EDIT** Poison Magic Weapon is a must
EDIT 2** I think it is best for people to stop trying to imulate this build - I have had alot of people friend request me in the game who have tried to use it and fallen short of what is IMO minimal DPS / Health to successfully do this in Act 3 - so PLEASE do not try this if you dont have gold / gear to do it. I think you need UNBUFFED 20K+ damage and 45-50K Health - Then a Significant amount of ALL RESISTS so you can take a few hits from ranged mobs in act 3 with out dying. Otherwise - this build will crush your sole. SO please be warned - this build is not for everyone.
EDIT#3: Now Nerfed!
So - my guide about the ever popular Force Armor build is now obsolete - as it was nerfed last night (or so I'm told - havent tried it yet).
So - I wanted to post up this guid to the build I was using to farm act 3 WITHOUT force armor last night (to prepare). It works and its fun - it will likely be nerfed as well.
Here is the build: http://us.battle.net...YdOh!gVT!caYaZc
Ok - this will not be really pretty - buty should give you a good idea of what to go for. We'll start with stats.
Int > Crit Chance > Vit / All Resists / Life on Hit / Dex > Attack Speed > Crit Damage > Armor
Weapon - Super Faster 1 Hander - Probably a shield (though I used an orb last night and was okish)
LMB Skill: Shock Pule: Living Lighting
Spam Spam Spam Spam - do not stop spamming this. With Paralysis you will be stunning on 8% of every little hit these things do. With fast attack speed, you'll have so many of these up - you should stun ALOT of stuff.
RMB Skill: Diamond Skin: Crystal Barrier
This will have near 100% up time - keep spaming.
1 Skill: Frost Nova: Deep Freeze
Its freezes stuff - you'll have up time nearly 100% once you get into a fight (because of Critical Mass) and the rune increases your crit chance, and so increases Critical Mass efectiveness.
2 Skill: Magic Weapon: Venom
Dont know why, it makes Critical Mass go crazy - you have to take this.
3 Skill: Explosive Blast: Chain Reaction
Again, Critical Mass makes this have almost 100% uptime once you get going. Take this rune for 3 extra chances at crits.
4 Skill: Energy Armor: Pinpoint Barrier
Makes you tougher to kill (if you get hit) and increases crit chance! Awesome.
Passive 1: Critical Mass
The bread and butter - every crit has a chance to reduce your CDs - with all the crits from living lighting and Chain reaction Blasts and Waves of Force you will basically be spaming Nova, Blast, Diamond Skin and Wave of Force.
Passive 2: Paralysis
Makes all your lighting stun stuff. 8% doesn't sound like much but when you have a never ending spam fest of living lighting - it stuns ALOT.
Passive 3: Arcane Dynamo
With all the spam of Lighting you'll have 75% increased damage on Blasts and/or Wave of Force all the time! Great for hitting stuff hard!
Play Style:
Well - last night - I got back up to around 55K HP and unbuffed 27% Crit Chance (THIS WAS MISS LEADING - this is after Nova effect). The play style is - Pop diamond skin, run into the monsters and SPam lighting. As soon as they all get in range - Spam Nova - Diamond skin might be off CD already because of Critical mass triggers - if so hit it again (basically hit dimond skin at all times) - Next start spaming Blasts and waves of force. With high crit chance and enough monsters - you can stand and just melt stuff. EDIT** I discovered LIFE REGEN ON HIT is great for this -- all the little lighting hits heal you nicely.
The things I'm not sure of - with enough HP - Force armor might be better than Pinpoint barrier. Even after the nerf. Now that you are stacking some VIT again - If you take less than 55K damage in one hit - you would be reduced down to only 35% - but - I honestly never got hit except when I got sloppy with rare packs. Diamond Skin was almost always up/being refreshed.
For that reason, and with enough Crit - it may be best to forgo Vitality all together and instead stack Dex for added dodged (to avoid soaking your sheld). So - not sure yet about Vit vs Dex (dodge).
I would say - don't spend massive amounts of gold to gear up for this - as it will likely be nerfed - but last night I did a run from the start of Act 3 to Seage Breaker in about 2 hours, dieing only a few times. Full stack by the time I got to him.
Unbuffed Shoot for (if you dare try this) 20K + damage 50K+ health(or 1000+ all resists) and 15% unbuffed Crit chance. Please be warned this build is frustrating and can lead to hand cramps.
I'm scared to try this out because Blizzard just warns shit without warning ~_~
I agree, and as I said above - I recomend not dumping millions of gold into gearing for this. Becasue who knows?
I would just get some decent Crit gear / some Vit / a good / decent fast 1 hander and then go to act 4 of hell and see if it works for you / you like it before investing.
1000ish spear, 56ish-350ish damage orb remeber, stacking +crit dam increases you damage stat by A LOT! Also, a purple gem, high quality, does wonders for your health in your helmet.
I tried this build to no avail in A4 hell. But My gear sucks for it. I was one of the ones that went full int and no vita for the force armor build. Trying to re-gear now. Might give it another shot then. Is plus crit dmg good for other builds too? It seems like it would be
Venom weapon makes this kind of build SO much better you wouldnt believe it Venom seems to have a really weird interaction with crits, you may not see it but I'm telling you lightning living and weapon venom will refresh your cooldowns in 1s and then even if your no longer shooting you may still get some cooldown reduction.
Before the nerf to force armor I had a living lightning + venom build (on top of no vita + FA) and I was able to quickly chain 3 teleports (not wormhole, 3 actual teleports that were just instantly refreshed by venom earlier in the map) after hitting a few ennemies. Then At arrival shoot ennemies and voila 3 new teleports.
I did act 3 inferno (rushing for bosses) in 2hours. It was exactly the same as teleporting in D2. Should have filmed it since its no longer doable (or a lot harder) because of the FA nerf.
Still the point remains for CD reduction.
I tanked a lot of inferno champion packs without moving just spamming DS. Well now its over, I'm not frustrated since it was clearly OP though.
Prior to the force armor nerf I was going balls to the wall on pure intel / no vita gear. I had ~45k Damage (with a 1100 dps 2-hander) and was progressing slow and steady through Act 3 Inferno.
Now I'm screwed.
I've decided to switch to your critical mass build, but given that I only have 400k gold left, I have a lot of tough decisions to make. I am nowhere near to handling A3 Inferno anymore, and even A2 is giving me troubles.
Over the course of the last hour I've been getting cheap Intel/Crit Chance/Vita gear. Here are my current stats (all unbuffed, without energy armor on)
Dex 257
Intel 1211
Vita 745 (30k Life)
Armor 1759
Damage 16k
Attacks per Second 1.19
Crit Chance 21%
Crit Damage +50%
Regen 34
Block Amount 0 (using the same 1100 dps 2-hander...)
I would really appreciate it if you, or any other critical mass wizards able to farm A2-A3 inferno could compare my stats to yours and tell me what my priorities in buying gear should be. You mentioned a fast 1-hander w/ shield is good. How good? Like, absolutely necessary?
Okay, I was absolutely STUCK in Hell with my 56 wizard. I had some good DPS and could kill some things kiting, but I died constantly.
Just made the switch to this build - I must say it's amazing. I haven't gotten all my gear set up perfectly for it (only have 12 nat crit chance, attack speed could be better, my vit is still kinda low) but I'm actually progressing now, so thanks a lot for the tips and info.
Also, I switched up my gear for this build with only 40K gold. Got 1handed weapon, shield, and new gloves. It's all pretty lousy but it's working great regardless. Can't wait to get really solid gear.
Only downside... my fingers hurt like hell. I'm pretty much just constantly alternating my taping of my left and right mouse buttons with my right hand, and 1+2 on the left.
I'm using venom weapon too, and I can vouch for it's usefulness.
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My typical train of thought: Everything -> Sex -> Diablo
Lots of questions between when I looked last and now - first let me say my recolection of my numbers were off when I wrote this at work earlier - my DPS only approches 30K when I have the 15% buff from Nova - so unbffed my Damage is only at 23K (16K if I use a shield / hasn't been too nessecary)
Second - Poison weapon is indeed INSANE - I had not tried it untill I read the above post - but it makes your crits some how increase in effectiveness 10fold So take Poison weapon, probably instead of Wave of Force or Blast.
Lastly - I again stress that if you have a small amount of gold - DO NOT go all in on this build - its really good for some one who has enough life to take hits (I have 55K) but not so much if you dont have the gold to get to that point / saved gear. I saved ALOT of vit/int gear while I was farming act 3/4 the last few days with Force Armor so I was ready. If you dont have good gear (I would say 15-20K damage AND 45-50K health) then may be best to try somthing else untill you can afford it. PLUS this is likely going to get nerfed.. especialy the poison weapon thing.. crazy.
Prior to the force armor nerf I was going balls to the wall on pure intel / no vita gear. I had ~45k Damage (with a 1100 dps 2-hander) and was progressing slow and steady through Act 3 Inferno.
Now I'm screwed.
I've decided to switch to your critical mass build, but given that I only have 400k gold left, I have a lot of tough decisions to make. I am nowhere near to handling A3 Inferno anymore, and even A2 is giving me troubles.
Over the course of the last hour I've been getting cheap Intel/Crit Chance/Vita gear. Here are my current stats (all unbuffed, without energy armor on)
Dex 257
Intel 1211
Vita 745 (30k Life)
Armor 1759
Damage 16k
Attacks per Second 1.19
Crit Chance 21%
Crit Damage +50%
Regen 34
Block Amount 0 (using the same 1100 dps 2-hander...)
I would really appreciate it if you, or any other critical mass wizards able to farm A2-A3 inferno could compare my stats to yours and tell me what my priorities in buying gear should be. You mentioned a fast 1-hander w/ shield is good. How good? Like, absolutely necessary?
The reason why 1 handers are good is that you cast faster, making more potential crits. Also your offhand can get a +crit chance (whether its a shield or an offhand).
By the way I don't think the basics of this build will get nerfed, maybe venom weapon though.
I'm a bit frustrated because my crit gear was also my no vita gear I have to find new amulet/rings/bracers/gloves with crit vita int now
How did you determine to use Lightning Man over other abilities in the tree?
What about Lightning Blast or Arc Lightning? or what about Forked Lightning, can the extra attacks crit as well?
Because of the number of times Living lightning hits the target and thus number of chances to crit and proc critical mass. It procs so quickly that I stand and tank Inferno butcher and even got credit for taking 0 damage from him for the "Untouchable" achievement because diamond armor literally never fell off the whole fight.
This is my personal version of the build and the only elites I can't kill are Vortex/Fire chains/Molten and Jailor/Desecrators.. but quite frankly who could on Inferno mode anyway. Living lightning + magic wpn venom proc critical mass even while you are on the move because of the way it deals damage where as you would have to stand and cast any other options over and over to get the same effect. Yes forked lightning's and arc lightning's extra hits can generate procs you just have have less mobility.
been reading this and as most say the build just melts through mobs has any1 seen the Tal Rasha's set or a few items of it as i am very curious to how much extra damage ud be doing with all the % increase to spells and poison/lightning damage as well as the fact it adds lots of int/vit?
I have a similar build, but wit that vitality it'd be dumb NOT to have energy armor again. Energy armor was nerfed so that people couldnt do this with 5k hps. If i were you, i'd swap back to rune energy armor wiith 35% hits. It saved me a few times last night.
Another suggestion would be to use the 15% damage increase on nova, instead of the 15% crit. Since you need 5+ monsters for it to proc the crit damage; when your fighting those rare/champion mobs it kind of proves to be useless once all the crap around them is dead. Passive 15% damage on them is awesome.
And for anyone who is wondering...
I crunched some numbers last night. For soloing act 4 inferno, having about 60% resists, 60% armor, and 20% motion blur rune, you'd be fine with around 30k life and EA will work again. 4 person game you'd need to up your hps to 35k + or get some more resists.
Something I discovered, well rather overlooked, while using this build; wave of force reflects projectiles. Spamming this into the rotation means spear chuckers, magic users, and what not won't do you any harm.
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EDIT 2** I think it is best for people to stop trying to imulate this build - I have had alot of people friend request me in the game who have tried to use it and fallen short of what is IMO minimal DPS / Health to successfully do this in Act 3 - so PLEASE do not try this if you dont have gold / gear to do it. I think you need UNBUFFED 20K+ damage and 45-50K Health - Then a Significant amount of ALL RESISTS so you can take a few hits from ranged mobs in act 3 with out dying. Otherwise - this build will crush your sole. SO please be warned - this build is not for everyone.
EDIT#3: Now Nerfed!
So - my guide about the ever popular Force Armor build is now obsolete - as it was nerfed last night (or so I'm told - havent tried it yet).
So - I wanted to post up this guid to the build I was using to farm act 3 WITHOUT force armor last night (to prepare). It works and its fun - it will likely be nerfed as well.
Here is the build: http://us.battle.net...YdOh!gVT!caYaZc
Ok - this will not be really pretty - buty should give you a good idea of what to go for. We'll start with stats.
Int > Crit Chance > Vit / All Resists / Life on Hit / Dex > Attack Speed > Crit Damage > Armor
Weapon - Super Faster 1 Hander - Probably a shield (though I used an orb last night and was okish)
LMB Skill: Shock Pule: Living Lighting
Spam Spam Spam Spam - do not stop spamming this. With Paralysis you will be stunning on 8% of every little hit these things do. With fast attack speed, you'll have so many of these up - you should stun ALOT of stuff.
RMB Skill: Diamond Skin: Crystal Barrier
This will have near 100% up time - keep spaming.
1 Skill: Frost Nova: Deep Freeze
Its freezes stuff - you'll have up time nearly 100% once you get into a fight (because of Critical Mass) and the rune increases your crit chance, and so increases Critical Mass efectiveness.
2 Skill: Magic Weapon: Venom
Dont know why, it makes Critical Mass go crazy - you have to take this.
3 Skill: Explosive Blast: Chain Reaction
Again, Critical Mass makes this have almost 100% uptime once you get going. Take this rune for 3 extra chances at crits.
4 Skill: Energy Armor: Pinpoint Barrier
Makes you tougher to kill (if you get hit) and increases crit chance! Awesome.
Passive 1: Critical Mass
The bread and butter - every crit has a chance to reduce your CDs - with all the crits from living lighting and Chain reaction Blasts and Waves of Force you will basically be spaming Nova, Blast, Diamond Skin and Wave of Force.
Passive 2: Paralysis
Makes all your lighting stun stuff. 8% doesn't sound like much but when you have a never ending spam fest of living lighting - it stuns ALOT.
Passive 3: Arcane Dynamo
With all the spam of Lighting you'll have 75% increased damage on Blasts and/or Wave of Force all the time! Great for hitting stuff hard!
Play Style:
Well - last night - I got back up to around 55K HP and unbuffed 27% Crit Chance (THIS WAS MISS LEADING - this is after Nova effect). The play style is - Pop diamond skin, run into the monsters and SPam lighting. As soon as they all get in range - Spam Nova - Diamond skin might be off CD already because of Critical mass triggers - if so hit it again (basically hit dimond skin at all times) - Next start spaming Blasts and waves of force. With high crit chance and enough monsters - you can stand and just melt stuff. EDIT** I discovered LIFE REGEN ON HIT is great for this -- all the little lighting hits heal you nicely.
The things I'm not sure of - with enough HP - Force armor might be better than Pinpoint barrier. Even after the nerf. Now that you are stacking some VIT again - If you take less than 55K damage in one hit - you would be reduced down to only 35% - but - I honestly never got hit except when I got sloppy with rare packs. Diamond Skin was almost always up/being refreshed.
For that reason, and with enough Crit - it may be best to forgo Vitality all together and instead stack Dex for added dodged (to avoid soaking your sheld). So - not sure yet about Vit vs Dex (dodge).
I would say - don't spend massive amounts of gold to gear up for this - as it will likely be nerfed - but last night I did a run from the start of Act 3 to Seage Breaker in about 2 hours, dieing only a few times. Full stack by the time I got to him.
Unbuffed Shoot for (if you dare try this) 20K + damage 50K+ health(or 1000+ all resists) and 15% unbuffed Crit chance. Please be warned this build is frustrating and can lead to hand cramps.
I had no problems - DS has no AP cost - Nova has no AP cost - so your only spending on Wave of Force and Blast (20 and 25)
I agree, and as I said above - I recomend not dumping millions of gold into gearing for this. Becasue who knows?
I would just get some decent Crit gear / some Vit / a good / decent fast 1 hander and then go to act 4 of hell and see if it works for you / you like it before investing.
1000ish spear, 56ish-350ish damage orb remeber, stacking +crit dam increases you damage stat by A LOT! Also, a purple gem, high quality, does wonders for your health in your helmet.
Before the nerf to force armor I had a living lightning + venom build (on top of no vita + FA) and I was able to quickly chain 3 teleports (not wormhole, 3 actual teleports that were just instantly refreshed by venom earlier in the map) after hitting a few ennemies. Then At arrival shoot ennemies and voila 3 new teleports.
I did act 3 inferno (rushing for bosses) in 2hours. It was exactly the same as teleporting in D2. Should have filmed it since its no longer doable (or a lot harder) because of the FA nerf.
Still the point remains for CD reduction.
I tanked a lot of inferno champion packs without moving just spamming DS. Well now its over, I'm not frustrated since it was clearly OP though.
Prior to the force armor nerf I was going balls to the wall on pure intel / no vita gear. I had ~45k Damage (with a 1100 dps 2-hander) and was progressing slow and steady through Act 3 Inferno.
Now I'm screwed.
I've decided to switch to your critical mass build, but given that I only have 400k gold left, I have a lot of tough decisions to make. I am nowhere near to handling A3 Inferno anymore, and even A2 is giving me troubles.
Over the course of the last hour I've been getting cheap Intel/Crit Chance/Vita gear. Here are my current stats (all unbuffed, without energy armor on)
Dex 257
Intel 1211
Vita 745 (30k Life)
Armor 1759
Damage 16k
Attacks per Second 1.19
Crit Chance 21%
Crit Damage +50%
Regen 34
Block Amount 0 (using the same 1100 dps 2-hander...)
I would really appreciate it if you, or any other critical mass wizards able to farm A2-A3 inferno could compare my stats to yours and tell me what my priorities in buying gear should be. You mentioned a fast 1-hander w/ shield is good. How good? Like, absolutely necessary?
Just made the switch to this build - I must say it's amazing. I haven't gotten all my gear set up perfectly for it (only have 12 nat crit chance, attack speed could be better, my vit is still kinda low) but I'm actually progressing now, so thanks a lot for the tips and info.
Also, I switched up my gear for this build with only 40K gold. Got 1handed weapon, shield, and new gloves. It's all pretty lousy but it's working great regardless. Can't wait to get really solid gear.
Only downside... my fingers hurt like hell. I'm pretty much just constantly alternating my taping of my left and right mouse buttons with my right hand, and 1+2 on the left.
I'm using venom weapon too, and I can vouch for it's usefulness.
My typical train of thought: Everything -> Sex -> Diablo
Lots of questions between when I looked last and now - first let me say my recolection of my numbers were off when I wrote this at work earlier - my DPS only approches 30K when I have the 15% buff from Nova - so unbffed my Damage is only at 23K (16K if I use a shield / hasn't been too nessecary)
Second - Poison weapon is indeed INSANE - I had not tried it untill I read the above post - but it makes your crits some how increase in effectiveness 10fold So take Poison weapon, probably instead of Wave of Force or Blast.
Lastly - I again stress that if you have a small amount of gold - DO NOT go all in on this build - its really good for some one who has enough life to take hits (I have 55K) but not so much if you dont have the gold to get to that point / saved gear. I saved ALOT of vit/int gear while I was farming act 3/4 the last few days with Force Armor so I was ready. If you dont have good gear (I would say 15-20K damage AND 45-50K health) then may be best to try somthing else untill you can afford it. PLUS this is likely going to get nerfed.. especialy the poison weapon thing.. crazy.
The reason why 1 handers are good is that you cast faster, making more potential crits. Also your offhand can get a +crit chance (whether its a shield or an offhand).
By the way I don't think the basics of this build will get nerfed, maybe venom weapon though.
I'm a bit frustrated because my crit gear was also my no vita gear I have to find new amulet/rings/bracers/gloves with crit vita int now
i am setting at 40k hp and 25k damage unbuff.
also it looks to me very very RNG
What about Lightning Blast or Arc Lightning? or what about Forked Lightning, can the extra attacks crit as well?
Because of the number of times Living lightning hits the target and thus number of chances to crit and proc critical mass. It procs so quickly that I stand and tank Inferno butcher and even got credit for taking 0 damage from him for the "Untouchable" achievement because diamond armor literally never fell off the whole fight.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bdSROX!Vfg!caYbYa
This is my personal version of the build and the only elites I can't kill are Vortex/Fire chains/Molten and Jailor/Desecrators.. but quite frankly who could on Inferno mode anyway. Living lightning + magic wpn venom proc critical mass even while you are on the move because of the way it deals damage where as you would have to stand and cast any other options over and over to get the same effect. Yes forked lightning's and arc lightning's extra hits can generate procs you just have have less mobility.
5:51 am EST May 24th Just stopped playing for the night and it was still working. Bad RNG. I run minimum of 25% crit for this build.
Another suggestion would be to use the 15% damage increase on nova, instead of the 15% crit. Since you need 5+ monsters for it to proc the crit damage; when your fighting those rare/champion mobs it kind of proves to be useless once all the crap around them is dead. Passive 15% damage on them is awesome.
And for anyone who is wondering...
I crunched some numbers last night. For soloing act 4 inferno, having about 60% resists, 60% armor, and 20% motion blur rune, you'd be fine with around 30k life and EA will work again. 4 person game you'd need to up your hps to 35k + or get some more resists.