Hmm. For Meteor to be the primary spell, you'll need a couple things for sure..
1. a good generator
2. very good survivability
I could see a Siphoning Blades, Arcane Dynamo and Ice Armor (crystallize) build maybe working. You'd definitely need 3% life steal and very good EHP. Maybe even the Life steal magic weapon rune.
Shock Pulse with Living Lightning or Blizzard Snowbound/Frozen solid could work as your AP generators. Obviously you'll need some IAS/CCH/CHD gear with +AP on crit. As for stat targets I'm not positive on what you would need to make it work, other than 50% crit.
I'm not sure how much you want to stray from CM so that leaves quite a few slots open; however I still think it would be worth while to keep Frost Nova and keep CM. Combine those with cold blooded passive and Blizzard could be effective. That would still leave three slots and one passive to you choice.
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Playing Diablo since 97. I know nothing and having nothing good to say, I be a troll.
sup,
i came out with a super cool mateor build. secret is in meteor liquefy, procs suficient to keep up Critical mass and APOC.
is a very flexible build, all u need is CM passive, meteor liquefy, diamond skin (prism), any frost nova to keep thing in place and some arcane reduction on meteor, i choose my chantodos force. when u fighting on single mobs (genraly elites or champions) ull need a high proc signature i use living lighting to fill up my arcane pool.
on gear ull need 3 pieces of APOC (i use storm crow and chantodos set) or u might want to use force weap (conduict) that works pretty well with liquefy (since the moleten stacks). not that much IAS needed and u might need 49%+ CCH
works like standard critical mass, u hit em with meteor, freeze them, hit them a little more, cast prims to reduce casting cost and u can go non stop on meteor, arcane power will not ran out.. very powerfull build. no need to smash buttons like crazy.
in the other skill choices, well depends on your gear and choice.. i use dmge buff shit like cold blooded and conflagration passives, bone chill nova and blood magic since i dont have LS weap. i stack 25% dmge buff for party and 55% for myself
i use crystalize armor for extra defense (since i lack some armor) or shocking aspect for extra dmge but that slot can be eny thing u like, your choice.
this build works amazing i can easyly and fastly do mp10 with my gear
That's a good question , can only know towards the end when everything else is bought , but doubt that maximus would make up for all the lost stats from crit dmg/crit chance/APoC/Main stat.
Burning Axe might be good , I will buy the set soon , currently I am studying for exams.
Alright I currently run a Meteor Wizard with my friends with pretty good luck, I am not able to do MP10 yet as I feel I still need better gear. Speaking of gear its not really that complicated gear wise you really just need at minimum:
20 APoC, I get this through the Chantodos main hand and a Storm Crow.
40% crit so that you can keep that APoC going.
Critical Hit Damage, this is what makes those meteors hit for 4-6mil dmg and since this build is all about big numbers its nice to have in large amounts.
2 attacks per second, this is nice for when you need to spam your generator to get diamond skin back up(but also not a needed stat just a nice thing to have)
40k hp is about as low as I would go
600+ all resists is about the minimum as well
5k+ armor just so you can stay alive while you stand there and drop flaming rocks upon the demons heads.
First off skill wise is Shock Pulse: Living Lightning - This thing is amazing at setting off Critical Mass as well as pretty nice for your APoC
Second is your Meteor, I swap between Molten Impact for the big numbers, and Meteor shower for just overall meteor spam (trust me its a sigh to behold when about 100+ meteors are dropping in a few seconds)
Diamond Skin - Crystal Shell: this is how you stay alive and thanks to the many many procs of CM it will be up all the time
Energy Armor -Prismatic or Pinpoint are the choices here, I run prismatic since this build does tend to stand in place to do our dmg.
Magic Weapon - Blood Magic: this is how I stay alive, with meteor hitting so many enemies you get a ton of health back. If you have a weapon with leech on it feel free to swap to the force weapon rune
Familiar - Sparkflint: Just a straight up dmg boost, you can replace it with what you like
Passives time
Critical Mass - Kind of the bread and butter of this build, it keeps your diamond skin up so you dont die
Unstable Anomaly - Will give you a chance at survival when that random pack of Savage Beasts in act 1 all charge you
Third is up to you I personally use Galvanizing Ward for the extra regen and less arcane power spent on renewing my shield, Blur would also be acceptable here as would Astral Presence if your APoC isnt enough.
Well thats my build infact I guess I could go ahead and link my char as well, now my wiz is far and beyond from perfect but shes fun and thats all that matters.
There's a lot of talk about meteor builds on the official forums. I think the general idea is to try to run 30 APoC with high crit and some -meteor AP cost gear and remove the sig spell to be able to spam meteor against 2+targets. Against 1 it can be annoying. I don't know the exact build but you can look over there for more info.
Third is up to you I personally use Galvanizing Ward for the extra regen and less arcane power spent on renewing my shield, Blur would also be acceptable here as would Astral Presence if your APoC isnt enough.
What about Arcane Dynamo? Since you already use a sig spell, you shouldn't need astral presence and the wasted attack turns using LL to regain AP to cast another meteor is partly refunded by AD. Also, prodigy would be better than Astral Presence for AP regen, which you can use instead of UA.
I'd also consider dropping Sparkflint for teleport or Slow Time. Slow Time will give you more dps and is more group friendly but teleport is better for survivability.
Thats a good call Loroes, I personally dont use Astral Presence was just saying if someone whos APoC was a little low could supplement with it if needed. As for Arcane Dynamo it is nice my only problem with it is i only use the sig spell to get going once I am into my full meteor spam I actually get enough arcane power back I no longer need to use the sig spell, so it would only be of use for maybe 1-2 meteors then its almost useless. Now as for Stop Time that is an interesting idea, I will have to play with it today and see how it plays out.
On the topic of this build I have also been playing around a bit with Comet and pairing it with Cold Blooded. It has been interesting to say the least, you get a slow on the mobs hit by meteor and after the first meteor all of your meteors do 20% more dmg which is nice. Now the sad thing is the 20% only really brings the dmg on par with Molten Impact but it was really the slow that was interesting me to keep mobs from running away from my attack, and it does this perfectly.
Next passive I have been playing with is Conglagration when using Molten Impact or Meteor Shower with friends, causes the mobs to take an additional 10% from ALL attacks which is great when my bat spam WD friend is melting the mobs with me.
Living Lightning version: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bPYXSO!gTc!cbYacZ
This has minimal gear requirements but mostly can't perma-freeze. Has enough range that permafreeze often isn't necessary. Living Lightning gives enough AP through Prodigy that you can alternate LL/meteor vs even one enemy. Strong group build; probably has the least gear reqs of any CM build. I really enjoy this build, and if you run 1-2 sources of APoC, against large packs or fat bosses you can toss one LL and then just hold the meteor shower button to rain death.
Rune variants:
Meteor: Meteor Shower roflstomps big packs and very large enemies, but is terrible vs small, fast elites. Good for farming high density areas in act 1. Molten Impact is much more effective vs single targets, and a cyclone strike monk can gather enemies up for nuking. Liquify is vastly better for procs, so if you're playing high MP or ubers and you desperately need to keep things frozen, that's the rune to use.
Frost Nova: 9s cooldown for high MP/ubers, 15% crit for farming packs, 15% damage for groups.
Diamond Skin: LL gives so much AP that you don't need to run Prism, really, but it is an option, as is Diamond Shards. Crystal Shell for low gear/not dying.
Magic Weapon: More leech. Sub whatever you want if you don't need leech (slow time is pretty sweet for meteor builds).
Energy Armor: 5% crit, or 25% resists.
Arcane Dynamo is very annoyingly consumed by Frost Nova, so sub Evocation if you're spamming Frost Nova really aggressively, or Conflagration if your group does way more damage than you.
Raining Meteors build, aka just spams meteors only (requires an offhand source with -AP to meteors, preferably also a SoJ to reduce it further) is similar, but no LL, no prodigy, no arcane dynamo, and tries to run Slow Time and/or Teleport, plus Diamond Skin: Prism, possibly Power of the Storm. Very dependent on APoC since that's how you fuel your meteors. Not recommended unless you have crazysauce gear and mostly play in groups, as it can struggle on single targets. Favors Star Pact or Liquefy, for either cheaper meteors or more APoC procs. I think it generally drops Frost Nova.
Totally silly meteor build: You run a standard WW/CM build, but you swap out something for meteor, use WW and APoC to build crazy AP, then spend it on meteor.
-28-30 Apoc
-10 Meteor reduction through SoJ and Offhand
--Life Steal/9-10 Apoc wand, socket, highest dmg you can get without spending too much
-600+ AR
-40k EHP
- At least one item with Pickup Radius
-As much CC as possible, or anywhere from 48-54%
Meteor is your main ability and the point is to keep as many enemies in the pools as possible while continuing to drop meteors. Shards, EB and Shocking Aspect will take care of everything. Between Shards, EB, Meteor impact+pools, you'll have plenty of Life Steal and CM/Apoc/SA procs. Don't be fooled about Power Hungry, it fills the gaps between kills and bosses to ensure 90-100% meteor/EB uptime. A really cool trick is to try as often as possible to bottleneck enemies together, try not to freeze enemies prematurely apart if you're not in danger.
It's pretty complex because of the delay meteor and EB has, and that positioning matters since it's a build that doesn't use teleport or energy armor, but it's highly rewarding, it might take a bit getting used to. I had a ton of fun testing and making this one, and I still haven't changed.
^I wouldnt' use Shocking Aspect without wicked wind. The reason SA does so much damage in the typical CMWW build is because WW procs so damn quickly. Without it, in a meteor build, SA just isn't worth it.
The most straightforward build would be to simply run CMWW and include meteor. It definitely looks awesome but casting those meteors will probably reduce your DPS compared to running magic weapon and spamming even more whirlwinds.
Here is what I use to farm up to MP8. http://eu.battle.net...31/hero/1055490
Slow Time (stretch time) is what used to be blizzard+cold blood passive, but I wanted to try something less CPU demanding. Maybe +20% dmg rune is better.
Ice Armor because it doesn't reduce max AP.
Electrocute (Forked Lighting) together with meteor allows me to stay on maximum range inside my APS bubble (sometimes it's really needed).
Diamond Skin with CM passive is almost requirement to spam meteors on solo elites and small packs.
Ignite is better than Cold Blooded for group play imo.
Most of the time I tank them to the face (got enough melee dmg reduction and overall EHP).
^I wouldnt' use Shocking Aspect without wicked wind. The reason SA does so much damage in the typical CMWW build is because WW procs so damn quickly. Without it, in a meteor build, SA just isn't worth it.
It does, and I can back it up. I use this build daily. zCrystallite#1460, come in a game with me sometime
The reason it does work better than WW is because besides the Liquefy crit pools lasting 8 seconds, unlike WW, meteor has an impact damage proc coefficient. All of your "proc skills" combined proc SA potentially better than SNS by far in big groups. The difference is Nadoes are good AP batteries where as you have to be more careful with meteors if it's your spender/generator because they cost more and have a delay.
Proc coefficients
Meteor
Molten Impact .250 impact, .125 pool
Star Pact .212 impact, .106 pool
Meteor Shower .100 impact, .050 pool
Comet .250 impact, .125 pool
Liquefy .212 impact, .106 pool
Energy Twister
Wicked Wind .125 DoT (all of them are .125)
If you can keep casting meteors without stopping, it's better.
^Interesting. Do this. Go into mp10 ghom, use your normal build, time the kill. Now do the same thing but just dont use SA. Compare the times and see how much true dps SA actually adds to this meteor set up.
In normal CMWW builds, SA adds about 30-50% true damage. I'm interested to see how much true dps SA adds in a meteor set up. I'd try it but I sold my wizard gear.
^Interesting. Do this. Go into mp10 ghom, use your normal build, time the kill. Now do the same thing but just dont use SA. Compare the times and see how much true dps SA actually adds to this meteor set up.
In normal CMWW builds, SA adds about 30-50% true damage. I'm interested to see how much true dps SA adds in a meteor set up. I'd try it but I sold my wizard gear.
it's not a single target build, that's the only issue. Meteors high cost, delay, and the liquefy pool's weaker proc chance than WW makes it difficult to build an SMS for single target.
I actually change my build around entirely for Ubers or solo bosses like Ghom or Azmo. It's viable single target, but you're gonna chug and be sort of AP starved if you're not careful. You can't really cast quickly if you don't have other minions to ramp up on.
Although, I have tested that the Arcanot Familiar replacing Blood Magic if you have a good LS/apoc wand does work very well, it also allows you to use cold blooded, conflag or evocation with no problems. Then again, it depends on what you're doing.
^I'd still urge you to try it on ghom and see what the results are. Proc coefficients are only one factor, how fast each attack ticks is the second. WW has extremely fast tick rates, hence its the best cm-proc'er.
^I wouldnt' use Shocking Aspect without wicked wind. The reason SA does so much damage in the typical CMWW build is because WW procs so damn quickly. Without it, in a meteor build, SA just isn't worth it.
It does, and I can back it up. I use this build daily. zCrystallite#1460, come in a game with me sometime
The reason it does work better than WW is because besides the Liquefy crit pools lasting 8 seconds, unlike WW, meteor has an impact damage proc coefficient. All of your "proc skills" combined proc SA potentially better than SNS by far in big groups. The difference is Nadoes are good AP batteries where as you have to be more careful with meteors if it's your spender/generator because they cost more and have a delay.
Proc coefficients
Meteor
Molten Impact .250 impact, .125 pool
Star Pact .212 impact, .106 pool
Meteor Shower .100 impact, .050 pool
Comet .250 impact, .125 pool
Liquefy .212 impact, .106 pool
Energy Twister
Wicked Wind .125 DoT (all of them are .125)
If you can keep casting meteors without stopping, it's better.
The number of SA procs per WW cast per mob are on the order of 5-6 depending on APS and CC. For Meteor, it's more like 0.3-0.5 per cast per mob. That's like 10x difference, so unless you're hitting 10 times the number of mobs with a meteor as your WW, it's not as worthwhile as with WW.
That said, SA is still probably the best dps option for meteor builds. Reactive armor is nice but if you're running FN and high APS, SA likely does more damage. IMO the point of using SA with meteor isn't that it does huge damage like in CMWW builds, but that it does some damage, and some is better than none, assuming you don't need EHP, in which case you'd use a different armor anyway.
^I wouldnt' use Shocking Aspect without wicked wind. The reason SA does so much damage in the typical CMWW build is because WW procs so damn quickly. Without it, in a meteor build, SA just isn't worth it.
It does, and I can back it up. I use this build daily. zCrystallite#1460, come in a game with me sometime
The reason it does work better than WW is because besides the Liquefy crit pools lasting 8 seconds, unlike WW, meteor has an impact damage proc coefficient. All of your "proc skills" combined proc SA potentially better than SNS by far in big groups. The difference is Nadoes are good AP batteries where as you have to be more careful with meteors if it's your spender/generator because they cost more and have a delay.
Proc coefficients
Meteor
Molten Impact .250 impact, .125 pool
Star Pact .212 impact, .106 pool
Meteor Shower .100 impact, .050 pool
Comet .250 impact, .125 pool
Liquefy .212 impact, .106 pool
Energy Twister
Wicked Wind .125 DoT (all of them are .125)
If you can keep casting meteors without stopping, it's better.
The number of SA procs per WW cast per mob are on the order of 5-6 depending on APS and CC. For Meteor, it's more like 0.3-0.5 per cast per mob. That's like 10x difference, so unless you're hitting 10 times the number of mobs with a meteor as your WW, it's not as worthwhile as with WW.
That said, SA is still probably the best dps option for meteor builds. Reactive armor is nice but if you're running FN and high APS, SA likely does more damage. IMO the point of using SA with meteor isn't that it does huge damage like in CMWW builds, but that it does some damage, and some is better than none, assuming you don't need EHP, in which case you'd use a different armor anyway.
Overall, the SNS build doesn't do more dmg though since tornadoes don't have impact damage, I shoulda specified my point better. You're right, WW does proc SA better, but liquefy/SA/Shards/EB does more overall damage than SNS, granted you can comfortably cast more meteors without running out of AP, my bad I think I was tunnel visioning my reasoning.
I should probably make a video because it's not easy to explain without the hardcore theorycrafting done on the numbers, but the result is there.
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What gear and Skills should I aim for ? Budget is about 1.7b , rather not spend it all , but I am not gonna hold back.
So tell me what pieces to look for , rather not build WW/CM with meteor , don't like WW much.
Edit : Maybe I should mention that I am aiming for mp10 farming including packs , but with budget 1.7b I think that was a given :-)
1. a good generator
2. very good survivability
I could see a Siphoning Blades, Arcane Dynamo and Ice Armor (crystallize) build maybe working. You'd definitely need 3% life steal and very good EHP. Maybe even the Life steal magic weapon rune.
I'm not sure how much you want to stray from CM so that leaves quite a few slots open; however I still think it would be worth while to keep Frost Nova and keep CM. Combine those with cold blooded passive and Blizzard could be effective. That would still leave three slots and one passive to you choice.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Machado-1633/hero/34927891
http://d3up.com/b/891047
Low DPS, but as Meteor Shower has 700%+ damage potential, it blasts things away prety quickly.
The downside are the single enemies. While the screen is full, this build blasts. 1 on 1 it is not so good.
Wizard | Demon Hunter
i came out with a super cool mateor build. secret is in meteor liquefy, procs suficient to keep up Critical mass and APOC.
is a very flexible build, all u need is CM passive, meteor liquefy, diamond skin (prism), any frost nova to keep thing in place and some arcane reduction on meteor, i choose my chantodos force. when u fighting on single mobs (genraly elites or champions) ull need a high proc signature i use living lighting to fill up my arcane pool.
on gear ull need 3 pieces of APOC (i use storm crow and chantodos set) or u might want to use force weap (conduict) that works pretty well with liquefy (since the moleten stacks). not that much IAS needed and u might need 49%+ CCH
works like standard critical mass, u hit em with meteor, freeze them, hit them a little more, cast prims to reduce casting cost and u can go non stop on meteor, arcane power will not ran out.. very powerfull build. no need to smash buttons like crazy.
in the other skill choices, well depends on your gear and choice.. i use dmge buff shit like cold blooded and conflagration passives, bone chill nova and blood magic since i dont have LS weap. i stack 25% dmge buff for party and 55% for myself
i use crystalize armor for extra defense (since i lack some armor) or shocking aspect for extra dmge but that slot can be eny thing u like, your choice.
this build works amazing i can easyly and fastly do mp10 with my gear
hope u like it!
i respond to eny questions.
cheers!
edit: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Alnitak-1644/hero/4347640
Burning Axe might be good , I will buy the set soon , currently I am studying for exams.
20 APoC, I get this through the Chantodos main hand and a Storm Crow.
40% crit so that you can keep that APoC going.
Critical Hit Damage, this is what makes those meteors hit for 4-6mil dmg and since this build is all about big numbers its nice to have in large amounts.
2 attacks per second, this is nice for when you need to spam your generator to get diamond skin back up(but also not a needed stat just a nice thing to have)
40k hp is about as low as I would go
600+ all resists is about the minimum as well
5k+ armor just so you can stay alive while you stand there and drop flaming rocks upon the demons heads.
Alright onto the build
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bPXOjS!gh!caacac
First off skill wise is Shock Pulse: Living Lightning - This thing is amazing at setting off Critical Mass as well as pretty nice for your APoC
Second is your Meteor, I swap between Molten Impact for the big numbers, and Meteor shower for just overall meteor spam (trust me its a sigh to behold when about 100+ meteors are dropping in a few seconds)
Diamond Skin - Crystal Shell: this is how you stay alive and thanks to the many many procs of CM it will be up all the time
Energy Armor -Prismatic or Pinpoint are the choices here, I run prismatic since this build does tend to stand in place to do our dmg.
Magic Weapon - Blood Magic: this is how I stay alive, with meteor hitting so many enemies you get a ton of health back. If you have a weapon with leech on it feel free to swap to the force weapon rune
Familiar - Sparkflint: Just a straight up dmg boost, you can replace it with what you like
Passives time
Critical Mass - Kind of the bread and butter of this build, it keeps your diamond skin up so you dont die
Unstable Anomaly - Will give you a chance at survival when that random pack of Savage Beasts in act 1 all charge you
Third is up to you I personally use Galvanizing Ward for the extra regen and less arcane power spent on renewing my shield, Blur would also be acceptable here as would Astral Presence if your APoC isnt enough.
Well thats my build infact I guess I could go ahead and link my char as well, now my wiz is far and beyond from perfect but shes fun and thats all that matters.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Bush-1187/hero/7172509
What about Arcane Dynamo? Since you already use a sig spell, you shouldn't need astral presence and the wasted attack turns using LL to regain AP to cast another meteor is partly refunded by AD. Also, prodigy would be better than Astral Presence for AP regen, which you can use instead of UA.
I'd also consider dropping Sparkflint for teleport or Slow Time. Slow Time will give you more dps and is more group friendly but teleport is better for survivability.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
On the topic of this build I have also been playing around a bit with Comet and pairing it with Cold Blooded. It has been interesting to say the least, you get a slow on the mobs hit by meteor and after the first meteor all of your meteors do 20% more dmg which is nice. Now the sad thing is the 20% only really brings the dmg on par with Molten Impact but it was really the slow that was interesting me to keep mobs from running away from my attack, and it does this perfectly.
Next passive I have been playing with is Conglagration when using Molten Impact or Meteor Shower with friends, causes the mobs to take an additional 10% from ALL attacks which is great when my bat spam WD friend is melting the mobs with me.
This has minimal gear requirements but mostly can't perma-freeze. Has enough range that permafreeze often isn't necessary. Living Lightning gives enough AP through Prodigy that you can alternate LL/meteor vs even one enemy. Strong group build; probably has the least gear reqs of any CM build. I really enjoy this build, and if you run 1-2 sources of APoC, against large packs or fat bosses you can toss one LL and then just hold the meteor shower button to rain death.
Rune variants:
Meteor: Meteor Shower roflstomps big packs and very large enemies, but is terrible vs small, fast elites. Good for farming high density areas in act 1. Molten Impact is much more effective vs single targets, and a cyclone strike monk can gather enemies up for nuking. Liquify is vastly better for procs, so if you're playing high MP or ubers and you desperately need to keep things frozen, that's the rune to use.
Frost Nova: 9s cooldown for high MP/ubers, 15% crit for farming packs, 15% damage for groups.
Diamond Skin: LL gives so much AP that you don't need to run Prism, really, but it is an option, as is Diamond Shards. Crystal Shell for low gear/not dying.
Magic Weapon: More leech. Sub whatever you want if you don't need leech (slow time is pretty sweet for meteor builds).
Energy Armor: 5% crit, or 25% resists.
Arcane Dynamo is very annoyingly consumed by Frost Nova, so sub Evocation if you're spamming Frost Nova really aggressively, or Conflagration if your group does way more damage than you.
Raining Meteors build, aka just spams meteors only (requires an offhand source with -AP to meteors, preferably also a SoJ to reduce it further) is similar, but no LL, no prodigy, no arcane dynamo, and tries to run Slow Time and/or Teleport, plus Diamond Skin: Prism, possibly Power of the Storm. Very dependent on APoC since that's how you fuel your meteors. Not recommended unless you have crazysauce gear and mostly play in groups, as it can struggle on single targets. Favors Star Pact or Liquefy, for either cheaper meteors or more APoC procs. I think it generally drops Frost Nova.
Totally silly meteor build: You run a standard WW/CM build, but you swap out something for meteor, use WW and APoC to build crazy AP, then spend it on meteor.
Meteor - Liquefy
Diamond Skin - Shards
Explosive Blast - Chain Reaction
Storm Armor - Shocking Aspect
Magic Weapon - Blood Magic
Frost Nova - Deep Freeze
Astral Presence
CM
Power Hungry
-28-30 Apoc
-10 Meteor reduction through SoJ and Offhand
--Life Steal/9-10 Apoc wand, socket, highest dmg you can get without spending too much
-600+ AR
-40k EHP
- At least one item with Pickup Radius
-As much CC as possible, or anywhere from 48-54%
Meteor is your main ability and the point is to keep as many enemies in the pools as possible while continuing to drop meteors. Shards, EB and Shocking Aspect will take care of everything. Between Shards, EB, Meteor impact+pools, you'll have plenty of Life Steal and CM/Apoc/SA procs. Don't be fooled about Power Hungry, it fills the gaps between kills and bosses to ensure 90-100% meteor/EB uptime. A really cool trick is to try as often as possible to bottleneck enemies together, try not to freeze enemies prematurely apart if you're not in danger.
Here's an example of my gear (get a life steal wand though) http://us.battle.net...0/hero/29659376
It's pretty complex because of the delay meteor and EB has, and that positioning matters since it's a build that doesn't use teleport or energy armor, but it's highly rewarding, it might take a bit getting used to. I had a ton of fun testing and making this one, and I still haven't changed.
http://eu.battle.net...31/hero/1055490
Slow Time (stretch time) is what used to be blizzard+cold blood passive, but I wanted to try something less CPU demanding. Maybe +20% dmg rune is better.
Ice Armor because it doesn't reduce max AP.
Electrocute (Forked Lighting) together with meteor allows me to stay on maximum range inside my APS bubble (sometimes it's really needed).
Diamond Skin with CM passive is almost requirement to spam meteors on solo elites and small packs.
Ignite is better than Cold Blooded for group play imo.
Most of the time I tank them to the face (got enough melee dmg reduction and overall EHP).
It does, and I can back it up. I use this build daily. zCrystallite#1460, come in a game with me sometime
The reason it does work better than WW is because besides the Liquefy crit pools lasting 8 seconds, unlike WW, meteor has an impact damage proc coefficient. All of your "proc skills" combined proc SA potentially better than SNS by far in big groups. The difference is Nadoes are good AP batteries where as you have to be more careful with meteors if it's your spender/generator because they cost more and have a delay.
Proc coefficients
Meteor
Molten Impact .250 impact, .125 pool
Star Pact .212 impact, .106 pool
Meteor Shower .100 impact, .050 pool
Comet .250 impact, .125 pool
Liquefy .212 impact, .106 pool
Energy Twister
Wicked Wind .125 DoT (all of them are .125)
If you can keep casting meteors without stopping, it's better.
In normal CMWW builds, SA adds about 30-50% true damage. I'm interested to see how much true dps SA adds in a meteor set up. I'd try it but I sold my wizard gear.
it's not a single target build, that's the only issue. Meteors high cost, delay, and the liquefy pool's weaker proc chance than WW makes it difficult to build an SMS for single target.
I actually change my build around entirely for Ubers or solo bosses like Ghom or Azmo. It's viable single target, but you're gonna chug and be sort of AP starved if you're not careful. You can't really cast quickly if you don't have other minions to ramp up on.
My ubers build: http://us.battle.net...YXOS!egX!aZcZbc
Although, I have tested that the Arcanot Familiar replacing Blood Magic if you have a good LS/apoc wand does work very well, it also allows you to use cold blooded, conflag or evocation with no problems. Then again, it depends on what you're doing.
The number of SA procs per WW cast per mob are on the order of 5-6 depending on APS and CC. For Meteor, it's more like 0.3-0.5 per cast per mob. That's like 10x difference, so unless you're hitting 10 times the number of mobs with a meteor as your WW, it's not as worthwhile as with WW.
That said, SA is still probably the best dps option for meteor builds. Reactive armor is nice but if you're running FN and high APS, SA likely does more damage. IMO the point of using SA with meteor isn't that it does huge damage like in CMWW builds, but that it does some damage, and some is better than none, assuming you don't need EHP, in which case you'd use a different armor anyway.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
Overall, the SNS build doesn't do more dmg though since tornadoes don't have impact damage, I shoulda specified my point better. You're right, WW does proc SA better, but liquefy/SA/Shards/EB does more overall damage than SNS, granted you can comfortably cast more meteors without running out of AP, my bad I think I was tunnel visioning my reasoning.
I should probably make a video because it's not easy to explain without the hardcore theorycrafting done on the numbers, but the result is there.