Has anyone experimented with a Critical Mass build?

[omeg]

Weird, I know But it worked. Don't think blades would help on cydaea, the spiderlings swarm too fast to be permafrozen so I couldn't stand in one place anyway. They spawn under you and get a free hit before you can do anything.

[dastral]

Don't spend too much on Critical Mass builds, as it enables you to stunlock everything Blizzard will surely nerf it into the ground.

[magicrectangle]

Don't spend too much on Critical Mass builds, as it enables you to stunlock everything Blizzard will surely nerf it into the ground.

The "stunlock" really isn't that strong. Kiting is still more effective and versatile (but far less fun).

[omeg]

Well, just downed Rakanoth with stunlock tanking. Needed to buy some cheap helmet with AP on crit to offset losing offhand (went with a shield). Used this: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...XPO!aXg!YbZacc

[Deced]

Agree with magicrectangle, it's not nearly as powerful as some people make it out to be. I love it as a build concept and one to play with because I think unlike most builds -- which tends to be a hodge podge mash up of efficient individual skills -- Crit Mass builds utilize multi abilities in synergy to create a powerful style of play. I find it far more elegant in a sense than the more common cookie cutter builds.

That being said, it has it's limitations. Arcane enchanted monsters are always a significant danger to melee wizards regardless of other champ mods, but they are for the most part a joke for ranged Wizards. Frozen, Nightmare and Knockback are rarely ever a real danger to ranged wizards, but they pose potential hazards to melee Wizards.

Even ignoring affixes, there are simply some monsters that are a giant pain with crit mass stunlocking. Fire Shamans in Act 3 or Morlu Incinerators in Act 4 Champ packs for example are awful to fight because it is a rarity that any two monsters of a pack stand next to each other.

I think the real "problem" with potential nerfing is that some people tend to see the highlights of this build, without paying attention to the drawbacks and think: "Oh man, that's way to overpowered". People will post youtube vids and livestreams showing off how potentially good a build it, solo'ing this or that. No one's gonna post videos of "hey, these type of monsters can beat the crap out of me on a bad day", so people get this skewered impression of certain builds, and out comes the nerf bat ruining a fun alternative build for those who care to play it when there was never any real need to nerf.

[PhoeniX Skye]

I agree with your last paragraph, but I don't think crit builds are limited to melee-only; perhaps they are now because of the fun of stun-locking and how efficient Spectral Blades are. However, Meteor is good for this as well, and perhaps with a good long-range sig/spam that can proc, you can keep enemies at bay with Wave of Force/Mirror Mimics or only teleport in to freeze them (with Reversal/Frost Nova) and keep your distance during cooldowns before you proc them again. Maybe even a Snowbound/Star Pact build as long as you have enough AP on crit and a good AP pool/regen.

[konfeta]

That being said, it has it's limitations. Arcane enchanted monsters are always a significant danger to melee wizards regardless of other champ mods, but they are for the most part a joke for ranged Wizards. Frozen, Nightmare and Knockback are rarely ever a real danger to ranged wizards, but they pose potential hazards to melee Wizards.

Entirely solved by carrying teleport.

Also, you can do a small bit of kiting to funnel ranged packs into a tight group that is chasing you, then teleport in and start the stunlock on all of them.

[Deced]

I didn't say they were problems that had no solutions. I was illustrating issues melee wizards will always have when compared to ranged wizards. You can complete the entire game on a melee wizrd, killing everything if you so chose to. That does not mean you're always gonna be optimally suited for a given task for a certain build.

Teleport and small bits of kiting are fine, but melee wizards will always lag in certain areas where these strategies are optimal, specifically because ranged wizards are better suited for any style of kiting.

Not knocking Telelport by any means, it's a wonderful skill. But equipping Teleport isn't a catch-all solution for crit mass stun lock Wizards anyway. For the build to work, you need at bare minimum Meteor or Twister, Frost Nova, Energy Armor and Diamond Skin. That's four action slots. To use Teleport, you'd have to either give up Spec Blades, or whatever people tend to use in the sixth slot (Venom Hydra, ForceWeapon, etc.). And as nice as Teleport is, there are plenty of times where I'd rather have Spec Blade and Venom Hydra both then Teleport. To use teleport you have to give up something, and you can't reasonably say Teleport's always the superior choice. For example, if I'm doing a Act 4 farm on champs + Diablo at the end, equipping Teleport is worthless to me for the final fight. And giving up either Spec Blades or Venom Hydra would make that fight last FAR longer than any benefit Teleport could give me during the the NV farm portion. I suppose your mileage may vary.

[magicrectangle]

In a3/4, as blizz/hydra I can kill 95% of elite packs without difficulty or death. Another 4% are annoying but I can kill if I'm willing to take a death or two, and maybe 1% are a real problem (invulnerable minions phase beasts, for example).

As crit mass, I can kill maybe 60% of elite packs without difficulty or death, another 30% are annoying but I can kill if I'm wiling to take a death or two, and maybe 10% are a real problem (invulnerable minions anything, shielding anything, stuff with runs-away AI plus anti-melee affixes, etc).

All I'm saying is that doesn't sound "overpowered" to me.

edit: I should add that running blizz/hydra I wear 200% MF, but for melee crit mass I drop MF for resists and crit chance. So I'm less effective at killing elites, yet I'm stacking more stats on gear.

[konfeta]

Diamond skin is hardly mandatory. Life on Hit and Frost Nova stopping majority of incoming attacks is how you survive with a CM melee build (also, 30% damage reduction from Teleport). That would require more specialized gear compared to the standard Wizard set up, though, yes - you are building a melee Wizard, you should be using melee gear that Barbarians/Monks learned to use for a reason.

Perhaps its not overpowered given that you need to actually invest resources into this build, but I think it's still an internal balance issue. Some passives add on a small bonus to the power boost from your gear, other passives multiply with it into the absurd.