Blizzard

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Blizzard is a Wizard Tier 6 skill unlocked at level 20, calling down shards of ice on opponents.

It's a signature skill of the Wizard.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Blizzard Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
Call down shards of ice to pelt an area dealing X-Y cold damage per second for 3 seconds.
Skill Details:
Type:	DoT
Quantity:	6-10
Effect:	Circular AoE
School:	Cold
Arcane Power cost:	70
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	3 sec
Cooldown:	1.5 sec
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

Calling upon the elements, drawing huge amounts of cold energy to the physical plane, a torrent of icy shards pelt an area directed by the Wizard.

Skill Design

Like a lot of other neat high level skills (most of them owned by the Barbarian) this one has been seen in videos, but never used by anyone other than at Blizzard.

Visually, a large cloud forms above the Wizard's enemies, from which large chunks of ice crash down to earth.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: 6-10 damage per second for 3 seconds.

Synergies

Blizzard 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

• None known.

Development

A Diablo II Blizzard spell.

Blizzard was first shown at BlizzCon 2008 when the Wizard debuted, at that point a Tier IV skill in the Storm Skill Tree. It was a Tier V skill in the BlizzCon 2009 demo, which made it too high-level for players to select it.

Blizzard was again present in the BlizzCon 2010 demo, but still too high-level to play.

Previous Versions

Blizzard is a spell with a lot of heritage. The first version of this spell is seen in the classic WarCraft I from 1994 as a human Wizard spell (irony), and has been present in any Blizzard game (bar Diablo I) since. WarCraft II has it as a human mage spell, StarCraft doesn't have it, but has a very similar psionic storm, Diablo II has it as a Sorceress spell, WarCraft III has it as an Archmage hero ability and World of WarCraft has it as a Mage spell.

The principle is the same, with frozen shards dealing AoE damage, and is a staple spell in Blizzard Entertainment games that is unlikely to change any time soon.

Media

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

• Diablo 3 screenshots and pictures
• Blizzard specific gallery contents

References

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