Now, a little backstory (copy-pasta from YouTube):
The Ninja Wizard was something that I came up with mid-2013 simply out of boredom while sorting around items I had in my stash (this was vanilla D3). For some reason I decided to stack dexterity on my wizard for dodge and thought about running a dodge wizard. I was also quite fond of the way some items looked, especially Blackthorne's Surcoat. The garb reminded me of ninjas and samurais so off I went to make a ninja-themed character.
This was way before RoS and transmog so I had to find items that best fit a ninja's appearance. This also meant severely crippling myself in terms of stats. The first edition of the build captured the attention of some fans and even grabbed Blizzard's attention: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/10185473
However in late-2013, I managed to put together a fun Ninja Wizard capable of hanging tough on MP10 (Monster Power 10, basically the highest difficulty in vanilla D3). Just like this iteration, it wasn't very competitive, but it was damn fun as hell to play. You can find the video URL below or in the post I linked.
But when Loot 2.0 and RoS launched, no longer could off-class main stats roll on gear, so that meant no more dexterity and dodge. I effectively stopped toying with the Ninja Wizard idea because the flavor was gone. What kind of ninja can't dodge stuff? I didn't really think about the Ninja Wizard again until after Blizzard decided to kill dodge from dexterity (converting dex to armor) that I thought, "Well, since there really isn't any way to get dodge, I might as well try something else."
A little bit of tweaking and picking the right element, I decided to go with a cold Ninja Wizard. Transmog makes everything so much easier as I don't have to intentionally wear items I don't want just for the sake of appearances. The playstyle remains almost exactly the same as the original Ninja Wizard builds. Frantic. Exciting. Almost never a dull moment from beginning to end.
Remember, this build is designed with "fun" in mind, first and foremost. For a build that pretty much uses exclusively Spectral Blade as the main attack, I think it performs relatively well (cough, Rimeheart cheese). Hope you guys enjoy it.
Now, a little backstory (copy-pasta from YouTube):
The Ninja Wizard was something that I came up with mid-2013 simply out of boredom while sorting around items I had in my stash (this was vanilla D3). For some reason I decided to stack dexterity on my wizard for dodge and thought about running a dodge wizard. I was also quite fond of the way some items looked, especially Blackthorne's Surcoat. The garb reminded me of ninjas and samurais so off I went to make a ninja-themed character.
This was way before RoS and transmog so I had to find items that best fit a ninja's appearance. This also meant severely crippling myself in terms of stats. The first edition of the build captured the attention of some fans and even grabbed Blizzard's attention: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/10185473
However in late-2013, I managed to put together a fun Ninja Wizard capable of hanging tough on MP10 (Monster Power 10, basically the highest difficulty in vanilla D3). Just like this iteration, it wasn't very competitive, but it was damn fun as hell to play. You can find the video URL below or in the post I linked.
But when Loot 2.0 and RoS launched, no longer could off-class main stats roll on gear, so that meant no more dexterity and dodge. I effectively stopped toying with the Ninja Wizard idea because the flavor was gone. What kind of ninja can't dodge stuff? I didn't really think about the Ninja Wizard again until after Blizzard decided to kill dodge from dexterity (converting dex to armor) that I thought, "Well, since there really isn't any way to get dodge, I might as well try something else."
A little bit of tweaking and picking the right element, I decided to go with a cold Ninja Wizard. Transmog makes everything so much easier as I don't have to intentionally wear items I don't want just for the sake of appearances. The playstyle remains almost exactly the same as the original Ninja Wizard builds. Frantic. Exciting. Almost never a dull moment from beginning to end.
Remember, this build is designed with "fun" in mind, first and foremost. For a build that pretty much uses exclusively Spectral Blade as the main attack, I think it performs relatively well (cough, Rimeheart cheese). Hope you guys enjoy it.
Details:
Spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#WQgkSO!ZWdi!cccbZc
Gear at the end of the video: 4:33
Original Ninja Wizard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Yz1JGCb3Y
Ninja Wizard - Take 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rz3eFycavk
Core transmog:
- Helm (Sinister Mask)
- Chest (Blackthorne's Surcoat)
Disclaimer: This is a purely "for fun" build. It isn't designed to be competitive at all.
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