I've been playing around recently with "new" specs in 1.07. What I'm basically looking for is a spec for low to medium MP runs (pure CMWW not an option) in multiplayer games (pure Archon not an option).
A spell that I always liked was Arcane Orb, so I tried using that after it got a nice buff in 1.07; so here's an Arcane Orb build. It has some AP recovery runes and skills. As secondary I chose Archon just to use it when hordes of monsters come my way, but if you have AP problems you can also choose a signature spell here. I just didn't need oneas I was wearing 4 pieces of the Tal Rasha set. Tested at MP1 with ~150k DPS unbuffed, white mobs got 1-shotted and elite packs were no problem. But somehow... slow. I'm not craving for efficiency, but it was not as nice anymore as in the first ~100 hours of game play where I was using nothing but Arcane Orb.
Another thing that I *want* to like is the Blizzard spell. As someone who spent years playing nothing but Blizzard sorc in D2 I really hoped that spell would appeal to me, but it somewhat hasn't yet. I tried out several builds that I found on forums and so on, but nothing came close to the joy I head with Blizzard in D2. Here's the one that came closest to being even remotely fun: example Blizzard build. Gear was just my Archon gear but I swapped in some Frostburns (30% frost damage increase? Even perfect trifecta can't beat that!), didn't feel the need for 4 piece Tal Rasha here, but could be an option, too. My problems with this spec (and the spells involved): 1) You can't spam Blizzard like in D2, but you cast it only once every 6 seconds and then wait for the enemies to die (which they do, because seriously, the buffed Blizzard damage is insane when coupled with suitable gear, spec, and Frostburns). So I need some time filler. 2) Since you're a frosty monster it only makes sense to take another frost spell, and since Nova has cooldown that leaves Ray of Frost. But even though it's similar to Archon and it seems to be nice, it just feels boring. Lame. Weak. It just doesn't appeal to me, can't say why. But what else can I do?
So, help me out. Any other ideas? What have you been experimenting with after 1.07? Or can you point me to other interesting specs you found on other forums (I browsed the official ones a bit; maybe I missed something)? Ideas, recommendations, any kind of input welcome.
Now, higher DPS helps of course, but you can get by with this as long as you have high weapon damage (I even tried using a 1440 DPS Skorn [1680 with with Marquise Ruby]). The final passive slot is reserved for either Conflagration, Cold-Blooded or Temporal Flux, depending on whether you get a 10%+ Spectral Blades SoJ with either +Fire, Cold or Arcane. Since Spectral Blades is physical damage, it's modified by the elemental effect.
Blur can be swapped out for something like Evocation or Arcane Dynamo (for boosting Arcane Orbit) if you have high enough EHP and don't care about crazies like Phasebeasts in Act III or ninja snakes in Act II.
I've been playing around recently with "new" specs in 1.07. What I'm basically looking for is a spec for low to medium MP runs (pure CMWW not an option) in multiplayer games (pure Archon not an option).
For quite some time I used the Living Lightning hybrid build, but I'm a bit sick of it right now.
A spell that I always liked was Arcane Orb, so I tried using that after it got a nice buff in 1.07; so here's an Arcane Orb build. It has some AP recovery runes and skills. As secondary I chose Archon just to use it when hordes of monsters come my way, but if you have AP problems you can also choose a signature spell here. I just didn't need oneas I was wearing 4 pieces of the Tal Rasha set. Tested at MP1 with ~150k DPS unbuffed, white mobs got 1-shotted and elite packs were no problem. But somehow... slow. I'm not craving for efficiency, but it was not as nice anymore as in the first ~100 hours of game play where I was using nothing but Arcane Orb.
Another thing that I *want* to like is the Blizzard spell. As someone who spent years playing nothing but Blizzard sorc in D2 I really hoped that spell would appeal to me, but it somewhat hasn't yet. I tried out several builds that I found on forums and so on, but nothing came close to the joy I head with Blizzard in D2. Here's the one that came closest to being even remotely fun: example Blizzard build. Gear was just my Archon gear but I swapped in some Frostburns (30% frost damage increase? Even perfect trifecta can't beat that!), didn't feel the need for 4 piece Tal Rasha here, but could be an option, too. My problems with this spec (and the spells involved): 1) You can't spam Blizzard like in D2, but you cast it only once every 6 seconds and then wait for the enemies to die (which they do, because seriously, the buffed Blizzard damage is insane when coupled with suitable gear, spec, and Frostburns). So I need some time filler. 2) Since you're a frosty monster it only makes sense to take another frost spell, and since Nova has cooldown that leaves Ray of Frost. But even though it's similar to Archon and it seems to be nice, it just feels boring. Lame. Weak. It just doesn't appeal to me, can't say why. But what else can I do?
So, help me out. Any other ideas? What have you been experimenting with after 1.07? Or can you point me to other interesting specs you found on other forums (I browsed the official ones a bit; maybe I missed something)? Ideas, recommendations, any kind of input welcome.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#WcXgST!gZ!YZcccY
Now, higher DPS helps of course, but you can get by with this as long as you have high weapon damage (I even tried using a 1440 DPS Skorn [1680 with with Marquise Ruby]). The final passive slot is reserved for either Conflagration, Cold-Blooded or Temporal Flux, depending on whether you get a 10%+ Spectral Blades SoJ with either +Fire, Cold or Arcane. Since Spectral Blades is physical damage, it's modified by the elemental effect.
Blur can be swapped out for something like Evocation or Arcane Dynamo (for boosting Arcane Orbit) if you have high enough EHP and don't care about crazies like Phasebeasts in Act III or ninja snakes in Act II.
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