The following build is the best Wizard build I could find. It’s a strong DPS build and will work well in both cooperative/group and solo play. It’s geared towards doing high damage with abilities that you can use when you need to get out of trouble or stay alive a little longer to do more damage. As with all the diablo 3 builds on this site, this should act as a basis for the build that works best for your gear and situation.
This build requires level 57 but there are a few adjustments you can make to bring that level requirement down: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#beXROS!XYc!bcabYZ
Primary
For the primary slot Shock Pulse with Piercing Orb is an all around powerful cast to use when you’re out of Arcane Power. This selection is based on maximizing damage. If you think you have another need feel free to swap in another signature spell. If you’re not level 57 consider using either Disruption or Death Blossom.
Secondary
Arcane Torrent with Cascade is a relentless AoE that is available at level 57. This effect will chain throughout an entire group if they are already low health. You’ll find yourself using this as your primary ability.
Defensive
Crystal Skin with Crystal Shell is a pure defensive ability, perfect for the defensive slot. With a 15 second cool down it allows you to go absord 21,000 damage for 6 seconds. This is an essential survival skill that will save your life and save you time.
Force
Venon Hydra will spit poison acid, leaving a pool that does damage to enemies that cross it. The Hydra is generally a low damage output companion but with the pool of poison you can draw the enemies through it and get extra damage without doing much work.
Conjuration
Energy Armor with Force Armor is another create defensive ability, giving you a bout of high armor at the cost of Arcane Power and also capping the total damage with the Force Armor skill rune. If you’re not level 54 yet Absorption will help mitigate the lose of Arcane Power.
Mastery
Instead of using a traditional Mastery skill like Archon, consider grabbing Magic Weapon with Force Weapon which will net you a +15% damage bonus whenever it’s active (which is pretty much all the time). This will enable you to focus on your other abilities while also benefiting from this slot all the time. This is a crucial aspect of this build.
Passives
There are a lot of great passives to choose from. Here are the ones that work the best with this build: Astral Presence will help mitigate the lose of Arcane Power from Energy Armor or just give you extra Arcane Power the rest of the time. Glass Cannon is a classic + damage at the cost of survivability passive. If you’re having trouble staying alive this is the first passive to swap out. Prodigy gives your signature spell (in this case Shock Pulse) the ability to generate 4 Arcane Power everytime it deals damage. This makes the Wizard play more like some of the other classes like the Demon Hunter.
Important: Many of the strategies and tips I share here were originally inspired by the people at the Diablo 3 Gold Secrets Forum. If you're serious about making the big bucks in Diablo 3, or just being the best players, you need to signup ASAP.
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How did you get magic weapon for mastery? It’s not even an option for me.
menu-options-gameplay-check elective mode
You are burnt in the head dude
love this build.. been using something completely different till lvl 50 and first act in Hell and noticed i couldnt compete anymore. thanks for the help man
Yeah you cant select magic weapon in the mastery slot… Elective mode has nothing to do with it (elective mode just allows you to re position the buttons on the bottom”. Aside from that (and i dont like Prodigy) its a solid build
DXP232 ya it does man check it out
Yes you can…. Go to your skills menu, then the skill, or just right click the skill on the lower bar, then click the left and right arrows that appear next to the skills.
Got it to work, thanks guys makes it alot easier to kill stuff on inferno
Hi guys, i have a build here which i’m currently using. This build focuses on mostly arcane damage. This build is suitable for single target and also for AOE dmg with gd crowd control.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bcXROS!YbU!bYZaYZ
I’ll briefly discuss my selection of skills and hope you guys can feedback on how this build can be improved.
Primary Skill: Shock Pulse with Piercing Orb. (Widely used by most wiz)
Secondary: Arcane orb with tap the source rune.
This will greatly reduce the casting cost for the orb to 20arcane
Defensive: Diamond Skin with Prism. This will further bring the casting of orb to 13 arcane.
Force: Arcane Hydra. Gd damage % with nice range.
Conjuration: Energy armour with Force armour. No explantion needed here.
The last slot is open for either improved Archon for crazy dps for a shor period or Magic weapon with Force weapon rune for constant higher dps.
Passives: Glass Cannon to increase dps & Temporal Flux to slow movement to complement the arcane dmg dealt. The last passive can be either of the following: Evocation or Astral Presence.
Evocation to reduce the cooldown for diamond skin from 15sec to 12.5sec
Astral Presence to offset and arcane lost for Energy armour and higher regen.
Here’s how i use the build: casting arcane hydra way ahead as a front scout to deal dmg and slow mods/boss
Spam arcane orbs and piercing orbs while the enemies are being slowed. Since the hydra is way in front to slow the creeps, you will have more time to spam the orbs and deal higher dps for a while longer and reduce running time. By the time the creeps ger close enough to you they would already been dead. If they do get close enough you still have diamond skin to save you for another 6seconds while you spam the orbs.
Please Feel free to comment and give your ideas on how this build can be improved.
hey thanks i was having a hard time trying to survive on hell difficulty and now its a piece of cake..
Haha! This build is useless!
i got a immortal build mass crit
1 explosive blast (chain reaction)
2 frost nova (bone chill)
3 diamond skin (crystal shell)
4 energy armor (energy tap)
LMB energy twister (wicked wind)
RMB teleport (safe passage)
astral presence + illusionist + crit mass
this build needs arcane on crit… high crit chance and high attack speed
i just teleport into mobs, explosive blast, frost nova, drain my energy twister…
during elites and bosses i just repeated energy twist + explosive blast to gain crit
to survive… i snow blast + diamond skin + teleport
teleport gives me 30% less damage for 4 secs which can be done repeatedly bec of crit mass
this makes you invincible
i can even do MP10 without dying but my items not that great for damage…yet
well try this… i am always in the middle of the fight stunning everything and not taking damage… while my comrades attacks from the outside… after each fight they usually say “INTENSE and GREAT FIGHT!!!”
i even tried teleporting 4~5 times at least (within 4 secs)… 120% no damage taken
great stuff eh