Inferno - I need Wizard help!

[Derivatives]

So, it seems to me like I die a lot. I'm playing trying to farm Act 1, but nearly every elite group kills me at least once. Here is the details about me:

33k HP, 13.2k DPS (with Sparkflint)

Resist:
197/167/167/167/248/167

Active Skills:
Energy Armor (Prismatic 40 resist all rune)
Familiar (Sparkflint for + 1400 dps so far)
Diamond Skin (Crystal Shell for the extra absorb)
Venom Hydras (Use it with a Blizzard combo)
Shock Pulse (Explosive Bolt, which causes dying enemies to explode for 70% extra weapon damage)
Blizzard (Frozen Solid, which gives Blizzard a chance to freeze enemies)

Passive Skills:
Astral Presence (+20 maximum arcane power, due to the loss from energy shield and 2 energy every second regeneration)
Galvanizing Ward (310 life every second and +2 minute duration on my energy armor)
Cold Blooded (Chilled enemies take 20% more cold damage, which buffs my Blizzard)

I think that covers everything. Does everything check out? I kind of pieced it together myself. I try to kite, but some things kill me too fast.

[Cairhiin]

The problem is besides Diamond Skin you have no real survivibility skills and are loaded with damage skills. You could start thinking of taking Teleport with Fracture Rune, and the Illusionist passive of Familiar, and Galvanizing Ward.

[Nyon]

So, it seems to me like I die a lot. I'm playing trying to farm Act 1, but nearly every elite group kills me at least once. Here is the details about me:

33k HP, 13.2k DPS (with Sparkflint)

Resist:
197/167/167/167/248/167

Active Skills:
Energy Armor (Prismatic 40 resist all rune)
Familiar (Sparkflint for + 1400 dps so far)
Diamond Skin (Crystal Shell for the extra absorb)
Venom Hydras (Use it with a Blizzard combo)
Shock Pulse (Explosive Bolt, which causes dying enemies to explode for 70% extra weapon damage)
Blizzard (Frozen Solid, which gives Blizzard a chance to freeze enemies)

Passive Skills:
Astral Presence (+20 maximum arcane power, due to the loss from energy shield and 2 energy every second regeneration)
Galvanizing Ward (310 life every second and +2 minute duration on my energy armor)
Cold Blooded (Chilled enemies take 20% more cold damage, which buffs my Blizzard)

I think that covers everything. Does everything check out? I kind of pieced it together myself. I try to kite, but some things kill me too fast.

Both your dps and resistances are somewhat low for Act 1 Inferno.
Also I think you should replace familiar with force weapon cause I think thats a bigger dps upgrade.
I prefer the Snowbound rune on Blizzard since it lets you spam it alot more which makes it easier to kite.

[MOGATRON]

Use Energy Armor + Force Armor first of all, also you wont get far in Inferno unless you stack resists, at least shoot for a minimum of about 300. Drop Familiar for Teleport with the Fracture rune or Mirror Image with the Duplicate rune and drop one of your passives for Illusionist. You might want to retune your Passives, blur is amazing, but other than that you are on the right track, at that point its just about climbing a gear wall.

Edit: also spend money on the AH to buy a new weapon specifically, but also some starting gear for inferno. 13K DPS is weak.

[Derivatives]

I was thinking my DPS/Resists were a bit low. I guess i'll have to farm some major gold. I was also thinking I need more defensive abilities and you have all have given me some ideas.
My current weapon is total crap:
781 dps (Staff, not a one hander)
150-351 holy damage
+110 dex
+26% damage
+9 Minimum Damage
1.9% chance to slow
3% crit chance on tempest rush

[Monstercloud]

Change Prismatic to Force Armor first of all. It's pretty much required for Inferno.

Change Diamond Armor for Teleport with either wormhole or fracture. I used to have DA as my sole defensive skill. The problem quickly becomes when you need to put some space between you and the enemy. You could use both, but you could use the extra DPS from one of the active skills.

Change Shock Pulse to....just about anything. Seriously. Aside from Piecing Orb, there's no reason to ever use shock pulse in inferno. Too short range, random projectiles. Find something with plenty of range and is reliable.

I also used to be big on hydras/blizzard.... but found it to be inefficent solo, as monsters rarely stay put long enough to get the full effect of the hydras, and blizzard's damage is flat out pitiful. I'd run into the problem constantly of getting the enrage on elite packs (still think it's a stupid mechanic for a diablo game) even if my DPS was adequate for Act 1 Inferno. I'd try out other builds and see how they fit you. For me, I'm really enjoying laying down arcane mines and kiting enemies through. So far it works fine in Act 1 Inferno, but Act 2 is a completely different story...

If you were curious, this is my build (Feel free to swap Dynamo for Temporal Flux). Fully buffed I have 26k HP with 30.7k DPS with a 941 DPS weapon, which from the sound of your DPS w/ sparkflint, you need a much better weapon.

Edit:

My current weapon is total crap:
781 dps (Staff, not a one hander)
150-351 holy damage
+110 dex
+26% damage
+9 Minimum Damage
1.9% chance to slow
3% crit chance on tempest rush

781 isn't terrible, so from the sounds of it, it just sounds like you don't have much int stacked. Definitely look for a more suitable weapon/grab some items with int on them.

[Derivatives]

I definitely have some iffy gear. I like my chest piece. I think it's the best item I have (perhaps?)
456 defense
57 Strength
63 Dex
107 Int
44 Vitality
3 socketed (Two Radiant Square Topaz + One Radian Square Amethyst)
+146 armor

It's not the best, but I think it's my best piece >.< Thanks for the advice though. Any idea if getting paralysis + lightning abilities (electrocute + chain lightning) has any value or is it a waste of a passive? Otherwise arcane + arcane slows might be nice.

[florestan]

I use this build (currently in Inferno Act II at Belial).

I started Inferno Act I with 19k dps (buffed) and am now at 36k dps (most upgrades came from the AH ), I currently have 17k hp and not much in terms of resistances - best case I get three-shot, worst case I get one shot, if I get hit I'm doing it wrong.
Inferno Act I is very farmable - chances are you will return to the last quest a lot (you are basically guaranteed to have 5 valor stacks when you reach the prison warden and Butcher).

Freeze is a little unusual but I prefer it over diamond skin as it can benefit the whole group and the combination of freeze and teleport allows me to kite most elite packs with ease.

When you engage an elite pack always fall back to some location where you can kit it in circles - even if that area is not 100% cleared from (normal) mobs that's imo preferable to getting stuck in a dead-end and having to blow Freeze and Teleport to reverse direction.

Hydras are nice in some situations but I tend to move a lot and would have to recast them all the time while kiting - they just don't fit my current playstyle (used them on some bossfights on Hell to great effect, though).

[Deleted]

I have 30 k dps in Act 1 inferno, buy a blue onehanded weapon fast weapon with 800 dps and a nice offhand.

Resists in act 1 are useless, Energy-Shield with 35% max his is enough. Aim for 20 k HP.

Use: Teleport with fracture rune, Venom-Hydra, Magic waepon with 15% DPS, Energyshield with max 35% hit, Shockpulse (3rd rune, the big orb) and Blizzard with bigger radius.


Set blizzard, set hydra... run and loot. Rinse and repeat.

Act 2 works similar but you have to kite longer. Act 3 is not possible without resistances.

[Derivatives]

You all seem to have nice playstyles. What passives do you use Berktar?

I was also wondering (everyone is welcome to answer!), I am in a dungeon with almost nowhere to go and i'm fighting a pack of elites that are invulnerable. The dungeon isn't exploded, since these mobs are near the entrance, so if I kite away I encounter more enemies. I can't do enough damage to kill him without getting a timer and him going back to full health. Am I in trouble?

[Zephire]

Cleared act 1 with 9k-12k unbuffed dmg (don't remember exactly) and like 15-18k hp (increased abit when i got some drops but started at 15kish) with this build: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...RjS!YXU!cZZaaZ obviously I died some but anything but elites/chams melted with Disintegrate and when you're about to take dmg, diamond skin and they'll die, if not then run abit for DS to reset and if somethings still alive kill it! Skiped 2 elite packs (one from a random unimportant cave and the other one from the quest "Broken Blade" thing, where there is a hill which you can activate an event). Never lost my 5 stacks till buthcer...

Then I had to switch build on butcher because he 1 shoted me way to easy so I switched to this one: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...RjO!aXf!cYZabY

You all seem to have nice playstyles. What passives do you use Berktar?

I was also wondering (everyone is welcome to answer!), I am in a dungeon with almost nowhere to go and i'm fighting a pack of elites that are invulnerable. The dungeon isn't exploded, since these mobs are near the entrance, so if I kite away I encounter more enemies. I can't do enough damage to kill him without getting a timer and him going back to full health. Am I in trouble?

Abit, Archon and/or disintegrate will pearce through everything and hit the boss, so if you can survive that is a nice way to kill em. Hopefully you get a waller when you're archon and they wall in a way so that you can stand behind a wall melting there faces with your rightclick archon ability (it pearce through walls^^) without taking any dmg.

[Bigtimmy]

The advice I'd give you is:

1.) Get new weapon, be it mh/oh or 2h. Doesn't really matter, just try not to give up too much int and/or vit if you can avoid it. Shoot for at least 20k buffed char sheet DPS and mid-20kish HP for Act 1 (but don't run magic weapon + sparkflint to get there, you will lose too much defense and/or utility). You will be surprised how much easier things will become with even a modest weapon upgrade.

2.) Do NOT listen to anyone who has not successfully solo cleared at least Act 2 Inferno. The ramp up in difficulty with each Act in Inferno is somewhat hilarious, and the tactics and/or builds which work in Act 1 in many cases will be rendered irrelevant in later acts. What works in later acts might not be optimal for quick farming in earlier acts, but it will always work. The same cannot be said vice-versa. That said, it is almost entirely a matter of gear, so don't beat yourself up too much.

[Derivatives]

This group is just too strong for me! I think i'll have to just make a new game. I'm like some of these combos you all posted. It seems to me that there isn't really a wrong choice and a lot of it is playstyle. I went ahead and got Force Armor. It's very nice. I also like teleport with fracture. Magic Weapon will also be useful. That's a lot of DPS compared to the Familiar. It puts me at 15.5k dps. I am leaving hydras for now, but I agree, they are a bit harder to control when kiting. I changed Shock Pulse to Piercing Orb. I am also playing around with Blizzard runes too. The freeze is too unreliable for me. I just like it when it works.

As far as passives, i'm still in debate with myself over it. I'm thinking Illusionist + Cold Blooded + Ward, but i'm not exactly sure yet.

[Deleted]

Most important passive is certainly illusionist combined with teleport and fracture. Glass canon for dmg and I use the passive with lifereg when using shields, but you could also use increased arcanepower-pool and reg. I only do not like to drink potions all the time.

Concerning: Invulnerable minions... they are probably the biggest problem for a wizard. Only way is to port as much as possible, use the mirror images and your templar as blockers. Use Hydra and Blizzard, at least Blizzard will hit all mobs, hydra is stupid and will shoot on the wrong mob most probably but better than nothing. If you have the time use shockorb whenever possible... note: you need fast attackspeed with slow weapons or as had arcane orb hitter you are most probably lost.

Ps: Magic find is nice but there are sometimes which are too hard not to use the best dmg / survival gear available.

[Deleted]

>This< Is what i'm running with atm. Blur as a passive is the one i keep swapping about between astral pres or cold blooded. Managed to get belial to about an inch worth of health last night as my best attempt.

My cunning ninja skills have not gotten me so close today

[Boogdieb]

Have a quick question looking at some of your guys builds was wondering how you use two spells of the same slot like diamond skin and frost nova for example.

[Deleted]

Have a quick question looking at some of your guys builds was wondering how you use two spells of the same slot like diamond skin and frost nova for example.

Elective mode in the gameplay options. You can have whatever wherever.

[Boogdieb]

Elective mode in the gameplay options. You can have whatever wherever.

thanks for the help

[kumduh]

Why is fracture suggested over wormhole? Whenever I use fracture my images Herp and Derp always follow me around instead of running up to stuff and tanking. They also come out at the point you land, instead of the point of departure, and their deployment can sometimes knock you back a little. I've found wormhole to be much better, but maybe there is a secret to getting the images to do something useful?

The build I first used in Inferno was:
Magic Missile - Seeker
Blizzard - (you can pick whichever rune you like)
Diamond Skin - Crystal
Teleport - Wormhole
Hydra - Arcane
Energy Armor - Force Armor

Passives: Illusionist, Temporal Flux, and then personal preference, but I often took Glass Cannon.

It's a kite build, and it's slow, but as long as mobs don't have Super Fast (I'm looking at you Scavengers/Soul Rippers) you should be fine.

[moff]

I started inferno with about 20k life and 15k dps with this build
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QOR!ZUf!aZaYYb

you should get along fine with that. act 2 is not possible though, you do not have enough dps. I farmed my way up to 30k life, 30k dps and use this build now for act 2 and am progressing fine right now http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...QOS!ZUY!ZbaYYZ