Hello community,
I wanted to make a wizard and gear guide here, with a budget of around 10 million. I was originally using Archon but it was with Trinity 1.4.8 and it wasn't as effective once I updated, and there was a fellow Wizard botter that posted a better version of the Archon build so I wanted to, instead, share how you can get a CM wizard into Act 3 and not spend more than 12-16million in gear. The objective here, is to get as much benefit from crit as possible since Diamond Skin doesn't get better with gear.
Here is the build I personally use, I like it because once the twister hits a monster it's gonna continue hitting that monster since it will be snared (and cooldowns come back so quickly the short-term benefits of evocation just don't seem to make a difference to me). You can see it by clicking here. Note: An alternative would be to use Raging Storms rune with Energy Twister, which I will explain later on. Keep in mind, Wicked Wind is also a very good rune to use if you're having trouble with single target monsters.
Now, here's a few things to decide before you gear up your wizard.
First off, you don't want to take tons of damage if Diamond Skin breaks or if it doesn't come up in time and you get one or two shot, but there is a reasonable expectation that if you get crit chance on any piece of gear you buy and with the use of the Scoundrel (which we will get to later) you should never really have a problem with this and makes valuing 'crit-centric' DPS stats over surviability stats in some slots.
Secondly, Energy twister is somewhat of an unreliable ability as you can cast it at an enemy and it'll hit it a bit then go behind you and be completely wasted outside of a few hits. It crits fairly often, but costs 35 energy and with Energy Armor you are at a loss with only 80 Arcane Power. I found that without the DPS stat (on Wizard Hats, Sources and Wands) Critical hits grant 8+ Arcane Power, is the only effective way to not only belt out DPS but ensure that your other abilities will come off of cooldown more reliably. It synergizes very well with Energy Twister and with time and upgrades your wizards DPS will increase to a point where if you decide to use the Raging Storms rune on Energy Twister, you can bet that when large groups of monsters are around you will easily get 2-3 massive tornados doing some serious damage. On the downside to this rune, sometimes they really just hate colliding. However, with just +19 AP on crit, my resource pool is never below 50% for very long allowing my wizard to cast as much as she is possibly able to. As a result, this ensures you are always getting twisters out which means more crits which means more Diamond Skin spamming.
Okay, so what kind of gear should I look for?
Main-hand weapon: I got lucky and had a 1k+ Empyrean Messenger. Any one hand with Attack speed, Crit chance and if you can find it, AP on crit, with high stats. Any dps 800<+ will suffice for what you will need to still clear zones in Act 3. A very good item for this is Slorak's Madness as you can then grab an Andariel's Visage for your helm, however a good Slorak's will run you 2-3 mil currently. If this is the route you choose, get one that benefits Energy Twister by at least 5%.
Off-hand: You can go with a shield here, if you choose to use Slorak's Madness + A Wizard hat with AP on crit, however, this slot will easily contribute 15k+ dps if you find a good source. I seem to find good ones ranging from 1.3 million to around 10 million gold for rare ones and 10 million+ for legendaries. I would suggest a baseline search of 10 AP on crit, as you are only valuing high damage, high int and AP on crit and if possible, crit chance. I bought mine for 1,300,000g with 33-338 dmg, +237 int, 10 AP on crit, a socket, and 113 vitality. These are the stats you would like to get for this piece, if you have the gold for it - get something with 6%+ crit chance as well.
Helm: Here's where it gets interesting because you have a few options here, if you have a lot of reasonably great gear with resists already and can skip having them on this piece then I would suggest an item like Storm Crow. It increases lightning damage (Energy Twister is arcane) so you can get a 7% roll there and it won't make a difference. However, because this item can have +170 int, 10 AP on crit, 3-4% increased dmg vs elites, and life on hit (wizard's don't need much, but it's still a valuable stat) you can easily get tons of survivability AND damage out of this helm. If you have to get resists in your helm slot, your best bet is finding a Wizard hat with 4%+ crit, 9-10 AP on crit, Intellect and all resists 60+. Without vitality on this piece, it's actually quite cheap and can be found for 300,000-1.6million. If you have the gold for it, snatch helms with a socket.
Amulet: Here, I just went with an amulet that had +140 vit, 7.5% crit, 61% crit hit damage and +68 all resists. I paid maybe 1 million for it, and I'm sure if I had looked longer I'd have found an even better one. Really, crit hit damage isn't as awesome for Wizards as it is for Barbarians, but I like things dying quickly and adding life% or vitality to this slot adds value quickly so they are not cheap. My wizard has 44k DPS at the moment and I don't miss the intellect on this slot or the socket, but those also make the amulet that much better. You may need to sacrifice crit and crit hit damage for the socket or added health.
Shoulders: Doesn't really matter, I've never seen crit on shoulders (Not gonna lie, in-game item knowledge isn't a strength) so when I shop for shoulders I always go for 6%+< Life and 70+ all resist and at least 150 intellect. I may get greedy and try to find some +Vit as well. These can easily range from 250,000g to 2.5+ million, so filter wisely.
Torso: 3 sockets, intellect and 10%<+ life and 50+ all resists is really all you need here. Chests are your most expensive piece, so start with a baseline of sockets, int and all resists and then try life % and +vitality. You might find a steal, with +250 int and just throw Amethysts into your chest slot. Though, Int will work just as well as you want things dying. You really just want to focus on getting armor, resists and life from this piece of gear. Your intellect can be given +150 with proper gems, and you won't find the survivability from most other slots.
Legs: 2 sockets, intellect, vitality and all resists. If you can find +life% then great, You really just want to focus on getting armor, resists and life from this piece of gear. Your intellect can be given +100 with proper gems, and you won't find the survivability from most other slots.
Rings: Oculus ring with a low roll are typically pretty good boosts to dps, survivability and help with your magic find. I don't personally know their cost but I'd assume their very cheap. Ideally, you want crit chance in these slots but sometimes cost way too much. Ideally, your best ring is gonna be something like +4.5%+ crit, +50 all resists, +6-8 attack speed and +80 intellect. Wailing hosts are awesome for CM builds too, but can be very pricey.
Waist: All you're looking for here is Int, Vit, all resists and +life%. If you can afford a belt with crit on it, then that's awesome. Also, look for life steal - I doubt you'll get that lucky but it can be a nice random addition to your overall build.
Feet: Movement speed is everything, but sometimes that stat alone makes an item worth more than a couple mil if it has even a little bit of good stat roll. On my wizard, I use a pair of boots that are only +139 int, 86 vit and +74 all resist. I don't necessarily like how slow she runs, but she's got hit int and vit and resists and I didn't pay more than 300,000g for these boots.
Hands: Gloves can roll +9% crit, I suggest looking for 180+ int with 9% crit and some resists. Vitality, etc is gravy but generally will cause the item to become excessively expensive.
Bracers: I found a pair with +145 int, +148 vit, and 18% magic find. They suit me well, though crit and resists would be most welcome here. Not sure what they'd cost but you should really just look for base stats here, especially life. If you can find a pair with crit as well, buy them!
What about the Scoundrel?
Click the name and read Xenohaddens' guide, it's layout is effective and is really nice. Plus, the scoundrel is a free 3% crit for your wizard and helps to keep monsters off of you.
To see current statistics on the Wizard with this build, click here.
To see my avoidance settings for this build, click here.
I wanted to make a wizard and gear guide here, with a budget of around 10 million. I was originally using Archon but it was with Trinity 1.4.8 and it wasn't as effective once I updated, and there was a fellow Wizard botter that posted a better version of the Archon build so I wanted to, instead, share how you can get a CM wizard into Act 3 and not spend more than 12-16million in gear. The objective here, is to get as much benefit from crit as possible since Diamond Skin doesn't get better with gear.
Here is the build I personally use, I like it because once the twister hits a monster it's gonna continue hitting that monster since it will be snared (and cooldowns come back so quickly the short-term benefits of evocation just don't seem to make a difference to me). You can see it by clicking here. Note: An alternative would be to use Raging Storms rune with Energy Twister, which I will explain later on. Keep in mind, Wicked Wind is also a very good rune to use if you're having trouble with single target monsters.
Now, here's a few things to decide before you gear up your wizard.
First off, you don't want to take tons of damage if Diamond Skin breaks or if it doesn't come up in time and you get one or two shot, but there is a reasonable expectation that if you get crit chance on any piece of gear you buy and with the use of the Scoundrel (which we will get to later) you should never really have a problem with this and makes valuing 'crit-centric' DPS stats over surviability stats in some slots.
Secondly, Energy twister is somewhat of an unreliable ability as you can cast it at an enemy and it'll hit it a bit then go behind you and be completely wasted outside of a few hits. It crits fairly often, but costs 35 energy and with Energy Armor you are at a loss with only 80 Arcane Power. I found that without the DPS stat (on Wizard Hats, Sources and Wands) Critical hits grant 8+ Arcane Power, is the only effective way to not only belt out DPS but ensure that your other abilities will come off of cooldown more reliably. It synergizes very well with Energy Twister and with time and upgrades your wizards DPS will increase to a point where if you decide to use the Raging Storms rune on Energy Twister, you can bet that when large groups of monsters are around you will easily get 2-3 massive tornados doing some serious damage. On the downside to this rune, sometimes they really just hate colliding. However, with just +19 AP on crit, my resource pool is never below 50% for very long allowing my wizard to cast as much as she is possibly able to. As a result, this ensures you are always getting twisters out which means more crits which means more Diamond Skin spamming.
Okay, so what kind of gear should I look for?
Main-hand weapon: I got lucky and had a 1k+ Empyrean Messenger. Any one hand with Attack speed, Crit chance and if you can find it, AP on crit, with high stats. Any dps 800<+ will suffice for what you will need to still clear zones in Act 3. A very good item for this is Slorak's Madness as you can then grab an Andariel's Visage for your helm, however a good Slorak's will run you 2-3 mil currently. If this is the route you choose, get one that benefits Energy Twister by at least 5%.
Off-hand: You can go with a shield here, if you choose to use Slorak's Madness + A Wizard hat with AP on crit, however, this slot will easily contribute 15k+ dps if you find a good source. I seem to find good ones ranging from 1.3 million to around 10 million gold for rare ones and 10 million+ for legendaries. I would suggest a baseline search of 10 AP on crit, as you are only valuing high damage, high int and AP on crit and if possible, crit chance. I bought mine for 1,300,000g with 33-338 dmg, +237 int, 10 AP on crit, a socket, and 113 vitality. These are the stats you would like to get for this piece, if you have the gold for it - get something with 6%+ crit chance as well.
Helm: Here's where it gets interesting because you have a few options here, if you have a lot of reasonably great gear with resists already and can skip having them on this piece then I would suggest an item like Storm Crow. It increases lightning damage (Energy Twister is arcane) so you can get a 7% roll there and it won't make a difference. However, because this item can have +170 int, 10 AP on crit, 3-4% increased dmg vs elites, and life on hit (wizard's don't need much, but it's still a valuable stat) you can easily get tons of survivability AND damage out of this helm. If you have to get resists in your helm slot, your best bet is finding a Wizard hat with 4%+ crit, 9-10 AP on crit, Intellect and all resists 60+. Without vitality on this piece, it's actually quite cheap and can be found for 300,000-1.6million. If you have the gold for it, snatch helms with a socket.
Amulet: Here, I just went with an amulet that had +140 vit, 7.5% crit, 61% crit hit damage and +68 all resists. I paid maybe 1 million for it, and I'm sure if I had looked longer I'd have found an even better one. Really, crit hit damage isn't as awesome for Wizards as it is for Barbarians, but I like things dying quickly and adding life% or vitality to this slot adds value quickly so they are not cheap. My wizard has 44k DPS at the moment and I don't miss the intellect on this slot or the socket, but those also make the amulet that much better. You may need to sacrifice crit and crit hit damage for the socket or added health.
Shoulders: Doesn't really matter, I've never seen crit on shoulders (Not gonna lie, in-game item knowledge isn't a strength) so when I shop for shoulders I always go for 6%+< Life and 70+ all resist and at least 150 intellect. I may get greedy and try to find some +Vit as well. These can easily range from 250,000g to 2.5+ million, so filter wisely.
Torso: 3 sockets, intellect and 10%<+ life and 50+ all resists is really all you need here. Chests are your most expensive piece, so start with a baseline of sockets, int and all resists and then try life % and +vitality. You might find a steal, with +250 int and just throw Amethysts into your chest slot. Though, Int will work just as well as you want things dying. You really just want to focus on getting armor, resists and life from this piece of gear. Your intellect can be given +150 with proper gems, and you won't find the survivability from most other slots.
Legs: 2 sockets, intellect, vitality and all resists. If you can find +life% then great, You really just want to focus on getting armor, resists and life from this piece of gear. Your intellect can be given +100 with proper gems, and you won't find the survivability from most other slots.
Rings: Oculus ring with a low roll are typically pretty good boosts to dps, survivability and help with your magic find. I don't personally know their cost but I'd assume their very cheap. Ideally, you want crit chance in these slots but sometimes cost way too much. Ideally, your best ring is gonna be something like +4.5%+ crit, +50 all resists, +6-8 attack speed and +80 intellect. Wailing hosts are awesome for CM builds too, but can be very pricey.
Waist: All you're looking for here is Int, Vit, all resists and +life%. If you can afford a belt with crit on it, then that's awesome. Also, look for life steal - I doubt you'll get that lucky but it can be a nice random addition to your overall build.
Feet: Movement speed is everything, but sometimes that stat alone makes an item worth more than a couple mil if it has even a little bit of good stat roll. On my wizard, I use a pair of boots that are only +139 int, 86 vit and +74 all resist. I don't necessarily like how slow she runs, but she's got hit int and vit and resists and I didn't pay more than 300,000g for these boots.
Hands: Gloves can roll +9% crit, I suggest looking for 180+ int with 9% crit and some resists. Vitality, etc is gravy but generally will cause the item to become excessively expensive.
Bracers: I found a pair with +145 int, +148 vit, and 18% magic find. They suit me well, though crit and resists would be most welcome here. Not sure what they'd cost but you should really just look for base stats here, especially life. If you can find a pair with crit as well, buy them!
What about the Scoundrel?
Click the name and read Xenohaddens' guide, it's layout is effective and is really nice. Plus, the scoundrel is a free 3% crit for your wizard and helps to keep monsters off of you.
To see current statistics on the Wizard with this build, click here.
To see my avoidance settings for this build, click here.
Last edited:
cheers bro working fine with my scoundrel ^^