For me, the biggest difference between an impossible elite group and a easy one is positioning
us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Eyebrows-1495/hero/15943011 (me)
I dont have good gear (only my legs are worth anything) so I tend to be quite frail
But with good positioning, I can kill any elite group without dying (Looking at you Arcane Frozen Desecrator Firechain champions)
-First off, Corners are your friends
I repeat, Corners are your friends.
Get into a corner and cast into the corner, (Most of the time) the tornadoes get caught in the corner and dont move
That equals very quick kills and you can stand in almost anything and live (I have stood in 3 stacks of desecrator, 4 with Prismatic)
-If there arent corners around, find a wall/edge of map/etc
Although not as reliable, walls do catch the tornadoes quite well, and you do have more escape routes for if things start to go awry
- Something usually more helpful is a Doorway and/or small Cooridor
You stand in the doorway with mobs in the other direction
This does a few things
1. Namely it draws Kite-y mobs near the doorway because they need LOS to kill you (See Fallen Mages)
This makes it easier to kill the bane of the spec
2. It draws all mobs in 1 direction, so even with the random tornadoes, they still get alot of hits on the multiple mobs
3. Tornadoes do get caught in the doorways alot = very fast kills
- Stairways
Stairways double as a small corridor and a Z axis changer
So you get all the plus's of the small corridor plus the added benefit of being able to dodge Arcane Beams if you move a little higher or lower on the staircase
They make arcane enchanted mobs (one of the worst if not the worst elite affix on most mobs for this spec) quite easier as you dont have to move out of the beams so much
- Teleport will save your life
Need to get away from the Frozen Orb/ Molten Explosion/ Arcane Beam/ Multiple Desecrator stacks?
Need to slightly reposition to get mobs in the right position?
Need to run away?
Aside from CM and Diamond skin (and if you arent over-geared for the content) Teleport is the only skill I'd say is mandatory for farming with a "Melee" Wizard
Those tips allow me to "Farm" act 3 with a few deaths
As for your gear, you could probably get some more D stats (it doesnt matter how low DPS you have if the mobs cant kill you (see my 50+ min Cydea kill back in 1.03 with 4k Damage, or my 10 min Siegebreaker kill))
Just try not to sacrifice APoC or Crit%
From what I understand what the change will be
The base duration of Nova will increase, probably to 4-6 seconds up from 3 (at 60)
Then after 6.5 seconds of the Nova-Lock, each cast will only be 35% of the usual duration. (1.4-2.1 sec)
Which means normal mobs will have the same Stun resistance as Elite mobs do now
I also couldnt find an answer for this question from the blue post
Which one of these situations applies to Elite Mobs/Bosses? (Not certain if it already uses the Stun or Root Resistance but I'm pretty sure I can safely assume it uses the Stun resistance(65%-50% respectively)
A. It has no effect. (Stun Resistance)
With the base Stun Resistance, it is already at or above the cap already
B. It stacks multiplicative. (.35*.35=.1225 Stuns, .35*.5=.175 for Roots)
Otherwise the change wouldnt change anything when it comes to Elite Mobs and Bosses, however in that case it would make CC rather useless past 1 cast every ~5 seconds and completely useless if the base duration of the stun/freeze is less than 4.1 seconds for Elite groups, 4.62 sec for Bosses
C. (only if Freeze follows Root Resistances) It stacks Additive
Instead of starting at 0%, it starts at 50% and goes to 65% "normally".
I started with the normal WW/CM build but noticed big problems with AP and CDs on only 1 mob (See Unique once minions die)
Switched in Evocation and a Source and it was just like 1.04 never happened (for AP and CDs)
The only problem was health regen was rather slow, but it was only a problem in situations with elite groups that can get through diamond skin in the <.5 sec that they get past the nova-locking (as they did pre 1.04 as well)
41% crit (56 with Nova buff), 12k DPS, 800 res, 36k HP, 700 LoH
10k armor, 17 APoC w/shield, 7.3k, 27 without, all with buffs and Enchantress
Tried the Storm Chaser build above, the CM/AP was just like pre 1.04 with ~5 "stacks" of WW on the target, but it seemed to kill much slower than WW/EB for both groups and solo, but for a trade off for a bit more reliable nova/diamond skins
Didnt like it
Timing was hard to get the hang of even by the end of the run. When I try to release my charges, it generally leads to elites outside Nova-lock longer than usual, and I didnt see to much benefit from casting Shock pulse (DPS wise)
Might try a different rune for ET and/or Time Bomb for EB for my next A1/Whimsy Farm run
I cleared acts 3-4 with ~30% crit, ~10k armor, ~900 resists, ~29k hp, ~16 APoC, normal crit dmg, and 4.5k damage all buffed
Spent at most 1m gold on it (most likely overpaid on alot of items, but was just getting the items)
Only skipped kitey elite groups that are way too fast to stay in my nova spam, maybe a total of 5 groups
The fun thing is being able to tank groups even while they are enraging
A1 farming is a joke with Pony land killing me with bad affix combos, and I did A2 as Blizz/kite so I cant say much there
0
us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Eyebrows-1495/hero/15943011 (me)
I dont have good gear (only my legs are worth anything) so I tend to be quite frail
But with good positioning, I can kill any elite group without dying (Looking at you Arcane Frozen Desecrator Firechain champions)
-First off, Corners are your friends
I repeat, Corners are your friends.
Get into a corner and cast into the corner, (Most of the time) the tornadoes get caught in the corner and dont move
That equals very quick kills and you can stand in almost anything and live (I have stood in 3 stacks of desecrator, 4 with Prismatic)
-If there arent corners around, find a wall/edge of map/etc
Although not as reliable, walls do catch the tornadoes quite well, and you do have more escape routes for if things start to go awry
- Something usually more helpful is a Doorway and/or small Cooridor
You stand in the doorway with mobs in the other direction
This does a few things
1. Namely it draws Kite-y mobs near the doorway because they need LOS to kill you (See Fallen Mages)
This makes it easier to kill the bane of the spec
2. It draws all mobs in 1 direction, so even with the random tornadoes, they still get alot of hits on the multiple mobs
3. Tornadoes do get caught in the doorways alot = very fast kills
- Stairways
Stairways double as a small corridor and a Z axis changer
So you get all the plus's of the small corridor plus the added benefit of being able to dodge Arcane Beams if you move a little higher or lower on the staircase
They make arcane enchanted mobs (one of the worst if not the worst elite affix on most mobs for this spec) quite easier as you dont have to move out of the beams so much
- Teleport will save your life
Need to get away from the Frozen Orb/ Molten Explosion/ Arcane Beam/ Multiple Desecrator stacks?
Need to slightly reposition to get mobs in the right position?
Need to run away?
Aside from CM and Diamond skin (and if you arent over-geared for the content) Teleport is the only skill I'd say is mandatory for farming with a "Melee" Wizard
Those tips allow me to "Farm" act 3 with a few deaths
As for your gear, you could probably get some more D stats (it doesnt matter how low DPS you have if the mobs cant kill you (see my 50+ min Cydea kill back in 1.03 with 4k Damage, or my 10 min Siegebreaker kill))
Just try not to sacrifice APoC or Crit%
0
The base duration of Nova will increase, probably to 4-6 seconds up from 3 (at 60)
Then after 6.5 seconds of the Nova-Lock, each cast will only be 35% of the usual duration. (1.4-2.1 sec)
Which means normal mobs will have the same Stun resistance as Elite mobs do now
I also couldnt find an answer for this question from the blue post
Which one of these situations applies to Elite Mobs/Bosses? (Not certain if it already uses the Stun or Root Resistance but I'm pretty sure I can safely assume it uses the Stun resistance(65%-50% respectively)
A. It has no effect. (Stun Resistance)
With the base Stun Resistance, it is already at or above the cap already
B. It stacks multiplicative. (.35*.35=.1225 Stuns, .35*.5=.175 for Roots)
Otherwise the change wouldnt change anything when it comes to Elite Mobs and Bosses, however in that case it would make CC rather useless past 1 cast every ~5 seconds and completely useless if the base duration of the stun/freeze is less than 4.1 seconds for Elite groups, 4.62 sec for Bosses
C. (only if Freeze follows Root Resistances) It stacks Additive
Instead of starting at 0%, it starts at 50% and goes to 65% "normally".
0
Switched in Evocation and a Source and it was just like 1.04 never happened (for AP and CDs)
The only problem was health regen was rather slow, but it was only a problem in situations with elite groups that can get through diamond skin in the <.5 sec that they get past the nova-locking (as they did pre 1.04 as well)
41% crit (56 with Nova buff), 12k DPS, 800 res, 36k HP, 700 LoH
10k armor, 17 APoC w/shield, 7.3k, 27 without, all with buffs and Enchantress
Tried the Storm Chaser build above, the CM/AP was just like pre 1.04 with ~5 "stacks" of WW on the target, but it seemed to kill much slower than WW/EB for both groups and solo, but for a trade off for a bit more reliable nova/diamond skins
Didnt like it
Timing was hard to get the hang of even by the end of the run. When I try to release my charges, it generally leads to elites outside Nova-lock longer than usual, and I didnt see to much benefit from casting Shock pulse (DPS wise)
Might try a different rune for ET and/or Time Bomb for EB for my next A1/Whimsy Farm run
0
Spent at most 1m gold on it (most likely overpaid on alot of items, but was just getting the items)
Only skipped kitey elite groups that are way too fast to stay in my nova spam, maybe a total of 5 groups
The fun thing is being able to tank groups even while they are enraging
A1 farming is a joke with Pony land killing me with bad affix combos, and I did A2 as Blizz/kite so I cant say much there