Need info on MF wizard

[Nagafen]

My main is a barbarian so I obviously need an alt to farm with, at least until 1.0.3. I had a DH but I can't stand the playstyle, so I figured I'd try a wizard instead. How good is the class for farming? How viable is it with budget gear? What's the cookie-cutter MF build? Is it possible to build a wizard on a small budget that doesn't get 1-shotted by everything the way a DH does?

[reetz]

My main is a barbarian so I obviously need an alt to farm with, at least until 1.0.3. I had a DH but I can't stand the playstyle, so I figured I'd try a wizard instead. How good is the class for farming? How viable is it with budget gear? What's the cookie-cutter MF build? Is it possible to build a wizard on a small budget that doesn't get 1-shotted by everything the way a DH does?

Hi there!

Wiz are awesome farmers and easy to level, as they get pretty cool and useful spells every couple levels. Regarding endgame, I built a budget MF wiz myself (something between 500k and 1mi gold) which ended up with 25k HP, 60% armor and resists and 25k/1 APS damage using a 2-handed. On top of that, 120% MF.

Take a look at her core survivability spell (energy armor - force affinity), which makes us survive at least 3 hits with reasonable HP. For a starter build, I'd recommend the blizz hydra kiter - check sticky post.

If you want to build her differently, keep in mind that there's still a lot going regarding weapon damage and Attack Speed, so you'll need to test and see for yourself what's the best setup for you.