Difference between revisions of "Conjuring Skill Tree"

Revision as of 11:23, 31 August 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 I Skills

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

Spectral Blade

Spectral Blades in action.

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

Tier II Skills

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

Mirror Image

Reinforcements!

• Active Skill
• Rank: 1
  • Description: Create an illusionary duplicate of yourself.
  • 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.

Stability Control

• Passive Skill
• Rank: 1/5
  • Description: Health globes restore 10% mana when picked up.
• Rank: 2/5
  • Description: Health globes restore 20% mana when picked up.
• Rank: 3/5
  • Description: Health globes restore 30% mana when picked up.
• Prerequisite of: Intensify

Note that the D3 Team has said they’re going to leave mana as a resource for the Witch Doctor, but will be implementing something else for the Wizard and Monk. Presumably the Monk’s will be something along the lines of the Barbarian’s Fury, but speculation is running rampant about what the Wizard’s might be. (Presumably whatever they switch to from mana will also benefit from health globes, re: skills like this one.)

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.

Explosive Blast

• Active Skill
• Rank: 1/5
  • Description: A blast of energy explodes at the target causing 10-16 damage in a small radius.
  • Mana Cost: 5

Works something like a short range hand grenade; hitting for considerable damage, but only striking enemies in the immediate area.

Stone Skin

New Crystalined Stone Skin.

• Active Skill
• Rank: 1/5
  • Requires: 1 point(s) in
  • Description: Shield yourself with rock and stone, absorbing 75 damage. Lasts 8 seconds.
  • Mana Cost: 12
  • Cooldown: 19 seconds
• Prerequisite of: Magic Weapon

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

Tier IV Skills

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

Hydra

• Active Skill
• Rank: 0/5
  • Description: Creates a hydra that attacks your enemies with bolts of fire. Hydra deals 6-10 damage per attack.
  • Mana Cost: 12

Intensify

• Passive Skill
• Rank: 0/5
  • Requires: 1 point(s) in Stability Control
  • Description: When you pick up a health globe, your critical hit chance increases by 2%.
  • Duration: 7 seconds

An interesting little bonus, one that would be kicking in all the time during the game. This one should actually be more useful in multiplayer games, since health globes would drop more often and be picked up more often. Watch some of the gameplay footage released this year, and see if you ever count 7 seconds between health globe drops?

Tier V skills

Magical Impact

• Passive Skill
• Rank: 0/5
  • Requires: 1 point(s) in Intensify.
  • Description: Increases critical hit damage by 10%.

Critical hits are a major component of damage dealt in Diablo 3. They’re not just for physical damage anymore, and critical hits of all types deal extra damage, as well as creating bonus magical effects. That said, some types seem like better bonuses than others, so certain builds of Wizards would probably benefit more from this spell than other builds.

Magic Weapon

• Active Skill
• Rank: 0/5
  • Requires: 1 point(s) in Stone Skin.
  • Description: Imbue your weapon with magical energy granting it increased damage.
  • Damage: 25-35
  • Duration: 120 seconds
  • Mana Cost: 10

One of the odder Wizard skills, seemingly designed for a melee fighting Wizard. We don’t know enough about weapon damage in general to have any idea if this is a big bonus or not. Nor do we know if this damage is boosted by attributes and +magical damage item modifiers. If so it’s possible that some Wizard builds could deal very good weapon damage. On the other hand, there are enough limits on which classes can use which weapons that Wizards might be limited in their melee damage no matter what they tried.