I tweaked out the other skills except for the famous Heat Wave rune of Wave of Force.
I am using
1) Familiar Sparkflint
2) Meteor Meteor Shower (I was using Lightning Bind when I was using my own Lightning build back on the first night of the Patch 2.0.1 when it came live), then I tried Meteor Shower and it was meltingly amazing!
3) Wave of Force Heat Wave <--- I did not come up with this one
4) Storm Armor Power of the Storm (for skills cost reduction)
LC) Shock Pulse Fire Bolts (You can change this one but i just wanted full fire damage)
RC) Teleport Wormhole
I hope you guys enjoy, it took me a while to post this because I can safely now say that, it is viable Torment 4 if you are reasonably geared, you do not absolutely need to play Archon or Frozen Orb to self-solo without a tank on Torment 4.
This is viable to at least Torment 4, depending on your "Toughness rating", you can go Torment 5 as well, but 6 is definitely a stretch.
I ask many people this and I will ask you, as well.
The question is what is the point in using two spenders of the same element?
Wave of Force, at least in Patch 2.0 going forward, is considered a spender. Meteor is also a spender. When you're casting WoF, you cannot simultaneously cast Meteor. Same vice versa. They both eat up an attack turn.
If, for instance, the spenders are ET - Gale Force and Heat Wave, I can understand because Gale Force amplifies all fire damage. You can throw down a few ETs and let Heat Wave deal more damage while enemies are bathed in the flame.
If, for instance, the spenders are Arcane Torrent and WoF - Arcane Attunement, I can understand because Arcane Attunement buffs the damage of your next Arcane spell. Same concept.
In that example, the spender is WoF - Static Pulse. Static Pulse, however, also amplifies all lightning damage, so using Hydra as a supplementary damage source is feasible. If, however, I decide to use Meteor - Lightning Bind in place of Hydra and convert Static Pulse into supplementary damage that buffs the main spender (Meteor), that makes sense as well. I would then stop spamming Static Pulse as the spender and use it only every four seconds to boost the damage output of Meteor. There's a combo in place and we milk it to get the best results during combat.
However, in the build you listed, neither Heat Wave nor Meteor Shower do anything to benefit each other. There is no synergy. Instead, they compete with each other for attention. Focus on one spender or the other.
Try casting heatwave on mobs on the other side of the screen and i guess you understand why meteor shower and heatwave can work in one build, they have varied purposes. Don't think anyone would disagree thats its hardly optimal AP spending, but thoughtpatterns shouldnt all be purely about resource efficiency but also gameplay choices.
If it's simply for the gameplay, there's no argument at all. It's play how you feel like playing. It's important to play a build where you can have fun.
Most classes often run around with 2 spenders that compete for resources, difference being in the efficiency at killing specified elites/trash/bosses. The only comment that could be made is that it would be better to dump meteor shower cause both heatwave and meteorshower are AOE orientated, getting another meteor rune to spam on elites would still work just fine, alltho it wouldnt be fire unless you want CD on it or run with an unruned version.
This is the issue. If you want to be effective, you don't want spenders competing with each other for resources because you end up having one skill at some point doing absolutely nothing and taking up space on your active skill bar. Sure, you can chuck Meteors toward one corner of your screen and focus Heat Wave on enemies within melee range, but you can easily solve the latter's issue by using Teleport as an offensive tool to close the distance between you and enemies. Heat Wave also benefits from being instantaneous damage whereas Meteor Shower requires a waiting period and also has less reliable focused damage compared to Heat Wave. You can, however, focus on Meteor Shower entirely to rain it down over and over. You can also focus entirely on Heat Wave and spam it nonstop (with less cost, it's also easier to maintain). But using both requires alternating attacks, which means when you're using Heat Wave, Meteor Shower is a wasted skill with no purpose. When you're using Meteor Shower, Heat Wave is a wasted skill with no purpose.
Skill 1: Fire Bolts - This skill is used as a generator in combination with Prodigy. It fuels resources so you can cast more spenders (I can argue Flame Blades would be a better choice because consecutive casts consistently improve the damage of all your fire skills).
Skill 2: Teleport - This skill is used for mobility, either as an escape tool or as an offensive tool to close gaps between targets.
Skill 3: Familiar - This skill is used to buff all damage sources; self-explanatory
Skill 4: Meteor Shower - This skill is a spender designed to carry out most of the killing.
Skill 5: Heat Wave - This skill is also a spender designed to... carry out... most of the killing?
Skill 6: Power of the Storm - This skill is used for resource maintenance (though I can argue that it's kind of pointless considering you're running Prodigy with a signature spell that happens to proc APoC very well if you can hit 3+ targets simultaneously).
The philosophy behind any build should be that all selections have a purpose. Think of builds as music compositions. Each note in an orchestral piece has a purpose. Nothing goes to waste.
If this Heat Wave build replaced Meteor Shower with another spender in the name of Energy Twister - Gale Force, now it has a completely different look. Yes, while you cast Gale Force, you will not be able to cast Heat Wave, but that's fine. With Gale Force twisters covering the screen, all subsequent casts of Heat Wave and Fire Bolts will deal more damage to enemies. Now Gale Force has a purpose and so does Heat Wave. However, in this build with Meteor Shower, what do you do after you cast it? Either cast it again and let Heat Wave go unused or cast Heat Wave and let Meteor Shower go unused.
P.S. Regarding the "Most classes often run with 2 spenders that compete for resources," that's not usually the most optimal way unless something "broke" the game mechanics. It's usually one spender that deals the greatest portion of damage in the build and one skill that acts as supplementary damage.
SNS can be an example. Wicked Wind is a spender, but in the build it's designed as the resource generator so it assumes the role of a "signature spell." Explosive Blast is supposed to be a supplementary damage source, but with the aid of Critical Mass, it becomes the spender that deals most of the damage. Diamond Shards and Shocking Aspect become the supplementary damage sources.
A classic Sleet Storm build is another example. Sleet Storm is the spender and the primary damage dealer. The supplementary damage source comes in the form of Explosive Blast.
You can even argue that the old perma-Archon build acted the same way. Disintegration Wave acts as the "spender" (yes, I know it doesn't cost resources) and it's the primary damage dealer. Arcane Blast (key 1) is supplementary damage.
I ran a Heat wave build for a bit as well. I found a Cindercoat so along with Power of the storm, astral presense, 9 apoc, and 10% cost reduction in paragon points I'm able to spam Heat Wave endlessly. The build I ran was:
I am using
1) Familiar Sparkflint
2) Meteor Meteor Shower (I was using Lightning Bind when I was using my own Lightning build back on the first night of the Patch 2.0.1 when it came live), then I tried Meteor Shower and it was meltingly amazing!
3) Wave of Force Heat Wave <--- I did not come up with this one
4) Storm Armor Power of the Storm (for skills cost reduction)
LC) Shock Pulse Fire Bolts (You can change this one but i just wanted full fire damage)
RC) Teleport Wormhole
I hope you guys enjoy, it took me a while to post this because I can safely now say that, it is viable Torment 4 if you are reasonably geared, you do not absolutely need to play Archon or Frozen Orb to self-solo without a tank on Torment 4.
This is viable to at least Torment 4, depending on your "Toughness rating", you can go Torment 5 as well, but 6 is definitely a stretch.
Thanks for your time.
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)
The question is what is the point in using two spenders of the same element?
Wave of Force, at least in Patch 2.0 going forward, is considered a spender. Meteor is also a spender. When you're casting WoF, you cannot simultaneously cast Meteor. Same vice versa. They both eat up an attack turn.
If, for instance, the spenders are ET - Gale Force and Heat Wave, I can understand because Gale Force amplifies all fire damage. You can throw down a few ETs and let Heat Wave deal more damage while enemies are bathed in the flame.
If, for instance, the spenders are Arcane Torrent and WoF - Arcane Attunement, I can understand because Arcane Attunement buffs the damage of your next Arcane spell. Same concept.
Take the lightning version of WoF I use in one of my lightning-oriented builds.
In that example, the spender is WoF - Static Pulse. Static Pulse, however, also amplifies all lightning damage, so using Hydra as a supplementary damage source is feasible. If, however, I decide to use Meteor - Lightning Bind in place of Hydra and convert Static Pulse into supplementary damage that buffs the main spender (Meteor), that makes sense as well. I would then stop spamming Static Pulse as the spender and use it only every four seconds to boost the damage output of Meteor. There's a combo in place and we milk it to get the best results during combat.
However, in the build you listed, neither Heat Wave nor Meteor Shower do anything to benefit each other. There is no synergy. Instead, they compete with each other for attention. Focus on one spender or the other.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
This is the issue. If you want to be effective, you don't want spenders competing with each other for resources because you end up having one skill at some point doing absolutely nothing and taking up space on your active skill bar. Sure, you can chuck Meteors toward one corner of your screen and focus Heat Wave on enemies within melee range, but you can easily solve the latter's issue by using Teleport as an offensive tool to close the distance between you and enemies. Heat Wave also benefits from being instantaneous damage whereas Meteor Shower requires a waiting period and also has less reliable focused damage compared to Heat Wave. You can, however, focus on Meteor Shower entirely to rain it down over and over. You can also focus entirely on Heat Wave and spam it nonstop (with less cost, it's also easier to maintain). But using both requires alternating attacks, which means when you're using Heat Wave, Meteor Shower is a wasted skill with no purpose. When you're using Meteor Shower, Heat Wave is a wasted skill with no purpose.
Skill 1: Fire Bolts - This skill is used as a generator in combination with Prodigy. It fuels resources so you can cast more spenders (I can argue Flame Blades would be a better choice because consecutive casts consistently improve the damage of all your fire skills).
Skill 2: Teleport - This skill is used for mobility, either as an escape tool or as an offensive tool to close gaps between targets.
Skill 3: Familiar - This skill is used to buff all damage sources; self-explanatory
Skill 4: Meteor Shower - This skill is a spender designed to carry out most of the killing.
Skill 5: Heat Wave - This skill is also a spender designed to... carry out... most of the killing?
Skill 6: Power of the Storm - This skill is used for resource maintenance (though I can argue that it's kind of pointless considering you're running Prodigy with a signature spell that happens to proc APoC very well if you can hit 3+ targets simultaneously).
The philosophy behind any build should be that all selections have a purpose. Think of builds as music compositions. Each note in an orchestral piece has a purpose. Nothing goes to waste.
If this Heat Wave build replaced Meteor Shower with another spender in the name of Energy Twister - Gale Force, now it has a completely different look. Yes, while you cast Gale Force, you will not be able to cast Heat Wave, but that's fine. With Gale Force twisters covering the screen, all subsequent casts of Heat Wave and Fire Bolts will deal more damage to enemies. Now Gale Force has a purpose and so does Heat Wave. However, in this build with Meteor Shower, what do you do after you cast it? Either cast it again and let Heat Wave go unused or cast Heat Wave and let Meteor Shower go unused.
P.S. Regarding the "Most classes often run with 2 spenders that compete for resources," that's not usually the most optimal way unless something "broke" the game mechanics. It's usually one spender that deals the greatest portion of damage in the build and one skill that acts as supplementary damage.
SNS can be an example. Wicked Wind is a spender, but in the build it's designed as the resource generator so it assumes the role of a "signature spell." Explosive Blast is supposed to be a supplementary damage source, but with the aid of Critical Mass, it becomes the spender that deals most of the damage. Diamond Shards and Shocking Aspect become the supplementary damage sources.
A classic Sleet Storm build is another example. Sleet Storm is the spender and the primary damage dealer. The supplementary damage source comes in the form of Explosive Blast.
You can even argue that the old perma-Archon build acted the same way. Disintegration Wave acts as the "spender" (yes, I know it doesn't cost resources) and it's the primary damage dealer. Arcane Blast (key 1) is supplementary damage.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
I ran a Heat wave build for a bit as well. I found a Cindercoat so along with Power of the storm, astral presense, 9 apoc, and 10% cost reduction in paragon points I'm able to spam Heat Wave endlessly. The build I ran was:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#gdhjST!ZbX!bcbaZZ