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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Diablo 3  |  Topic: OMG LASERS PEW PEW (Wizard Thread) 0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: OMG LASERS PEW PEW (Wizard Thread)  (Read 52234 times)
Ironwood
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Reply #105 on: May 29, 2012, 09:02:55 AM

I started with the wizard.  I didn't think it that bad until I started a monk and then a warrior.

So now that I have some comparison, I can say up until 30 that the Wizard is the most boring I've played yet.  Hell, even my wee level 5 Demon Hunter is more fun.

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ezrast
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Reply #106 on: May 29, 2012, 11:00:25 AM

If you twink your gear, Diamond Skin and Wave of Force are all you really need for any given pack through most of normal.
Ingmar
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Reply #107 on: May 29, 2012, 12:50:50 PM

I did act IV normal pretty much just using archon, diamond skin, and electrocute. Oh look, a boss - hit archon, hold down RMB, collect loot. (Except for big D this is how they all went.)

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K9
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Reply #108 on: May 30, 2012, 04:08:55 AM

Is mammoth hydra good? It doesn't seem as good as venom hydra but the description suggests that it should be an upgrade.

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apocrypha
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Reply #109 on: May 30, 2012, 05:34:10 AM

I gave Mammoth Hydra a try and it seemed shit. It spews out a line of fire from its static location, so you have to position both it and the mobs so that they stand still in it.

Venom Hydra spits globs of goo at the mobs, wherever they are, so it'll put stuff under them when they're beating on you etc. End result is that with Venom Hydra more mobs stand in multiple stacks of acid goo for longer and take much, much more damage.

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calapine
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Reply #110 on: May 30, 2012, 05:46:47 AM

So far it boils down to Arcane Hydra for arcane kiting with temporal flux or Venom Hydra for max damage.

I am very afraid of a Venom Hydra nerf actually...
« Last Edit: May 30, 2012, 06:16:08 AM by calapine »

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apocrypha
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Reply #111 on: May 30, 2012, 06:01:24 AM

I am very afraid of a Venom Hydra nerf actually...

Yep, expecting that any time, plus I would guess a nerf of Diamond Skin any time too.

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MuffinMan
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Reply #112 on: May 30, 2012, 06:02:09 AM

I am very afraid of a Venom Hydra nerf actually...
I am, too. I try and switch to other hydras that on paper seem to be better but that acid bath is just too great. Temporal flux passive works great with my arcane orb, maybe I should try arcane hydra for more stunning action.

I think we need anything but nerfs, I feel like I'm hitting a wall in Act 3 Hell.

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Reply #113 on: May 30, 2012, 11:53:23 AM

I gave Mammoth Hydra a try and it seemed shit. It spews out a line of fire from its static location, so you have to position both it and the mobs so that they stand still in it.

Venom Hydra spits globs of goo at the mobs, wherever they are, so it'll put stuff under them when they're beating on you etc. End result is that with Venom Hydra more mobs stand in multiple stacks of acid goo for longer and take much, much more damage.

This was my impression, it also seems that Mammoth Hydra fires a lot slower than Venom Hydra. Lightning Hydra seems like it could have a nice for single-target DPS, although I can't remember getting a feel for it very well. Arcane Hydra seems fine, Frost Hydra seems broken.

As far as nerfs go, while there is a lot of diversity in builds then general shape of Signature Spell, 2x AP DPS abilities, defensive ability (diamond skin), armour spell and magic weapon seems pretty set in stone. I wouldn't mind some variety there, but I don't see how without breaking the class.

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Reply #114 on: May 30, 2012, 02:12:01 PM

I still find lighting hydra superior for my playstyle to venom.  It has better weapon pass-through (110% vs 80%) attacks faster and if you're a "Run the fuck away" kiter vs. a "circle the wagons" type you're not getting the advantage of the poison globs.    Sure, if I can survive keeping things within melee range of me Venom works better.. but if I drop LH in front of me as I retreat then run past it things are smoother with lightning.

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Reply #115 on: May 30, 2012, 02:37:59 PM

I prefer lightning hydra as well, although I only just GOT venom hydra so it still has time to win me over I guess. I do tend towards the "run the fuck away" school of wizarding though.

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Azuredream
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Reply #116 on: May 30, 2012, 03:35:36 PM

I use venom hydra even though I run from everything because mobs will often be stationary for whatever reason. If you take off a chunk of HP large enough they stagger, if they're ranged they're stationary while firing, if they kill you they're stationary (hey in Inferno this is a legitimate point to make), if you have a follower stun them or you have some kind of stun they're stationary.. if you're kiting dudes in a circle they also will run over patches they were in before since those venom patches don't immediately dissipate. If they're huge ass mobs they have more mass to step in puddles. If you have wormhole teleport you can drop a venom hydra and then do four ports in a straight line to disengage entirely and they'll be stationary too.

tl;dr: I LOVE VENOM HYDRA

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kildorn
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Reply #117 on: May 30, 2012, 05:57:00 PM

Venom + any snare = fun times. The pool is surprisingly large and appears to stack in intensity with multiple hits (from my scrolling damage numbers, at least)
Soulflame
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Reply #118 on: May 30, 2012, 07:23:13 PM

I'm dropping blizzard + venom hydra, and it works fairly well.
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Reply #119 on: May 31, 2012, 10:28:10 PM

Slowly edging towards 60 (54 now), wondering if some older wizards here can advice me about gear...

What are you looking for when shopping? I suppose Int, Vitality and All Resistances(?) But in what order?

To give a concrete example, I just bought my most expensive piece of equipment so far:



Good? Bad? Worth the 100k gold I paid?

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statisticalfool
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Reply #120 on: May 31, 2012, 10:38:24 PM

Wow, I've paid 100k for lots of things and I haven't even reached 60 yet.

It's pretty darn good for that price! Thorns is kind of a wasted slot.
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Reply #121 on: May 31, 2012, 11:25:05 PM

When I look for gear I put in Int>100 Vit>60 and All Res >40 although I might toy with the values depending on the slot I'm shopping for. For specific slots it's nice to have bonus AP or AP on crit on your weapon/offhand/hat, and I think 12% move speed on your boots is almost essential. Belt can have +% life, pants and chest can have lots of sockets, gloves can have attack speed. Rings and amulets are usually way overpriced if they're any good.

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Reply #122 on: June 01, 2012, 02:39:24 AM

I'm toying around with the energy twister rune that keeps the twisters in place. Combined with the arcane snare passive it seems like a viable alternative to blizzard. The twisters do a lot more damage, the only problem is that they are a bit trickier to target and hit a smaller area.

Lightning Hydra seems to be working well too.

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Reply #123 on: June 01, 2012, 08:05:00 AM

There's no vitality on that chest piece, so my personal valuation of that item is it's worth what it can be vendored for.
Lakov_Sanite
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Reply #124 on: June 01, 2012, 08:07:22 AM

needs.more.gold.find.

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K9
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Reply #125 on: June 01, 2012, 09:04:57 AM

Further thoughts on some abilities I have been trying out:

 - Spectral Blades with the rune that extends the range to 20yards is fun, since it does a ton of damage, but you're still obliged to stick way too close to targets for comfort in higher difficulty levels.
 - Lightning Hydra is a really solid option and it has a very long range, comfortably the width of the screen.
 - Familiar just feels inferior to magic weapon. Even though it attacks every time you do, and for more damage, as far as I can tell you don't make up the benefit of the mobility magic weapon affords by boosting spells like hydra, blizzard and meteor. None of the runes seemed to make this anything other than a novelty. If you had a tank and could afford to sit and shoot this might work, but otherwise, avoid.
 - Mirror Image is NOT an adequate substitute for Diamond Skin
 - The shock armour rune that adds runspeed when you get hit seems really good. Against swarmy mobs it has almost 100% uptime, and an extra 25% move speed seems really good. I had been using Energy Armour (Pinpoint Armour) for added survivability and crit, but this seems to work just as well, and aids kiting. I don't know if the shock damage makes much difference, it isn't noticeable as far as I can tell. But the runspeed buff is sweet.
 - The lifedrain rune for magic weapon is useless.

In other news, finding Hell Act II comfortable enough with 140% gold find. 12.5K DPS and 25K HP helps though.

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Reply #126 on: June 01, 2012, 09:23:31 AM

Mirror Image is still pretty useful though as it's a CC break.

I was playing around with this build yesterday in Hell when I really didn't feel like kiting a whole lot.  I just can't get down with the whole Blizzard/Venom Hydra/blind-fire Orb spells style of play so I haven't made a big push on my Wizard, but I keep coming back to it.

And yes, Magic Weapon w/ Blood Magic is garbage.

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Reply #127 on: June 01, 2012, 09:28:34 AM

Familiar totally had a use when I cheesed killed Rakanoth in inferno using this strategy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vpiBGihsBo ..total gimmick though. Magic Weapon+an Armor is pretty much the baseline for any respectable wizard build.

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Reply #128 on: June 01, 2012, 09:58:46 AM

That's pretty cheesy

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Reply #129 on: June 01, 2012, 10:15:50 AM

You can get a rune on familiar that gives it a passive dmg boost which stacks with magic weapon, it's very sexy.


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Reply #130 on: June 01, 2012, 12:18:53 PM

Here's my current build. Level 45. Just started Act III NM.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UiRhXT!bXf!aZbabY

I just switched from arcane to venom hydra. I like it well enough. It's certainly cool to see my enemies dissolve in the puddles.
I also just recently put that Armor spell in there. Galvanizing Ward makes the armors seem a lot more worthwhile.

Self-learnt pro tip: I am a lot less squishy in general when liberally applying Diamond Skin.
What rune do the pros use? I've been toying with Mirror Skin lately, and I see DS wear off before it gets burned through most of the time.

I must confess that I died once to NM Belial, but that was a failure of tactics rather than defense. IOW, I stood in the fire.


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calapine
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Reply #131 on: June 01, 2012, 12:32:53 PM

What rune do the pros use? I've been toying with Mirror Skin lately, and I see DS wear off before it gets burned through most of the time.

Well, I am certainly no pro, but I found the Prism rune (casting cost reduction) to be most useful and since Hell difficulty Crystal Shell for that extra bit of protection.

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Reply #132 on: June 01, 2012, 01:06:03 PM

You can get a rune on familiar that gives it a passive dmg boost which stacks with magic weapon, it's very sexy.
Problem with Sparkflint is that is increases overall DPS by 12%, while Force Weapon increases *weapon* DPS by 15%, which is in turn multiplied with Intelligence, resulting in a much greater increase (about 10K in my case) Sparkflint is an increase, yeah, but I'm not sure that 4K DPS (again, my case) is worth it, when you could have some survivability in that slot instead (or Venom Hydra, which will result in more damage than Sparkflint.)

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Reply #133 on: June 01, 2012, 01:08:27 PM

If you only count the % damage increase, sure, but remember that sparkflint still shoots its own attacks at 20% weapon damage a pop, so you have to take that into account as well when making the comparison.

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Reply #134 on: June 01, 2012, 04:23:14 PM

True, but since wizards spend most of the time kiting (well, I do anyway), damage added to passives (lingering effects, hydras et c.) is more valuable than directed damage. I'm not saying it's useless, just that Force Weapon (even Magic Weapon un-runed) is consistently better than Sparkflint and I think there are better options than having two active DPS-boosters. I guess the question is, what are you trading away to get Sparkflint? Survivability has an effective cap (you don't need more than live) so if you're already there, sure, it's a decent choice.

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Reply #135 on: June 01, 2012, 04:36:37 PM

It is also easier to notice when familiar has worn off.  why so serious?

But yeah, running both seems like overkill. I don't really find myself having space for both.

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Reply #136 on: June 01, 2012, 04:38:45 PM

I only run both for hilarious gimmick builds. Like my "Oh wait, belial just stands there so I can roll him with Energy Twisters" joke build <3
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Reply #137 on: June 03, 2012, 12:54:36 PM

I made a video!

This is my level 50 wizard versus NM Azmodan.

It's a simple fight.
1) Poison Hydra
2) Kite

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Reply #138 on: June 05, 2012, 01:06:05 PM

My wizard is at 50k hit points, 400+ resistances in total, and is trying to reach 60k dps while preferencing Resist All (the absolute best stat to have alongside +int) — I guess so very few people are succesfully infernoing, and I'm lucky to be with a group that's aces at it and we stomp through Butcher runs, march briskly enough through Kulle runs, gingerly pace forward with act 3 siege runs, and desperately poke at Act 4 Herald of Diablo mini-runs.
Azuredream
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Reply #139 on: June 05, 2012, 03:46:50 PM

I've abandoned any pretense of defensive gearing once I've reached a certain point. I'm at 500 resists and 30k health and I find that to be enough that nothing one shots me through force armor (nothing unavoidable, anyway). I've been way too afraid to do any public inferno runs, that just seems like a recipe for frustration.

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