Hey guys, looking for some help rejigging my current build from archon to a CM build.

I had a few questions for all the CM wizs out there:
- What is the 'default' build and which runes?
- How much CC and AS do you normally run?
- How much APOC and LOH do you need (i currently have no APOC and only life steal)?
- What kit should I be swapping out from my current set up?

Thanks!

Oh man. This could be a long one...I'll let others chime in first. Need to hit the gym.

Posted by Mulder84 at 12/07/2012 04:28 PM

Hey guys, looking for some help rejigging my current build from archon to a CM build.

I had a few questions for all the CM wizs out there:
- What is the 'default' build and which runes?
- How much CC and AS do you normally run?
- How much APOC and LOH do you need (i currently have no APOC and only life steal)?
- What kit should I be swapping out from my current set up?

Thanks!

-for CM/ww APOC is very important... obviously more the better, but you should get at least 2 sources (helm/offhand/main hand)
-CC and AS : again very important... i would prioritize CC first, then AS and CD is a luxury. If you can't crit, then no matter how fast you're attacking, the CM passive is not kicking in, and you're skills will not refresh. CC should be around 40 and theres a separate thread regarding APS here
- the cookie cutter build is as follows:
energy twister - wicked wind rune
frost nova - cold snap or bone chill
explosive blast - chain reaction
diamond skin - crystal shell
aux1 - force armor (prismatic for resist/pin point for more CC) or storm armor (shocking aspect for added dps)
aux2 - slowtime (ias or dmg rune) or teleport for extra mobility/oh **** button

passive1 - CM
passive2 - evocation
passive3 - cold blooded

the 2/3 passives can be interchanged, but the first is obviously needed...
you can check my toon for more: toon

this just reminded me i'm behind on my cm/ww guide... :/

I was going to attempt a lighthearted verbose guide to CM Frost Wiz, but time is short for me, and there's already a lot of information most recently posted here (http://www.d3rmt.com/forums/thread/926/) that would just be repeated in this thread.

Mandatory Skills - Energy Twister, Frost Nova.
Mandatory Passives - Critical Mass.

Common Offense - Storm Armor, Explosive Blast, Meteor
Common Defense - Energy Armor, Teleport
Common Hybrid - Time Warp, Diamond Skin

Use Mistral Breeze and Prism in the beginning to keep churning out twisters.
Use Wicked Wind when your APS is at least 2.5.

Target baseline specs are 2.73 APS, 50CC, 20 APOC.

My current specs are 2.77 APS, 59CC, 19 APOC.

Reaching for 3 APS isn't recommended in consideration of gear cost, EHP sacrifice, and diminished returns to FN spam effectiveness.

I strongly suggest making an IAS Chant's wand as the first major purchase. Doing this will do the most to bring you up to the 2.73 breakpoint in a single gear slot.

LOH requirements reduce as your APS increases. My current APS is 2.77 and I'm doing just fine with 700 LOH.

#1 Rule is Be Willing to Lose Paper DPS and Meet Spec. A 100K DPS CM Wiz is far more effective than a 200K DPS Archon Wiz.

Otherwise just pay attention to posts by people like me and other Frost Wiz runners, and scan our profiles.

Oh also -

Posted by shniggies at 12/07/2012 04:42 PM

explosive blast - chain reaction

I've been reading posts which suggest that Time Bomb gives the greatest DPS returns overall, and I think I've seen some people having better results with Short Fuse over CR as well.

Thanks @euggie!
Looking at your build, it seems like ~15 APOC and 350 LOH is sufficient?

Posted by Mulder84 at 12/07/2012 04:28 PM

Hey guys, looking for some help rejigging my current build from archon to a CM build.

I had a few questions for all the CM wizs out there:
- What is the 'default' build and which runes?
- How much CC and AS do you normally run?
- How much APOC and LOH do you need (i currently have no APOC and only life steal)?
- What kit should I be swapping out from my current set up?

Thanks!

I'm kind of different from the majority of wizards and only have 2.15 APS before Slow Time. Most people will tell you to have 2.74 APS at least, and they have good reason to. I just don't find it necessary. If you play on carrying players you should have that much, but I think I do the job just fine with my attack speed. The only fight that's annoying because of my attack speed is the Kulle and Siegebreaker because Kull likes to spawn his bubbles exactly when he unfreezes. As long as you have a competent group (which I'm glad I usually do) you should be fine.

Posted by Mulder84 at 12/07/2012 05:24 PM

Thanks @euggie!
Looking at your build, it seems like ~15 APOC and 350 LOH is sufficient?

I'd go with 20 APoC and at least 700 LoH.

Posted by Ammostiel at 12/07/2012 05:09 PM

I've been reading posts which suggest that Time Bomb gives the greatest DPS returns overall, and I think I've seen some people having better results with Short Fuse over CR as well.

They all essentially have the same proc rate, but chain reaction is less spikey (3 hits at .111 versus 1 hit at .333).

I don't see any benefit to short fuse as the DPS is much lower 225%. Nothing's going to run away from you while frozen, and you're not gonna be one shotting anything.

Time bomb would give 24% more damage than chain reaction, but I like that the blast follows me vs kiting enemies. I can cast the first one a second before I reach the mob so there's no wait to start damaging them. This could definitely be worth trying out.

Some people like obliterate, so that you'll be hitting everything that is frozen. Not only would I hate losing the DPS, but I think a better strategy is to stop freezing for a second or two and let the mobs close in on you. When they get clumped together your twisters will work a lot better, too.

Posted by sabin at 12/07/2012 05:37 PM

I don't see any benefit to short fuse as the DPS is much lower 225%. Nothing's going to run away from you while frozen, and you're not gonna be one shotting anything.

If you've got enough procs going, isn't it feasible to spam Short Fuse almost as quickly as the three rounds from CR?

Posted by Ammostiel at 12/07/2012 05:46 PM

Posted by sabin at 12/07/2012 05:37 PM

I don't see any benefit to short fuse as the DPS is much lower 225%. Nothing's going to run away from you while frozen, and you're not gonna be one shotting anything.

If you've got enough procs going, isn't it feasible to spam Short Fuse almost as quickly as the three rounds from CR?

Nope! You can cast the next chain reaction before the last one ends. If your stats are good and you hit a decent size pack, you can see like 6-8 blasts per second. The time it takes to refresh, and the amount of casts you'll get would be the same for any of these runes.


@Mulder84 Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that for a CM wiz, mitigation from armor and resistances are more important than life. High mitigation makes the 21k from crystal shell last longer. Your current stats seem pretty good, but you might start to have trouble on the highest MP levels. You may want to look at Nat's boots and ring. By default you'll get 7% crit chance, 8-9% IAS on ring, and good mitigation on boots. It can be expensive if you also want cc% or crit dam on the ring, but I think even the budget versions are nice.

All solid advice. Can't add to it except that I don't see Diamond Skin/Diamond Shards and Storm Armor/Shocking Aspect. Once you're comfortable with your lifesteal/LOH/AR/armor/VIT and that your wiz can spam the necessary offensive skills to lock opponents, give the "shocknado shards" build a try for extra non-paper DPS.

As everyone has implicitly or explicitly stated, paper DPS is secondary if not tertiary to CM builds.

Some great advice here, everything I was going to say was already in here. Although I'll add one more link, which I personally used to improve my CM wiz.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/12cayv/cmww_wizard_general/