Critical Mass Melee Wizard

[galzohar]

Basically teleport is like an attack. You can't do it while performing another "attack" animation. It is somewhat hasted and is independent of your weapon speed, but it does have an animation that always plays at a certain speed, and that cannot be done at the same time as an attack, just like you can't cast a meteor while casting an energy twister.

[jrsilva]

Some skills (chain reaction, diamond skin) can be cast any time, without regard for whether you're in the middle of casting another spell. Other spells, like frost nova, wicked wind, and teleport, cannot. With these skills, you must wait for your "swing timer" to complete, that is, the amount of time it takes to cast a spell, before you can cast the next one. If you have a 1.4 speed weapon with no ias, that means you have to wait 1/1.4 = 0.71 seconds after you start casting a wicked wind (for example) before you can teleport. That may not seem like a long time, but it turns out to be pretty noticeable with this build.

Thanks for the explanation. For HC that can be a huge drawback though, for one little mistake can be the end...:-)

[Eric Xanthu]

For you better geared CM Wizards out there: do you think % Freeze on Hit would add anything to this build? Even just a small handful of procs in a tough fight would increase the lockdown considerably, and you've probably got enough procs going to make up for the small chance to freeze. Anyone actually tried it, or have the resources to try it out?

[magicrectangle]

I really can't see freeze on hit being effective, or needed. Not needed because if you have stuff standing in your wicked winds (which would be what is procing the freeze on hit), you're going to be able to solidly lock stuff down anyway with frost nova. Not effective because in the situations where you'd need the extra crowd control, it won't work. IE you need extra crowd control against annoying ranged packs that scatter, but if they scatter they won't stand in your wicked winds to get freeze procs on them.

I have not tried it though, so I can't say for sure, but getting gear that lets me test it without my tanking/dps stats going in the toilet would cost way more than I'm willing to invest in something that isn't going to work anyway. =/

[raveharu]

I'm having some issues chasing and trying to kill treasure goblins.

Seems like they are immune to frost nova freeze and they run really fast, I missed 3 goblins in one game earlier, kinda frustrating. Any tips on killing them quickly? (besides having high dps/overgeared for that specific act)

[magicrectangle]

Goblins are the worst part about this spec. In order to kill them you either have to get lucky chasing them into a corner, or you have to engage them with trash enemies. The latter is of course the general way to go. Stack your wicked winds on the trash instead of the goblin, since the goblin can so easily run out of them, then just stand and spam on him. He can be locked down with frost nova, he just has a shorter duration, like elites.

There's a goblin kill in the act 4 video I posted, at 17:15, here's a direct link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2VHHzas4qQ#t=17m15s

[Eric Xanthu]

MR, What's the lowest health you've ever done A3 and/or Diablo with this build? I just got some good upgrades on dps and a little more resists, but my health is...cough, low. I won't say how low. I can swap out topazes for amethysts to get myself back up at least partially, but I'm wondering what the "MR Benchmark for Success" is.

[magicrectangle]

I've had 19k health in a4 before and done okay. Right now I'm at 23k life. When things are going well, your life amount is unimportant. When things are going poorly, it is a buffer. The bigger the buffer, the longer things can go poorly before you are hosed.

[Eric Xanthu]

I've been running with just under 19k and gotten eaten up in A4...and I just went down by quite a bit. We'll see how this goes but I think I need to sac some int for vit.

[magicrectangle]

I actually use force armor instead of prismatic in A4. There are a few things there that can one-hit diamond skin even with my 1k res all and 7k armor with prismatic. The mortar type things subjugators throw are the most notable ones. Mallet lords too but they're easy to avoid so not worth worrying too much about. Oppressor charge is another one that will blast straight through diamond skin if I don't use force.

I posted this video earlier in the thread, but rather than sending you digging for it I'll just post it again, this is me doing A4 as critical mass, using force armor:

<****** class="restrain" title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/K2VHHzas4qQ?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0">

Jump to 28:35 for the stats I had for the clear, although they're pretty much the same as the stats I gave for reference in the OP.