What would be the minimum crit hit chance % that makes this build viable? Would 20% do?
I did OK in act 2 with 16% to start. That said, this is one of the most important stats to increase quickly; the fewer targets you have, the harder it is to tank at lower crit rates (meaning that packs are harder in general).
That said, if you can get at least 8% from shield, 6% from gloves, 3% from bracer and 8% from blue LoH/crit rings, you have 30% already; I think that this is a reasonable goal to shoot for.
Want to try this build. Like idea and such tank very much. Maxyim, may be you will create link to most "standart" build in your 1st post of this topic when you begin Spec-section???
It is comfortable for reader to click fast and see it(before read all your text). I know that build can be changed(little), but it will be nice for user to click "change rune" and read hints when he read your instructions. Especially if they don't know class and abilities very good, or play in different language(and don't remember english names).
Just an idea. May be you will like it.
I think that I actually prefer forcing people to read through the logic. That said, good point about different languages. I will put a link in.
I finally managed to clear act 2 after getting myself a new weapon, problem is. When I tried act 3, I was getting pounded like hell.
Know what the issue is though kinda, to low crit, AP on crit and resistances yet. And should probably get a bit more LoH as well.
Not having enough crit is really bad I found out (no shit), As I am starved of AP, and can't keep diamond skin up as well as keeping the mobs frozen in place
Keep changing my build all the time, when I use a signature spell (have used spectral blades and shock pulse with various runes, in addition to wicked wind. But then I end up with more AP then I can spend, and while not using any signature spell then I got to little AP again.. sigh.
At least now I should have no problem farming act 2, getting tired of act 1...
Not sure what to say to help...can you share all pertinent stats?
In my opinion spamming frost nova takes up too much cast time, a perfect situation would be one where you can kill rares without having to use nova so much.
Also getting high end upgrades for this build is impossible TT
Considering that FN has no mana cost and helps to keep elites in your WWs, I tend to disagree as well. Not to mention the +20% damage from Cold Blooded.
I wanted to add my two cents to this thread and give the OP some props for the guide.
I am only on act 2 progression haven't been lucky with any drops that were upgrades or worth selling for enough to buy better gear but i've got myself up to 20k damage so far by sacrificing the life on hit. I find that its better to prioritize critical hit and critical damage in order to increase the speed in which you can obliterate enemies. I only have 350 life on hit from my weapon which is a 700 dps, +70% crit damage + 10 arcane on crit wand. I use a shield with 20% block, 10% crit and 120 intelligence
I have built up to 1300 intelligence and 800 vitality, currently sitting at 35,000 hitpoints and 20k damage, with 800 resists buffed
I can clear act 2 without any problems, act 3 is a no go yet. Keeping Diamond skin up at all times is the key to survival, obviously, and I very rarely take any damage and when I do I can quickly recover by getting back into the groove with keeping Diamond skin up.
One thing that I did try for fun was drop teleport out of the equation simply because it was a "luxury" spell in my mind. I dont' really use it during fights primarily as I just don't find the need for it except maybe to get better position on ranged champs or nightmare affixes. That being said I understand its value. I swapped it out for force weapon though for the damage boost. I also wanted to let you guys know that if you've got a lot of resists/armor built up naturally on your gear and want to try a more damage heavy build there is the option of dropping energy armor for storm armor. The shocking aspect rune allows your crit hits to electrocute a nearby enemies for 35% of your damage. Needless to say this is really fun to watch and can lead to some ridiculous dps that isn't even factored into your sheet. the 70% damage back to attackers is also nice.
Again thanks OP for the guide, it was informational.
Thanks. Yeah, shocking aspect can be a lot of fun, particularly with a barb in the group (for the resist shout)!
Why are you having problems in Act 3? Your gear sounds equal to if not better than mine, actually (well, I have a bit more AR, and you did not list your armor). Have you considered trying to squeeze out 400-500 more life on hit out of jewelry? 4% crit / 200 LoH blue rings can be had for fairly cheap while you build up to something more fancy.
Of note - your on-paper DPS figure seems a bit lower that I would expect it to be with that much crit damage. I am guessing that this is because you are either using a <600 DPS weapon or do not have much int on gear; my suggestion at this point would be to do act 3 runs with a few glass cannon friends so you can hold stuff down while they kill it, and upgrade your gear over time starting with the weakest piece while keeping your defensive stats where they are (a tad more AR and armor would not hurt).
If you are currently using a weak wand with LoH / AP on crit, you may try to upgrade to a stronger weapon with just LoH and possibly a socket and/or native crit damage; I currently have only 9 AP on crit from helm and am able to hold my own perfectly fine.
You hit the nail on the head - my weapon only has 560 DPS.
The notable stats on my current weapon are:
+619 Life on Hit
+7 AP on Crit
Socket (with +60% Crit Damage gem)
I have considered upgrading my weapon to something with more damage, but what stat can I afford to lose?
Dropping the LoH seems out of the question, so that really brings it down to dropping AP on Crit or Crit Damage.
You don't run out of AP with only 9 on Crit? Considering I also run with Astral Presence, this might be the choice for me.
Very simple IMO, borrow a higher DPS weapon with EITHER a lot of LoH OR a bit of LoH and crit damage from a friend and test it to see how well it works for you. At the same time, you could experiment with a +crit and AP on Crit source (may need some additional AR gear though as you will probably lose a lot from the shield).
I am currently using a 750 DPS wand with native crit damage, a socket with a crit damage gem, and like 300 LoH; I usually wish for my life ball to refill faster, but am not really at a loss of AP by which to generate CM procs.
I am able to tank him till 30% and after that he one hits me without going enrage
I just pass from able to tank to one shoted in a sec
I have a section on him in the OP; basically change your spec to get as much mitigation as possible and have your teleport fractures tank for you. Rakanoth landing successive melee hits on you for more than a few seconds is as much damage as you are ever going to take in a short time period, barring standing in sentry/molten/desecration. Hope you have decent Life on Hit from gear.
So I've been busy working on my defensive stats up to the point where I cant viably increase them any further, my dps has suffered a lot though and it's down to 17k and I'm going to try to get the most out of it while still looking for ways to get it to 25-30k at least somehow, probably by getting a crit dmg weapon or something like that.
Anyhow what variation of this build do you think does the most dps by means of more casts or higher % modifiers? I'm using the same spec as when i started a few weeks ago : http://us.battle.net...XROY!agT!aZabcY
I'm finding it useful in almost all situations but I find it hard sometimes to keep dps up vs fast or packs that kite you.
Anyhow here's my stats any insight would be helpful
Well, you're not really using the most optimal build... SB/Meteor still works, but WW/EB is quite simply far more effective. Your crit is a bit low, so I would increase it before considering switching to a crit damage weapon. Your DPS is actually fine, and your raw defenses are some of the best that I have ever seen! (providing that you are getting enough CM procs to keep DS up).
I would consider giving WW/EB a try; also try to swap around a few pieces (gloves/bracers/jewelry) to get some more crit. By the way, what is your AP on crit?
I just wanted to say that after using this build since Inferno Act 2, I beat Diablo today. My gear is far from amazing. My stats are as follows (**with Energy Armor and Enchantress):
-30k health
-1.43 APS
-30.5% Crit chance
-170% Crit damage
-864 Resist All
-8791 Armor
-797 Life on hit
-16 Arcane Power on Crit
-10.7k DPS
As you can see, my stats are not exceptionally great. My damage is really low (although it is actually a good bit higher using this build), and my resistances aren't even that high. In my opinion, that is what makes this build so great - you don't have to have incredible gear to do well with it.
Thanks, Maxyim, for creating this guide!
EDIT: The only thing I changed from the OP build is Evocation -> Astral Presence. For me, this meant more tornadoes = more crits = less downtime on CDs so that it was nearly the same as having Evocation, except I was able to do more DPS.
Thank you, I am glad that you are having good success!
Astral Presence is decent, however with your crit chance and AP on crit, it is probably not all that necessary, especially considering that you are essentially making things harder on yourself by losing potential casts of EB / DS / nova / teleport.
Of note - your on-paper DPS figure seems a bit lower that I would expect it to be with that much crit damage. I am guessing that this is because you are either using a <600 DPS weapon or do not have much int on gear; my suggestion at this point would be to do act 3 runs with a few glass cannon friends so you can hold stuff down while they kill it, and upgrade your gear over time starting with the weakest piece while keeping your defensive stats where they are (a tad more AR and armor would not hurt).
If you are currently using a weak wand with LoH / AP on crit, you may try to upgrade to a stronger weapon with just LoH and possibly a socket and/or native crit damage; I currently have only 9 AP on crit from helm and am able to hold my own perfectly fine.
the problem is that you need to be close to them so ur EB actually hits them, molten is like instagib, dont tell me I need 900 all res/9k armor/ 30kHP to have a shot..... I see guys with like 1k+ all res and 8k+ armor, so u need that to kill those? rly?
Molten is instagib IF YOU STAND IN IT. Actually, I can survive for a few seconds with my gear. In any case, as long as you are slowly kiting them backward, YOU SHOULD NEVER BE STANDING IN MOLTEN. What is not clear about this?
1k all res and 8k armor is easily achievable on a budget; all you have to do is suck up the fact that your gear is not going to have 150+ int per piece on it for a while.
don't say that this playstyle is cheap, with just necessary stats you will start suffering from act 2 so you will always need to efford your milions to improve it
I tried this build cuz my ordinary porb/blizz/vhydra sorc sometimes had setback on teleport/firechains or vortex/molten on act3(not too much trouble though), but in order to get those tank stats to hold ur ground against those things u rly need a lot of armor/all res, meaning u give up too much dps/mf on gear for that... sure porb/blizz/vhydra is boring, but it can kill anything without too much problems, Im not impressed with this build... or maybe Im playing it wrong against molten or fire chains, still this build takes longer to kill things...
I dunno, I find that my 22k damage from character page goes quite a long way considering just how fast I am dealing it. I have no doubt that the cookie cutter spec deals more damage to single targets, but it's certainly not a LOT more, and considering that I almost never die or have to kite, my uptime is close to 100%. I would say you were playing it wrong or did not have the right gear.
I put together this melee sorc, its pretty good in general, but I suffer with molten/firechains with some other annoying affixes, how much EHP do you guys need to withstand molten firechains?? this build is so hyped I dont know, I have porb/blizz/vhydra gear, and it can deal with any affixes without too much trouble..... melee not so much....
You don't need to withstand molten firechains, you need to move out of it just like every other class...
I already described the best method of dealing with fire chains; kite them diagonally and spam the hell out of cold snap frost nova. Of course glass cannon gear cannot do melee, lol!
i went from kiting to facerolling every champ combo with this build..
this is just the most fun thing evar
(ive put 50 millions into my gear so iam not at the entry level.. but this scales awesomely..)
by the way. iam using this spec in act 1 and 2 without any life on hit and no shield!
(but i see its necessarry in act 4 - allthough i can facetank some packs quite a while)
THIS IS JUST GREAT - i also dont use teleport, but spectral blades, or archon or hydra. whatever i want. thats a prettty free spot
(stats : 1k all res , 50kdps, 27k hp, 30% crit 211%critdamage)
Holy shit 50k DPS lol! Glad you are having a good time!
Curious if you have tried storm armor > shocking aspect instead of prismatic (maybe with a barb ingame for shout). Also, how do you play with Archon, start with the super saiyan > kite, melee, and then super saiyan > kite some more? Actually sounds like a fun way to play!
Tried this build. ~750 AR(prismatic)/37.5%crit/+50%critdmg/26k hp/1250 LoH/12 AP on crit/7880 armor with enchantress. My dps now is 10068 and int is only 1187, but i can easily facetank (ok, not really tank, but i can do without dying) whole act 2. I've just swapped frost nova rune to bone chill and changed tele to time warp. Thanks for the build!
Btw, I've spent around 1m to wand+hat+gloves+rings+ammy
You MIGHT be able to do act 3 as well, particularly in a group setting with a barb. Otherwise, I would say try to sneak in a bit more AR and armor; sounds like you may have a few pieces without it. Your crit is far higher than mine, so you are probably fine.
How much EHP should you have to withstand some arcane sentry going your way with this build(in act 3 that is), and does anyone face tank azmodans fireballs with this spec(if yes what EHP to withstand the fireball)? Also how do you guys deal with shielding or invulnerable or things with molten(those are really annoying if your close), and last but not least how much AP on crit and crit chance% to semi perma freeze packs while still casting WW/EP?(with ww/ep build).
I facetank azmodan's fireballs with no problem. Arcane sentries on act 3 and 4 i can ignore, if it's only 1. If you get struck by 2 or 3 together, it can be quite dangerous.
I use teleport to move myself around the arcane on the ground, just like i do with firechains and molten. I don't teleport to the other room, just behind another mob etc, so my energy twisters still hits the mobs, but i dodge the arcane and molten, as well as i can avoid being in the middle of a firechain but next to one with it.
Esle, chainspam frost nova... if they're frozen permanently, they cannot throw arcane, their fire chain stops, and they provide no damage to you at all.
Same thing applies for shielding. Freeze them so they can't apply their shield.
Invuln minions requires a bit more timing, because you don't get procs and life on hit from the minions, only the boss. However, you can still freeze the invuln. minions, so they don't deal any damage to you.
You can facetank double champion pull in act 4 with enough gear, and cleaver use of teleport to make sure you dodge the most dangerous stuff they throw, while still being in melee range.
Edit: i got 15 ap on crit
I'm not quite as geared as awengel; one pass of arcane sentry is generally OK as long as I am not taking a lot of extra damage, but standing in them is not advised, nor is it generally needed with teleport. What I do with anything that drops ground-target abilities is to kite slowly in a diagonal manner, moving a "yard" sideways, or running out for lazer pass and running back in. When you see the sentry going down, just be ready to teleport if the beam threatens you; more often than not it will take at least a few seconds to reach you (likelihood of it spawning right on top of you is statistically low).
For Azmodan fireballs, you should never get hit by them with teleport.
For invul minions; I have had success at pulling them to doorways or other mobs. Unless it's a very dangerous mob type, I can generally tele on top of them and get enough CM procs from the rotation to keep DS up thru the adds; slow down on EB use and just focus on WW / wand spam and KEEP THE BASTARD IN THE WWs. Otherwise, tele out and kite for a bit periodically, preferably to other mobs, or just skip if it's taking too long.
As far as chaining frost nova on elites, you basically need as many targets and CM procs as possible, which means more crit and AP on crit, and that all of that fancy int / crit damage / general DPS gear is not helping you at all (particularly because you kill white mobs too fast!) which is why people like Stuharis are having problems. Also, try slowing down AP use of EB or glyphing Unleashed, as more AP spent on WW = more CM procs.
This build shines against mobs that you would otherwise not be able to kite, like fast/teleporters etc. Otherwise you are better off going with a blizzard/signature spell build, since you can just kite indefinitely, and its infinitely cheaper.
I tried this build and other variations I found on the links provided with around 122k EHP (29k life/6k armor/600 res/6% reduced melee dmg), 23% crit chance, 945 LoH and 20k dps and went for kulle. Huge mistake.
First elite pack, arcane enchanted, molten archers. Long story short, after a full repair bill i got them down.
Second pack, invulnerable minions, molten, arcane enchanted skeletons. After 2 full repair bills I changed my spec to the old blizz/shock spec and got them first try. But still did not wanted to give up the spec with just 2 packs that went wrong.
Third pack, Invulnerable minions, arcane enchanted, frozen, lightning constructs. After 2 deaths with the boss' life not even reaching 75% changed to my blizz/shock spec and got them again first try.
Forth pack, the second guys I managed to kill. Jailer, plagued, extra health, fast archers. Just tele into them and nova'd them so they did not moved the whole fight. The plagues in the ground started being problem after the got down to 30% but with a bit of repositioning I managed to do it.
Fifth and last pack, arcane enchanted, frozen, vortex, extra health dervishes (the spinning guys). After 1 full repair bill I gave up changed to my old spec again and got them pretty easily.
I can honestly tell you this build is totally useless and I suggest new wizards stay far far away from using it. Half the combinations of elite packs are unkillable with my stats and this build while using the simple blizz/shock you can pretty much farm act2 blindfolded (except of course for some fast mobs rolling fast affix or teleporter that will give you trouble).
Maybe if you get 40k hp/8k armor/900 res will be doable but with these stats and 1k LoH you will probably own everything.
Your dps was too high, your resists and armor were too low; in short you were still wearing your glass cannon gear with DPS stats. I got thru act 2 with 8k DPS and 9k armor, to give you an idea; resists were like 900 at the time. Also, you did not specify whether you had any AP on crit, and were you using a shield or source?
So basically you agree with me as I said that will probably need 8k armor and 900 res.
Tbh those stats are expensive to come by and you can kill things faster and without the whole key spam this spec puts you in.
I swapped a shield and a source I have but it did not made any difference really and I had 10 ap on crit.
No, what I said is that you have the wrong gear for the spec, period. Perhaps your gear would allow you to do a standard kiting build, but you need much more durability in order for your Diamond Skin to work correctly. Your options are to (1) either swap 4-6 armor pieces for AR / armor / int and vit as you can get them, or (2) go back to glass cannon. Posting that the build is horrible and does not work, however, is just not correct; it's like complaining that you can't fly without wings.
This build shines against mobs that you would otherwise not be able to kite, like fast/teleporters etc. Otherwise you are better off going with a blizzard/signature spell build, since you can just kite indefinitely, and its infinitely cheaper.
I tried this build and other variations I found on the links provided with around 122k EHP (29k life/6k armor/600 res/6% reduced melee dmg), 23% crit chance, 945 LoH and 20k dps and went for kulle. Huge mistake.
First elite pack, arcane enchanted, molten archers. Long story short, after a full repair bill i got them down.
Second pack, invulnerable minions, molten, arcane enchanted skeletons. After 2 full repair bills I changed my spec to the old blizz/shock spec and got them first try. But still did not wanted to give up the spec with just 2 packs that went wrong.
Third pack, Invulnerable minions, arcane enchanted, frozen, lightning constructs. After 2 deaths with the boss' life not even reaching 75% changed to my blizz/shock spec and got them again first try.
Forth pack, the second guys I managed to kill. Jailer, plagued, extra health, fast archers. Just tele into them and nova'd them so they did not moved the whole fight. The plagues in the ground started being problem after the got down to 30% but with a bit of repositioning I managed to do it.
Fifth and last pack, arcane enchanted, frozen, vortex, extra health dervishes (the spinning guys). After 1 full repair bill I gave up changed to my old spec again and got them pretty easily.
I can honestly tell you this build is totally useless and I suggest new wizards stay far far away from using it. Half the combinations of elite packs are unkillable with my stats and this build while using the simple blizz/shock you can pretty much farm act2 blindfolded (except of course for some fast mobs rolling fast affix or teleporter that will give you trouble).
Maybe if you get 40k hp/8k armor/900 res will be doable but with these stats and 1k LoH you will probably own everything.
Your dps was too high, your resists and armor were too low; in short you were still wearing your glass cannon gear with DPS stats. I got thru act 2 with 8k DPS and 9k armor, to give you an idea; resists were like 900 at the time. Also, you did not specify whether you had any AP on crit, and were you using a shield or source?
Step one, read reddit thread about melee wizard that has been out for weeks.(example: http://goo.gl/0eVVH)
Step two, post it on diablofans and claim i came up with the info.
Step three, ???
Step four, profit.
(not to mention your version of the build is compeltely horrible)
Actually, I read Sme's melee wizard threads on the official forums, and gave the threads full credit as you can tell from the OP; although unlike a lot of the posters there, I did not have a big budget with which to gear my wiz. As for whether this version is horrible, I am sorry if it has offended you. FYI, the Reddit post you linked is actually dated a few days after Sme's first thread.
By the way, how exactly am I profiting here? Is it perhaps because I was given a few golden moments to bask in your illustrious presence, my good man?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I did OK in act 2 with 16% to start. That said, this is one of the most important stats to increase quickly; the fewer targets you have, the harder it is to tank at lower crit rates (meaning that packs are harder in general).
That said, if you can get at least 8% from shield, 6% from gloves, 3% from bracer and 8% from blue LoH/crit rings, you have 30% already; I think that this is a reasonable goal to shoot for.
I think that I actually prefer forcing people to read through the logic.
Not sure what to say to help...can you share all pertinent stats?
Considering that FN has no mana cost and helps to keep elites in your WWs, I tend to disagree as well. Not to mention the +20% damage from Cold Blooded.
Thanks. Yeah, shocking aspect can be a lot of fun, particularly with a barb in the group (for the resist shout)!
Why are you having problems in Act 3? Your gear sounds equal to if not better than mine, actually (well, I have a bit more AR, and you did not list your armor). Have you considered trying to squeeze out 400-500 more life on hit out of jewelry? 4% crit / 200 LoH blue rings can be had for fairly cheap while you build up to something more fancy.
Very simple IMO, borrow a higher DPS weapon with EITHER a lot of LoH OR a bit of LoH and crit damage from a friend and test it to see how well it works for you. At the same time, you could experiment with a +crit and AP on Crit source (may need some additional AR gear though as you will probably lose a lot from the shield).
I am currently using a 750 DPS wand with native crit damage, a socket with a crit damage gem, and like 300 LoH; I usually wish for my life ball to refill faster, but am not really at a loss of AP by which to generate CM procs.
I have a section on him in the OP; basically change your spec to get as much mitigation as possible and have your teleport fractures tank for you. Rakanoth landing successive melee hits on you for more than a few seconds is as much damage as you are ever going to take in a short time period, barring standing in sentry/molten/desecration. Hope you have decent Life on Hit from gear.
Well, you're not really using the most optimal build... SB/Meteor still works, but WW/EB is quite simply far more effective. Your crit is a bit low, so I would increase it before considering switching to a crit damage weapon. Your DPS is actually fine, and your raw defenses are some of the best that I have ever seen! (providing that you are getting enough CM procs to keep DS up).
I would consider giving WW/EB a try; also try to swap around a few pieces (gloves/bracers/jewelry) to get some more crit. By the way, what is your AP on crit?
Thank you, I am glad that you are having good success!
Astral Presence is decent, however with your crit chance and AP on crit, it is probably not all that necessary, especially considering that you are essentially making things harder on yourself by losing potential casts of EB / DS / nova / teleport.
Of note - your on-paper DPS figure seems a bit lower that I would expect it to be with that much crit damage. I am guessing that this is because you are either using a <600 DPS weapon or do not have much int on gear; my suggestion at this point would be to do act 3 runs with a few glass cannon friends so you can hold stuff down while they kill it, and upgrade your gear over time starting with the weakest piece while keeping your defensive stats where they are (a tad more AR and armor would not hurt).
If you are currently using a weak wand with LoH / AP on crit, you may try to upgrade to a stronger weapon with just LoH and possibly a socket and/or native crit damage; I currently have only 9 AP on crit from helm and am able to hold my own perfectly fine.
Molten is instagib IF YOU STAND IN IT. Actually, I can survive for a few seconds with my gear. In any case, as long as you are slowly kiting them backward, YOU SHOULD NEVER BE STANDING IN MOLTEN. What is not clear about this?
1k all res and 8k armor is easily achievable on a budget; all you have to do is suck up the fact that your gear is not going to have 150+ int per piece on it for a while.
Nope.
Please do not spread misinformation within my thread.
I dunno, I find that my 22k damage from character page goes quite a long way considering just how fast I am dealing it. I have no doubt that the cookie cutter spec deals more damage to single targets, but it's certainly not a LOT more, and considering that I almost never die or have to kite, my uptime is close to 100%. I would say you were playing it wrong or did not have the right gear.
You don't need to withstand molten firechains, you need to move out of it just like every other class...
I already described the best method of dealing with fire chains; kite them diagonally and spam the hell out of cold snap frost nova. Of course glass cannon gear cannot do melee, lol!
Holy shit 50k DPS lol! Glad you are having a good time!
Curious if you have tried storm armor > shocking aspect instead of prismatic (maybe with a barb ingame for shout). Also, how do you play with Archon, start with the super saiyan > kite, melee, and then super saiyan > kite some more? Actually sounds like a fun way to play!
You MIGHT be able to do act 3 as well, particularly in a group setting with a barb. Otherwise, I would say try to sneak in a bit more AR and armor; sounds like you may have a few pieces without it. Your crit is far higher than mine, so you are probably fine.
I'm not quite as geared as awengel; one pass of arcane sentry is generally OK as long as I am not taking a lot of extra damage, but standing in them is not advised, nor is it generally needed with teleport. What I do with anything that drops ground-target abilities is to kite slowly in a diagonal manner, moving a "yard" sideways, or running out for lazer pass and running back in. When you see the sentry going down, just be ready to teleport if the beam threatens you; more often than not it will take at least a few seconds to reach you (likelihood of it spawning right on top of you is statistically low).
For Azmodan fireballs, you should never get hit by them with teleport.
For invul minions; I have had success at pulling them to doorways or other mobs. Unless it's a very dangerous mob type, I can generally tele on top of them and get enough CM procs from the rotation to keep DS up thru the adds; slow down on EB use and just focus on WW / wand spam and KEEP THE BASTARD IN THE WWs. Otherwise, tele out and kite for a bit periodically, preferably to other mobs, or just skip if it's taking too long.
As far as chaining frost nova on elites, you basically need as many targets and CM procs as possible, which means more crit and AP on crit, and that all of that fancy int / crit damage / general DPS gear is not helping you at all (particularly because you kill white mobs too fast!) which is why people like Stuharis are having problems. Also, try slowing down AP use of EB or glyphing Unleashed, as more AP spent on WW = more CM procs.
No, what I said is that you have the wrong gear for the spec, period. Perhaps your gear would allow you to do a standard kiting build, but you need much more durability in order for your Diamond Skin to work correctly. Your options are to (1) either swap 4-6 armor pieces for AR / armor / int and vit as you can get them, or (2) go back to glass cannon.
Your dps was too high, your resists and armor were too low; in short you were still wearing your glass cannon gear with DPS stats. I got thru act 2 with 8k DPS and 9k armor, to give you an idea; resists were like 900 at the time. Also, you did not specify whether you had any AP on crit, and were you using a shield or source?
Actually, I read Sme's melee wizard threads on the official forums, and gave the threads full credit as you can tell from the OP; although unlike a lot of the posters there, I did not have a big budget with which to gear my wiz. As for whether this version is horrible, I am sorry if it has offended you. FYI, the Reddit post you linked is actually dated a few days after Sme's first thread.
By the way, how exactly am I profiting here? Is it perhaps because I was given a few golden moments to bask in your illustrious presence, my good man?