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Just some shoughts from the great kemosabi wizard newbie that I am:

Well, I've been playing the wizard a bunch the last few days, and wanted to toss out my thoughts on the class. First off, its a lot of fun! Probably the funnest class I've played so far, and I really liked my barbarian, hehe. But I am only mid-40's and most of the way though Nightmare, so cut me some slack if I'm a completely wrong, full of crap newbie.

Some of this stuff might be obvious, or even a bit of a beginner's guide? Hell, I don't know. I just wanted to bounce my thoughts off your guys, and see what you guys had to say.

Signature Spells: First off, I've found not having one of these in your Left/Right click slot is just a bad idea. Inevitably you're going to run your AP dry, and you need one of these to help you not be as useless as tits on a boar hog!

Magic Missile: Meh, kinda boring, but it gets the job done. The only time I really used it was when I was trying out the Attunement rune + Prodigy Passive to see how fast I can regen AP... Answer: Really freaking fast.

Shock Pulse: Found this to be an underwhelming skill... Until I unlocked the Piercing Orb rune. Now it's my favorite Signature spell. This thing is basically a weaker (but better) version of Arcane Orb. It swerves as it goes and hits a huge amount of area, plus it doesn't stop and blow up like Arcane Orb. I'm not sure if it's a bug or what, but I've even hit stuff through walls with this crazy spell. Just awesome.

Spectral Blade: Is this spell any good? I haven't played with it much... I see the wizard as a ranged class, and it's a melee skill, so I haven't had much interest.

Electrocute: A close second behind Shock Pulse with Piercing Orb rune for my favorite signature spell. Decent damage, and the auto-targetting “chain lightning” thing it does makes it great for when I am feeling tired and lazy about targetting. The only thing I don't like about it is it's channeled... An increasing liability with harder content.

Secondary:
Ray of Frost: If you're looking to never run out of AP, then query this up as your main attack with the Cold Blood rune. It's not great DPS, but it's pretty solid, and it has a good debuff. It's channeled, so meh. Combine with Cold Blooded passive and Blizzard for a complete snoozefest EZ-mode killing.

Arcane Orb: With the Obliteration rune, this is one of the highest burst DPS spells we have... But talk about an AP dump. -But if you combine it with AP regen skills (see Magic Missile above) it can be one of the highest damage setups out there. It's also great for kiting and hard boss fights when you only get to cast sparingly, and you need every click to count.

Arcane Torrent: A really under-appreciated spell! (At least by me at first.) The great thing about AT is it's targettable to a specific guy (Those stupidly annoying summoners and shamans hiding behind all those critters in front of you), and that it's a very efficient spell that's a bit easier on your AP pool than some of the other hard-hitting spells out there, like Arcane Orb and Disintegrate. I like the Disruption Rune personally, and I've actually wanted to test out some sort of “Arcane Wizard” build that capitalizes on the arcane damage debuff with Magic Missile and/or Arcane Orb. Could be interesting!

Disintegrate: For cool-points, Disintegrate takes the cake. Want to be the flashiest toon in your 4-man muliplayer? Query this bad boy up with the Chaos Nexus rune, and let the AoE fireworks begin! Be sure to yell “LASERZZZ PEW PEW!!!” if you're on voice chat for better effect. -But beyond that, the spell has it's problems. It's channeled, and rumor around the forums is it can't crit. (bug?) -Still... its a really fun spell, and does REALLY good DPS if you can stand still long enough to use it.

Defensive:
Frost Nova: Not a bad spell, but I prefer Wave of Force, personally. Frost Nova freezes, where Wave of Force stuns. (with the Impactful Wave rune, of course.) It seems WoF does more damage too, but I haven't tested that to tell you definitively. But I highly recommend having one or the other on your hotbar, for when you get swamped with critters. It can definitely save your life.

Diamond Skin: Get it. Use it. Love it. It's as simple as that. Best defensive spell the wizard gets. I like the Crystal Shell rune, but it's all personal preference.

Slow Time: You know, the problem I have with this spell is that we are a ranged class, and it only casts immediately around you when you cast it. -So basically it's a buff/debuff spell that can only be used defensively. I'm not saying it's useless, I've seen some wizards using it, especially in groups. But I'd rather have Wave of Force or Frost Nova, personally.

Teleport: Great spell, but it takes a lot of practice to use effectively as a defensive ability. I still haven't gotten the hang of it yet.... (see newbie title, lol)

Force:
Wave of Force: Love it. My second favorite defensive spell behind Diamond Skin. Impact Wave rune for the stun is by far the best way to go, IMHO.

Energy Twister: You know, this spell hits harder than a brick $h^thouse if you're patient enough to use it. I hate how slow it is though, and every time I cast it at something, by the time the twister gets there it's either moved out of the way, or it's already dead. I'm sure it's got it's uses though. Boss fights?

Hydra: Love it! MVP of harder content! It can be kind of a pain to keep it up, but these little things are a kiting wizard's best friend once you get past normal mode. Venom Hydra is almost broken, it hits so hard.... (plz don't nerf! Lol)

Meteor: The problem with meteor is the AP cost is so damned high, and the time delay makes it really hard to use effectively. The Star Pact rune helps fix the AP problem, but I still find the time delay makes it annoying to use. There's other much better spells out there.

Blizzard: This makes kiting almost a joke. I don't normally use it, but if I ever have something I'm having problems with, I query this up and it makes it EZ-mode. Replace your Signature Spell with Ray of Frost (Cold Blood rune) and pick up the Cold Blooded passive for even more Easy/cheesy-mode killing. I found it a little boring honestly, but I fully expect to have to use it once I get to Hell and Inferno.

Conjuration Spells:
Ice Armor: Energy Armor is better.

Storm Armor: Energy Armor is better.

Magic Weapon: Love it! If you're having weak DPS, and want to improve it, or you have good DPS and want to make it great, keep this up, and rock it out! Add Glass Cannon passive, for even more Cow Bell.

Familiar: I ran with familiar some, but honestly I never really liked it much, and never noticed any difference in how fast I killed stuff. Magic Weapon is a better use of hotbar real estate IMO, unless you are looking to run both for some strange reason. I'd have to get rid of Hydra personally, and that's just not happening.

Energy Armor: If you're looking to try and have any tanking ability, Force Armor is the way to go. I personally keep two, and sometimes three defensive abilities queried. Diamond Skin & Wave of Force are my first two, but if I am dying a lot, I squeeze in this as my third. I haven't unlocked the Energy Tap rune yet, but once I do, it may end up permanently on my bar. We'll see.

Mastery Spells:
Explosive Blast: I've found this spell to be pretty useless. The time delay is just like Meteor, only more annoying because I am usually using it defensively. Gimme Wave of Force over this junk anyday.

Mirror Image: Opinions vary about this spell, so I'll just say I like Energy Armor a little better, as far as general gameplay is concerned. It's totally preference though, it's another great defensive spell, and if you're looking to play around with a stunlock build, the Mocking Demise rune stun bombs are pretty fun combined with the stun from Wave of Force, and the Critical Mass/Illusionist passives. Just realize most bosses are immune to stuns.... >.<

Archon: I like to call this ability “COWBELL”. Second on the list for cool points behind Disintegrate... That said, the only time I've really found this useful is in multiplayer (when I'm show off, lol) where I have some tanks in front of me, while clearing trash packs. But if you use it in boss fights without any of your survival spells, it will get you killed.

So that's it! Thanks for reading, and please feel free to discuss. I haven't learned all the nuances of the passives, so I won't begin to post about that stuff yet. But I do love this class. Good stuff!