Wave of Force

Wave of Force is a Wizard Tier 2 skill unlocked at level 3, creating a force wave from the Wizard, repelling enemies and projectiles.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]

Wave of Force Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
Project a wave of force outwards, repelling enemies and projectiles.
Skill Details:
Type:	Damage & Knockback
Quantity:	1-5 damage
Effect:	Self AoE
School:	Arcane
Arcane Power cost:	10
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	Unknown
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

The Wizard uses pure Arcane force to push objects, projectiles and enemies alike away from her. The force is primary pushing targets rather than hurting them.

Skill Design

This defensive spell casts a nova-like blast of light that deals just minor damage, but that shoves back enemies and projectiles.

Wave of Force is used twice in the Wizard Trailer released at BlizzCon 2008. The first is used in a room of skeletons -- it does little damage to the skeletons, but blasts all the destructibles in the room to glorious pieces. In the second example, the Wizard uses it while slowing down time, waiting for a group of skeletons' projectiles to come close, and then reflecting them back toward them.

It's hard to know how many scenarios in a fast-paced game like this where you could really benefit from using Slow Time and then Wave of Force to repel projectiles -- Out of the 8 projectiles in the above screenshot, only one or two actually came back to strike their targets. It will be interesting to see what practical uses there are for this spell as more gameplay videos unfold.

Wave of Force repels skeletons.

Skill Rank Table

Rank 1: does 1-5 damage.

Skeleton smash.

Synergies

Wave of Force benefits directly from the following traits:

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.
Temporal Flux: Enemies that have been hit by your Arcane spells are slowed down by 25% for 3 seconds.
Power Surge: Increase critical strike damage.
Penetrating Spells: Reduces the resistances of your target to your spells by 20%.

Skill Rune Effects

None known.

Development

Wave of Force was first shown at BlizzCon 2008 when the Wizard was unveiled. The spell was available at BlizzCon 2009, where it lost a little bit of damage and had a lot lower mana cost. This skill was also available at BlizzCon 2010, but it wasn't one of the Wizard's starting skills.

Media

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

Wizard casting Wave of Force in a small room.
Using WoF to repel skeletons when fighting King Leoric.
Slow Time with WoF to throw spells back at casters.
Blasting skeletons with Force.

References

The Barbarian - Barbarian skills - Barbarian traits - Fury - Barbarian skill archive [e]
Tier One/Clvl 2	Tier Two/Clvl 3	Tier Three/Clvl 6	Tier Four/Clvl 10	Tier Five/Clvl 14	Tier Six/Clvl 20	Tier Seven/Clvl 26
• Bash • Rampage • Cleave	• Ground Stomp • Ignore Pain • War Cry • Weapon Throw	• Frenzy • Revenge • Hammer of the Ancients	• Leap Attack • Sprint • Threatening Shout	• Ancient Spear • Battle Rage • Rend • Seismic Slam	• Furious Charge • Taunt • Whirlwind	• Call of the Ancients • Earthquake • Wrath of the Berserker

The Monk - Monk skills - Auras - Combos - Monk traits - Spirit - Monk skill archive [e]
Tier One/Clvl 2	Tier Two/Clvl 3	Tier Three/Clvl 6	Tier Four/Clvl 10	Tier Five/Clvl 14	Tier Six/Clvl 20	Tier Seven/Clvl 26
• Hands of Lightning • Lashing Tail Kick • Long Reach	• Circle of Wrath • Lethal Decoy • Serenity	• Blinding Flash • Crippling Wave • Holy Aura	• Dashing Strike • Dominate Aura • Way of the Hundred Fists	• Exploding Palm • Inner Sanctuary	• Breath of Heaven • Retribution Aura • Sweeping Wind	• Resist Aura • Seven-Sided Strike • Wave of Light