Dec 30, 2012 Fortunately for Wizards, such a build exists; in fact, there are three top builds to try and aim for in Diablo III. Top Wizard Builds High Damage, High Regeneration. The first build Wizards can try focuses on ranged attacks while retaining rapid health regeneration. Mouse Skills.
Do you want the best Diablo 3 Wizard Build? Well, if you are tired of searching the internet for useful and powerful builds that you can use to take on any situation you might encounter, you have come to the right place. Hello there! My name is Caroline Mitchell and I have to admit that I am a Diablo addict ever since its launch back in 1996. I have been hooked ever since and spent lots of time trying to figure out the best strategies and tactics for each Diablo. Now that Diablo III has been launched, I have literally devoted hundreds of hours designing the best skill, rune and passive skill builds that work best for certain situations. Below, I have outlined some viable Wizard builds that I have found to have worked quite well from my experience. Keep in mind that this guide only covers a small aspect of the Wizard. If you want a full Wizard guide to show you the perfect builds and how to completely max out your character in every way, I highly recommend the Diablo 3 Secrets.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build
As you begin to progress through the levels in Diablo 3, you will be able to unlock a variety of skills. However, you will only be able to use 6 skills plus one rune for each at a single time. This makes it very important to have the proper skill and rune build if you want to learn how to dominate your competition in different situations. Below is a build that I have personally designed and used for PVE. This build focuses on lots of AOE and crowd control abilities. Keep in mind that the skill build I created was designed around my own play style. Feel free to change or add new skills according to your liking. Shock Pulse
Shock Pulse is your primary ability that you will want to pick up first. When activated, you will release 3 medium range pulse of electricity that will randomly strike for 105% weapon damage as Lightning. The Lightning Affinity Rune will allow you to receive 2 Arcane Power for every target Shock Pulse Hits. This ability is a signature spell, so it is free to cast. Shock Pulse is an extremely good AOE ability that you are able to spam, since it does not require any resources to cast. The downside to this is the pulses are random and maybe be difficult hitting targets you want. Lighting Affinity is a rather late game rune that I picked for this build due to the amount of skill spamming I am used to. If you are not at the end game yet, consider the Piercing Orb Rune for more predictability in your attacks.
Ray of Frost
Ray of Frost is an excellent single target CC that deals good damage. When activated, it will blast an enemy dealing 215% weapon damage as cold and slow the target's movement speed by 30%. The Cold Blood Rune will completely reduce the Arcane Power cost of Ray of Frost to zero. Ray of Frost is an amazing ability to use when you pair it up with the Cold Blood Rune. The reduced Arcane Power cost means that you will be able to consistently CC mobs to make kiting and melting mobs easy. What I found to be very effective is to use Ray of Frost to slow enemies, then run back to maximum range to cast Shock Pulse and repeat. If done correctly, you will be able to kill mobs off quick while taking a minimal amount of damage.
Frost Nova
Frost Nova, when activated will blast all nearby enemies with ice and freeze them in place for 3 seconds. However, if you pair it up with the Frozen Mist Rune, Froze Nova will no longer stun enemies but leave a mist that damages enemies for 160% weapon damage as Cold over 8 seconds. Frost Nova does not require resources to cast, but has a cooldown of 12 seconds. I decided to go for the Frozen Mist rune for more damage instead of keeping the 3 second stun. The reason I opted for more damage was because this build already gave me a lot of crowd control with the ability to constantly spam Ray of Frost to keep my enemies slowed. The DoT from Frost Nova plus the AOE damage from Shock Pulse paired with the constant CC you get from Ray of Frost works very well together at melting your enemies quickly while taking the least amount of damage.
Blizzard
Blizzard is one of your most powerful AOE abilities in this build. When activated, you will call down shards in an area and deal 210% weapon damage as Cold to all enemies for 6 seconds. When paired with the Unrelenting Storm Rune, it will increase the damage of Blizzard to 280% and duration to 8 seconds. Blizzard costs 45 Arcane Power to cast. Blizzard paired up with Ray of Frost can be a devastating combination if done correctly. What you will want to aim for is to use the slow from Ray of Frost to keep the enemy within the area of effect from Blizzard as long as possible. This will allow you to maximize the damage from the duration of Blizzard, allowing you to melt enemies quickly and easily. Keep in mind that you will also want to use Ray of Frost to group the mobs together so that Blizzard can hit as many targets as it possibly can to further increase your efficiency at clearing mobs.
Ice Armour
Ice Armour will surrounded your Wizard in a barrier of ice that will either chill or freeze melee attackers for 2 seconds. The Ice Reflect rune will cause all melee attacks done to you to have a 25% chance of creating Frost Nova around the attacker and deal 75% weapon damage as Cold. Ice Armour is a very good ability to pick up for added utility on the battlefield. If kiting enemies fail from spamming Ray of Frost, Ice Armour will allow you to chill or freeze enemies upon attack and allow you to move out of range to start the kiting process all over again. The effectiveness of Ice Armour increases even further with the Ice Reflect rune as you have a 25% chance to proc Frost Nova on the attacker to deal damage further increase the speed at which you can clear mobs.
Mirror Image
Mirror Image, when activated will summon two illusionary duplicates of your character that will have 25% of your maximum HP and last for 7 seconds. The images may cast the same spells as you, however will deal no damage. The Mocking Demise Rune will cause your image to deal 45% weapon damage when destroyed and have a 50% chance to stun for 2 seconds. This ability does not cost resources to cast and has a cooldown of 15 seconds. Mirror Image is an excellent way to mitigate some damage when you are dealing with difficult or a huge mob wave. You may also want to consider saving Mirror Image as your life line to escape dangerous situations. What I mean by this is that if you find yourself out of position and trapped, use Mirror image to pull aggro away from yourself to allow you to escape.
Diablo 3 Wizard Passive Skills
Having the right passive skills for your Wizard in Diablo III is just as important as the right skills and rune combination. Below, I have outlined the passive skills that I find to be the most effectively compliments the current build that I have mentioned above. The first passive skill that I opted to use for this build is Prodigy. What this passive skill does is that each time you hit an enemy with your signature skill (Shock Pulse), you will gain 4 Arcane Power. I found this very useful as this build requires quite of bit of Arcane Power to be super effective on the battlefield. Astral Presence is the second passive skill that I decided to select. As I mentioned before, this build relies on the ability to spam my abilities, meaning I will need a lot of resources. Astral Presence allows me to have an extra 20 Arcane Power plus it regenerates my Arcane Power by 2 per second. Lastly, I took Cold Blooded as my final passive skill. Cold Blooded increases the damage of chilled or frozen targets by 20%. With almost all of my abilities dealing Cold damage that will lead to a chilled or frozen target, this makes the most sense for added DPS.
Absolute Best Wizard Builds
The builds above for the Diablo III Wizard should be used as a guideline. The reason I say this is because these builds are targeted towards my own personal preference, play style and of course builds are never set in stone. Builds for your Wizard will always change depending on the situation/scenario you are in and also differs depending on factors such as your own play style, equipment and hot keys. However, there is a way to know exactly what is the best build to use in every situation as a Wizard .Want to know the best current builds for the Wizard that have been created and used by professional Diablo 3 players?
Sources: BloggerLive JournalGather
Diablo 3's Wizard is about as satisfying a glass-cannon character as you could hope for in an RPG. It's somewhat vulnerable, yet its damage output is vicious.
It takes in all of the magical schools you'd expect for the character archetype - fire, ice and lightning - yet there are less traditional avenues to explore too. When you've tired of dropping fiery meteors on your enemy's head, perhaps you'd prefer to transform in a spectral disco machine, firing laser beams out of your face. If so, the Wizard has you covered.
Levelling a WizardThe Wizard's primary stat is Intelligence, and so all of the items you equip should be positively dripping in this damage-buffing stat. As you level up, try to socket a good Ruby into your weapon for the damage boost, and another one in your Head slot for a minor buff to your experience gains.
If you've unlocked the Mystic, you'll be able to get those slots rolled in, otherwise you'll have to get lucky with your drops.Levelling a Wizard isn't necessarily any more challenging than levelling the other classes in Softcore mode, but in Hardcore - where death is permanent - you need to be much more on your toes. You're squishier than other classes, and so you need more life and armour buffers to avoid falling foul of any poorly-picked fights.
With that said - and certainly if you're not playing with permadeath switched on - you should try to play at as high a difficulty level as you can comfortably stand and clear efficiently, so that you receive the maximum XP and gem bonuses.There are plenty of build guides available on the internet, but Blizzard's system is flexible enough that you really shouldn't feel tied to a spec that's been optimised by the community. Instead, shift combat tools around to suit your present circumstances and gear. At Level 70, you may want to seek out some tried and tested builds that have been proven to be efficient for the end-game grind. Has some good pointers if you're looking for inspiration. Choosing the right Wizard FollowerIf you're playing on Hardcore, you might want to choose the Templar for his preservation skills, but you'll find it much easier to gear up the Enchantress, as she benefits the most from the same Intelligence stat that you yourself seek out.
Keep her equipped with your very best hand-me-downs, and you'll soon find yourself with a powerful ally at your side. Gearing a Wizard for Torment difficultyAll of your gear should have the highest possible Intelligence rating, as this core stat drives so much of your damage output. Make sure that the Chest and Legs gear you equip have three and two sockets respectively. Stuff them with the very best Topaz gems you either own or can afford to craft.Your build will likely be focused around a specific elemental damage, such as fire or ice. The best Bracers and Amulets will not only have a high Intelligence rating, but will also give a fixed percentage boost to your elemental damage. It won't show up on your DPS stats in-game, but do not discount the importance of incorporating this bonus damage when evaluating your gear.Next, aim to get a damage percentage boost to whichever core spell you use for the majority of your damage - Disintegrate, Arcane Orb, and so on. Look for it on your Head item, your Boots and your off-hand Source.
Use the Mystic to roll this bonus damage onto your gear if necessary. In every other slot, you really can't go wrong with focusing on your two critical hit stats.
Look to achieve a ratio of 1:10 of Critical Hit Chance versus your Critical Hit Damage across your gear. Diablo 3's Wizard is one of the most entertaining glass-cannon characters we can recall playing. Gemming a WizardAt Level 70 you'll want to be cramming the most powerful Topaz gems you can craft into just about every available socket you have on your equipment. There's one important exception, however, that will apply to the vast majority of Wizards.
When you've chanced across the best weapon you can use, visit the Mystic and re-roll a weak stat into a socket. Once you've done this, put the most powerful Emerald you own inside it - the boost to your Critical Hit Damage will have the biggest overall impact on your performance on the battlefied.
Wizard gear to aim forJust like every class, equipping your Wizard with a from an Act 1 Horadric Cache is extremely useful, although try to make it a long-term goal - you can burn out quickly by grinding the same content over and over. Once you do have this fantastic ring, you'll be able to get the benefit of any armour set's third bonus with just two pieces equipped.Other popular items include the shoulders and wrists from the Aughild's armour set, along with a ring. Two pieces of Tal Rasha's collection will help you get yet another useful third bonus for free if you have that elusive ring equipped.Vyr's armour set also has some extremely useful tricks that will help boost your combat prowess. If you can complement these items with a nicely-rolled Glove item, a off-hand, and a weapon, then you're very close to the end-game of this class as far as gear is concerned.Need more Diablo 3 help? Learn how to unlock, get some, and learn how use the, and.We also have advice for every class, from the to the, and.Allocating Paragon points for WizardsMovement speed is incredibly useful in all areas of the game, from getting yourself out of a pinch as quickly as possible, to simply clearing out Bounties and Rifts more quickly. For the most part, you'll want to clear out Bounties by charging straight to the objective, and anything that cuts out travelling time without robbing your gear of stats is a worthy investment. After that, you probably want to start focusing on Intelligence, as this is the main driver of all your damage output.From the Offense category you should start off by feeding points into Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage, maintaining the 1:10 ratio we mentioned a little further up the page.
As for your Defense Paragon points, pile into the Resist All category first, then fill out the others to suit your particular circumstances.Finally, there's the Utility category which offers much more flexibility. As a Wizard, Area Damage will likely be of huge benefit in any build you're using, but if you find yourself resource-starved under heavy fire, Resource Cost Reduction is a perfectly valid alternative to focus on.Head back to the first page of this article if you need help difficulty. We've got guides for every class.