Arcane Torrent

Arcane Torrent, beta patch 13.

Arcane Torrent is an Offensive Wizard skill unlocked at Level 9. It fires small pinkish/purple filaments at a targeted location, bombarding any enemies in the vicinity. It can be cast to any specific spot in range, and will not hit enemies between the Wizard and the location; only those in the firing zone are affected.

The skill fires missiles as long as the player keeps it active by depressing the mouse or keyboard button. Arcane Power is drained at a steady rate during use.

Background

The Wizard calls down a shower of arcane energy, bombarding her enemies wherever she chooses.

Skillrune Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Arcane Torrent 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

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[[{{{name}}}]] Secondary

12

{{{desc}}}

Death Blossom

[e] Unleash the torrent beyond your control. You can no longer direct where the projectiles go but their damage is increased to 312% weapon damage per second as Arcane.

Disruption

[e] Targets hit by Arcane Torrent become Disrupted for 6 seconds, causing them to take 30% additional damage from any attacks that deal Arcane damage.

Power Stone

[e] Every missile hit has a 5% chance to leave behind a Power Stone that grants Arcane Power when picked up.

Cascade

[e] Enemies killed by Arcane Torrent have a 80% chance to fire a new missile at a nearby enemy dealing 135% weapon damage as Arcane.

Arcane Mines

[e] Instead of firing projectiles, lay Arcane mines that arm after 1 second. These mines explode when an enemy approaches, dealing 182% weapon damage as Arcane. Enemies caught in the explosion have their movement and attack speeds reduced by 30% for 3 seconds.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 4 runestones.

Skill Design

Arcane Torrent can be cast for as long as the Wizard wishes, with an Arcane Power cost per second, rather than per use.

In earlier versions of the skill, it functioned like a spectral meteor shower, with the projectiles descending from high overhead. This was changed during development, and when players were first able to use the skill in the Beta patch 13, the animation formed a slight swirl above the Wizard, before flying off at an arching trajectory (much like a thrown object, such as the Witch Doctor's Firebomb skill) to the targeted location.

The animation goes along with the function, of a slightly-delayed attack. A half second passes between the first click of the key and the arrival of the projectiles, which requires the player to adjust accordingly.

The targeting mechanism makes this very useful for hitting monster beyond the front row, such as mages or summoners or archers in the rear of tanking enemies. The time from cast to hit is fairly short, and the range of striking is at least 6 or 8 yards in radius, so it is possible to use Arcane Torrent against small, quick-moving enemies.

Arcane Torrent is less viable for melee fighting monsters, as it does not slow their advance and isn't an ideal choice for point blank combat. The fact that the projectiles hit where the Wizard targets makes it easy to move with or "lead" monsters along, bathing them in the very high damage attack for as long as they can survive it.

• 

  Swirl, then fire.

• 

  Wizard bombards Leoric.

Synergies

Arcane Torrent benefits from the following Wizard passives:

Skill	Unlocked	Description

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[[{{{name}}}]]

45

{{{desc}}}

{{{icon}}}

[[{{{name}}}]]

16

{{{desc}}}

{{{icon}}}

[[{{{name}}}]] See: Signature spell

55

{{{desc}}}

Development

Arcane Torrent was first shown at BlizzCon 2008 when the Wizard debuted, at that point named Meteor Storm and located in the Storm Skill Tree. It was part of the Wizard presentation video, and besides having its new name and being in the Arcane Skill Tree, was completely unchanged in the BlizzCon 2009 demo.

While Arcane Torrent was in the BlizzCon 2010 demo, it was too high-level for players to select it. Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Arcane Torrent became a level 23 skill.

It was first available for player testing in the Beta patch 13 in February, 2012.

Early Version

Meteor Storm was the original name of this skill. The name was likely changed when the Meteor skill was added. The skill looked like a meteor shower of polychromatic filaments, and rained down considerable projectiles on a single location. The current version is much changed in form and function.

An early version of Arcane Torrent can also be seen in action on video here:

• Cinematic: Wizard
• Video: August 2011 Wizard Skill Animations

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Arcane Torrent specific gallery contents

• 

  Closeup.

• 

  Initial impact.

• 

  Fire and stone.

• 

  "Pelting" is the word!

References

• BlizzCon 2008 Wizard Gameplay Report
• BlizzCon 2009 Full Wizard Skill Trees
• 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