Seriously though, split magic missile builds arcane dynamo 3 times as fast. Unlike Electrocute you can get multiple hits on one large target, unlike Spectral Blade, it's ranged which is very important, and unlike Shock Pulse you actually have some say in where it goes.
Ray of Frost upgraded with the damage rune is great single-target dps (13% weapon damage per AP) vs bosses in multiplayer games where others can tank it and let me channel until my AP is out (which I may be able to avoid through gear)
Frost Nova is there almost entirely for the Deep Freeze effect.
Blizzard runed with Unrelenting Storm to maximize the damage of a single cast, for reasons explained further down.
Slow Time layered on top will provide even more movement-crippling goodness. The Time Warp rune adds even more damage to the Blizzard layered over it.
Ice Armor is there to save my ass if things go south, since I don't need any additional attacks. Crystallize makes it even better for this, increasing my armor when I get hit.
Gearing strategy is to stack AP on crit and +crit%, keeping my AP afloat through a high frequency of crits assisted by Deep Freeze. The ideal end-game setup would have enough +crit% and +AP/crit to power Ray of Frost or Blizzard forever. For example, with 33% crit and +11-12 AP/crit, a Blizzard (45 AP, ticks 4 times with Unrelenting Storm) on 3 targets will break even on average, and that's without Deep Freeze.
Vs single large targets, open with Magic Missile until Arcane Dynamo procs, then Slow Time, Frost Nova if there are enough adds to proc Deep Freeze, and channel Ray of Frost until depleted, then repeat.
Vs large mobs (mobs of enemies, not mobiles), Dynamo, Slow Time, Frost Nova, Blizzard, Dynamo, Blizzard, using cooldowns as they come up. Unrelenting Storm allows 4 Blizzard ticks to benefit from Dynamo instead of 3, improving the ratio of Blizzard to Magic Missile.
Although really, I just like ice magic and my build would use ice even if it sucked. Frozen Orb Sorc, ooooooh yeeeeeah.
Everyone is making it sound like the people that want to physics change want to tone down the force that the characters launch bodies with. That's not it at all! Everyone loves that the Barb sends monsters flying, that's not the issue at all. The problem is when they float back down like paper, it actually makes the heroes seem WEAKER because everything seems light and feathery. They should be flying around like rag dolls, but they should be coming back down like the MEAT they are.
Everyone is making it sound like the people that want to physics change want to tone down the force that the characters launch bodies with. That's not it at all! Everyone loves that the Barb sends monsters flying, that's not the issue at all. The problem is when they float back down like paper, it actually makes the heroes seem WEAKER because everything seems light and feathery. They should be flying around like rag dolls, but they should be coming back down like the MEAT they are.
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Because ice is cool.
Oh yeah, I just made that joke.
Seriously though, split magic missile builds arcane dynamo 3 times as fast. Unlike Electrocute you can get multiple hits on one large target, unlike Spectral Blade, it's ranged which is very important, and unlike Shock Pulse you actually have some say in where it goes.
Ray of Frost upgraded with the damage rune is great single-target dps (13% weapon damage per AP) vs bosses in multiplayer games where others can tank it and let me channel until my AP is out (which I may be able to avoid through gear)
Frost Nova is there almost entirely for the Deep Freeze effect.
Blizzard runed with Unrelenting Storm to maximize the damage of a single cast, for reasons explained further down.
Slow Time layered on top will provide even more movement-crippling goodness. The Time Warp rune adds even more damage to the Blizzard layered over it.
Ice Armor is there to save my ass if things go south, since I don't need any additional attacks. Crystallize makes it even better for this, increasing my armor when I get hit.
Gearing strategy is to stack AP on crit and +crit%, keeping my AP afloat through a high frequency of crits assisted by Deep Freeze. The ideal end-game setup would have enough +crit% and +AP/crit to power Ray of Frost or Blizzard forever. For example, with 33% crit and +11-12 AP/crit, a Blizzard (45 AP, ticks 4 times with Unrelenting Storm) on 3 targets will break even on average, and that's without Deep Freeze.
Vs single large targets, open with Magic Missile until Arcane Dynamo procs, then Slow Time, Frost Nova if there are enough adds to proc Deep Freeze, and channel Ray of Frost until depleted, then repeat.
Vs large mobs (mobs of enemies, not mobiles), Dynamo, Slow Time, Frost Nova, Blizzard, Dynamo, Blizzard, using cooldowns as they come up. Unrelenting Storm allows 4 Blizzard ticks to benefit from Dynamo instead of 3, improving the ratio of Blizzard to Magic Missile.
Although really, I just like ice magic and my build would use ice even if it sucked. Frozen Orb Sorc, ooooooh yeeeeeah.
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