Belial Evolved Wizard.

[Chesspiece_face]

I've got to say one of the greatest things I have found in this game is how I keep being suprised by skills that seem underwhelming in theory only to find how powerful they can be when used in their niche. I was forced into one of those moments when Belial absolutely destroyed my default Wizard build and I had to come up with something that had a chance of taking him down.

At level 27 this build destroys everything. This is what I came up with:

Left Mouse: Disintegrate (Convergence)
Right Mouse: Magic Missle (Charged Blast)
1 Key: Frost Nova (Cold Snap)
2 Key: Diamond Skin (Crystal Shell)
3 Key: Hydra (Arcane Hydra)
4 Key: Magic Weapon (Electrify)

Passives: Evocation/Prodigy

Hydra gives great scouting ability while also shredding packs of mobs especially when combined with Disintegrate. Magic Missle infused with Prodigy keeps your Arcane Power topped back up after blowing it all on a massive Disintegrate. Frost Nova and Diamond skin are necessary "Oh Crap" defenses and one of them is always up with Evocation. And all of that damage is seriously boosted with Magic Weapon. (At the time of this writing having it activated adds 60 points, nearly 25% to my damage stat.)

Try it out. You won't be disappointed.

[RTM]

I wondered about how Magic Weapon would play out. So it actually increases the damage of your other spells as opposed to just melee swings?

[Pantalaimon]

I assumed (and Chesspiece seems to be affirming) that increasing weapon damage increase the damage you deal with abilities, since those are based on weapon damage. Otherwise I can't really see the point.

Chesspiece, I'm curious, why didn't you take multi-Magic Missile if you're using Prodigy, doesn't each missile proc the +4? And what do you think about Ray of Frost instead of Hydra for use on single targets? I don't understand the bad rep for Ray of Frost, it's my go-to single target ability.

[Chesspiece_face]

Chesspiece, I'm curious, why didn't you take multi-Magic Missile if you're using Prodigy, doesn't each missile proc the +4? And what do you think about Ray of Frost instead of Hydra for use on single targets? I don't understand the bad rep for Ray of Frost, it's my go-to single target ability.

I did some basic testing on Prodigy and from what I can tell you only get the bonus +4 once per cast. I originally was going to use Electrocute as my generator spell as if I gained the AP each time the spell did damage I would be able to fill my pool in a second with that spell. Alas it seems as if Prodigy is limited to giving you the bonus AP once per cast not for each time it does damage.

I would never take Ray of Frost over Hydra for this build. Hydra is the lynchpin skill. The key here, and the reason I tried Hydra in the first place was that it allowed me to have continuous damage output while maintaining my mobility. I died multiple times to Belial before I changed my spell line-up. I just didn't have the mobility needed with my original playstyle and was constantly having to decide if I wanted to try to damage him and risk getting 1/2 shot. The great benefit of this build is that it allows you incredible mobility while not sacrificing much in the way of damage. Bosses become easy as you can just focus on kiting and let your Hyrda carry the heavy lifting. And you also have a ton of control for the normal trash mob packs.

[Pantalaimon]

The key here, and the reason I tried Hydra in the first place was that it allowed me to have continuous damage output while maintaining my mobility. I died multiple times to Belial before I changed my spell line-up. I just didn't have the mobility needed with my original playstyle and was constantly having to decide if I wanted to try to damage him and risk getting 1/2 shot.

Ah! I'm guessing this is a single-player character? What would you change if you had a tank for a partner, or were in full-party play?

To compare and contrast, what was your original build/playstyle?

[Chesspiece_face]

Ah! I'm guessing this is a single-player character? What would you change if you had a tank for a partner, or were in full-party play?

To compare and contrast, what was your original build/playstyle?

The build I was using up until this point was very Arcane Orb centric. I believe I had Disintegrate/Electrocute/Arcane Orb/Diamond Skin/Frost Nova/Slow Time.

Disintegrate and Electrocute both required me to be standing still to do damage, and Arcane Orb was just too slow for me to reliably deal damage without a lot of risk.

The more I think about the new build I doubt I would change anything based on solo or group play. It's extremely flexible and allows you to do a lot to support a team. In solo play Hydra is great for pulling mobs from off screen and lining them up into your Disintegrate. In a group this will be even better as your tank can gather stuff up for your massive aoe fest. I also have to stress that damage is not a problem with this build. The combination of Arcane Hydra and Disintegrate absolutely melts stuff. Hydra looks underwhelming on paper but it will often fire off bursts of 2-3 shots every second. Runed with Arcane that is 2-3 mini Arcane Orbs every second and those shots travel much faster than Arcane Orb. The other benefit of Hydra is that it has no collision so enemies will be walking straight through it in packs. Thus those Arcane shots will be detonating from the center of the packs and not get wasted by hitting an outlier.

[MongoJerry]

I did some basic testing on Prodigy and from what I can tell you only get the bonus +4 once per cast. I originally was going to use Electrocute as my generator spell as if I gained the AP each time the spell did damage I would be able to fill my pool in a second with that spell. Alas it seems as if Prodigy is limited to giving you the bonus AP once per cast not for each time it does damage.

I also did some testing, and it turns out that in fact you *do* get Prodigy procs on split Magic Missle, but you don't on Electrocute. I was skeptical that it would work, but some people at the Basin swore by it, so I did some testing and definitely, yes, you do get fast fills of the AP bulb using split magic missle with the Prodigy proc.

[Chesspiece_face]

I also did some testing, and it turns out that in fact you *do* get Prodigy procs on split Magic Missle, but you don't on Electrocute. I was skeptical that it would work, but some people at the Basin swore by it, so I did some testing and definitely, yes, you do get fast fills of the AP bulb using split magic missle with the Prodigy proc.

Thanks for the heads up. I had just assumed that since it didn't work for multi-damage other spells it also wouldn't work on Magic Missle.

I've altered that about my core build and am now using Split MM. Other than that I've been trucking along through NM and have been finding this build increasingly viable.

Disintegrate works wonders as it synergizes with Arcane Hydra greatly, throwing out tons of damage across groups. It also has the added benefit of incinerating enemies it kills which removes them from play. No resurrection for you!

I also feel, the farther I get into the game, that 'fire and forget' spells are more and more neccessary. There are a lot of spells that can fill this spot (Hydra, Blizzard, Meteor, etc.) but the scouting ability of Hydra is something I think a lot of people will over look. Being able to peak around corners or check to see if there is anything lurking just off the screen is absolutely invaluable.

The weakest aspect of the build is when facing off against heavily armored single targets as it sacrifices single target damage for increased mobility. In the end, however, this just means a little more time spent kiting in exchange for a whole ton of extra safety.

I was originally worried that the strong focus on AoE damage would start to fall off as the game went on. The farther I get into NM the trend seems to be going the other way. Even the beastliest of champion packs are fairly trivial if played well.