i have a few +fire dmg items so i did run a fire sorc for some time, my setup was conflagrate, heat wave and meteor shower with the usual sparkflint, force weapon and an armor of your choice, i highly recommend heat wave instead of scorch, more reliable spammable aoe damage, for packs and bosses i just used meteor shower and conflagrate in the downtime, stuff just melts
Entro, I appreciate the suggestion with wave of force, but I'm more of a fan of ranged builds and skills, which is why I'm asking if other people think that ranged fire spells feel disappointing compared to other elements such as frost and lightning.
Yeah, I personally think Heatwave kills slower than Scorch on higher Tiers, and also kiting with Heatwave can be a pain because the animation forces you to stay put for a long time. I still think with practice, these fire builds are as good if not better than Ice, Lightning, and Arcane. At least prior to Reaper of Souls. They take getting used to, but my damage output matches that of equal geared Wizards using other elements.
@Savius, Isn't it more effective to just run the familiar for 10% damage increase over Energy twister?
More effective in terms of convenience sure, because you don't have to do anything to make it work. But, as far as damage output certainly not. If you are running all fire, Gale Force adds a ton more damage. 15% for 4 seconds over the 10% you get from Sparkflint, and Energy twister does 1000% damage over 6 seconds which is a lot of damage and has a pretty significant AOE. On top of those, Energy twister helps proc AP on hit to help you with AP on the in between. ALSO, Sparkflint helps just you. Many other classes after the patch now include fire damage into their builds in some way, and energy twister benefits them as well in two ways. 1: +15% fire damage for them, 2: If you are using Conflagurate passive, energy twister is helping apply the +6% crit rate for your whole party.
It is an interesting question. I don't have an answer good Wizards will like. But, it is all about kiting and move speed. Sometimes instead of using a 2nd defensive skill like mirror images, I will use Time warp with the 80% movement reduction + -2 second cool down. That helps slow the mobs down quite a bit and give you a little more freedom. But, on top of that, it is why I have Energy Armor with prismatic rune and I have high resistance/armor items with max move speed so when I am hit, I don't take too much damage, and move quickly. Also occasionally the enchantress slowsand or charms enemies which cause a bit of distraction. But, I really enjoy the fire skills because I don't see them too often, and the animations look pretty cool. Kills quickly too.
Wrong! No I don't want to sound cocky, but I built my Wizard based on fire. I only have 200,000 DPS, but my items are all built around fire and I farm T4 solo, and T5 with a group just fine.. Magefist, Cindercoat, bracers with +15% fire, and I have + damage to magic missile and + damage to arcane orb items. Arcane Orb- Scorch usually crits for 2.5M and DOTs for about 600k every tick afterwards from the flame left on the ground. Magic Missile Conflagurate is the highest DPS single target SKILL, the Wizard has. Yes skill as in, not just signature skill. Fight a boss and just spam this magic missile, it refreshes the damage stacks over and over and adds to them. Example: If you are fighting a boss in T5, just spamming Magic missile after about 20 seconds if you attack speed is high enough, make the fire damage over time deal 5,000,000 every tick. If you continue this after 40 seconds on that same boss the fire damage over time is ticking for 10,0000,000 every time, and this is on top of the initial 170% it deals on the initial impact. Couple this with Gale force energy twister which makes all mobs hit take +15% fire damage for 4 seconds, while keeping stacks up, you do an insane amount of damage. Here is my current skill build:
Magic Missile Conflag (which btw pierces, so isn't just single target)
Arcane Orb Scorch
Energy Twister Gale Force
Energy Shield Prismatic Armor
Magic Weapon Force Weapon
(any defensive skill in last slot, teleport, Diamond skin, or Mirror Images I switch between often)
0
0
0
0
Magic Missile Conflag (which btw pierces, so isn't just single target)
Arcane Orb Scorch
Energy Twister Gale Force
Energy Shield Prismatic Armor
Magic Weapon Force Weapon
(any defensive skill in last slot, teleport, Diamond skin, or Mirror Images I switch between often)
Passives:
Prodigy
Conflagurate
Blur