Difference between revisions of "Conjuring Skill Tree"

Revision as of 13:16, 2 April 2009

Template:Class navbox The Wizard's skills are divided into three skill trees, each of which has about 18 known spells. These were first seen at Blizzcon 2008, and while they are very much subject to change during the game's continued development, viewing them in this state is still informative. The three trees are:

• Storm Skill Tree
• Arcane Skill Tree
• Conjuring Skill Tree

Diablo 3 Skill Trees

Unlike the skill trees in Diablo II, the trees in Diablo III are not focused on just one aspect of a character. All known D3 skill trees have a wide variety of skills, with more passive than active skills, and all allow for a variety of play styles.

All active skills in the BlizzCon build were capped at 1 skill point (or rank, as skill levels are called in D3), while most passives went up to 15 points. This will not be the case in the final game; active skills will allow more than 1 point, and passives may have different maximum ranks, to allow better game balancing. Know that skills will be modified, that some will be removed, that others will be added, and that the numbers are almost certain to change.

Skill Runes could only be socketed in active skills, in the Blizzcon build. This may or may not remain true in the final game.

Tier 1 Skills

These skills are available for use as soon as new Wizard is created.

Spectral Blade

Spectral Blades in action.

• Active Skill
• Description: Summons a spectral blade that strikes each enemy in front of the wizard 3 times causing 1-5 physical damage with each hit.
• Rank: 0/1
• Mana cost: 7

This skill was the default left click attack at the Blizzcon build, and it worked quite nicely. It was a melee+ spell, hitting anything up close with all 3 slashes, but extending the slashes far enough that targets out of melee range would be hit by one or perhaps two of the attacks. Each slash could also strike multiple targets, making this one potentially quite damaging against multiple, close-range enemies.

Spell Speed

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases the speed of your magic missile projectiles.
• Max Rank: 15
  • Rank 1: Increases speed by 8%.
  • Rank 2: Increases speed by 16%.
  • Rank 3: Increases speed by 24%.

Damage Resistance

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases armor by and resistances.
• Max Rank: 15
  • Rank 1: Increases armor by xx% and all resistances by x%.
  • Rank 2: Increases armor by 10% and all resistances by 8%.
  • Rank 3: Increase armor by 15% and all resistances by 12%.

This seems like a tremendously powerful passive, if the increase per skill point remains constant.

Weapon Mastery

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases physical damage done by all weapons by 15.
• Rank: 0/15

This skill is something of a mystery, since there's little else to indicate that the Wizard would be using weapons for damage. It is known that the Wizard's equipment will have some bearing on his spell damage, so perhaps some skills derive their damage from the weapon damage, and this skill would boost that damage?

Either that or it's a harbinger of more melee/weapon type skills, or just something the D3 team was playing around with in their character development.

Tier II Skills

These skills are available as soon as a Wizard reaches level 5.

Stone Skin

• Active Skill
• Description: Shield yourself with rock and stone absorbing 30 damage.
• Rank: 0/1
• Duration: 8 seconds
• Mana cost: 12
• Cooldown: 15 seconds

One of the many shielding skills, all of different types, the Wizard has at her possession.

Mirror Image

Reinforcements!

• Active Skill
• Description: Create an illusionary duplicate of yourself.
• Rank: 1
• Duration: 8 seconds
• Mana Cost: 18

This skill is seen in the Blizzcon cinematic, in which the Wizard creates 5 duplicates, all of which have a small white circle over their heads. They are not just decoys either; they join the combat, which makes this seem like a very interesting spell.

Conjured Armor

• Passive Skill
• Description: Magical armor surrounds the wizard increasing block chance by 2%.
• Rank: 0/15

Conjured Health

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases total health by 8% and the health of your conjured images by 12%.
• Rank: 0/15

Duplicate Conjuring

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases the images from your mirror image skill and Hydras from your Hydra skill by 1.
• Rank: 0/15

A number of the passives in D3 boost two or three other skills, but not every skill in the skill tree. It's an interesting way to add more variety and specialization to the game.

Tier III Skills

A Wizard must be at least Clvl 10, and have spent at least 10 skill points in the Conjuring skill tree before he/she is able to put points into any of the skills at this tier.

Meteor Storm

Laser-like Meteors descend.

• Active Skill
• Description: Meteorites pelt the targeted region dealing 10 to 20 damage per second.
• Rank: 0/1
• Mana cost: 12 mana per second

The Meteor skill from D2 has been upgraded and modified. Now it calls down multiple meteors over a wider area, much like the Blizzard skill. Furthermore, Meteor Storm can be cast for as long as the Wizard wishes, with a mana cost per second, rather than per use.

Acid Cloud

• Active Skill
• Description: Drop a cloud of acid on the targeted area. Deals an initial 1-4 poison damage followed by 4-8 poison damage per sec to enemies who remain in the area.
• Rank: 0/1
• Mana cost: 15

Conjured Power

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases damage done by spells by 1% for every 10 points of vitality.
• Rank: 0/15

Conjuring Duration

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases the duration of your Stone Skin and Acid Cloud spells by 1 sec and duration of your mirror image images by 2 sec.
• Rank: 0/15:

Improved Spectral Blade

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases the damage of Spectral Blade by 14%.
• Rank: 0/15

Tier IV Skills

A wizard must invest 15 points in the Conjuring tree before the skills in this tier become available.

Hydra

• Active Skill
• Description: Creates a multi-headed beast that attacks your enemies with bolts of fire.
• Rank: 0/1

Magic Weapon

• Active Skill
• Description: Imbue your weapon with magical energy granting it increased damage.
• Rank: 0/1
• Mana cost: 10

Magical Impact

• Passive Skill
• Description: Increases damage of all spells by 15% of your weapon damage.
• Rank: 0/15

An interesting reversal on this one, boosting spell damage by weapon damage. This would create some very odd weapon choices for wizards, with huge damage weapons potentially more useful than the various spell-caster type wands and orbs mage classes generally specialize during the end game.

Slowing Strikes

• Passive Skill
• Description: Enemies damaged by your melee attacks, Spectral Blade or Magic Weapon have their movement speed reduced by 30% and their attack speed reduced by 20% for 4 sec.
• Rank: 0/15

Armor Piercing

• Passive Skill
• Description: Conjured and physical damage decreases the armor of armored enemies.
• Rank: 0/15