I think I might have found the best possible offensive skill/spell set for the Diablo 3 Wizard. It was available in this exclusive Diablo 3 Wizard guide I recently just downloaded. I’s a pdf book that covers practically all sections. From equipment, builds, rare runes, skill sets all specifically for the Wizard. Also did a google search on this guide and it seems it is high recommended!
Magic Missile. Pretty straightforward. Very, very hard, even at an early stage, to run out of Arcane Power doing this. I can just spam it. Single Target, that’s all it is, Single Target Damage. There’s nothing more to it. This is an Academic Spell. Academic Spells cost one less Arcane Power every time you gain a Level. I don’t know if that gets down to a certain level and just stops. It would be impossible for me to find that out inside of the Beta, unless it is already at the cap, if it could only go down to 6 Arcane Power, or if it goes down to zero, or maybe it returns Arcane Power to me at some point. I really have no idea.
Shock Pulse. 8 Arcane Power. Release a pulse of 3 unpredictable charges of electricity that deal 105% weapon damage as lighting to Enemies they hit. Okay, I love this ability. This is one of my stock abilities. I’ve had a lot of fun with it. It’s like poison toads from the diablo 3 witch doctor leveling, but it’s not. The toads are pretty cool. I’ve kept a pretty good distance. It will stop on random obstacles, like, if I’m shooting it upstairs, if there is anything in here, for some reason it will just stop. If I’m shooting it near obstacles, it will do the same thing. Put in the code, obviously, but sometimes it looks like when it should continue traveling, it just doesn’t continue traveling.
Okay, so our next one here is going to be Spectral Blade. 10 Arcane Power. Summon A Spectral Blade that strikes all Enemies in your path 3 times, causing 135% Weapon Damage with each hit. This is what I’m going to kind of give away, that I don’t know much about these alternative play styles for the Wizard, because I’m not sure how Spectral Blade is supposed to be used if it is possible to build a Wizard that is melee range, that is making use of a weapon, etc.
But here’s basically what it is. It’s short range. I mean, it’s not super short range, but it is short range. I don’t know if a good and viable option to actually become a melee range Wizard that is close range at all time. obviously that there are, like we’ve said in the past, some skills. There are a few Passive skills that will lend themselves towards a melee weaponed Wizard, but I just don’t know much about that play style. I didn’t try it out too much because I did like the range skills. I prefer playing diablo 3 barbarian guide or diablo 3 monk guide to play melee wizard.
In particular, I like Electrocute, which is going to be our fourth ability here, fourth Academic Spell. Lightening arcs from your fingertips towards an Enemy, dealing 80 weapon damage as lightning. The lightening can jump, hitting up to 2 Enemies. Damage is reduced 30% each jump. I love it. It’s a lot of fun. You can just demolish groups of Enemies from very long range. It goes exactly where you want it to. I can actually shoot it through other things to hit my target, and then it’ll bounce from there.This is just a wonderful ability
Electrocute, a stock ability. What I have found myself doing is using these two in combination with each other. The Electrocute I’m really using a lot more than Shock Pulse, because the Electrocute will cause me to kind of keep moving, keep shooting like I would on, say, The Demon Hunter or like I would on the Witch Doctor, while getting Damage in on Enemies. The Shock Pulse, on the other hand, to really get the Damage out from Shock Pulse I have to be standing still, or I have to at least have to be moving slowly to get the cast in. And, so, I do find myself using Electrocute a whole lot more than Shock Pulse, but definitely using both depending on the situation.
Hydra. 40 Arcane Power, so this is going to be even more expensive than the previous one, but, presumably, your available Arcane Power is continuing to go up. Summon a multi-headed hydra for 15 seconds that attacks Enemies with bolts of fire, dealing 33% weapon damage as fire per attack. For 15 seconds, so it does have a limit on the duration.
Wave of Force. Explode a wave of pure energy that repels projectiles and knocks back nearby Enemies. This also slows the move of Enemies by 60% and deals 200% weapon damage as physical. Pretty straightforward. I haven’t wanted to use it too much, because of it’s 15 second cool down
Arcane Orb. Hurl an orb of arcane energy that explodes when it hits, dealing 175% weapon damage as arcane to all Enemies within 10 yards. This is a powerful spell and also a fantastic way to run out of Arcane Power, and that’s really what it comes down to. I’ve used it. I’ve had a lot of fun with it, but, ultimately, I couldn’t sustain it. And, again, something like Electrocute, the Academic Spells, the Rapid Cast spells, those you can sustain and deal tons of damage with. I do prefer to keep the other ones on my Hot Bar in my diablo 3 guide.
Energy Twister. Release a twister of pure energy that deals 360% weapon damage as arcane per second to everything caught within it.
Disintegrate. Cause 20 Arcane Power per second. Thrust a beam of pure energy forward dealing 155% weapon damage as arcane per second and disintegrating Enemies it kills. This looks like it’s channeled. it looks like Cyclops, Laser Beam, could be incredible. I mean, the animation looks kind of incredible. Somebody is getting shot through with a laser.
Explosive Blast. 20 Arcane Power with 6 seconds cool down. Interesting that it has a cool down. It’s a very, very high cost. Gather in a fusion of energy around you that explodes after 1.5 seconds, causing 205% weapon damage as physical to any nearby Enemies wihin 12 yards.
Ray of Frost. Project a beam of frozen ice that blasts 215% weapon damage as cold to the first Enemy it hits, slowing the target’s movement speed by 30% for 5 seconds. Ray of Frost is 20 Arcane Power per second. Let’s go back up here. Disintegrate is 20 Arcane Power per second, but, now, here’s what I don’t know. Disintegrate may go through the target. It doesn’t say anything about not going through the target, whereas Ray of Frost says pretty clearly to the first Enemy it hits
So, I’m not going to say anything about Disintegrate like, do I know that it goes through the target or not? I’m just assuming that, because of the laser going through the guy’s bones and continuing out the other side, but sometimes those icons aren’t the most accurate. So, this is going to slow your target. It seems to me that this could be very, very good in a single target situation in particular, maybe in a Boss fight or something like that.
Arcane Torrent. 20 Arcane Power per second. This is another low cost one, just like the Disintegrate. Relatively low cost, I mean. 20 Arcane Power, you would quickly run out of if you were at the point in the early stage. Hurl a barrage of arcane projectiles and deal 175% weapon damage as arcane per second to all Enemies near the impact location. So, you are picking a location as opposed to this where you are shooting out in a direction, and I’m not sure whether this looks like it’s going to be a line, not a column. Arcane Torrent is, you pick a location, and it’s going to be basically the same thing.
Meteor. 60 Arcane Power. Summon an immense meteor that plummets from the sky, causing 180 weapon damage as fire Damage to all Enemies it crashes into. The ground it hits is scorched with molten fire that does 60% weapon damage as fire over 3 seconds.
Finally, Blizzard. Cost, 45 Arcane Power. Call down shards of ice to pelt an area, dealing 255% weapon damage as cold in the area over 6 seconds. I don’t know if Blizzard just loves keeping its spells named Blizzard, but this is basically identical to every other Blizzard spell in every other game that they’ve ever made.
