This sounds like nothing, but Electrocute now casts TWICE as fast as other spells.
And if you are looking for a signature to generate AP, Golden Electrocute now stands alone.
Golden Rank4 Electrocute, with 3 mobs up, generates 4*3*2 = 24 AP.
Golden Rank4 Electrocute, with 1 mobs up, generates 4*2 = 8 AP.
Golden Rank4 Magic Missile generates 5*1 = 5 AP, regardless of # of mobs.
Golden Rank4 Shock Pulse on average generates 4*3/2*1 = 6 AP, regardless of # of mobs.
Golden Rank4 Spectral Blade generates 4 AP per mob hit, and possibly, not likely, your entire arcane bar.
Ohh and Electrocute still proc +AP on crit, which also happens twice as often as other signatures. Thus widening the gap on AP generation even further.
And on top of all that, Electrocute doesnt miss. So I just have to ask, how can of the other signatures compete with this?
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"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
I used to think Electrocute was far and away the best too and posted about it in a build of mine as well, but even though I haven't yet played the game of course... getting a better understanding of AP regen deflates the argument that Electrocute is OP.
AP regens so fast that Signature move AP regeneration builds look like they completely suck actually. It looks more and more like many viable end game builds may not even use any signature skills at all actually.
As for the rest, damage and use/speed... it being double the casting speed sounds good on paper, but its one of those things I doubt very much in practice will actually come out to equate to it doing 2 times the damage listed as compared with the damage listed on the other abilities. You'll probably be lucky to get 1.5x in practice.
The runes on some of the other abilities pull away from Electrocute in damage, and runes in general have different effects. Electrocute may be the best signature option for certain things, but not others. Take MM with Indigo for example: 66% x 5 missles. Yes they won't all hit just as much as you won't get true 2x damage with Electrocute's speed, but for tightly packed AOE group where you are pretty much guaranteed to hit with all 5... or if you are good with your aim during a boss fight and hit the boss with 4 or 5 of them each? This blows Electrocute away in damage. It really depends on the use and situation. There are other examples but my post is way to long already.
Especially when you are casting 2 times per second. At 2 APS it only effectively lowers the costs of your spell by 6 AP!! And when you are casting stuff like Hydra or Meteor well thats like nothing.
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"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
In a spreadsheet environment, a "rotation" like casting Meteor, Meteor, AP Regen Electrocute x 5, Meteor, Meteor would be a ton of dps, but I HIGHLY doubt that will work in Diablo 3 as a viable strategy. It might work OK in Normal and Nightmare, maybe MAYBE even Hell... but if we can take the devs at their word at all, Diablo 3 will be much more about mechanics and challenging gameplay in Inferno rather than late Hell Diablo 2 in which the only difficulty was basically in that there were plenty of mobs out there that could kill you in 1 or 2 hits and the immunes.
Diablo 3 looks to be a deeper game with more varied AI and attack types, with less focus on being squished instantly and more focus on survivability residing in strategic play and awareness. We will be forced to play strategically over time to preserve our health and use our defenses and utilities wisely in addition to just DPSing. At the same time though, monsters won't have millions of HP like an MMO. So, its kind of a hybrid of having more mechanics like an MMO, but still being shorter and more brutal fights without time to go into a rotation trance like an MMO.
If all of this is true, you can't just stand around casting a rotation of spells that will let you infinitely spam Meteors and Hydras. You are going to have to cast 1 or 2 meteors, then run away from a mob's mortar fire and arcane orbs, or flee from the pack of mobs that just climbed up the cliff behind you. You'll need to Teleport, Slow Time, or utilize another AP free cooldown spell like Frost Nova. 12.5 AP per second IS a TON... by the time you have cast your first Meteor and then dealt with the mechanics, you will have the AP for another one. It only takes 5 seconds to recharge your bulb 62 AP.
Even still, if I'm wrong about all of this, then Electrocute AP regen is still only good for some builds, a build that spams Meteors and then spams Electrocute. Other spells that don't cost as much AP can be used in other builds that can do less damage per hit than a meteor, but used properly can compete in dps and have good survivability with better AP management. Electrocute isn't OP across the board, its just better for some things, not all.
In a spreadsheet environment, a "rotation" like casting Meteor, Meteor, AP Regen Electrocute x 5, Meteor, Meteor would be a ton of dps, but I HIGHLY doubt that will work in Diablo 3 as a viable strategy. It might work OK in Normal and Nightmare, maybe MAYBE even Hell... but if we can take the devs at their word at all, Diablo 3 will be much more about mechanics and challenging gameplay in Inferno rather than late Hell Diablo 2 in which the only difficulty was basically in that there were plenty of mobs out there that could kill you in 1 or 2 hits and the immunes.
Diablo 3 looks to be a deeper game with more varied AI and attack types, with less focus on being squished instantly and more focus on survivability residing in strategic play and awareness. We will be forced to play strategically over time to preserve our health and use our defenses and utilities wisely in addition to just DPSing. At the same time though, monsters won't have millions of HP like an MMO. So, its kind of a hybrid of having more mechanics like an MMO, but still being shorter and more brutal fights without time to go into a rotation trance like an MMO.
If all of this is true, you can't just stand around casting a rotation of spells that will let you infinitely spam Meteors and Hydras. You are going to have to cast 1 or 2 meteors, then run away from a mob's mortar fire and arcane orbs, or flee from the pack of mobs that just climbed up the cliff behind you. You'll need to Teleport, Slow Time, or utilize another AP free cooldown spell like Frost Nova. 12.5 AP per second IS a TON... by the time you have cast your first Meteor and then dealt with the mechanics, you will have the AP for another one. It only takes 5 seconds to recharge your bulb 62 AP.
Even still, if I'm wrong about all of this, then Electrocute AP regen is still only good for some builds, a build that spams Meteors and then spams Electrocute. Other spells that don't cost as much AP can be used in other builds that can do less damage per hit than a meteor, but used properly can compete in dps and have good survivability with better AP management. Electrocute isn't OP across the board, its just better for some things, not all.
Apparently you have not even played on the beta...because none of your preconceived notions are true.
And to top it off, its completely pointless and meaningless.
It does nothing to refute the fact that Electrocute has the best AoE dmg, Equal or better Single target dmg. Ohh and on top of that it has by far the best Arcane power generating capability(You know the only reason to even use a signature).
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"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
Apparently you have not even played on the beta...because none of your preconceived notions are true.
And to top it off, its completely pointless and meaningless.
It does nothing to refute the fact that Electrocute has the best AoE dmg, Equal or better Single target dmg. Ohh and on top of that it has by far the best Arcane power generating capability(You know the only reason to even use a signature).
The beta is the tutorial of the game... who cares what the best moves are in the beta? If you want to worry about what is OP in Normal difficulty fine, but I'm more concerned with Inferno myself. Bosses and Elite mob packs that don't die in 1 or 2 Meteors and dish out enough damage to keep you on your toes and running aren't going to give you time to just spam AP regen skills.
Electrocute DOESN'T have the best AOE damage, depending on the situation and what runes are used, Shock Pulse with Alabaster could create crazy AOE damage, Magic Missle with Indigo adds up to more than Electrocute if used properly etc.
As for single target damage? Again, unless you can just sit there and spam your spells, which if we can take the devs at their word about Inferno we will NOT be able to do, Electrocute being 2 times as fast will not allow it to equate to better or equal single target damage... but who cares, because as even you point out, a signature skill is for when you are unable to get off the attacks that actually do the big damage anyway...
Its a good skill, but it isn't OP like its the only skill you should ever take from that tree. That is your premise and the subject of your poll. I think that is a flawed assumption. Other signatures have their uses as well, things don't work out on paper like they do on a calculator, things don't work in the beta like they will in Inferno, and many builds are not going to rely on or heavily rely on a signature move at all anyway. So how is it OP?
Even if you find 12,5AP regen lackluster, we can get AP regen items, can't we? Before beta patch5 Force had an insane mana regen woodoodoll for his WD, so I'm pretty sure we can get decent AP regen items even for inferno.
I find them to be quite good. Granted they do not do massive amounts of damage but you can spam them. I think Shock Pulse would be great for close combat since it appears more than one bolt can hit (I believe I have seen it in Beta.
We will not know how the skills work and feel until we have access to the final release and try them out. Also the current skills might not be the most recent skills since they are likely further fine tuning the skills before the final version is released.
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On Strike and supporting Fallout 4 Mod Makers
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Don't forget, that with runes (Indigo and obsidian especially, maybe even with the crimson) you can turn the randomly hitting shock pulse into a not randomly hitting spell, so shock pulse might find its way into my wizzard's build as well.
I got into Beta last week and I have finally been about to try out the Mage.
Forget about the numbers. So number crunching aside, Electrocute does stand out head and shoulders above the other signature spells (unless you want to be in melee range).
You have only to cast it and it will reach several mobs at once, it is instant cast as in it hits the mob at once, almost no way for them to avoid it.
I like Magic Missile but it does lack something at lower levels. Make no mistake, dmg wise it rocks and mana wise, you can spam this spell till kingdom come and not run out of AP (given good gear). But it does lack ... something. I'm hoping runes will boost the appeal of it.
And I just don't like Shock Pulse. These just no way to control the direction of the pulses so for me, I just don't like that skill.
Again, I'm hoping that runes will even this out.
So of the 4 signature spells, Electrocute does stand out. Although for balance, if you constantly spam it you will run out of AP pretty fast, especially with Arcane Orb as your other offence spell.
I prefered shock pulse over eletrecute while leveling my wiz.
Shock pulse have higher DPS (against any number of mobs) even with Elecute casting twice as fast. If shock pulse hits 3 target, it deals 270% wpn dmg in total (if it hits 3 targets), wich is insane amount for spammable spell.
One can argue that the randomness is a bitch but thats not true. If you get close enough you will allways hit at least one and normaly you face multiple monsters (so at least a second bolt usually lands wich already gives you 160% weapon damage, much higher then eletreucte's 136%).
Positioning close enough to make use of shock pulse is not a big of deal (at least in the beta). Many other wiz's spells (wave of force, energy twiester, frost nova) requires about the same distance to be used.
I think every signature spell have it's utility and it's fairly balanced. Eletrecute AP generation seens a bit OP (24 per second wtf) since the skill is a lot faster then the others and cannot be avoided. But the skill is outdamaged by Spectral Blades and Shock Pulse.
Also i think magic missile is useless right now (at least without any runes). It only improved 10% damage over your wand attack and for some odd reason it feels slower... When i use MM i feel like my DPS decreases ! =/
Ahhh a different of playstyles then. I prefer for my mage to always be far away from mobs. So I prefer ranged spells which shock pulse isn't really.
PS. I don't think magic missile is uselss though. With a wand/orb combo is was pretty fast and and with some attack speed gear was very spammable at little to no mana cost given AP regen. Most everything died in 1-2 hits. The problem of course is that its a single target spell and it just isn't flashy enough for me
Looks like Blizzard noticed the OP-ness and in the undocumented changes they changed the cast spped to normal attackspeed, instead of double. Also, additional enemy hits deal full damage.
I'm still not sure what their thought process is. Electrolute seems so much better in every aspect compared to the other signature spells. Shock Pulse got a massive stealth nerf. It used to be able to hit the same target with multiple sparks giving it the highest single target damage. Now it can only hit once and the range is very short. Why they removed this high risk high reward feature I don't really understand. The rune effects from Magic Missile are kinda meh. Some of the Spectral Blade rune effects seem ok versus large monster packs. Still, I'd likely prefer Golden or Indigo Electrocute over pretty much everything else right now.
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They took away the faster cast rate, which really made it OP for regen, but now they made it so the jumps don't lose dmg. So its still the best choice out there.
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One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
I definitely plan on using this as my signature. I think the best runes are either the 7 jump or AP regen.
I have used it extensively in the beta and one thing that is undervalued with it is it's range. It goes as far as you can send it (the edge of your screen).
All of the other signature spells seem pathetic by comparison. If Blizz wants there to be any choice, they are going to have to do something better with rune customization.
I guess we will have to wait and see if they can really deliver on their promise of actual choices, but so far I am pretty skeptical.
1 targets => 40% wpn dmg
2 targets => 68% wpn dmg
3 targets => 87.6% wpn dmg
This sounds like nothing, but Electrocute now casts TWICE as fast as other spells.
And if you are looking for a signature to generate AP, Golden Electrocute now stands alone.
Golden Rank4 Electrocute, with 3 mobs up, generates 4*3*2 = 24 AP.
Golden Rank4 Electrocute, with 1 mobs up, generates 4*2 = 8 AP.
Golden Rank4 Magic Missile generates 5*1 = 5 AP, regardless of # of mobs.
Golden Rank4 Shock Pulse on average generates 4*3/2*1 = 6 AP, regardless of # of mobs.
Golden Rank4 Spectral Blade generates 4 AP per mob hit, and possibly, not likely, your entire arcane bar.
Ohh and Electrocute still proc +AP on crit, which also happens twice as often as other signatures. Thus widening the gap on AP generation even further.
And on top of all that, Electrocute doesnt miss. So I just have to ask, how can of the other signatures compete with this?
"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
AP regens so fast that Signature move AP regeneration builds look like they completely suck actually. It looks more and more like many viable end game builds may not even use any signature skills at all actually.
As for the rest, damage and use/speed... it being double the casting speed sounds good on paper, but its one of those things I doubt very much in practice will actually come out to equate to it doing 2 times the damage listed as compared with the damage listed on the other abilities. You'll probably be lucky to get 1.5x in practice.
The runes on some of the other abilities pull away from Electrocute in damage, and runes in general have different effects. Electrocute may be the best signature option for certain things, but not others. Take MM with Indigo for example: 66% x 5 missles. Yes they won't all hit just as much as you won't get true 2x damage with Electrocute's speed, but for tightly packed AOE group where you are pretty much guaranteed to hit with all 5... or if you are good with your aim during a boss fight and hit the boss with 4 or 5 of them each? This blows Electrocute away in damage. It really depends on the use and situation. There are other examples but my post is way to long already.
Especially when you are casting 2 times per second. At 2 APS it only effectively lowers the costs of your spell by 6 AP!! And when you are casting stuff like Hydra or Meteor well thats like nothing.
"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
Diablo 3 looks to be a deeper game with more varied AI and attack types, with less focus on being squished instantly and more focus on survivability residing in strategic play and awareness. We will be forced to play strategically over time to preserve our health and use our defenses and utilities wisely in addition to just DPSing. At the same time though, monsters won't have millions of HP like an MMO. So, its kind of a hybrid of having more mechanics like an MMO, but still being shorter and more brutal fights without time to go into a rotation trance like an MMO.
If all of this is true, you can't just stand around casting a rotation of spells that will let you infinitely spam Meteors and Hydras. You are going to have to cast 1 or 2 meteors, then run away from a mob's mortar fire and arcane orbs, or flee from the pack of mobs that just climbed up the cliff behind you. You'll need to Teleport, Slow Time, or utilize another AP free cooldown spell like Frost Nova. 12.5 AP per second IS a TON... by the time you have cast your first Meteor and then dealt with the mechanics, you will have the AP for another one. It only takes 5 seconds to recharge your bulb 62 AP.
Even still, if I'm wrong about all of this, then Electrocute AP regen is still only good for some builds, a build that spams Meteors and then spams Electrocute. Other spells that don't cost as much AP can be used in other builds that can do less damage per hit than a meteor, but used properly can compete in dps and have good survivability with better AP management. Electrocute isn't OP across the board, its just better for some things, not all.
Apparently you have not even played on the beta...because none of your preconceived notions are true.
And to top it off, its completely pointless and meaningless.
It does nothing to refute the fact that Electrocute has the best AoE dmg, Equal or better Single target dmg. Ohh and on top of that it has by far the best Arcane power generating capability(You know the only reason to even use a signature).
"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
The beta is the tutorial of the game... who cares what the best moves are in the beta? If you want to worry about what is OP in Normal difficulty fine, but I'm more concerned with Inferno myself. Bosses and Elite mob packs that don't die in 1 or 2 Meteors and dish out enough damage to keep you on your toes and running aren't going to give you time to just spam AP regen skills.
Electrocute DOESN'T have the best AOE damage, depending on the situation and what runes are used, Shock Pulse with Alabaster could create crazy AOE damage, Magic Missle with Indigo adds up to more than Electrocute if used properly etc.
As for single target damage? Again, unless you can just sit there and spam your spells, which if we can take the devs at their word about Inferno we will NOT be able to do, Electrocute being 2 times as fast will not allow it to equate to better or equal single target damage... but who cares, because as even you point out, a signature skill is for when you are unable to get off the attacks that actually do the big damage anyway...
Its a good skill, but it isn't OP like its the only skill you should ever take from that tree. That is your premise and the subject of your poll. I think that is a flawed assumption. Other signatures have their uses as well, things don't work out on paper like they do on a calculator, things don't work in the beta like they will in Inferno, and many builds are not going to rely on or heavily rely on a signature move at all anyway. So how is it OP?
I find them to be quite good. Granted they do not do massive amounts of damage but you can spam them. I think Shock Pulse would be great for close combat since it appears more than one bolt can hit (I believe I have seen it in Beta.
We will not know how the skills work and feel until we have access to the final release and try them out. Also the current skills might not be the most recent skills since they are likely further fine tuning the skills before the final version is released.
Forget about the numbers. So number crunching aside, Electrocute does stand out head and shoulders above the other signature spells (unless you want to be in melee range).
You have only to cast it and it will reach several mobs at once, it is instant cast as in it hits the mob at once, almost no way for them to avoid it.
I like Magic Missile but it does lack something at lower levels. Make no mistake, dmg wise it rocks and mana wise, you can spam this spell till kingdom come and not run out of AP (given good gear). But it does lack ... something. I'm hoping runes will boost the appeal of it.
And I just don't like Shock Pulse. These just no way to control the direction of the pulses so for me, I just don't like that skill.
Again, I'm hoping that runes will even this out.
So of the 4 signature spells, Electrocute does stand out. Although for balance, if you constantly spam it you will run out of AP pretty fast, especially with Arcane Orb as your other offence spell.
Shock pulse have higher DPS (against any number of mobs) even with Elecute casting twice as fast. If shock pulse hits 3 target, it deals 270% wpn dmg in total (if it hits 3 targets), wich is insane amount for spammable spell.
One can argue that the randomness is a bitch but thats not true. If you get close enough you will allways hit at least one and normaly you face multiple monsters (so at least a second bolt usually lands wich already gives you 160% weapon damage, much higher then eletreucte's 136%).
Positioning close enough to make use of shock pulse is not a big of deal (at least in the beta). Many other wiz's spells (wave of force, energy twiester, frost nova) requires about the same distance to be used.
I think every signature spell have it's utility and it's fairly balanced. Eletrecute AP generation seens a bit OP (24 per second wtf) since the skill is a lot faster then the others and cannot be avoided. But the skill is outdamaged by Spectral Blades and Shock Pulse.
Also i think magic missile is useless right now (at least without any runes). It only improved 10% damage over your wand attack and for some odd reason it feels slower... When i use MM i feel like my DPS decreases ! =/
PS. I don't think magic missile is uselss though. With a wand/orb combo is was pretty fast and and with some attack speed gear was very spammable at little to no mana cost given AP regen. Most everything died in 1-2 hits. The problem of course is that its a single target spell and it just isn't flashy enough for me
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
I have used it extensively in the beta and one thing that is undervalued with it is it's range. It goes as far as you can send it (the edge of your screen).
I guess we will have to wait and see if they can really deliver on their promise of actual choices, but so far I am pretty skeptical.
"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."