Energy Shield

Energy Shield is a Tier 5 skill unlocked for the Wizard at level 14, using mana to absorb incoming damage.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]

Energy Shield Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
A protective barrier absorbs incoming damage using mana. Every point of damage costs 2 mana.
Skill Details:
Type:	Defensive buff
Quantity:	75 damage
Effect:	Self
School:	Arcane
Mana cost:	5
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	120
Cooldown:	1.5 sec
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	Arcane Weakness

Drawing from long forgotten texts, this magical shield of energy absorbs harmful attacks through energy resonance, draining mana.

Skill Design

This skill with lots of heritage is back in Diablo III, and while it was completely unnecessary in the BlizzCon 2009 demo, it's likely to be used by many Wizards, especially if they are picking up Stone Skin and Magic Weapon, going melee-style.

Skill Rank Table

Rank 1: 75 damage absorbed. Duration: 120 sec.

Only Rank 1 is currently known.

Synergies

None known.

Skill Rune Effects

None known.

Development

Energy Shield originates from the grossly overpowered Mana Shield from the original Diablo game, where every point of damage translated into mana lost instead of life. The spell also had unlimited duration, as long as you didn't die or travelled to another level.

In Diablo II, the Sorceress got a nerfed version of the same spell but with the name Energy Shield. The spell got a time limit (needed, since no levels were limited by loading) and only absorbed a fraction of the damage.

The Diablo III version has done away from that system, and is instead applying a one-off shield that absorbs all damage up to the maximum power of the shield, which depends on skill rank. Each point absorbed use two mana. This skill was not available in the BlizzCon 2008 demo, but was apparently one of the D3 Teams favourites, and brought back in time for the BlizzCon 2009 gameplay demo. In 2008, a Temporal Armor was available though, with a slightly different mechanic: Protecting the caster from 100% damage once every 6 seconds. Something that could be either very good, if it protected a strong attack, or quite useless, if it protected against a weak one.

Media

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

References