This is a little build I have been having fun with on the PTR and since 2.0 dropped. It seems to nuke everything without much effort try it out and see what you think, or how it could be improved!
Thanks for the build, been playing a cold build but gave this a try and I love it. I am a 80 to 90k less dps then you and still have no problem on T1, 19% fire dam and 15% wave of force dam from items helps too lol
Yea i have like 8% to hydra on shoulders, was really keeping them for the reduced cost. Wish i had mystic to swap some things around, but its not bad making do with what you got!
Hm...I do not like the Hydra. The damage is not very noticeable. I would recommend a buff or another active spell instead. This build looks a little bit melee-like due to Spectral Blades and Wave of Force. Perhaps a Slow Time (Time Warp) bubble would suit this slot better.
Yea thats prolly a good idea, I went with the hydra more to get conflag on as many targets as i could before the first Heat Wave. not so much for the dmg really.
I would ditch hydra. IT's one of my least favorite spells :(. I would do something else like maybe teleport, or a slow time. However, I'm always willing to try this build out because it does look fun :D.
Dominance is only useful as long as you kill trashmobs, but it's seriously OP. Don't even need healing because you are constantly shielded.
Well, I think that's part of the point, though. That you're generating a shield to protect your health, so in essence, as long as you're a capable enough Wizard to generate more shield than the damage you're taking, it's a good way to stay safe...as well as potentially being a way to build AWAY from things like Vitality and %Life, and instead going with more damage affixes.
I think the downside is just exactly how much total shielding you can build up vs. how much Life you can have stocked. If that total isn't high enough, I imagine running into trouble at higher difficulties. Though, I'm sure there are ways to make it work.
In regard to people not liking Hydra...I really like it myself. For me, the lure of it is being able to stack damage over time for relatively cheap. For instance, my Wizard's current Arcane build includes Arcane Hydra and Temporal Flux, so I can economically throw down a Hydra to get started slowing guys down and not dip too heavily into my AP pool. Then when I'm firing off Raging Storm twisters and Disintegrate beams, it's still busy blasting away, and I can recast it easily if it expires.
That being said...going for not only a fire build but a close-range fire build, I would agree that better things are probably available than Hydra. I mean, if you're getting close up with Spectral Blades and Wave of Force, I'd definitely add Explosive Blast to that. I think there's only one or two runes that deal fire damage, but I'm sure there are ways to work that in. If you were going for a long-range fire build, I might agree that a fire Hydra variant would be a good idea for the extra cheap damage stack, but since you're close up, that's what I'd recommend, :-)
I've played a Metor Shower build yesterday. So, left click Flame Blades, right click Meteor, rest buffs and teleport.
Questions:Meteor Shower vs Heat Wave: pros and cons of each?
Explosive Blast: Is it worth dropping a buff (Familiar?) to have this mana efficient spell every 6 seconds?
Force Weapon vs the fire rune: Is the fire rune worth it for synergies?
I don't think there's an answer like "A sucks, B rocks all the time". It's a matter of preference. I don't like the delay of Meteor; if I click, I expect things around me to die. Instantly. So for me it's Wave > Meteor, but it's really just up to whatever fits your playstyle and personal flavor.
Regarding EP, it probably shines in situations when there are multiple enemies; against single enemies, I'm pretty sure Familiar is better. But if you have a legendary that improves EP (like that Wand) that changes everything, of course.
MW:Ignite is probably most suitable for boss fights or high level builds T4+, when mobs don't die instantly. If you're running through stuff and mobs die before at least two Ignite ticks, I don't think it's worth it. But it's something that would require testing. It's probably gonna be really useful for RoS when you go Elemental Exposure, just to add this one additional element to your attacks :-)
There really never is a general answer like "A is better than B". It ALWAYS depends on the context.
I'm really enjoying energy twister with the gale force rune. That 15% damage is incredible, and you only really need to cast it twice to fill the room with the debuff, and the whole party benefits!
Also, if you stack enough cooldown reduction, having archon with pure power will melt those elites, even on t5+, and come off cooldown enough to use on a majority of elite packs.
I've played a Metor Shower build yesterday. So, left click Flame Blades, right click Meteor, rest buffs and teleport.
Questions:Meteor Shower vs Heat Wave: pros and cons of each?
Explosive Blast: Is it worth dropping a buff (Familiar?) to have this mana efficient spell every 6 seconds?
Force Weapon vs the fire rune: Is the fire rune worth it for synergies?
1) Heat Wave is less random than Meteor Shower, there is no delay between attack and damage, it costs less than Meteor Shower. It's main downside is that you have to be in melee range - so if you have enough toughness to face-tank Fire Chains/Electrocute elites then go with Heat Wave. Else, I'd go for Meteor Shower.
2) I didn't do the math, but taking Explosive Blast (Chain Reaction) changes your game flow significantly. Try yourself, I'd take Explosive Blast over a self-buff every time.
3) When you have Flame Blades, Heat Wave/Meteor Shower and Chain Reaction throwing in Magic Weapon/Ignite is a bit overkill, you don't need more burn damage. I think that Force Weapon is the best for my build I listed above,.
I agree that you dont need to really super stack on the fire, unless you have ALOT of +% to fire damage. Especially if you are taking it "easy" and doing a Torment that you just murder everything on anyways. Explosive blast is amazing, i recently got the wand that pretty much makes it do 3 extra blasts. A MAZE ING. and yes, heat wave is preferred because i want mobs dead now, not in a few seconds from when i right clicked.
I recently got a Cindercoat with 28% fire cost reduction and 17% more fire damage.
I was using a Cold spec, because I really like cold, always have, even in D2. So with this new Cindercoat I decided to switch to Fire, but I'm really unimpressed with the choices. As a hardcore character I refuse to use any melee spells so that means Flame Blades, Explosive Blast, Wave of Force and Energy Twister are complete no-no's. That leaves me with Meteor Shower or Arcane Orb/Scorch, and both are really annoying in their own way.
Scorch is nice damage, really nice, but it's AoE is tiny, and conversely Meteor Shower is a huge AoE, but spotty (random) and it's damage isn't all that much unless you get lucky and the meteors clump up.
This isn't even to mention that the only really effective Signature fire spell is Flame Blades. Shock Pulse/Flame Bolts is a joke and MM/Conflagrate is pretty naff.
So yeah, I'm pretty disappointed with fire really.
Also, why isn't there a fire rune for say, Disintegrate, or Arcane Torrent?
Skills
Passives:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Rageinjector-1784/hero/7191852
raw build in case i change mine up: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#WPQSOm!gec!aYZZcc
I think the downside is just exactly how much total shielding you can build up vs. how much Life you can have stocked. If that total isn't high enough, I imagine running into trouble at higher difficulties. Though, I'm sure there are ways to make it work.
In regard to people not liking Hydra...I really like it myself. For me, the lure of it is being able to stack damage over time for relatively cheap. For instance, my Wizard's current Arcane build includes Arcane Hydra and Temporal Flux, so I can economically throw down a Hydra to get started slowing guys down and not dip too heavily into my AP pool. Then when I'm firing off Raging Storm twisters and Disintegrate beams, it's still busy blasting away, and I can recast it easily if it expires.
That being said...going for not only a fire build but a close-range fire build, I would agree that better things are probably available than Hydra. I mean, if you're getting close up with Spectral Blades and Wave of Force, I'd definitely add Explosive Blast to that. I think there's only one or two runes that deal fire damage, but I'm sure there are ways to work that in. If you were going for a long-range fire build, I might agree that a fire Hydra variant would be a good idea for the extra cheap damage stack, but since you're close up, that's what I'd recommend, :-)
Questions:Meteor Shower vs Heat Wave: pros and cons of each?
Explosive Blast: Is it worth dropping a buff (Familiar?) to have this mana efficient spell every 6 seconds?
Force Weapon vs the fire rune: Is the fire rune worth it for synergies?
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Sol77-2972/hero/66110450
I don't think there's an answer like "A sucks, B rocks all the time". It's a matter of preference. I don't like the delay of Meteor; if I click, I expect things around me to die. Instantly. So for me it's Wave > Meteor, but it's really just up to whatever fits your playstyle and personal flavor.
Regarding EP, it probably shines in situations when there are multiple enemies; against single enemies, I'm pretty sure Familiar is better. But if you have a legendary that improves EP (like that Wand) that changes everything, of course.
MW:Ignite is probably most suitable for boss fights or high level builds T4+, when mobs don't die instantly. If you're running through stuff and mobs die before at least two Ignite ticks, I don't think it's worth it. But it's something that would require testing. It's probably gonna be really useful for RoS when you go Elemental Exposure, just to add this one additional element to your attacks :-)
There really never is a general answer like "A is better than B". It ALWAYS depends on the context.
Didn't get to test EB so far, mobs die so fast.
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Sol77-2972/hero/66110450
This is the build I'm running, doing Torment 4 pretty easy.http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#WVQPSO!Zeg!aZZYZZ
After reading this, I may swap Meteor for Wave of Force: Heat wave.
Also, if you stack enough cooldown reduction, having archon with pure power will melt those elites, even on t5+, and come off cooldown enough to use on a majority of elite packs.
I was using a Cold spec, because I really like cold, always have, even in D2. So with this new Cindercoat I decided to switch to Fire, but I'm really unimpressed with the choices. As a hardcore character I refuse to use any melee spells so that means Flame Blades, Explosive Blast, Wave of Force and Energy Twister are complete no-no's. That leaves me with Meteor Shower or Arcane Orb/Scorch, and both are really annoying in their own way.
Scorch is nice damage, really nice, but it's AoE is tiny, and conversely Meteor Shower is a huge AoE, but spotty (random) and it's damage isn't all that much unless you get lucky and the meteors clump up.
This isn't even to mention that the only really effective Signature fire spell is Flame Blades. Shock Pulse/Flame Bolts is a joke and MM/Conflagrate is pretty naff.
So yeah, I'm pretty disappointed with fire really.
Also, why isn't there a fire rune for say, Disintegrate, or Arcane Torrent?
And may the odds be ever in your favour.
Emmo#2406