Total breakdown of my beta playthroughs + final builds der=0>

[Such Violent Storms]

Builds will be an everlasting changing cycle of madness on a consistent basis. That is one of the things I like about the game.

Until you've reached endgame. Level 60, end of Hell, end of Inferno, it varies depending on a lot of factors. But once you have got your highest damage and are just improving items, builds will be pretty static.

[Planktonboy]

Solid write-up and while I'm sure people will constantly argue over skills based on personal preference I'm boggled that you enjoyed Energy Twister for the Wizard. I tried everything to make that skill viable, and it still ended up feeling like trash. You only get the tool-tip damage if the mob stays in the twister for the entire duration which is impossible given the random nature of how it moves. Most of the time you get a fraction of that damage; if the twister even hits anything at all.

Later on runes may save the skill, but it's vanilla version is a waste of a skill slot imo. The two runes that might save the skill are the ones that root the twister in place (you may actually get close to the tool-tip damage on a mob), and the other that forms a tornado when two twisters collide (will have to wait and see how the tornado actually plays out).

It's pretty much useless on it's own, but as a fire and forget skill it works brilliantly. In the chamber with the activated pillars, I would stand next to one of them and fire off a few. Unlike arcane orb which would just splash against the pillar and not do a whole lot, this then traveled through and took out mobs standing on the other side. The power of this skill is that it's a high damage aoe skill that travels through packs damaging everything. The downside of course is that you can't really aim it precisely. But I say embrace the chaos! The fact that it works like a DOT synergizes neatly with the on death effect from shock pulse (another hard-to-aim skill).

It also fitted neatly into my build, I had arcane torrent as an accurate splash damage skill, so I didn't feel the need for another one like arcane orb. Energy twister worked because it let me deal damage quickly when there were a lot of enemies about, something that I felt was lacking in the other skills.

Nothing is final until you've played past leoric.

I meant final in the sense of the beta, I don't plan to play through the game with only 4 skills and 1 passive