so crit chance and damage will host dos on paper and DoT is an average of that paper damage. got it.
Thats confusing since we are so used to seeing crit numbers and basing gearing on how to achieve high crit numbers. So log story short keep stacking paper and elemental damage as always
I have noticed that DoT skills do not crit often or at all. Is apocalypse/ any other blizzard skill not critting at all? Im using firebirds set now with Apocalypse and none of my numbers crit high.
nice post. some of the suggestions are on point and some of which I have thought of before such as allowing crits on arcane torrent to lay mines. Mines are awesome fro AT, but they arent much fun to play with as an outright spender.
Cant go into all the details but these are nice suggestions. +1000000000
this is mostly true. I would argue many of the passives from many other classes can be discarded as well, but wizard is unfortunately in the crossfire of other classes right now. If we rate the classes form Melee to range we get the following (in order):
Monk (you could swap between monk and Barb here but its not really the point Im making now)
Barbarian
Crusader
Wizard
Demon Hunter
Witch Doctor (again one could argue between WD and DH but not the point)
So with wizard stuck right in the middle, you have a weird issue at play. Wiz has no natural damage mitigation, so melee is difficult to pull off. I would consider any Woh build melee class since its within melee range, but that is also precisely why I rate it in the middle of the pack in the list above.
So its obvious that the most powerful wiz build in the game is a melee class style build, in which case those damage mitigation spells make a lot of sense. in fact many of the spells Wizard has from a defensive standpoint I would consider melee class defensive abilities. Frost Nova is melee class only with the exception of the Ice patch one where you can kite mobs through the ice and do damage/slow, but even then not enough damage at high T's to warrant designing a build around it. I have and can do T6 using a build utilizing this skill, but its a lot of work and can be very difficult to pull off sometimes.
Ranged spells are very expensive to use with the exception of MM/Conflag, which is why everyone is getting amped about it in the new patch, but in my opinion the damage output is still lacking compared to something like Woh because your attack speed is so greatly increased when using Woh. Plus, to ensure that all of your MMs hit a mob, you need to be pretty close, thus pushing those skills closer to melee style and endangering the wiz.
So yes I agree in higher T's everyone needs blur unless you are simply amazing at avoiding damage. Now this would not be the case if Wiz could teleport without a cool down. DH can manage this because essentially they can jump from spot to spot without a cool down. This is a skill wizard needs and no it doesn't need to be a passive on a weapon, that will just make a build that can mitigate damage, not necessarily deal damage. You completely remove so many useful weapons by attaching a no-cooldown on teleport to one weapon.
So because wiz must take advantage any and all damage mitigation, we are forced to keep a few skills on lock. Now I have seen some of this mitigated by continuing to paragon, but realistically this will take a lot of time. Maxing out armor/LOH/life regen/all res will take a very long time, and other classes are not in the unfortunate position to rely on those paragon points as much as wiz seem to.
That being said Im not sure what the immediate fix is. I have argued before that many of the skill used to slow down or stun enemies should deal damage, as this method is one of the only ways wiz can thrive in the melee/ranged gray area. If more of the skills used to keep mobs at bay deal damage, then a wiz can utilize movement (teleport) and damage dealing ranged attacks that do not CC mobs much more effectively. I also would continue to argue that because Wizard can cast Mirror images, those images should deal a far more damage. Right now they simply do not provide the distraction/damage that makes them very useful in endgame since using that skill slot takes away a slot that could be used for damage skills. By making slight changes here to damage dealt from cc skills and adding damage to non-damage dealing skills like Mirror image I could see many wizards avoiding damage while still being welcomed in the t6 and above campaigns.
I would also argue that skills like meteor should produce knock backs, and probably should be less expensive to cast given that they are used primarily as main damage dealers. Right now, unless you are running cinder coat, you cannot really run a meteor build unless, again, you use prodigy.
There are many ways to argue these points, but all in all I played my wiz in PTR and was unimpressed. I actually disliked the style of play and felt like if things were to stay the same, I would probably switch over to my DH as a main.
I agree about doing our best not to homogenize any builds, especially pets. But the point Im trying to make here is that Mirrors should be considered pets and have some damage attached to them. I agree many of the spenders lack in some regard, but the gap would be made pun if wizard could stack damages from MI or even Time Warp. This would play nicely with a kiting themes of sorts and play into the notion that wizard is also a semi-fast mover and must avoid damage just like DH. MI could allow us to avoid damage and deal while kiting, something the DH is absolutely good at. Of course WD is as well, but they are the ultimate pet class.
So the point of this thread isn’t to simply ask for buffs on the Wizard class. I have played wizard extensively and have rarely ventured out of the box. I recently started a DH, I also have Monk, and a Barb. So far my favorite is the Wiz, but DH is also really fun to play. So I got to thinking about the similarities between the DH and Wiz and where DH really shines vs the Wiz.
So a lot of what we seem to struggle with when it comes to wiz is the true purpose of the wizard. We are supposed to be elemental Gods, but instead we are cornered into using only one element. We have to do this for damage purposes, and also because the notion of a “Prismatic” build isn’t developed enough in the game to warrant dividing up elemental damage between all 4 main elements. Of course we get the buff from the EE passive, and if you use Tal’s set you have the random meteor shower, but that really isn’t powerful enough to solo in higher T’s, nor does it provide a very compelling group play mechanism other than straight dps buff. That being said, because we have no idea when the damn rune procs or by how much we can’t adjust our gameplay to maintain “EE” which would be cool if could.
So after playing DH for a few I noticed some really cool mechanics. One of which is Sentries. Sentries remind me of Mirror Image. So do pets. Mirrors should be considered pets and should have a much more compelling role in the game. Right now, the only really compelling use of Mirrors is to use Time Warp and Point of No return rune which casts stun bubbles all over the place. the overlapping bubbles can create a very nice buffer between me and mobs. That being said I have never seen Mirror image really provide me much use. The main reason being:
1. They don’t last long enough
2. They don’t aggro mobs
3. They do no worthwhile damage
In my opinion mirror images should be far more powerful. First all images should be buffed in duration flat out. Second, each rune should also deal damage, some more than others of course depending. Even if they are small 100% weapon damage ticks it helps. Third, casting images should create space. Many times I see Images standing still or doing nothing productive. When using teleport as skill, or perhaps a mirror image rune, I should be able to transpose one of my images with myself, essentially switching between the images to avoid damage while the continue running around. This concept can be found in the Mesmer Class in GW2.
So what does this have to do with Sentries? Sentries do an immense amount of damage. DH has natural evasiveness. But in my opinion, the DH doesn’t have to sacrifice greatly to improve mobility while dealing damage. that cannot be said of the Wiz. To create space and mobility for wizard, a great deal of damage must be left on the table.
Lets move on the Time Warp. This is another great concept that isn’t fully developed. Using time warp is fun, but the lack of damage output means in many cases I will forgo the use of Time warp in lieu of a damage skill. My suggestions are as follows:
Each time warp needs to have an elemental damage modifier attached to it. One that will also proc meteors from Tals (see the synergy?)?
Also the damage types are dealt as the mobs walk through and are slowed by the bubble, so fire burns for 3000% damage over 6 seconds or something, lighting stuns and shocks for 350% dmg, and does so with speed and force. Arcane bubbles have arcane orbs that float around and smash into enemies, restoring arcane. Enemies slain by arcane lay a mine at their feet causing 600% damage when armed and explode (this should be a rune on a weapon BTW). Cold Bubbles rain down a blizzard inside the bubble slowing enemies by 80%. Enemies killed in the bubble release a front nova.
the propose of these suggestions isn’t to simply give wiz a ton of dps. its to mitigate crowd control with damage. With simple additions like this I don’t need you to buff my damage on basic skills by much, simply give me a way of stacking my damage.
This plays well with EE passives, but also opens up the possibility of adding additional items and skills that play off a prismatic build. Tals is a great start to this, but it needs more. I want to use my Gesture of Orpheus in my Tals build but I can’t because I need to proc lightning from my Thunderfury.
So lets do one more suggestion here before I close out and that has to do with two main skills that are about useless in the game, and that is Spectral blade and Shock Pulse. Now I love the idea of spectral blade. its badass. But the damage output isn’t commensurate with the proximity of mobs. If I need to get that close to a mob at high T’s, I need something that will do massive damage and play into the healing / shielding mechanisms of a melee class. Some buffing needs to be done on this skill. Ice blades need to proc way more often. If Im going to stand 3 inches away from something that can 2 hit me, I need to freeze him. So what if I can perma freeze him using frost nova. At the higher T’s Im getting mobbed from all directions. SB only hits in front of me. I would still need to kite and use evasive maneuvers to make the build viable. So that being said SB needs to be buffed to 300% weapon damage as a base.
Shock pulse is about as useless as tits on a bull. I have tried using this skill in so many situations, and its downright frustrating and pointless. It literally never hits anything. Compared to DH Strafe using the grenades, this thing is a joke. and the reason Im comparing to strafe is that Random doesn’t seem too random, but in the case of shock pulse, it really is random. This skill needs some serious overhaul, if not downright scrapped and replaced with something else. I don’t really know, all I know here is that the bolts are too random and their range is too short to do legit damage. Given none of the runes provide damage mitigation, you aren’t left with a compelling reason to use this skill. After all fixing this maybe I could go back to using SoH. Remember that weapon? Nobody uses it anymore….make it useful again
Aside from these suggestions you could:
Revamp firebirds again, because the PTR version was still weak. For a 6 piece set, we need more fire damage. The buff should include like +50% fire damage, seriously.
Tals needs to proc more often, like every 4 seconds, seriously.
Add another skill to Archon (number 4). Id like a meteor skill that rains down arcane meteors. Like RAINS down.
OK ENOUGH of that…
As an aside….can you please make the default chat pane PARTY when I’m in a PARTY!!! Not my clan. Mucho gracias
yes I agree the bubble works well in most cases...it just seems some types of mobs like the ones in a5 that jump attack you or the wraiths that zoom attack you sometimes go right through the bubble. In fact the mobs can be stunned twice, once entering and once leaving the bubble, as stated by the description. The issue I was/am experiencing is that sometimes during a mob's casting animation they seem to pass through without stunning. Its a few mob types that tend to do this like the ones above and those in the middle of a casting animation. Even the big bull like things that charge attack you seem to pass through on occasion when in the middle of a casting animation. just my thoughts as I have used this rune extensively in my arcane build. if any of you are using the rune keep an eye out for mobs outside the bubble that are beginning a casting animation and attempt to charge you, you may notice some making their way into the bubble without a stun...
Update looks like Blizz listened to the community and removed the channeling cost upfront!!
This still leaves some to be desired but a great move on their [art. They also said they will be rewarding channeling skills for duration with DoT improvements. really nice change of tone from Blizz. TY!!!
I currently Use Time Warp with the point of no return rune. I have noticed that quite a few monsters walk right through the outer layers of the bubble, most notable some elites and those floating monster things that dive bomb you. I also notice that anything that jumps is not stunned. In higher torments it is critical this metric works. Please advise as the description of the rune does not indicate an ability for monsters to dodge. This is particularly noticeable in act5 where so many of the mobs jump and float.
**Note I posted this in diablo3 forums but ti was immediatelyburiedand never responded to.**
So like many of you i have been playing around with the ptr, and like many of you I have a loley wizard. MM is now much more powerful although to make it really nice and exciting it should have had its attack speed buffed internally. I say this because Diablo is a very fast paced game and I dont see how MM will scale beyond rifts 25+. It s nice buffed skill and of course with the pants-whose-name-shall-remain-nameless you could be getting a nice boost.
There are some issues at play here that I think need to be addressed and it had to do with the concept of trade-offs. MM is great as a main, and while it can do nice damage, most of use wizards will be using a powerful secondary, like meteor, or blizzard. Now I say these two specifically because they are expensive to cast, but do solid damage. Coupled with a freebie like MM and you are back to using a one-two punch just like the days of yore.
Now the issue with this is it quite simply crams everyone into using the same build again. The reason being is the casting cost of the channeling skills. I know this has been hashed out on the forums before, but it needs to be repeated over and over again. This is a garbage metric and seriously needs to be removed. Lets say I want my secondary to be a channeling skill. My effective DPS with that channeling skill is significantly reduced if the following happens:
I accidentally double click
I need to move to avoid damage or...
I need to move to avoid damage or...
I need to move to avoid damage or...
I dont plant myself right in the middle of a pack and swirl around in circles so I can get the most out of my 3 seconds of pleasure.
Now free spenders like MM are nice, and potentially you could stack every piece of armor you have with MM damage buffs, but I do not see how past Greater rifts of 25 using MM only while you recover from the above events. In order to survive and move on you also would need a third spell, whether a crowd control or damage dealer (hydra?) to supplant the relatively low damage output of MM when compared to spender class spells.
I agree MM will be a fine weapon of choice, but making my channeling skills that expensive inevitably puts me in a positions where I rely on MM too heavily and using my channeling skill becomes 1-3 seconds of MM.....channeling skill..move...channeling skill for 1 second...MM...move....and so on.
This play style will hit a ceiling quick. So the best alternative is going to be a spender that does not come with the additional cost of casting(blizzard, meteor) and even then their damage is too low to rely on for quick clears.
There are many many points to be made and I really dont feel like hashing them out, but the trade-off here is that even at higher paragons we arent given many options. Some serious theorycrafting will need to be had before the community comes up with some nice post 2.1 builds but right now Im seeing nothing spectacular on wizards side. so many skills remain underpowered (spectral blade anyone? maybe good with that wand with +30% SB dmg and depth digger pants), but all you are really doing is saving up for the channeling skills. Nobody will use SB without the shield rune anyways.
I dont know the answers and in many cases I probably stand to be corrected, but too many skills remain static and dont scale well with higher paragons levels. Procs from weapons / armor dont seem to affect the game in a meaningful way so skill synergies are off or require massive sacrifices in one stat to attain another.
This patch will not bode well in its current state for wizards. Im hoping blizz can hear the community on this one, it really is disappointing to see this character sidelined until another patch is released. So far my PTR play in wizard has been somewhat frustrating and it lacks fluidity which is something my character is starting to get as of now at paragon 370+. I feel like a lot of my progress has been taken away.
as an overall goal try to focus in on a specific elemental damage type. My character kinda uses them all but has a heavy focus on arcane dmg. That being said I also use Tals set and Vyrs and I hone in on Arcane torrent as my main dmg output with archon as my dmg additive when it cools down.
You will get decent drops and of course the drops really determine what build you go with. Reroll the damage on your ammy for crit damage. you will have a nice mammy until you get roll one with elemental damage + crit + crit dmg. You will also find plans for lots of different items, one being aughuilds (sp?). this is a nice one two punch for any class as it does dmg buffing and dmg mitigation with its secondary. roll those holders and bracers, making sure to roll bracers with elemental dmg of your choice. lucky for you you don't need legendary crafting mats to get those pieces so rerolling shouldn't be too painful.
Lastly a nice chest will come. Cindercoat is a build changer, but Tals is more balanced. Vyrs is nice if you want to work towards the set. On gloves, try completing the set you are working on. If fire build absolutely magefists with trifecta. Your source is actually pretty good with that CC and arcane on crit.
Continue upgrading those gems, play some act 1 bounties and look for the royal ring of grandeur and you should start seeing some synergies. Granted right now you are playing the most nerfed class in the game so you will start hitting that brick wall in no time
In the mean time focus on paragon leveling. it makes a big difference and start crafting your build around your element and play style. have fun.
good question. My issue with EE is I cannot tell when its proc'ing, when it has cooled down, and how much of a damage buff I am getting. Blizz needs to add this as an icon so I can readily assess its impact. I agree the numbers should reflect this, but I have no way of reliably telling if this is the case. My numbers look pretty good when using the cold damage buff on my passive and I can easily identify the damage increase. I have swapped between EE and the cold passive but because I know for sure the passive works pretty much throughout the duration of my attack (since Im always casting a cold spell) I know I will get the 10% buff to dmg to my arcane torrent and meteors. I will continue looking into EE, but until I get a solid grasp of its effect I will keep the cold passive.
I agree that EE should have a high uptime it just bothers me that I don't know for sure.
I have been messing around for a while now looking for a viable build that would work at the t5/t6 level. I was constantly running into a wall, either too much crowd control to keep enemies at bay (hence not enough damage) or too much damage and way too squishy. Fire build is nice for damage but I don't see how people keep incoming damage down. Ive tried the build in many configs and I die too quick on a tough elite. So I started using my gesture of orpheus with and using time warp (forgot the name of the rune but the one that stuns enemies in and out). with my cool downs and the proc in the gesture I was able to spam the time warp consistently enough to create distance and safety. My only issue was that I was still getting killed once an elite teleports into my bubble or I got surrounded. Granted I could probably use teleport as a means to avoiding this damage, but still I have 2 skills used for defense that don't add to my damage output. So in short the time warp worked, but didn't provide enough damage mitigation to make up for the lost damage output. Even in this game a good offense is better than a good defense.
So I started looking around. My build uses the following gear:
The character Im using is named SLICE, so click that profile.
As you can see I use Vyrs and Tals. I just like the procs from tals and Vyrs too much to get rid of them. I know I can use alternatives for additional damage like on my helm/belt/chest but the truth is that gear is pretty good and I don't think an addition 1-2% paper damage is going to make up for the resource regen/meteor procs. That being sad the Thunderfury is the best weapon to use for tals since I essentially get 2 different elemental damages from one weapon depending on which thunderfury Im using. I am still testing dmg output between it and gesture. I think gesture gives me the added benefit of 16% arcane dmg so I still need to see what numbers pop up consistently between the two. I just don't get the lighting elemental proc.
So on to the good stuff. One of the elements that naturally slows enemies is cold. Its also an element capable of decent damage. So I started out using Frost nova (the rune with the reduced cool down). I noticed I could spam this pretty quick and it made for a good time when I could freeze and enemy and watch meteors rain down. But the main issue here was I had to get too close to enemies to make this a viable countermeasure. I switched to frozen mist and noticed something awesome. I was doing damage and I was slowing down enemies very well. I coupled this with blizzard. I chose snowbound because of the reduced casting cost. Being that I use a main that spends, I needed to keep my AP use low. Blizzard not only does some damage, but does a wonderful job of creating AOE spammable slows. Couple this with the frost nova and I had myself a nice one-two punch for crowd control. After casting FN and blizzard and creating distance I could start my Arcane Torrent cast for some real damage.
I wish I could send a video and I apologize for not having one. All I can say is that I am much more comfortable running solo in t5/t6 with the build than in previous builds. Its not terribly fast, but it works and I feel like given the lack of massive damage outputs the wizard has, using frost nova and blizzard to stack damage on top of my arcane torrent makes for a compelling output sum. Of course in between all of this I cast ARCHON and melt pretty much everything.
While this build isn't as powerful as a single elemental output build or that of the WD, crusader or DH, it does provide nice support in group play and also does its fair share of damage.
Just as a tip my play style does not allow for the player to stand in one place for very long. I get really bored of this style for one and two elemental damage from elites is just too strong for any wiz to take head on. Keep moving, keep kiting through the mists and blizzard. Its a more active style that is fun and rewarding. Let me know if you want me to post screen shots or any additional info. thanks.
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so crit chance and damage will host dos on paper and DoT is an average of that paper damage. got it.
Thats confusing since we are so used to seeing crit numbers and basing gearing on how to achieve high crit numbers. So log story short keep stacking paper and elemental damage as always
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nice post. some of the suggestions are on point and some of which I have thought of before such as allowing crits on arcane torrent to lay mines. Mines are awesome fro AT, but they arent much fun to play with as an outright spender.
Cant go into all the details but these are nice suggestions. +1000000000
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Monk (you could swap between monk and Barb here but its not really the point Im making now)
Barbarian
Crusader
Wizard
Demon Hunter
Witch Doctor (again one could argue between WD and DH but not the point)
So with wizard stuck right in the middle, you have a weird issue at play. Wiz has no natural damage mitigation, so melee is difficult to pull off. I would consider any Woh build melee class since its within melee range, but that is also precisely why I rate it in the middle of the pack in the list above.
So its obvious that the most powerful wiz build in the game is a melee class style build, in which case those damage mitigation spells make a lot of sense. in fact many of the spells Wizard has from a defensive standpoint I would consider melee class defensive abilities. Frost Nova is melee class only with the exception of the Ice patch one where you can kite mobs through the ice and do damage/slow, but even then not enough damage at high T's to warrant designing a build around it. I have and can do T6 using a build utilizing this skill, but its a lot of work and can be very difficult to pull off sometimes.
Ranged spells are very expensive to use with the exception of MM/Conflag, which is why everyone is getting amped about it in the new patch, but in my opinion the damage output is still lacking compared to something like Woh because your attack speed is so greatly increased when using Woh. Plus, to ensure that all of your MMs hit a mob, you need to be pretty close, thus pushing those skills closer to melee style and endangering the wiz.
So yes I agree in higher T's everyone needs blur unless you are simply amazing at avoiding damage. Now this would not be the case if Wiz could teleport without a cool down. DH can manage this because essentially they can jump from spot to spot without a cool down. This is a skill wizard needs and no it doesn't need to be a passive on a weapon, that will just make a build that can mitigate damage, not necessarily deal damage. You completely remove so many useful weapons by attaching a no-cooldown on teleport to one weapon.
So because wiz must take advantage any and all damage mitigation, we are forced to keep a few skills on lock. Now I have seen some of this mitigated by continuing to paragon, but realistically this will take a lot of time. Maxing out armor/LOH/life regen/all res will take a very long time, and other classes are not in the unfortunate position to rely on those paragon points as much as wiz seem to.
That being said Im not sure what the immediate fix is. I have argued before that many of the skill used to slow down or stun enemies should deal damage, as this method is one of the only ways wiz can thrive in the melee/ranged gray area. If more of the skills used to keep mobs at bay deal damage, then a wiz can utilize movement (teleport) and damage dealing ranged attacks that do not CC mobs much more effectively. I also would continue to argue that because Wizard can cast Mirror images, those images should deal a far more damage. Right now they simply do not provide the distraction/damage that makes them very useful in endgame since using that skill slot takes away a slot that could be used for damage skills. By making slight changes here to damage dealt from cc skills and adding damage to non-damage dealing skills like Mirror image I could see many wizards avoiding damage while still being welcomed in the t6 and above campaigns.
I would also argue that skills like meteor should produce knock backs, and probably should be less expensive to cast given that they are used primarily as main damage dealers. Right now, unless you are running cinder coat, you cannot really run a meteor build unless, again, you use prodigy.
There are many ways to argue these points, but all in all I played my wiz in PTR and was unimpressed. I actually disliked the style of play and felt like if things were to stay the same, I would probably switch over to my DH as a main.
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I agree about doing our best not to homogenize any builds, especially pets. But the point Im trying to make here is that Mirrors should be considered pets and have some damage attached to them. I agree many of the spenders lack in some regard, but the gap would be made pun if wizard could stack damages from MI or even Time Warp. This would play nicely with a kiting themes of sorts and play into the notion that wizard is also a semi-fast mover and must avoid damage just like DH. MI could allow us to avoid damage and deal while kiting, something the DH is absolutely good at. Of course WD is as well, but they are the ultimate pet class.
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So the point of this thread isn’t to simply ask for buffs on the Wizard class. I have played wizard extensively and have rarely ventured out of the box. I recently started a DH, I also have Monk, and a Barb. So far my favorite is the Wiz, but DH is also really fun to play. So I got to thinking about the similarities between the DH and Wiz and where DH really shines vs the Wiz.
So a lot of what we seem to struggle with when it comes to wiz is the true purpose of the wizard. We are supposed to be elemental Gods, but instead we are cornered into using only one element. We have to do this for damage purposes, and also because the notion of a “Prismatic” build isn’t developed enough in the game to warrant dividing up elemental damage between all 4 main elements. Of course we get the buff from the EE passive, and if you use Tal’s set you have the random meteor shower, but that really isn’t powerful enough to solo in higher T’s, nor does it provide a very compelling group play mechanism other than straight dps buff. That being said, because we have no idea when the damn rune procs or by how much we can’t adjust our gameplay to maintain “EE” which would be cool if could.
So after playing DH for a few I noticed some really cool mechanics. One of which is Sentries. Sentries remind me of Mirror Image. So do pets. Mirrors should be considered pets and should have a much more compelling role in the game. Right now, the only really compelling use of Mirrors is to use Time Warp and Point of No return rune which casts stun bubbles all over the place. the overlapping bubbles can create a very nice buffer between me and mobs. That being said I have never seen Mirror image really provide me much use. The main reason being:
1. They don’t last long enough
2. They don’t aggro mobs
3. They do no worthwhile damage
In my opinion mirror images should be far more powerful. First all images should be buffed in duration flat out. Second, each rune should also deal damage, some more than others of course depending. Even if they are small 100% weapon damage ticks it helps. Third, casting images should create space. Many times I see Images standing still or doing nothing productive. When using teleport as skill, or perhaps a mirror image rune, I should be able to transpose one of my images with myself, essentially switching between the images to avoid damage while the continue running around. This concept can be found in the Mesmer Class in GW2.
So what does this have to do with Sentries? Sentries do an immense amount of damage. DH has natural evasiveness. But in my opinion, the DH doesn’t have to sacrifice greatly to improve mobility while dealing damage. that cannot be said of the Wiz. To create space and mobility for wizard, a great deal of damage must be left on the table.
Lets move on the Time Warp. This is another great concept that isn’t fully developed. Using time warp is fun, but the lack of damage output means in many cases I will forgo the use of Time warp in lieu of a damage skill. My suggestions are as follows:
Each time warp needs to have an elemental damage modifier attached to it. One that will also proc meteors from Tals (see the synergy?)?
Also the damage types are dealt as the mobs walk through and are slowed by the bubble, so fire burns for 3000% damage over 6 seconds or something, lighting stuns and shocks for 350% dmg, and does so with speed and force. Arcane bubbles have arcane orbs that float around and smash into enemies, restoring arcane. Enemies slain by arcane lay a mine at their feet causing 600% damage when armed and explode (this should be a rune on a weapon BTW). Cold Bubbles rain down a blizzard inside the bubble slowing enemies by 80%. Enemies killed in the bubble release a front nova.
the propose of these suggestions isn’t to simply give wiz a ton of dps. its to mitigate crowd control with damage. With simple additions like this I don’t need you to buff my damage on basic skills by much, simply give me a way of stacking my damage.
This plays well with EE passives, but also opens up the possibility of adding additional items and skills that play off a prismatic build. Tals is a great start to this, but it needs more. I want to use my Gesture of Orpheus in my Tals build but I can’t because I need to proc lightning from my Thunderfury.
So lets do one more suggestion here before I close out and that has to do with two main skills that are about useless in the game, and that is Spectral blade and Shock Pulse. Now I love the idea of spectral blade. its badass. But the damage output isn’t commensurate with the proximity of mobs. If I need to get that close to a mob at high T’s, I need something that will do massive damage and play into the healing / shielding mechanisms of a melee class. Some buffing needs to be done on this skill. Ice blades need to proc way more often. If Im going to stand 3 inches away from something that can 2 hit me, I need to freeze him. So what if I can perma freeze him using frost nova. At the higher T’s Im getting mobbed from all directions. SB only hits in front of me. I would still need to kite and use evasive maneuvers to make the build viable. So that being said SB needs to be buffed to 300% weapon damage as a base.
Shock pulse is about as useless as tits on a bull. I have tried using this skill in so many situations, and its downright frustrating and pointless. It literally never hits anything. Compared to DH Strafe using the grenades, this thing is a joke. and the reason Im comparing to strafe is that Random doesn’t seem too random, but in the case of shock pulse, it really is random. This skill needs some serious overhaul, if not downright scrapped and replaced with something else. I don’t really know, all I know here is that the bolts are too random and their range is too short to do legit damage. Given none of the runes provide damage mitigation, you aren’t left with a compelling reason to use this skill. After all fixing this maybe I could go back to using SoH. Remember that weapon? Nobody uses it anymore….make it useful again
Aside from these suggestions you could:
Revamp firebirds again, because the PTR version was still weak. For a 6 piece set, we need more fire damage. The buff should include like +50% fire damage, seriously.
Tals needs to proc more often, like every 4 seconds, seriously.
Add another skill to Archon (number 4). Id like a meteor skill that rains down arcane meteors. Like RAINS down.
OK ENOUGH of that…
As an aside….can you please make the default chat pane PARTY when I’m in a PARTY!!! Not my clan. Mucho gracias
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This still leaves some to be desired but a great move on their [art. They also said they will be rewarding channeling skills for duration with DoT improvements. really nice change of tone from Blizz. TY!!!
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I currently Use Time Warp with the point of no return rune. I have noticed that quite a few monsters walk right through the outer layers of the bubble, most notable some elites and those floating monster things that dive bomb you. I also notice that anything that jumps is not stunned. In higher torments it is critical this metric works. Please advise as the description of the rune does not indicate an ability for monsters to dodge. This is particularly noticeable in act5 where so many of the mobs jump and float.
**Note I posted this in diablo3 forums but ti was immediatelyburiedand never responded to.**
Hopefully someone has some insight.
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There are some issues at play here that I think need to be addressed and it had to do with the concept of trade-offs. MM is great as a main, and while it can do nice damage, most of use wizards will be using a powerful secondary, like meteor, or blizzard. Now I say these two specifically because they are expensive to cast, but do solid damage. Coupled with a freebie like MM and you are back to using a one-two punch just like the days of yore.
Now the issue with this is it quite simply crams everyone into using the same build again. The reason being is the casting cost of the channeling skills. I know this has been hashed out on the forums before, but it needs to be repeated over and over again. This is a garbage metric and seriously needs to be removed. Lets say I want my secondary to be a channeling skill. My effective DPS with that channeling skill is significantly reduced if the following happens:
I accidentally double click
I need to move to avoid damage or...
I need to move to avoid damage or...
I need to move to avoid damage or...
I dont plant myself right in the middle of a pack and swirl around in circles so I can get the most out of my 3 seconds of pleasure.
Now free spenders like MM are nice, and potentially you could stack every piece of armor you have with MM damage buffs, but I do not see how past Greater rifts of 25 using MM only while you recover from the above events. In order to survive and move on you also would need a third spell, whether a crowd control or damage dealer (hydra?) to supplant the relatively low damage output of MM when compared to spender class spells.
I agree MM will be a fine weapon of choice, but making my channeling skills that expensive inevitably puts me in a positions where I rely on MM too heavily and using my channeling skill becomes 1-3 seconds of MM.....channeling skill..move...channeling skill for 1 second...MM...move....and so on.
This play style will hit a ceiling quick. So the best alternative is going to be a spender that does not come with the additional cost of casting(blizzard, meteor) and even then their damage is too low to rely on for quick clears.
There are many many points to be made and I really dont feel like hashing them out, but the trade-off here is that even at higher paragons we arent given many options. Some serious theorycrafting will need to be had before the community comes up with some nice post 2.1 builds but right now Im seeing nothing spectacular on wizards side. so many skills remain underpowered (spectral blade anyone? maybe good with that wand with +30% SB dmg and depth digger pants), but all you are really doing is saving up for the channeling skills. Nobody will use SB without the shield rune anyways.
I dont know the answers and in many cases I probably stand to be corrected, but too many skills remain static and dont scale well with higher paragons levels. Procs from weapons / armor dont seem to affect the game in a meaningful way so skill synergies are off or require massive sacrifices in one stat to attain another.
This patch will not bode well in its current state for wizards. Im hoping blizz can hear the community on this one, it really is disappointing to see this character sidelined until another patch is released. So far my PTR play in wizard has been somewhat frustrating and it lacks fluidity which is something my character is starting to get as of now at paragon 370+. I feel like a lot of my progress has been taken away.
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You will get decent drops and of course the drops really determine what build you go with. Reroll the damage on your ammy for crit damage. you will have a nice mammy until you get roll one with elemental damage + crit + crit dmg. You will also find plans for lots of different items, one being aughuilds (sp?). this is a nice one two punch for any class as it does dmg buffing and dmg mitigation with its secondary. roll those holders and bracers, making sure to roll bracers with elemental dmg of your choice. lucky for you you don't need legendary crafting mats to get those pieces so rerolling shouldn't be too painful.
Lastly a nice chest will come. Cindercoat is a build changer, but Tals is more balanced. Vyrs is nice if you want to work towards the set. On gloves, try completing the set you are working on. If fire build absolutely magefists with trifecta. Your source is actually pretty good with that CC and arcane on crit.
Continue upgrading those gems, play some act 1 bounties and look for the royal ring of grandeur and you should start seeing some synergies. Granted right now you are playing the most nerfed class in the game so you will start hitting that brick wall in no time
In the mean time focus on paragon leveling. it makes a big difference and start crafting your build around your element and play style. have fun.
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I agree that EE should have a high uptime it just bothers me that I don't know for sure.
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I have been messing around for a while now looking for a viable build that would work at the t5/t6 level. I was constantly running into a wall, either too much crowd control to keep enemies at bay (hence not enough damage) or too much damage and way too squishy. Fire build is nice for damage but I don't see how people keep incoming damage down. Ive tried the build in many configs and I die too quick on a tough elite. So I started using my gesture of orpheus with and using time warp (forgot the name of the rune but the one that stuns enemies in and out). with my cool downs and the proc in the gesture I was able to spam the time warp consistently enough to create distance and safety. My only issue was that I was still getting killed once an elite teleports into my bubble or I got surrounded. Granted I could probably use teleport as a means to avoiding this damage, but still I have 2 skills used for defense that don't add to my damage output. So in short the time warp worked, but didn't provide enough damage mitigation to make up for the lost damage output. Even in this game a good offense is better than a good defense.
So I started looking around. My build uses the following gear:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/profssrfink-1215/hero/49750234
The character Im using is named SLICE, so click that profile.
As you can see I use Vyrs and Tals. I just like the procs from tals and Vyrs too much to get rid of them. I know I can use alternatives for additional damage like on my helm/belt/chest but the truth is that gear is pretty good and I don't think an addition 1-2% paper damage is going to make up for the resource regen/meteor procs. That being sad the Thunderfury is the best weapon to use for tals since I essentially get 2 different elemental damages from one weapon depending on which thunderfury Im using. I am still testing dmg output between it and gesture. I think gesture gives me the added benefit of 16% arcane dmg so I still need to see what numbers pop up consistently between the two. I just don't get the lighting elemental proc.
So on to the good stuff. One of the elements that naturally slows enemies is cold. Its also an element capable of decent damage. So I started out using Frost nova (the rune with the reduced cool down). I noticed I could spam this pretty quick and it made for a good time when I could freeze and enemy and watch meteors rain down. But the main issue here was I had to get too close to enemies to make this a viable countermeasure. I switched to frozen mist and noticed something awesome. I was doing damage and I was slowing down enemies very well. I coupled this with blizzard. I chose snowbound because of the reduced casting cost. Being that I use a main that spends, I needed to keep my AP use low. Blizzard not only does some damage, but does a wonderful job of creating AOE spammable slows. Couple this with the frost nova and I had myself a nice one-two punch for crowd control. After casting FN and blizzard and creating distance I could start my Arcane Torrent cast for some real damage.
I wish I could send a video and I apologize for not having one. All I can say is that I am much more comfortable running solo in t5/t6 with the build than in previous builds. Its not terribly fast, but it works and I feel like given the lack of massive damage outputs the wizard has, using frost nova and blizzard to stack damage on top of my arcane torrent makes for a compelling output sum. Of course in between all of this I cast ARCHON and melt pretty much everything.
While this build isn't as powerful as a single elemental output build or that of the WD, crusader or DH, it does provide nice support in group play and also does its fair share of damage.
Just as a tip my play style does not allow for the player to stand in one place for very long. I get really bored of this style for one and two elemental damage from elites is just too strong for any wiz to take head on. Keep moving, keep kiting through the mists and blizzard. Its a more active style that is fun and rewarding. Let me know if you want me to post screen shots or any additional info. thanks.
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