Ray of Frost Runestone effects - Blizzard Diablo III Site der=0>

[melianor]

Hi wizards,
Blizzard has updated one of the system pages of the Diablo III site showing of Rune Stone Effects for each class, with focus on one skill for each class.

In case of the wizard they chose Ray of Frost.

[blue=x]Ray of Frost is a wizard spell that damages and freezes enemies caught in the beam, slowing their movement and attack speed. [/blue]



"Ray of Frost" Rune Stone Effects

• Crimson - Beam increases in damage the longer it remains in use, to a cap.
  
• Indigo - Wizard is surrounded by a swirling vortex of sleet, damaging any foes that come into contact.
  
• Obsidian - Decreases beam damage, but increases reduction in target movement and attack speed.
  
• Golden - Arcane Power cost reduced.
  
• Alabaster - Enemies slain by Ray of Frost have a chance to leave an area of ice on the ground where they die, damaging other enemies if they move through it.

Flux added the video to this post, for us to watch.

Enjoy

[TheMythe]

The obsidian one sounds handy against (mini)-bosses.
Will the indigo one move with you as you walk?

[Jaago]

The obsidian one sounds handy against (mini)-bosses.
Will the indigo one move with you as you walk?

I don't think you can walk with the indigo rune effect, although that would be awesome. At least all other forms of this spell, and its relatives require the Wizard to stand still.

Crimson rune will make this an awesome boss killer. Also nice reference to Void Rays. I see obsidian rune more of a PvP debuff than anything else, depends on how long the effect lasts.

[konfeta]

Well, let's see.

Crimson is obviously the go to rune for making the Frost Beam an actual main attack. I think it would be handy against all type of targets as the charge up effect is based on how long you fire rather than how long you fire at one target. Though, I don't think it will be comparable to other Wizard spells for "boss killing" because it is inherently a CC/damage spell hybrid. On the other hand, the fact that you need to charge it up for max damage might be excuse enough to make the damage comparable to other main attack spells simply because this sounds difficult to use.

Indigo will be a melee or point-blank teleport bomb Wizard favorite. Melee will probably love the low cooldown AoE frost attack for freezing/slowing in melee; the applications for suicide bomb Wizard build are fairly obvious as well - activate the chain effect runed Explosive Blast, teleport in, fire this baby up.

Obsidian will be a PvP/support/CC build favorite. I wager it would be the main spell for such builds, in fact.

Alabaster will be the way to turn this spell into a crowd killer for the traditional ranged Wizard. Might be a good way to save on skill points by combining your primary CC spell with your primary crowd softener.

I don't see the point in Golden Rune unless it basically makes the spell free. If you are pumping this skill, you obviously want the AoE/damage conversions so it kills. If you are one point wondering this skill for the slow, you obviously want it to have the most bang for your buck by having it slow more. The only way Golden Rune would be competitive with that is if the resource cost is significant enough that even pulsing this spell for the slow has real impact. For one point wonder skills it would then be a choice - a no cost weak slow, or a strong slow with a cost.

Overall I like this. I have reservations about the fundamental usefulness of the Golden Rune effect, but they can make it work by making the reduction significant enough.

[melianor]

I don't think you can walk with the indigo rune effect, although that would be awesome. At least all other forms of this spell, and its relatives require the Wizard to stand still.

Crimson rune will make this an awesome boss killer. Also nice reference to Void Rays. I see obsidian rune more of a PvP debuff than anything else, depends on how long the effect lasts.

I agree with Jaago. This changes the mechanic of the skill totally. No more ray, but a small area of effect spell. I think this can be used in both PvP and normal game play. Just imagine you already have Disintegrate and you don't want another stabbing damage dealer. Then you pop in the rune to Ray of Frost and have a defensive skill, that will help you ward of monsters, when a group gets too close to you. Many, many possibilities arise here. Rune stones will really enhance the possible ideas and combinations of skills in this game.

[konfeta]

It's a total conversion though. You trading the ranged frost beam for a main point-blank attack spell. I don't think there is any damage reduction effect inherent to this conversion besides the frost damage properties of slow/kill. At high point investment, it will be a left or right mouse click button ability. At low investment, you probably want it with a high crit rate to have a Frost Nova style effect that's not on Frost Nova's cooldown.

It's a highly specialized conversion, but it is also a welcome conversion for the builds that are positioned to use it.

[Madmaxio]

Crimson - Beam increases in damage the longer it remains in use, to a cap

Eh.. Thought disintegrate will have this effect. Im curious what disintegrate effects going to be now, considering they applied "void ray" stuff to ray of frost.

[melianor]

Crimson - Beam increases in damage the longer it remains in use, to a cap

Eh.. Thought disintegrate will have this effect. Im curious what disintegrate effects going to be now, considering they applied "void ray" stuff to ray of frost.

It's like Ray of Frost on steroids. In addition to freezing, attack speed reduction you get increased damage. Possibly not as much as with "basic" Disintegrate.

[Madmaxio]

It's like Ray of Frost on steroids. In addition to freezing, attack speed reduction you get increased damage. Possibly not as much as with "basic" Disintegrate.

I understand. But i dont think they will apply same effect to both ray of frost and disintegrate. I was excited about the possiblity to warm people up with disintegrate (like void rays do)

[Scorch Hellfire]

I understand. But i dont think they will apply same effect to both ray of frost and disintegrate. I was excited about the possiblity to warm people up with disintegrate (like void rays do)

I think disintegrate will only have two stages of damage: when first cast it will start off as the initial non-charged up version but it will quickly charge up to the higher damage version (shown by its change from redish/orangish to a purplish beam) when held on the same target long enough. Crimson ray of frost, however, will slowly charge up over time without having to be on the same target but with taking a good deal longer than the charge up of disintegrate and with a steady increase in damage up to the cap instead of two distinct levels of damage...

But yeah... I am getting really excited about all the different possiblities in builds with these rune effects... it is becoming increasingly evident to me that it is not necessarily about the awesomeness of single skills as it will be about the awesomeness of the combination of different skills and their rune variations... just imagine what can be done with just the different versions of this skill combined with the basic versions of other cc and movement abilities... using slow time and indigo ray of frost to trap melee in a hard to escape torrent of ice... using wave of force then the obsidian ray of frost to knock away and severely slow down a melee... using teleport and golden ray of frost to escape and slow down/freeze a large mass of enemies without worrying about using up all of your ap... using mirror images and crimson ray of frost to distract and mow down tougher enemies while they are occupied... and of course combining alabaster ray of frost with more conventional aoes to keep monsters in the path of the other aoes while causing a good amount of aoe damage itself... the possibilities are endless! xD