The basic idea of this build is that you will never run out of AP to cast your big damage spells and that the enemies aren't likely to get close enough to you cause you problems.
I envision you starting every fight by casting several Blizzards and then hammering the front mob(s) with Disintegrate, slowing them down. Disintegrate will also cause monsters to explode, doing AoE damage in addition to its line damage. The the Blizzards will be done and leave even more slowing on the ground so that mobs will go even slower towards you. If you need even more slowing you have Slow Time that you can move up slightly, cast and then get in the back of for faster casts and more damage.
Both your armor and the familiar will be pumping you full of arcane power, which should be allowing you to cast Blizzard and disintegrate non-stop. If you need additional mana, you can use Electrocute, if, after playing around with this is appears that you already have plenty of AP, I'll probably ditch Electrocute and get something like Arcane Orb or Magic Missile instead.
The thing that surprises me most about this build is it looks fairly effective and it doesn't use a single Crimson Rune. Most of the builds I see involve lots of those, so I figure if I am using something else, I'll be able to sell my Crimson's and get higher level other ones in exchange.
100AP + 20AP (Astral Presence) = 120AP Pool
Regen = 12.5 (Base Regen) + 2 (Astral Presence) = 14.5 AP/sec
(+5 AP every casting of Magic Missile)
The idea is that Magic Missile should act like guided arrow (I hope) and as many Hydras as I can cast, AP permitting.
So drop 2 Hydras/Meteors at the start, I would need 6 castings + 2 secs to cast another Hydra/Meteor. So about 3 seconds before I can cast another big spell.
But I'm also assuming that Wall of Fire + MM will do the killing for me, while I run around in circles screaming for my mommy and plop another Hydra/Meteor
One of the biggest problems with trying to theorycraft this build is not knowing the casting time for spells like Blizzard and Meteor. They don't have a cooldown, but I'm sure the casting animation takes a non-zero amount of time, making it therefore impossible to instantly cast. For things like Blizzard there's also the question of if they stack on top of each other or not.
True, but unlike WOW, I believe all spells in D2 had a zero cast time. However there was a delay before the spell appeared, eg. Meteor. So I'm thinking its going to be the same in D3. If a sell had a 3 sec casting time ... unless it did something spectacular, I don't think anyone would take it. Can you imagine being in a boss fight with a 3 sec casting spell? Solo? Its a death sentence.
Very similar to the build I'm thinking of. I'm not sure you need the Obsidian rune on your Blizzard though. It seems like the combination of Disintegrate and Temporal Flux should be enough slowing for you. As far as I'm aware Disintegrate has 100% pierce meaning a quick 360 spin should have everything on screen slowed.
It's a little light on defense, but the slow from Disintegrate along with the Mirror Images seems like it would be fine for at least Normal and Nightmare. Stuff should be melting with the damage output I think.
Meteor is kind of up in the air. Runed Indigo it's clearly the highest damage spell the Wizard has assuming all 14 hit. My big question is how possible that is.
I'm also really curious as to if your Mirror Image's spells will use your runes as well. Would triple Crimson Familiar be possible? If they use Magic Missile do you get the AP regen? I don't see a lot of builds taking Crimson Mirror Image, but I think it's awesome. It clearly depends on how much they cast and how much they just sit around acting like decoys.
Even though part of my goal behind this build was maximum damage, I also wanted to try to do that without using Crimson Runes, because, assuming that you can select them and it's not totally random, I think that they will be the most expensive for awhile until people realize that maximum straight damage isn't necessarily the same as maximum killing power and the ability to move through mobs quickly.
Even though part of my goal behind this build was maximum damage, I also wanted to try to do that without using Crimson Runes, because, assuming that you can select them and it's not totally random, I think that they will be the most expensive for awhile until people realize that maximum straight damage isn't necessarily the same as maximum killing power and the ability to move through mobs quickly.
I understand and agree with you. People also need to remember that Blizzard has said Rank 7 runes will be remarkably rare.
I totally agree that the level 7 runes will be hard to get and take awhile, but I figure the build will work the same, just slightly slower, with level 4-5 runes which I assume on Inferno will be relatively easy to find.
I totally agree that the level 7 runes will be hard to get and take awhile, but I figure the build will work the same, just slightly slower, with level 4-5 runes which I assume on Inferno will be relatively easy to find.
Well... watch back to the youtube video of Jay talking about Runes.
If the runes are grey when found and its fairly high probability at this point, not only will you have a 1 in 5 chance of getting the color you want but probability says you'll need to find 5 level 7 runes (on average) before you get the one you want. And that's for all 6 active skills - so about 30 level 7 runes before you finish your build.
Yep, blizzard has got us playing D3 for a few years till the expansion, no question about that. That's also not including his mention of possible stats or random qualities on Runes. We could get lucky and he might allow Rune wipes at the Mystic, as a gold sink but ... I'm thinking the runes will be permanent, with the AH being very popular.
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The basic idea of this build is that you will never run out of AP to cast your big damage spells and that the enemies aren't likely to get close enough to you cause you problems.
I envision you starting every fight by casting several Blizzards and then hammering the front mob(s) with Disintegrate, slowing them down. Disintegrate will also cause monsters to explode, doing AoE damage in addition to its line damage. The the Blizzards will be done and leave even more slowing on the ground so that mobs will go even slower towards you. If you need even more slowing you have Slow Time that you can move up slightly, cast and then get in the back of for faster casts and more damage.
Both your armor and the familiar will be pumping you full of arcane power, which should be allowing you to cast Blizzard and disintegrate non-stop. If you need additional mana, you can use Electrocute, if, after playing around with this is appears that you already have plenty of AP, I'll probably ditch Electrocute and get something like Arcane Orb or Magic Missile instead.
The thing that surprises me most about this build is it looks fairly effective and it doesn't use a single Crimson Rune. Most of the builds I see involve lots of those, so I figure if I am using something else, I'll be able to sell my Crimson's and get higher level other ones in exchange.
Regen = 12.5 (Base Regen) + 2 (Astral Presence) + 4.5 (Familiar) = 19 AP/sec
3 Blizzards = 135AP (Takes 1 Sec)
Disintegrate 20AP/sec (You can last ~44 sec)
So you can drop 3 Blizzards and maintain your Disintegrate for about 44 sec before you run out of AP. Good build I think, feasible for sure.
My Build (and as I see more, it looks like all builds will need some kind of AP regen) makes use of Prodigy + spam casting magic missile to regain AP.
Hydra/Meteor Build
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#ZPRchS!YVX!acbaZb
100AP + 20AP (Astral Presence) = 120AP Pool
Regen = 12.5 (Base Regen) + 2 (Astral Presence) = 14.5 AP/sec
(+5 AP every casting of Magic Missile)
The idea is that Magic Missile should act like guided arrow (I hope) and as many Hydras as I can cast, AP permitting.
So drop 2 Hydras/Meteors at the start, I would need 6 castings + 2 secs to cast another Hydra/Meteor. So about 3 seconds before I can cast another big spell.
But I'm also assuming that Wall of Fire + MM will do the killing for me, while I run around in circles screaming for my mommy and plop another Hydra/Meteor
Here's what I'm thinking of: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#ZUhQPO!fZX!baZYYZ
It's a little light on defense, but the slow from Disintegrate along with the Mirror Images seems like it would be fine for at least Normal and Nightmare. Stuff should be melting with the damage output I think.
Meteor is kind of up in the air. Runed Indigo it's clearly the highest damage spell the Wizard has assuming all 14 hit. My big question is how possible that is.
I'm also really curious as to if your Mirror Image's spells will use your runes as well. Would triple Crimson Familiar be possible? If they use Magic Missile do you get the AP regen? I don't see a lot of builds taking Crimson Mirror Image, but I think it's awesome. It clearly depends on how much they cast and how much they just sit around acting like decoys.
I understand and agree with you. People also need to remember that Blizzard has said Rank 7 runes will be remarkably rare.
And while you stand in place with an armor that gives no form of defense what-so-ever you'll watch as the minions of hell cut you into little pieces.
If the runes are grey when found and its fairly high probability at this point, not only will you have a 1 in 5 chance of getting the color you want but probability says you'll need to find 5 level 7 runes (on average) before you get the one you want. And that's for all 6 active skills - so about 30 level 7 runes before you finish your build.
Yep, blizzard has got us playing D3 for a few years till the expansion, no question about that. That's also not including his mention of possible stats or random qualities on Runes. We could get lucky and he might allow Rune wipes at the Mystic, as a gold sink but ... I'm thinking the runes will be permanent, with the AH being very popular.