Build concept: the "Invincible" Wizard

[HardRock]

This is an old idea of mine (I'm sure other people thought about it as well), but in the past when game systems changed constantly I didn't know if it will viable or even possible to do something like this. Now that the release date is close I'm fairly sure that this build will not only be possible but insanely good as well, at least until Blizzard nerfs it to the ground, which I'm sure they will. I won't blame them one bit.

Saying that this idea is a build is little misleading though, since its just using the Force Armor effect of Energy Armor to its absolute limits. What does Force Armor do? Here's its tooltip: "While Energy Armor is active, incoming attacks that would deal more than 35% of your maximum Life are reduced to deal 35% of your maximum Life instead."

Even by itself, Force Armor looks interesting, but it truly shines when we consider other factors, such as endgame Life and Life regeneration amounts. At the moment, a naked level 60 character without skills will have 1338 Life with a base regeneration of zero. This means, that when we don't wear any Vitality gear, Force Armor will reduce all and any amount of damage to 468. That alone wouldn't save us but wait, because Life regeneration can be boosted as well, by flat amounts. Based on the current list of datamined affixes, we can amass 4029 Life regen just from gear alone and that can be further boosted by Galvanizing Ward for a grand total of 4339 Life regen in the endgame.

Since we can't suffer more than 468 damage and we can regenerate that potentially slightly under 0.11 second, unless enemies can hit us for at least 468 damage 10 or more times per second we are essentially invincible. Armor and other sources of DR certainly help, but they aren't required at all.

The only drawback of this "build" is that it will require very specific items that may be hard to come by and that your base AP will be reduced to 80. However, in exchange you gain semi-invincibility and the ability to choose solely damage dealing and utility skills for 5 of your active and 2 of your passive skill slots. The AP reduction can be countered somewhat by Diamond Skin's Prism rune. Depending on how Diamond Skin interacts with Force Armor it could make this Wizard absolutely impossible to kill.

Personally, I think Force Armor's effect will receive a really short cooldown not long after release.

[WhiteGiant]

too much speculation for my taste :P odds are there already is an unmentioned internal cooldown. or all the variables are not aligning to your liking in the final game ; maybe monster affixes that prevent / reduce healing/regen or very strong dot effects.

given that the amount of hpreg is so astronomical as you already pointed out means that the numbers for that either are not final or that we are going to recieve alot more dmg than you assume.

also "the invincible" "the best" "the ultimate" XXX build ; common guys i know you can be more creative than this ....

[HardRock]

also "the invincible" "the best" "the ultimate" XXX build ; common guys i know you can be more creative than this ....

How about the Jedi? You know, because of Force Armor...

[Dreamweaver]

I also wonder about the tick rate on the regeneration. I already noticed that it seemed to be only once a second when stacking regen gear. You may not have a big enough health pool to last the full second before suddenly getting regenerated for 4029/4339 points. But who knows? There might be a happy medium where you get just enough gear to push your health to say around 4000 health. At that point no mob could do more than 1400 points per hit, yet you may still have enough health to survive multiple small hits and DOTs.

[HardRock]

Life regeneration is represented in half a second ticks to the player (just like DoTs), but the regeneration itself is still continuous.

[ElementEight]

Your life at 60 probably won't be 1.3k. In WoW, they've introduced this nifty thing called "gain a bunch of life when reaching key levels". At 60, 70 and every level after 80, your life basically doubles. It might happen in here at 30, 50 and 60 (nightmare, hell, inferno...). Any way to check that?

[Elfik]

Your life at 60 probably won't be 1.3k. In WoW, they've introduced this nifty thing called "gain a bunch of life when reaching key levels". At 60, 70 and every level after 80, your life basically doubles. It might happen in here at 30, 50 and 60 (nightmare, hell, inferno...). Any way to check that?

I'd rather they incorporated these dramatic life tiers through gear, since that's what diablo is about. That's not to say that it still wouldn't hamper Hardrock's build. It might be hard to find gear with decent armour, life regen, and other good stats, that doesn't also have good life bonuses.

[HardRock]

Your life at 60 probably won't be 1.3k. In WoW, they've introduced this nifty thing called "gain a bunch of life when reaching key levels". At 60, 70 and every level after 80, your life basically doubles. It might happen in here at 30, 50 and 60 (nightmare, hell, inferno...). Any way to check that?

HP increases do become more dramatic at every past level limit in WoW, but it's done mostly through gear. The HP increases at level-ups are barely noticeable. I imagine that the same thing will happen in D3 as well when the first expansion pack comes out.

[ElementEight]

HP increases do become more dramatic at every past level limit in WoW, but it's done mostly through gear. The HP increases at level-ups are barely noticeable. I imagine that the same thing will happen in D3 as well when the first expansion pack comes out.

Nah, I've checked my last Warlock. From 84 to 85, I think my health pool increased by something like 5000 or 8000, and it's not like I had instantly equipped 8 new pieces as I turned in the dinging quest. It definitely wasn't a trivial increase.

Anyway, the build is a good idea, remniscent of the 55MO from guild wars: Heck, it has the same name! http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Invincible_Monk

[HardRock]

Nah, I've checked my last Warlock. From 84 to 85, I think my health pool increased by something like 5000 or 8000, and it's not like I had instantly equipped 8 new pieces as I turned in the dinging quest. It definitely wasn't a trivial increase.

Oh, OK, I didn't play Cataclysm, so I didn't know that. Thanks for the correction. I hope that won't happen in D3 though. It would screw up my build.

Anyway, the build is a good idea, remniscent of the 55MO from guild wars: Heck, it has the same name! http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Invincible_Monk

Heh, I would be lying if I said that it's a coincidence.