Currently on the PTR (July 9th edition), wizards received various lightning updates. This spec focuses on the lightning variants of Explosive Blast, Arcane Torrent, and Blizzard.
Arcane Torrent - Static Discharge provides a decent amount of DPS when you can sustain the channel for 3+ seconds. In addition, it tends to proc Paralysis quite well, which also means more uptime for Haunt of Vaxo.
Explosive Blast - Flash is the meat of the build. With a base cooldown of 3 seconds, you probably don't even need Wand of Woh to utilize this build (but obviously the wand makes the build better). Flash replaced the live rune of Time Bomb.
Blizzard - Lightning Storm is the main support skill that debuffs all affected enemies, making them take 20% additional damage from lightning. The thing about this skill is that it's a "dead skill" on your skill bar. You will never cast Blizzard on your own because the 40 AP is way too much to sacrifice when you have to spam EB and cast AT. This is why we use:
Mirror Image - Duplicates. The images will cast Blizzard for you, and... guess what, the Blizzard debuffs stack (additively) with each other. In addition, the images will mop things up with Black Hole, too.
Black Hole - Event Horizon is there for obvious reasons. One is to trigger Strongarm Bracers for even more damage. Because this build doesn't have room for Teleport (well, you can force it in, I'll talk about that soon), you'll need a defensive skill and Event Horizon fulfills that role.
Energy Armor - Prismatic Armor is again there for obvious reasons. However, once you get your base EHP and your DPS high enough, it might be an option to drop Prismatic for Teleport - Safe Passage. You still get good mitigation and you pick up a lot more mobility. Frost Nova - Bone Chill is another option here for additional CC and debuff.
For passives, I picked Blur, Evocation, Paralysis and Audacity. The former two are pretty much locked because you need the padding and the extra CDR. Paralysis is great with Static Discharge (we'll see if the synergy goes live) and considering this counts as a melee spec, Audacity is a no-brainer. If your weapon is an element that's not lightning/arcane, then it might be worth choosing Elemental Exposure instead of Audacity.
For items, I use pretty much the same items I picked out for the arcane Torrent-Woh build I use on live. The only changes I made were obviously switching arcane bonuses to lightning. The only significant change was switching Moonlight Ward to Haunt of Vaxo. Other than that, everything is more or less locked in.
Before I found a Wand of Woh I was strictly lightning, but then switched to fire to utilize the rare item I found (how could I not?). Glad I might be able to FINALLY utilize all the lightning items I accumulated playing a lightning spec and the WoW simultaneously. This is going to be fantastic.
Question I have is does this build move away from cooldown reduction then, since Flash is 3 seconds. I can't watch the video from work, so might be better to just watch later and see if my question is answered in the video. I would assume so, since every primary stat used for CDR is not that much benefit taking it off of three seconds (since CDR is percentage based). But then again, having it be 1.5 seconds sounds awesome too.
The biggest part I miss about lightning was mirror images + point of no return bubbles for immense crowd control. Wonder if that could be fit in somewhere. But looking at the skill list it would be a tough call.
Before I found a Wand of Woh I was strictly lightning, but then switched to fire to utilize the rare item I found (how could I not?). Glad I might be able to FINALLY utilize all the lightning items I accumulated playing a lightning spec and the WoW simultaneously. This is going to be fantastic.
Question I have is does this build move away from cooldown reduction then, since Flash is 3 seconds. I can't watch the video from work, so might be better to just watch later and see if my question is answered in the video. I would assume so, since every primary stat used for CDR is not that much benefit taking it off of three seconds (since CDR is percentage based). But then again, having it be 1.5 seconds sounds awesome too.
The biggest part I miss about lightning was mirror images + point of no return bubbles for immense crowd control. Wonder if that could be fit in somewhere. But looking at the skill list it would be a tough call.
Well, Diablo isn't Patchwerk or Brutallus, but -ignoring that for a moment- a shorter cooldown on EB translates directly into more dps. In this case, the base dps should be doubled and thus miles ahead of other runes. I don't see diminishing returns for reducing that further and further.
So if fire(birds) is still superior, that set got really overbuffed.
I read this post a few weeks ago and I finally got around to building it. After playing this exact build for 4 hours now, I've seen some good and I've seen some bad from it. Lightning has gotten a big boost in overall damage.
The one thing that I keep looking back on, after these four hours, is the distance from the char to the end of the blast radius of a flash EB. It doesn't seem like it has the same distance as say chain reaction.
After finally getting a stone for the grifts. I was able to get to 23-24. Once there, everything was getting too close to maintain control. I'd like to hear from anyone else that's tried this build. Still like playing it and will continue for a while. Thanks Jaetch
I've since made minor modifications to run in 3-4 man groups for Greater Rifts where the main goal is some damage and more focus on crowd control.
Our group consisting of two M6 DHs, one pet WD, and me as lightning AT wizard got up to GR38 where we barely failed (missed by less than a minute) against two full levels of Morlu Incinerators, Anarchs, Executioners, bees and other annoyances.
BTW, I ran no Unity and ran no shielding and armor spells. Gear broke into red just once
Last time I showcased a live version of the Torrent-Woh build, which is arcane based: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKW_3KoalbE&feature=youtu.be
Currently on the PTR (July 9th edition), wizards received various lightning updates. This spec focuses on the lightning variants of Explosive Blast, Arcane Torrent, and Blizzard.
Arcane Torrent - Static Discharge provides a decent amount of DPS when you can sustain the channel for 3+ seconds. In addition, it tends to proc Paralysis quite well, which also means more uptime for Haunt of Vaxo.
Explosive Blast - Flash is the meat of the build. With a base cooldown of 3 seconds, you probably don't even need Wand of Woh to utilize this build (but obviously the wand makes the build better). Flash replaced the live rune of Time Bomb.
Blizzard - Lightning Storm is the main support skill that debuffs all affected enemies, making them take 20% additional damage from lightning. The thing about this skill is that it's a "dead skill" on your skill bar. You will never cast Blizzard on your own because the 40 AP is way too much to sacrifice when you have to spam EB and cast AT. This is why we use:
Mirror Image - Duplicates. The images will cast Blizzard for you, and... guess what, the Blizzard debuffs stack (additively) with each other. In addition, the images will mop things up with Black Hole, too.
Black Hole - Event Horizon is there for obvious reasons. One is to trigger Strongarm Bracers for even more damage. Because this build doesn't have room for Teleport (well, you can force it in, I'll talk about that soon), you'll need a defensive skill and Event Horizon fulfills that role.
Energy Armor - Prismatic Armor is again there for obvious reasons. However, once you get your base EHP and your DPS high enough, it might be an option to drop Prismatic for Teleport - Safe Passage. You still get good mitigation and you pick up a lot more mobility. Frost Nova - Bone Chill is another option here for additional CC and debuff.
For passives, I picked Blur, Evocation, Paralysis and Audacity. The former two are pretty much locked because you need the padding and the extra CDR. Paralysis is great with Static Discharge (we'll see if the synergy goes live) and considering this counts as a melee spec, Audacity is a no-brainer. If your weapon is an element that's not lightning/arcane, then it might be worth choosing Elemental Exposure instead of Audacity.
For items, I use pretty much the same items I picked out for the arcane Torrent-Woh build I use on live. The only changes I made were obviously switching arcane bonuses to lightning. The only significant change was switching Moonlight Ward to Haunt of Vaxo. Other than that, everything is more or less locked in.
Base items:
Aughild set (Aughild's Spike, Aughild's Power) - 3-piece bonus; elite bonus and damage reductions
Capt. Crimson set (Capt. Crimson's Thrust, Capt. Crimson's Waders) - 3-piece bonus; regen, AR, critical CDR and RCR
Tal Rasha set (Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit, Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare) - 3-piece bonus; damage, AR, AP regen
Ring of Royal Grandeur - required for a multi-set spec
Stone of Jordan - elite bonus, lightning bonus
Wand of Woh - not required, but takes the build to another level
Thundergod's Vigor - lightning bonus, proc damage scales with lightning bonus, useful in a melee spec. Harrington Waistguard is an alternative.
Strongarm Bracers - provides more monster debuffs
Haunt of Vaxo - provides additional support, synergizes well with Paralysis
St. Archew's Gage - gloves are an open slot; any pair of gloves can work here. Prefer Gloves of Worship, but Archew's can provide the occasional shielding that does help
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You wouldn't use melee specs in higher Greater Rift levels.
There are builds catered specifically for tackling higher Greater Rifts and builds that are catered to general farming purposes.
You can't burst things down in Greater Rifts. You'll have to build for sustained damage, preferably with a coordinated team.
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Question I have is does this build move away from cooldown reduction then, since Flash is 3 seconds. I can't watch the video from work, so might be better to just watch later and see if my question is answered in the video. I would assume so, since every primary stat used for CDR is not that much benefit taking it off of three seconds (since CDR is percentage based). But then again, having it be 1.5 seconds sounds awesome too.
The biggest part I miss about lightning was mirror images + point of no return bubbles for immense crowd control. Wonder if that could be fit in somewhere. But looking at the skill list it would be a tough call.
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Highest: Rank 6 // Greater Rift 42 12m40s
So if fire(birds) is still superior, that set got really overbuffed.
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Sol77-2972/hero/66110450
Whoops, fixed!
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The one thing that I keep looking back on, after these four hours, is the distance from the char to the end of the blast radius of a flash EB. It doesn't seem like it has the same distance as say chain reaction.
After finally getting a stone for the grifts. I was able to get to 23-24. Once there, everything was getting too close to maintain control. I'd like to hear from anyone else that's tried this build. Still like playing it and will continue for a while. Thanks Jaetch
Thank you for an excellent guide. I really like your stuff and you're my "house god" when it comes to wizard.
Have you tried this in 2.1? I'm really excited about the build, gonna try it tonight. I so want to use my Wand of Woh for something.
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Wiberg-21958/hero/35061489
Works just fine in T6 in 2.1.
I've since made minor modifications to run in 3-4 man groups for Greater Rifts where the main goal is some damage and more focus on crowd control.
Our group consisting of two M6 DHs, one pet WD, and me as lightning AT wizard got up to GR38 where we barely failed (missed by less than a minute) against two full levels of Morlu Incinerators, Anarchs, Executioners, bees and other annoyances.
BTW, I ran no Unity and ran no shielding and armor spells. Gear broke into red just once
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
Would you mind updating us with that GR38 build?
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Wiberg-21958/hero/35061489