Explosive Blast

Explosive Blast is an Offensive Wizard skill unlocked at Level 14, blasting a small area for high damage.

Background

Ice Armor in action

The Wizard conjures volatile gasses into the physical realm, which ignite with oxygen and create a powerful blast in a very limited space.

Skill Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Explosive Blast rune effects page for a more thorough summary of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Icon	Skill	Description

{{{icon}}}

[[{{{name}}}]] Mastery

19

{{{desc}}}

Chain Reaction

[e] 8 consecutive explosions cascade off you that each cause 91% weapon damage as Physical.

Short Fuse

[e] An energy explosion fires immediately for 309% weapon damage as Physical.

Unleashed

[e] Reduces the casting cost to 24 Arcane Power.

Obliterate

[e] Increase the explosion radius to 18 yards for 309% weapon damage as Physical.

Time Bomb

[e] The blast detonates from the point it was originally cast after 2 seconds for 372% weapon damage as Physical.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.

Skill Design

This skill is basically a short-range nova centered around the Wizard, on a short time delay. Since the Wizard can move after activating it, she can select it, run into the midst of a pack of monsters, then laugh when they go boom.

The spell's delay (about 1.5 seconds) makes it unsuitable for emergency use, and its short range (at least at level 1) makes it difficult to use without getting pounded on. Skill runes will undoubtedly make it more viable, and less a novelty skill.

Synergies

• No synergies with any of the Wizard passives are yet known.

Development

Explosive Blast was first seen at BlizzCon 2009 in the gameplay demo, where it was on the Conjuring Skill Tree at Tier III. Originally, the Wizard targeted a specific location, and after a short delay, the blast went off.

By BlizzCon 2010, the mechanics had changed; the blast was focused on the Wizard. It was also moved to Tier 2 after skill trees were removed. It was one of the Wizard's starting skills in the gameplay demo, and Flux found it entertaining:[1]

It’s basically a short-range nova, on a time delay. You click it, and after 1.5 seconds (at level one) it blew up, dealing fairly substantial physical damage. The time delay made it unsuitable for emergency situations, but if you got used to the timing it was fun to click midway through a battle, knowing it would blast a moment later and finish off the enemy.

Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Explosive Blast became a level 14 skill.

Previous Versions

See the Wizard skill archive for more details on previous versions of Explosive Blast and other Wizard skills.

Media

Explosive Blast can be seen in action on video here:

• Cinematic: Wizard
• Gameplay: Blizzcon 2008
• Video: Blizzcon 2010 Rune Effects

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Explosive Blast specific gallery contents

References

• BlizzCon 2009 Full Wizard Skill Trees
• BlizzCon 2010 Wizard Hands-on Report
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Silva's Wizard Runestone Effects -- IncGamers 5th Sep 2011
• Wizard Active Skills -- Diablo III 12th Sep 2011

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses