My feedback on the new Arcane Torrent

[darkrealm]

Please feel free to contribute your experiences.

First my build was http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UeXiQO!YUg!aaaaZY

It took me some time to get used to channeling the new arcane torrent, but with Arcane Hydra it was fairly powerful. I choose the Disruption rune, but its possible that Cascade might be a better choice. I was able to kite with Hydra and it did some pretty nice damage. The new improved Electrocute is just good enough to kill trash mobs in Act3. Unfortunately I cannot link my profile right now as I have MF gear on. But I will change that around tonight and post it here. I also could have chosen another passive besides the Critical Mass. I did that because when I did crit with AT it helped me to semi tank faster mobs.

The build definitely takes some getting used to. Channeling a skill is pretty tough in single player, but it does work.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Dark-1181/hero/87221

[Asmodeous]

I've been using arcane torrent in v1.03 for a little while. I've been waiting for v1.04 to continue play with the wizard so atm, she's a bit of a mess, missing a couple of slots and I'll be looking to replace her source and gloves as well.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/A...9/hero/3666087

Channelling in a solo game is a bit of a challenge. Im trying to level my templar up to level 60 then give him a 750dps weapon which should help him tank some of the trash mobs. if you can keep some of the monsters stationary for a couple of seconds, AT takes them down fairly quickly and it's an easier skill to use in multi player, im surprised why it isn't used more often. But solo play is where the challenge with it is.

I've been waiting for v1.04 to try arcane hydra + temporal flux. It should make a decent combo with arcane torrent.

[Kurki]

Thanks so much darkrealm for posting about this, I experimented with various variants of what you've got and WOW ... this is a very, very powerful build for Act 3 Inferno even if your gear is not so great. Notice that I'm using a weapon with only 867 dps (but it's fast), I can't afford better right now, I'm saving for an upgrade.

To see what I mean, look here at my gear (and skills): http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/K...52/hero/533947

I have decided to do away with Electrocute or any signature skill altogether and structure the build like this:

Main Skills

Arcane Torrent - Disruption
Hydra - Arcane Hydra

The synergy between these 2 skills is great, just one little pop on a mob or group of mobs with AT-D adds another 15% to your Arcane Hydra's damage for a full 6 seconds.

My other skills are a mix of defensive skills, an armor and a buff ... these are more or less interchangeable with whatever variants you like more, depending on your playstyle and your gear.

Passives

The main thing one must consider is what passives to use to complement the Torrent/Hydra Combo.

Temporal Flux is a must, as it grants the slow effect that makes the AT/AH combination so powerful.

Astral Presence is very important as well, as first of all it offsets the AP loss from my Energy Armor, and secondly, boosts AP regeneration. This is important, because in longer fights with elites, there are phases where I run out of AP, and having no other attack must run around for a while while my Hydra auto-attacks. With this passive, the AP fills up quickly again.

Lastly, I have gone with Glass Cannon as a passive because quite simply, I can afford to do so without sacrificing survivablility, making killing speed even faster. If this is a problem, one can take a defensive passive like Blur or Galvanizing Ward, or whatever.

Conclusion

I cannot stress enough how fast the killing speed is on trash, and how very nicely the slow and extra hydra damage (due to Disruption) work on Elites. And note again that I am doing this with average gear and not a great weapon (except for its speed).

The main thing about this build is that one feels like a mage again, regardless of whether you're coming from WoW or from the D2 Sorc. You stand in place, cast at range, move a bit for better position/damage avoidance/resource regen, then cast again, etc. etc. This endless running away Blizz/Hydra or some strange and unnatural melee/crit-mass builds is not why most people choose a wizard, which is a ranged/spellcasting class at its core. Now that opportunity is viable again!

[SparkFour]

This is fun but has zero mobility for solo play.

[jonw]

This is fun but has zero mobility for solo play.

I tried it today, instead of blizz/venom hydra/ray of frost -- solo and in public games. It felt like I was killing faster, and I don't know that channeling arcane torrent takes that much more skill than ray of frost or disintegrate... ?

[Kurki]

I don't find the mobility factor all that bad. Any wizard that really wants to play at range is going to have to stand still for a while and cast. With a fast weapon (my attack speed solo with enchantress buff is over 1.7 aps) you can manage to get a few seconds of good damage channelling, reposition while hydra continues to do damage, and channel again.

But I do not find myself flat-out retreating, which would be bad because you would get out of range of your hydra. I manage not to retreat through clever use of Mirror Image Duplicates. I don't cast them at the beginning of a fight, but rather at the middle stage when mobs get close and I've run out of AP. I then cast the duplicates, who tank the mobs for a while while I reposition and recover AP, and then begin to channel again.

I feel that the resource-recovery/positioning meta-game is central to a spellcaster's play, and I rather enjoy this element.

[SparkFour]

I don't find the mobility factor all that bad. Any wizard that really wants to play at range is going to have to stand still for a while and cast. With a fast weapon (my attack speed solo with enchantress buff is over 1.7 aps) you can manage to get a few seconds of good damage channelling, reposition while hydra continues to do damage, and channel again.

But I do not find myself flat-out retreating, which would be bad because you would get out of range of your hydra. I manage not to retreat through clever use of Mirror Image Duplicates. I don't cast them at the beginning of a fight, but rather at the middle stage when mobs get close and I've run out of AP. I then cast the duplicates, who tank the mobs for a while while I reposition and recover AP, and then begin to channel again.

I feel that the resource-recovery/positioning meta-game is central to a spellcaster's play, and I rather enjoy this element.

What is your DPS where you do not find yourself retreating? I constantly have to retreat vs. Act3/4 inferno. As for your example, yes for some reason if you pop a mirror image while everything is on top of you it seems to work much better. I just hate how i have to use teleport/mirror + illusion instead of other "funner" skills.

Furthermore, the dps for this build is just insane, every attack i see 200k hits x 3 or 4. No real use for cascade, because white monsters all die instantly. This build would be even more fun if you could get your dps up over 80k.

[Kurki]

Certainly, there are situations in which I have to retreat (against Elites), especially when they are Fast or have some sort of in-built movement skill like teleport or flight.

But in an ideal situation, I try to move in semi-circles around them with the Hydra as a center point. I draw them to one side of the hydra (so they don't walk right through it, pop mirror images and then run to the other side of the hydra in an arc. By the time they reach me, I pop crystal shell, face tank them for a few seconds, when crystal shell breaks the mirror images are ready again, I pop them, run to where I came from, cast the hydra and start all over again.

Like I said, against elites with Fast this doesn't work and I have to kite normally, and Mortar screws this up completely, those fights are somewhat chaotic as I do not have the defenses to stay inside the mortar range so I end up running around like an idiot, letting my hydra slowly kill them. But other than those two affixes, I generally don't find myself in all-out retreat/kite mode.

BTW my dps is 43000 buffed, but it's not so much about that as it is about positioning, which is what I like about this build.

[SparkFour]

mortar's are really giving me a difficult time.

[jonw]

mortar's are really giving me a difficult time.

Fast/mortars still flatten me, especially in tight areas. But, they gave me a difficult time with blizz/venom hydra as well.

Will defer to the experts here, but I'm guessing it's all a matter of getting my dps higher than 35K unbuffed.