Wizard Farming Build?

[Vook]

What's the best Wizard build for farming, with high crit?

I've been using the build seen on my profile here, but tonight I tried out a "stunlock/Archon" build with...mixed results.

Living Lightning / Improved Archon on mouse
Diamond Skin with the 2x absorb rune, Frost Nova with the +15% damage rune, Blood Magic, and Pinpoint Armor

Passives, the usual Evocation/Crit Mass/Galvanized Ward

It kinda works...but I find myself dying very easily if one or two mobs don't get frozen, because my Diamond Skin gets broken in 2-3 hits. It also seems to especially suck against ranged mobs, because they're harder to freeze all together in a single group.

I also don't know what Archon is for...I can't use Frost Nova or Diamond Skin while in Archon, so I die very easily...

[Hanyuu]

So you are looking at an archon build?

Your biggest problem is your lack of attack speed and resist all. Having even say 400 resist all will help alot. By mitigating damage, you can really make yourself alot tougher. Attack speed makes achron great and you can stack crit strike and crit damage.

You really want a helm with a socket in it. I am using an xp red gem to help speed along in paragon levels. Mempo of twilight is really strong if you can find the right stats on it. Storm crow is really good and even Andy's visage isn't terrible.

Depending on your budget, I'd look into imperfect legendaries. I say imperfect because you won't get all the stats you want. I normally avoid vitality to make the price cheaper.

Slorak's madness is a really great wand. I got a good deal and got a 930 dps one for like 90k. Chantodo's will and the source that pairs with are really good, but your offhand is already pretty good.

You want 24 percent movement. Tyrael's might (chest), lacuni prowlers (bracers), any boots that rol that trait or firewalker for legendaries. Ice climbers are really great too but really pricy. The speed lets you stay in archon form longer.

I am really a fan of stone of Jordan. For about a million gold, I got a really nicely rolled one with 25 percent damage to elites. Even weaker ones will give you 20/21 percent to the fight that matter the most. Skull grasp is a great ring as well. It has good int/vit/attack speed.

In my build at least, I stack resists and vitality on boots/pants/cheast/belt. This makes up for the shortcomings on my other pieces. Shoulders I am really looking for a vile ward myself, but it can fall into this grouping too. I normally look for 70+ resist all per slot, but sometimes accept as low as 60. Gloves look for attack speed and high crit strike, I found both and some resist all

I believe and it is pretty solid for being a junk item. Your neck is way better than mine, so I can't talk there. I've been looking at the tal rasha neck or maybe a mara.

This is all really cheap stuff (say less than a million gold a piece, some as low as 100k). The best in slot gear is going to be way better and way more expensive.

I really only do 50k damage but with my resists (around 600 in all), I can coast through act 3 and 4 with miminal risk or even attention. When I get more damage and better crit strike I hope to be able to sustain archon even longer. For awhile I was running around almost 90k dps but I couldn't do act 3 without dying enough to make it frustrating. Resist all really makes its a breeze now and my diamond skin is amazing. I even have less health than before but more effective health.

Right now, I usually run blizzard/archon/energy armor/force weapon/familiar/diamond skin, though I change things up alot. I've been focused on leveling up my paragon level and using that to increase my magic item find.

[Djuntas]

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/forum/top...4192602?page=7

The build Im currently using, farming MP2 act3/act1. Its alot of fun, but requires gear already. Quit popular build now days, and the OP really showed how to build it good.

Basicly, its "just another critical mass build", but with the fun of casting meteors.

[Redblade]

As far as Archon builds go I'm partial to the one I'm using, it's very gear dependent though as I face tank most things that don't die in seconds, link below.

[Vook]

Yeah, as you can see my gear is rather shitty, because the last time I was playing, "Glass cannon" builds were preferred, so I have almost no resist and low health. I also have pretty much no money, only sitting at 300k here. So all this set item and legendary recommendations are currently out of my reach.

I'm looking for something that will work well with what I've got.

[Hanyuu]

Yeah, as you can see my gear is rather shitty, because the last time I was playing, "Glass cannon" builds were preferred, so I have almost no resist and low health. I also have pretty much no money, only sitting at 300k here. So all this set item and legendary recommendations are currently out of my reach.

I'm looking for something that will work well with what I've got.

I started out in the same boat a few weeks ago. I've been busy with other things so I only do a run or two a day. I started out doing Act butcher runs and quickly was able to move on to act 3. I'd make about 300k gold a run vendoring almost everything (I'd start in the festering woods to build up Valor). Rarely, a good ring or amulet might sell for alot more. Even a non prime stat ring, with crit/ crit damage/attack speed goes for a nice chunk of money. I did all of this with almost no resists, though I'll admit I had huge amounts of magic item find. I was running nearly 300 percent and around 80k dps usually. I slowly converted to resists and it got easier and easier and even going to act 3, it hasn't been bad at all. The drop rate is so much better that I've had a great time and even gotten 2 legendaries (one was total junk, the other I sold for a tiny bit of real money much to my surprise).

Some of the legendaries are dirt cheap though . Andy's visage starts as low as 30k gold. That's nearly nothing, though getting the socket will have to wait--or just find any helm with okay stats and a socket so you can get that huge 20 something percent xp bonus for paragon levels. I see Slorak's Madness with 916 dp for only 100k. High resist yellows are can be found under 50k each. Fire walkers are 20k as a starting price. If an item isn't itemized right, it is really cheap. You work your way up to the items costing about a million gold over time.

[Redblade]

Yeah, as you can see my gear is rather shitty, because the last time I was playing, "Glass cannon" builds were preferred, so I have almost no resist and low health. I also have pretty much no money, only sitting at 300k here. So all this set item and legendary recommendations are currently out of my reach.

I'm looking for something that will work well with what I've got.

Well the key to low budget is to mix and match a bit, like instead of getting that 3 socket chest with AR, Int and Vit you get one with no Int and high Vit, you then make up for the lost Int by getting a cheap no Vit Vile Ward shoulder and so on.

Hell after looking at your profile I'd say I vendor loads of gear daily that would be upgrades for you. =/

Edit: With that OH you really want to find a "Black Weapon", the added damage is based on physical damage so avoiding elemental affix on the weapon gives a fair bit of DPS.

[Vook]

Yeah, I got a ~940 dps Slorak's with 175 int, 11% aspd, 80% crit damage, and +4% crit on tornado-spell (can't remember its name right now) for only 100k.

Act 1 is a joke, honestly. I can farm Act 3 easily. I'm still trying to get used to this stun-spam build though...I dropped Archon and switched it with Wicked Wind, which helps me get more damage and crits, and helps take out ranged mobs as well. I'm still struggling a bit though, as lots of ranged mobs together rape me quickly. I'm honestly preferring my old build at this point. (blizzard/arcane orb) because with that build, things go down easily and I don't die unless I fuck up and let mobs get too close to me somehow.

Really the only problem for me with this stun build is ranged mobs.

As for socket helm, I don't really care much for getting paragon levels as fast as possible. I'll just level as I farm.

[yasiru]

Vook, if you are having trouble locking mobs down I would suggest changing the rune on Frost Nova to the one that lowers the cooldown to 9 seconds and also using he passive Blur for the melee damage reduction. Also, you need to have a good crit chance to make it work, I recommend 40% to be safe. Even if you have to sacrifice a lot of DPS or health, it will pay off having the high crit chance.

[Redblade]

Yeah, I got a ~940 dps Slorak's with 175 int, 11% aspd, 80% crit damage, and +4% crit on tornado-spell (can't remember its name right now) for only 100k.

Sadly legendary weapons are deceiving and are all black yet most of them have elemental damage.

[Dabrix32]

Alyssa...Since you are Archon is it possible to run Act 3 without it ever dropping as long as you have 24% runspeed and only do MP 0-1?

[Hanyuu]

Yeah, I got a ~940 dps Slorak's with 175 int, 11% aspd, 80% crit damage, and +4% crit on tornado-spell (can't remember its name right now) for only 100k.

Act 1 is a joke, honestly. I can farm Act 3 easily. I'm still trying to get used to this stun-spam build though...I dropped Archon and switched it with Wicked Wind, which helps me get more damage and crits, and helps take out ranged mobs as well. I'm still struggling a bit though, as lots of ranged mobs together rape me quickly. I'm honestly preferring my old build at this point. (blizzard/arcane orb) because with that build, things go down easily and I don't die unless I fuck up and let mobs get too close to me somehow.

Really the only problem for me with this stun build is ranged mobs.

As for socket helm, I don't really care much for getting paragon levels as fast as possible. I'll just level as I farm.

Sorry if suggesting Act 1 was insulting. Act 3 is pretty tough with no resists...back before the nerfs I found is incredibly frustrating because they had so many hit points, though even with half the damage I did back then, now it is really easy. If you can handle act 3, just farm, farm, farm. When you get a lucky drop eventually (that sells for 40 million or more), then you can use that money to even out your gear.

I just couldn't stand doing act 3 when one spear or fireball would kill me. I did a blizzard/hydra build for a really long time, but went to archon when I got enough movement speed and crit to keep it up most of the time. I can run the length of the bridge without having it drop at all though sometimes I mess up and then go back to town to ID loot and sell. I really like the area after siege breaker too, all those little scorpions are great xp and makes keeping archon up super easy.

For me a socketed helm was a big deal since faster experience meant more loot and random stat increases. Plus a friend was trying to beat my paragon level, so I wanted every edge I could get. (I thought about going back to get an xp ring.)

Definitely, a great deal on your madness and honestly, if you like your old build better, go with it. Archon is notorious for being a hard build to do, though sometimes people can manage it with as little as a million gold on gear, if they know what to look for. You can build your bank account and buy into gear or simply wait and get good drops to fill your sets out, if you are patient.

[Redblade]

Alyssa...Since you are Archon is it possible to run Act 3 without it ever dropping as long as you have 24% runspeed and only do MP 0-1?

Not entire Act but select parts for sure, in dense areas as core 1/2, keep 1/2/3 I don't see it dropping to much and if it does you are either unlucky of you have it available again anyway.

[Vook]

Vook, if you are having trouble locking mobs down I would suggest changing the rune on Frost Nova to the one that lowers the cooldown to 9 seconds and also using he passive Blur for the melee damage reduction. Also, you need to have a good crit chance to make it work, I recommend 40% to be safe. Even if you have to sacrifice a lot of DPS or health, it will pay off having the high crit chance.

I've got 42.5% crit with Pinpoint Armor, and the +15% crit rune on Frost Nova for even more crit. Seems to be working out pretty well.

Sorry if suggesting Act 1 was insulting. Act 3 is pretty tough with no resists...back before the nerfs I found is incredibly frustrating because they had so many hit points, though even with half the damage I did back then, now it is really easy. If you can handle act 3, just farm, farm, farm. When you get a lucky drop eventually (that sells for 40 million or more), then you can use that money to even out your gear.

But I do have resists. From all the int that I have, I've got 280-350 of all resists, and 60% armor reduction as well. Act 1 is a complete pushover to me. :P

[Hellfury]

Acts doesnt mater, now with MP all acts are the same dificulty, except some mobs that are harder becuase of they nature but all in all if you can do act1 you can do all acts on that MP

[Vook]

Acts doesnt mater, now with MP all acts are the same dificulty, except some mobs that are harder becuase of they nature but all in all if you can do act1 you can do all acts on that MP

Act 1 on MP1 is too hard for my gear. Mobs have a shitload of health and do tons of damage, and elites take a long time to kill as well. I can do Act 3 much more easily.

[Hellfury]

You saying act3 Mp0 or act3 Mp1

[Dabrix32]

I think Act 1 with MP1 is harder than Act 3 with either MP0-1. The mobs are just worse especially the hammer guys and the fat exploding guys if they catch you with jailer before they explode or drop the hammer its basically game over. Also I seemed to get reflect damage like 75% of the time in Act 1. Maybe just my bad luck but hardly saw it in Act 3.

[Vook]

You saying act3 Mp0 or act3 Mp1

Act 3 MP0 is easier.

I did manage to clear Act 1 MP1 without too much trouble; I only had trouble on one elite pack (Enraged Thrall or whatever, their dumb charge) and I kept hitting enrage on Butcher, or randomly getting 1shot, but I did kill him after like 8 tries.

I think I'll start farming Act 1 MP1 from now on; the mobs are overall less annoying.

The only thing I don't like about this stun-spam build is that it kinda sucks for single-target and bosses. It completely rapes huge groups though, and makes Reflect Damage elites no problem at all, so that's always good.

[Djuntas]

Dont bother with stun-lock builds until you get "alot" of gear really.

Id pick something like Blizzard, poison hydra and say arcane orb. Then when you have 50-60k DPS, and 30% crit, then you could switch over to any CM builds (critical mass).

You're aim for stun-lock build as you call it are trough the roof. It basicly need some very exspensive items to get sertain breakpoints while keeping thoes 80-110k damage.

I linked meteor-CM build earliere inn thread, you should try it once you got some more gear. It cost less than CM/WW builds imo.