Stuck Act 3 - Please help

[okcookie]

Greetings practitioners of the arcane. I fear I cannot progress far into Bastion's keep. I find I face overwhelming odds within the keeps depths, and would likely meet my doom should I press on.

Please review my profile: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/okcookie-1840/

Jezebel is my wizard. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I haven't played in weeks because I'm so bored of farming Act 1. Please help. I miss D3 and want my fix.

[zaanus]

Well, you have more HP/AR/DMG than I had when starting act 3. The real difference is build. Try it with venom hydra and blizzard. Kite elite packs back through to the entrance. If you get certain packs you might have to restart (kool aid men, some soul ripper packs, fast scorps). Other packs should be quite easy for you (all types of skeletons, demon raiders, quillbacks).

Once you get through to the battlefields you should have a little more room to work with and you can try orb spam again.

[magicrectangle]

Okay, so your damage, resists, crit, etc are all very good, so the problem is 100% with your build and/or playstyle. Your crit and tank stats are high enough to do critical mass if you wanted, but you'd need to pick up some AP-on-crit to make it work. If you're going to do that gear as-is, my standard recommendation is blizz/hydra:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...XaO!YWb!bZbacc

Normally I recommend the holy trinity of wizard defense: illusionist + wormhole + duplicates, but your hp/resists are far too high for illusionist to be effective, so better to get evocation for reduced cooldowns and get diamond skin instead of duplicates (without illusionist duplicates isn't that amazing).

If you have the cash around to pick up some ap-on-crit items (even ones that aren't that great) the rest of your gear kind of screams critical mass though. See my guide here:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...s-Melee-Wizard

[okcookie]

Okay, so your damage, resists, crit, etc are all very good, so the problem is 100% with your build and/or playstyle. Your crit and tank stats are high enough to do critical mass if you wanted, but you'd need to pick up some AP-on-crit to make it work. If you're going to do that gear as-is, my standard recommendation is blizz/hydra:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...XaO!YWb!bZbacc

Normally I recommend the holy trinity of wizard defense: illusionist + wormhole + duplicates, but your hp/resists are far too high for illusionist to be effective, so better to get evocation for reduced cooldowns and get diamond skin instead of duplicates (without illusionist duplicates isn't that amazing).

If you have the cash around to pick up some ap-on-crit items (even ones that aren't that great) the rest of your gear kind of screams critical mass though. See my guide here:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...s-Melee-Wizard

Thanks for the feedback. I just spent about an hour trying to get used to the critical mass build... I actually read through your guide (it's very well written and helpful, btw), but I struggle with this build. I just don't know that it fits my playstyle. I've gotten so comfortable with kiting, using magic missile and arcane orb with passives and actives to boost DPS.

I also tried the blizz/hydra build, which I had been playing with for some time. I may go back to that. Truthfully, I'm wondering if I just don't have the skill to advance. My stats are so good, you'd think Act 3 would be a cakewalk.

[magicrectangle]

I just spent about an hour trying to get used to the critical mass build... but I struggle with this build. I just don't know that it fits my playstyle.

Well, if you were doing it with the above gear, the lack of AP-on-crit would make it considerably rougher. Buy just a lousy hat and a lousy offhand with 10 ap-on-crit each (and 8%+ crit on the offhand). None of the other stats need be very good. Equip those, and then give it another try. Just spam the buttons.

[okcookie]

Ok, so I watched a video of the critical mass build in action, and I think I've learned the trick. It seems to be just mashing the 3 buttons for WW, Explosive blast and diamond skin to keep them up at all times while putting out twisters. Also, running away when needed. I tried that and it seems to work... still died a bit, but felt better. Also, I didn't use teleport and maybe I should.