07-13-2012, 11:51 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-13-2012, 03:57 PM by MongoJerry.)
I'm level 57 in Act II hell, and I am still love love loving this build. I was loving it before Critical Mass, and now that I have it and some critical hit equipment equipped, I love it even more. My total critical hit is up to 25% now, and when I turn 60, I should be able to take off Pinpoint Barrier and still have over 30%. I still need to find some decent crit rings, an amulet, and a headpiece, so I'll probably have to farm Act III a while to be able to find and/or pay for those. I'm really kicking myself for dying with a great crit amulet I managed to snipe off the AH that would have been perfect (I literally put my bid in with 10 seconds left to go).
Things I've learned:
1. I hate shielding elites. No frost nova freezing and no Critical Mass procs = sad Mongo. At least Invulnerable Minions are susceptable to Frost Nova. (Do they proc Critical Mass?). Second worst so far is Frozen, although I'm getting better at spotting the orbs at melee range and teleporting away if I have to before they go off. I'm also starting to see why melee characters hate Nightmarish so much.
2. I love beating the snot out of any scavenger/dog packs I see. I always hated/feared them the most with my ranged wizards, so I get extra pleasure from wiping them out.
3. I've been playing in groups mostly and have found my favorite classes to group with so far -- in order of favorite to least favorite:
a) Monk -- Similar playstyle. Monk rounds them up so that Meteors and Spectral Blades proc like mad. We then spam alternate cc's keeping everything locked. It's beautiful.
b) Barbarian -- Similar to the monk but not quite as good of a synergy. Barbarians can still hold mobs down and can be partial protection, though.
c) Wizard with Blizzard -- The Blizzard corrals mob groups, while I lock them down inside the Blizzard with Frost Nova. If I have to run or teleport away for any reason (e.g. run out of an arcane sentry's path), the mobs are well snared by the Blizzard to help me make my escape and keep the mobs inside the meteor puddles for a moment or two longer.
d) Witch Doctors -- I'm not sure where to rank Witch Doctors, because I only ran into them in 4-player groups, so I didn't get a good feel for how well we synergized. The pets Witch Doctors were helpful with their ability to corral mobs, of course. I don't know one way or the other regarding non-pets Witch Doctors.
e) Arcane style Wizards or Demon Hunters -- Nearly no synergy that I was able to spot. They just mostly stood back and dps'ed. At one point, I felt like they were mooching off me -- I'm risking my neck here and all they're doing is sitting back there firing. However, I don't know enough about Demon Hunter skills to know if perhaps they added some snaring that I wasn't consciously aware of.
4. I'm finding Teleport to be absolutely critical for me right now. Emphasis on the "for me." I can see that it's possible to play this kind of a Wizard without it, but right now, it is so nice to have that escape out when I do something stupid or get caught in a situation without an out (e.g. Vortexed into a mob group in a tight space with arcane sentries rotating in). It's kind of my "get out of stupidland free" card. As I get more experience playing this build -- and I get used to playing against mobs as a melee range player (which I haven't done previously) -- I can then entertain other options like Mirror Images, Magic Weapon, or Hydra. But for now, Teleport's saved me at least four times in hell already, and I don't see giving it up easily. Also, I've used it to save *other* players when fights started to break down by teleporting in front of mobs and Frost Nova'ing to stop them from charging my teammates.
Things I've learned:
1. I hate shielding elites. No frost nova freezing and no Critical Mass procs = sad Mongo. At least Invulnerable Minions are susceptable to Frost Nova. (Do they proc Critical Mass?). Second worst so far is Frozen, although I'm getting better at spotting the orbs at melee range and teleporting away if I have to before they go off. I'm also starting to see why melee characters hate Nightmarish so much.
2. I love beating the snot out of any scavenger/dog packs I see. I always hated/feared them the most with my ranged wizards, so I get extra pleasure from wiping them out.
3. I've been playing in groups mostly and have found my favorite classes to group with so far -- in order of favorite to least favorite:
a) Monk -- Similar playstyle. Monk rounds them up so that Meteors and Spectral Blades proc like mad. We then spam alternate cc's keeping everything locked. It's beautiful.
b) Barbarian -- Similar to the monk but not quite as good of a synergy. Barbarians can still hold mobs down and can be partial protection, though.
c) Wizard with Blizzard -- The Blizzard corrals mob groups, while I lock them down inside the Blizzard with Frost Nova. If I have to run or teleport away for any reason (e.g. run out of an arcane sentry's path), the mobs are well snared by the Blizzard to help me make my escape and keep the mobs inside the meteor puddles for a moment or two longer.
d) Witch Doctors -- I'm not sure where to rank Witch Doctors, because I only ran into them in 4-player groups, so I didn't get a good feel for how well we synergized. The pets Witch Doctors were helpful with their ability to corral mobs, of course. I don't know one way or the other regarding non-pets Witch Doctors.
e) Arcane style Wizards or Demon Hunters -- Nearly no synergy that I was able to spot. They just mostly stood back and dps'ed. At one point, I felt like they were mooching off me -- I'm risking my neck here and all they're doing is sitting back there firing. However, I don't know enough about Demon Hunter skills to know if perhaps they added some snaring that I wasn't consciously aware of.
4. I'm finding Teleport to be absolutely critical for me right now. Emphasis on the "for me." I can see that it's possible to play this kind of a Wizard without it, but right now, it is so nice to have that escape out when I do something stupid or get caught in a situation without an out (e.g. Vortexed into a mob group in a tight space with arcane sentries rotating in). It's kind of my "get out of stupidland free" card. As I get more experience playing this build -- and I get used to playing against mobs as a melee range player (which I haven't done previously) -- I can then entertain other options like Mirror Images, Magic Weapon, or Hydra. But for now, Teleport's saved me at least four times in hell already, and I don't see giving it up easily. Also, I've used it to save *other* players when fights started to break down by teleporting in front of mobs and Frost Nova'ing to stop them from charging my teammates.