Comprehensive Wizard Guide

[phantom325]

NOTE: Definitely not my own guide, was browsing D3 forums and saw it linked. Looks amazing, so sharing it here.

NOTE: This guide was last updated one week before D3 came out, so the info in this guide is not 100% accurate. It is a good base to start off with though!

D3 Comprehensive Wizard Guide


By Heratli

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
i. To the Author
ii. To the Wizard and the Guide

II. Mechanics

III. Spell and Passives Guide in Alphabetical Order

IV. As-You-Level Recommended Spell, Rune, Passive, and Boss Guide
i. General Guide
ii. Difficult Boss Build (Solo)

V. Level 60 Spell, Runes, Passives, and Item Guides PvM
i. High Damage
ii. Survivability
iii. Mix
iv. Wacky

VI. Level 60 Spell, Runes, Passives, and Item Guides PvP
i. High Damage
ii. Survivability
iii. Mix
iv. Wacky




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I. Introduction

i. To the Author

A small note about myself seems to be in order. You’re probably asking yourself – why should I bother reading any of your guides?

I am most commonly known as Heratli. My other characters are Iltareh, Zeusatli, and other forms of Greek gods and goddesses with the suffix ‘atli’. As far as my PvM (PvE) experience goes, I have raided hardcore in the top 100, often scoring U.S. top 10 kills in World of Warcraft since Vanilla WoW. I have raided in Rift with many World #1 kills with Maximation. As far as PvP goes I have participated in 5 R1 Teams in WoW Arenas – both as a Holy and Retribution paladin. I have many other Gladiator titles on several different classes spread out through many Battlegroups. I am also a Platinum League of Legends Player in Solo/Duo Queue (I only solo). A common pastime for me ever since Vanilla WoW has been experimenting with and clarifying spell mechanisms, synergies, as well as building talent trees that no one would expect. (Max/Min like a boss) Read any part of my guide for yourself and be my judge. I hold myself to the highest standard. Any incorrect data in my guide regarding spells is a personal insult to my name! Those who point them out will receive presents. I attempt to hold myself to the same level with grammar and spelling but I’m generally more forgiving to myself in those areas. Still, point out any mistakes and you will be rewarded!

ii. To the Wizard and the Guide

The Wizard Class in Diablo 3 is a long-range spellcaster. A Wizard’s playstyle generally includes keeping their enemies at range by impairing their movement or teleporting away his or herself and destroying them from that range. This guide will reveal the mechanics of the Wizard, and then will explain skills level-by-level . After that will be a guide to skills (and all of their runes) in alphabetical order with an explanation of various tricks for each skill, followed by a list of spells based on Damage Type, then suggested builds for leveling, and finally examples of end-game builds for skills, runes, and items for PvM and PvP separately. This Guide will be updated for every patch with any changes that are significant to any section herein. As it is currently pre-release many spells will have notes for myself that say I must test something. They are included in the guide both because you may know the answer already and because they may further your knowledge of each spell. If you have any suggestions for improving the guide or notice any incorrect statements you can contact Heratli via a simple thread response. I will read most if not all responses.

I hope you enjoy the guide!


II. Mechanics

This section will explain mechanics that affect the Wizard alone, without concern for mechanics shared between all classes. It is suggested that this section be read after reading the D3 Comprehensive Gameplay Guide’s Section on Shared Mechanics. For now, this will be a collection of notes. I will attempt to increase the clarity of this, but I suspect there isn’t a great way to organize individual class mechanics seamlessly.

**************Test when weapons have +fire/frost/lightning damage whether or not they proc passives and with what spells, i.e. explosion and spectral blade.

+Intelligence/Strength/Dexterity/Vitality
The Wizard’s primary attribute is Intelligence. This means that they gain 1% damage for every intelligence point they get on top of the general .1% resistance per intelligence point. While this makes Intelligence the best stat, you do still get 1 armor per strength, .1 dodge per Dexterity, and 10 life per Vitality. This makes any stats you get beyond intelligence useful if they happen to be on a piece of gear that is an upgrade, but I wouldn’t take them over Intelligence unless they’re drastically higher or you need damage reduction. Preferable stats are generally Intelligence, Vitality, Strength, and Dexterity in that order. Vitality, Int, and Strength apply to Magic Damage and Physical Damage, whereas Dexterity only factors into Physical Damage (or just spells/attacks that can be dodged). Strength and Int apply to all incoming damage, whereas Dexterity is only a chance to dodge and may not even work on all abilities. Mitigation is generally better than avoidance, because we don’t pray to win. There is definitely a point where upping your dodge is better than upping your armor or resistances point-for-point from these stats, but it's not til well after 10,000 life. I'd say ~20,000, but it depends what mobs are hitting you for. If mobs you are fighting hit for a max of 4999, then the important points to hit are 5000 life, 9999 life, and 14998 life. Dodge is then better than health or a small amount of mitigation until it adds another hit to your ability to survive. Dodge is always better for a Wizard using Energy Armor's Force Armor until mobs hit for less than 35% - at which point you wouldn't want to use Force Armor. (You'd not use it after you could get mobs to hit for less than 35% switching to the Resistance armor, but that's another story). Healing from lifesteal or life per hit or heals from allies or life regen per second can also change these breakpoints. If you can heal for 200 before a mob hits you a second time then the 'breakpoints' change to [(Mob Damage X Hits) - Healing Between Hits] which is somewhat hard to analyze perfectly with varying mob hit speed.

Other Magical Properties/Attributes on Gear:

-Arcane Power per Crit
It's probably going to have a limit of 1 benefit per spell cast because critting 10 times with a spell and gaining 100 AP from +10 ap per crit is ridiculous
BUT consider the following:
Electrocute hits 3 targets and gives 3 ap with 240% wd.
Spectral Blade range 20 yards hits 10 targets 30 times for 1100% wd.
Now, let's factor in AP per crit.
Electrocute requires a 33% chance to crit to get 'kinda' a guaranteed crit per spell.
Spectral Blade requires more or less based on # of enemies hit.
Let's say that 10% crit is easily obtainable and you have 6 AP per crit. Once every 3 electrocutes you'll get that AP per crit. Every spectral blade that hits ~4 targets will get the AP per crit
At 3 electrocutes: 15 AP regenned
At 3 spectral blades: 18 AP regenned
Chances are 6 AP per crit's going to be pretty easy to get, as will 10% crit, and 4 monsters in a 20 yard range is probably going to be fairly easy for the most part, you could even go down even further and it would be similar. You could even get AP regen rune on Spectral if you can afford to get into melee range.
AP per crit opens up spectral blade range 20 as an option and makes it just flat out better in my opinion - even in small amounts. None of the other signatures can really compare to that in my opinion, although you do have cones or line aoes, but they're just not as effective. With range 20 you keep all survivability of other spells and AP per crit becomes increasingly effective with it based on your crit rate.
1h/oh will benefit more from AP per Crit than 2h if it works as I assume. 14 casts per 10 seconds versus 10 casts per 10 seconds will leave you with 4xyour ap per crit more AP regenned total. This helps offset the larger ap per second cost of 1h/oh in comparison to 2h.

-+Max Arcane Power Pool
This stat is probably only useful for builds that are casting a ton of spells, unless you can increase your max pool VERY significantly and just spam one spell with your regen sources and AP per crit freeing up slots for more +% damage spells instead of signatures. If you think about it this way: having 104 AP versus having 100 AP gives you 4 ap at the start of the fight extra. That’s it. If you don’t let yourself hit max AP (by using AP cost spells) your regen will be giving you ap full time. It adds 4 ap whenever you let yourself get topped off – but you’re losing tons of AP from whatever you could have been regenning.
To cover all my bases, if your AP per Crit is somehow so high that you find yourself constantly hitting your cap, by all means expand it to maximize on your total Regen.

Damage Types
A Wizard has 6 Damage Types, which makes us the most versatile of all Heroes. You generally want to pick from at LEAST two damaging types to be able to kill monsters with various resistances. Three and four are probably optimal. They are as follows:
-Cold (21 Spells + Runes: 1 Frost Nova, 6 Ray of Frost, 6 Ice Armor, 1 Hydra, 1 Meteor, 6 Blizzard)
-Fire (9 Spells + Runes: 5 Meteor, 2 Hydra, 1 Shock Pulse, 1 Familiar)
-Arcane (32 Spells + Runes: 6 Magic Missile, 6 Arcane Orb, 6 Arcane Torrent, 6 Energy
Twister, 6 Disintegrate, 1 Hydra, 6 Archon)
-Lightning (20 Spells + Runes: 5 Shock Pulse, 6 Electrocute, 6 Storm Armor, 1 Hydra, 1 Magic Weapon, 1 Familiar)
-Physical (28 Spells + Runes + Basic: 1 Basic Attack, 1 Diamond Skin, 6 Spectral Blade, 6 Wave of Force, 6 Explosive Blast, 6 Magic Weapon, 1 Teleport, 1 Mirror Images)
-Poison (2 Spells+Runes: 1 Hydra, 1 Magic Weapon)

Attack Speed’s Effect on AP: 2Hs vs 1H/OH and Notes on Damage

Attack Speed is a double edged-sword for Wizards as far as damage goes. (Any spell that does not deal damage 1h/oh and attack speed wins every time over 2H, making it ideal for Hardcore) Our Arcane Power (AP) Regen is constant at 10 without passives or runes. Remember that your AP regenerates even while you cast spells that cost AP. This brings the ‘True Cost’ of abilities down 10 per second. A 1.0 Attacks Per Second weapon will have Ray of Frost cost 20 per second, but the true cost will be 10 per second allowing for 10 seconds of use before you run dry and must wait. A 1.4 attacks per second Weapon would have a AP per Second cost of 28 for Ray of Frost. Its casts would be faster, but weaker. This means slower weapons will allow for indefinite use, where it is nigh impossible for 1h/OH to. This gives you the *possibility* of freedom to eliminate Signature Spells from both your rotation and thus your choice of 6 skills completely, which is vastly superior to both Casting Signature Spells and using a slot on them. With base regen, a weapon with .1666 attacks per second (highly unlikely) will be able to spam Unruned Meteor 100% of the time. If you find a weapon with .5 Aps, you will be able to spam Unruned Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate, and Ray of Frost 100% of the time. Unruned Arcane Orb spam would require .33 aps or so. Granted that these low attack speeds are unlikely, but you would need a good bit of Intellect on that 1H/OH to even make it even to a 2H that is slow enough for indefinite use just because you would have to mix signature spells (weaker) into a 1h/OH combo due to the difference in AP Cost Per
Second. Any AP Cost reducing abilities will change the Atk Speed requirement for infinite use. With the Ray of Frost R4 (Rune Number 5 Based on my Spell Guide below) named Cold Blood, you change the cost of Ray of Frost from 20 AP per Cast to 12 AP per cast. This means that with base regen pre-rune the true cost of Ray of Frost is 10 AP per second with a 1.0 speed weapon, but with the rune it is 2 AP per second with a 1.0 weapon, wheras with a 1.4 speed weapon the True Cost is 18 pre-rune then 6.8 post-rune. As you notice, since Cost Reduction abilities come into play on every cast of the spell – faster attack speeds will have a larger improvement in ap per second with reduction runes. R4 Cold Blood changes the Atk Speed needed for indefinite spam of Ray of Frost to .83 aps. Any slower and you regen AP while using Ray of Frost. With passives or other runes you can reduce the true cost even further – by increasing your AP Regen per second or by reducing spell costs. From my knowledge you can reduce the cost to 9 per second (with Storm Armor R2 Power of the Storm), true cost being -1 per second (at 1aps), and then increase regen by 2 to get a true cost of -3 per second (1 Aps). And then you can increase your regen by 2 AGAIN with your Familiar R4 Arcanot for -5 per second (1 aps). You can get even more than that! With just increasing your regen pool (Through the Passive Astral Presence) you will be able to have a true cost of 0 AP per Second with a 1.0 Aps weapon. 1.0 aps is the standard for almost all 2hs that I have seen. Though it is possible, it’s perhaps not wise as you’re missing out of damage increase modifiers and survivability from other passives and actives for minimal gain.
While the goal is to remove Signature Spells from our rotations, it is not necessarily the best dps. In 10 seconds a 1.0 weapon gets 10 casts and a 1.4 weapon gets 14 casts. (10 casts of 20AP cost spells runs you dry). These last 4 ‘free’ spells enable you to equalize if not overcome the difference that the 2h makes. It is important to note that these free spells can be used earlier in the rotation after using some AP to cast spells like Slow Time R2 Time Warp or Frost Nova R5 Bone Chill, both of which cost no AP and increase damage for the entire group. A very good benefit, but you should keep in mind these spells aren’t restricted to only 1h/oh users. It does however give them a boost in comparison as spells such as those favor attack speed.
In general the best judge of which is superior is the ‘Damage’ portion of your character screen, which will show your dps. Since Wizard damage is taken from weapon damage and attack speed, this is accurate for us as well as all other classes. However, if you are mainly using spells that cannot crit and one of your weapons is barely above the others yet has +crit or +crit bonus on it or perhaps ap per crit – then you must take this into consideration. Do not rule out 2hs simply because they cast slower.
Some Math to support 2h: (Note that 10WD on a 2H and 7WD on a 1H seems to favor the 1H a bit, but I don’t add in the +int factor or the +damage from the OH until the end)
Let's assume 10wd 1.0 aps 2h vs 7wd 1h 1.4aps
Ray of Frost will cost 20 AP Per Second for the 2H and do 200% weapon damage with 10 wd (for easier math) per cast. With a total pool of 100 and 100 AP regenerated from the base regen you'll be able to use it for 10 seconds from a max pool (On the 10th second your pool will run dry and you'll have to use a sig spell or otherwise.
10 casts at 200% damage with a 10 damage 2h is roughly 200 dmg (if logic works!)
Ray of Frost still costs 20 to cast, but becomes 28 Per Second instead of 20 per second with a 1.4 speed. This means after 6 seconds (roughly 8 casts) you'll be out of AP and have to cast signature spells. Within the 10 seconds you will still get 10 casts, but you will also get 4 signature spells or 'free casts.'
10 x (200% wd which is 7)
10 x 14 = 140
140 + 4 'free casts' versus 2h's 200 so far.
4 free casts need to make up 60 damage for them to be equal. This means 857% weapon damage still needs to be made up. The highest signature ability I know of would only do 143% damage. So just to finish the math....857%wd-572%wd = 285% = 19.95.
10 DPS 2H wins over 7DPS 1H by 19.95.
200 2H vs 180.05 dmg 1H.
This is an example pulled from same level requirement weapons in game, both blue quality, so it is actually real. However, if 1h has Intelligence and the 2h does not then it would be equal after 11 Int and superior after 12. The blue quality off-hand I have adds 1-2 damage, which would make 1h/oh outright superior. +2 Damage to a 1.0 aps 2h is +2 dps, but to a 1.4 aps it is actually 2.8 dps.
It is notable that you can use defensive spells which increase your damage offensively instead of defensively as part of these ‘free casts’ to help make up for the damage disparity, if not overcome it completely. However, once you start adding runes you will be able to use AP Spells indefinitely with 2hs and still may use these spells offensively to help cover using even more expensive AP spells, although 1h/oh wins when casting any spells that do no damage, including all defensive spells except those that do not take a casting cooldown (see Diamond Skin). Defensively, 1h/oh wins every time provided the higher cast speed. With 1h/oh you can ‘stutter step’ more quickly and you are not rooted in place as long. This makes them the obvious choice for Hardcore.
I suggest you read the AP per Crit section above if you have not done so already. This stat helps even out 1h/oh’s higher AP cost per second and if it gets high enough could even eliminate it. Active Regeneration is better with 1h/oh. Any Cost Reduction runes will be best for 1h/oh but any passive regen passives/runes will work better for 2h.
I am by no means suggesting that 1h/oh or 2h is ALWAYS better. If you have a good 1h and a good 2h but a crappy offhand that may end up being better for you.
Pet spells will benefit more from 2h as will spells like Storm Armor that take from weapon damage but don’t require a cast. Diamond skin is always better with 2h because you can cast a spell immediately afterwards. Hydra is better with a 2h, Familiar, Living Lightning Shock Pulse, etc. Frost Nova is better with a 1h/oh as are spells such as Arcane Torrent (Depending on how it works with ap per crit). Slow Time and Teleport will both benefit more from 1h/oh.
Either way - 2h remains extremely viable. If you get one to drop that puts you at higher 'dps' on the blizzard calculator then you should probably use it, as the calculator on your character screen is accurate. I generally recommend avoiding the +attack speed stat at all times except in Hardcore because for survivability and defensive spells attack speed wins. Weapon swapping may be ideal at times. if it continues to be possible.

A Note on Shields:

While shields are the same for practically every class I feel it is worth mentioning in every guide simply because most people don’t think to wear a shield if they aren’t ‘the tank.’
Wearing a shield will buff your armor tremendously – as well as all your % modifiers to Armor.
Wearing a shield will allow you to block. You can block from any direction (front, behind,
sides) and you can block while Channeling. This is particularly good against ranged mobs that are particularly hard to CC. If you’re going up against an elite pack of ranged it is sometimes very difficult to not get hit. You can either duck out and only fight with slow time and wave of force or you can throw on a shield and diminish their damage and block them quite a bit.
If you have a terrible OH but an amazing shield it sometimes is quite pointless to use the offhand. Particularly in Hardcore. Generally, an OH is ~15% damage for you, only including +damage. (could become more significant later) You can find Intellect on Shields, but not AP per Crit.
For the most part I will be using a shield in Hardcore over an Offhand unless I get a very
amazing one. The only problems I have noticed thus far in PvM are both those very large mobs who hit hard with the attribute Teleport and the ranged mobs with the attributes Teleport or Nightmarish. Nightmarish is a fear – and on ranged mobs it can be quite nasty if you don’t dodge

[phantom325]

This section will sort spells and their runes in alphabetical order with screenshots and perhaps videos. I will explain the various uses of the spells in addition to any tricks that may help in using the spells. Any synergies between spells will be noted for each rune – and for no rune if it’s worth noting. This spell guide is meant to show synergies – as such it recommends them, but does not recommend builds.

Arcane Orb (Unlocked at Lv. 5)

Spell Description: Hurl an orb of pure energy that explodes when it hits, dealing 175% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies within 10 yards.
Cost: 35 Arcane Power per Cast

CD: Attack Speed

Range: Approximately 2 screens depending on where you are. It will continue to travel off-screen until it hits resistance (i.e. environment or mob) or its maximum range is reached, where it will explode regardless of resistance. It explodes if it hits stairs going up but if you’re on the 2nd level it will travel down. This includes ledges and cliffs. Being able to hit targets from off screen is a HUGE plus.

R1 Obliteration (Lv11)

Rune Modification: Increases Explosion damage to 228% Weapon Damage (Previous 175%).

Thoughts: Great for bursting, but you only do 159% weapon damage more than R4 before you’re out of Arcane Power. It is good when you have time to regen while kiting mobs. If you have to do a lot of running but can’t predict where the mobs are going to be to make using Meteor good then this would be excellent. This is flat out better than R4's AP reduction if you're running around. If you can stand still and nuke then it really depends which signature spell you use whether or not this is better than R4 or not. With Spectral Blade range 20 that hits as many targets or more than AO will - use this rune. If not - if you use single or low target abilities or even long range abilities use R4.

R2 Arcane Orbit (Lv20)

Rune Modification: Changes the Spell to instead create 4 Arcane Orbs that orbit you, exploding for 70% weapon damage as Arcane when enemies get close.

***TEST AoE or single target? AoE radius?

Thoughts: One of my favorite Runes. Drastically changes the spell. This will hurt melee
attackers quite a bit, and may change the spell to deal 280% damage in that 10 yard radius as opposed to 175 or 228%. If they circle around you quickly even better! It can be a consistent 280% Weapon Damage on single target bosses in a good rotation which is better than almost any other option, but you have to be close to the bosses to use it like so. When spammed inside a group, can bring 840% AoE Weapon Damage before running out of Arcane Power

R3 Arcane Nova (Lv32)

Rune Modification: Extends the range of the Arcane Orb explosion to 20 yards around the impact point. (Previous: 10 yards around)

Thoughts: Doubles the AoE Radius. Very useful when dealing with groups of mobs whose group size extends over 10 yards to 20 yards. Potentially doubles the total effective damage of the spell. If mob groups are smaller in size though. If you add 1 mob with rune for every 3 targets in the normal 10 yard radius it deals more total damage than R1, but it doesn't kill those targets as quickly. Killing targets is usually better for survivability.

R4 Tap the Source (Lv45)

Rune Modification: Reduces cost to 20 Arcane Power (Previous: 35 Arcane Power)

Thoughts: Enables you to use Arcane Orb quite a few additional times without stopping as opposed to previously 3~. A great rune for builds that have multiple spells that cost a lot of Arcane Power, or for those looking to spam Orb. I would only use this over R3 if packs are generally smaller in the zone I’m fighting in. Read R1 description for my thoughts on R1vsR4. This is probably the only rune that will allow for complete spamming with enough AP per crit, crit, and targets to hit. (depending on how AP per crit ends up working)

R5 Celestial Orb (Lv55)

Rune Modification: Instead of Exploding on contact, the rune instead pierces enemies and deals damage to any it passes through.

Thoughts: Changes the Arcane Orb to deal damage in a line instead of circle. Potentially a great rune for longer instances where mobs form lines instead of bigger groups – depends on range and radius. There is no reason to believe it won’t travel as far as it does in its unruned form – in which case you can do quite well with it.

*****Test radius of orb damage and how far the range is.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. If you aim Arcane Orb at the environment (A wall, pillar, rock, etc) instead of at monsters, you can place it a lot easier. It also avoids the problem of monsters moving before the relatively slow-moving ball reaches them and passing them entirely. A very useful trick to use against mobs that move fast or irregularly.

2. Use in the middle of groups to maximize the full radius instead of hitting a mob on the outside of the pack. Combining with Frost Nova can make placing the Orb easier. This is particularly true if using R3 and completely unnecessary with R5.

3. Avoid using Arcane Orb when low on Arcane Power. If you’re under half AP your pool could potentially be needed defensively. If you do not have AP cost defensive spells then ignore this. You should consider cold damage spells partly defensive.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Purely offensive spell in PvM. Decent potential in PvP for discouraging melee with R4 or hurting teams that are grouped up with R3/R1. R5 is great against teams in a line as long as damage doesn’t break cc. R2 is useful if you need to deal some burst while saving some AP for defensive use. All Runes have ways in which they are stronger than other runes. Not a bad spell for any fight.

Rune Ranking: R2, R1, R4, R3, R5, Unruned.


Arcane Torrent (Unlocked at Lv. 12)

Spell Description: Hurl a barrage of arcane projectiles that deal 175% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies near the impact location.

What it actually does: Hurls a barrage of 4 arcane projectiles that deal 43.75% Weapon Damage each as Arcane to all enemies in the impact location. (Impact radius is roughly 5 yards). The reason for me being specific is that it is possible for this ability to do 1/4th, 1/2 or 3/4ths damage if your targets move out of the impact zone before the second damage tick, but it is possible to move the impact zone for every missile. Significant skill is needed to match the impact location to the enemy’s changing location, especially for monsters that move quickly or erratically.

Cost: 5 Arcane Power per Missile. 4 Missiles per ‘cast’ brings it to 20 AP per ‘cast’ but any number of missiles may be cast at the user’s will, it is generally difficult to cast only one, but is possible. You can use this spell at 5 AP if you release the button fast enough, but generally you will need at least 10 AP to use.

CD: 1 Missile per 1/4th of Attack Speed. You can shoot as few as 1 missile(s). No cooldown beyond that.

Range: Approximately 1 Screen. There is a max range you may notice particularly in long dungeons in the top left side of the screen because of the camera angle which penetrates deeper. Does not shoot through solid environment, but can shoot up stairs or on the top level from a bottom level if no pillar is between you and your targeted area

R1 Disruption (Lv1

Rune Modification: Targets hit by Arcane Torrent become Disrupted for 6 seconds, causing them to take 15% additional damage from any attacks that deal Arcane damage.

Thoughts: Not bad, particularly when grouping with other Wizards that use Arcane spells. As far as soloing goes it would be best put to use shooting small packs with 1 missile then spamming other Arcane abilities (for a full list of Arcane Damage spells see the Mechanics section of this guide). May go well with Archon if you shoot as much as possible beforehand particularly with Archon R1 Arcane Destruction. Arcane Orb R4 Arcane Orbit could allow you time to refresh this buff while dealing the maximum possible damage per Arcane Power. Useful against bosses when you shoot 1-2 missiles then use the rest of your AP until the debuff falls off for high AP spells. You can also get this benefit for AP signature spells by mixing in one or two missiles here or there. Changes the damage for 1 ‘cast’ to a little under 201.25% per 4 missiles instead of 175% after the first missile. Pretty good.

R2 Death Blossom (Lv25)

Rune Modification: Unleash a torrent of power beyond your control. You no longer direct where the projectiles go, but their damage is increased to 670% weapon damage as Arcane.

Thoughts: I dislike random spells immensely. If this increased the explosion radius as well it MIGHT be decent. This spell gets remarkably worse the larger the room is – You can position yourself against a wall or pillar to limit the range of possible target locations, but with current explosion radius of Arcane Torrent you have a 1 in 10 shot or probably less of hitting any one particular target you want. If you’re surrounded it could be very good. I’d probably always choose R1. If one in 3.3~ missiles hits where you would've placed it for maximum effectiveness it's worth it, but I'm not sure that'll happen so much. Definitely situational in comparison, and doesn't boost the damage of your other spells.

R3 Arcane Mines (Lv34)

Rune Modification: Instead of firing projectiles, lay Arcane mines that arm after 2 seconds. These mines explode when an enemy approaches, dealing 150% weapon damage as Arcane. Enemies caught in the explosion have their movement and attack speeds reduced by 30% for 3 seconds.

****Test Mine Duration, and when mines explode due to you outranging them, also test whether or not PvP players can see the mines.

Thoughts: Very interesting. In both PvP and PvE this is excellent, providing you full control of a spell that was fairly difficult to target with. The longer they last the better obviously. You could lay down a ton of mines before combat begins and utterly destroy champion packs or give a nasty surprise to people. It also assists with your survivability as well. This is definitely my favorite rune for this spell. Very good in almost any situation.

R4 Power Stone (Lv49)

Rune Modification: Every missile hit has a 2% chance to leave behind a Power Stone that grants Arcane Power when picked up.

***Test how much Arcane Power, Duration of the Stone, and whether or not teammates can pick them up or if the AP restore is shared, and if it’s per target hit or just 2% for a hit missile which I assume it is.

Thoughts: It really depends on how much you get back. If they’re able to be used by teammates it could provide interesting group possibilities, especially if both get AP restored similarly to Health Globes. For solo play I would not recommend this, as every full missile torrent (4 missiles) would give you 8% if all hit on a single target. For a theoretical 100% you would need to cast 50 missiles – the equivalent of 12.5 full casts or 250 AP. It is also possible it's simply every 50 hits. If so - with 5 mobs being hit per missile it's 10 missiles or 50 AP. At best, it’ll be situational for solo play and possibly decent for group play. With long durations it could potentially be used in pvp/pvm to burst like mad, especially if the stones restore AP to every wizard and all four get this spell - or perhaps three.

R5 Cascade (Lv57)

Rune Modification: Enemies killed by Arcane Torrent have a 100% chance to fire a new missile at a nearby enemy dealing 175% weapon damage as Arcane.

***Test if AoE or single target probably AoE.

Thoughts: If the missile is AoE as Arcane Torrent’s is, then it’s a pretty good finisher. Probably our most consistent one, but if you think about it getting R1 is immediately better and stays better AT LEAST until a mob dies, probably even longer. If you’re fighting enemies that don’t require much to kill then it doesn't really matter what spell you use.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. R1 is definitely the best when teaming up with another wizard that uses Arcane damage spells, and obviously synergizes with all Arcane Damage spells. Against bosses, you can shoot a single missile at the cost of 5 AP (more likely 2 will go off for 10AP) and then spam Arcane Orb until you’re out of AP, then throw another missile, and finally throw out an Archon R1 Arcane Destruction for some pretty sick damage. There are of course other ways to use this effectively. If two Wizards get this and team together Archon can get very powerful, but it's best if your arcane missiles kill as few targets as possible to extend the duration of Archon, then switch roles after one Archon finishes. Also possible in groups of four but only two Wizards should get R1 max.

2. I’m not a fan of random spells so I wouldn’t consider R2 for myself. It's only good if you can hit one maximum effective missile (it hits where you would place it) every 3.3~ missiles. I'll figure out just how random it is upon using it in game. It's sure to be a very interesting spell for early difficulties, but likely situational in higher ones. It is definitely optimal in enclosed spaces however, or any spaces that limit exactly where it can hit. We will see.

3. R3 is VERY interesting. Helps with survivability and though is 25% wd lower than the basic spell (4 missiles). You don’t have to channel it or bother with moving the missiles with the short aoe radius. Definitely amazing in my books for PvP, but it depends on the duration, radius of the explosion, how far you can run away before they are cancelled from range, and whether or not PvP players can see them. Surround yourself with mines and they’ll be raging. Most likely best with a 2h.

4. R4 I’d generally say no to. If you can get a lot and just spam a ton of AP abilities really quickly then maybe, but it still requires a full 12.5 casts before you get any single target (potentially in aoe as well), and you’ll run out of ap once or twice before then. There is some small potential for an attack speed based 1h/oh build. I may end up experimenting with it. Add in Slow Time’s attack speed rune and it could be something, but you would have to switch to a 2h weapon and suffer the consequences of attack speed (increased ap drain for less damage).

5. R5 is probably one of our best finishers, but I don’t know if I want to use a skill slot just to have something to finish mobs with. If you’ve got 5 set skills and have a free one by all means, I just don’t think that’ll ever be the case. More or less useless in PvP, if only because there are 3 other people probably using their hardest hitting abilities to kill someone and you’ll be hitting them for 43.75% wd missiles.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Definitely a very flexible spell with its runes. From playing in the beta targetting with it can get difficult, but you can cancel animations 2-4x faster than other spells and dodge ranged attacks much more easily as a tradeoff. Very interesting runes and I look forward to using them in-game.

Rune Ranking: R3, R1, R2, R4, R5


Archon (Unlocked at Lv. 30)

Spell Description: Transform into a being of pure arcane energy for 15 seconds. While in Archon form your normal abilities are replaced by powerful Archon abilities, and your armor and resistances are increased by 40%. Every enemy killed while in Archon form adds 1 second to the duration of Archon.
You have an infinite amount of AP for the duration of Archon. Whatever spells you get in Archon Form may have a cooldown (speculation), but that will be the only limitation in their use.

Cost: 25 AP

CD: 120 Seconds (Unruned)

Duration: 15 Seconds + 1 second per kill.

Range: N/A

R1 Arcane Destruction (Lv36)

Rune Modification: An explosion erupts around you when you transform, causing 450% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies within 15 yards.

Thoughts:

R2 Teleport (Lv40)

Rune Modification: Archon form can now cast Teleport with a cooldown of 10 seconds.

Thoughts:

R3 Pure Power (Lv46)

Rune Modification: Decreases the cooldown of Archon to 100 seconds.

Thoughts:

R4 Slow Time (Lv52)

Rune Modification: Archon form can cast Slow Time that lasts for 8 seconds.

Thoughts:

R5 Improved Archon (Lv60)

Rune Modification: Increases the damage of all Archon abilities by 25%.

Thoughts:

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

Overall Spell Thoughts: I find it impossible to comment on this spell ‘til I get my hands on it
due to the nature of the spell.
Rune Ranking:


Blizzard (Unlocked at Lv. 27)

Spell Description: Call down shards of ice to pelt an area, dealing 210% weapon damage as Cold to all enemies in the area over 6 seconds. Multiple casts in the same area do not stack.
Cost: 45 AP

CD: Attack Speed

Range: TBD

*********Test. Most likely initially it is the ‘one screen’ with the middle of the blizzard hitting where you click, giving its range the potential to be extended by a small amount. Also test AoE radius. Sub-22 yards because of the rune.

R1 Grasping Chill (Lv35)

Rune Modification: After the Blizzard ends, the ground is covered in a low lying mist for 3 seconds that Slows the movement speed of enemies by 60%.

***Test if it is a debuff that persists after leaving. Doubt it.

Thoughts: Decent rune to use in PvP and PvE to have a good slow. If you’re just looking to have a place to circle or teleport around enemies you’ll only have to refresh blizzard once every 9 seconds for the patch. However, I do think our other spells have these bases covered, and would generally recommend R2 instead for all purposes other than a persistent slow.

R2 Frozen Solid (Lv42)

Rune Modification: Enemies caught in the storm have a 20% chance to be frozen for 3 seconds.

***Test damage rate – probably per second – for procrate. Also test whether multiple procs add a diminishing return effect or overlap perfectly for 3 seconds.

Thoughts: Should be a 20% chance 3 times (or 6 times) giving it a theoretical 48.8% (73.8%) chance to proc once if enemies are hit all 3 (6) times. An excellent spell for adding survivability and buying time for more damaging spells, but aoe damage may be affected because the pack you are aoeing will be split – those who did get frozen and those still moving at you. Counteracting that effect will be necessary – either standing in the middle of the mobs or frost nova beforehand, or teleporting to the other side of the mobs so they remain grouped as tightly as possible.

R3 Snowbound (Lv47)

Rune Modification: Reduce the casting cost to 20 Arcane Power.

Thoughts: Good for builds with several AP spenders. With base AP regen 1 blizzard every 2 seconds is possible, not including ap per crit and increased regen or perhaps diminished spell costs otherwise (DS Prism, SA PotS). Very useful rune - saves 25 AP per spellcast.

R4 Stark Winter (Lv54)

Rune Modification: Increases the size of Blizzard to cover 22 yards, dealing 210% weapon damage as Cold over 6 seconds.

Thoughts: Increasing the area covered improves the chances that additional ticks will land (monsters running out of a smaller radius blizzard) – as well as the maximum possible damage of the spell because of how many additional monsters can be hit simultaneously.

R5 Unrelenting Storm (Lv60)

Rune Modification: Increases the duration of Blizzard to deal 280% weapon damage as Cold over 8 seconds.

Thoughts: This rune basically increases the duration and damage of Blizzard by 1 (2) tick(s). If you're keeping 1 Blizzard up in an area continuously you will see no increase in damage as it is 70% wd per tick (35% per tick) unruned and with this rune, but you will see a 33% increase in cost effectiveness of the spell. While not as good as R3 Snowbound for AP effectiveness, it doesn't require as many globals as R3. In general I would prefer R3, however, because the slow is not changed and you can cover twice the area with R3 in comparison to this rune, albeit for shorter duration. R3 lasts 75% as long as this rune, but costs 44% as much. The extra global is probably worth it, particularly the more your cast speed increases.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. I’m actually not a very big fan of this spell in PvP. However, in PvP it can provide your team – not only your wizard – a means of slowing your opponents. Even if they don’t step in it – it is a zone in which they will be slowed. I recommend R2/R4 for PvP purposes. R4 gives you a very large field to kite players in and almost forces them to take damage at times, while being slowed. R2 will give some additional stuns, but with all the cc available and the probable diminishing returns I may avoid this.

2. In PvM this will be incredibly useful - particularly if it is a 60% slow. Using R3 you'd have at least one slowing zone at the cost of 3.3 ap per second - 33% of your base AP regen. It's not as bad as it sounds.

Overall Spell Thoughts: It's essentially an investment damage spell with an added slow. The AP cost is big but worth it if you can keep enemies inside the aoe radius for the full duration. The cost is probably not worth it if you can only keep them inside for a few short seconds. I'm tending to favor the AP reduction and Frozen Solid runes personally. I see good uses for both of them.

Rune Ranking: R2, R4, R3, R5, R1, Unruned


Diamond Skin (Unlocked at Lv.

Spell Description: Transform your skin to diamond for 6 seconds, absorbing up to 10853 damage from incoming attacks.
Diamond Skin does not prevent you from casting another spell instantly - it is 'off the GCD.' or Attack Speed cooldown/Cast speed cooldown, whatever you wish to call it.

Cost: None

CD: 15 Seconds

Duration: 6 Seconds (Unruned)

Range: N/A – Self Buff

R1 Crystal Shell (Lv14)

Rune Modification: Increases the maximum amount of damage absorbed to 21707 damage.

Thoughts: Great rune. With the increase in Diamond Skin duration this rune is much more useful. 6 seconds up with 9 seconds down without Cooldown Reduction puts you at 40% uptime. 6 seconds of practical immunity to a ton of mobs.

R2 Prism (Lv20)

Rune Modification: Reduce Arcane Power cost of all spells by 7 while Diamond Skin is active.

Thoughts: Good for AP Heavy Builds. High attack speed will benefit more from this than other builds. 1.0 aps will get 5 spells off with this benefit - 1.6 will get quite a bit more. Stack this, Arcane Torrent, high aps, and high ap per crit and you should be able to refill your AP globe while spamming torrent. Other similar spells can work this way. It is useless when using spells that have no AP cost. A good synergy also is Wormhole + DS with high APS, although potentially unnecessary.

R3 Mirror Skin (Lv32)

Rune Modification: Reflects 50% of damage absorbed back at the attacker.

Thoughts: 50% of 10.8k? 5.4k damage spread out to however many enemies hit you within the duration of the absorb. I'd much rather have an additional 10k health myself with Crystal Shell or more AP with Prism. R5 may even do more damage than this. Both require you to not escape while using it for maximum damage, though this does damage before the full effect of the absorb wears off.

R4 Enduring Skin (Lv44)

Rune Modification: Increase duration to 8 seconds.

Thoughts: Good against DoT classes/mobs that would take slightly longer to deal 10.8k but are impossible or difficult to avoid. Increases uptime to 53% without CDR but it’s very situational. If you’re in a situation where you’re going to want Diamond Skin the vast majority of those situations will have 10.8k broken in 2-3 seconds – making any other rune better than this. If you are able to escape the enemy’s range within 6 seconds this rune would be ineffective.

R5 Diamond Shards (Lv56)

Rune Modification: When Diamond Skin wears off, diamond shards will explode in all directions dealing 155% weapon damage as Physical to enemies nearby.

***Test Range – and perhaps elemental damage to weapon procs similar to Spectral Blade.

Thoughts: This requires you to stand generally close to your enemies to have any effect. It’s an offensive rune to a defensive spell. It’s good in PvM to avoid incidental damage while in melee range casting Spectral Blade or any number of spells, say Frost Nova. If you take a few hits while placing the nova it’s no problem if you cast this before or while you’re running in. Then you get a small aoe in addition to any AoEs you may be unleashing, or you can teleport out after your enemies break your Diamond Skin. Consider that to get maximum effectiveness of this spell you need to be basically within melee range of a group of mobs and it requires diamond skin to literally fall off - leaving you naked next to a group of mobs. It's not a good place to be. Even if you team this with Teleport it somewhat defeats the purpose of using DS as an ability. Why not Explosive Blast instead? I suppose for a tanky/melee Wizard this could be pretty good - particularly in combination with Explosive Blast and other spells.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Mostly covered in the Rune Thoughts. Diamond Skin synergizes well with Frost Nova or any other cc to help you get in position to place the spells. A good synergy is also any form of Life Regen – such as Galvanizing Ward. You’ll be regenning while they try to break your shield. It would of course, rely on you waiting for them to hit you and trying to get out of range for them to deal damage or dodging their spells and then failing, THEN you cast Diamond Skin and the regen begins. I can see it being fairly good especially with a Monk supporting you with heals – or any number of life regen spells/runes/items.

2. Diamond Skin is off the ‘gcd’ or cast timer. You can use a damaging spell and diamond skin at the same time.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Not my favorite. Outside of PvP and unavoidable spells that occur frequently I’d get a spell that increases my damage or helps me evade getting hit from melee (Or both…Slow Time + Time Warp rune). Definitely low on my priority list, but in PvP where you ARE likely to be the target, it has its uses for sure. And definitely for the Melee Wizard. If anything, it is a secondary defensive spell. I would not use it as my only one.

Rune Ranking: R1, R2, R5=R3, R4, Unruned


Disintegrate (Unlocked at Lv. 21)

Spell Description: Thrust a beam of pure energy forward, dealing 155% weapon damage as Arcane and disintegrating enemies it kills.
This ability cannot crit.

Cost: 20 AP Per Cast

CD: Attack Speed

Range: Roughly 1 ‘Screen’

R1 Convergence (Lv26)

Rune Modification: Increase the width of the beam allowing it to hit more enemies.

***Test - Try to be a little more arbitrary blizzard! Test width.

Thoughts: How good this is largely depends on how wide it gets. After seeing this in action in some of the videos I've seen I think it is a great rune, it seems to double if not triple the width, but we'll see how it really does in play. I'd say at best it still doubles the targets hit, but if they're all in a line you can probably hit them all anyway.

R2 Chaos Nexus (Lv30)

Rune Modification: When casting the beam you become charged with energy that spits out at nearby enemies doing 40% weapon damage as Arcane.

***Test – AoE or Single Target? Range? Radius? Attack Speed? How often does it strike?

Thoughts: Blizzard really wants Granny to like this one.

R3 Volatility (Lv39)

Rune Modification: Enemies killed by the beam have a 35% chance to explode causing 425% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies within 8 yards.

Thoughts: This is probably our best finisher. Deals ~2x+ Arcane Orb’s damage to roughly the same radius, but it only occurs 7 out of every 20 kills or so. While Arcane Torrent’s finisher is probably more consistent, there are a lot better runes on that, but to this one maybe not. Either way, I’m not a huge fan of finishers – I’d prefer grabbing a different spell with higher damage – along with the survivability – that comes from other spells which help kill mobs 100%-0% instead of help finish off mobs.

R4 Entropy (Lv4

Rune Modification: The beam fractures into a short ranged cone causing 178% weapon damage as Arcane.

*****Test Range and width of cone – starting to end.

Thoughts: Good. Makes it significantly easier to hit as many targets as possible. Lines generally don’t happen as often as circles in Diablo series games anyway, but it is possible. This may require being generally closer to mobs which poses a survivability risk, but is not to be ignored for that alone.

R5 Intensify (Lv59)

Rune Modification: Damage increases slowly over time to inflict a maximum of 202% weapon damage as Arcane.

***Test. Blizzard I dislike you immensely now. How long is the charge time?

Thoughts: Void Ray. ‘Slowly over time’ could mean quite a few things. A very high damage boost – 47% WD per cast -, but it all depends on how long it takes to charge. Base pool+base regen at the cost of 20 per cast with a 1.0 aps weapon(2h) the longest you can cast it for is 9 seconds straight. Good for pure damage, terrible for survivability. It roots you and has you casting one non-cc spell (without passive Temporal Flux).

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Line-based AoE spell. Similar to fire wall except you’re at the end of the line instead of parallel to it. It has its uses, but not having played the full game I couldn’t say how situational it is. Fairly, most likely.

2. Best to use when your team has mobs on them and you can find the best lines – with teleport most likely. If mobs are on you it’ll be happenstance at best when they’re in a solid line. Usually they’ll be in some kind of concave in comparison to you. Arcane Orb and any number of AoE spells would be better then – depending on the width of R1 Convergence. You could use R4 Entrophy to make it more solo-friendly if you really need the AP cost of this spell with the slower weapons. Probably better than Arcane Orb, just slower.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Fairly situational but the runes show promise. Will have to wait for release to test the runes more extensively before final judgement!

Rune Ranking: -Potentially- R4, R1, R5, R2, R3, Unruned


Electrocute (Unlocked at Lv. 15)

Spell Description: Lightning arcs from your fingertips, dealing 80% weapon damage as Lightning. The lightning can jump, hitting up to 2 additional enemies.
Cost: Free! Signature Spell.

CD: Attack Speed

Range: Roughly 1 screen. Must click very close if not on targets for initial cast. Bounces to enemies within ~5-10 yards.

***Test range of bounce to be more specific.

R1 Chain Lightning (Lv22)

Rune Modification: Increases the maximum number of enemies that can be electrocuted to 6.

Thoughts: Increases total possible damage to 480% WD per cast assuming all 6 bounces hit. Not bad, but no way justifiable to use this over Spectral Blade with the range extension unless you’re staying at max range possible. The best rune for getting benefits from AP per crit.

R2 Forked Lightning (Lv29)

Rune Modification: Critical Hits release 4 charged bolts in random directions, dealing 46% weapon damage as Lightning to any targets hit.

***Test. Every critical hit or limited to once per cast? Can the bolts hit the same target twice? Can the bolts proc Paralysis Passive? AP per crit on the charged bolts?

Thoughts: With 3 mobs hit and a lucky proc (crit rate theoretically has to be 33% to get MAYBE one proc per cast) has some small chance to hit 4 targets (requires 5 mobs total for max effectiveness). Maximum probable damage per 1 cast with 1 proc is 444% wd. If it procs the passive it’s okay, but it’s far too random and relies on RNG upon RNG. I would not use this, instead opting for R1 if I absolutely had to use electrocute – I still have seen nothing that justifies use over spectral blade if you aren’t worried about proximity much. If your crit can get well over 33% then use this, but I doubt that will ever happen.

R3 Lightning Blast (Lv36)

Rune Modification: Create streaks of lightning that pierce through targets, hitting all enemies for 80% weapon damage as Lightning.

****Test spell behavior

Thoughts: A neat aoe spell. Probably Line-based like Disintegrate and like the D2 form of Lightning. It is weak, but it hits many targets. Likely has a range of ~1 screen. If it behaves oddly it may not be the most consistent spell to use. It’s still vastly more likely that Spectral Blade will benefit you more, but if you're looking for long range I'd almost prefer this R1, but we'll see.

R4 Surge of Power (Lv44)

Rune Modification: Gain 1 Arcane Power for every enemy hit by Electrocute.

Thoughts: Requires 3 mobs for 3 AP and does 240% weapon damage in total. It’s pretty garbage. Shock Pulse with its AP rune can hit 2 targets and get 4 AP + 210% weapon damage. 3 targets it’ll get 6 AP and 315% wd. Spectral Blade will be able to hit ALL targets for 135% AND apply elemental damage passives AND regen 1 AP per target. Up to as many that fit into its range.

R5 Arc Lightning (Lv59)

Rune Modification: Blast a cone of lightning that causes 80% weapon damage as Lightning to all affected targets.

*****Test range

Thoughts: Also garbage compared to Spectral Blade assuming its cone doesn’t extend too far. If it’s long it has its uses, but Spectral Blade just puts it to shame even without runes. only good part is Lightning damage versus Physical - which can be useful with Paralysis passive or just to diversify your build's damage.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. My best tip ever: Don’t use this spell. Do not. Read above for reasons why you do not want to use this spell.

2. Only good for long range multiple target hitting. Some of its runes are rendered useless because of this.

Overall Spell Thoughts: All it’s good for is some small amount of aoe while having a bit more survivability than other specs but only because it can be cast at range. For mobs that are faster than you, you would be close enough to hit mobs anyway. In teams you won’t have as many mobs on you anyway so you can afford to be a bit closer to mobs.

Rune Ranking: IF YOU MUST HAVE IT: R3 or R1. Otherwise, I will personally murder you if you use this spell after reading this. At least after leveling to 57 for Spectral Blade's Thrown Blade.


Energy Armor (Unlocked at Lv. 2

Spell Description: Focus your energies, increasing your Armor by 65% but lowers your maximum Arcane Power by 20. Lasts 120 seconds. Only 1 Armor spell may be active at a time.
Cost: 25 AP

CD: Attack Speed

Duration: 120 Seconds without Passive

Range: N/A

R1 Absorption (Lv32)

Rune Modification: You have a chance to gain 4 Arcane Power whenever you are hit by a ranged or melee attack.

***Test. Procrate?

Thoughts: Excellent for tank/melee mages. I guess this potentially counteracts the negative effects of the spell after 5 ‘chances’ arise. I wouldn’t personally get this though. It requires you to be hit, which is not something any Wizard really wants to do. Note that 65% armor is not 65% physical damage reduction. It’s probably not even close. My best guess would be around 10%-20%. This is an assumption as I don’t have the system itself, but it’s pretty logical there is a max possible mitigation and diminishing returns on armor.

R2 Pinpoint Barrier (Lv41)

Rune Modification: Also increases your chance to critical hit by 5% while Energy Armor is active.

Thoughts: Excellent for any crit builds that arise. The -20 AP from Energy Armor itself limits the amount of burst you could possibly have by a good bit. Potentially a whole meteor or even an Archon R1 hit. (in the burst). Crit builds obviously synergize with the –cd per crit passive, but it’s still RNG.

R3 Energy Tap (Lv4

Rune Modification: Rather than reducing your maximum Arcane Power, it is increased by 20 while Energy Armor is active.

Thoughts: Increases maximum possible burst. The spell ends up just giving you 65% armor and +20 AP while on. Not bad, especially for those who have a few spells already set for AP Use and AP Regen where necessary, and for players who don’t mind losing a bit of damage for the extra armor. If you’ve read my thoughts on Max AP pool though you’ll know it has no real use if you’re not hitting cap. Most of our specs won’t get close.

R4 Force Armor (Lv54)

Rune Modification: While Energy Armor is active, incoming attacks that would deal more than 35% of your maximum Life are reduced to deal 35% of your maximum Life instead.

Thoughts: I suppose this would be good in Hardcore or for players who do glass cannon builds that WILL die if hit. Using this Rune comes with my recommendation for all hardcore players to not go anywhere near the mobs that just hit them for over 35% of their maximum life. You’re going to get 3 shot. It may definitely have its uses in Inferno though. It’s definitely going to be used by Hardcore players that want to KNOW they will never be 1 shot, though R5 is probably going to be better once people start getting a bit of gear.

R5 Prismatic Armor (Lv60)

Rune Modification: Increases all of your resistances by 40% while Energy Armor is active.

Thoughts: Excellent for those low on resistances. This is our only increase to resistances from skills surprisingly, so I foresee it being used quite a bit in Hardcore and in Inferno builds. Just know that 40% resistances doesn’t mean 40% damage reduction, but probably means more around 10%-15%. There will be a point with increasing resistances and diminishing returns where the benefit peaks. It’s probably best to know that number, so I will post it as soon as I do.
****Test where diminishing returns makes this fall off and the normal % mitigation.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Synergizes well with all Healing or Armor/Resistances from items – particularly Galvanizing Ward – and any mitigation or survivability spells. It is armor (or resistances) – intended to help you stay alive. While some of them do help damage, I don’t think you’d be using this spell if you were interested in only that aspect.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Definitely an Excellent spell. Will be used quite a bit if the game is truly challenging particularly by Hardcore players or Softcore in Inferno that enjoy living when they make mistakes and get hit

Rune Ranking: R4, R5, R2, R3, R1, Unruned.



Energy Twister (Unlocked at Lv. 13)

Spell Description: Unleash a twister of pure energy that deals 360% weapon damage as Arcane over 6 seconds to everything in its path.
I consider this spell a Specialist spell. You have to really build around it - somewhat similar to Explosive Blast. Don't use this spell if you're mesmerized by 360% weapon damage - which is at initial glance much stronger than any of our other AP spells. Realize that Energy Twister shoots out and moves away from you. It does not move backwards. Mobs are moving towards you. Slows can help with this and so can knockbacks. You can also choose to teleport through mobs after casting Energy Twister or using twisters behind you if mobs are quicker than the twisters, but you're not likely to get a huge benefit by using this over other spells at face value. As you can tell from reading this, if you control mob movement well energy twister could be the most powerful spell in the game, or it could be the very weakest of all spells we have.

***Test if spell disappears if shot against a wall. If it stays then OP.

Cost: 35 Per Cast

CD: Attack Speed (No limit to Twister amount up at one time is currently known)

Range: Roughly ~30 yards with some zigzagging. Probably could extend to the edge of the screen if it went straight. The pattern is very random but it will not go backwards and it will only shoot in front of you - assuming your character is a 180 degree line.

R1 Mistral Breeze (Lv19)

Rune Modification: Reduces casting cost of Energy Twister to 20 Arcane Power.

Thoughts: A very good rune. -43% of the cost of R2 with -30% of the damage, but it requires more globals. Because of the specialist nature of this spell I'm not sure if it's going to be a very good choice.

R2 Gale Force (Lv24)

Rune Modification: Increases the damage of Energy Twister to 468% weapon damage as Arcane.

Thoughts: Probably not as good as R1 in the long run, but the initial burst per spell cast for 3-4 casts will be 30% better than R1. (from a pure dps perspective) If mobs are going to live a little longer than that either way then you should probably use a different rune. However, due to the specialist nature of this spell, this rune could actually be THE best of all damaging spells with the right spec if your mob control is on par. See my Energy Twister Build in the PvM Rune section and read the rest of this spell section for more details.

R3 Raging Storm (Lv36)

Rune Modification: When two Energy Twisters collide, they merge into a tornado with increased area of effect that causes 360% weapon damage as Arcane over 6 seconds.

Thoughts: Increased area of effect could be very good for the specialist build however, it depends on how close to the 2nd twister you need to get. It shouldn't be hard to hit straight on, but it also depends on how much it increases the range by. Potentially an excellent spell, but R2 is probably just easier to use, and better against mobs that have larger scale sizes and will get hit by R2 anyway.

R4 Wicked Wind (Lv41)

Rune Modification: Twisters no longer travel but spin in place, dealing 252% weapon damage as Arcane over 6 seconds to everything caught in them.

Thoughts: Probably the most non-specialist spell among all of these.

R5 Storm Chaser (Lv52)

Rune Modification: Casting Energy Twister grants you a Wind Charge. You can store up to 3 Wind Charges at a time. Casting a Signature spell releases all Wind Charges as a giant Energy Twister that deals 100% (No update since changes went into place, probably is not 100% anymore) weapon damage as Arcane per Wind Charge.

Thoughts: Basically a free energy twister every 3 used. To get max charges you have to blow 105 AP all at once and you may sacrifice too much in the use of other defensive spells with AP costs to get that. It's probably not even worth it as because of the nature of this spell it's really rng and you'll get very little from it especially in comparison to actually controlling mob movement. However, if you only use it as a little bit of extra damage here and there in your spec and use the specialist build - only throwing 1 twister out and then spamming signatures to slow here and there - then it can be okay, but it may slow monsters outside the range which could be bad.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. As said previously, this spell has the potential to hit harder than any of our other spells, but only if mobs follow the twister. That would be pretty sexy, but it doesn't normally happen. You have to move through the mobs - or potentially teleport (reversal) - and get them to follow the twister. I'm not sure how effective this will be in many scenarios.

2. Synergizes with Knockbacks wonderfully as long as you can control them. I see a Monk with Tempest Rush + this doing well as well as Wave of Force and maybe a melee spec on small packs of groups with Spectral Blade's KB and Magic Weapon's KB, though R4 kind of eliminates the need for those.

3. Synergizes with Temporal Flux to keep mobs inside the twister as long as possible. Some may need to be slowed more than that to take the ticks, some may not need to be slowed at all, but it is definitely good to have. Another good slow for this is Spectral Blade range 20 with Cold damage weapons, which you can use actively to slow when necessary and to keep them following you can stutter step in the direction the twister moves.

Overall Spell Thoughts: I consider this a specialist spell. R4 is somewhat of an exception. It's good in solo play or in groups when you don't have great mob control - due to personal lack of skill or the fact your group has 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4th of the mobs on them - roughly. If you have control mob's movements well this spell could be very good - potentially the best, but most will not have this kind of control. Teleport through mobs after using Energy Twister and try to get them to follow it. Reversal rune for Teleport is HUGE for this. Use slows where necessary to try and get mobs to follow the twister closely. That being said, I'm not sure if the costs associated with traveling through mobs or shooting the Twister behind you and getting them to follow it are worth it. R4 may be better than the others just for those reasons. I haven't seen one person use Energy Twister properly since playing the beta. They all use it VERY poorly. They shoot straight at mobs moving towards them acting like it's Arcane Orb. Don't be that guy.

Rune Ranking: R2, Maybe R3, R1=R5, Unruned (specialist)
R4 standalone Non-specialist (better for groups)


Explosive Blast (Unlocked at Lv. 19)

Spell Description: Gather an infusion of energy around you that explodes after 1.5 seconds, causing 225% weapon damage as Physical to all enemies within 12 yards.
Cost: 20 Arcane Power (unruned)

CD: 6 Seconds

****Test if Cooldown Reduction affects cd. Most importantly is the passive Critical Mass. Secondary Evocation.

Range: 12 yard aoe around self after 1.5 second charge (Unruned)

R1 Unleashed (Lv24)

Rune Modification: Reduces the casting cost of Explosive Blast to 10 Arcane Power. (Previously 20)

Thoughts: This is okay. It saves you 10 AP every 6 seconds if you're spamming and have no cooldown reduction. A better way to think of it - and all spells - is that at 20 AP this spell costs 3.333 AP per second. With this rune it instead costs 1.6666 ap per second - so roughly 33% of your AP regen will cover Explosive Blast at 20, and 16% of your regen will cover it with this rune. It could be useful, but if your build isn't hurting on AP spenders look elsewhere.

R2 Time Bomb (Lv29)

Rune Modification: Explosive Blast detonates from the point it was originally cast after 2.5 seconds (+1s) for 292% weapon damage (+67% increase) as Physical.

Thoughts: Increases delay making it harder to place properly but increases the damage by 67% wd. Strictly speaking you'll get more damage per AP spent using R1, but it depends on your build. CDR may also make R1 better in comparison.

***Test if Explosive Blast stacks with Explosive stacks assuming Critical Mass can proc multiple times in 3 seconds and you can actually get two up at once.

R3 Short Fuse (Lv39)

Rune Modification: Immediately release the energy of Explosive Blast (-1.5s) for 225% (+0% wd) weapon damage as Physical.

Thoughts: Removes the delay, making it easy to place. I don't personally like this much at all. Means you're squirming and unable to move freely - and you're changing your build for that.

R4 Obliterate (Lv50)

Rune Modification: Increases the explosion radius to 18 yards (+6 yards) for 225% weapon damage (+0% wd) as Physical.

Thoughts: 50% increase in aoe radius means 50% more mob hitting potential, though mobs won't die as quickly as they would with other runes you will hit more assuming larger packs. It is definitely good but I prefer killing half the mobs quicker to killing 75% of the mobs slower.

R5 Chain Reaction (Lv56)

Rune Modification: A chain of 3 consecutive explosions cascade off you, each causing 97% weapon damage as Physical.

Thoughts: An interesting rune for sure. It depends on the delay between explosions. CDR could be rendered somewhat useless if it's every 2 seconds after using, but if the first tick is instant and the delay is 2s between CDR can still work fairly well. This also increases the damage to 291%. In comparison to R2 it is easier to place the first hit and the second but harder to stay in for the third (based on how the delay works. The second may also be harder if the first tick isn't til two seconds in). It's not bad but my worry is CDR. With R2 Critical Mass and Evocate can still be effective if they don't reduce the cd together by more than 3.5 seconds - meaning 3 procs of Critical Mass within 3 seconds would make explosive blast overrite explosive blast - unless they stack. Another thing to test.

****Test delay between cascades. Test initial cascade.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Pure damage spell. Nothing defensive about it unless it procs elemental weapon effects and then it gains a short duration slow.

2. CDR is amazing for this spell. Imagine if for 10 AP you could spam a 225% wd aoe spell. I'd wet myself. Get crit. Get critical mass and Evocation. Get Energy Armor's Pinpoint Barrier, Frost Nova's Deep Freeze (unfortunately requires 5 targets).

3. Works well with any kind of spec requiring you to be close range. Think Diamond Skin with its 155% wd explosion, Ray of Frost's Sleet Storm, Frost Nova can make it easy to place and give you 15% more crit on it. Anything that helps you stay in melee range - survivability, etc.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Very fun spell. Highest Damage per AP ratio in the game for Wizards, but it has a few drawbacks. A good spec and a good player could use this well.

Rune Ranking: R2, R1, R4, R5, R3, Unruned



Familiar (Unlocked at Lv. 22)

Spell Description: Summon a companion that will attack your targets for 20% weapon damage as Arcane. This companion cannot be targeted or damaged by enemies. Pet lasts 5 minutes.
Cost: 20 Arcane Power

CD: Attack Speed

Familiar Attack Speed: Pet's attacks have roughly a 1 second cooldown. It will attack only when you do. It will attack in the direction you do - though off to a side often. If you miss, it will likely miss as well. It does not have autoaim. How this works with aoe spells I don't know yet. It may go for your pointer. I only know what I know based off videos - still, even unruned it is an amazing increase to single target dps. I do not know how it reacts to channeled abilities either.

***Further testing required

Duration: 300 Seconds

Familiar's Range: Spawns next to you. I do not know how far its attack travels though. It is ranged.

****Test how far familiar's projectile travels.

R1 Sparkflint (Lv30)

****Test whether or not ‘Fiery’ indicates fire Damage for passive Conflagration.

Rune Modification: Summon a fiery Familiar that increases the damage of all attacks by 12% while Familiar is active.

Thoughts: A great rune choice for pure damage. Along with the familiar's own damage your single target damage should be sky high. Fiery familiar leads me to believe Fire damage thus Conflagration procs.

R2 Dartling (Lv40)

*****Test whether or not ‘lightning’ means Lightning damage.

Rune Modification: Summon a lightning Familiar whose projectiles have a 100% chance to pierce through enemies.

Thoughts: 20% aoe in a line every second combined with Disintegrate per se could be a big boost to your damage - adds roughly 13% more damage of a 2nd damage type - but also continues to be used even when casting signature spells - which grant more benefit to it. Also can be used with Paralysis passive.

R3 Ancient Guardian (Lv44)

****Test if there is a minimum damage requirement for the absorption.

Rune Modification: Summon a protective Familiar. When you are below 35% Life the Familiar will fully absorb damage from 1 attack every 6 seconds.

Thoughts: An interesting rune. In Inferno against very hard hitting mobs it can be combined with Energy Armor's Force Armor to grant you at least 4-5 hits before death against even the hardest hitting mobs - more with additional spells and stats.

R4 Arcanot (Lv50)

Rune Modification: While the Familiar is active, you regenerate 2 additional Arcane Power per second.

Thoughts: While helping regen is always a good thing, I see little that would make me
choose this over R1’s 12% additional damage. 2 regen will buy you 1 additional 20 AP cost spell - which gives you not THAT much more than a Signature Spell in damage. It has its uses, but they are rare. Increasing your regen needs to have a purpose - and 12% additional damage from R1 will give you benefits to non-AP spells as well.

R5 Cannoneer (Lv57)

Rune Modification: The Familiar's projectiles explode on impact, dealing 20% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies within 6 yards.

Thoughts: Mini Arcane Orbs every second. Good circle AoEs. I think R1 outshines this for pure damage, but consider Temporal Flux passive while looking at this. A good aoe slow for all your hits.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Attack speed does not help the Familiar, only yourself. Its own attack is a significant portion of your single target damage at the very least, so it is good to keep this in mind.

2. Different elemental damages come with different passive benefits. This is a good spell to increase the number of elemental damage types you have - which is almost always a good thing.

3. Works even when using Signature abilities. At least all but R4 does. This can give you line or circle aoes, defenses, or just more damage. It's always a good single target hitter though, so be sure you're aiming for the big guy in the pack if there is one, or focus whichever is weakest to start reducing your potential damage taken quicker.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Me gusta. Potentially Arcane, Lightning, or Fire. Hits for a good bit itself particularly with the right runes. Increases your damage or increases its own aoe damage. It can be used to protect you though it doesn't only protect against lethal damage. Can be used to increase regen. Its own aoes can be line or circle.

Rune Ranking: R3, R1, R4, R2=R5, Unruned


Frost Nova (Unlocked at Lv. 4)

Spell Description: An explosion of ice freezes nearby enemies for 3 seconds.
It's a Hard CC spell. Like all hard CCs, CC reduction/immunity needs to be taken into consideration while reading these thoughts. I don't know anything really about how CC works in later difficulties.

Cost: N/A

CD: 12 Seconds (No Rune/Passive)

Range: Short.

*****Test range for approximation. Unspecified on spell.

R1 Shatter (Lv12)

Rune Modification: A frozen enemy that is killed has a 50% chance of releasing another Frost Nova.

Thoughts: If you've read any of the other spells with finisher moves then you know that I dislike this. You have no choice in positioning (really) and it requires mobs to die within a 3 second period to be useful. Pay particular attention to the fact that it requires mobs to DIE. If you can kill one with this rune having no effect then you can kill it and all of the other mobs much quicker with a different rune.

R2 Cold Snap (Lv1

Rune Modification: Reduce cooldown of Frost Nova to 9 seconds. (Previous 12 seconds)

Thoughts: Just read this and tell me you don't think it's better than R1. You have control over this. The CD is reduced by 25%. Imagine it with CDR passives Critical Mass and Evocation. The uptime of the freeze in aoe is 33% with this rune, 25% normally. With more CDR it can be even higher.

R3 Frozen Mist (Lv2

Rune Modification: Frost Nova no longer freezes enemies, but instead leaves behind a mist of frost that deals 160% weapon damage as Cold over 8 seconds.

Thoughts: Adds some damage and chills your enemies for 8 seconds. Great with Cold Blooded passive. CDR could allow this to be 100% uptime. For base Cooldown it is at 66% uptime.

**Test slow % - likely 30% Test how quickly it ticks.

R4 Deep Freeze (Lv41)

Rune Modification: If Frost Nova hits at least 5 targets, you gain a 15% bonus to Critical Hit Chance for 12 seconds.

Thoughts: It's a pity it requires so many targets. Against bosses it could be a completely useless rune. We only have two runes that increase crit to begin with, and AP per Crit is so nice. I'd love it if they changed it to 3 targets for 10% or something along those lines. You should pick and choose farm areas well with this. bosses with tons of adds can make this very useful. Mob packs need to have large numbers and hopefully small sized mob packs.

R5 Bone Chill (Lv51)

Rune Modification: Enemies take 15% more damage while frozen or chilled by Frost Nova.

Thoughts: It's meh. Your first global will take up a large portion of the time that you could benefit from this. It could be useless in group comps with a Monk with Mantra of Conviction's Overawe up if multiple damage %s on enemies don't stack. Time will tell. Note that in order to be better than R3 for damage it has to hit or allow for positioning of damage that is greater than 160% wd per target minus however long enemies are out of the Mist's damage (in solo play), although this is Hard CC and that is soft so there is a difference in safety. I'd say R3 is better for overall damage but this gives you the hard CC.

****Test against Monk's MoC and other % damage modifiers on enemies.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. CDR is great with this spell. Cold Blooded is great with this spell.

2. Use Frost Nova to help position harder to place AoEs and perhaps even single target abilities. It's great to use against erratically moving targets because of this.

3. Frost Nova should probably be best used in tandem with other slows or soft CCs so you have a small period to nuke or reposition to your heart's content and then run away for kiters or otherwise stay away from mobs. Melee mages will probably use this as much as possible and have Mirror Images or Diamond Skin or Slow Time or otherwise in between cooldowns.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Classic WoW mage spell. Can be used offensively, defensively, as a safety button with CDR, to position skillshots, or however you please.

Rune Ranking: R2, R3, R4, R5, R1, Unruned


Hydra (Unlocked at Lv. 21)

Spell Description: Summon a multi-headed (3 Unruned) Hydra for 15 seconds that attacks enemies with bolts of fire dealing 28% weapon damage as Fire. You may only have one Hydra active at a time.
****Test: Specify whether each head shoots for 28% and attack speed.

Cost: 15 Arcane Power

CD: Attack Speed, but only 1 Hydra is allowed at a time.

Duration: 15 Seconds

Range:

****Test range of spell, then range of Hydra…also include how the Hydra chooses targets.

R1 Arcane Hydra (Lv26)

Rune Modification: Summon an Arcane Hydra that spits Arcane Orbs, which explode on impact, causing 28% weapon damage as Arcane to enemies near the explosion.

Thoughts: Circle AoE - great with Temporal Flux for ranged slows over Frost Hydra's short range cone slows. Can miss.

R2 Lightning Hydra (Lv33)

Rune Modification: Summon a Lightning Hydra that electrocutes enemies for 34% weapon damage as Lightning.

Thoughts: A good amount of increased damage compared to all the other runes - potentially vastly more. Goes well with the passive Paralysis but it is a bit rng.

***Test aoe or single target - likely aoe up to a certain number of targets same as our Electrocute. This Hydra cannot miss - one of the best parts about it.

R3 Venom Hydra (Lv3

Rune Modification: Summon a poison breathing Hydra that leaves a pool of acid that causes 18% weapon damage per second as Poison to enemies who remain in the pool.

Thoughts: A good deal weaker than the other runes, but the aoe it leaves could make up for that. Doesn't really have great synergy with our other spells as it is one of our only 2 poison damage spells. The pools are roughly ~3 yard circles. Very small, but we'll see how it plays. Can miss.

R4 Frost Hydra (Lv46)

Rune Modification: Summon a Frost Hydra that breathes a short range cone of frost, causing 31% weapon damage as Cold to all enemies in the cone.

Thoughts: Probably one of my favorites and doubtless it'll be one of the most used. Short range is a bit problematic, but the cone is wonderful. Can be combined with Cold Blooded and likely slows - probably 30%. 60% would make it way too powerful. Can miss but due to the short range not likely to. Good positioning will always have him hitting a good number of targets if not max.

***Test slow %, range.

R5 Mammoth Hydra (Lv56)

****Do the rivers move? How long do they last? Is there only one head? Likely: No. 2-3
seconds. Yes. Do rivers stack?

Rune Modification: Summon a Mammoth Hydra that breathes a river of flame at nearby enemies, dealing 22% weapon damage per second as Fire to enemies caught on the burning ground.

Thoughts: A Line AoE. Unknown length, duration, etc. Potentially the strongest Hydra, but good positioning is required - not that that really changes based on the Hydra you use. Conflagration goes very well with this for AoE situations.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Each different elemental type goes well with an elemental passive.

2. Positioning of the Hydra is the key to unlocking its potential. Most Hydras are ranged with the possibility of missing due to somewhat slow missile speed. The trick is to spawn the Hydra behind you or in front of you, but keep the Hydra, yourself, and your enemies in a line always. You can run through your hydra back and forth however you please, but the line is fairly essential. Spawning the Hydra on top of enemies is also not a bad option and allows you to circle around it without getting too many misses.

3. It's important to consider the Unruned form of Hydra - this is one of the few spells I'd suggest doing that on. It is a Hydra similar to D2's. Stronger for single target than Mammoth most likely and can keep conflag up well. Time will tell.

Overall Spell Thoughts: This is probably the best investment spell to have with numerous benefits defensive and offensive. Very useful for just about any build. To keep 1 Hydra up at all times takes only 1 AP per Second - 1/10th of your total passive regen pool. If attack speed is 1.5 then you get 10 hits out of any of these - which is somewhere around 250% wd. Definitely the strongest investment spell we have - but the speed is likely a good bit higher than that, and that doesn't take misses into consideration. Either way an Arcane Orb is at best 175% wd for 20 ap. Hydra = Me Gusta, but it may not fit into every build unfortunately.

Rune Ranking: R5, R4=R2=R1, Unruned=R3



Ice Armor (Unlocked at Lv. 14)

Spell Description: Surround yourself in a barrier of ice. Melee attackers are either Chilled or Frozen for 2 seconds. Lasts 120 seconds.
Cost: 25 Arcane Power

CD: Attack Speed

Duration: 120 Seconds

Range: N/A - Self

****Test Freeze chance.

R1 Chilling Aura (Lv21)

Rune Modification: Lower the temperature of the air around you. Nearby enemies are chilled, slowing their movement speed by 30%.

Thoughts: Very interesting rune. Depending on the range it could be very powerful, but if melee mobs are in range of you before this applies its slow it could be fairly useless. Probably best for builds without stronger slows or without more consistent slows. We'll see how it plays out.

***Test range and whether or not Cold Blooded is in effect with it - likely short and Yes.

R2 Crystallize (Lv31)

Rune Modification: Whenever you are struck by a melee attack, your Armor is increased by 15% for 30 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times.

Thoughts: If it was ranged attacks as well it would be stronger. Taking melee hits disgusts me. If you are taking a lot of melee hits then you're doing something wrong - and you will have to take a lot of melee hits for this to work well, unless you intentionally take those hits - in which case why do you need this armor? 45% is good - but not as good as Energy Armor's 65%. The loss to max pool is not extremely important for most builds. See my thoughts on +Max AP pool stats in the Mechanics section or debate with me as you wish. The benefit of chilling or freezing melee attackers is a small one in comparison to 20% additional armor without needing to take hits from melee on top of whatever rune you could choose from Energy Armor. IMO. If we end up taking a lot of hits from melee with some affix or another I may change my mind, but it would have to be fairly commonplace.

R3 Jagged Ice (Lv42)

Rune Modification: Melee attackers also take 100% weapon damage as Cold.

Thoughts: Stop getting hit by melee fool! It's decent for some kind of tank spec but with this rune you'd still lose 65% armor and whatever rune from Energy Armor in mitigation - which makes you squish squish. May come more into play after we get gear.

R4 Ice Reflect (Lv49)

Rune Modification: Melee attacks have a 25% chance to create a Frost Nova centered on the attacker, dealing 75% weapon damage as Cold.

Thoughts: Not bad. You'll take roughly 4 hits before getting a little frost nova to help you out - could be good against certain affixes but as with the other runes I'm not sold yet.

***Test Duration/Range of Frost Nova/Internal Cooldown?

R5 Frozen Storm (Lv53)

Rune Modification: A whirling storm of ice builds around you that deals 30% weapon damage as Cold over 3 seconds after casting Ice Armor.

Thoughts: I'm going to assume that this is a permanent frozen storm. If it is not then everyone can feel free to laugh at this one with me. 10% wd per second aoe in an unspecified range. If its range is big then it could be decent actually. Could be used as an AoE slow that costs 25 AP. It's pretty shit damage but if its range is good enough there are uses for it.

***Test range, duration.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Good for any Cold damage build that needs Cold Blooded up a bit more frequently.

2. Potentially good if we MUST take melee hits from some sort of affix or boss.

3. Good for Slows or additional hard CC on Hit for specs lacking in CC.

4. If you aren't taking melee hits...Go look for a different armor.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Not sold. I see it has its uses but they are situational. Until the game is released I won't be able to tell particularly how situational they are or how good the runes are.

Rune Ranking: R1, R2, R4, R5, R3, Unruned


Magic Missile (Unlocked at Lv. 1)

Spell Description: Launch a missile of magic energy, causing 110% weapon
damage as Arcane.
Cost: Free! (Signature Spell)

CD: Attack Speed

Range:

*****Test Range

R1 Charged Blast (Lv6)

Rune Modification: Increases the damage of Magic Missile to 143% weapon damage as Arcane.

Thoughts: Best single target ranged spell we have. Good if you need to be at max range from something and that something is singular.

R2 Split (Lv13)

Rune Modification: Fire 3 missiles that each deal 50% weapon damage as Arcane.

Thoughts: I don't know why anyone would use this over Electrocute except for perhaps Arcane Damage with Temporal Flux - whatever good that would do.

R3 Penetrating Blast (Lv31)

Rune Modification: Missiles have a 70% chance to pierce through their target and hit additional enemies.

Thoughts: It's still hard to justify using this over Electrocute. Range doesn't change and you're fighting multiple targets. This is slightly better damage against 2 targets than Electrocute, but not 3, and it only works when your targets are lined up for you.

R4 Attunement (Lv42)

Rune Modification: Whenever Magic Missile hits a target you gain 4 Arcane Power.

Thoughts: If your AP per Crit is low then this is the best ranged AP restore ability we have - but not the best versus 3 targets hit Shock Pulse or 5+ targets hit Spectral Blade (~20 yard and melee range respectively). With AP per Crit this is outshined by any of our abilities - particularly Spectral Blade range 20.

R5 Seeker (Lv52)

Rune Modification: Missiles track the nearest enemy and their damage is increased to 121% weapon damage as Arcane.

Thoughts: Potentially excellent for PvP or against very quick mobs that are hard to get your hands on. If missiles continue seeking their targets for long periods of time and your enemy continuously moves you could potentially get a LOT of seeker missiles following them at the same time - which would punish very mobile players in PvP and any of those sort of mobs. Goes well with Temporal Flux. This could actually work as a bloodhound for you for stealthed DHs or mobs that are off your screen. I do like it.

***Test if Seeker Missiles ever dissipate - also if enemies can absorb the missiles when they weren't the one targeted and if environment blocks the hits. Test if you don't target enemies about how close you need to fire it to them for it to start tracking.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Synergizes well with Temporal Flux in all its forms - particularly R5.

2. R1 is the best free ranged single target spell we have - at least if Ray of Frost Cold Blood rune doesn't become free - which would eliminate the need for this spell entirely besides perhaps R5. This is outshined a little damage wise by Spectral Blade R1 assuming a tick of it occurs instantly.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Not my favorite spell. Won't likely use this for any reason other than upping my ranged single target dps or R5 depending on how it works. Other runes are fairly useless and easily replaced by other spells.

Rune Ranking: R1, R5, R4, R3, Unruned, R2

[phantom325]

Magic Weapon (Unlocked at Lv. 20)

Spell Description: Imbue your weapon with magical energy, granting it 10%
increased Physical damage. Lasts 5 minutes.
Increases the damage of all spells, not just Physical damage ones.

Cost: 25 Arcane Power

CD: Attack Speed

Duration: 300 Seconds

Range: N/A - Self

R1 Electrify (Lv27)

Rune Modification: Attacks have a chance to cause lightning to arc to 3 nearby enemies, dealing 10% weapon damage as Lightning.

Thoughts: Better for some spells than others assuming it procs off all of our spells. For the most part I'd prefer the simple 5% increase and kb of R2. I'll test it for sure in game launch. The Lightning goes well with Paralysis specs.

***Test Procrate and if 'Attacks' means any spellcast.

R2 Force Weapon (Lv35)

Rune Modification: Increases the damage bonus of Magic Weapon to 15% damage, and gives up to a 2% chance to Knockback any enemies hit.

Thoughts: Damage should work with our spells just like the unruned version but it'll be interesting to see whether or not the knockback works with all of our spells. Ought to work with Spectral Blade and other physical spells at least.

***Test whether or not knockback works with spells.

R3 Conduit (Lv3

Rune Modification: Attacks have a chance to restore 1 Arcane Power.

Thoughts: Possibly excellent - but I question whether or not it's worth it over 5% damage. If multiple procs can occur with each attack in AoE situations it could be very good. Testing it is going to be somewhat problematic because of the natural regeneration of AP, but it's easy enough to test how it works.

****Test procrate and when exactly procs occur - on damage (allowing multiple procs) etc.

R4 Venom (Lv46)

Rune Modification: Attacks poison enemies, dealing 15% weapon damage as Poison over 3 seconds.

Thoughts: 5% wd per second - good for abilities with a lot of signature spamming - may actually be decent in combination with say Shock Pulse, Electrocute, or Magic Missile and switching targets. If this doesn't stack then it's instantly worse than R2 or perhaps R1 when hitting targets multiple times within that 3 second period. 5% extra from force weapon is better if you get 0-1 ticks of this (assuming 3 5% ticks) if you are hitting for above 100% wd. 2 ticks is superior unless you're hitting for over 200% wd.

***Test Whether or not it stacks, and if damage % modifiers work on it as well. Probably doesn't stack

R5 Blood Magic (Lv55)

Rune Modification: Attacks recover 1.5% of damage caused as Life.

Thoughts: Lifesteal - not good for attack speed users, better for 2h straight up damage. I don't think I'd use this over a defensive spell or a different rune of this spell. Lackluster is a good term for this.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Potentially a good way to diversify your damage sources. You can add lightning or poison to any spell. (assuming it works this way)

2. Good for Knockback specs, specs that need as much AP as possible, maybe slow cast 2h specs, or just for damage increasing purposes. Not much to say beyond that.

Overall Spell Thoughts: A great spell for increasing damage - but a lot depends on how exactly it works with each spell we have. R1 for example could be amazing if it has a chance to proc each time we do damage instead of just on casting a spell.

Rune Ranking: R2, R4, R3, R1, R5, Unruned




Meteor (Unlocked at Lv. 25)

Spell Description: Summon an immense Meteor that plummets from the sky, causing 200% weapon damage as Fire to all enemies it crashes into. The ground it hits is scorched with molten fire that deals 60% weapon damage as Fire over 3 seconds.
Cost: 60 AP

CD: Attack Speed

Range:

*****Test Range. Likely 1 Screen.

R1 Molten Impact (Lv29)

Rune Modification: Increases the damage of the Meteor impact to 260% weapon damage as Fire and the molten fire to 78% weapon damage as Fire over 3 seconds.

Thoughts: A simple damage increase rune - 30% damage over Unruned. Nothing else to see here.

R2 Star Pact (Lv34)

Rune Modification: Reduces the casting cost of Meteor to 35 Arcane Power.

Thoughts: 58% of the cost of normal spell - a 42% reduction. -30% damage in comparison to R1 - but requires more globals to compensate.

R3 Meteor Shower (Lv43)

Rune Modification: Unleash a volley of 7 smaller Meteors that each strike for 80% weapon damage as Fire.

Thoughts: At the weapon damage listed multiple meteors should be able to hit the same target. In order to compare with R1 at least 4-5 out of the 7 need to hit each target. The flipside is that I'm pretty sure the meteors start coming down instantly. I'm interested to see how this works with Life per Hit

***Test meteor delays, Life per hit.

R4 Comet (Lv4

Rune Modification: Transforms the Meteor to ice that deals 240% weapon damage as Cold. The impact site is covered in a freezing mist that deals 72% weapon damage as Cold and Slows enemy movement by 60% over 3 seconds.

Thoughts: Only a 20% damage increase over unruned, -10% in comparison to the upgrade R1 gets. The difference is this gets a Slow, and actually hits harder with Cold Blooded, although Conflagration would even the odds. If you can get Conflag with this as well it stays superior. The slow is wonderful as well.

R5 Liquefy (Lv5

Rune Modification: If the initial impact of the Meteor causes a Critical Hit, the molten fire duration is increased to 8 seconds.

Thoughts: Assuming this is if just one crits - it increases the damage of the DoT by 100% weapon damage - but for it to have any effect at tall the mobs have to stay in the fire for at least 4 seconds - then you get 20% weapon damage per second from the rune. For it to be better than R1 you need to crit every time and keep mobs in the fire for 7 seconds at least. The 7th dot tick is 2% wd over R1 and the 8th is 22% wd greater than R1. The moment it doesn't crit it sets you behind. It's definitely not as good as R1 for single target.

***If one crits or all - or per target?

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1.

Overall Spell Thoughts:

Rune Ranking: R4, R1, R2, R3, R5, Unruned




Mirror Image (Unlocked at Lv. 25)

Spell Description: Summon 2 illusionary duplicates of yourself that last for 7 seconds and have 25% of your Life. The images may cast some of the same spells as you, but those spells deal no damage.
Cost: None

CD: 15 Seconds (No Passive/Rune)

Range:

****Test range. Suspect randomly generated near you. Positioning may be switched.

R1 Simulacrum (Lv31)

Rune Modification: Increase the Life of your Mirror Images to 100% of your own.

Thoughts:

R2 Duplicates (Lv37)

Rune Modification: Summon 5 Mirror Images that have 25% of your Life each.

Thoughts:

R3 Mocking Demise (Lv45)

Rune Modification: When a Mirror Image is destroyed, it explodes, doing 45% weapon damage as Physical and has a 50% chance to Stun for 2 seconds.

Thoughts:

R4 Extension of Will (Lv51)

Rune Modification: The duration of your Mirror Images is increased to 10 seconds and their Life is increased to 29% of your Life.

Thoughts:

R5 Mirror Mimics (Lv5

Rune Modification: Spells cast by your Mirror Images will do 10% of the damage of your own spells.

Thoughts:

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

Overall Spell Thoughts:

Rune Ranking:




Ray of Frost (Unlocked at Lv. 2)

Spell Description: Project a beam of frozen ice that blasts 200% weapon damage
as Cold to the first enemy it hits, slowing the target's movement by 30% and attack speed
by 20% for 3 seconds.
This ability cannot crit.

Cost: 20 AP per Cast

CD: Attack Speed

Range: ~1 Screen (depends on resolution. Slightly smaller.

R1 Numb (Lv7)

Rune Modification: Increase enemy slow amount to 60% for 3 seconds.

Thoughts:

R2 Snow Blast (Lv15)

Rune Modification: Damage increases slowly over 1.5 seconds to inflict a maximum of
260% weapon damage as Cold.

Thoughts:

R3 Cold Blood (Lv2

Rune Modification: Reduce casting cost to 12 Arcane Power.

Thoughts:

R4 Sleet Storm (Lv3

Rune Modification: Create a swirling storm around you, dealing 200% weapon damage as
Cold to all enemies caught within it.

Thoughts:

R5 Black Ice (Lv53)

Rune Modification: Enemies who die leave a patch of ice on the ground that causes 180%
weapon damage as Cold to enemies moving through it over 3 seconds.

Thoughts:

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

Overall Spell Thoughts:

Rune Ranking:





Shock Pulse (Unlocked at Lv. 3)

Spell Description: Release a medium range pulse of 3 unpredictable charges of electricity that deal 105% weapon damage as Lightning. Targets cannot be hit by 2 Shocks from the same spell.

Not completely unpredictable. They only shoot forward in the way that you cast them but spread out in a small V. They all spawn within your melee range and are very predictable within 10 yards or so.

Cost: Free! Signature Spell.

CD: Attack Speed

Range: Approx 1 screen.

R1 Explosive Bolts (Lv9)

Rune Modification: Slain enemies explode, dealing 70% weapon damage as Lightning to
every enemy within 10 yards.

Thoughts: It’s a decent finisher but there are better ones on Arcane Torrent and Ray of
Frost. If you’re using both of those but still want a finisher (Note that finishers are basically
useless in pvp and they don’t really help you to take down the first target in PvE assuming
all are equally bulky) can use this spell. If there are a lot of weaker mobs with big mobs
then it’s probably going to be pretty good, but our other finishers blow it out of the water
even if they do cost AP.

R2 Fire Bolts (Lv1

Rune Modification: Cast bolts of fire instead of Lightning that each deal 137% weapon
damage as Fire.

Thoughts: Good for keeping up conflagration in groups. It’s also the highest damage of
all runes that are still designed for hitting 3 targets. It is notable that it hits for only
slightly less than Magic Missile’s highest and that is designed to only hit one target, and
with Conflagration you’ll be hitting for more than that easily on a single target, making 4
out of 6 of Magic Missile’s runes effectively useless. This will hit for more collectively
(including conflag) than Electrocute hitting all 6 targets (With Chain Lightning Rune) and
probably more than Electrocute’s aoe runes in groups if you add in group damage from
Conflag. Provided all 3 hit. However, Spectral Blade hitting ~5+ targets will be better
outside of groups, and doesn’t necessarily need melee range with runes.

R3 Piercing Orb (Lv33)

Rune Modification: Merge the bolts into a single giant orb that oscillates forward dealing
105% weapon damage as Lightning to everything it hits.

Thoughts: About the same thing as Arcane Orb but half the damage. Would only use over
R2+Conflag when there are at least 5 enemies you’ll reliably hit – and more if you’re
grouping with others.

R4 Lightning Affinity (Lv47)

Rune Modification: Every target hit by a pulse restores 2 Arcane Power.

Thoughts: Restoring 2/4/6 versus Electrocute’s 1/2/3 and Magic Missile’s possible 4 based
on hits. Spectral blade has the highest but only when hitting 6+ targets. Overall I’d rank
Shock Pulse’s AP Regen over all other spells, as it is the ultimate balance of damage and
max regen. For places with large amounts of mobs and that don’t do tons of melee
damage I may use Spectral Blade, but it’s very iffy as it requires melee range. Shock
Pulse requires close to melee range to reliably hit a single target – but when there are 2-3
targets in the area it’ll do more damage and regen as much if not more than Magic
Missile.

R5 Living Lightning (Lv54)

Rune Modification: Conjure a being of lightning that drifts forward, electrocuting nearby
enemies for 37% weapon damage as Lightning.

*Test Pet Attack Speed and duration

Thoughts: Potentially very useful with the Paralysis Passive. Assuming the familiar is also
Lightning you could have several pets attacking at once. On top of Lightning Hydra. All
depends on its attack speed.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. This is the signature spell meant for when there are about 3 big targets. If there is only
one Magic Missile is generally better – because of pure damage and that it doesn’t have
the random attack pattern. For many you can use Electrocute (more control with
guaranteed hits and more damage after 4-5 mobs). For many in melee range (Melee
Wizards in particular) you’ll generally use Spectral Blade.

2. R2’s Fire damage can be combined with Conflagration. It is the only free spell that will
proc it.

3. R3 is probably the best line-damaging Signature Ability. It wins over Magic Missile and
Electrocute by far, but potentially not Spectral Blade’s 20 yard range Rune. It remains to
be seen. 1-5 targets R2+Conflag is the best choice for damage, especially in teams.
Probably the best of all the signatures.

4. R4 is definitely the best AP Restoring Signature Spell. Except in the situation of a pure
single target fight, it will always deal more damage while at the very least having
equivalent regeneration. Spectral Blade’s regen ability is better in groups of 7+ while its
damage is better in groups of 4+, but requires melee range and this can prove to be
troublesome, particularly when needing to use that extra regen and then some to teleport
away from the enemies hitting you. Shock Pulse R4 is definitely the best balance.
Electrocute is worse after 2 targets and Magic Missile is better at 1. If your build allows for
spectral blade however, use it!

5. R5 is somewhat unique. It does mostly depend on the attack speed and duration. I
can’t say much more otherwise. If it is permanent, which I doubt, it would prove amazing
with Paralysis and combined with Familiar and Hydra, as well as other pets with constant
damaging effects with Lightning-Based damage. I’ll comment more when I get my hands
on it.

Overall Spell Thoughts: This is the #1 Signature Ability for a balance of survivability and
damage. Once you get the R2 rune and Conflag (Level 22) then you will probably never
switch from those for pure damage except maybe for soloing. Keeping conflag up will add
10% of your group’s damage onto the theoretical ‘damage’ that you do with this ability. If
someone’s ability does 200% weapon damage on all targets then you can add 20-60% of
his weapon damage onto yours. For each ability in those three seconds. Of course,
spamming this ability won’t get you that damage on every one of the spells you cast
unless you hit new targets with each one, which is recommendable. Spreading Conflag is a
huge damage boost to the group.

Rune Ranking: R2, R4, R3, R5, R1, Unruned




Slow Time (Unlocked at Lv. 16)

Spell Description: Invoke a bubble of warped time and space for 8 seconds, reducing enemy attack speed by 20% and movement speed by 30%. This bubble also slows the movement of enemy projectiles by 90%.
Cost: None

CD: 20 Seconds

Duration: 8 Seconds Unruned

Range:
****Test range. Runed reduction puts it at 10 yards, so definitely more than 10. Probably
20.

R1 Miasma (Lv23)

Rune Modification: Slow Time effects cling to enemies for 3 seconds after they have left the bubble.

Thoughts: Persistent 30% slow and 20% attack speed reduction. Since this game’s effective global cooldown is closely tied with Attack Speed this can be seen as not only a 20% damage reduction but a 20% reduction in how quickly the enemy can use utility spells and defensives. Seeing as how no one will really want to stand in the Slow Time for long this may be very good in pvp, but there are other runes for PvE – R2 the most notable – that are likely much better. R2 may have uses in pvp with slows and stuns inside the bubble as well.

R2 Time Warp (Lv29)

Rune Modification: Enemies caught in the bubble of warped time take 20% more damage.

Thoughts: This spell is a BEAST. Like in Chess, any move you can make that is simultaneously defensive and offensive is just so baller. 8 Seconds in PvE of 20% atk speed reduction and 30% slow. Projectiles slowed by 90% for easier dodging. 20% extra damage. Your group will love you. You will love you as all it takes is 5 spells for that cast to equal out in damage. You were regenerating AP while casting this spell. Even the slowest 2h users will gain damage from using this even solo – much less in groups. Pat yourself on the back. PvP it is also amazing for burst.

R3 Time Shell (Lv39)

Rune Modification: Reduce the area Slow Time affects to 10 yards, but increases the
potency of the movement speed reduction to 80%.

Thoughts: I could see it being good for when you want enemies to group together as tightly as possible. LoSing around a corner could have the same results though. In general heavier slows aren’t that much better than lesser slows – most of the utility gained is from them simply not being as fast as you. However, as said previously, it does have its uses. Particularly when running away in hardcore.

R4 Perpetuity (Lv47)

Rune Modification: Reduce cooldown to 16 seconds.

Thoughts: Takes 4 seconds or 20% of the cooldown off. I’d most likely take this if I were fighting tons of ranged that were spaced so the projectiles were difficult to dodge (staggered). Against melee I’d generally take R2. Can help diminish damage in PvE with melee, but killing them is generally better for reducing damage anyway. I’d only use this for the ranged projectile benefit, at least over other runes.

R5 Stretch Time (Lv53)

Rune Modification: Time is sped up for any allies standing in the area, increasing their attack speed by 10%.

Thoughts: Remember my post above hating on attack speed. It is ALWAYS good for
Defensives and any abilities that don’t cost AP, but for AP Wizards and equally reliant Witch Doctors it may end up being a bad thing – at the very least not as useful as other
runes. For PvP however, it helps burst the enemy team, but your team must be careful
that it doesn’t stack too closely in the orb or you’ll be aoe’d down.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. R1 is going to be better when fighting quick mobs, but R3 would be just as good if not
better. You could say that R1 is basically just an attempt to increase the range of the
spell. It is probably best for reducing damage in PvP because players can simply jump
out. If you are fighting monsters that are also able to jump out, consider using this rune,
or perhaps kiting around inside your bubble.

2. R2 is most likely the #1 rune for this spell in my book. You can teleport into ranged
and smack this down to make it effective even on them, but in my opinion I’d almost
always spam this wherever my group was or wherever the aoe damage needs to be. The
damage bonus alone would be reason enough to take this spell, but you get loads of
defensive utility out of it as well. Combine with Frost Nova R5 Bone Chill (+15%
Damage while nova’d) as well as any number of Damage % increasing effects with
Archon R1 Arcane Destruction and one of the Meteors and you’ll just make things go
boom real quick.

3. It’s hard for me to justify using R5 over R2. The only real thing I can think of is that it
will speed Hatred, Fury, and Spirit regen for Barbarians, Monks, and Demon Hunters, but
they only need that to speed their final moves anyway – all of which will do less damage
and this 10% speed may throw off their rotations, if only because they have to use
abilities faster. It may be good only for defensive utility (getting off more defensive
casts) or even offensive utility (spells to move enemies, spells to move around the
battlefield). Generally I’d always use R2.

Overall Spell Thoughts: Wizards in all games have almost always had one universal
counter: Ranged Physical DPS. Any combination of casting pushback, generally shitty
armor in comparison, and the fact that we have tons of abilities to counter melee but not
ranged could be the cause. This changes that. 90% reduction to the movement speed of
projectiles. Demon Hunters will cry. The runes for this spell put icing on an already
well-made multi-tiered cake.

Rune Ranking: R2, R1, R5, R4, R3, Unruned




Spectral Blade (Unlocked at Lv. 11)

Spell Description: Summon a spectral blade that strikes all enemies in your path for 135% weapon damage.
3 hits for 45% each. Unknown whether or not they are dodged partially or not, but they do crit individually. 1 out of 3 can crit - which is excellent for AP per Crit and Crit itself.

******Test if +Fire/Cold/Lightning damage procs passives when used with Spec Blade. OP~

Cost: Free! Signature Spell.

CD: Attack Speed

Range: Melee Range (Unruned)

R1 Deep Cuts (Lv19)

Rune Modification: Enemies hit by the blade will Bleed for an additional 35% weapon damage done over 3 seconds.

****Test if stacks for all 3 hits or if it’s just 35% refreshed on each individual hit. Test damage when spamming Spectral.

Thoughts: Could be utter garbage or could be amazing, I will have to wait to get my hands on it. It’ll be reduced in efficiency unless each time you hit puts on another debuff. If you’re simply refreshing the same one while spamming spectral blade you won’t get
the 35% damage (up to 105% possible but doubtful). You’ll get only 12%~ when
spamming depending on attack speed. Will have to wait.

R2 Impactful Blades (Lv24)

Rune Modification: Hits have a 15% chance to cause Knockback and slow the movement of enemies by 60% for 1 seconds.

******Test if 3 chances to proc every spectral blade or not. Likely it is 45% chance
to kb and slow due to the short duration of the slow. Test KB range.

Thoughts: It’s not bad, but it’s probably unnecessary. If this knockbacks only to the
edge of spectral blade’s range then it would be good for limiting the amount of hits melee
will get off on you while you are dealing damage to them, which would be excellent for
survivability and would allow you to spam spells while they caught up – but only if you
could still hit all mobs while spamming spectral and avoiding all movement. Movement
costs spells and spells equal damage or survivability.

R3 Siphoning Blade (Lv35)

Rune Modification: Every enemy hit grants 1 Arcane Power.

Thoughts: Potentially the best or worst arcane power regen spell in the game. If you hit
12 targets you’ll get 12 AP. Shock Pulse’s max is 6, MM is 4, and Elect is 3. It would
also deal more damage than any other signature spell with this rune at 5-6+ enemies.
There is good risk to this as you must be within near melee range, but the payoff is very
good. You could potentially get a full pool back from this, just incredibly unlikely.

R4 Healing Blades (Lv51)

***********Test to figure out where the heal comes from, and generally to make sure
it’s as bad as I think.

Rune Modification: Whenever the blades do critical damage, you are healed 8% of the
damage done.

Thoughts: With the kind of numbers we see for Life Regeneration on spells, 8% of a 35%
weapon damage swing is not going to get you anywhere. Even if all 3 hits crit on 10
targets, it would only be ~80% weapon damage. Likely you won’t have 100% crit to
make it even remotely worth it. We’ll see if this number changes to something higher. I’d
definitely expect this to be buffed, although I could be totally wrong about something –
that’s how bad this rune looks to me. (I certainly hope I’m reading it wrong)

R5 Thrown Blade (Lv57)

Rune Modification: Extends the reach of Spectral Blade to 20 yards.

Thoughts: This is probably one of the better runes for this spell – at the very least the
most obviously good one. If you can get 5-6 targets in your Blade this will be the
highest damage signature of all, any more than that is icing on the cake.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Spectral Blade and Slow Time, Frost Nova, and Mirror Images (MI being probably the
least favorite among them) all go very well with this. With slow time’s damage, attack
speed, or even just increasing the slow amount you’ll be able to walk around in a circle
and all melee will gather while you destroy them at a fairly safe distance.

2. R2 has significant promise as a PvP spell, but largely depends on the factors Blizzard
hasn’t specified in their spell descriptions. I will update this as soon as I get my hands
on the rune and can test its procrate and the range of the knockback.

3. R3 scales up to your max AP pool. If certain areas have large packs almost
exclusively you can alternate between this and higher damage AP-costing AoE spells,
such as Meteor or Arcane Orb.

4. R4 = Bad.

5. R5 allows for the best survivability and damage combination as far as I go. You have
many slows, as do your allies, and this increases the total range of the spell, allowing for
more possible mobs to fit inside, as well as no knockback which may take them out of
your damage. This spell has the potential to be better than any other single Signature
Spell for damage purposes, and at a safe range and predictable to boot.

Overall Spell Thoughts: This is the signature spell you want to use for any kind of large
pack for damage and for AP regen if you choose that rune as long as you can live. If you
can’t take hits from your targets then switch to Shock Pulse R2 +conflag or electrocute
if you’re under lv. 22. Magic Missile is only good in solely single-target situations, and
only when they cannot dodge. If you’re fighting a mobile opponent who will dodge Missile
and Shock Pulse regularly, switch to Electrocute. 4-6 targets Shock PulseR2 + Conflag
will always win. In team situations Shock Pulse R2+Conflag will always win over other all
other signatures even in the unlikely case that only one hits, except when fighting
massive mob packs in which case R5 has a good chance of beating it. Or if you have
other spells keeping conflag up – say Hydra or Meteor.

Rune Ranking: R5, R3=R2, R1, R4, Unruned






Storm Armor (Unlocked at Lv. 17)

Spell Description:
Cost: 25 AP per Cast

CD: Attack Speed

Duration: 120 Seconds without Passives.

Range: Self Buff, Damage Portion Range

***Test Damage Portion Range

R1 Reactive Armor (Lv23)

Rune Modification: Whenever you are hit, you have a chance to be enveloped with a lightning shield for 6 seconds that shocks nearby enemies for 50% weapon damage as Lightning.

Thoughts:

R2 Power of the Storm (Lv33)

Rune Modification: Reduce the Arcane Power cost of all skills by 3 while Storm Armor is active.

Thoughts:

R3 Strike Back (Lv37)

Rune Modification: Increase the damage of the shock to 91% weapon damage as Lightning.

Thoughts:

R4 Scramble (Lv43)

Rune Modification: Increases your movement speed by 25% for 3 seconds whenever you are hit by melee or ranged attacks.

Thoughts:

R5 Shocking Aspect (Lv5

Rune Modification: Critical Hits have a chance to electrocute a nearby enemy for 35% weapon damage as Lightning.

Thoughts:

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

Overall Spell Thoughts:

Rune Ranking:





Teleport (Unlocked at Lv. 22)

Spell Description: Teleport through the ether to the selected location up to 35 yards away.
Cost: 15 AP

CD: 16 Seconds

Range: 35 yards

R1 Safe Passage (Lv26)

Rune Modification: For 4 seconds after you Teleport, you will take 30% less damage.

Thoughts:

R2 Wormhole (Lv31)

Rune Modification: After casting Teleport, there is a 1 second delay before the cooldown begins, allowing you to Teleport again.

Thoughts:

R3 Reversal (Lv37)

Rune Modification: Casting Teleport again within 8 seconds will instantly return you to your original location.

Thoughts:

R4 Fracture (Lv43)

Rune Modification: Summon 2 decoys for 8 seconds after teleporting.

Thoughts:

R5 Calamity (Lv59)

Rune Modification: Casts a low power Wave of Force upon arrival, dealing 75% weapon damage as Physical to all nearby enemies.

Thoughts:

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

Overall Spell Thoughts:

Rune Ranking:





Wave of Force (Unlocked at Lv. 9)

Spell Description: Discharge a wave of pure energy that repels projectiles and knocks back nearby enemies. This also slows the movement of enemies by 60% and deals 200% weapon damage as Physical.
****Test Duration of Slow

Cost: 25 AP (Unruned)

CD: 15 Seconds (Unruned)

Range:

***Test Range.

R1 Impactful Wave (Lv15)

Rune Modification: Increases the distance enemies are knocked back and Stuns all affected enemies for 2 seconds.

Thoughts:

R2 Force Affinity (Lv22)

Rune Modification: Reduce casting cost to 15 Arcane Power and the cooldown is reduced to 12 seconds.

Thoughts:

R3 Forceful Wave (Lv32)

Rune Modification: Increases damage to 260% weapon damage as Physical, but reduces Knockback.

Thoughts:

R4 Teleporting Wave (Lv39)

Rune Modification: Enemies caught in the Wave of Force have a 100% chance to be randomly teleported.

Thoughts:

R5 Exploding Wave (Lv49)

Rune Modification: Enemies hit have a 40% chance to cause a smaller Wave of Force that deals 100% weapon damage as Physical and knocks back enemies caught in its wake.

Thoughts:

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

Overall Spell Thoughts:

Rune Ranking:




Passives:

Arcane Dynamo (Lv55)

Passive Description: When you deal damage with a Signature spell you may gain a Flash of Insight. After 5 Flashes of Insight, your next non-Signature spell deals 75% additional damage.
******Test whether ‘may’ suggests it’s a % proc. Test how much if so. Likely it is.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Assuming a 100% proc (unlikely) this would give you the equivalent of 9 AP per Signature spell used when you use the passive buff on Unruned Meteor (assuming you get the damage buff to the afteraffect as well, and assuming you hit with it. If you cast a Ray of Frost it could either get you 7.5 AP or 15 AP total, which would give you 1.5 or 3 AP per cast depending on how the spell works with the buff. Arcane Orb Unruned would give you 5.25 AP Per Cast.

2. All of the above assumes the 100% proc rate. If it were at 50, you can halve those values. Meteor is our hardest hitting spell even if the DoT is not effected, especially when runed. Even if the proc rate is 50% then you would still gain .5 more effective AP per signature spell cast using Meteor than you would if you used Prodigy, as well as PvP benefits associated with larger burst damage. Ray of Frost and Disintegrate would not benefit from this as much as they would from Prodigy. You would be able to hit harder for one or two hits (A full cast based on the spell description) but would end up doing less damage in the long run. With Arcane Orb it’s a tough call. It probably depends on what other passives and runes you are using. If your regen and/or AP cost of Arcane Orb are above/below normal respectively then you may get more out of this than Prodigy, but only slightly if that.

3. Use with Meteor is definitely better than the rest, and Arcane Orb is situationally good with this. However, Glass Cannon and Conflagration are great with Meteor, and for a 3rd I would more than likely recommend Astral Presence over this just so you can use more AP spells before you run dry (2 meteors in a row!) and then use them more quickly over doing 75% additional with one spell. However, 1 meteor is easier to hit with than 2 and can be combined with Frost Nova’s R5 Bone Chill to both assure a hit and get a further increase to damage. I’d recommend using Hydra as well to get Conflagration up before the meteor lands for an additional 15%. This passive will definitely lead to the hardest hitting spells combined with Glass Cannon and Conflagration (or perhaps Black Ice for Frost Spells).

***Test how the buff reacts to damaging affects with multiple hits. Arcane Torrent’s 4, Ray of Frost’s 2, Disintegrate, etc. Also test Meteor’s DoT

4. Energy Twister is also good synergy with this, though it is a hard spell to get full damage out of.

Situational Rating: 6/10. May become higher in PvP for Burst, definitely higher with Meteors assuming you can land them.





Astral Presence (Lv24)

Passive Description: Increases your maximum Arcane Power by 20 and Arcane Power regeneration by 2 per second.
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Synergizes with every Wizard that uses AP (lol!). This passive is ideal for every situation. It will increase your total base regen and pool by 20% not including gear. You will be able to spam more abilities that cost AP and will be able to regenerate that AP quicker than before. If you could only cast Arcane Orb 4 times before running out of AP before this will increase that to 5. This is particularly useful for bursting in PvP.

Situational Rating: 10/10. Holy balls.




Cold Blooded (Lv30)

Passive Description: Cold Damage dealt to Chilled and Frozen targets is increased by 20%.
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Only really useful for Cold damage based Wizards. While other Wizards can freeze and chill nigh permanently, none of their other spells would be particularly useful.

2. Synergies include Ice Armor and in particular R1 Chilling Armor (Permanent Chill to nearby enemies even while they don’t hit you. Hydra’s R4 Frost Hydra (15 Arcane Power every 15 seconds to keep it up). For solo play, Frost Nova’s R3 Frozen Mist is very good. R1 Shatter is situational but good. R5 Bone Chill is preferable for solo play, but probably not as good as R3. Ray of Frost’s R3 Sleet Storm is perfect for this. Blizzard is not bad, but I wouldn't take it for only Blizzard.

3. Note that there are no Signature Abilities that deal Cold damage. It will not translate into a 20% damage increase. At best I would call it 10% of your overall damage. A Cold Wizard will need signature abilities and other passives for AP regen as it is 100% (minus frost nova runed I suppose) AP reliant build. A notable exception to this rule is Ray of Frost when you are able to spam it indefinitely. Another exception would be Ice Armor if you are close enough to your opponents or allow them to hit you with damaging runes of Ice Armor. Depending on how big Chilling Aura is it could solve many problems for this passive.

*****Test Ice Armor R1 Chilling Aura Radius

4. Also note that not all bosses and champions/rare pack will be able to be chilled or slowed (If D2 exp pays off). Cold resistant packs will also diminish this bigtime.

Situational Rating: 7/10.




Blur (Lv10)

Passive Description: Decreases melee damage taken by 20%.
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. This passive requires you be hit in melee range – whether or not it means physical damage alone or any damage taken from a melee range is unclear. Being hit is something one should generally avoid, but may not always be possible. It is therefore a situational passive, and not necessarily to be desired even if you are getting hit in melee. More than likely Galvanizing Ward will be used, or Unstable Anomaly, or perhaps even Illusionist. Taking damage is generally reserved for tanky builds. One may find an increase in survivability by using other passives to remove yourself from melee.

2. Very useful against WD Pets, Barbarians, and Monks in PvP. We will see what survivability looks like upon the release of PvP.

******Test sources of damage in melee range and from range to see if it works on Magic/Ranged from melee, and what sources of Barbarian and Monk damage would not be mitigated by this passive.

3. Melee Wizard ftw!

Situational Rating: 3/10. Most Wizards would prefer to avoid melee range. I’d say situational based on build and particular encounter. It would receive a higher Situational Rating in PvP where most Witch Doctors, Monks, and Barbarians will be affected.





Conflagration (Lv34)

Passive Description: Dealing fire damage to enemies applies a burning effect, increasing all damage done to them by 10% for 3 seconds.
**********Test. Again, the description is unclear as to when the debuff is applied/refreshed. Also test +Fire Damage on weapons proccing it.

*********Test Familiar R1 Sparkflint for Damage type and this passive.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Use Hydra Unruned to have 100% uptime on 1-3 targets. 15 AP for 15-17 seconds of uptime is good. Generally, Hydra will provide the uptime you need on bosses in addition to being a good investment itself.

2. If Meteor’s afteraffect procs and refreshes this Passive on targets, Meteor R5 Liquify
could potentially give you the uptime you need on AoE packs. Barring that, R2 Star Pact
that reduces the AP cost of Meteor can be used to get close to full uptime. Meteor is
less useful against mobs that move erratically or quickly. Some skill is needed to
predict movement. Barring that, Frost Nova may be used to guarantee Meteor hits. Frost
Nova R5 Bone Chill would synergize well, increasing damage by 15% as well, giving
your team 10% additional damage for a while.

*****Test Meteor + Conflagration

3. There are only 8 Spells+Runes that have fire damage: Meteor (5), Shock Pulse (1),
and Hydra (2). By using Hydra, there is no issue with uptime on single targets that aren’t
quick. Shock Pulse is not predictable thus I’ll avoid it. As far as PvP is concerned I
don’t see anyone who isn’t cc’d getting hit by Hydra or Meteor all that often. Meteor R3
Meteor Shower could be used in PvP to get the uptime you need, but Meteor will still
cost a great deal of AP. I doubt uptime will be great in PvP.

4. Hydra R5 Mammoth Hydra may be good for multi-target uptime. Will have to test
further.

**********Test Hydra R5 Mammoth Hydra for AoE Conflagration.

Situational Rating: 9/10. Incredibly useful particularly in team PvM situations, but
100% AoE uptime is difficult due to lack of cheap AoE fire damage spells (or the
difficulties associated with the spells). Single Target Uptime, particularly on bosses is
nigh guaranteed with proper positioning of the Hydra. It is also useful to kill a few mobs
quicker even if you choose to not get Meteor at all and only use Hydra. Single targeting
down one mob reduces the total possible damage taken from that mob by 100%,
therefore reducing chance of death. Many group member’s abilities if not your own will
have effects for when mobs die that are only truly beneficial when one dies well before
the others.




Critical Mass (Lv50)

Passive Description: Your critical hits have a chance to reduce the cooldown of your
spells by 1 second.
******Test if can proc 2+ with 1 spell or internal cd, also the % chance.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Synergies are most notable with all major defensive spells and Archon. This could
potentially make Teleport an easy get-away ability particularly with R3 Reversal
(Assuming using it the 2nd time doesn’t reset the cd). Only really notable offensive use
is with Archon, and it is minimal. I don’t much care for the RNG in this passive.

******TEST Teleport R3 Reversal

2. Frost Nova R2 Cold Snap +Energy Armor Pinpoint Barrier+ Evocation Passive + This + Other cd reducers, you could
use abilities with CDs.

Situational Rating: 3/10. Requires a critical hit and THEN rng. It’s an RNG passive. It requires a Crit build, but its situational rating will depend on the proc rate per crit and whether or not it can proc multiple times quickly. It could be as good as a 8/10




Evocation (Lv13)

Passive Description: Reduces all cooldowns by 15%
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. The list of abilities that benefit from Evocation is as follows: Frost Nova, Diamond
Skin, Wave of Force, Slow Time, Explosive Blast (Check), Teleport, Mirror Image, and
Archon. How this passive interacts with CD reduction Runes is unknown. If it is
calculated beforehand it will benefit you more than if it is calculated in afterwards. Likely
it is afterwards, making Archon an 85 second cooldown with Evocation and Archon R3
Pure Power. Likewise makes Frost Nova with R2 Cold Snap a 7.65 second Cooldown
(Which puts its uptime at ~39% when used on CD versus 33% runed without passive,
29% with just the passive, and 25% without rune or passive).

2. Can be used Defensively or Offensively. Very good.

3. Synergizes well with Wave of Force’s R1 Impactful Wave with the stun, or perhaps R2
Force Affinity for the additional CD Reduction.

*Test Explosive Blast Reduction as well as CD Reducing Runes.

Situational Rating: 8/10. Full benefit requires you to use only spells with cooldowns, but
it is a very good passive as it is perfectly consistent and can get defensives up quickly.





Galvanizing Ward (Lv40)

Passive Description: Increases the duration of your Armor spells by 120 seconds. As
long as an Armor spell is active, you gain XXX Life per second. (Includes Energy Armor,
Ice Armor, Storm Armor)
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Synergizes with all armors! Woot!

2. Since Armors last 120 Seconds already this passive is mainly used for the Life per
Second portion of this passive. I could see it being used in Hardcore and in PvP just for
the Life regen, but as I don’t know what HP and damage will look like at higher levels I
couldn’t say how effective it will be.

3. This passive + Storm Armor’s R4 Scramble could be used to kite and survive in larger
areas for very long periods of time, or similarly with Ice Armor’s R1 Chilling Aura. I
would generally use Scramble because it allows for better positioning and has an effect
vs ranged and magic-users as well. Take a hit? NP 25% increased movement I’m
outs.

4. As with any form of survivability, the more you stack the more you are invulnerable to
death. Look at my build suggestions below for “Tank Wizard” in the Survivability Section.

Situational Rating: 8/10. You must be hit for this passive to have any use, but more
than likely you will be. It helps to counter all forms of damage since it affects Life
directly. Given the other passive choices you have, the viability of this passive largely
depends on how well it will keep you alive. It has the potential to swing both ways.




Glass Cannon (Lv16)

Passive Description: Increases all damage done by 15% but decreases armor and resistances by 10%
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Synergizes with all damaging spells!

2. The downside is not as big as it seems. -10% armor/resistances probably only means a percent or two increased damage to your character. It’s the same as reducing your health pool from 500 to 490 (For my lv 13 Wizard). In my opinion this passive is a must have for almost any build. I’ll probably still use this in Hardcore, but this remains to be seen. It is possible there is a mitigation cap for resists/armor in which case the downside could be completely eliminated.

Situational Rating: 10/10 Practically always helps but has a small downside!



Illusionist (Lv27)

Passive Description: Whenever you suffer more than 15% of your Life in a single hit, the cooldowns on Mirror Image and Teleport are automatically reset.
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. The whole passive is built around you getting hit, getting hit for more than 15%, and having teleport/mirror image or both for the full effect. You will very likely die if you consistently find Teleport and Mirror Image and/or other defensives on cooldown and then STILL get hit and for more than 15% of your hp.

2. While I dislike this passive’s idea immensely, it obviously synergizes with Mirror Image and Teleport. A fun way to use it would be to get Mirror Image R5 Mirror Mimics and constantly spam it while getting Teleport’s R4 Fracture and just creating a massive army of yourselves (Image R2 Duplicates would get you even more selves but no damage!) and get some hard-hitting ability and just confuse the **** out of your opponents. To be honest, now that I’ve thought of that I’m doing it. **** it. It’ll be wicked. I like this passive now (They’ll most likely just aoe your mirrors down and it won’t do much).

*******Test the lulz and see if it actually works and how well.

Situational Rating: .5/10. Verrrrrrry situational. Could not give it a whole number.




Passive Description: Lightning damage dealt to enemies has up to a 5% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. While noting that it would take 20 hits of lightning to stun something, keep in mind that with 1.4 casts a second (Common Weapon Speed) it’d only take 14.3 seconds theoretically to get a proc. Paired with Electrocute’s R1 Chain Lightning or R5 Arc Lightning, it isn’t necessarily a poor choice.

2. Interesting possibility is synergy with Shock Pulse’s R5 Living Lightning. 37% damage per hit, but lightning damage! This reduces time needed for stuns practically in half if the Living Lightning hits 1.4 as well.

***************Test Shock Pulse R5 Living Lightning for synergy.

3. Storm Armor with R5 Shocking Aspect (or any other) will give additional Lightning Damage sources without needing to cast. This will punish anything that gets too close to you. Since your Crits trigger a 2nd Lightning source, stacking a good bit of crit will be beneficial if looking to proc this passive.

******Test Storm Armor, then R5 synergy with Paralysis.

4. Hydra R2 Lightning Hydra will be yet another good source of lightning damage hits.

*******TEST THINGS!

5. Magic Weapon’s R1 Elecrify will provide an amazing source of lightning hits for melee wizards.

*****TEST THINGS!

6. Familiar R2 Dartling says ‘lightning’ but not specifically referring to damage. Test.

****TEST THINGS!

Situational Rating: Hard to say. It requires a certain playstyle but could be excellent. If no diminishing returns exist in PvM or PvP (as long as they don’t exist) it could be 100% viable. It definitely won’t be the best damage, but you will likely live a long time and piss off everyone who tries to get their hands on you. Probably not good vs bosses.




Power Hungry (Lv10)

Passive Description: Whenever you are healed by a health globe you gain 30 Arcane Power.
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Has no internal cooldown, but keep in mind that you regenerate 10 or so Arcane Power a second. Running to an orb and grabbing it will put you higher in Arcane Power than you may think.

2. Keep in mind that any time spent running could be spent casting damaging spells that are free and may even regen arcane power themselves based on your runes and passives. This passive is better with a team. Teleporting to them may also be an option if it’s a good place to teleport.

3. This passive does not help killing groups of monsters that have similar hp, especially high hp monsters. May be very good on certain boss fights where globes spawn by themselves or low hp adds frequently spawn.

4. Health globes stay on the ground for 60 seconds before disappearing. Pull packs into boss rooms and then kill them and engage the boss while health globes are still around. It’ll help survivability on the boss as well as damage.

Situational Rating: 3/10. Fairly Situational.





Prodigy (Lv20)

Passive Description: When you deal damage with a Signature Spell, you gain 4 Arcane Power.
***********Test to see what it actually does. Who the **** knows what blizzard means by that?

Signature Spells: Electrocute, Spectral Blade, Magic Missile, Shock Pulse
---Aside, It probably actually maxxes out at 4 Arcane Power, otherwise Electrocute+This will have ridiculous synergy. The wording would then be this: “When you cast a Signature Spell that deals damage, you gain 4 Arcane Power.”

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Use with Electrocute R5 Arc Lightning for Infinite AP! (Probably Not!)

2. Can be used with Signature runes that restore AP if you have particularly AP-Heavy builds. Spectral Blade R3 Siphoning Blade + This + Frost Nova would be a powerful combination AP Regen. The other abilities could just be Meteor or other AP-Heavy Abilities.
Situational Rating: 8/10. It’s good, but you aren’t always casting Signature Abilities. If you feel that you are always AP starved and spamming signature abilities then this is a great passive.



Temporal Flux (Lv45)

Passive Description: When you damage enemies with Arcane spells, they are slowed by 30% for 2 seconds.
Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. Good for Arcane Wizards who want to make room for other damaging spells or armors instead of getting Frost spells or Frost Nova for kiting or CC.

2. A VERY good synergy for PvP is Magic Missile’s Seeker Rune (R5).

3. Using with Disintegrate will allow you to slow the entire screen very quickly. For skilled users within a second.

4. I don’t note R1 Arcane Hydra synergy mainly because I’d just use R4 Frost Hydra instead and use a different passive, although it’d probably extend the range of the slow by a bit.

5. Use with Familiar for possible slows that you don’t even have to cast.

6. Use with Arcane Orb R4 Arcane Orbit to punish and slow any who dare enter your melee range.

Situational Rating: 9/10 Almost always good.





Unstable Anomaly (Lv60)

Passive Description: When reduced below 20% Life you will release a shockwave that knocks all enemies back. This effect cannot occur more than once every 60 seconds.
*****Test KB Range, most likely similar to Wave of Force.

Tips, Tricks, and Synergies:

1. This passive will probably not be the favorite of many people, but who knows! My first suggestion is stop going under 20% hp! You’re letting people hit you! The only excuse a Wizard has for this is extremely fast mobs that are immune to movement impairing effects, and that won’t get off him in team situations or if it’s a solo situation.

2. This passive requires anything and everything that is killing you to be in melee range in order to be effective at all, depending on the range. Most likely it is similar to Wave of Force.

3. Simple synergy if you’re having trouble with melee is to get Galvanizing Ward and get Ice Armor R1-R4, or Storm Armor with R4 Scramble (My personal Favorite), or Energy Armor with any rune preferred. Teleport, Frost Nova, and Mirror Images with R1 Simulacrum or R2 Duplicates will assist in survivability as well.

4. My simple answer to this passive is don’t get it and get some of the spells in #3 for
survivability. I think the passive Blur is the best survivability option if you’re having
particular difficulty with keeping melee off you, but half of the Wizard’s job is keeping
them off you. If it’s seriously the only thing you have trouble with and you have the above
spells then grab this and I’ll keep you in my prayers.

Situational Rating: 1/10. Stop letting people hit you and going under 20% in melee range!

[phantom325]

V. As-You-Level Recommended Spell Setup
This section will suggest a Spell+Rune build (and companion build) for use against general monsters as you level. How additional spells affect your strategy will be covered (As you go from 2 spells on up to 6 and 0 passives on up to 3 or switch out skills). Particularly difficult bosses for the Wizard to solo or those that require a change of build will be covered at the end of this section of the Guide.

i. General Guide

Note that this section is currently Theorycrafted. When I (Heratli) make a Wizard I will update this to what I deem best. For now, this is what I believe will be.

If at any point you believe that your AP requirements are too hefty, you should switch one AP spell to a defensive non-ap spell. Slow Time is not suggested much but it goes VERY well with Wave of Force and fits in at any point along these levels. Optional switches are noted. If you think you are taking too much damage switch Glass Cannon for perhaps Blur. Individual playstyles should be catered to as much as possible. This build tries to stay with 10 AP per Second regen and 0 AP per crit as much as possible, so AP stress shouldn't be that significant. There are multiple elements throughout most of this. I think there are few places where spells double on a single element.

Don't stick strictly by this guide. By all means, if you wish to use a spell use it! Half the fun in this game is experimentation!



Level 1-10
Lv1:
LeftClick: MM

Lv2:
LeftClick: MM
RightClick: Ray of Frost

Lv3:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse
RightClick: Ray of Frost

Lv4:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse
RightClick: Ray of Frost
1: Frost Nova

Lv5:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse
RightClick: Ray of Frost
1: Frost Nova

Lv6:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse
RightClick: Ray of Frost
1: Frost Nova

Lv7:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse
RightClick: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
1: Frost Nova

Lv8:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse
RightClick: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
1: Frost Nova

Lv9:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
1: Frost Nova
2: Wave of Force

Lv10:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
1: Frost Nova
2: Wave of Force
P1: Power Hungry



Levels 11-20
Lv11:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Obliteration (Optional for quicker clears)
1: Frost Nova
2: Wave of Force
P1: Power Hungry

Lv12:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Obliteration
1: Frost Nova + Shatter
2: Wave of Force
P1: Power Hungry

Lv13:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Obliteration (Opt. Energy Twister)
1: Frost Nova + Shatter
2: Wave of Force
P1: Evocation (Opt. Power Hungry if mobs die quickly and defensives are not needed)

Lv14:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Obliteration
1: Frost Nova + Shatter
2: Wave of Force
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
P1: Evocation

Lv15:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Obliteration
1: Frost Nova + Shatter
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune (Opt. Snow Blast)
P1: Evocation

Lv16:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Oblieration
1: Frost Nova + Shatter
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
P1: Glass Cannon

Lv17:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Explosive Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Oblieration
1: Frost Nova + Shatter
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
P1: Glass Cannon

Lv18:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
P1: Glass Cannon

Lv19:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts (Opt. Spectral Blade + Deep Cuts if melee range is no issue)
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast (Opt. Slow Time if Ranged troubles or Group needs)
P1: Glass Cannon

Lv20:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Magic Weapon if Defensives aren't needed)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation


Levels 21-30
Lv21:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption (Opt. Disintegrate if you like it)
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv22:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Teleport)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave (Opt Force Affinity Rune if AP starved/kb more important than stun)
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv23:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv24:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Unleashed
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv25:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Torrent + Disruption (Opt. Death Blossom for giggles)
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Unleashed
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv26:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Unleashed
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv27:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Unleashed
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv28:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Frozen Mist for extra damage)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune (Opt. Cold Blood if slow is unneeded)
4: Explosive Blast + Unleashed
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv29:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Slow Time + Time Warp)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation

Lv30:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Astral Presence




Levels 31-40
Lv31:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Ice Armor Crystallize)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Astral Presence

Lv32:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Astral Presence

Lv33:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Piercing Orb
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Storm Armor Power of thte Storm for AP purposes)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Astral Presence

Lv34:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv35:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Magic Weapon + Force Weapon if CC unneeded)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv36:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv37:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv38:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv39:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence (Opt. Volatility if mobs die quickly)
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv40:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration



Levels 41-50
Lv41:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Deep Freeze Rune for crit only if fighting groups of mobs)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv42:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv43:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv44:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Disintegrate + Convergence
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv45:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Piercing Orb
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap (Opt. Mirror Images Mocking Demise)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Temporal Flux

Lv46:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Piercing Orb
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Ray of Frost + Numb Rune (Opt. Hydra Frost Hydra if mostly AoE packs)
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Temporal Flux

Lv47:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv48:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv49:
LeftClick: Shock Pulse + Fire Bolts
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Cold Snap
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Conflagration

Lv50:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze (Opt. Cold Snap if Crit from Gear is high)
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass



Levels 51-60
Lv51:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv52:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv53:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv54:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv55:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv56:
LeftClick: Electrocute + Chain Lightning
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb (Opt. Mammoth Hydra and Conflag>Critical Mass, could then switch out Deep Freeze on Frost Nova for Cold Snap)
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv57:
LeftClick: Spectral Blade + Thrown Blade
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv58:
LeftClick: Spectral Blade + Thrown Blade
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv59:
LeftClick: Spectral Blade + Thrown Blade
RightClick: Arcane Orb + Tap the Source
1: Frost Nova + Deep Freeze
2: Wave of Force + Impactful Wave
3: Blizzard + Snowbound
4: Explosive Blast + Time Bomb
P1: Glass Cannon
P2: Evocation
P3: Critical Mass

Lv60: Do as you please! Example Builds further down.




VI. Level 60 Spell, Rune, Passives, and Item Guides PvM

This Section will show several suggestions for viable builds in PvM both to solo with and to group with. It is by no means comprehensive. The builds within will note who tested the builds (This person will vouch for the build!) as well as the Patch/Date the build was added. Builds will be marked as “Recommended for Hardcore/Softcore” as well as “For Solo Play” or “For Teaming with X/X/X” Where necessary. Weaknesses of the Builds will be noted as they are found.

i. Glass Cannon Builds

The Ultimate Single Target Glass Cannon
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III


This build is, so far, the highest single target damage I have been able to theorycraft. with a .5 aps weapon Ray of Frost without the AP Reducing rune may be cast 100% of the time - Hydra only taking a bit away on occasion, easily regenerated when need be with a filler Magic Missile that regens AP. With R4 Cold Blood (Reduces cost from 20 to 12 per ‘cast’) you need a weapon with .83 aps to get infinite use. If you switch Storm Armor to R2 Power of the Storm, you need a 1.11 aps weapon (easily achieved) to spam Ray of Frost 100%, this will give you a regeneration of 1 AP per second – which is enough to keep Familiar and Magic weapon up and almost enough to keep Hydra up permanently. You will have a few seconds of downtime to get the AP for Hydra, but nothing major. You may wand the bosses!

Hydra would provide full uptime of Conflagration on single targets (potentially more) which increases all forms of damage - at least against mobs that it can hit fairly well. Some positioning is required. Slow time will provide 40% uptime on a +20% damage debuff as well as provide some defense, particularly against ranged. Magic Weapon will provide a 20% damage buff to the physical damage on your weapon, thus ~20% damage buff needing to be refreshed for 25AP every 2 minutes.. Familiar will at 15% damage buff – needing to be refreshed at the cost of 20AP per 2 minutes Storm Armor probably requires you to stay within a certain range of the boss to be fully effective but I don't see it being much of an issue. Familiar will whack away at things as well. Ray of Frost will provide 100% uptime on Black Ice, which will only increase cold damage – but Ray of Frost is exactly what you’re spamming. The first tick may not get the benefits, but the rest will.
There are various ways to improve survivability with this build, most notably gear. I’d generally recommend using this only with teammates and against single targets. Your only defense is Slow Time, so be careful.





iii. Damage/Survival Mix Builds
Group Multi-Elemental Spec
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III


Energy Twister Build
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III


iv. Funky Builds! (Built Around One Spell or Theme)
Melee Wizard
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III

Lightning Stun King
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...RTS!YfV!ccZZYa

Image-in that!
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III

Critter
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III

Knock 'em Back
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III



VII. Level 60 Spell, Rune, Passives, and Item Guides PvP

This section will note promising PvP Builds for the Wizard. New sections will be put in place as new forms of PvP arise. Current PvP suggestions are for 4v4 Team Deathmatch. Team Comps that Builds are tested in will be noted. Strengths and Weaknesses of particular builds 1v1 will be noted to the best of our ability. Strategies for each build will be noted.

i. Glass Cannon Builds

Well-Timed Burst

Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III



ii. Survivability Builds

“I don’t like being touched”

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...Tgd!fYU!bZcYZa




iii. Damage/Survival Mix Builds

'Come at me bro'

Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III



iv. Funky Builds!

CC Machine
Wizard - Game Guide - Diablo III

[phantom325]

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