The Wizard Progress level 1-20

So this will be a mapped out approach to what I did to level my wizard from level 1-20.

Here is my initial build for the wizard - At first its a very basic build but you got to start somewhere!

Build for under Level 10: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#acY

I liked using this build for a few reasons.

1. Fun
2. Damage inflicted
3. Learning the Wizard

I enjoyed getting used to how the Wizard works. The magic missile is a nice skill to use especially because its a signature spell meaning it doesn't cost any arcane power. The Arcane orb is a skill thats great if mobs get to close you can *Nuke them by doing heavy damage. A tactic that I would use is to get myself surrounded by a group of enemies and then freeze them with the frost nova and then blast them with the Arcane Orb. This works pretty effective otherwise I will just spam the Magic Missle away.

The first 10 levels you really should not be at a risk for dieing as you are really just getting the hang of the build. From 10 - 20 I have a few builds that I use that I will document below.

From Level 10-20 you can kill some stuff but now you need to worry about possibly getting into trouble. Normal difficulty is not to bad at all but you need to start thinking about your build and what you want to accomplish with what you pick.

Build #1 http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#acYdZg!Y!aa.aa

My Primary Signature skill is the Magic Missile. I have the rune attached that gives me 143% Weapon damage and it costs me no Arcane power to do. Like the first build, I stick with the Arcane Orb for a lot of Damage and Nuke Capability. I also stuck with the Frost Nova but added the Wave of force into the  4th skill slot. The method is Freeze a group with frost nova - blast them with the Force Push and then melt with the Arcane Orb. This method works great during this level. This basic concept can work all throughout Normal mode and even some part of Nightmare. The 5th skill can also be combined with the previous method - Diamond Skin can absorb damage against you. Try this....find a big group go diamond skin - frost nova - force push - then Nuke...after they should all be dead. my Final skill selection - Slow Time - I used because it was good against ranged missile attacks but for the most part...I just wanted to try something new and cool lol.

Build #2 is a much more aggressive build that I used when I got bored with the frost nova - force push combination.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#beZdXS!Y!a.aaa

This Build uses the Shock Pulse combines with the Arcane Torrent to rain down damage on groups.
I use the Ray of Frost to damage individual targets and slow them down.  I selected the Wave force to keep enemies far away from me if they get to close. Diamond skin was selected as an armor if Force push cant keep all of the enemies away. Finally Magic Weapon was selected to increase the overall damage of of my attacks.

The passive I always use is Glass Cannon because I will take the damage increase at the cost of armor any day!

I am working on  finding some recording software but until then I hope you can find my posts usefull.

Champion Profile #2 The Wizard

If you are looking for a Champion to pack one hell of a punch you might want to take a look at the Wizard.

 
In Diablo 3 the Wizard is the most similar to the Sorceress in Diablo 2. In my personal experience I always tried to master this type of class because they are fast, very powerfull, and I could get to(teleport) bosses and get the best loot.

The changes that have been made to this class would be the disappearance of the mana and the emergence of the Arcane Power Globe.

The character is able to attack continuously, but is not that strong and cannot sustain a lot of damage. Instability attempted, unsuccessfully, to create this by making her "more blasty and more vulnerable." Jay Wilson talked about this when discussing the new design of the Wizard in October 2009.

Jay Wilson: "Well for the Wizard we want to enforce the fact that she’s a glass cannon. I don’t think it’s fun to ever run out of mana. I’m not really interested in an extended resource for her. For the Witch Doctor we’re okay with mana, since he’s got some pretty good skills to recover mana that also double as attacks. And he’s not defenseless when he’s out of mana. He's got pets and ways to attack with them that aren’t mana intensive. For him that makes mana fairly interesting."
"For the wizard, when she’s out of mana she just dies. And that’s not fun. So if anything, we want to encourage how she plays. So she’s the kind of character that blasts first and asks questions later. Very vulnerable. So we want to implement a system that makes her more blasty, but even more vulnerable. We want to make that a choice for the player. "Do I want to make myself more vulnerable in exchange for being more blasty." And that’s a cool gameplay pull there."

Arcane Power is in a nutshell a resource that enables the wizard to be able to cast his/her low skills. However you will need to be selective on using the higher skills as they will require more Arcane Power.

The most important thing for building a Wizard will be developing skills.

The Active skills have Signature Spells that are free to cast but do lower damage than non-signature skills.


This will be the first character that I am planning on mastering. I love the power that this class brings as well as the mobility. Look for my progress to be tracked on here!

Wizard Footage:



Look for updates weekly on my progress and tips.

Update: 5/22 -  Level 15 still on normal.

So far I have a few hours put into this class. I like a lot of the skills and am very impressed at how blizzard has designed this character.

My Build is listed here....My Build

I enjoy playing this build and so far I am doing some very nice damage.

For my first 2 skills I choose the Magic Magic Missile which costs no Arcane power and Arcane Torrent that costs some Arcane power.
The Magic missle is good because it costs nothing and I can spam it at enemies. The Arcane is good because it does a lot of damage and can take down enemies.

The next 3 skills that I selected is Diamond skin, Wave Force and Frost Nova.

The Diamond skill makes you virtually invincible for 3 seconds and then I execute a Wave force that blasts all enemies in the vicinity of me.

Video of Wave Force:

 

As Seen above this is a truly devastating mob attack. The last skill that I have selected is Frost Nova which I pair with the Wave force to do the same thing.

Have fun and I will keep updating my progress throughout my experience building the wizard.

Did you know? Use Diablo 3 Elective Mode Today!

Hello everyone, I just found this out and I recommend anyone to give it a try.
When you first start playing there by default you can only select a certain type of skill per button...with elective you can select whatever skill from whatever category for anything you want.

After you select this you can see the arrows after selecting a new skill.

Have fun and happy Skill Selecting!!

Champion Profile #5 The Monk

I love the addition to the Monk for Diablo 3!

The Monk has a lot of really cool and neat features that make him a very powerful champion. The monk gets his power from his spirit. The Spirit amount does not change increase through levelling but can be increased using equipment.

The Monk is a Melee character who will need to get in close to enemies to deal damage. The monk has a series of powers that can be utilized to deal devestating combinations. The video below shows a great example of how fast the Monk can strike. 


Monk Fighting Action:





The Monk has a lot of great combinations to select from. Personally this was the second class that I played with and as of 5/22 I am a level 40 monk in Act 4 of nightmare. My Build can be found by following this link.

Build


I enjoy playing as this build because I don't have a gaming mouse so both of my mouse buttons I can spam by using "elective skill selection". The best thing is both the skills are offensive that I have on my mouse and don't cost any spirit.Both fists of Thunder and Crippling wave paired with most runes are very effective.

Another thing that the Monk has is some nice healing skills such as serenity. Serenity is cheap in using Spirit and has a fast cooldown. This can come in very handy when you have no health potions and you are on your last legs for life. Saved me a few times.

The next skill is the Seven sided strike. I like this skill because using the passive skill "Transcendence" this replenishes my health. The rune that I have paired with it has a decent chance of stunning the enemies that are around me which comes in handy. The downside of this skill is the cooldown takes a little time and it costs some spirit but it can be deadly for groups.

My favourite spirit consuming skill is The Lashing Tail Kick......I love this skill!
This skill is perfect when you find yourself surrounded. For anyone that watched the "Matrix " movies....when Neo is fighting all the agent smith's and they surround him....when all of a sudden he bursts out from them and they all go flying....this is what that skill is.

The Mantra "Aura" that I use is one that gives my monk the chance to dodge an attack. I like using this aura because it defensive and most of my other skills are all offensive.

So far I think this build will get me to Hell and once I am there I will see if this build will hold........

Champion Profile #1 The Barbarian

There a 5 Charaters (Champions) that you can choose in Diablo 3. One of the new changes regarding any Character is the ability to be able to make them either a male or a female. This is a new addition that the Diablo 3 development team thought was important to have.

Out of all the new classes that are in Diablo 3 the Barbarian is the only returning character from Diablo 2.

The Barbarian is your typical run of the mill smash and slash character. If you want to find yourself in a lot of close quarter fighting with monster guts flying all over than this is the character for you!

Barbs are naturally very strong and have very good natural resistances. I like to think of the barb as the "Conan the Barbarian" from the movie back in the late 80's. Now remember Arnold was not waving a staff...so don't figure on  using a magical staff and slinging fireballs or magic missiles with this Character because that's not what the Barb is capable of.

I will track all of my progress with this character in this post once I get the game and get rolling.


First Impressions on using the Barb: 5/15/2012

I chose to make this the first character that I was going to use when I started playing. I created my character and then joined a public game where there was already 3 players starting out for the first time as well. Within Minutes I was in the New Tristram and getting chills remembering the past Diablo's. I ventured into the first quest and I was off slashing and bashing my way through enemies. One of the biggest things that I noticed is the number keys have been replaced to act as skill keys and are no longer needed for potions. Potions 

Diablo 3 is almost here!

Well the time has come and I have my Pr-ordered version on its way to arrive (hopefully) by tomorrow 5/15/2012.

                                                   
Having Diablo 3 come out is a very exciting time. I have been playing the Diablo series since the birth of the very first one. The third series, according to blizzard has been in the making for 4 years but for me it feels like over a decade. That is maybe because that's what it has been! Over ten years of waiting for one of the deepest and most satisfying games of all time Diablo 2. I have achieved godly status with all classes except the druid in Diablo 2 and will be taking my experience and fully emerging it into the Diablo 3 realm.  I created this blog to document my experience throughout Diablo 3 and hopefully help some people out.

I will post updates to track my progress. Check out all the other information posted such as character classes,walk-throughs and tips to help you along your quest.