Crit / meteor build

[MonTy]

Has anyone here experimented with alternatives to Meteor in this build?

Another critical mass build is the following: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...gaX!YbZZac

I've tried it out and it's very powerful. I'm sticking with the meteor build but if I make another wizard I'll probably try short fuse and energy twister. You'll need a lot of +arcane power and arcane power on crit in order for it to work (no AP generator). But twister hits often and short fuse is great for taking out mobs with low life fast. Teleport is needed for the build as well since you have to be in melee range.

I'd certainly recommend trying it once you gear up a bit.

[Concillian]

You were not kidding- I just cleared Maghda and those bee packs were by far the hardest thing I've faced in the game. Of course the two packs I fought had mortar, which led to fights where I probably had about 20-30% health at times.

Lacuni Huntress with Horde + anything was harder for me. Can't stand still.

But yeah, mortar bees suck.

[MonTy]

Figured I'd try out the new patches with my Meteor Wizard and it went well. The game is notably easier now- was able to clear Act 2 without much problems with my same pre-patch gear. Here's my current setup: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/MonTy...o/20749702

[MonTy]

Whoa, getting a huge buff from the proposed patch 1.0.5 changes:

"Meteor Delay between cast and impact reduced from 2 seconds to 1.25 seconds"

between Frost Nova and Diamond Skin, wonder if I can roll around without energy armor now. Will test things and tread lightly being in hardcore. Been trying out tons of other builds in the meantime, but will certainly give the meteor build another go once this patch hits.

[MonTy]

Playing the PTR and oh boy is this a MASSIVE change to inferno. The default difficulty is extremely easy, my hardcore wizard is cruising along in Act 3 like it was Act 1 Inferno. Meteor cast/impact timing reduction is great, along with the buffs to spectral blade (dps increase, arc increase, and range increase). Also finding so many item level 60+ and higher in quality. Have a feeling it's going to be much easier to clear Inferno now, and for a challenge we'll have to increase monster power level (along with the new boss Infernal Machine mode).

[Spangles]

I contribute to a thread on IncGamers about the future of CM wizards after the 0.5 -> 0.125 proc nerf to the Storm Chaser rune on Energy Twister in 1.05.

I see doomsday comments in this vein

You can't get enough crit to make it work as well as before. The extra needed piece is now attack speed. You need ~45% crit and an attack speed over 2 (and of course 25+ ap-on-crit) if you want to be able to lockdown in the way that you can now with storm chaser, or could in 1.03 with wicked wind.

whining that the CM wiz will go back to kiting or move up to an Archon build in 1.05, neither of which I intend to do.

I simulate the proc nerf by alternating between the Wicked Wind rune (nerfed to 0.125 in 1.04) and Storm Chaser (0.5 until 1.05) in Act 3 Inferno runs, start to finish. Results show that my CM build (39% crit chance, 1.78 attacks per second, 17+ arcane power on crit) will be viable in 1.05.

Healing reflected damage and getting a reliable start on the aoe/lockdown cycle can be difficult, but locking down & killing after the cycle starts works well. This is a worst case test since the 1.05 player cc buff isn't in effect.

I will test on the PTR when I can, glad to see MonTy's results support mine.

[vor_lord]

Nice to know that my wizard will be fine (my build is identical to yours except I have Teleport/Fracture instead of Magic Weapon/Force). I've been too busy to play for a month and have dreaded logging back in to a completely new game, with my build and gear obsolete.

[Spangles]

I played Battlements and Stonefort in Act 3 Inferno at monster power 4 on the PTR.

My build includes Blizzard, which blends well with the CM attack. I use Wicked Wind with Energy Twister, as I have on the 1.04 live server by way of comparison.

The CM aoe/lockdown was smooth at startup, probably because of the player cc buff. Healing from LOH and lifesteal were good. The play was more fluid and smoother than in 1.04 live.

My stats were same as usual except for magic find, 301 at 5 stacks with monster power 4, compared with 265 in 1.04. Also, dps was 101K on the PTR compared with 93K live, I don't know why, maybe its a bug.

This just in, quote Morphos:

The +% Ele damage affix has been fixed. Previously, it added 2x the stated percentage of your minimum physical damage. Now it adds the % of your min + the % of your max.

I met Xah'Rith the Keywarden "Tormentor of the Damned" and we tormented each other until he dropped a Key of Terror and 5 rares.

[MongoJerry]

I guess I missed some discussion somewhere while I was away. Why would a nerf to Energy Twister affect a crit/meteor build? Meteor and Spectral Blades have always had a higher chance to proc Critical Mass than Energy Twister. The original builds that this thread talked about certainly feel great on 1.0.4 and at least from the patch notes, it seems like they'll get even better with the changes to Spectral Blades in 1.0.5.

[Spangles]

For better or worse, CM wizard discussion outside the Lounge has centered on Energy Twister/Wicked Wind in 1.03 and Storm Chaser in 1.04.

Try a crit/meteor build in 1.05, or move on to Archon? is the discussion now. I would rather do neither, but I do need a new crit generator.

Replacing Energy Twister with Spectral Blade seemed like a good idea after reading this LL thread. I can't get back on the PTR so I changed on the live server to this build.

Using a signature spell for generating crits certainly eases the Arcane Power shortage. The action is smoother and more powerful than with Storm Chaser. I miss being able to target mobs with tornados, but I must move on, and Spectral Blade is the best replacement so far.

I also tried Ray of Frost/Sleet Storm on the live server for crit generation, but the action was balky, for some reason.

Meteor builds have done well on the PTR. Proc coefficients for Spectral Blade, Star Pact, Meteor Shower and Liquefy have all been nerfed recently, so more testing is needed.

I need a table of proc coefficients that I can trace directly to patch notes. This table was last updated in June and the coefficients listed are similar to but not the same as patch note values.

[MonTy]

So they gave Meteor & Spectral blade more attention by buffing damage, but now reduced the proc rate of both spells. I'm currently sitting at 34% crit so I'm eager to test out the changes. Hopefully critical mass build is still possible.

"Skill Rune - Star Pact
Proc coefficient reduced from 0.25 to 0.10625"

"Proc coefficient reduced from 0.222 to 0.14"

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/7390518/...-9_27_2012

[MongoJerry]

So they gave Meteor & Spectral blade more attention by buffing damage, but now reduced the proc rate of both spells. I'm currently sitting at 34% crit so I'm eager to test out the changes. Hopefully critical mass build is still possible.

Please let us know how it goes. I'd test it myself, but I just lost my new crit/meteor hardcore wizard to a lag death, so I'm having to start over.

I'm thinking that one might have to use both Evocation and Critical Mass together. The extra second knocked off the defensive skills might be important.

[MongoJerry]

Elite modifiers have been changed slightly at higher levels:
•The minimum stun duration required for most Elites is now 0.65 seconds (up from 0.5 seconds); stuns less than 0.65 seconds will have no effect
•The minimum stun duration required for Rares and bosses is now 0.85 seconds (up from 0.5 seconds); stuns less than 0.85 seconds will have no effect

I'm trying to figure out if this change is going to affect Frost Nova semi-spam in a crit/meteor build. If one is able to Frost Nova too quickly, I can see it getting below these levels in Inferno. However, maybe the crowd control recovery rate will be fast enough that maybe it won't be a problem.

Perhaps if Frost Nova lasts longer under the new system, then that could partially make up for the lower Critical Mass proc rates in 1.0.5.

[MonTy]

Please let us know how it goes.

It went great. Tested my current wizard in Act 1 MP 1, which means all mobs were lvl63. While my 20k dps was a tad low, I had no survivability issues. Critical Mass proc felt like it was going off enough, some champion packs I could keep frozen nearly the whole time, and if I couldn't then diamond skin was available. Between the two defensive skills I felt no danger during a Butcher run. Also cleared some other areas of Act 1 and no issues with those champ packs (although my 20k dps was too low to kill treasure goblins).

The increased speed in which meteors land will take getting used to. Now you have to cast frost nova first and then meteors(first two will hit while they're still frozen). I'm using Bone Chill, so I try to hit as often as possible while they're frozen.

So as it stands, the Meteor Critical Mass build seems very strong still.

[MongoJerry]

The increased speed in which meteors land will take getting used to. Now you have to cast frost nova first and then meteors(first two will hit while they're still frozen). I'm using Bone Chill, so I try to hit as often as possible while they're frozen.

Interesting choice by using Bone Chill instead of Cold Snap. If the extra three seconds taken off the cooldown aren't needed, then maybe I can use Cold Blooded instead of Evocation as well.

What's your overall crit rate and how much increased attack speed do you have?

[MonTy]

What's your overall crit rate and how much increased attack speed do you have?

34% Crit, 8%IAS

[Spangles]

I went into the PTR with this CM/Spectral Blade build and ran parts of Act 3 Inferno.

Monster Power 4 was fast and easy, MP6 was slow and difficult. MP5 seemed like the closest equivalent of Act 3 on the 1.04 live server.

All the nerfs and buffs leave the CM wizard doing well in 1.05. Don't know which variant will work at MP10, if any, or if we all will have to go Archon. Hope not.

[MonTy]

Trying to make Comet work in the live realm. There's some nice damage multipliers going with bone chill & cold mastry passive which grants 20% extra damage to frozen or chilled enemies. Star Pact just procs so much more, it's not currently worth going with comet. Plus you need around 115+ Arcane Power to cast Comet twice, which is really the ideal number of meteors you want going off right away.

Hopefully I can get something going in 1.0.5 with comet, as the proc rate will actually be higher than star pact. It was really nice having that extra slow, especially for treasure goblins. Also want to try out other armors now that enemy damage is getting nerfed in Monster Power 0. I've heard storm armor with the damage on crit is quite powerful.

[Spangles]

Hopefully I can get something going in 1.0.5 with comet, as the proc rate will actually be higher than star pact. It was really nice having that extra slow, especially for treasure goblins. Also want to try out other armors now that enemy damage is getting nerfed in Monster Power 0. I've heard storm armor with the damage on crit is quite powerful.

I use this CM/Meteor build on the 1.05 PTR in Acts 1, 2, 3 at MP 3, 4, 5 to farm Infernal Machine Keys.

I switch among Spectral Blade / Deep Cuts and Shock Pulse / Piercing Orb for signature spell, Storm Armor / Shocking Aspect and Magic Weapon / Force Weapon for DPS boost, and Star Pact / Liquefy for Meteor crits.

I am always moving, and Spectral Blade seems to give me more fluid motion. Maybe Shock Pulse is on the swing timer and Spectral Blade is not? Is there a way of telling?

I think Force Weapon works better than Shocking Aspect, I just prefer consistency over intermittent burst.

I think that three Star Pact casts are more effective than two Liquefy meteors, which are the most I can cast of either. I will try Comet for the synergy with Cold Blooded.

I switch out Evocation for various other passives and can't tell the difference. I really wish I had a combat log. And a table of proc coefficients published by Blizzard.

[MongoJerry]

Have you considered using Ice Armor in combination with Cold Blooded? I had been planning to use Crystalize for the armor bonus, but perhaps Chilling Armor would be the most sure-fire way to make sure that all nearby enemies are chilled for any damage you deal. Plus, Ice Armor will give an 8% reduction to melee damage and slow enemies down a bit if you need to beat a retreat.

Spangles, I noticed that you've been using Explosive Blast a lot. How has that been going for you? To me, it seems like it's redundant with meteor, and I would rather use Teleport or Magic Weapon instead. But perhaps there's something I'm missing about it. Is its CM proc rate any good?