List of Wizard skill affixes

[HardRock]

I compiled a list of skill affixes for better readability. All of them are datamined, so they may be inaccurate. I only included the highest level affixes on the list.

All of the skill bonuses are suffixes, so only one can spawn on a Magic item. Rare items are a question mark in this regard, because we don't know enough about the item generator. It's possible, that the number of skill affixes is limited to one even on Rare items.

These affixes start appearing on class-specific items in Nightmare and on generic items in Hell. What's interesting is that some of the highest level affixes can't spawn on the most powerful class-specific items, because their item level isn't high enough, but they can spawn on the generic items with the highest level. For example, you can't get a 3 seconds duration extension for Blizzard on a Demi Lich, but a Sacred Shield may carry that bonus. I hope this will change.

Item Group 1: Sources, Shields
Item Group 2: Wizard Hats, Helms
Item Group 3: Swords, Staves, Daggers, Spears, Wands, 2H Axes, 2H Swords, 2H Maces

    Skill                        Bonus                  May Spawn on Item Group
                    
Arcane Orb          +2-8% Critical Chance                          1
Arcane Torrent      Arcane Power Cost Reduced by 1-5               2
Blizzard            Duration increased by 1-3 seconds              1
Disintegrate        Arcane Power Cost Reduced by 1-5               2
Electrocute         +5-14% Inreased Damage                         2
Energy Twister      +2-8% Critical Chance                          3
Explosive Blast     +2-8% Critical Chance                          2
Hydra               Arcane Power Cost Reduced by 1-10              2
Magic Missile       +5-14% Inreased Damage                         3
Meteor              Arcane Power Cost Reduced by 1-5               1
Ray of Frost        +2-8% Critical Chance                          2
Shock Pulse         +5-14% Inreased Damage                         1
Spectral Blade      +5-14% Inreased Damage                         1

[sdemon]

Hm, all of my primary skill choices that I'm taking into consideration fall under category 2. So I will never be able to buff them both at once - not sure if that's good or bad. Of course it's a no-brainer which one of them to buff if given a choice, yea, but.. interesting why they decided to spread out the affixes in such a way.

EDIT: Makes me want to change my build around, somewhat. Is that a good thing, to make skill choices depending on what gear may or may not have? What do you think about this, if this is what it will be like in retail?

[HardRock]

If you get lucky, then you may get a Rare that buffs both if that's even possible. A Legendary or Set helm may also have a bonus that will benefit both of your selected primary skills.

I think the reason they spread out the affixes in such a way is that players won't focus on one skill like this, so there are more viable skill combinations in the endgame.

[sdemon]

Yea, your stacking argument makes a lot of sense. So they decided that a skill can only get a bonus from 1 slot. I agree with your point, and it also makes it balanceable - which skills get to fight between each other over a slot. Yea, that makes sense.

But relying on "luck" in this scenario is just inconceivable. I mean, how many times will I be able to upgrade a helmet if I'm looking for two specific affixes on a rare, given that it's possible? Nah, I'm going to choose a primary affix to look for and stick to that. Less of a headache that way. Nice, thanks

Here's hoping for some interesting legendaries and/or set affixes!

[Torian]

These can't be endgame???

For example: Arcane Orb +8% crit chance is a joke imo

[doggyfish]

why its a joke? If u build around that skill, it looks pretty solid.

[acken]

The numbers look fine but I would have thought you could stack 2 times at least :(

But hey the numbers look good enough for a single affix

[terrrrrible]

Seriously, reduced casting cost on Hydra? It barely takes up anything as it is; at level 50 I can sit there and spam it over and over and I barely use any AP. That should be one that has +crit or +dmg. I'm still playing around with skills and constantly switching when I need to, so it's hard to tell if I like these or not.

[ysuol]

I think 8% would actually be pretty sweet considering we generally don't have a ton of crit on gear.
I'd be curious of Blizzard affix, hopefully it does not split the total damage over a longer period, then we'd only get a little extra snare time (if target is still standing in it).

[zakaluka]

I think something has to be said about the skill affixes.

I can take a wild guess that, in my arcane kiting build,
- hydra does 30% of the damage
- missile does 20% of my damage
- orb does 50% of my damage
(This is JUST a wild guess, but let's go with it for a minute)
Also assume I have a reasonable critical damage (let's say 200% for sake of argument)

8% crit chance applied to 50% of my damage (AO) is about a 2.7k DPS gain (same as 85 int for me)
15% flat damage applied to 20% of my damage (MM) is about a 1.5k DPS gain (same as 50 int for me)
10 AP reduction on Hydra, a long duration precast anyway, amounts to 1 extra arcane orb every 30 seconds or so while kiting (more for AP reduction rune on AO)

Basically, I'm pointing out that in terms of flat DPS, most other DPS affixes are more beneficial. These are for utility with specific builds, I think. When the utility your build gains from 15% more sig damage is more significant than the extra damage, that's when it becomes attractive.

Examples I can think of:
- Arcane dynamo build with a spendy AP dump (obliterate? celestial?) benefits quite a lot from +dmg to signature (especially since you already have a sig buff ability - arcane dynamo - and you should be sigging a lot with such an ability in your build).
- High haste/crit arcane build with tap the source and critical mass would benefit a LOT from +crit to AO.
- In either case the skill bonus affix would in some small amount allow your build to support carrying higher +IAS than before (especially if combined with more AP on crit).