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Author Topic: OMG LASERS PEW PEW (Wizard Thread)  (Read 52219 times)
Rendakor
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Reply #35 on: May 19, 2012, 10:19:23 AM

We killed him last night on Hell; only took us two attempts (phase 2 is fucking awful) with two Wizzies, a Barb and a WD. Frost Nova and DS were pretty essential; we kept him stunned most of the fight. In phase 2 we had the WD use his mind control thing to help manage the adds.

"i can't be a star citizen. they won't even give me a star green card"
K9
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Reply #36 on: May 19, 2012, 10:28:38 AM

Using this build, based off comments inthe D3 forum.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#aZXRSP!WXa!abaaaa

I find it impossible to dodge the conflag attack .. It almost always flares within a few feet of me, so I burn and die.  The AOE flares that trace the ground fuck me up, too.

Unfun is exactly how Id put it.  Particularly the wizard shadow clones, whcih seem to have not been nerfed from beta damage to Arcane orb.  One orb from one clone wiped my entire group one attempt.

Why Mirror Image, will Diablo actually go for them? You should be able to eat conflags with Diamond Skin if worst comes to worst. I managed to avoid the worst of the AoE flares by virtue of being miles away and letting my hydra and blizzard do the damage. Ray of Frost seems optimistic, I don't see where you'd have enough time to stand around dropping it on him, especially since he can teleport to you. I'd swap it out for blizzard, but that's how I like things, and swap mirror image for frost nova. You're pretty light on escapes there imho.

The healing wells are pretty vital, and that annoys me. The whole orb mechanic was supposed to make healing a more natural part of the fight, and then you go have the final boss drop 0-1 orbs per phase.

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Merusk
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Reply #37 on: May 19, 2012, 10:48:09 AM

I just beat him, finally using that build but with blizzard instead of magic weapon.  Heart

Diamond Skin was the key.  I just didn't have the survivability without it, even with frost nova.  Which kind of sucks.

Yes, he goes for the Mirror Images.  Saved my ass a few times as he shot the conflag at one instead of me.   The whole fight was done by my low-ass-dps hydra, though. 

ROF is usable because you have to cheese the son of a bitch.  The central parts with the openings and the holes in the nightmare realm keep him occupied long enough to get a ROF off every now and again if you dance around them.  Which you have to do to keep going back to the healing wells.

The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
K9
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Reply #38 on: May 19, 2012, 10:49:40 AM

Well done man!

You managed to buy some potions too then?

Hydra is Heart

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Azuredream
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Reply #39 on: May 19, 2012, 11:36:56 AM

I don't think you're doing Mirror Image justice, I've found it amazing on bosses like Izual and Diablo that hit like trucks. They go for the MI every time I cast it while I can sit back and freely cast on the boss. The cooldown vs duration is such that you can have it active about half the time.

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kildorn
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Reply #40 on: May 19, 2012, 06:30:15 PM

Hydras seem to do far more damage than the tooltip says. Mine absolutely destroys things far faster than 20-30% damage would imply.

As for wizard vs boss: I've found every boss to be cheesed by Diamond Skin/Channeled damage skill (personally, I use arcane torrent because I like it), then kite until Diamond Skin is back up.

This has not helped me when Nightmare decides to throw me up against Molten/Fast/Jailer/Waller in the same packs however.
Azuredream
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Reply #41 on: May 19, 2012, 06:53:36 PM

I just got poison hydra at 38, it's amazing.

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Merusk
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Reply #42 on: May 20, 2012, 05:00:04 AM

Hydras seem to do far more damage than the tooltip says. Mine absolutely destroys things far faster than 20-30% damage would imply.

As for wizard vs boss: I've found every boss to be cheesed by Diamond Skin/Channeled damage skill (personally, I use arcane torrent because I like it), then kite until Diamond Skin is back up.

This has not helped me when Nightmare decides to throw me up against Molten/Fast/Jailer/Waller in the same packs however.

Since you're using AT are you also using Disruption rune and Arcane Hydras?  That would account for some part of their extra damage.

As for them doing more than 20-30% WD, what I think is happening is that Hydras are invulnerable and attack pretty damn fast.  So even 20% stacks up when they can attack faster than you could because of the necessity of dodging on your part.   

The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
kildorn
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Reply #43 on: May 20, 2012, 05:35:31 AM

Hydras seem to do far more damage than the tooltip says. Mine absolutely destroys things far faster than 20-30% damage would imply.

As for wizard vs boss: I've found every boss to be cheesed by Diamond Skin/Channeled damage skill (personally, I use arcane torrent because I like it), then kite until Diamond Skin is back up.

This has not helped me when Nightmare decides to throw me up against Molten/Fast/Jailer/Waller in the same packs however.

Since you're using AT are you also using Disruption rune and Arcane Hydras?  That would account for some part of their extra damage.

As for them doing more than 20-30% WD, what I think is happening is that Hydras are invulnerable and attack pretty damn fast.  So even 20% stacks up when they can attack faster than you could because of the necessity of dodging on your part.   

I was using electric hydras (I don't have the AT disruption effect up for more than increasing it's own damage on trash) and noticed the hydra hitting for about 70% of a normal mob's health in nightmare with about 1200-1400 damage on my char sheet. I'm comparing that to my 80% damage electrocute usually needing to channel for about 3 tics to kill the same target.

I have a feeling we're missing something about tic frequency in the damage stats, too. AT seems to vastly outdamage Ray of Frost for me when I was just using them to waste a boss. While RoF has a much higher damage stat, it just felt like AT was doing a much better job of flattening things in 2-3 impacts.

I will say that my best damage add is Blizzard/slowing fog rune + the 20% more damage to slowed things rune. Blizzard and a Hydra pretty much holds an entire flank for a bit.
EWSpider
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Reply #44 on: May 20, 2012, 08:59:16 AM

I killed Diablo first try with this build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bZXRSj!YXc!aZaaaa

Basically just keep Hydra up and kite until Diamond Skin is up.  Once Diamond Skin is up use it and just stand there and DPS him with Ray of Frost.  Rinse and repeat until dead.

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MuffinMan
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Reply #45 on: May 20, 2012, 09:10:34 AM

I went into Diablo with the same setup I'd been leveling with. I just expected to die and then tweak my skills from there but I killed him first try somehow.

Here's what I've been using.

I popped explosive blast, ran up to him and frost nova'd, wave of force and then explosive blast would go off. Run away and disintegrate, used diamond skin as needed when I was getting hit. It got hairy twice when I was making a mad dash for the wells with a sliver of health.

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Rendakor
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Reply #46 on: May 20, 2012, 11:42:29 PM

So I'd killed Diablo on NM with some friends, but wanted to solo him a) to see if I could and b) because I'm not 50 yet and so I can't start Hell. So I decided to restart Act 4 solo; had a decent time of it aside from certain shitty combos of Elites/Champs (Mortar + Jailor/Waller). Izual however was impossible; his charge ability would one-shot me if I didn't have DS up, but I had to blow it to soak his unavoidable freezes. So I said fuck it and skipped right to Diablo.

Managed to one-shot him on NM, using this build. Blizzard did most of the work; RoF let me burn down the Clone in P2 almost instantly, with Frost Nova and DS for when shit got bad. Things got rough a couple times in P3 and I had to LOS his fireballs using the Healing Wells a few times, but I got him.

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Merusk
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Reply #47 on: May 21, 2012, 06:31:17 AM

Evidently this build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bRXdOS!fgT!cbacYZ

Is incredibly overpowered.  With even a mild crit-rate (author said he only had 10%) you're able to spam Frost Nova & wave of force because living lighting & the hydra's poison pools (which stack on top of each other) are persistent with fast ticks so you can fish for critical procs with both while running for your life.

The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
kildorn
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Reply #48 on: May 21, 2012, 06:57:04 AM

It's the GW1 55hp build, basically. The core of the build is not taking ANY vit gear, so the 35% damage cap kicks in on every incoming hit while your health regen instantly restores the loss (since the health regen rate is balanced for you having 20x the hp pool you actually wind up having)

Fishing for crits is just helping your damage out, but the core of the OPness is the energy armor rune, and the stat choices you make around it.
apocrypha
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Reply #49 on: May 21, 2012, 09:11:13 AM

Just solo'd nightmare Diablo on my wizard first try.

Was still dying lots to nightmare champ packs so I had a browse of the Wizard forums and found someone talking about a melee-leech-crit wizard build, thought I'd give it a try. Bought a bunch of +crit/life on hit/regen gear and went to town.

This is the build: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#WRXYSO!gbf!YbaYYZ

It's fantastic. I am pretty much unkillable. With Venom Hydra spitting out and me spamming Spectral Blades my crit rate (17% base) is high enough that I can keep Diamond Skin up almost constantly when fighting and hit Frost Nova every few seconds. The life steal and regen is high enough that I can just ignore most ground-based stuff like Plagued/Molten pools. Great fun :)

OFC I have zero MF/GF but I'll think about a good farming build later. Gonna give Hell a try later on and also see how it fares in 2/3/4-player nightmare.

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K9
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Reply #50 on: May 21, 2012, 10:56:51 AM

That actually looks really fun; need 51 for healing blades though.

Does anyone know if attack speed affects the rate at which hydra and blizzard apply damage (and other abilities)?

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lesion
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Reply #51 on: May 22, 2012, 12:43:18 AM

I've been running with this meteor build lately for NM hardcore: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UkXROQ!bXf!aZZbZY

I usually team up with a monk who's stacking defense/health, so he pulls the mobs in, I hit diamond skin then spam death from above until I'm out of AP. I don't think it's gonna get old for a while, even though the build is a little squishy outside that DS window. For solo it works pretty well since the mobs die fast--they cluster up and pop like bubble wrap.

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Hutch
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Reply #52 on: May 22, 2012, 03:51:43 AM

Level 31, partway through Act IV normal.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UilRXj!abX!aa.aaa

I just switched from Magic Weapon to Familiar with Sparkflint, but having read through this thread, that might not have been the best move w.r.t. damage output. I might have to take a closer look at the numbers.

I love Electrocute with Chain Lightning. It mashes trash packs.
I got the 30-mob Mighty Blow achievement with chain lightning. I was immediately killed by the accompanying mini-boss, of course :)

I use Blizzard and Arcane Hydra for standard AoE purposes, also as fire-and-forget kiting (aka fleeing) aids. I've survived bosses and mini bosses by kiting while Diamond Skin and Quaff are on their cooldowns, and letting Blizzard and Hydra do the work in the meantime.

I haven't finished act IV yet. Or gotten past Normal mode. So, we'll see how well things hold up going forward.

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EWSpider
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Reply #53 on: May 22, 2012, 05:49:01 AM

Level 31, partway through Act IV normal.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UilRXj!abX!aa.aaa

I just switched from Magic Weapon to Familiar with Sparkflint, but having read through this thread, that might not have been the best move w.r.t. damage output. I might have to take a closer look at the numbers.

I love Electrocute with Chain Lightning. It mashes trash packs.
I got the 30-mob Mighty Blow achievement with chain lightning. I was immediately killed by the accompanying mini-boss, of course :)

I use Blizzard and Arcane Hydra for standard AoE purposes, also as fire-and-forget kiting (aka fleeing) aids. I've survived bosses and mini bosses by kiting while Diamond Skin and Quaff are on their cooldowns, and letting Blizzard and Hydra do the work in the meantime.

I haven't finished act IV yet. Or gotten past Normal mode. So, we'll see how well things hold up going forward.


Familiar with Sparkflint is a bigger boost until you get Force Weapon and then Magic Weapon with that is a slightly higher boost.

most often known as Drevik
kildorn
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Reply #54 on: May 22, 2012, 06:58:26 AM

I'm in Act 4/Nightmare right now at level 49, using this:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UkXlfR!XYf!ZYYbYb

I switch up my build really often, but I think I finally gave up on channeled spells when soloing, I just can't afford to stand still. Meteor makes most bosses pretty easy since you can concentrate on positioning and just randomly right click the boss to drop a bomb on them. And my hydra and blizzard wipe trash packs. Enduring Skin is the only one I'm iffy on. It helps for things that would never break Diamond Skin during it's short duration anyways, but I've started running into things that will break Skin and hit for 90% of my health as well in a single hit. Right now I'm stuck on the blade armed Act 4 boss, who has a teleport/huge hit skill that I can't dodge and will one shot me without DS up. I think I need more than my 7k health in Act 4 NM. But I'm running with ~2600 damage without using familiar or enchanted weapon.
Hutch
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Reply #55 on: May 22, 2012, 08:53:48 AM


Familiar with Sparkflint is a bigger boost until you get Force Weapon and then Magic Weapon with that is a slightly higher boost.

Something I'd like to see for these spells is some kind of reminder (visual, sound, whatever) that they've worn off. I don't know how many times I've gotten through a fight and then noticed that MW wasn't active.

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Rendakor
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Reply #56 on: May 22, 2012, 09:41:21 AM

Agreed, I really wish they had a buff icon like the Armor spells do.

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Merusk
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Reply #57 on: May 22, 2012, 09:45:12 AM

I believe the thought process is "Well it creates a visual on your character, pay better attention!"

This works less well in practice than it should for MW most of the time.  (Unless you do the rune that gives the awesome fire effect.. THAT is noticeable.)

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kildorn
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Reply #58 on: May 22, 2012, 09:51:09 AM

The desire for a buff icon is more "know if it only has 15 seconds left on it before you pull some shit"

I just habitually tap my armor spells between mob packs because I let it drop entirely too often.
EWSpider
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Reply #59 on: May 22, 2012, 11:08:27 AM

The desire for a buff icon is more "know if it only has 15 seconds left on it before you pull some shit"

I just habitually tap my armor spells between mob packs because I let it drop entirely too often.

This.  I agree it should have a buff icon and/or other reminders, but I've adapted by recasting my spells after every other pull.

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Trippy
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Reply #60 on: May 22, 2012, 04:12:36 PM

Head scratch

Monk Mantras display an icon above the action bar showing the remaining duration. Wizards don't have something similar?
caladein
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Reply #61 on: May 22, 2012, 04:33:23 PM

We do for armors and a few of our proc buffs, but not for Magic Weapon or Familiars.

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kildorn
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Reply #62 on: May 22, 2012, 04:58:12 PM

We do for armors and a few of our proc buffs, but not for Magic Weapon or Familiars.

Yeah, it's just a random inconsistency with two of their buffs.
Llyse
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Reply #63 on: May 22, 2012, 05:47:28 PM

I'm in Act 4/Nightmare right now at level 49, using this:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UkXlfR!XYf!ZYYbYb

I switch up my build really often, but I think I finally gave up on channeled spells when soloing, I just can't afford to stand still. Meteor makes most bosses pretty easy since you can concentrate on positioning and just randomly right click the boss to drop a bomb on them. And my hydra and blizzard wipe trash packs. Enduring Skin is the only one I'm iffy on. It helps for things that would never break Diamond Skin during it's short duration anyways, but I've started running into things that will break Skin and hit for 90% of my health as well in a single hit. Right now I'm stuck on the blade armed Act 4 boss, who has a teleport/huge hit skill that I can't dodge and will one shot me without DS up. I think I need more than my 7k health in Act 4 NM. But I'm running with ~2600 damage without using familiar or enchanted weapon.

What Hydra and Ice armor are you using? - Nvm, Poison and Melee Frost nova

I was mucking around with some friend's last night in Act 2 NM underlevel (32 at the start, 36 by the end of the session) and admittedly I would lose a fuckton of hp if I got hit, but I didn't seem to get oneshotted most of the time unless I went into melee with Arcane/Fire Chains etc.

I might switch disintegrate for Meteor and change my Diamond Skin from Prism to Crystal Shell for that extra survivability... What I really do really rate is Power Hungry, in 4 player NM picking up globes means I'm getting my arcane back at a damn fast pace.

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Reply #64 on: May 22, 2012, 11:19:55 PM

The Magic Weapon lack of icon is annoying, yeah. In fact I've got into the habit now of refreshing my buffs every single time there's a 2 second gap between fights, and often during long fights.

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K9
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Reply #65 on: May 23, 2012, 01:57:16 AM

Meteor Swarm!  awesome, for real

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Merusk
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Reply #66 on: May 23, 2012, 04:42:24 AM

I want swarm very bad. Meteor is one of my favorite spells.

I got "Death's Cold Embrace" achieve last night and I credit it entirely to Meteor w/ Star Pact.    My current tactic is to run near a swarm, drop a hydra and then circle so the mobs are packed together.  Frost Nova, then spam 3 meteors quickly.. they all explode pdq.

I'm not feeling the love for poison hydra over lighting, though.  It seems like he attacks a lot slower and the bolts don't have the damage of the lighting hydra.  I think it'd be great if I were grouping with people so I had a front line to keep them together but right now it's not so hot.

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MuffinMan
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Reply #67 on: May 23, 2012, 05:44:07 AM

The extra damage from poison hydra is the acid damage mobs take from being in the vicinity of it. They really drop fast when they are in the acid. It's hard to pull off when soloing though since you'd have to be in melee range to keep them next to the hydra.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2012, 11:09:43 AM by MuffinMan »

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K9
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Reply #68 on: May 23, 2012, 06:00:01 AM

Using Blizzard with the rune which gives a chance to freeze mobs in place in combination with Hydra seems to drop things really fast. I switch to lightning Hydra for boss encounters. Frost Hydra seems to have an impractically short range, and as such I couldn't get much use out of it.

One thing that is bugging me right now is the fact that the signature spells are only Lightning or Arcane (with the exception of one runed version of Shock Pulse). It would seemed to have been nicer to have Spectral blades do Cold Damage, and replace Shock Pulse with a fire spell. A minor niggle, but it seems to cut down on some of the flavour of the builds.

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Reply #69 on: May 23, 2012, 06:53:11 AM

Blizzard + Poison Hydra deals a silly amount of damage. I can't really explain it by the numbers, but it seems to be avoiding DR in some way (it murders those hulk things that shield up for example)

You don't need them to stand still in the pools, you just need them slowed a bit while in it. Useless against Fast modifiers, but pretty awesome against everything else. When soloing, use the templar to form melee clusterfucks for the combo to target as well. Drop the hydra in the middle of the melee to force it to attack that mess.

Most of my wizarding consists of blizzard/hydra and then deciding if it's trash that will die to crit electrocutes, or if there's a meat shield in there that should get a comet or two. And then spam blizzard kiting champ packs across half the damned map. Low AP use Blizzard is so awesome for always having them down in front of the mobs.
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