30 replies to this topic

[Orb]

Basically I'm trying to make a farming build for 1.0.7 based on the blizzard spell (its base damage is buffed to 510% weapon dmg per cast). So I have a few questions about the spell so I can gear up correctly. (I tried searching the forum for these information but 90% of the result is about the bliz company lol.)

1) Because it says 510% weapon dmg over 6 secs, does this mean it does not benefit at all from +ias except that the casting animation is faster? ie. no matter how much ias I have, will it be 510% weapon dmg over 6 secs?

2) Can it crit? (I suspect that it can.) If yes, does it roll crit chance separately for each tick and each monster?

3) In practice, does APOC and loh proc enough for these stats to be worthwhile if 90% of the time I just use blizzard.

4) Which damaging spell would you recommend as a supplement to blizzard for single target dps (like for elites)? I plan to use bliz, one armor spell, one defensive spell (diamond skin or frost nova or teleport), magic weapon, sparkflint and one single target dps spell. Passive should be glass cannon, cold blooded, then either arcane dynamo or astral presence.

Thanks in advance.

[IcepickD]

1) Ias doesn't help you. DMG will not scale with it, only animation speed/ speed at witch you are able to cast multiple blizzards. NOTE:blizzard doesn't stack. So If you cast it on same area it will only count once!
2)Yes it can crit, for each monster it self.
3)APOC and LOH work but proc coefficient applies, so not every time but lower. I can't find exact proc coefficient but it is somewhere on the D3 forums.
4)This can be almost whatever you like, depends do you want to be close or far away. Some of them work better some worse, it also depends on your apoc and other gear. Probably the best would be some sort of high proc signature spell. To get your AP fast and cast more blizzards.

[IcepickD]

Ok here it is
http://eu.battle.net...opic/5208511084

[Bagstone]

IcepickD already answered your questions, just to add:

3) The answer is no (here's another more complete and more recently updated proc coefficient list). However, since Blizzard doesn't stack and you can even get items to increase the time for one Blizzard (Mara's, Skull Grasp, SoJ, and one of the three top orbs) to up to 17 seconds (with Unrelenting Storm rune) you probably won't be casting Blizzard 90% of the time. So the question of LoH/APoC/... depends more on which other spell you're gonna use. Just remember that you want plain high DPS for Blizzard and not necessarily IAS/CC, so the typical CM gear might not be the best fit.

4) See point three - I'd suggest a signature spell, whatever you like (animation and play style), although Spectral Blades don't seem to fit Blizzard all too well. If you use a signature spell you might not need APoC and Astral Presence and can get Illusionist passive and rather some EHP gear.

[Orb]

Thanks a lot for the answers. So I am thinking about +int, +cc, +cd gears. Now the question is whether to use two hander or 1h+oh. I'm leaning towards 2h here because bliz does weapon dmg, so slower weapon should be more dps.

[Bagstone]

Interesting idea. Initially I was gonna say "1h+OH because of the +3s Blizzard on orb", but I think you have a good point that 2h might be even better. Plus, you can get up to 6% life steal... I think it depends if you can get a good deal on a 2H with really high stats (I'd even put more emphasis on int/vit than on CD, as this makes weapons so expensive; but then any 2h with high LS, decent DPS, and a socket will cost you quite a lot (at least on EU, don't know your region).

[maka]

I'm also planning to use Blizzard once 1.0.7 hits (already started using it, see how it fares). I'm also planning to use Meteor Shower with it
We'll see how that goes.

[Orb]

I don't think I will get +bliz duration because I tried it on ptr, stuff dies in 3-4 secs on mp0 already.

On live, I farm with my WD locust swarm (360% weapon dmg), and most stuffs die already in one cast at 60k sheet dps (non-crit gear), so with bliz (510%) that can also benefit from crits, I don't think I need +duration.

The playstyle for this build would be just cast and move on to the next group while stuff dies behind you. This does not work well in live because the lack of off-screen legendary notification. This should be better in 1.0.7 with the mini-map icon.

[JKlimek]

don't waste your time on the increased duration.  if you use a signature spell as your single target (i suggest lighting with piercing orb) you will never want for arcane power so recasting the spell wont matter at all.

Normally I would say 2H for huge dps spell like Bliz, but honestly I think you get more out of a black weapon with a triumvirate.  The damage is redic and you can get 8+ crit chance.

[Obisidian13]

W-O-R-K. Just like the rest of us.

Next post.

[Jaetch]

Take it from me, the +duration to Blizzard isn't all that great.

I ran a total of 13 seconds of Blizzard with a high DPS/int/crit Skorn on PvP and it just did not work as well as I thought it would. Damage doesn't change, you just coat an area to slow enemies down for a longer period of time.

It's really much better for farming purposes.

[Bagstone]

Ok, but this here is not about PvP but farming... so what now? Granted that mobs live longer than 6s, is it worth it?

[Jaetch]

Bagstone, on 06 February 2013 - 07:00 PM, said:

Ok, but this here is not about PvP but farming... so what now? Granted that mobs live longer than 6s, is it worth it?

When I last ran this, I don't think the duration added any DPS. The damage is still the same weapon %. So if they last for 6 seconds with a normal Blizzard, they're going to last for a 13-second Blizzard. They'll just be slowed for a longer period of time.

I'll have to test this out again, since I only "farmed" once with it. Everything else was during duels.

But I guess there's legitimacy to this if mobs die within the first 2 seconds of a normal Blizzard. You can probably cover more areas to wipe mobs out faster and at greater distances. Paragon leveling, anyone? There are those builds focused around low-MP Blizzard farming anyway.

Edited by Jaetch, 06 February 2013 - 07:18 PM.

[maka]

Obisidian13, on 06 February 2013 - 06:20 PM, said:

W-O-R-K. Just like the rest of us.

Next post.

What's the point of this, exactly?

[maka]

By increasing the duration of Blizzard, aren't you effectively lowering its DPS? If it's doing the same damage over a longer period of time, it's doing less damage per second.
Of course, it lasting longer means you need to re-cast it less often, thus having more AP available for a possible second AP-spender you might have (I'm using Blizzard+Meteor Shower), in addition to slowing mobs for longer, as Jaetch already mentioned.

[Jaetch]

maka, on 06 February 2013 - 07:26 PM, said:

By increasing the duration of Blizzard, aren't you effectively lowering its DPS? If it's doing the same damage over a longer period of time, it's doing less damage per second.
Of course, it lasting longer means you need to re-cast it less often, thus having more AP available for a possible second AP-spender you might have (I'm using Blizzard+Meteor Shower), in addition to slowing mobs for longer, as Jaetch already mentioned.

Yeah, might have to test this out because the more I think about it, the more unsure I am of what I actually witnessed. I'm at work, so I can't test. Where's BDF? He's the one that gave me the idea to stack Blizzard duration for PvP. He might know a thing or two.

[JKlimek]

You're not going to be spamming blizzard whether you have 6s or 12s duration because there's no reason to cast it more than once every 6 or 12s.  I have used blizzard + piercing orb for months before I was able to keep archon going the whole run and I have never run out of arcane power doing so.

Edited by JKlimek, 06 February 2013 - 08:27 PM.

[apo86]

Looking at Unrelenting Storm, total damage scales with duration. I see no reason why this would be different for the +duration item affix.

[maka]

JKlimek, on 06 February 2013 - 08:26 PM, said:

You're not going to be spamming blizzard whether you have 6s or 12s duration because there's no reason to cast it more than once every 6 or 12s.  I have used blizzard + piercing orb for months before I was able to keep archon going the whole run and I have never run out of arcane power doing so.

That's because you don't use a second AP spender, like I said in my example. Of course you're not going to run out of AP.

apo86, on 06 February 2013 - 09:57 PM, said:

Looking at Unrelenting Storm, total damage scales with duration. I see no reason why this would be different for the +duration item affix.

And how exactly are we supposed to know how much damage out Blizzard is doing after we added 6 seconds to its duration? Is it reflect on the tooltip? I would not think so.

Edited by maka, 06 February 2013 - 11:19 PM.

[Orb]

I guess if you just use blizzard like locust swarm as in you just cast it and keep going, anything longer than 5-6secs won't help because if you are a few screens away, the mobs don't take dmg anymore. I'm not sure if this is intentional or a bug because you can try it yourself with locust swarm. Just cast it, run quickly away, then come back, you can see mobs with the green debuff graphics, but the health does not drop anymore.