Hello everyone, i have been playing this games for about 3 weeks or so now and i am kind of lost on what i should do with my wizard. here is my build us(dot)battle(dot)net/d3/en/profile/lesliesoon-6863/hero/25830353 (sorry bout the dots, i can't post links yet) My total crit chance currently is 47% without scoundel(not sure why is my crit chance displays 42% on battlenet) , and my resistance are(Unbuffed), 271 physical, 288 cold, 215 fire, 249 lightning, 242 poison, 215 arcane/ holy. My armor is 49.65% unbuffed (62.94% buffed). with 52639.04k dps buffed, and 10 APOC. As you can see from my build, i am using arcane orb and arcane hydra as my main attacks since this build is cheaper. I am ultimately going for archon after i earned more money but i failed terribly as an archon as for now. Can anyone suggest me on how i should improve my wizard? i was thinking maybe i should make sure that i have better gear for my arcane orb build first, earn more money, and then switch to archon gears. I currently have 8.3mil gold which is probably not enough for archon gears. Any help and suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.
While it says +42% crit, everyone has 5% base crit, so that's why your char sheet says 47%.
You can definitely use some upgrading of gear. Your rings have no Int on them, though the attack speed one seems pretty good. Your amulet also could use Int, but those might not be the cheapest upgrades. Your bracers are definitely in need of upgrading. While the max crit roll is nice, the low int makes them pretty low dps. You can probably get a fair amount more dps out of some 150 int, 4.5% crit bracers that should be pretty cheap. Alternatively you could grab some Lacuni Prowlers with 70 Int or so for a couple mil. The extra run speed is great and you can consider dropping Temporal Flux with the 24% run speed. Just give Scoundrel a cold bow if you haven't already.
Your OH can definitely use upgrading, or you could try searching for a cheap 2h with Life Steal, over 120% crit damage, and Int. I got my weapon for under 1 mil somehow but if you're patient you can find a similar one for a few mil. Use a spreadsheet though to make sure you're actually raising your dps with the 2h. If you really want to keep the 1h+OH combo, which is fine, your OH could be improved greatly with higher damage and Int, while keeping the crit % of course. I wouldn't worry much about the AP on crit since the coefficient for celestial orb is pretty terrible (0.25). Also you'll probably want to eventually get some Life Steal for Archon which means a weapon upgrade sometime down the line. Honestly I'd recommend grabbing a 2h. It'll probably be cheaper for now and you can get double the Life Steal. Plus the 2h makes Arcane Orbs hit lots harder so it'll make your farming easier until you can make the switch.
Your chest could be improved by getting a piece with decent int (50-80 or so) and 3 sockets, with the same or more vit. Your hat could be improved also, with more int, even if you sacrifice a crit % for it you should still gain dps with a 150+ int hat, though it might cost a bit since sockets seem to really raise the price on items.
Finally, while upgrading your gear, you may want to consider trying to change some of your HP into extra resists and/or armor. While in Archon form, the more EHP you have the better, and the more armor and resists you have the better your Life Steal works. I'm just around 31k HP with 80k dps, 5.8% life steal and only about 190 resists on gear (or about 360 unbuffed with glass cannon) and it seems pretty great. More resists would make reflect mobs a bit easier but at the moment I am able to facetank pretty much any elite pack I find and heal myself through their melee damage thanks to Life Steal, even electrified mobs.
Ok thanks for the advise i will go hunt for those equips that you've stated later on but i still need to ask, I think it will be quite hard to replace my offhand+ 1handed wep with a 2handed weapon since the off hand and 1 hand wep do pack alot of punch compared to a single 2handed weapon. Unless i can find a 2 handler that is really really good which wont be easy right? and i have alittle problem with my arcane power as it seems that i can only fire like 3 arcane orbs before i run out of mana :/ i actually thought of changing to crit mass gear before going archon but then again it will be really inconvinient to switch to that build as i had to change my gear again. What would you suggest? honestly speaking i dont really like Arcane orb as my damage to monster ranges from 34k-150+K which is really unpredictable as if i fire like 2 arcane orbs for 34k, i am totally screwed since my mana should be near empty I only use arcane orb as it is way easier to kite champion and elite packs. Any suggestions on this?
Laroese pretty much hit the dot: low INT. Doubling your INT not only will almost double your damage, but will also increase all resists by 100+ which will help your EHP.
Since your strapped for gold, I suggest that you use an online DPS/EHP online calculator that imports characters and try various equipment changes to see which gives biggest bang for the investment.
Before I switched to a 2h I had an OH with 50-353 damage, 70 int, 8 crit and 10 AP on crit. My MH was 920 dps with 47 crit and an 80 crit gem in socket. The combination is probably about the same or maybe slightly higher dps than your MH+OH. I gained a few thousand dps when switching to a 2h with slightly less dps than the one I have now so it's definitely doable, and if you're lucky enough to find a good price on a 2h, it's much cheaper than upgrading the 1h and OH. You really need to use a dps spreadsheet to look at weapons though. I recommend the one in my sig because I wrote it but there are plenty others out there that should work well.
What I'd recommend doing, build wise, is drop magic weapon for a sig spell, either Lightning Blast or Piercing Orb. I happen to really like Celestial Orb but since you only get a couple casts before you run out of AP, you'll need a signature spell to be able to cast. When kiting elites, it won't be much of an issue since you can just kite for 2-3s, cast your orb, kite, repeat until dead. That's why I like the celestial orb.
You can switch to a CM melee based build, but you'd need to replace pretty much all your gear to do so and the transition to Archon from that build isn't quite as easy as from an Arcane Orb build. The idea with CM melee builds are defensive heavy while AO is dps heavy with just enough survivability to optimize force armor. Archon specs don't really need a ton of survivability, as I'm starting to discover, if you use Force Armor with life steal. Thus about all you might need to transition from the orb build is maybe get 1-2 extra pieces with resists while just raising your dps as high as you can. My 3 resist pieces are working just fine at what is probably considered low dps for Archon for Act 3.
Add All Resistance to your chest, pants and belt: those are your main sources for HP, armor and resistance. Once you do that, switch Force Armor to Prismatic Armor to amp all your resistances. You have enough HP. Maintain that HP number the best you can while adding more int and resistances (and armor) to those three pieces.
As mentioned, your jewelry pieces can use more intelligence, unless you can fill them in with high crit chance, damage and attack speed (incredibly expensive).
I'm not sure if you want to run Arcane Orb with low AP on crit. You should be able to get by easily with your current state with Shock Pulse-Piercing Orb. Old VenoHydra+Blizzard will work well for you, too. If you do that, sub out Temporal Flux for Galvanizing Ward or Cold-Blooded. Because you have Arcane Orb as your main damage dealer, I see you running out of AP fast when against large, heavy mobs. You'll need a signature spell (see Piercing Orb).
Bottom line is, you'll need more armor/resistances if you want to kite less to sustain your DPS. Once you get to around 500-600 all resistances and 3500-4000 armor unbuffed, you can start playing around with Archon.
Your high crit chance can work for CM/SC builds. But as mentioned, you'll need more resistances and armor since you'll always be in line for death.
While it says +42% crit, everyone has 5% base crit, so that's why your char sheet says 47%.
You can definitely use some upgrading of gear. Your rings have no Int on them, though the attack speed one seems pretty good. Your amulet also could use Int, but those might not be the cheapest upgrades. Your bracers are definitely in need of upgrading. While the max crit roll is nice, the low int makes them pretty low dps. You can probably get a fair amount more dps out of some 150 int, 4.5% crit bracers that should be pretty cheap. Alternatively you could grab some Lacuni Prowlers with 70 Int or so for a couple mil. The extra run speed is great and you can consider dropping Temporal Flux with the 24% run speed. Just give Scoundrel a cold bow if you haven't already.
Your OH can definitely use upgrading, or you could try searching for a cheap 2h with Life Steal, over 120% crit damage, and Int. I got my weapon for under 1 mil somehow but if you're patient you can find a similar one for a few mil. Use a spreadsheet though to make sure you're actually raising your dps with the 2h. If you really want to keep the 1h+OH combo, which is fine, your OH could be improved greatly with higher damage and Int, while keeping the crit % of course. I wouldn't worry much about the AP on crit since the coefficient for celestial orb is pretty terrible (0.25). Also you'll probably want to eventually get some Life Steal for Archon which means a weapon upgrade sometime down the line. Honestly I'd recommend grabbing a 2h. It'll probably be cheaper for now and you can get double the Life Steal. Plus the 2h makes Arcane Orbs hit lots harder so it'll make your farming easier until you can make the switch.
Your chest could be improved by getting a piece with decent int (50-80 or so) and 3 sockets, with the same or more vit. Your hat could be improved also, with more int, even if you sacrifice a crit % for it you should still gain dps with a 150+ int hat, though it might cost a bit since sockets seem to really raise the price on items.
Finally, while upgrading your gear, you may want to consider trying to change some of your HP into extra resists and/or armor. While in Archon form, the more EHP you have the better, and the more armor and resists you have the better your Life Steal works. I'm just around 31k HP with 80k dps, 5.8% life steal and only about 190 resists on gear (or about 360 unbuffed with glass cannon) and it seems pretty great. More resists would make reflect mobs a bit easier but at the moment I am able to facetank pretty much any elite pack I find and heal myself through their melee damage thanks to Life Steal, even electrified mobs.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
Since your strapped for gold, I suggest that you use an online DPS/EHP online calculator that imports characters and try various equipment changes to see which gives biggest bang for the investment.
What I'd recommend doing, build wise, is drop magic weapon for a sig spell, either Lightning Blast or Piercing Orb. I happen to really like Celestial Orb but since you only get a couple casts before you run out of AP, you'll need a signature spell to be able to cast. When kiting elites, it won't be much of an issue since you can just kite for 2-3s, cast your orb, kite, repeat until dead. That's why I like the celestial orb.
You can switch to a CM melee based build, but you'd need to replace pretty much all your gear to do so and the transition to Archon from that build isn't quite as easy as from an Arcane Orb build. The idea with CM melee builds are defensive heavy while AO is dps heavy with just enough survivability to optimize force armor. Archon specs don't really need a ton of survivability, as I'm starting to discover, if you use Force Armor with life steal. Thus about all you might need to transition from the orb build is maybe get 1-2 extra pieces with resists while just raising your dps as high as you can. My 3 resist pieces are working just fine at what is probably considered low dps for Archon for Act 3.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
As mentioned, your jewelry pieces can use more intelligence, unless you can fill them in with high crit chance, damage and attack speed (incredibly expensive).
I'm not sure if you want to run Arcane Orb with low AP on crit. You should be able to get by easily with your current state with Shock Pulse-Piercing Orb. Old VenoHydra+Blizzard will work well for you, too. If you do that, sub out Temporal Flux for Galvanizing Ward or Cold-Blooded. Because you have Arcane Orb as your main damage dealer, I see you running out of AP fast when against large, heavy mobs. You'll need a signature spell (see Piercing Orb).
Bottom line is, you'll need more armor/resistances if you want to kite less to sustain your DPS. Once you get to around 500-600 all resistances and 3500-4000 armor unbuffed, you can start playing around with Archon.
Your high crit chance can work for CM/SC builds. But as mentioned, you'll need more resistances and armor since you'll always be in line for death.
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