My wiz is almost 60 and Im looking forward to trying this out. I fail at kiting in this game so probably why I stuck with my monk since lauch and have over 200 hours on him but now that I can play a caster that stays in melee range Im stoked. But looking at the gear used by people in the many guides they have crazy stats and I would need 80-100 mil to build what they have. Will 20 mil be enough to at least let me farm through Act 2 with ease? Also what damage should I shoot for? If Im stacking resists, vit, and armor I dont wanna shortchange myself on Damage because I couldnt afford good pieces loaded with resists, armor, vit, and also had int.
Also for rings/amulet should I go for crit damage and crit chance, and life on hit only and sacrfice stats like resists and vit? I figure not having vit/resists on 3 pieces wont hurt me too much for Acts 1-2 as long as I make up for it on other slots. When I search for gear whats the bare minimum I should put into each box? Was thinking 60 resists all, 75 int, and 75 vit and then sorting by highest armor?
Hello, first I'd like to say it's a good guide. I've been playing melee since many weeks and only in a group taking the role of a tank. I've seen many Melee builds float around but I usually sticked to mine or slightly refined it. It seems tho that the time for a switch may have come. So I'm looking for a few tips to transition if you can help me?
First my old spec http://us.battle.net...YXgO!abg!aacaZc
I have 46,5% Crit, and in the group I'm running (Barb, Me, 2 DPS) I have 9k buffed armor, 1.1k buffed resist, 1150 LoH, 48k HP and 35k DPS. My main issues are that 1) I don't currently have any AP/Crit and 2) I have focused very much on getting high IAS as well, because more Spectral Blade attacks equal more procs in my case. Also, my weapon is a 740DPS Axe, with 180Int, 830LoH, 57%Crit and a Socket. I really, really don't want to replace it.
Ok, so to make it short:
Where do I squeeze in WW/EB for a group focused build (Act3 speed farming).
Is IAS anything worth for WW/EB? I've invested quite much to get IAS as well as Crit on my old build.
Shield or source? Can I get enough AP/Crit without changing my weapon?
How can I handle range mobs who run around all the time? Plus in group play my teammates aggro mobs a lot, isn't that a huge problem?
Cold Blooded is currently broken in that it boosts all damage, so this is a flat 20% increase to you most of the time.
Can anyone else confirm, first time I heard about this and I tried it out. I didnt see any "flat out" damage increase what-so-ever.
It's easily tested within a few minutes in game lol; also search the official forums.
Edlike, congrats on your progress! You are ahead of me at this point, still progressing in act 3 lol (barely any time to play with work, etc). I am a bit curious about your great success with such low AP on hit however (may mean that it's a viable option to have this stat coming from just the helmet so it is possible to get a more powerful wand for someone like me who is not bankrolling from RMAH). Would you mind posting a sshot listing all of your stats so that I can compare with my own (our defenses are very close)?
Easily tested yes, Im saying Im not getting any damage increase what so ever.. 20% should be noticeable. I havent seen any blue posts about this at the official forums
Okay, it's official. Diablo fans posts the worst possible things they can on their home page.
This post is awful in so many ways.
And this particular guy is not just an idiot, but also an asshole.
First of all, this build type has been around forever, and theres 10,000 versions of it floating around the internet, and you literally may have picked the worst possibl one diablofans.
Cold Blooded does NOT affect everything. It affects EVERY SPELL IF THE ENEMY IS CHILLED. And its not confrmed or denied if its a bug, perhaps just bad wording.
This is the first and most obvious BLUNDER with this post. GOD HOW OBVIOUS IS THIS *FACEPALM* YES IM MAD BRO.
Haha, the proof this particular guy from the quote cited EVEN SAYS THAT BLATENTLY.
Next, "Entry Level Melee Wizard." An entry level melee wizard is not going to be able to take the constant 40k+ hits from Act3 and late Act2 Inferno. FORCE ARMOR. IDIOT.
Okay, it's official. Diablo fans posts the worst possible things they can on their home page.
This post is awful in so many ways.
And this particular guy is not just an idiot, but also an asshole.
First of all, this build type has been around forever, and theres 10,000 versions of it floating around the internet, and you literally may have picked the worst possibl one diablofans.
Cold Blooded does NOT affect everything. It affects EVERY SPELL IF THE ENEMY IS CHILLED. And its not confrmed or denied if its a bug, perhaps just bad wording.
This is the first and most obvious BLUNDER with this post. GOD HOW OBVIOUS IS THIS *FACEPALM* YES IM MAD BRO.
Haha, the proof this particular guy from the quote cited EVEN SAYS THAT BLATENTLY.
Next, "Entry Level Melee Wizard." An entry level melee wizard is not going to be able to take the constant 40k+ hits from Act3 and late Act2 Inferno. FORCE ARMOR. IDIOT.
Don't agree with your way of saying most of it, but most of it is true.
First, this is not an "Entry Level Wizard" spec. You need insane amounts of gear that will total in the 30+ million range. Most people hit 60 with less than a million. A million if they've been saving.
Second, relying on gearing around a possible Bug is not a good idea. Of course you'll get some extra progression while you can, but as soon as it's nerfed you have a gear/talent set that are useless. *See the people that kept IAS gear, and then complained when they couldn't clear as much post-nerf*
The spec/gear is useful, and competitive, but please post factual items and not this marketing trash of it being an "Entry Level" Spec for 1-2 million in gear.
His boots are worth 5 times my entire gear set combined
Man this spec requires some serious cash to throw down on gear and the damage isn't amazing either. Looks pretty OP though. I would have to say the tornado barb is like a million times more ridiculous though. If something needs a nerf, it should be them not us.
Sure, if you want to jump straight into A3/A4 inferno, any build's gear is gonna cost some serious cash. If you want to just try out this build, you can probably give it a go for around 600k. All you need is:
1H weapon with 300-500 LoH and 500-600 dps, $:150-300k,
Shield with int and crit, $:100-200k
2 blue rings with +7% atk speed and 80-90 LoH, $50-100k ea
1 blue amulet with +6-7 crit and 250 LoH, $50-100k
1 hat with AP on crit, $100k
This will get you farming A1 easily off the bat. Wasn't long until I was into A2. A3 on the other hand.. that may be a while...
EDIT: windupwizard.com puts up a shopping list for 650k, I don't know when he posted that, but I'd be hard pressed to find that kind of gear for those prices. He must either be a really good shopper, or really lucky. Things are more expensive, but you can still get started for less than 1 mil easily.
Here's a website full of videos of this build (and some slight variations/gear/etc) http://www.windupwizard.com/
His boots are worth 5 times my entire gear set combined
Man this spec requires some serious cash to throw down on gear and the damage isn't amazing either. Looks pretty OP though. I would have to say the tornado barb is like a million times more ridiculous though. If something needs a nerf, it should be them not us.
5-10 mil is not that much to invest in a set that can carry you through the whole game on inferno
Okay, it's official. Diablo fans posts the worst possible things they can on their home page.
This post is awful in so many ways.
And this particular guy is not just an idiot, but also an asshole.
First of all, this build type has been around forever, and theres 10,000 versions of it floating around the internet, and you literally may have picked the worst possibl one diablofans.
Cold Blooded does NOT affect everything. It affects EVERY SPELL IF THE ENEMY IS CHILLED. And its not confrmed or denied if its a bug, perhaps just bad wording.
This is the first and most obvious BLUNDER with this post. GOD HOW OBVIOUS IS THIS *FACEPALM* YES IM MAD BRO.
Haha, the proof this particular guy from the quote cited EVEN SAYS THAT BLATENTLY.
Next, "Entry Level Melee Wizard." An entry level melee wizard is not going to be able to take the constant 40k+ hits from Act3 and late Act2 Inferno. FORCE ARMOR. IDIOT.
Don't agree with your way of saying most of it, but most of it is true.
First, this is not an "Entry Level Wizard" spec. You need insane amounts of gear that will total in the 30+ million range. Most people hit 60 with less than a million. A million if they've been saving.
Second, relying on gearing around a possible Bug is not a good idea. Of course you'll get some extra progression while you can, but as soon as it's nerfed you have a gear/talent set that are useless. *See the people that kept IAS gear, and then complained when they couldn't clear as much post-nerf*
The spec/gear is useful, and competitive, but please post factual items and not this marketing trash of it being an "Entry Level" Spec for 1-2 million in gear.
not including my weapon i dropped 6-8mil max on the gear that took me through a4 and diablo. weapon cost 8m
Don't know why this post is labelled as "melee wizard" because it's not really. Melee implies, or in my taking it does, that actual melee damage or an attack will be made, yet this build has neither. If it is meant as "spells that have about a melee range" then I suppose this is true. Not knocking this post at all though, it's a great guide for a tough tornado wizard, but it's far from what I see as a melee/battlemage (in simple terms: a Wizard that fights like a Monk/Barb).
The build I use for a melee wizard is very similar, except it actually has the only melee ability the wizard has: Spectral Blade.
I'll outline the build and then why it works below for anyone interested:
Talents:
Spectral Blade (Deep Cuts) - Deep Cuts takes advantage of 88% LoH unlike the rest of the runes at 66.6%. This ability with its multiple hits is also nice for proccing crits as well. Per: http://us.battle.net...opic/5149154265
Explosive Blast (Short Fuse, sometimes Chain Reaction) - I mainly use short fuse to remove the 1.5 delay as my crits will shred the 6 second cooldown fast enough to basically spam this. I know chain reaction does technically more damage, but the problem I found with it is it's uncontrolability (e.g. with packs with knockback, mobs with natural knockback, sync with teleport skill, etc). There are times you're going to have to have one of those Chain Reactions miss and then you're only doing 194% instead of the normal 225%. Also, if you want to get technical, Chain Reaction takes 1.5s to cast and ~.25/.5s per blast, so thats 291% in 2-2.25 seconds, while with enough crit and Short Fuse coming up all the time it does 450% in 2 seconds.
Frost Nova (Bone Chill / Deep Freeze) - I 100% agree with the OP about the runes. If you have enough crit, use Bone Chill for the extra damage (and vs champ packs / for farming runs), if not, use Deep Freeze when you know you're doing regular mobs (i.e. progression through acts).
Diamond Skin (Crystal Shell) - Here I agree with the OP as well, use this as your damage absorb and use shards if you have enough resists and life return.
Teleport (Safe Passage) - I use Safe Passage as my WoW style damage reduction cooldown, generally teleporting in place for the 30% reduction it gives when Diamon Skin is not up.
*Note: I find Fracture (as well as Mirror Images) to be broken currently. The clones do not act as I feel they should (being mini tanks) and I fault this to lazy programming making them just run ahead/behind you in all the wrong situations. My personal feeling is they should stand ground if they are attacking an enemy or I am in combat with one because there is no point in them "running and gunning" with you as they do no damage.
Energy Armor (Prismatic / Force) - I generally use Prismatic as the resistances are beastly, however, there are fights (like Belial) where resists will do little and big absorbs are much better, so I swap to force.
Passives:
Critical Mass - The central passive in this build for obvious reasons, see OP if they are not so obvious.
Blur - I love this ability as it lets me just stand in place and SBlade mobs. This combined with my resistances means I rarely have to move out of anything. Even on boss fights like the Butcher, I just tank him in a single panel, Diamond Skin / Safe Passage the hits and fire (and heal it up with LoH) and Frost Nova his charge and he never moves out of place and I don't have to either.
Galvanizing Wizard - I currently use this for the Life Regen as I am a bit lacking there, but once I get more on gear I plan to swap to Cold Blooded (if still broken) or Arcane Dynamo if it is fixed. Arcane Dynamo works nicely with SBlades and EB.
Stats:
My stat priority is generally the same except for the AP on Crit. This is not really useful as there is enough regen to cover EB and the Blades are free. I instead move LoH and Life Regen up the scale below Int / Crit / IAS (and LoH is actually higher than IAS and even Crit until you are at a decent threshold). The reason I also take Life Regen is because packs like Shielding / Invulnerable Minion / Knockback / Vortex make it hard to stand your ground and just Blade regen, so some passive regen is nice.
*Note: I also find LoH to be severely misworded and broken. Life on Hit would imply X life when I hit, not when I deal damage (which is how it currently works). Life Steal % is based on damage, but Life on Hit should be a flat amount, whether damage was done or not, otherwise, it's just an unnerfed Life Steal %. This is what causes issues with Shielding and Invulnerable Minion packs. Am I not still *hitting* them even though I do no damage? Le sigh.
Hope this has helped, melee wizard is incredibly fun, especially rolling into public games and random players expecting you to be fragile and you just go up and tank shit like a boss. If only I could see their gasping faces as they die and I live and kill stuff.
Cold Blooded is currently broken in that it boosts all damage, so this is a flat 20% increase to you most of the time.
Can anyone else confirm, first time I heard about this and I tried it out. I didnt see any "flat out" damage increase what-so-ever.
It's easily tested within a few minutes in game lol; also search the official forums.
Edlike, congrats on your progress! You are ahead of me at this point, still progressing in act 3 lol (barely any time to play with work, etc). I am a bit curious about your great success with such low AP on hit however (may mean that it's a viable option to have this stat coming from just the helmet so it is possible to get a more powerful wand for someone like me who is not bankrolling from RMAH). Would you mind posting a sshot listing all of your stats so that I can compare with my own (our defenses are very close)?
Easily tested yes, Im saying Im not getting any damage increase what so ever.. 20% should be noticeable. I havent seen any blue posts about this at the official forums
Okay, it's official. Diablo fans posts the worst possible things they can on their home page.
This post is awful in so many ways.
And this particular guy is not just an idiot, but also an asshole.
First of all, this build type has been around forever, and theres 10,000 versions of it floating around the internet, and you literally may have picked the worst possibl one diablofans.
Cold Blooded does NOT affect everything. It affects EVERY SPELL IF THE ENEMY IS CHILLED. And its not confrmed or denied if its a bug, perhaps just bad wording.
This is the first and most obvious BLUNDER with this post. GOD HOW OBVIOUS IS THIS *FACEPALM* YES IM MAD BRO.
Haha, the proof this particular guy from the quote cited EVEN SAYS THAT BLATENTLY.
Next, "Entry Level Melee Wizard." An entry level melee wizard is not going to be able to take the constant 40k+ hits from Act3 and late Act2 Inferno. FORCE ARMOR. IDIOT.
Hey bro, relax. I went from act 1 hell to main tank in act 3 inferno group farm (could semi-solo farm but just took too long and some packs were not doable without deaths) with total gear worth under 500k. At the time, my gear was something like this:
1) wand was 550 dps with LoH and AP on crit
2) shield with ~50 AR, 6% crit, no int/vit/extra armor
3) gloves with ~50 AR, 6ish% crit, some int/vit
4) helm with ~50 AR and 9 AP on crit, some int
5) LoH / IAS blue rings
6) some crappy amulet with some crit
7) rest of gear with ~50 AR and vit, a few had int and other stats
As you can see, not very impressive, however I did not really have to worry about those 40k hits you mentioned because I geared for tanking, not sup-g-how-can-i-get-da-most-int-n-deeps-on-my-shit. Therefore, this idiot was able to go without FORCE ARMOR, hehe. My armor was in fact greater than my DPS; I had no crit damage bonus, only 22% crit, etc. However, I was still able to progress even vs extra health elites (some packs were just not possible though, namely extra health kiters with abilities that made it impossible to have high uptime).
A few hours ago, I was able to push through past Siegebreaker and kill Diablo. I managed the final kill because I dropped a few $$ on a better wand (750 DPS with crit damage bonus and only 220 LoH) and a better shield (mine was just crap with 6% crit and zero int), as well as a source that I swapped to for the added deeps. Initially, I was nervous about the significantly smaller LoH and reduction in AP on crit, but my defenses were able to sustain it.
Observations on boss fights:
Azmodan - I swapped explosive blast for venom hydra, frost nova for time warp and cold blooded for glass cannon; reasoning is that time warp slows his attack animations therefore helping more than frost nova, and lack of EB resulting in more WW healing / CM spam (hydra also damages during the times where you have to run from the lava pools). Took a few tries to get him down; I also had to skip a lot of packs in crater (but some were just redic). Always tele to his other side once the fireball starts homing; saves a lot of damage.
Act 4 Progression, Rakanoth - I used blur as third passive and swapped explosive blast to time warp for the full duration as I was having so much trouble staying alive otherwise. Rakanoth in particular was a monster; I could not sustain extended durations of his melee even with all of this (does not help that he likes to jump around and out of WW). I finally got him after using the mirror images from fracture as always-there decoys; every time he swung at one it bought me that extra moment for DS to come back up. Izual I did not solo, so I don't have any insight.
Diablo - After a few deaths and different spec trials, some of this with a 100k dps DH in tow, I went and got the wand/shield upgrade and one-shot him solo with the standard spec (WW/EB). By far the most important thing is to save EVERYTHING for the clones when they pop in phase 2 (you can control when they spawn so be mindful), and then just make 3-4 laps around the whole room, teleporting away from Diablo when he comes back and letting him waste his angst on your fractures. For me, arcane orb by my clone was instakill thru DS. Also, kindly stay out of the soul cages and don't forget that frost nova stops the cast, but not the existing shadows. I could actually live thru the soul cage capture animation on a full health bar, but it literally brought me to 200 health so this is not a good idea. Finally, I found it worthwhile to teleport out of the big fireballs, and used teleport a lot in general to close distances with him whenever he saw a squirrel.
Guy who I quoted, sorry if I stepped all over you sensitive feelings or whatever with my thread. I took all that time to make this post because I wanted to help people; was hoping that this was an intelligent and respectful community but I guess that I was wrong.
Oh, and regarding your whine about my BLUNDER on Cold Blooded; you should probably take the time to understand how this build works; namely that white mobs are generally frozen and elites spend 25-75% of the time rooted as well, meaning that CB does in fact apply.
Don't know why this post is labelled as "melee wizard" because it's not really. Melee implies, or in my taking it does, that actual melee damage or an attack will be made, yet this build has neither. If it is meant as "spells that have about a melee range" then I suppose this is true. Not knocking this post at all though, it's a great guide for a tough tornado wizard, but it's far from what I see as a melee/battlemage (in simple terms: a Wizard that fights like a Monk/Barb).
Very simple; I stand in the middle of stuff and drop tornadoes at my feet, spamming a point blank AoE and close range AoE root every few seconds. This build is tested by many and not some strange basement concoction; the build that you posted is actually the outdated one.
Okay, it's official. Diablo fans posts the worst possible things they can on their home page.
This post is awful in so many ways.
And this particular guy is not just an idiot, but also an asshole.
First of all, this build type has been around forever, and theres 10,000 versions of it floating around the internet, and you literally may have picked the worst possibl one diablofans.
Cold Blooded does NOT affect everything. It affects EVERY SPELL IF THE ENEMY IS CHILLED. And its not confrmed or denied if its a bug, perhaps just bad wording.
This is the first and most obvious BLUNDER with this post. GOD HOW OBVIOUS IS THIS *FACEPALM* YES IM MAD BRO.
Haha, the proof this particular guy from the quote cited EVEN SAYS THAT BLATENTLY.
Next, "Entry Level Melee Wizard." An entry level melee wizard is not going to be able to take the constant 40k+ hits from Act3 and late Act2 Inferno. FORCE ARMOR. IDIOT.
Don't agree with your way of saying most of it, but most of it is true.
First, this is not an "Entry Level Wizard" spec. You need insane amounts of gear that will total in the 30+ million range. Most people hit 60 with less than a million. A million if they've been saving.
Second, relying on gearing around a possible Bug is not a good idea. Of course you'll get some extra progression while you can, but as soon as it's nerfed you have a gear/talent set that are useless. *See the people that kept IAS gear, and then complained when they couldn't clear as much post-nerf*
The spec/gear is useful, and competitive, but please post factual items and not this marketing trash of it being an "Entry Level" Spec for 1-2 million in gear.
As others have pointed out, you are quite simply wrong on the cost component. The raw essentials are the ability to tank, and they come cheap when they are divided from the ability to DPS. Gear with AR, vit and armor is all over the AH at low bid / buyout, but you really do have to turn off your 150 int filter in order to be able to see it.
Everything is a potential bug at this stage of the game. I mean, have you seen Venom Hydra? Relax and have fun; by the time they change something (like adding crowd control DR to further reduce the ability to nova spam, which would not break the build by the way), you will have the gear and experience to adapt.
My wiz is almost 60 and Im looking forward to trying this out. I fail at kiting in this game so probably why I stuck with my monk since lauch and have over 200 hours on him but now that I can play a caster that stays in melee range Im stoked. But looking at the gear used by people in the many guides they have crazy stats and I would need 80-100 mil to build what they have. Will 20 mil be enough to at least let me farm through Act 2 with ease? Also what damage should I shoot for? If Im stacking resists, vit, and armor I dont wanna shortchange myself on Damage because I couldnt afford good pieces loaded with resists, armor, vit, and also had int.
Also for rings/amulet should I go for crit damage and crit chance, and life on hit only and sacrfice stats like resists and vit? I figure not having vit/resists on 3 pieces wont hurt me too much for Acts 1-2 as long as I make up for it on other slots. When I search for gear whats the bare minimum I should put into each box? Was thinking 60 resists all, 75 int, and 75 vit and then sorting by highest armor?
If you have 20 mil to spend; use this pecking order:
Weapon (highest DPS you can get with decent LoH, crit damage, socket if possible, AP on crit if you get really lucky)
Helm (AP on crit, AR, int, vit, some crit if possible)
Shield/gloves/bracers (crit, AR, int, vit, armor, don't stress about block % and amt)
Jewelry (blues with LoH and/or crit, then crit damage,int,vit,armor)
All other slots, just make sure that you have at least 50 AR with some int and vit and +armor when you can get it (still using some pieces with 60ish int and vit).
If I were you, I would scan thru stuff looking at bids, and try to snag a nice weapon in particular with a 5-10M bid, everything else you can get for <1M and you will already be past the entry-level scope. For the armor sorting; that is almost exactly how I did it, except that i used 50 resists, 60 int, and blank for vit (at least some), then sort by armor and look at low bid amt and refine if there are a lot of results.
Hello, first I'd like to say it's a good guide. I've been playing melee since many weeks and only in a group taking the role of a tank. I've seen many Melee builds float around but I usually sticked to mine or slightly refined it. It seems tho that the time for a switch may have come. So I'm looking for a few tips to transition if you can help me?
First my old spec http://us.battle.net...YXgO!abg!aacaZc
I have 46,5% Crit, and in the group I'm running (Barb, Me, 2 DPS) I have 9k buffed armor, 1.1k buffed resist, 1150 LoH, 48k HP and 35k DPS. My main issues are that 1) I don't currently have any AP/Crit and 2) I have focused very much on getting high IAS as well, because more Spectral Blade attacks equal more procs in my case. Also, my weapon is a 740DPS Axe, with 180Int, 830LoH, 57%Crit and a Socket. I really, really don't want to replace it.
Ok, so to make it short:
Where do I squeeze in WW/EB for a group focused build (Act3 speed farming).
Is IAS anything worth for WW/EB? I've invested quite much to get IAS as well as Crit on my old build.
Shield or source? Can I get enough AP/Crit without changing my weapon?
How can I handle range mobs who run around all the time? Plus in group play my teammates aggro mobs a lot, isn't that a huge problem?
Thanks for your help.
Just try the spec and see how it works; your stats are freaking amazing so you should not have problems. If you find that you cannot sustain the rotation, try AP on crit from a source or helm to test. I am currently running with just 9 and have much less DPS than you.
IAS is not as desirable as crit or crit damage, but it does help you empty your blue ball faster. With your stats, I would not stress too much about having the IAS.
For mobs that kite, I love my teleport; with your stats you should be able to chain nova with cold snap and evocation, and your DPS is such that you probably won't need that much uptime; IAS will help here to get the tornadoes down faster, and I now have confidence that AP on crit from just one slot will be sufficient to have a blue ball to empty.
PS - hey can I see that wep? Oh look behind you a three headed monkey!
So I bought myself a set of equipment for this build (and it works great), but I am having trouble with ranged mobs, in particular ranged champion mobs. Also, without force armor (35% max dmg rune), some mobs seem to oneshot me (I got 27k hp and around 800 res all around).
Any tips?
teleport to them and keep them frozen, even a "shielding" ranged pack can be taken down, you should have close to 8000 armor if you want to maintain 10 armor : 1 res ratio to maximize effective health
His "godly" gear is of course much more money and he is not saying 650k gets you that
I was able to buy similar stats for cheaper, around 500k, but item inflation probably helped since he made that guide. That got me to act3 and my butt whooped, ive since farmed a1 and invested about 6mil on upgrades and can now do A3.
Fast arcane vortex firechain desecrator soul lasher still give me the punch in the nuts, but what can ya do
I honestly cannot believe we are still arguing about this. Every character is a "skillcaster" if we take away names of characters, skills, etc. This build of wizard relies on skills that all operate within melee range (you can cast WW at ranged but there is no point if you don't get mobs to sit in its full duration). Please refrain from further posts that complain that we do not use an actual melee attack (actually, we do; since we are holding down left click on mobs and AP is generally low, I would say that at least 5-10% of damage output comes from melee swings or wand projectiles).
So I bought myself a set of equipment for this build (and it works great), but I am having trouble with ranged mobs, in particular ranged champion mobs. Also, without force armor (35% max dmg rune), some mobs seem to oneshot me (I got 27k hp and around 800 res all around).
Any tips?
teleport to them and keep them frozen, even a "shielding" ranged pack can be taken down, you should have close to 8000 armor if you want to maintain 10 armor : 1 res ratio to maximize effective health
For everyone saying that guy has godly gear for 650k you need to read more, this post shows his 650K TOTAL starter set http://www.windupwiz...-build-for.html
His "godly" gear is of course much more money and he is not saying 650k gets you that
I was able to buy similar stats for cheaper, around 500k, but item inflation probably helped since he made that guide. That got me to act3 and my butt whooped, ive since farmed a1 and invested about 6mil on upgrades and can now do A3.
Fast arcane vortex firechain desecrator soul lasher still give me the punch in the nuts, but what can ya do
I had more or less the same experience, except that while I could survive most stuff in act 3, I had a hard time killing it. I've actually grown to like soul lashers since they do not kite and do not have any charge-up attacks. Moloks, on the other hand, are just rediculous. Also, for those who do not yet know, most fire damage by NPCs seems to be ignoring resists; I have observed this with Molten, desecrator, firechains, molok and shaman fireballs, suicider explosions, and most of the boss abilities; therefore be extra careful against anything that is shooting fire at you AND hitting you with special abilities, etc.
I honestly cannot believe we are still arguing about this. Every character is a "skillcaster" if we take away names of characters, skills, etc. This build of wizard relies on skills that all operate within melee range (you can cast WW at ranged but there is no point if you don't get mobs to sit in its full duration). Please refrain from further posts that complain that we do not use an actual melee attack (actually, we do; since we are holding down left click on mobs and AP is generally low, I would say that at least 5-10% of single target damage output comes from melee swings or wand projectiles).
So I bought myself a set of equipment for this build (and it works great), but I am having trouble with ranged mobs, in particular ranged champion mobs. Also, without force armor (35% max dmg rune), some mobs seem to oneshot me (I got 27k hp and around 800 res all around).
Any tips?
teleport to them and keep them frozen, even a "shielding" ranged pack can be taken down, you should have close to 8000 armor if you want to maintain 10 armor : 1 res ratio to maximize effective health
For everyone saying that guy has godly gear for 650k you need to read more, this post shows his 650K TOTAL starter set http://www.windupwiz...-build-for.html
His "godly" gear is of course much more money and he is not saying 650k gets you that
I was able to buy similar stats for cheaper, around 500k, but item inflation probably helped since he made that guide. That got me to act3 and my butt whooped, ive since farmed a1 and invested about 6mil on upgrades and can now do A3.
Fast arcane vortex firechain desecrator soul lasher still give me the punch in the nuts, but what can ya do
I had more or less the same experience, except that while I could survive most stuff in act 3, I had a hard time killing it. I've actually grown to like soul lashers since they do not kite, come straight to you, and do not have any charge-up attacks. Moloks, on the other hand, are just rediculous. Also, for those who do not yet know, most fire damage by NPCs seems to be ignoring resists; I have observed this with Molten, desecrator, firechains, molok and shaman fireballs, suicider explosions, and most of the boss abilities; therefore be extra careful against anything that is shooting fire at you AND hitting you with special abilities, etc.
Step one, read reddit thread about melee wizard that has been out for weeks.(example: http://goo.gl/0eVVH)
Step two, post it on diablofans and claim i came up with the info.
Step three, ???
Step four, profit.
(not to mention your version of the build is compeltely horrible)
Step one, read reddit thread about melee wizard that has been out for weeks.(example: http://goo.gl/0eVVH)
Step two, post it on diablofans and claim i came up with the info.
Step three, ???
Step four, profit.
(not to mention your version of the build is compeltely horrible)
Actually, I read Sme's melee wizard threads on the official forums, and gave the threads full credit as you can tell from the OP; although unlike a lot of the posters there, I did not have a big budget with which to gear my wiz. As for whether this version is horrible, I am sorry if it has offended you. FYI, the Reddit post you linked is actually dated a few days after Sme's first thread.
By the way, how exactly am I profiting here? Is it perhaps because I was given a few golden moments to bask in your illustrious presence, my good man?
This build shines against mobs that you would otherwise not be able to kite, like fast/teleporters etc. Otherwise you are better off going with a blizzard/signature spell build, since you can just kite indefinitely, and its infinitely cheaper.
I tried this build and other variations I found on the links provided with around 122k EHP (29k life/6k armor/600 res/6% reduced melee dmg), 23% crit chance, 945 LoH and 20k dps and went for kulle. Huge mistake.
First elite pack, arcane enchanted, molten archers. Long story short, after a full repair bill i got them down.
Second pack, invulnerable minions, molten, arcane enchanted skeletons. After 2 full repair bills I changed my spec to the old blizz/shock spec and got them first try. But still did not wanted to give up the spec with just 2 packs that went wrong.
Third pack, Invulnerable minions, arcane enchanted, frozen, lightning constructs. After 2 deaths with the boss' life not even reaching 75% changed to my blizz/shock spec and got them again first try.
Forth pack, the second guys I managed to kill. Jailer, plagued, extra health, fast archers. Just tele into them and nova'd them so they did not moved the whole fight. The plagues in the ground started being problem after the got down to 30% but with a bit of repositioning I managed to do it.
Fifth and last pack, arcane enchanted, frozen, vortex, extra health dervishes (the spinning guys). After 1 full repair bill I gave up changed to my old spec again and got them pretty easily.
I can honestly tell you this build is totally useless and I suggest new wizards stay far far away from using it. Half the combinations of elite packs are unkillable with my stats and this build while using the simple blizz/shock you can pretty much farm act2 blindfolded (except of course for some fast mobs rolling fast affix or teleporter that will give you trouble).
Maybe if you get 40k hp/8k armor/900 res will be doable but with these stats and 1k LoH you will probably own everything.
Your dps was too high, your resists and armor were too low; in short you were still wearing your glass cannon gear with DPS stats. I got thru act 2 with 8k DPS and 9k armor, to give you an idea; resists were like 900 at the time. Also, you did not specify whether you had any AP on crit, and were you using a shield or source?
This build shines against mobs that you would otherwise not be able to kite, like fast/teleporters etc. Otherwise you are better off going with a blizzard/signature spell build, since you can just kite indefinitely, and its infinitely cheaper.
I tried this build and other variations I found on the links provided with around 122k EHP (29k life/6k armor/600 res/6% reduced melee dmg), 23% crit chance, 945 LoH and 20k dps and went for kulle. Huge mistake.
First elite pack, arcane enchanted, molten archers. Long story short, after a full repair bill i got them down.
Second pack, invulnerable minions, molten, arcane enchanted skeletons. After 2 full repair bills I changed my spec to the old blizz/shock spec and got them first try. But still did not wanted to give up the spec with just 2 packs that went wrong.
Third pack, Invulnerable minions, arcane enchanted, frozen, lightning constructs. After 2 deaths with the boss' life not even reaching 75% changed to my blizz/shock spec and got them again first try.
Forth pack, the second guys I managed to kill. Jailer, plagued, extra health, fast archers. Just tele into them and nova'd them so they did not moved the whole fight. The plagues in the ground started being problem after the got down to 30% but with a bit of repositioning I managed to do it.
Fifth and last pack, arcane enchanted, frozen, vortex, extra health dervishes (the spinning guys). After 1 full repair bill I gave up changed to my old spec again and got them pretty easily.
I can honestly tell you this build is totally useless and I suggest new wizards stay far far away from using it. Half the combinations of elite packs are unkillable with my stats and this build while using the simple blizz/shock you can pretty much farm act2 blindfolded (except of course for some fast mobs rolling fast affix or teleporter that will give you trouble).
Maybe if you get 40k hp/8k armor/900 res will be doable but with these stats and 1k LoH you will probably own everything.
Your dps was too high, your resists and armor were too low; in short you were still wearing your glass cannon gear with DPS stats. I got thru act 2 with 8k DPS and 9k armor, to give you an idea; resists were like 900 at the time. Also, you did not specify whether you had any AP on crit, and were you using a shield or source?
So basically you agree with me as I said that will probably need 8k armor and 900 res.
Tbh those stats are expensive to come by and you can kill things faster and without the whole key spam this spec puts you in.
I swapped a shield and a source I have but it did not made any difference really and I had 10 ap on crit.
No, what I said is that you have the wrong gear for the spec, period. Perhaps your gear would allow you to do a standard kiting build, but you need much more durability in order for your Diamond Skin to work correctly. Your options are to (1) either swap 4-6 armor pieces for AR / armor / int and vit as you can get them, or (2) go back to glass cannon. Posting that the build is horrible and does not work, however, is just not correct; it's like complaining that you can't fly without wings.
How much EHP should you have to withstand some arcane sentry going your way with this build(in act 3 that is), and does anyone face tank azmodans fireballs with this spec(if yes what EHP to withstand the fireball)? Also how do you guys deal with shielding or invulnerable or things with molten(those are really annoying if your close), and last but not least how much AP on crit and crit chance% to semi perma freeze packs while still casting WW/EP?(with ww/ep build).
How much EHP should you have to withstand some arcane sentry going your way with this build(in act 3 that is), and does anyone face tank azmodans fireballs with this spec(if yes what EHP to withstand the fireball)? Also how do you guys deal with shielding or invulnerable or things with molten(those are really annoying if your close), and last but not least how much AP on crit and crit chance% to semi perma freeze packs while still casting WW/EP?(with ww/ep build).
I facetank azmodan's fireballs with no problem. Arcane sentries on act 3 and 4 i can ignore, if it's only 1. If you get struck by 2 or 3 together, it can be quite dangerous.
I use teleport to move myself around the arcane on the ground, just like i do with firechains and molten. I don't teleport to the other room, just behind another mob etc, so my energy twisters still hits the mobs, but i dodge the arcane and molten, as well as i can avoid being in the middle of a firechain but next to one with it.
Esle, chainspam frost nova... if they're frozen permanently, they cannot throw arcane, their fire chain stops, and they provide no damage to you at all.
Same thing applies for shielding. Freeze them so they can't apply their shield.
Invuln minions requires a bit more timing, because you don't get procs and life on hit from the minions, only the boss. However, you can still freeze the invuln. minions, so they don't deal any damage to you.
You can facetank double champion pull in act 4 with enough gear, and cleaver use of teleport to make sure you dodge the most dangerous stuff they throw, while still being in melee range.
Edit: i got 15 ap on crit
curious, whats your ehp/hp/life on hit/crit chance%? do u use force armor or prismatic?(when u get fireballed by azmo do u have only a little life left?
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Also for rings/amulet should I go for crit damage and crit chance, and life on hit only and sacrfice stats like resists and vit? I figure not having vit/resists on 3 pieces wont hurt me too much for Acts 1-2 as long as I make up for it on other slots. When I search for gear whats the bare minimum I should put into each box? Was thinking 60 resists all, 75 int, and 75 vit and then sorting by highest armor?
First my old spec http://us.battle.net...YXgO!abg!aacaZc
I have 46,5% Crit, and in the group I'm running (Barb, Me, 2 DPS) I have 9k buffed armor, 1.1k buffed resist, 1150 LoH, 48k HP and 35k DPS. My main issues are that 1) I don't currently have any AP/Crit and 2) I have focused very much on getting high IAS as well, because more Spectral Blade attacks equal more procs in my case. Also, my weapon is a 740DPS Axe, with 180Int, 830LoH, 57%Crit and a Socket. I really, really don't want to replace it.
Ok, so to make it short:
Where do I squeeze in WW/EB for a group focused build (Act3 speed farming).
Is IAS anything worth for WW/EB? I've invested quite much to get IAS as well as Crit on my old build.
Shield or source? Can I get enough AP/Crit without changing my weapon?
How can I handle range mobs who run around all the time? Plus in group play my teammates aggro mobs a lot, isn't that a huge problem?
Thanks for your help.
*FACEPAAALLM*
Okay, it's official. Diablo fans posts the worst possible things they can on their home page.
This post is awful in so many ways.
And this particular guy is not just an idiot, but also an asshole.
First of all, this build type has been around forever, and theres 10,000 versions of it floating around the internet, and you literally may have picked the worst possibl one diablofans.
Cold Blooded does NOT affect everything. It affects EVERY SPELL IF THE ENEMY IS CHILLED. And its not confrmed or denied if its a bug, perhaps just bad wording.
This is the first and most obvious BLUNDER with this post. GOD HOW OBVIOUS IS THIS *FACEPALM* YES IM MAD BRO.
Haha, the proof this particular guy from the quote cited EVEN SAYS THAT BLATENTLY.
Next, "Entry Level Melee Wizard." An entry level melee wizard is not going to be able to take the constant 40k+ hits from Act3 and late Act2 Inferno. FORCE ARMOR. IDIOT.
Don't agree with your way of saying most of it, but most of it is true.
First, this is not an "Entry Level Wizard" spec. You need insane amounts of gear that will total in the 30+ million range. Most people hit 60 with less than a million. A million if they've been saving.
Second, relying on gearing around a possible Bug is not a good idea. Of course you'll get some extra progression while you can, but as soon as it's nerfed you have a gear/talent set that are useless. *See the people that kept IAS gear, and then complained when they couldn't clear as much post-nerf*
The spec/gear is useful, and competitive, but please post factual items and not this marketing trash of it being an "Entry Level" Spec for 1-2 million in gear.
Sure, if you want to jump straight into A3/A4 inferno, any build's gear is gonna cost some serious cash. If you want to just try out this build, you can probably give it a go for around 600k. All you need is:
1H weapon with 300-500 LoH and 500-600 dps, $:150-300k,
Shield with int and crit, $:100-200k
2 blue rings with +7% atk speed and 80-90 LoH, $50-100k ea
1 blue amulet with +6-7 crit and 250 LoH, $50-100k
1 hat with AP on crit, $100k
This will get you farming A1 easily off the bat. Wasn't long until I was into A2. A3 on the other hand.. that may be a while...
EDIT: windupwizard.com puts up a shopping list for 650k, I don't know when he posted that, but I'd be hard pressed to find that kind of gear for those prices. He must either be a really good shopper, or really lucky. Things are more expensive, but you can still get started for less than 1 mil easily.
5-10 mil is not that much to invest in a set that can carry you through the whole game on inferno
not including my weapon i dropped 6-8mil max on the gear that took me through a4 and diablo. weapon cost 8m
The build I use for a melee wizard is very similar, except it actually has the only melee ability the wizard has: Spectral Blade.
I'll outline the build and then why it works below for anyone interested:
Talents:
Spectral Blade (Deep Cuts) - Deep Cuts takes advantage of 88% LoH unlike the rest of the runes at 66.6%. This ability with its multiple hits is also nice for proccing crits as well. Per: http://us.battle.net...opic/5149154265
Explosive Blast (Short Fuse, sometimes Chain Reaction) - I mainly use short fuse to remove the 1.5 delay as my crits will shred the 6 second cooldown fast enough to basically spam this. I know chain reaction does technically more damage, but the problem I found with it is it's uncontrolability (e.g. with packs with knockback, mobs with natural knockback, sync with teleport skill, etc). There are times you're going to have to have one of those Chain Reactions miss and then you're only doing 194% instead of the normal 225%. Also, if you want to get technical, Chain Reaction takes 1.5s to cast and ~.25/.5s per blast, so thats 291% in 2-2.25 seconds, while with enough crit and Short Fuse coming up all the time it does 450% in 2 seconds.
Frost Nova (Bone Chill / Deep Freeze) - I 100% agree with the OP about the runes. If you have enough crit, use Bone Chill for the extra damage (and vs champ packs / for farming runs), if not, use Deep Freeze when you know you're doing regular mobs (i.e. progression through acts).
Diamond Skin (Crystal Shell) - Here I agree with the OP as well, use this as your damage absorb and use shards if you have enough resists and life return.
Teleport (Safe Passage) - I use Safe Passage as my WoW style damage reduction cooldown, generally teleporting in place for the 30% reduction it gives when Diamon Skin is not up.
*Note: I find Fracture (as well as Mirror Images) to be broken currently. The clones do not act as I feel they should (being mini tanks) and I fault this to lazy programming making them just run ahead/behind you in all the wrong situations. My personal feeling is they should stand ground if they are attacking an enemy or I am in combat with one because there is no point in them "running and gunning" with you as they do no damage.
Energy Armor (Prismatic / Force) - I generally use Prismatic as the resistances are beastly, however, there are fights (like Belial) where resists will do little and big absorbs are much better, so I swap to force.
Passives:
Critical Mass - The central passive in this build for obvious reasons, see OP if they are not so obvious.
Blur - I love this ability as it lets me just stand in place and SBlade mobs. This combined with my resistances means I rarely have to move out of anything. Even on boss fights like the Butcher, I just tank him in a single panel, Diamond Skin / Safe Passage the hits and fire (and heal it up with LoH) and Frost Nova his charge and he never moves out of place and I don't have to either.
Galvanizing Wizard - I currently use this for the Life Regen as I am a bit lacking there, but once I get more on gear I plan to swap to Cold Blooded (if still broken) or Arcane Dynamo if it is fixed. Arcane Dynamo works nicely with SBlades and EB.
Stats:
My stat priority is generally the same except for the AP on Crit. This is not really useful as there is enough regen to cover EB and the Blades are free. I instead move LoH and Life Regen up the scale below Int / Crit / IAS (and LoH is actually higher than IAS and even Crit until you are at a decent threshold). The reason I also take Life Regen is because packs like Shielding / Invulnerable Minion / Knockback / Vortex make it hard to stand your ground and just Blade regen, so some passive regen is nice.
*Note: I also find LoH to be severely misworded and broken. Life on Hit would imply X life when I hit, not when I deal damage (which is how it currently works). Life Steal % is based on damage, but Life on Hit should be a flat amount, whether damage was done or not, otherwise, it's just an unnerfed Life Steal %. This is what causes issues with Shielding and Invulnerable Minion packs. Am I not still *hitting* them even though I do no damage? Le sigh.
Hope this has helped, melee wizard is incredibly fun, especially rolling into public games and random players expecting you to be fragile and you just go up and tank shit like a boss. If only I could see their gasping faces as they die and I live and kill stuff.
-Ecco
Hey bro, relax. I went from act 1 hell to main tank in act 3 inferno group farm (could semi-solo farm but just took too long and some packs were not doable without deaths) with total gear worth under 500k. At the time, my gear was something like this:
1) wand was 550 dps with LoH and AP on crit
2) shield with ~50 AR, 6% crit, no int/vit/extra armor
3) gloves with ~50 AR, 6ish% crit, some int/vit
4) helm with ~50 AR and 9 AP on crit, some int
5) LoH / IAS blue rings
6) some crappy amulet with some crit
7) rest of gear with ~50 AR and vit, a few had int and other stats
As you can see, not very impressive, however I did not really have to worry about those 40k hits you mentioned because I geared for tanking, not sup-g-how-can-i-get-da-most-int-n-deeps-on-my-shit. Therefore, this idiot was able to go without FORCE ARMOR, hehe. My armor was in fact greater than my DPS; I had no crit damage bonus, only 22% crit, etc. However, I was still able to progress even vs extra health elites (some packs were just not possible though, namely extra health kiters with abilities that made it impossible to have high uptime).
A few hours ago, I was able to push through past Siegebreaker and kill Diablo. I managed the final kill because I dropped a few $$ on a better wand (750 DPS with crit damage bonus and only 220 LoH) and a better shield (mine was just crap with 6% crit and zero int), as well as a source that I swapped to for the added deeps. Initially, I was nervous about the significantly smaller LoH and reduction in AP on crit, but my defenses were able to sustain it.
Observations on boss fights:
Azmodan - I swapped explosive blast for venom hydra, frost nova for time warp and cold blooded for glass cannon; reasoning is that time warp slows his attack animations therefore helping more than frost nova, and lack of EB resulting in more WW healing / CM spam (hydra also damages during the times where you have to run from the lava pools). Took a few tries to get him down; I also had to skip a lot of packs in crater (but some were just redic). Always tele to his other side once the fireball starts homing; saves a lot of damage.
Act 4 Progression, Rakanoth - I used blur as third passive and swapped explosive blast to time warp for the full duration as I was having so much trouble staying alive otherwise. Rakanoth in particular was a monster; I could not sustain extended durations of his melee even with all of this (does not help that he likes to jump around and out of WW). I finally got him after using the mirror images from fracture as always-there decoys; every time he swung at one it bought me that extra moment for DS to come back up. Izual I did not solo, so I don't have any insight.
Diablo - After a few deaths and different spec trials, some of this with a 100k dps DH in tow, I went and got the wand/shield upgrade and one-shot him solo with the standard spec (WW/EB). By far the most important thing is to save EVERYTHING for the clones when they pop in phase 2 (you can control when they spawn so be mindful), and then just make 3-4 laps around the whole room, teleporting away from Diablo when he comes back and letting him waste his angst on your fractures. For me, arcane orb by my clone was instakill thru DS. Also, kindly stay out of the soul cages and don't forget that frost nova stops the cast, but not the existing shadows. I could actually live thru the soul cage capture animation on a full health bar, but it literally brought me to 200 health so this is not a good idea. Finally, I found it worthwhile to teleport out of the big fireballs, and used teleport a lot in general to close distances with him whenever he saw a squirrel.
Guy who I quoted, sorry if I stepped all over you sensitive feelings or whatever with my thread. I took all that time to make this post because I wanted to help people; was hoping that this was an intelligent and respectful community but I guess that I was wrong.
Oh, and regarding your whine about my BLUNDER on Cold Blooded; you should probably take the time to understand how this build works; namely that white mobs are generally frozen and elites spend 25-75% of the time rooted as well, meaning that CB does in fact apply.
Very simple; I stand in the middle of stuff and drop tornadoes at my feet, spamming a point blank AoE and close range AoE root every few seconds. This build is tested by many and not some strange basement concoction; the build that you posted is actually the outdated one.
As others have pointed out, you are quite simply wrong on the cost component. The raw essentials are the ability to tank, and they come cheap when they are divided from the ability to DPS. Gear with AR, vit and armor is all over the AH at low bid / buyout, but you really do have to turn off your 150 int filter in order to be able to see it.
Everything is a potential bug at this stage of the game. I mean, have you seen Venom Hydra? Relax and have fun; by the time they change something (like adding crowd control DR to further reduce the ability to nova spam, which would not break the build by the way), you will have the gear and experience to adapt.
If you have 20 mil to spend; use this pecking order:
Weapon (highest DPS you can get with decent LoH, crit damage, socket if possible, AP on crit if you get really lucky)
Helm (AP on crit, AR, int, vit, some crit if possible)
Shield/gloves/bracers (crit, AR, int, vit, armor, don't stress about block % and amt)
Jewelry (blues with LoH and/or crit, then crit damage,int,vit,armor)
All other slots, just make sure that you have at least 50 AR with some int and vit and +armor when you can get it (still using some pieces with 60ish int and vit).
If I were you, I would scan thru stuff looking at bids, and try to snag a nice weapon in particular with a 5-10M bid, everything else you can get for <1M and you will already be past the entry-level scope. For the armor sorting; that is almost exactly how I did it, except that i used 50 resists, 60 int, and blank for vit (at least some), then sort by armor and look at low bid amt and refine if there are a lot of results.
Just try the spec and see how it works; your stats are freaking amazing so you should not have problems. If you find that you cannot sustain the rotation, try AP on crit from a source or helm to test. I am currently running with just 9 and have much less DPS than you.
IAS is not as desirable as crit or crit damage, but it does help you empty your blue ball faster. With your stats, I would not stress too much about having the IAS.
For mobs that kite, I love my teleport; with your stats you should be able to chain nova with cold snap and evocation, and your DPS is such that you probably won't need that much uptime; IAS will help here to get the tornadoes down faster, and I now have confidence that AP on crit from just one slot will be sufficient to have a blue ball to empty.
PS - hey can I see that wep? Oh look behind you a three headed monkey!
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/melee
hand-to-hand ...that doesn't include spells
teleport to them and keep them frozen, even a "shielding" ranged pack can be taken down, you should have close to 8000 armor if you want to maintain 10 armor : 1 res ratio to maximize effective health
For everyone saying that guy has godly gear for 650k you need to read more, this post shows his 650K TOTAL starter set
http://www.windupwizard.com/windup/2012/6/28/melee-critical-mass-explosive-blast-energy-twister-build-for.html
His "godly" gear is of course much more money and he is not saying 650k gets you that
I was able to buy similar stats for cheaper, around 500k, but item inflation probably helped since he made that guide. That got me to act3 and my butt whooped, ive since farmed a1 and invested about 6mil on upgrades and can now do A3.
Fast arcane vortex firechain desecrator soul lasher still give me the punch in the nuts, but what can ya do
I had more or less the same experience, except that while I could survive most stuff in act 3, I had a hard time killing it. I've actually grown to like soul lashers since they do not kite and do not have any charge-up attacks. Moloks, on the other hand, are just rediculous. Also, for those who do not yet know, most fire damage by NPCs seems to be ignoring resists; I have observed this with Molten, desecrator, firechains, molok and shaman fireballs, suicider explosions, and most of the boss abilities; therefore be extra careful against anything that is shooting fire at you AND hitting you with special abilities, etc.
I had more or less the same experience, except that while I could survive most stuff in act 3, I had a hard time killing it. I've actually grown to like soul lashers since they do not kite, come straight to you, and do not have any charge-up attacks. Moloks, on the other hand, are just rediculous. Also, for those who do not yet know, most fire damage by NPCs seems to be ignoring resists; I have observed this with Molten, desecrator, firechains, molok and shaman fireballs, suicider explosions, and most of the boss abilities; therefore be extra careful against anything that is shooting fire at you AND hitting you with special abilities, etc.
Step two, post it on diablofans and claim i came up with the info.
Step three, ???
Step four, profit.
(not to mention your version of the build is compeltely horrible)
Actually, I read Sme's melee wizard threads on the official forums, and gave the threads full credit as you can tell from the OP; although unlike a lot of the posters there, I did not have a big budget with which to gear my wiz. As for whether this version is horrible, I am sorry if it has offended you. FYI, the Reddit post you linked is actually dated a few days after Sme's first thread.
By the way, how exactly am I profiting here? Is it perhaps because I was given a few golden moments to bask in your illustrious presence, my good man?
Your dps was too high, your resists and armor were too low; in short you were still wearing your glass cannon gear with DPS stats. I got thru act 2 with 8k DPS and 9k armor, to give you an idea; resists were like 900 at the time. Also, you did not specify whether you had any AP on crit, and were you using a shield or source?
No, what I said is that you have the wrong gear for the spec, period. Perhaps your gear would allow you to do a standard kiting build, but you need much more durability in order for your Diamond Skin to work correctly. Your options are to (1) either swap 4-6 armor pieces for AR / armor / int and vit as you can get them, or (2) go back to glass cannon. Posting that the build is horrible and does not work, however, is just not correct; it's like complaining that you can't fly without wings.