Prior to the force armor nerf I was going balls to the wall on pure intel / no vita gear. I had ~45k Damage (with a 1100 dps 2-hander) and was progressing slow and steady through Act 3 Inferno.
Now I'm screwed.
I've decided to switch to your critical mass build, but given that I only have 400k gold left, I have a lot of tough decisions to make. I am nowhere near to handling A3 Inferno anymore, and even A2 is giving me troubles.
Over the course of the last hour I've been getting cheap Intel/Crit Chance/Vita gear. Here are my current stats (all unbuffed, without energy armor on)
Dex 257
Intel 1211
Vita 745 (30k Life)
Armor 1759
Damage 16k
Attacks per Second 1.19
Crit Chance 21%
Crit Damage +50%
Regen 34
Block Amount 0 (using the same 1100 dps 2-hander...)
I would really appreciate it if you, or any other critical mass wizards able to farm A2-A3 inferno could compare my stats to yours and tell me what my priorities in buying gear should be. You mentioned a fast 1-hander w/ shield is good. How good? Like, absolutely necessary?
The reason why 1 handers are good is that you cast faster, making more potential crits. Also your offhand can get a +crit chance (whether its a shield or an offhand).
By the way I don't think the basics of this build will get nerfed, maybe venom weapon though.
I'm a bit frustrated because my crit gear was also my no vita gear I have to find new amulet/rings/bracers/gloves with crit vita int now
You still wont get oneshot (by normal stuff that is) if you have a minimum of health and defensive stats.
Well if some people chose to ignore it and either go for low health and/or no force armor, I'll be happy to see their successful farming session in A2 or A3.
Force armor is still good, unless you will somehow avoid every hit or run around with 70K health and tank stats. It forces you to have a minimum health. So far I'd say 30K for A2 and 40-50K for A3 feels right.
Venom weapon makes this kind of build SO much better you wouldnt believe it Venom seems to have a really weird interaction with crits, you may not see it but I'm telling you lightning living and weapon venom will refresh your cooldowns in 1s and then even if your no longer shooting you may still get some cooldown reduction.
Before the nerf to force armor I had a living lightning + venom build (on top of no vita + FA) and I was able to quickly chain 3 teleports (not wormhole, 3 actual teleports that were just instantly refreshed by venom earlier in the map) after hitting a few ennemies. Then At arrival shoot ennemies and voila 3 new teleports.
I did act 3 inferno (rushing for bosses) in 2hours. It was exactly the same as teleporting in D2. Should have filmed it since its no longer doable (or a lot harder) because of the FA nerf.
Still the point remains for CD reduction.
I tanked a lot of inferno champion packs without moving just spamming DS. Well now its over, I'm not frustrated since it was clearly OP though.
The game is excellent but there are some things to qq about, especially end game stuff that are unbalanced, don't make sense or just badly designed.
Don't get me wrong I really really love the game, but I think the end game is just rushed and need a few fixes (class balance, items, ennemy scaling vs player scaling in inferno).
I feel inferno is just a bit ridiculous after A1. A1 is okay but then you step into A2 with your 45K hp wizard and get 2 shoted -.- Then you start to give up with frustration and go with no vita + force armor + diamond skin.
I just feel the difference between A1 and A2 is too big. I really wanted a hard game but right now for me and my friends trying to get through it we feel it is quickly starting to just find abusing mechanics and then it quickly limit the options for skills... While I had a lot of fun in hell, dying quite often, trying new builds, inferno so far is just finding abuses instead of really playing the game.
Well I dont know about these people having 30K, it's a really attainable dps with the right gear but I really don't think you will reach this by farming hell and still keep descent survival stats.
More important. You don't need 30K dps to start inferno. I don't play a DH but I play with one DH and a monk. I think my DH buddy started inferno at something like 11K and is now at 17K after we found him a godly crossbow. As a wizard I am currently at 16K with my passives/buffs. Our monk is at 7K I think but its normal since he is forced to stack a lot of defensive stats and gear.
We currently farm Act 1 without troubles (we still die 1 or 2 times on some packs) of course.
I really think you should use the gold AH too. Buy a nice weapon for 100K and it woill make a word of a difference.
Act 2 however looks impossible so far though xD
Man how do you guys get by some of those nasty blue packs with just awful combinations of abilities we seem to just have to die and zerg it over and over again. I guess you have a true tank?
Yes the monk does tank effectively. But that's the point with melee, they are forced to tank and get heavy survival stats an abbilities. If you have a melee wihout this he will just die and be useless because he will buff monsters by just being there and useless.
He still can dish out around 7K which is not to be laughed at and heals us at times.
There are still some nasty rares and champions, our first pack ever took us 45 min of kiting to kill it. But after a few buy on the AH and a remake of everybody's build it started to become pretty smooth and once you will get rid of your level 40 items for level 55 items it will start to feel better.
If your gonna duo it with another range you guys will have to stack a lot of defensive cooldowns to just not get it and get through a few hits. But really its a lot easier with a 3rd person playing melee.
Edit: Just looted andariel's visage woot And with a perfect 178intel and 54 vit xD And now reached 16K dps base 21K with glass canon and weapon enchant.
Well I dont know about these people having 30K, it's a really attainable dps with the right gear but I really don't think you will reach this by farming hell and still keep descent survival stats.
More important. You don't need 30K dps to start inferno. I don't play a DH but I play with one DH and a monk. I think my DH buddy started inferno at something like 11K and is now at 17K after we found him a godly crossbow. As a wizard I am currently at 16K with my passives/buffs. Our monk is at 7K I think but its normal since he is forced to stack a lot of defensive stats and gear.
We currently farm Act 1 without troubles (we still die 1 or 2 times on some packs) of course.
I really think you should use the gold AH too. Buy a nice weapon for 100K and it woill make a word of a difference.
The craft items should have at least 1 guaranteed affixe.
Something like:
Axe
+10 to 50 strength
+2 Random
This would really fix the issues I have with it, it would still be pretty hard to make a perfect roll BUT it would increase the chances of it to be useful. Right now the AH is just so much better. As for it being fare, the AH is really just the same as trading items; just easier.
One of my complaint is that the AH makes low level stuff a bit too easy, especially normal and nightmare. But come inferno, you gotta use the AH to sell your stuff and buy things more suited to your needs.
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The reason why 1 handers are good is that you cast faster, making more potential crits. Also your offhand can get a +crit chance (whether its a shield or an offhand).
By the way I don't think the basics of this build will get nerfed, maybe venom weapon though.
I'm a bit frustrated because my crit gear was also my no vita gear
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Well if some people chose to ignore it and either go for low health and/or no force armor, I'll be happy to see their successful farming session in A2 or A3.
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Force armor is still good, unless you will somehow avoid every hit or run around with 70K health and tank stats. It forces you to have a minimum health. So far I'd say 30K for A2 and 40-50K for A3 feels right.
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Before the nerf to force armor I had a living lightning + venom build (on top of no vita + FA) and I was able to quickly chain 3 teleports (not wormhole, 3 actual teleports that were just instantly refreshed by venom earlier in the map) after hitting a few ennemies. Then At arrival shoot ennemies and voila 3 new teleports.
I did act 3 inferno (rushing for bosses) in 2hours. It was exactly the same as teleporting in D2. Should have filmed it since its no longer doable (or a lot harder) because of the FA nerf.
Still the point remains for CD reduction.
I tanked a lot of inferno champion packs without moving just spamming DS. Well now its over, I'm not frustrated since it was clearly OP though.
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Don't get me wrong I really really love the game, but I think the end game is just rushed and need a few fixes (class balance, items, ennemy scaling vs player scaling in inferno).
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I use FA and DS with no vita, but my skills are completly different than those proposed here.
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I just feel the difference between A1 and A2 is too big. I really wanted a hard game but right now for me and my friends trying to get through it we feel it is quickly starting to just find abusing mechanics and then it quickly limit the options for skills... While I had a lot of fun in hell, dying quite often, trying new builds, inferno so far is just finding abuses instead of really playing the game.
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After a while, if it's the only way for a wizard to get through inferno, they may have to buff some other abilities though.
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Yes the monk does tank effectively. But that's the point with melee, they are forced to tank and get heavy survival stats an abbilities. If you have a melee wihout this he will just die and be useless because he will buff monsters by just being there and useless.
He still can dish out around 7K which is not to be laughed at and heals us at times.
There are still some nasty rares and champions, our first pack ever took us 45 min of kiting to kill it. But after a few buy on the AH and a remake of everybody's build it started to become pretty smooth and once you will get rid of your level 40 items for level 55 items it will start to feel better.
If your gonna duo it with another range you guys will have to stack a lot of defensive cooldowns to just not get it and get through a few hits. But really its a lot easier with a 3rd person playing melee.
Edit: Just looted andariel's visage woot
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More important. You don't need 30K dps to start inferno. I don't play a DH but I play with one DH and a monk. I think my DH buddy started inferno at something like 11K and is now at 17K after we found him a godly crossbow. As a wizard I am currently at 16K with my passives/buffs. Our monk is at 7K I think but its normal since he is forced to stack a lot of defensive stats and gear.
We currently farm Act 1 without troubles (we still die 1 or 2 times on some packs) of course.
I really think you should use the gold AH too. Buy a nice weapon for 100K and it woill make a word of a difference.
Act 2 however looks impossible so far though xD
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Something like:
Axe
+10 to 50 strength
+2 Random
This would really fix the issues I have with it, it would still be pretty hard to make a perfect roll BUT it would increase the chances of it to be useful. Right now the AH is just so much better. As for it being fare, the AH is really just the same as trading items; just easier.
One of my complaint is that the AH makes low level stuff a bit too easy, especially normal and nightmare. But come inferno, you gotta use the AH to sell your stuff and buy things more suited to your needs.
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