, hp regen, frost/MW/SB combo where available for max damage (more than familiar with crimson would). It is also very precise with pinpoint barrier, but crimson for resists would be just as good really, you'll need a lot of survival gear but Prodigy/diamond skin/energy armor/slow time Miasma should make you a tough old bird. Below are the same links, I like Battle.net's calculator appearance better.
Diamond Skin 24/7 doesnt have to be as effective as you think it is in the long run. I dont see 2661 damage being that much, atleast over a 21 second period. I rather see this skill as an escape skill or to use when you take alot of burst damage in a short period. But i could be wrong.
Slow Time with Miasma really only helps if you are struggeling with killing monsters or are standing still for 24 seconds. Usually you will be moving forward, and the new mosters that you meet wont be affected by Slow Time (downtime is 14 seconds). Altho Miasma will be nice versus bosses. Imo Slow Time with Perpunity is better, because it allows you to recast Slow Time at new locations with only 3 seconds downtime.
Also, as you said yourself, Crimson Rune for Energy Armor would probably be better unless you take advantage of that +40% precision (for example making SB crits heal you for 100% of damage dealt).
anyone else think that making spectral your damage will weaken your source of lifesteal (spectral has a lifesteal rune for crits but does no damage as a result)? from what i have read about magic weapon, its lifesteal is for melee hits only and not spells like spectral.
anyone else think that making spectral your damage will weaken your source of lifesteal (spectral has a lifesteal rune for crits but does no damage as a result)? from what i have read about magic weapon, its lifesteal is for melee hits only and not spells like spectral.
I honestly hope that the Magic weapon Blood magic trickers on the Spectral blade spell, else it would be pretty useless imo.
" Magic weapon(bloodmagic) that is "
it would be a lot of fun to use if procs worked i have to agree.
If you're hoping that Blizzard is going to make melee wizards viable... uhhh
you need to look at the simple comparisons to the other melee classes to see why they wont be...
You have 1 offensive ability, and 1 buff
Spectral Blade (offensive ability and Magic Weapon (buff)
Spectral Blade will work as a weak cleave hitting only 3 targets for 35% weapon damage before runed. The barbarian cleave hits 1 target for 120% WDMG, and other targets (no max) for 60%. Crippling Wave, the monk alternative to cleave, deals 100% WDMG to all targets infront of him and on the third attack it does AOE dmg and debuffs MS by 50%.
This is before even being runed, the barb runes and monk runes blow spectral blade WAY out of the water.
There is no conceivable combo right now that will allow you to even compete in PVE using that combo... sorry.
The only reason we could rock an enchantress in d2 was due to Energy Shield + MDR + PDR making us take NO damage. It wasnt even faster than the other classes and other alternative builds, but you could do it because you took no damage. It was hella slower than making a proper sorc, but you COULD in theory do it.
Do you have immunity to damage in this game via ES + MDR + PDR? no you dont... not even close
You would get 25% from teleport Obsidian Rune and a small damage absorb shield on CD from Diamond Skin
I promise you the damage you do in 60s I could do in 3s building a sorc the proper way. If you want to do it for fun? have at it! Make it your second or third char or w.e. I promise you if you try it as your first you will be light years behind even the AVG player.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"...We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me
shall be my brother..."
Spectral Blade + Crimson = Bread and Butter... This will do 105% Weapon Damage + 45% bleed in an AOE
Wave of Force + Alabaster = Knockback and Stun.
Mage Weapon + Obsidian = +34% physical damage and 45% knockback.
Ice Armor + Indigo = +50% armor and an aura that slows nearby enemy attack and move speed
Mirror Image + Crimson = 2 Images that can can throw down additional Spectral Blades that hit for 70% of my damage.
Slow Time + Crimson = 140% Additional Damage !!!!!!!
Glass Cannon = 20% Additional Damage
Illusionist = The ability to throw additional Mirrors if necessary
Blur = Ability to reduce melee damage and to compensant for Glass Cannon
You don't actually have to use a melee weapon for this build. Magic weapon isn't being used for the melee procs... its simply being used to up weapon damage which is what spectral blade is dependant on.
Techniquely, with this build I just get whatever the highest damage weapon i can find is... and equip it.
Frost Nova might be a good idea as freezing is essentially stunning. The reason I originally went with wave of force was the fact that it does physical damage. The magic weapon with obsidian reads as +34% physical... now if thats just weapon damage or all physical damage has yet to be seen.
I can't do the Crimson magic weapon though.... "Melee Attacks burn enemies with fire for 70% of weapon damage for 3 seconds." My interpretation is that this only procs on actual melee attacks rather than skills.
If I want to focus on ACTUAL Melee attacks this is an alternate build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XcWVaS!VXe!ZaYcba
Spectral Blade + Deep Cuts - Same as before
Wave of Force + Alabaster - 5 Second Stun every 15(12) seconds
Magic Weapon + Indigo = New bread and butter -> 8 enemies hit for 18% weapon damage with every melee attack (144% weapon damage spread as an AOE)
Diamond Skin + Obsidian = For the enemies that aren't stunned.
Frost Nova + Golden = 4 Second Freeze every 5(4) Seconds
Slow Time + Alabaster = 10 seconds of +140% attack speed (to proc the lightning from magic weapon) every 24 seconds.
Evocation - 3 second CD decrease on WoF, 1 Second CD decrease on FN (making it perma freeze), 6 second decrease on Slow Time (allowing me to cast my attack speed proc more often
Astral Presence - to help with the stun/freeze spam
Blur - Really no other passive interests me for this build so 20% melee damage reduction cannot hurt.
I don't think it adds knockback to spectral... the exact phrasing is melee attacks.
there are few ways to make a melee wiz without any spenders that still does damage without sacrificing placement or survivability.
here is my half arsed attempt at making crits and lightning shield my source of damage, making force my attempt to keep damage up while still having a final resort of escape...
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XciagW!eUV!aZcaac
comet with another white rune could be a replacement for force that fits with the crits idea
its not meant to be a spender build... its a melee wizard :D. Basically you get close... drop a WoF, throw a slow time and spam spectral blade.
check what i said later and youll see ive made an alternative source of damage
Check out my second build... i'm actually kinda liking my stun build...
It's more about the novelty and irony of having a wizard who uses Melee, not about how effective it is.
Also that its a build that not everyone will be running around doing.
WoF with long stun: Awesome
Ice Armor with Indigo rune: Could be ok but that indigo would be best used in Diamond skin to save your life more.
skip Ice Armor go Energy armor for +20% armor, no glass cannon. Galvanizing ward, Blur, Evocation for
constant Diamond Skin. Illusionist like Unstable Anomaly in my opinion are both not worth the effort, get
diamond skin and Wave of Force with stun and you'll always have an out.
Mirror Image: could be good but those level 7 runes might not grow on trees, use it for the SB you were planning on or
or Slow Time.
With the familiar you will have a weapon damage factor of 4.5 (total damage each cast of SB times weapon damage, so divide by 3 to get damage per hit per point of weapon damage) (with indigo rune in SB) Which means familiar with a Crimson rune could be about the only way your going to be alive with this build in Hell or farther... So 100 damage weapon, times 4.5 then divide by 3 = damage per hit of SB with all level 7 runes = you doing 150 damage per hit with SB but with precision from energy armor the damage could be.... so much more. That is as long as Familiar increases damage for each hit of SB. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XcWVQO!VWY!YacYaZ
This would add to the confusion and still allow full melee http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XhWVQO!VWY!YYcYaZ
Or Simulacrum for mirror image, just as good.
With that build you could change out alabaster in energy shield for crimson if you need it, and you could add glass cannon and not have much lost on defense but doing a very basic math with it (I didn't double check ! :)) the glass cannon would add 30 damage to each hit of SB), may or may not be worth the effort or Blur to mitigate damage from melee, or Astral Presence to add to mana shield all 3 are an option (in place of evocation) for this build depending on where and what your killing...
I'm with Xhion I don't see melee builds lasting in later game, hell or inferno. The first build I think needs diamond skin with the indigo rune because it is about the best shield your going to have. I personally am going to try ray of frost and arcane torrent for damage since gold rune lowers AP use in RoF to 3 with a level 7 rune so lower level gold runes will still lower AP requirements to point where I can cast it without arcane power going down.
I personally think Melee wizards WILL be viable. I don't think blizzard would have even wasted the energy designins skills like mage weapon and spectral blade if they are going to never be used. I'm confident that blizzard will balance up melee wizard abilities if so deemed necessary.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#WXVQSa!YWV!cYYaYZ
http://www.diablofans.com/page/tools/diablo3-skill-calculator/d3-wizard.html#97,105,186,189,107,102:118,116,112:b,c,a,b,e,b
Just 2 things:
Also, as you said yourself, Crimson Rune for Energy Armor would probably be better unless you take advantage of that +40% precision (for example making SB crits heal you for 100% of damage dealt).
for he to-day that sheds his blood with me
shall be my brother..."
will i have a chance for 145% lifesteal with this build? http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XeiagW!eUV!accaaa
it would be a lot of fun to use if procs worked i have to agree.
but if not, http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#XeiagW!eUV!accaac
arcane orbit might work as damage when my melee is only good for lifesteal, with the help of the crit from nova
you need to look at the simple comparisons to the other melee classes to see why they wont be...
You have 1 offensive ability, and 1 buff
Spectral Blade (offensive ability and Magic Weapon (buff)
Spectral Blade will work as a weak cleave hitting only 3 targets for 35% weapon damage before runed. The barbarian cleave hits 1 target for 120% WDMG, and other targets (no max) for 60%. Crippling Wave, the monk alternative to cleave, deals 100% WDMG to all targets infront of him and on the third attack it does AOE dmg and debuffs MS by 50%.
This is before even being runed, the barb runes and monk runes blow spectral blade WAY out of the water.
There is no conceivable combo right now that will allow you to even compete in PVE using that combo... sorry.
The only reason we could rock an enchantress in d2 was due to Energy Shield + MDR + PDR making us take NO damage. It wasnt even faster than the other classes and other alternative builds, but you could do it because you took no damage. It was hella slower than making a proper sorc, but you COULD in theory do it.
Do you have immunity to damage in this game via ES + MDR + PDR? no you dont... not even close
You would get 25% from teleport Obsidian Rune and a small damage absorb shield on CD from Diamond Skin
I promise you the damage you do in 60s I could do in 3s building a sorc the proper way. If you want to do it for fun? have at it! Make it your second or third char or w.e. I promise you if you try it as your first you will be light years behind even the AVG player.
for he to-day that sheds his blood with me
shall be my brother..."
lightning armor - (most of the armors have one or so effect viable)
shocking aspect is particularly useful
forceful wave as a damager... whats with that?!
absorbtion - on energy armor 7ap is not worth being hit unless you can take it
...maybe frozen mist. naa
maybe not a whole lot of good stuff but there is potential. i can see blizz making items for it to work.