Difference between revisions of "Frost Nova"

Revision as of 04:23, 8 February 2011

Frost Nova is a Wizard Tier 3 skill unlocked at level 6, sending out a flash of severe frost, damaging and often slowing enemies.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]

Frost Nova Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
An explosion of ice pelts nearby enemies for 1-2 cold damage. Has an additional 50% chance of a critical hit.
Skill Details:
Type:	Direct Damage
Quantity:	1-2 to 5-6
Effect:	Self AoE circle
School:	Cold
Arcane Power cost:	8
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	12.0 sec
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

The Wizard has learned some knowledge of the Zann Esu mage clan that first tried to foster her like it did the Sorceress heroine, and improved on it. She has modified the staple Frost Nova to deal more damage and have a higher chance of hitting vital areas of opponents, freezing them in one spot.

Skill Design

Frost Nova is pretty much the same skill it was in D2, but with vastly improved graphics. Instead of just a ring of frost, it now sends out a gaseous ring that's speckled with dozens of shooting, snowball-like projectiles. As it was in D2, the skill is not very damaging and is best used for defensive purposes, a fact that's reinforced by the eternity of a 12 second cool down it's saddled with.

However, its is improved over the D2 version in several ways. It now has a pretty good chance of freezing the enemy rather than just chilling it, and it casts very quickly; so fast you can hardly even see the ring expanding out. It looked much faster and less detailed in the BlizzCon 2009 build than it has in previous screenshots, which I found disappointing.

The substantial cooldown decreases slightly with higher skill levels, but it's still an eternity after the zero cooldown on the D2 Frost Nova, it's not so bad if you use it wisely. Cast Frost Nova at the start of a battle, giving yourself some time/space to back up and pelt the enemy with projectiles, or hold it back for emergencies. Few battles in the BlizzCon 2009 demo lasted longer than 8 seconds, and not more than once or twice was the Wizard actually swarmed to the point that she needed this kind of freezing escape spell.

Skill Rank Table

Rank 1: 1-2 cold damage. Additional 50% chance of a critical hit.
Rank 2: 2-3 cold damage. Additional 60% chance of a critical hit.
Rank 3: 3-4 cold damage. Additional 70% chance of a critical hit. (A)
Rank 4: 4-5 cold damage. Additional 80% chance of a critical hit. (A)
Rank 5: 5-6 cold damage. Additional 90% chance of a critical hit. (A)

(A) = Assumed

Synergies

Frost Nova benefits directly from the following traits:

Black Ice: Frozen targets take 25% more damage from all sources.
Glass Cannon: Increases damage done by spells and increases armor.
Intimidation: Increases damage done and reduces vendor costs.
Quickening: Increases spell casting speed.
Beast Hunter: Damage bonus against beasts.
Demonsbane: Damage bonus against Demons.
Just...Stay...Dead!: Damage bonus against undead.
Power Surge: Increase critical strike damage.
Penetrating Spells: Reduces the resistances of your target to your spells by 20%.

Skill Rune Effects

Golden rune: Lowers Arcane Power cost.

Development

Frost Nova was first shown at BlizzCon 2008, and changed slightly in appearance at BlizzCon 2009, in that the animation and graphics were sped up, possibly as a balancing change.

Frost Nova was one of the Wizard's starting skills at BlizzCon 2010, and Flux found it to be very useful, indeed almost overpowered:[1]

The nova doesn’t just chill, it freezes the non-bosses, and for more than a second, which I was surprised to see at just level one. Presumably chill time is reduced on higher difficulty levels, as it was in D2, but this was a very powerful spell for so low in the skill tree.

Media

You can find pictures in the Diablo 3 screenshot and picture gallery:

Official shot of female Wizard casting it.
Skill icon.

References

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Frost Nova''' is a Tier 3 [[skill]] unlocked for the [[Wizard]] at level 6, sending out a flash of severe frost, damaging and often slowing enemies.
+'''Frost Nova''' is a [[Wizard]] Tier 3 [[Wizard skills|skill]] unlocked at [[clvl|level]] 6, sending out a flash of severe frost, damaging and often slowing enemies.
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 |effect= Self [[AoE]] circle
 |school= [[Cold]]
-|resource= [[Mana]]
+|resource= [[Arcane Power]]
 |cost= 8
 |cast-time= Instant
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 }}
 The [[Wizard]] has learned some knowledge of the [[Zann Esu]] [[mage clan]] that first tried to foster her like it did the [[Sorceress]] heroine, and improved on it. She has modified the staple Frost Nova to deal more damage and have a higher chance of hitting vital areas of opponents, freezing them in one spot.
 ==Skill Design==
-Frost Nova is pretty much the same skill it was in D2, but with vastly improved graphics. Instead of just a ring of frost, it now sends out a gaseous ring that's speckled with dozens of shooting, snowball-like projectiles. As it was in D2, the skill is not very damaging and is best used for defensive purposes, a fact that's reinforced by the eternity of a 12 second cool down it's saddled with.
+Frost Nova is pretty much the same [[skill]] it was in D2, but with vastly improved graphics. Instead of just a ring of frost, it now sends out a gaseous ring that's speckled with dozens of shooting, snowball-like projectiles. As it was in D2, the skill is not very damaging and is best used for defensive purposes, a fact that's reinforced by the eternity of a 12 second cool down it's saddled with.
 However, its is improved over the D2 version in several ways. It now has a pretty good chance of freezing the enemy rather than just chilling it, and it casts very quickly; so fast you can hardly even see the ring expanding out. It looked much faster and less detailed in the [[BlizzCon 2009]] build than it has in previous screenshots, which I found disappointing.
-The substantial [[cooldown]] decreases slightly with higher skill levels, but it's still an eternity after the zero cooldown on the {{iw|Sorceress_Cold_Spells#Frost_Nova D2 Frost Nova}}, it's not so bad if you use it wisely. Cast Frost Nova at the start of a battle, giving yourself some time/space to back up and pelt the enemy with projectiles, or hold it back for emergencies. Few battles in the BlizzCon 2009 demo lasted longer than 8 seconds, and not more than once or twice was the Wizard actually swarmed to the point that he needed this kind of freezing escape spell.
+The substantial [[cooldown]] decreases slightly with higher skill levels, but it's still an eternity after the zero cooldown on the {{iw|Sorceress_Cold_Spells#Frost_Nova D2 Frost Nova}}, it's not so bad if you use it wisely. Cast Frost Nova at the start of a battle, giving yourself some time/space to back up and pelt the enemy with projectiles, or hold it back for emergencies. Few battles in the BlizzCon 2009 demo lasted longer than 8 seconds, and not more than once or twice was the Wizard actually swarmed to the point that she needed this kind of freezing escape spell.
 ==Skill Rank Table==
-''Put a table of the skill rank and damage/mana/fury per rank.''
 * '''Rank 1:''' 1-2 [[cold]] damage. Additional 50% chance of a [[critical hit]].
 * '''Rank 2:''' 2-3 [[cold]] damage. Additional 60% chance of a [[critical hit]].
-* '''Rank 3:''' 3-4 [[cold]] damage. Additional 70% chance of a [[critical hit]]. (projected)
+* '''Rank 3:''' 3-4 [[cold]] damage. Additional 70% chance of a [[critical hit]]. (A)
-* '''Rank 4:''' 4-5 [[cold]] damage. Additional 80% chance of a [[critical hit]]. (projected)
+* '''Rank 4:''' 4-5 [[cold]] damage. Additional 80% chance of a [[critical hit]]. (A)
-* '''Rank 5:''' 5-6 [[cold]] damage. Additional 90% chance of a [[critical hit]]. (projected)
+* '''Rank 5:''' 5-6 [[cold]] damage. Additional 90% chance of a [[critical hit]]. (A)
+(A) = Assumed
-==Synergies==
+==[[Synergies]]==
 Frost Nova benefits directly from the following [[traits]]:
 * [[Black Ice]]: Frozen targets take 25% more damage from all sources.
 * [[Glass Cannon]]: Increases damage done by spells and increases armor.
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 * [[Power Surge]]: Increase critical strike damage.
 * [[Penetrating Spells]]: Reduces the resistances of your target to your spells by 20%.
 ==[[Rune|Skill Rune]] Effects==
-* None known.
+* [[Golden rune]]: Lowers Arcane Power cost.
 ==Development==
-Hydra was first shown at [[BlizzCon 2008]], and changed slightly in appearance to [[BlizzCon 2009]], in that the animation and graphics were sped up, possibly as a balancing change. The skill is assumed to still be available in Blizzard's internal game build today.
+'''Frost Nova''' was first shown at [[BlizzCon 2008]], and changed slightly in appearance at [[BlizzCon 2009]], in that the animation and graphics were sped up, possibly as a balancing change.
+Frost Nova was one of the Wizard's starting skills at [[BlizzCon 2010]], and [[Flux]] found it to be very useful, indeed almost overpowered:[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/hands-on-from-blizzcon-mega-pvm-report-wizard]
+<blockquote>The nova doesn’t just chill, it freezes the non-bosses, and for more than a second, which I was surprised to see at just level one. Presumably chill time is reduced on higher difficulty levels, as it was in D2, but this was a very powerful spell for so low in the skill tree.</blockquote>
-'''Previous Versions:'''
-* [[Frost Nova (BlizzCon 2008)]]
@@ Line 79: / Line 84: @@
 ''Hide this section unless there really is some trivia about the skill. Add the skill to the [[:Category:Easter Eggs|Easter Eggs]] category as well if the article contains Easter Egg information.''
 -->
 ==Media==
 You can find pictures in the Diablo 3 screenshot and picture gallery:
-* [http://www.diii.net/gallery/ Diablo 3 screenshots and pictures]
+* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/ Diablo 3 screenshots and pictures]
-* [http://www.diii.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=all&si=Frost+Nova Frost Nova-specific gallery contents]
+* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/search.php?keywords=Frost+Nova&cat=all&x=10&y=8 '''Frost Nova''' specific gallery contents]
@@ Line 91: / Line 94: @@
 Image:Wiz-frost-nova2.jpg|Skill icon.
 </gallery>
@@ Line 97: / Line 101: @@
 ''Articles that are related, but not emphasised enough in any other section, or articles that just need further attention.''
 -->
 ==References==
-* [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/full-wizard-skill-trees/ Full Wizard Skill Trees]
+* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/wizard-gameplay-report/P2/ BlizzCon 2008 Wizard Gameplay Report]
-* [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/wizard-gameplay-report/P2/ BlizzCon 2008 Wizard Gameplay Report]
+* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/full-wizard-skill-trees/ Full Wizard Skill Trees]
+* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/hands-on-from-blizzcon-mega-pvm-report-wizard BlizzCon 2010 Wizard Hands-on Report]
 {{Slave navbox Diablo III|Wizard}}

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