I'm mostly making this post because I see a lot of "solo wizard" builds up and about. But my friend and I /always/ play together. We prefer it that way. So I wanted to know a few things in regards to my wizard for a game like that.
Firstly, I'll preface this by saying /I have no build/. My wizard is level... what, 23 or something? My main is a Demon Hunter - level 60, just beat Hell - but I just can't deal with Blizzard messing with the playability of my class right now. Say whatever you want about DHs being overpowered, I really don't care. Fact of the matter is, they have nothing past awkward running around for survivability. Every other class has summons or defenses. You rely on the luck of dodging for a DH. But I digress. Point is, I want a class that isn't so Diablo 1. So I'm playing a Wizard. I am low level. I have no build. But I do intend on getting to Inferno and playing through it. So even though I probably won't take /any/ of this advice for another week or so, I wanted to start the topic now.
My concerns.
I want to do damage. My friend will likely be a Barbarian, though she's leveling a Witch Doctor at the moment because she is a bit unconventional. Regardless - both classes will give something tankable to occupy the mobs. Which means my main concern is damage.
However. I want a few ways to save my ass if worse comes to worse. Maybe a mob targets me. Maybe I'm being impatient and running ahead of my friend. Maybe I'm jailed or frozen or something. So I need a way not to die.
The two builds I have seen so far that seem reasonable to me are the Arcane Orb one and the Piercing Orb/Blizzard one. The first, though, it seems uses no signature spell because you never attack enough to run out of AP. With a tanking class with me, that will be pretty useless. The latter seems focused on saving AP for kiting like teleports, blizzards, hydras, blah blah blah. But if I'm not kiting, it won't be very useful for me either. So I need a very nice in-between. Something that outputs a fuckton of damage while giving me the survivability to kite a mob for a few seconds for my friend to rez while still being able to take a hit or two.
Wow. Long winded, Peachie...
The worst part of all this is, though, that this isn't even my biggest concern!!
I'm sure in the next 100 patches I'll be switching my build up all the damn time. And by the end of it, when Blizzard gets their way, I'll be able to use any attacks I want with any rune I want. So this whole 1.0.3 thing seems a little trite to care so much about. So my main concern, actually, is stats. (Yes, yes, they'll probably change these around another 100 times too, but they're a little more stoic than spells in my book. I think since the IAS thing, Blizzard has been pretty okay with stat priority.)
Obviously Int is best. And Int gives you... .1 resist all for every 1 point of int, yes? And it does something to damage. What I know is, Int is good. Get int. Movement speed on boots is also important.
I also know strength gets me armor boosts and dex gives me dodge boosts. I'm not sure how useful either of those stats are for wizards. I know neither of them are worth giving up a different stat, but I'm pretty sure dodge, up to 100, gives very good dodge chances before the diminishing returns. But they're the lowest in stat priority, right?
The other big question I have in this section is 1h vs. 2h. Like I said. Wanna do damage. I also am really sketchy on IAS now, since I have no idea what's different.
So. Inferno build. Actually, screw that. End game build. By the end of the game, end of Inferno, what stats should I be aiming for? I know these will take me a while to get, but I like knowing what I'm aiming toward.
If it's possible, try to list the best items to use to get said things. Like movement speed is best on boots. That sort of thing.
And just remember, when replying, this is for a wizard build in MULTIPLAYER. AP will be used more, kiting will be used less. But defenses and kiting still matter.
I'm mostly making this post because I see a lot of "solo wizard" builds up and about. But my friend and I /always/ play together. We prefer it that way. So I wanted to know a few things in regards to my wizard for a game like that.
Firstly, I'll preface this by saying /I have no build/. My wizard is level... what, 23 or something? My main is a Demon Hunter - level 60, just beat Hell - but I just can't deal with Blizzard messing with the playability of my class right now. Say whatever you want about DHs being overpowered, I really don't care. Fact of the matter is, they have nothing past awkward running around for survivability. Every other class has summons or defenses. You rely on the luck of dodging for a DH. But I digress. Point is, I want a class that isn't so Diablo 1. So I'm playing a Wizard. I am low level. I have no build. But I do intend on getting to Inferno and playing through it. So even though I probably won't take /any/ of this advice for another week or so, I wanted to start the topic now.
My concerns.
I want to do damage. My friend will likely be a Barbarian, though she's leveling a Witch Doctor at the moment because she is a bit unconventional. Regardless - both classes will give something tankable to occupy the mobs. Which means my main concern is damage.
However. I want a few ways to save my ass if worse comes to worse. Maybe a mob targets me. Maybe I'm being impatient and running ahead of my friend. Maybe I'm jailed or frozen or something. So I need a way not to die.
The two builds I have seen so far that seem reasonable to me are the Arcane Orb one and the Piercing Orb/Blizzard one. The first, though, it seems uses no signature spell because you never attack enough to run out of AP. With a tanking class with me, that will be pretty useless. The latter seems focused on saving AP for kiting like teleports, blizzards, hydras, blah blah blah. But if I'm not kiting, it won't be very useful for me either. So I need a very nice in-between. Something that outputs a fuckton of damage while giving me the survivability to kite a mob for a few seconds for my friend to rez while still being able to take a hit or two.
Wow. Long winded, Peachie...
The worst part of all this is, though, that this isn't even my biggest concern!!
I'm sure in the next 100 patches I'll be switching my build up all the damn time. And by the end of it, when Blizzard gets their way, I'll be able to use any attacks I want with any rune I want. So this whole 1.0.3 thing seems a little trite to care so much about. So my main concern, actually, is stats. (Yes, yes, they'll probably change these around another 100 times too, but they're a little more stoic than spells in my book. I think since the IAS thing, Blizzard has been pretty okay with stat priority.)
Obviously Int is best. And Int gives you... .1 resist all for every 1 point of int, yes? And it does something to damage. What I know is, Int is good. Get int. Movement speed on boots is also important.
I also know strength gets me armor boosts and dex gives me dodge boosts. I'm not sure how useful either of those stats are for wizards. I know neither of them are worth giving up a different stat, but I'm pretty sure dodge, up to 100, gives very good dodge chances before the diminishing returns. But they're the lowest in stat priority, right?
The other big question I have in this section is 1h vs. 2h. Like I said. Wanna do damage. I also am really sketchy on IAS now, since I have no idea what's different.
So. Inferno build. Actually, screw that. End game build. By the end of the game, end of Inferno, what stats should I be aiming for? I know these will take me a while to get, but I like knowing what I'm aiming toward.
If it's possible, try to list the best items to use to get said things. Like movement speed is best on boots. That sort of thing.
And just remember, when replying, this is for a wizard build in MULTIPLAYER. AP will be used more, kiting will be used less. But defenses and kiting still matter.
Sorry I'm a little wordy. First post.
~Peachie
when i'm playng with my barb friend, i'm using a build of DIsintegrate/chaos nexus, Shock pulse/piercing orb, Archon/Improved archon, magic weapon/force weapon, Teleport/Wormhole and Energy Armor/Force Armor.
with a good geared barb the need to kite is almost non-existent, so I can stay still and channel, DIsintegrate and Archon, for fun and good damage, but if you're playing with a WD, forget any channeling skill, the pets are ok in normal but in end normal/beyond zombie dogs die in one hit, and gargantuan isn't much better in inferno I heard so opt from more movement-free skill like Arcane orb. Also for normal/NM/Hell keep Diamond Skin/Crystal Shell, it will give you a 6 sec invincibility until end of Hell you can take it out in inferno since it'll break and kill you in one hit most likely anyway.
as for stats, Rest/Armor/intelligence/% movement speed on boots/Vit and your good to go, though Res/Armor/Mov speed are only needed in inferno.
I don't go out of my way to take dex and Str on equipment, but if there are some on a equipment that gives me the stats I need, i'll take it, but won't pay a higher price for higher Dex/Str, I can have none and be ok with it.
as for 2h/1H, I'd say go 1hand, kiting is really easier with 1 hand than 2 hand, though the weapon itself gives less damage, you can find a good source to make up for it., alos gives you the possibility of swapping with a shielf when you need more survivability in exchange for damage.
when i'm playng with my barb friend, i'm using a build of DIsintegrate/chaos nexus, Shock pulse/piercing orb, Archon/Improved archon, magic weapon/force weapon, Teleport/Wormhole and Energy Armor/Force Armor.
with a good geared barb the need to kite is almost non-existent, so I can stay still and channel, DIsintegrate and Archon, for fun and good damage,
/cut
At such a low level Wizard, I'm using disintegrate now. And I love it!! If my friend keeps her barb, I would love the idea of using it all the time. It's such a badass attack. Less good for bosses, I'd imagine, though.
Don't have Archon yet, but I have been very interested in it.
I'll tell my friend what you said about Barbs vs. WD. I really would like a fun build. Monotony will wind up being the death of this game, otherwise.
I know the stats I should generally stack - I just don't know how high. Like how much int, resist all, movement speed, ias, crit %, and crit damage I should be aiming for.
Passives sort of elude me, too. With the DH, there were only like 5 good passives. Wizard has more like 10.
when i'm playng with my barb friend, i'm using a build of DIsintegrate/chaos nexus, Shock pulse/piercing orb, Archon/Improved archon, magic weapon/force weapon, Teleport/Wormhole and Energy Armor/Force Armor.
with a good geared barb the need to kite is almost non-existent, so I can stay still and channel, DIsintegrate and Archon, for fun and good damage, but if you're playing with a WD, forget any channeling skill, the pets are ok in normal but in end normal/beyond zombie dogs die in one hit, and gargantuan isn't much better in inferno I heard so opt from more movement-free skill like Arcane orb. Also for normal/NM/Hell keep Diamond Skin/Crystal Shell, it will give you a 6 sec invincibility until end of Hell you can take it out in inferno since it'll break and kill you in one hit most likely anyway.
as for stats, Rest/Armor/intelligence/% movement speed on boots/Vit and your good to go, though Res/Armor/Mov speed are only needed in inferno.
I don't go out of my way to take dex and Str on equipment, but if there are some on a equipment that gives me the stats I need, i'll take it, but won't pay a higher price for higher Dex/Str, I can have none and be ok with it.
as for 2h/1H, I'd say go 1hand, kiting is really easier with 1 hand than 2 hand, though the weapon itself gives less damage, you can find a good source to make up for it., alos gives you the possibility of swapping with a shielf when you need more survivability in exchange for damage.
Very good information here and I agree with all of it except Diamond Skin. It is not useless in Inferno and can be VERY good, if you gear with it in mind. High EHP with low actual HP means your DS can effectively double your hp for it's duration, absorbing 2-3 hits completely. However, if you're grouping you can probably get away with just the 1 defensive CD and teleport should work well.
At such a low level Wizard, I'm using disintegrate now. And I love it!! If my friend keeps her barb, I would love the idea of using it all the time. It's such a badass attack. Less good for bosses, I'd imagine, though.
Don't have Archon yet, but I have been very interested in it.
I'll tell my friend what you said about Barbs vs. WD. I really would like a fun build. Monotony will wind up being the death of this game, otherwise.
I know the stats I should generally stack - I just don't know how high. Like how much int, resist all, movement speed, ias, crit %, and crit damage I should be aiming for.
Passives sort of elude me, too. With the DH, there were only like 5 good passives. Wizard has more like 10.
~Peachie
Resists, HP, and Armor are all combined into something called EHP, effective hit points. Basically it's the effective hp you have if all of your defensive stats are converted into HP. To make Force Armor the most effective through the later acts you will want to hover around or above 118k EHP or so. It is pretty easy to get. I'm at 110k with 23k hp, 5175 armor and 235 resists, after glass cannon and force armor buffs, but I farm Act 1 so I don't need nearly as much.
I cleared all of Inferno with 12% movement speed from boots, so at least get that. More is probably helpful but requires legendaries or set pieces to get so you either have to spend a ton of gold or sacrifice some dps to get more. If your friend is staying alive, 12% will probably be plenty.
For the rest of the dps stats, there's no real target values since they all get folded into Disintegrate damage, or average out for piercing orb damage. Really all you want to do is ramp up your Damage Number. One efficient way to do that is to get a fair amount of +crit damage % (you can get 100+ from a weapon if you can get a good deal on a high dps weapon with crit damage and a socket). With that stat being 150% or higher, your crit and IAS dps values become pretty decent so you can stack one or the other or both. You can always use a spreadsheet to decide between the stats when it comes to that but you'll probably start with some cheap 70 int/7IAS rings when you first get to 54 or so.
As for passives, Glass Cannon for sure, then probably Astral Pressence and maybe Prodigy so you can regen AP faster or Illusionist for a little extra survival in case you have to run/kite stuff. I haven't tried it but you could use Electrocute - Lightning Blast instead of piercing orb to regenerate AP faster I imagine. When you get it I'd recommend trying Arcane Orb - Celestial orb at least for a little bit to see how you like it. I personally love the burst though I admit I'm tempted to try disintegrate in Act 1 since I've been playing with Archon and it just melts mobs with high dps (well, just about anything melts mobs at high dps in Act 1 to be fair). I like the celestial orb rune because of the piercing effect and how useful it is for hitting ranged mobs through melee or hitting through shielded/invulnerable mobs. Basically it does what disintegrate does, just a bit more bursty and travels a tad further (like 5-10 yards beyond the disintegrate beam, I believe).
forgot to say something really useful, Mirror image is awesome too, not only does it make some decoys to take some hits but more importantly, it cancels any debuffs you might had, and unroot/freeze/snare you, so it's a must for Jailer+Mortar or such. but with a good barb it is not as needed since he'll take most of the hits, and mortars dosen,t hit a close range
So just the total EHP matters? What about the subcategories? Is it just as systematic to have any degree of HP if it means I have more armor? Or should I be aiming for a certain HP range and a certain armor range and a certain resist range? Just curious.
~Peachie
P.S. What else gets you out of snares like jailer? Because I probably need at least one of those available to me, right?
So just the total EHP matters? What about the subcategories? Is it just as systematic to have any degree of HP if it means I have more armor? Or should I be aiming for a certain HP range and a certain armor range and a certain resist range? Just curious.
~Peachie
P.S. What else gets you out of snares like jailer? Because I probably need at least one of those available to me, right?
Teleport can get you out of snares. Mirror images does also but I prefer teleport because it gets you around walled affixes also.
In terms of survivability, yes, only EHP really matters compared to HP, armor, and resists. For example, Player A has 100k hp but has no armor or resists, he gets hit by a mob for 100k. He's dead. Player B has 50khp but he has 50% resist from armor and 50% from resistances for a total of 200k EHP. If he gets hit by a mob for 100k, he only takes 25k so he lives with 25k. Just comparing the HP between the two isn't sufficient but comparing the EHP is really where the difference lies.
As you said, you can have any amount of actual HP to obtain a specific EHP, you just need more resists/armor to make up for the lesser actual HP. It is simply much easier to talk about EHP threshholds rather than HP, Armor, Resist ranges because resists can range from 150-1k, armor from 2k-5k, HP from 10k to 50k, etc. It is for this reason that I cringe whenever I see people blindly recommending more HP.
In general Vit will be the cheapest stat to increase your EHP while using armor and resists to bolster EHP makes life regen, health potions, and Diamond Skin more useful. I wouldn't worry about EHP too much until Inferno, and if every piece of gear you get ends up with either Vit or Resist all, you shouldn't have to bother with EHP juggling until maybe Act 3, or possibly stacking a bit more EHP to prevent Act 2 final boss from 1 shotting you.
Oh and in case there's any confusion about WHY EHP matters, it's Force Armor rune on Energy Armor that you don't get til like lvl 54. Since Force Armor can only absorb a max of 100% of your HP, you want to have it absorb as much damage as possible. In other words you want the max damage ability of elites to only hit you for 135% of your total health. Based on Act 3 and 4 elites that ends up being some 118k EHP, but earlier act mobs hit for considerably less. There's a forum thread about making the most efficient use of Force Armor that you can read over if you want more details. The gist is that EHP over 118k is wasted because you still take the same 35% of your health in damage from attacks whether you have 118k or 200k. 3 shots in a row will still do 105% of your total life and kill you so you gain no survivability from increasing your EHP above 118k. This is only for elites though, as bosses may or may not hit harder and white mobs will begin hitting you for under 35% of your total health when you stack EHP high enough, making Force Armor useless for said mob (but still effective for elites of course).
Okay. That actually helps a lot. And I'll probably use Teleport - Fracture over Mirror Image if Teleport goes through walls. That stuff always bothered me on my DH when I wasn't using Vault.
I'd also be interested in reading that other thread you talked about on maximizing force armor. If you find the link, post it for me.
Movement speed on boots 12% and
Armor, HP, and Resistance has to make an EHP of 118k.
Skills I will be using:
Teleport - Fracture
Energy Armor - Focus Armor
I'll probably also use the Archon, Disintegrate, Piercing Orb route. My extra would be Magic Weapon.
That's what I know so far. If anyone has anything to add, please do.
Notably, what stats I should be looking for on other pieces of gear, and I'm still in the air for 1h vs. 2h.
~Peachie
Edit: Don't know enough about passives to decide yet, but I'm thinking the one that lets me teleport after basically every hit sounds good. XD Illusionist, yes?
Movement speed on boots 12% and
Armor, HP, and Resistance has to make an EHP of 118k.
Skills I will be using:
Teleport - Fracture
Energy Armor - Focus Armor
I'll probably also use the Archon, Disintegrate, Piercing Orb route. My extra would be Magic Weapon.
That's what I know so far. If anyone has anything to add, please do.
Notably, what stats I should be looking for on other pieces of gear, and I'm still in the air for 1h vs. 2h.
~Peachie
Edit: Don't know enough about passives to decide yet, but I'm thinking the one that lets me teleport after basically every hit sounds good. XD Illusionist, yes?
I'd say to just pick one between Disintegrate and Arcane orb, then use Piercing orb or Lightning Blast for the other slot. The idea being once you run out of AP you can use the sig spell while waiting for AP to regen. Glass cannon gives you a passive 15% damage bonus so I'd go with that. The EHP reduction from it is easy enough to gear around. Your other skills sound fine. As I said above I'd recommend either Astral Pressence or Prodigy for the 3rd passive (in addition to Illusionist). I prefer Astral Pressence but if you find yourself casting a lot of signature spells the other might be better. Sadly none of the other available passives will increase your dps.
There's a lot of debate about 1h vs 2h. 1h+source seems like it should have a higher overall dps but high end sources can be expensive, and a pain to search the AH for because of filter limitations. 1h does seem to have more options since you can get a wand, letting you possibly drop the sig spell, or stack a lot of AP on crit on both MH and OH to drop sig spell. Switching to a shield won't really help much because it likely won't raise your EHP by enough to survive an extra hit from elites.
Stats on gear to look for in addition to INT, Vit, Resist all:
gloves, rings, neck: Crit%, Crit damage %, +attack speed%, ideally at least 1 but 2 plus int gets really expensive
Helm, bracers, OH: Crit %
Weapon: Crit damage %, SOCKET, don't worry about int on weapon
I say don't worry about INT on the weapon because your weapon is the base for your overall dps. The main purpose of it is to raise your dps and most of the time you'll be able to find a higher dps weapon with no INT that gives you a overall higher dps than a weapon with INT. I highly recommend using a spreadsheet when shopping for weapons because sometimes it is worth getting a lower dps weapon with extra crit damage or a socket because you get more dps out of it.
Life Steal or Life on Hit is an added bonus for your weapon but I wouldn't worry too much about actively looking for it on a weapon. You can always carry around a cheap, lower dps LoH or Life Steal weapon to swap to for Reflect Damage mobs if needed. Extra stats that are added bonus but that you don't necessarily want to pay much extra for include 1 piece with +pickup radius, any items with +life regen, Magic Find, Gold Find.
Honestly? I would look into melee wizard; the ability to keep white mobs frozen will give your friend ample room to play a glass cannon DPS spec like tornadobarb.
For spec, gearing, info, look around these forums; I have a thread somewhere, as do others. Post there if you have any specific questions as I will probably forget about this thread...
Thanks bunches Loroese! All that info helped a lot. I don't know much about the wizard stat build yet and this is all really helpful. I do plan on doing Disintegrate and Piercing Orb route for the AP boost. No way I can stick with Dis all the time without a signature, I'll bet. Not with multiplayer.
Maxyim - I have actually thought about doing a melee wizard, but I just don't think I'd enjoy it. I always love ranged classes. I like to be very out of the way. Not looking at health all the time. That sort of thing. Though I swear, Frost Nova is the coolest damn thing I can imagine. It has saved my ass so many times.
Speaking of Frost Nova, anyone have any recommendations for what skills to switch up when it comes to bosses? I figure Dis and piercing Orb would sort've suck against a boss. And something like Frost Nova could probably come in handy if I get aggro when I'm playing with my friend.
Oh. And if there's a thread posted already that has a pretty good stat division for wizard, a link would be amazing. I remember finding one on battle net, but I haven't been able to find it again. Just a good break down of what stats I should really be striving for and which ones should be priority.
Movement speed on boots 12% and
Armor, HP, and Resistance has to make an EHP of 118k.
Skills I will be using:
Teleport - Fracture
Energy Armor - Focus Armor
I'll probably also use the Archon, Disintegrate, Piercing Orb route. My extra would be Magic Weapon.
That's what I know so far. If anyone has anything to add, please do.
Notably, what stats I should be looking for on other pieces of gear, and I'm still in the air for 1h vs. 2h.
~Peachie
Edit: Don't know enough about passives to decide yet, but I'm thinking the one that lets me teleport after basically every hit sounds good. XD Illusionist, yes?
I'd say to just pick one between Disintegrate and Arcane orb, then use Piercing orb or Lightning Blast for the other slot. The idea being once you run out of AP you can use the sig spell while waiting for AP to regen. Glass cannon gives you a passive 15% damage bonus so I'd go with that. The EHP reduction from it is easy enough to gear around. Your other skills sound fine. As I said above I'd recommend either Astral Pressence or Prodigy for the 3rd passive (in addition to Illusionist). I prefer Astral Pressence but if you find yourself casting a lot of signature spells the other might be better. Sadly none of the other available passives will increase your dps.
There's a lot of debate about 1h vs 2h. 1h+source seems like it should have a higher overall dps but high end sources can be expensive, and a pain to search the AH for because of filter limitations. 1h does seem to have more options since you can get a wand, letting you possibly drop the sig spell, or stack a lot of AP on crit on both MH and OH to drop sig spell. Switching to a shield won't really help much because it likely won't raise your EHP by enough to survive an extra hit from elites.
Stats on gear to look for in addition to INT, Vit, Resist all:
gloves, rings, neck: Crit%, Crit damage %, +attack speed%, ideally at least 1 but 2 plus int gets really expensive
Helm, bracers, OH: Crit %
Weapon: Crit damage %, SOCKET, don't worry about int on weapon
I say don't worry about INT on the weapon because your weapon is the base for your overall dps. The main purpose of it is to raise your dps and most of the time you'll be able to find a higher dps weapon with no INT that gives you a overall higher dps than a weapon with INT. I highly recommend using a spreadsheet when shopping for weapons because sometimes it is worth getting a lower dps weapon with extra crit damage or a socket because you get more dps out of it.
Life Steal or Life on Hit is an added bonus for your weapon but I wouldn't worry too much about actively looking for it on a weapon. You can always carry around a cheap, lower dps LoH or Life Steal weapon to swap to for Reflect Damage mobs if needed. Extra stats that are added bonus but that you don't necessarily want to pay much extra for include 1 piece with +pickup radius, any items with +life regen, Magic Find, Gold Find.
just a fyi, Ive been running lots of cydae/azmo lately, and I realized that blood clan sorcerers(the ones on tower of the cursed) the champions can make a good amount of damage bleed through force armor, because Ive been 2 shotted more than once with their fire attacks(I have 115K EHP, I take like 60% hits....), granted those attacks are usually easy to avoid, I learned the hard way that it wasnt clever to take 2 hits from them... think I might need 160k/170k EHP to make force armor not bleed through against those but not sure, maybe we should make another threshold level above the 118k EHP...
O.O Huh. Send your concerns to the wonderful, dreamy mathematician that gave us those stats. The link is a few posts up. I definitely didn't make those up. XD But I'm sure if you tell him your theory, he'll work on another tier of EHP so we don't die. That'd be cool.
Though I hope my friend will hold most of the aggro if possible... >.<
just a fyi, Ive been running lots of cydae/azmo lately, and I realized that blood clan sorcerers(the ones on tower of the cursed) the champions can make a good amount of damage bleed through force armor, because Ive been 2 shotted more than once with their fire attacks(I have 115K EHP, I take like 60% hits....), granted those attacks are usually easy to avoid, I learned the hard way that it wasnt clever to take 2 hits from them... think I might need 160k/170k EHP to make force armor not bleed through against those but not sure, maybe we should make another threshold level above the 118k EHP...
Yeah, the 118k EHP threshhold ignores a few attacks like the one you mentioned and those huge smashes from melee that should be avoided. I'm not positive but I think the Molak fireballs might also bleed through the armor a bit. If I knew the base damage of those mobs (or bosses) I'd be more than happy to calculate the threshholds for those but so far the only data I saw was posted in that thread.
Thanks bunches Loroese! All that info helped a lot. I don't know much about the wizard stat build yet and this is all really helpful. I do plan on doing Disintegrate and Piercing Orb route for the AP boost. No way I can stick with Dis all the time without a signature, I'll bet. Not with multiplayer.
Maxyim - I have actually thought about doing a melee wizard, but I just don't think I'd enjoy it. I always love ranged classes. I like to be very out of the way. Not looking at health all the time. That sort of thing. Though I swear, Frost Nova is the coolest damn thing I can imagine. It has saved my ass so many times.
Speaking of Frost Nova, anyone have any recommendations for what skills to switch up when it comes to bosses? I figure Dis and piercing Orb would sort've suck against a boss. And something like Frost Nova could probably come in handy if I get aggro when I'm playing with my friend.
Opinions needed.
~Peachie
For some reason I misread your post above and thought you said you were going to use Disintegrate and Arcane orb, not piercine orb, which is why I made the comment about using one or the other.
For bosses, P-orb works fine and I think Disinitegrate would work alright, though maybe not quite as well as say Arcane Orb. If you get aggro from your friend you could use Teleport to get away. It works great when soloing. If you find yourself in need of more damage for some reason on bosses, Venom Hydra does a large amount of damage for the AP cost, just drop it near the boss and refresh it when it expires. The final bosses in Act 1 and 2 are DPS checks on Inferno now so you might need the extra punch for those when you're first progressing. As for frost nova, I haven't used it on bosses for a while so I'll leave that for someone with more experience with it.
next time you log on i can go over a few tips and tricks that i know about all the different specs/skills i've managed to theory craft :P.
there are a few nice easy builds for you to just spam damage, i can also help gear stat priorites.
as you may notice i'm done on my softcore monk (reached 400 hours!!!) so thought i'd pump some gold into a wiz - test some specs.
there seems to be two common builds for a wiz:
1) blizzard / hydra with a magic missile build (low arcane power build) <- friend uses this (mainly because i tank on my monk)
2) arcane orb burst damage spam (high arcane power build) <- currently using and can show you in a game how it works (good for burst damage / solo)
i know a few 'secret' tricks with mechanics that i can show you in-game that you will like.
it's best you decide what build to go for before choosing your level 60 gear stats (ie. critical chance for critical mass passive).
build 1) is prob preferable early if you don't have the gold to spend for build 2).
we can go over this in more detail when you are free.
Fairy <3 Long time no see. God, you're /always/ on your monk though. XD
I would love a few pointers. Right now I'm a bit occupied with other things, but I wanna try a few different builds when I hit 60. Gotta get there first, though. >.<
- Venom hydra is a must with any melee partner. This is the most powerful skill against immobile monsters in the wizard arsenal. By far. It scales directly with the displayed DPS number, including crit and IAS.
- Having a way to hitstun mobs will greatly improve the survivability of your partner. You want burst damage to do that, so either meteor/star pact or arcane orb.
- About archon/disintegrate: imo they are viable if you can burn down mobs so fast that they cannot reach you, which is only possible solo (mob health grows 110%/player) or with top tier gear. Or in 4-players party where you can often manage to have no mobs on you. But in a 2-players party, you get aggro quite a lot.
- For this very reason, take at least one defensive skill. If you keep only one, teleport/illusionnist is the most versatile.
- You can go the WW/CM route without being melee, High crit chance/AP on crit needed on gear. WW on your partner mobs should immediately refresh whatever skill you have on cooldown.
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Firstly, I'll preface this by saying /I have no build/. My wizard is level... what, 23 or something? My main is a Demon Hunter - level 60, just beat Hell - but I just can't deal with Blizzard messing with the playability of my class right now. Say whatever you want about DHs being overpowered, I really don't care. Fact of the matter is, they have nothing past awkward running around for survivability. Every other class has summons or defenses. You rely on the luck of dodging for a DH. But I digress. Point is, I want a class that isn't so Diablo 1. So I'm playing a Wizard. I am low level. I have no build. But I do intend on getting to Inferno and playing through it. So even though I probably won't take /any/ of this advice for another week or so, I wanted to start the topic now.
My concerns.
I want to do damage. My friend will likely be a Barbarian, though she's leveling a Witch Doctor at the moment because she is a bit unconventional. Regardless - both classes will give something tankable to occupy the mobs. Which means my main concern is damage.
However. I want a few ways to save my ass if worse comes to worse. Maybe a mob targets me. Maybe I'm being impatient and running ahead of my friend. Maybe I'm jailed or frozen or something. So I need a way not to die.
The two builds I have seen so far that seem reasonable to me are the Arcane Orb one and the Piercing Orb/Blizzard one. The first, though, it seems uses no signature spell because you never attack enough to run out of AP. With a tanking class with me, that will be pretty useless. The latter seems focused on saving AP for kiting like teleports, blizzards, hydras, blah blah blah. But if I'm not kiting, it won't be very useful for me either. So I need a very nice in-between. Something that outputs a fuckton of damage while giving me the survivability to kite a mob for a few seconds for my friend to rez while still being able to take a hit or two.
Wow. Long winded, Peachie...
The worst part of all this is, though, that this isn't even my biggest concern!!
I'm sure in the next 100 patches I'll be switching my build up all the damn time. And by the end of it, when Blizzard gets their way, I'll be able to use any attacks I want with any rune I want. So this whole 1.0.3 thing seems a little trite to care so much about. So my main concern, actually, is stats. (Yes, yes, they'll probably change these around another 100 times too, but they're a little more stoic than spells in my book. I think since the IAS thing, Blizzard has been pretty okay with stat priority.)
Obviously Int is best. And Int gives you... .1 resist all for every 1 point of int, yes? And it does something to damage. What I know is, Int is good. Get int. Movement speed on boots is also important.
I also know strength gets me armor boosts and dex gives me dodge boosts. I'm not sure how useful either of those stats are for wizards. I know neither of them are worth giving up a different stat, but I'm pretty sure dodge, up to 100, gives very good dodge chances before the diminishing returns. But they're the lowest in stat priority, right?
The other big question I have in this section is 1h vs. 2h. Like I said. Wanna do damage. I also am really sketchy on IAS now, since I have no idea what's different.
So. Inferno build. Actually, screw that. End game build. By the end of the game, end of Inferno, what stats should I be aiming for? I know these will take me a while to get, but I like knowing what I'm aiming toward.
If it's possible, try to list the best items to use to get said things. Like movement speed is best on boots. That sort of thing.
And just remember, when replying, this is for a wizard build in MULTIPLAYER. AP will be used more, kiting will be used less. But defenses and kiting still matter.
Sorry I'm a little wordy. First post.
~Peachie
when i'm playng with my barb friend, i'm using a build of DIsintegrate/chaos nexus, Shock pulse/piercing orb, Archon/Improved archon, magic weapon/force weapon, Teleport/Wormhole and Energy Armor/Force Armor.
with a good geared barb the need to kite is almost non-existent, so I can stay still and channel, DIsintegrate and Archon, for fun and good damage, but if you're playing with a WD, forget any channeling skill, the pets are ok in normal but in end normal/beyond zombie dogs die in one hit, and gargantuan isn't much better in inferno I heard so opt from more movement-free skill like Arcane orb. Also for normal/NM/Hell keep Diamond Skin/Crystal Shell, it will give you a 6 sec invincibility until end of Hell you can take it out in inferno since it'll break and kill you in one hit most likely anyway.
as for stats, Rest/Armor/intelligence/% movement speed on boots/Vit and your good to go, though Res/Armor/Mov speed are only needed in inferno.
I don't go out of my way to take dex and Str on equipment, but if there are some on a equipment that gives me the stats I need, i'll take it, but won't pay a higher price for higher Dex/Str, I can have none and be ok with it.
as for 2h/1H, I'd say go 1hand, kiting is really easier with 1 hand than 2 hand, though the weapon itself gives less damage, you can find a good source to make up for it., alos gives you the possibility of swapping with a shielf when you need more survivability in exchange for damage.
At such a low level Wizard, I'm using disintegrate now. And I love it!! If my friend keeps her barb, I would love the idea of using it all the time. It's such a badass attack. Less good for bosses, I'd imagine, though.
Don't have Archon yet, but I have been very interested in it.
I'll tell my friend what you said about Barbs vs. WD. I really would like a fun build. Monotony will wind up being the death of this game, otherwise.
I know the stats I should generally stack - I just don't know how high. Like how much int, resist all, movement speed, ias, crit %, and crit damage I should be aiming for.
Passives sort of elude me, too. With the DH, there were only like 5 good passives. Wizard has more like 10.
~Peachie
Very good information here and I agree with all of it except Diamond Skin. It is not useless in Inferno and can be VERY good, if you gear with it in mind. High EHP with low actual HP means your DS can effectively double your hp for it's duration, absorbing 2-3 hits completely. However, if you're grouping you can probably get away with just the 1 defensive CD and teleport should work well.
Resists, HP, and Armor are all combined into something called EHP, effective hit points. Basically it's the effective hp you have if all of your defensive stats are converted into HP. To make Force Armor the most effective through the later acts you will want to hover around or above 118k EHP or so. It is pretty easy to get. I'm at 110k with 23k hp, 5175 armor and 235 resists, after glass cannon and force armor buffs, but I farm Act 1 so I don't need nearly as much.
I cleared all of Inferno with 12% movement speed from boots, so at least get that. More is probably helpful but requires legendaries or set pieces to get so you either have to spend a ton of gold or sacrifice some dps to get more. If your friend is staying alive, 12% will probably be plenty.
For the rest of the dps stats, there's no real target values since they all get folded into Disintegrate damage, or average out for piercing orb damage. Really all you want to do is ramp up your Damage Number. One efficient way to do that is to get a fair amount of +crit damage % (you can get 100+ from a weapon if you can get a good deal on a high dps weapon with crit damage and a socket). With that stat being 150% or higher, your crit and IAS dps values become pretty decent so you can stack one or the other or both. You can always use a spreadsheet to decide between the stats when it comes to that but you'll probably start with some cheap 70 int/7IAS rings when you first get to 54 or so.
As for passives, Glass Cannon for sure, then probably Astral Pressence and maybe Prodigy so you can regen AP faster or Illusionist for a little extra survival in case you have to run/kite stuff. I haven't tried it but you could use Electrocute - Lightning Blast instead of piercing orb to regenerate AP faster I imagine. When you get it I'd recommend trying Arcane Orb - Celestial orb at least for a little bit to see how you like it. I personally love the burst though I admit I'm tempted to try disintegrate in Act 1 since I've been playing with Archon and it just melts mobs with high dps (well, just about anything melts mobs at high dps in Act 1 to be fair). I like the celestial orb rune because of the piercing effect and how useful it is for hitting ranged mobs through melee or hitting through shielded/invulnerable mobs. Basically it does what disintegrate does, just a bit more bursty and travels a tad further (like 5-10 yards beyond the disintegrate beam, I believe).
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
So just the total EHP matters? What about the subcategories? Is it just as systematic to have any degree of HP if it means I have more armor? Or should I be aiming for a certain HP range and a certain armor range and a certain resist range? Just curious.
~Peachie
P.S. What else gets you out of snares like jailer? Because I probably need at least one of those available to me, right?
Teleport can get you out of snares. Mirror images does also but I prefer teleport because it gets you around walled affixes also.
In terms of survivability, yes, only EHP really matters compared to HP, armor, and resists. For example, Player A has 100k hp but has no armor or resists, he gets hit by a mob for 100k. He's dead. Player B has 50khp but he has 50% resist from armor and 50% from resistances for a total of 200k EHP. If he gets hit by a mob for 100k, he only takes 25k so he lives with 25k. Just comparing the HP between the two isn't sufficient but comparing the EHP is really where the difference lies.
As you said, you can have any amount of actual HP to obtain a specific EHP, you just need more resists/armor to make up for the lesser actual HP. It is simply much easier to talk about EHP threshholds rather than HP, Armor, Resist ranges because resists can range from 150-1k, armor from 2k-5k, HP from 10k to 50k, etc. It is for this reason that I cringe whenever I see people blindly recommending more HP.
In general Vit will be the cheapest stat to increase your EHP while using armor and resists to bolster EHP makes life regen, health potions, and Diamond Skin more useful. I wouldn't worry about EHP too much until Inferno, and if every piece of gear you get ends up with either Vit or Resist all, you shouldn't have to bother with EHP juggling until maybe Act 3, or possibly stacking a bit more EHP to prevent Act 2 final boss from 1 shotting you.
Oh and in case there's any confusion about WHY EHP matters, it's Force Armor rune on Energy Armor that you don't get til like lvl 54. Since Force Armor can only absorb a max of 100% of your HP, you want to have it absorb as much damage as possible. In other words you want the max damage ability of elites to only hit you for 135% of your total health. Based on Act 3 and 4 elites that ends up being some 118k EHP, but earlier act mobs hit for considerably less. There's a forum thread about making the most efficient use of Force Armor that you can read over if you want more details. The gist is that EHP over 118k is wasted because you still take the same 35% of your health in damage from attacks whether you have 118k or 200k. 3 shots in a row will still do 105% of your total life and kill you so you gain no survivability from increasing your EHP above 118k. This is only for elites though, as bosses may or may not hit harder and white mobs will begin hitting you for under 35% of your total health when you stack EHP high enough, making Force Armor useless for said mob (but still effective for elites of course).
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
Okay. That actually helps a lot. And I'll probably use Teleport - Fracture over Mirror Image if Teleport goes through walls. That stuff always bothered me on my DH when I wasn't using Vault.
I'd also be interested in reading that other thread you talked about on maximizing force armor. If you find the link, post it for me.
~Peachie
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
Movement speed on boots 12% and
Armor, HP, and Resistance has to make an EHP of 118k.
Skills I will be using:
Teleport - Fracture
Energy Armor - Focus Armor
I'll probably also use the Archon, Disintegrate, Piercing Orb route. My extra would be Magic Weapon.
That's what I know so far. If anyone has anything to add, please do.
Notably, what stats I should be looking for on other pieces of gear, and I'm still in the air for 1h vs. 2h.
~Peachie
Edit: Don't know enough about passives to decide yet, but I'm thinking the one that lets me teleport after basically every hit sounds good. XD Illusionist, yes?
I'd say to just pick one between Disintegrate and Arcane orb, then use Piercing orb or Lightning Blast for the other slot. The idea being once you run out of AP you can use the sig spell while waiting for AP to regen. Glass cannon gives you a passive 15% damage bonus so I'd go with that. The EHP reduction from it is easy enough to gear around. Your other skills sound fine. As I said above I'd recommend either Astral Pressence or Prodigy for the 3rd passive (in addition to Illusionist). I prefer Astral Pressence but if you find yourself casting a lot of signature spells the other might be better. Sadly none of the other available passives will increase your dps.
There's a lot of debate about 1h vs 2h. 1h+source seems like it should have a higher overall dps but high end sources can be expensive, and a pain to search the AH for because of filter limitations. 1h does seem to have more options since you can get a wand, letting you possibly drop the sig spell, or stack a lot of AP on crit on both MH and OH to drop sig spell. Switching to a shield won't really help much because it likely won't raise your EHP by enough to survive an extra hit from elites.
Stats on gear to look for in addition to INT, Vit, Resist all:
gloves, rings, neck: Crit%, Crit damage %, +attack speed%, ideally at least 1 but 2 plus int gets really expensive
Helm, bracers, OH: Crit %
Weapon: Crit damage %, SOCKET, don't worry about int on weapon
I say don't worry about INT on the weapon because your weapon is the base for your overall dps. The main purpose of it is to raise your dps and most of the time you'll be able to find a higher dps weapon with no INT that gives you a overall higher dps than a weapon with INT. I highly recommend using a spreadsheet when shopping for weapons because sometimes it is worth getting a lower dps weapon with extra crit damage or a socket because you get more dps out of it.
Life Steal or Life on Hit is an added bonus for your weapon but I wouldn't worry too much about actively looking for it on a weapon. You can always carry around a cheap, lower dps LoH or Life Steal weapon to swap to for Reflect Damage mobs if needed. Extra stats that are added bonus but that you don't necessarily want to pay much extra for include 1 piece with +pickup radius, any items with +life regen, Magic Find, Gold Find.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
For spec, gearing, info, look around these forums; I have a thread somewhere, as do others. Post there if you have any specific questions as I will probably forget about this thread...
Maxyim - I have actually thought about doing a melee wizard, but I just don't think I'd enjoy it. I always love ranged classes. I like to be very out of the way. Not looking at health all the time. That sort of thing. Though I swear, Frost Nova is the coolest damn thing I can imagine. It has saved my ass so many times.
Speaking of Frost Nova, anyone have any recommendations for what skills to switch up when it comes to bosses? I figure Dis and piercing Orb would sort've suck against a boss. And something like Frost Nova could probably come in handy if I get aggro when I'm playing with my friend.
Opinions needed.
~Peachie
Thanks tons.
~Peachie
Though I hope my friend will hold most of the aggro if possible... >.<
~Peachie
Yeah, the 118k EHP threshhold ignores a few attacks like the one you mentioned and those huge smashes from melee that should be avoided. I'm not positive but I think the Molak fireballs might also bleed through the armor a bit. If I knew the base damage of those mobs (or bosses) I'd be more than happy to calculate the threshholds for those but so far the only data I saw was posted in that thread.
For some reason I misread your post above and thought you said you were going to use Disintegrate and Arcane orb, not piercine orb, which is why I made the comment about using one or the other.
For bosses, P-orb works fine and I think Disinitegrate would work alright, though maybe not quite as well as say Arcane Orb. If you get aggro from your friend you could use Teleport to get away. It works great when soloing. If you find yourself in need of more damage for some reason on bosses, Venom Hydra does a large amount of damage for the AP cost, just drop it near the boss and refresh it when it expires. The final bosses in Act 1 and 2 are DPS checks on Inferno now so you might need the extra punch for those when you're first progressing. As for frost nova, I haven't used it on bosses for a while so I'll leave that for someone with more experience with it.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
next time you log on i can go over a few tips and tricks that i know about all the different specs/skills i've managed to theory craft :P.
there are a few nice easy builds for you to just spam damage, i can also help gear stat priorites.
as you may notice i'm done on my softcore monk (reached 400 hours!!!) so thought i'd pump some gold into a wiz - test some specs.
there seems to be two common builds for a wiz:
1) blizzard / hydra with a magic missile build (low arcane power build) <- friend uses this (mainly because i tank on my monk)
2) arcane orb burst damage spam (high arcane power build) <- currently using and can show you in a game how it works (good for burst damage / solo)
i know a few 'secret' tricks with mechanics that i can show you in-game that you will like.
it's best you decide what build to go for before choosing your level 60 gear stats (ie. critical chance for critical mass passive).
build 1) is prob preferable early if you don't have the gold to spend for build 2).
we can go over this in more detail when you are free.
much love
fairy
I would love a few pointers. Right now I'm a bit occupied with other things, but I wanna try a few different builds when I hit 60. Gotta get there first, though. >.<
I'll talk to you soon on D3.
~Peachie
- Having a way to hitstun mobs will greatly improve the survivability of your partner. You want burst damage to do that, so either meteor/star pact or arcane orb.
- About archon/disintegrate: imo they are viable if you can burn down mobs so fast that they cannot reach you, which is only possible solo (mob health grows 110%/player) or with top tier gear. Or in 4-players party where you can often manage to have no mobs on you. But in a 2-players party, you get aggro quite a lot.
- For this very reason, take at least one defensive skill. If you keep only one, teleport/illusionnist is the most versatile.
- You can go the WW/CM route without being melee, High crit chance/AP on crit needed on gear. WW on your partner mobs should immediately refresh whatever skill you have on cooldown.