Wizard skills

This page lists all known Wizard skills, as of August 2011. Follow the links to the individual skill pages for full discussion of every skill, including first hand reports and screenshots.

Useful skill links:

• Skills - General skill design and mechanics.
  • Active skills - Skills where effects are activated by the player.
  • Passive skills - Skills where effects are activated automatically, by the computer or by special events.
  • Signature skills - Skills that define characters.
• Arcane Power - The Wizard's energy resource.
• Runestones - The huge skill customization and improvement system.
• Wizard skill archive - Removed Wizard skills.
• Wizard traits - Passive skills in Diablo III were called traits for a while before reverting back.

Contents

Active Skills

The skill tree, circa 2009. Skills no longer appear in anything like this format. Image by Muldric.

Click to the individual skill pages for more details about these skills including numbers, screenshots, runestone information, blue quotes, and much more.

Frost Nova

Frost Nova is unlocked at Level 1.
This defensive skill freezes all enemies in a ring around the player, stopping normal monsters and slowing bosses.

Description: An explosion of ice freezes nearby enemies for 4 seconds and causes 2 - 3 Cold damage.
Cooldown: 12 seconds

Magic Missile

Magic Missile is unlocked at Level 1.
Magic missiles are fast-moving, conjured projectiles that deal arcane damage.

Description: Launch a missile of magic energy causing 4 - 5 Arcane damage.
Cost: 15 Arcane Power

• This is an Academic spell. Academic spells cost 1 less Arcane Power every time you gain a level.

Ice Armor

Ice Armor is unlocked at Level 2.

Description: Surround yourself in a barrier of ice that increases armor by 50%, and causes 0 - 2 Cold damage to melee attackers, chilling them for 2 seconds. Lasts 120 seconds.
Cost: 25 Arcane Power

• This is an Armor spell. Only one Armor spell can be active at a time.

Shock Pulse

Shock Pulse is unlocked at Level 3.
This skill debuted in the beta build; it's thought to be a renamed version of Charged Bolt.

Description: Release a pulse of 3 unpredictable charges of electricity that deal 4 - 9 Lightning damage to enemies they hit.
Cost: 15 Arcane Power

• This is an Academic spell. Academic spells cost 1 less Arcane Power every time you gain a level.

Wave of Force

Wave of Force is unlocked at Level 4.
A defensive skill that pushes back enemies and enemy projectiles. Works well when combined with Slow Time.

Description: Explode a wave of pure energy that repels projectiles and knocks back nearby enemies. This also slows the movement of enemies by 50% and deals 9 - 10 physical damage to them.
Cost: 25 Arcane Power
Cooldown: 15 seconds

Spectral Blade

Spectral Blade is unlocked at Level 5.
A magical melee attack, this hits nearby enemies for considerable physical damage.

Description: Summon a spectral blade that strikes all enemies in your path 3 times causing 35% weapon damage with each hit.
Cost: 15 Arcane Power

• This is an Academic spell. Academic spells cost 1 less Arcane Power every time you gain a level.

Electrocute

Electrocute is unlocked at Level 6.
A beam weapon, the bolt of lightning locks onto an enemy and deals steadily draining damage, as well as stunning and slowing the target. An excellent skill for hitting moving targets that might dodge projectiles.

Description: Lightning arcs from your fingertips towards an enemy dealing 1 - 13 Lightning damage. The lightning can jump, hitting up to 2 enemies. Damage is reduced by 30% for each jump.
Cost: 15 Arcane Power

• This is an Academic spell. Academic spells cost 1 less Arcane Power every time you gain a level.

Magic Weapon

Magic Weapon is unlocked at Level 7.
A spell for the battle mage, this one imbues huge magical damage into the wizard's weapon.

Description: Imbue your weapon with magical energy granting it 20% increased physical damage. Can only affect melee weapons.
Duration: 60 seconds
Cost: 8 Arcane Power

Arcane Orb

Arcane Orb is unlocked at Level 8.
A projectile that moves slower than most such magical attacks, but that deals considerable arcane AoE damage upon impact and explosion.

Description: Hurl an orb of pure energy that explodes when it hits, dealing 12 - 21 Arcane damage to all enemies within 10 yards.
Cost: 35 Arcane Power

Diamond Skin

Diamond Skin is unlocked at Level 9.
A powerful defensive skill, this absorbs considerable points from all types of damage for a short duration.

Description: Transform your skin to diamond for 5 seconds absorbing up to 64 damage from incoming attacks.
Cooldown: 25 seconds

Energy Twister

Energy Twister is unlocked at Level 11.
Cast tornadoes of arcane damage that deal substantial damage to all they come into contact with. The tornadoes move semi-randomly, making this better against crowds than individuals.

Description: Unleash a twister of pure energy that deals 4 Arcane damage per second to everything caught within it.
Cost: 35 Arcane Power

Disintegrate

Disintegrate is unlocked at Level 12.
A laser beam of doom, this instantly-hitting, long range attack deals considerable damage to everything in its path.

Description: Thrust a beam of pure energy forward dealing 18 - 23 Arcane damage per second and disintegrating enemies it kills.
Cost: 20 Arcane Power per second

Storm Armor

Storm Armor is unlocked at Level 13.
A fire and forget skill, this one shocks enemies with electrical bolts for the duration of effect, without requiring the Wizard to aim or target them.

Description: Bathe yourself in electrical energy, shocking ranged and melee attackers for 1 - 17 Lightning damage. Lasts 120 seconds.
Cost: 25 Arcane Power

• This is an Armor spell. Only one Armor spell can be active at a time.

Explosive Blast

Explosive Blast is unlocked at Level 14.
A physical damage attack that turns the Wizard into a time bomb. Click to arm the spell, run into a pack of enemies, and blow up amidst them.

Description: Gather an infusion of energy around you that explodes after 2 seconds, causing 20 - 30 physical damage to any nearby enemies.
Cost: 45 Arcane Power
Cooldown: 1 second

Mirror Image

Mirror Image is unlocked at Level 15.
The Wizard creates multiple images of herself. These duplicates move and attack enemies in convincing fashion.

Description: Summon 2 illusionary duplicates of yourself that last for 15 seconds and have 25 of your Life. The images may cast some of the same spells as you, but those spells deal no damage.
Cooldown: 25 seconds

Slow Time

Slow Time is unlocked at Level 16.
Slow time creates a bubble of protection around the location its cast in, slowing all enemy projectiles and the enemies themselves.

Description: Envoke a bubble of warped time and space for 10 seconds, slowing the movement and attack speed of enemies by 35%. This bubble also slows the movement of enemy projectiles by 90%.
Cooldown: 30 seconds

Teleport

Teleport is unlocked at Level 18.
Bamf instantly from one location to another. This skill carries a considerable cool down time in Diablo III, making it something best saved for emergency escapes.

Description: Teleport through the ether to the selected location up to 35 yards away.
Cost: 15 Arcane Power
Cooldown: 16 seconds

Hydra

Hydra is unlocked at Level 19.
Summons a fiery, three-headed dragon that appears from the ground and assails enemies with bolts of flame. Runestone bonuses give great flexibility to this spell.

Description: Summon a multi-headed Hydra for 9 seconds that attacks enemies with bolts of fire dealing 5 - 6 Fire damage per attack.
Cost: 70 Arcane Power

Ray of Frost

Ray of Frost is unlocked at Level 21.
A laser beam of cold damage, this one chills enemies, slowing them while dealing damage.

Description: Project a beam of frozen ice that blasts 34 - 45 Cold damage per second to the first enemy it hits, slowing the target's movement by 40% and attack speed by 30% for 3 seconds.
Cost: 34 Arcane Power per second

Energy Armor

Energy Armor is unlocked at Level 22.
The classic protective skill (renamed from Energy Shield) returns, now trading Arcane Power for damage reduction.

Description: Focus your energies, increasing your Defense by 20% but lowers your maximum Arcane Power by 20. Lasts 120 seconds.
Cost: 25 Arcane Power

• This is an Armor spell. Only one Armor spell can be active at a time.

Arcane Torrent

Arcane Torrent is unlocked at Level 23.
An arcane style of Meteor Storm, this spell hurls flaming rocks at the targeted spot, dealing AoE damage to anything in the vicinity.

Description: Hurl a barrage of arcane projectiles that deal 31 - 51 Arcane damage per second to all enemies near the impact location.
Cost: 20 Arcane Power per second

Meteor

Meteor is unlocked at Level 24.
The biggest damage of the death from above skills, this one lands a flaming stone on the targeted location, dealing huge fire damage and leaving a dangerous field of fire in the location for some time.

Description: Summon an immense meteor that plummets from the sky causing 43 - 58 Fire damage to all enemies it crashes into. The ground it hits is scorched with molten fire that does 12 - 17 Fire damage over 3 seconds.
Cost: 60 Arcane Power

Blizzard

Blizzard is unlocked at Level 26.
Another powerful AoE spell, this one drops damaging ice on a large section of the screen, chilling and injuring anything in the area.

Description: Call down shards of ice to pelt an area dealing 12 - 18 Cold damage per second for 3 seconds.
Cost: 45 Arcane Power

Familiar

Familiar is unlocked at Level 27.
An assisting creature that boosts the Wizard's damage, without serving as a "tank" to distract their attacks.

Description: Summon a companion that will attack your targets for X - X Arcane damage. This companion cannot be targeted or damaged by enemies.
Cost: X Arcane Power
Pet duration: X seconds

Archon

Archon is unlocked at Level 29.
A spell that transforms the Wizard, altering the defense, resistance and skills for a limited time.

Description: Transform into a being of pure arcane energy for X seconds. While in Archon form your normal abilities are replaced by powerful Archon abilities, and your armor and resistances are increased by X%. Every enemy killed while in Archon form adds X seconds to the duration of Archon.
Cost: X Arcane Power
Cooldown: X seconds

Passive Skills

Passive skills replaced Traits during late game development in 2011. Many Traits were simply changed to passive skills, but some are all new. See the Wizard traits page for a full list of those passives.

Blur is a Wizard passive skill unlocked at Level 10, which reduces the damage taken from melee attacks.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Wizard">Blur</skill>

Design

Most Wizards wish to kill from a distance and avoid ever taking melee damage. As such this passive seems more designed for emergency use, or for a battle mage.

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Wizard passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. When traits were changed back to passive skills in early 2011, Blur was moved directly from a level 19 trait to a level 10 passive.

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Blur was moved to level 25. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Blur was moved back to level 10.

Previous Versions

• Blur (trait) - As a trait.

See the traits page for more details on previous versions of this and many other passive skills.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Wizard Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Wizard Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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| | Drain Power | All basic attacks provide Template:Cyanize Arcane Power. | 10 | Wizard |-

Quickening is a skill rune effect in the Monk's Fists of Thunder combo skill.

Quickening is enabled at level 42, and increases the Monk's Spirit generation by enabling a gain of 15 Spirit with every Critical Hit landed while using this attack. The basic attack's effectiveness is not changed by this rune effect; just the Spirit generated by it. This effect will obviously become more effective for Monks with higher than normal critical hit %.

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Monk">Fists of Thunder</skill> <skill class="Monk" rune="Quickening">Fists of Thunder</skill>

Screenshots and videos of this effect will be added post-release.

Trivia

Prior to the skill rune revision in November 2011, this effect was enabled by the Golden rune.

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| | Flight Before Fight | Increases run speed by Template:Cyanize when the Wizard is blocked in melee. | 13 | Wizard |-

Glass Cannon is a Wizard passive skill unlocked at Level 16, which increases all damage done by the Wizard while reducing armor and resistances.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Wizard">Glass Cannon</skill>

Synergies

Glass Cannon gives a flat boost to damage done which means that every ability or attack that deals damage is affected by this passive skill.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. When traits were changed back to passive skills in early 2011, Glass Cannon was moved directly from a low-level trait to a level 13 passive.

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, but Glass Cannon didn't change. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Glass Cannon was moved up to level 16.

Previous Versions

• Glass Cannon (trait) - As a trait.

See the traits page for more details on previous versions of this and many other passive skills.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Wizard Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Wizard Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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| | Aggression | Increases attack by Template:Cyanize. | 15 | Wizard |-

| | Superior Skill | Increases precision by Template:Cyanize. | 15 | Wizard |-

| | Expert Defense | Increases defense by Template:Cyanize. | 17 | Wizard |-

Astral Presence is a Wizard passive skill unlocked at Level 24, which increases maximum Arcane Power and Arcane Power regeneration.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Wizard">Astral Presence</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Wizard passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Astral Presence was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event as a level 20 passive.

Beta

When the beta started in September 2011, Astral Presence was dropped to level 19. For Beta Patch 13, it was dropped again to level 18. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Astral Presence was moved up to level 24.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Wizard Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Wizard Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Black Ice is a rune effect in Ray of Frost, an Offensive Wizard skill.

This rune effect creates ice puddles where monsters die from the attack. These patches of ice deal 193% weapon damage over three seconds to enemies that move through them. The ideal way to use this rune effect is to kill an enemy where others are going to have to stand, thus ensuring that the cold damage radiates to them all for the full three seconds.

Skill Rune Effects

Refer to the Ray of Frost rune effects article for thorough descriptions of all five rune effects in this skill, including screenshots, videos, strategy tips, and other related information.

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Wizard">Ray of Frost</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Black Ice">Ray of Frost</skill>

Media

Screenshots and movies will be added post-release.

Development

Prior to the skill revision in February 2012, this rune effect was enabled by the Alabaster Rune, granting the following effect with a level 7 runestone:

Black Ice

[e] Enemies who die leave a patch of ice on the ground that causes 385% weapon damage per second as Cold to enemies moving through it.

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Temporal Flux is a Wizard passive skill unlocked at Level 45, which adds a slowing effect to enemies the Wizard hits for Arcane spell damage.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Wizard">Temporal Flux</skill>

Design

This seems like a hugely useful skill for any Wizard who uses much Arcane damage. Arcane's critical strike effect is silence, so having a way to also slow enemies with that spell type would be very effective.

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Wizard passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. When traits were changed back to passive skills in early 2011, Temporal Flux was moved directly from a low-level trait to a level 21 passive.

Beta

When the beta started in September 2011, Temporal Flux was dropped to level 10. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Temporal Flux was moved up to level 45.

Previous Versions

• Temporal Flux (trait) - As a trait.

See the traits page for more details on previous versions of this and many other passive skills.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Wizard Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Wizard Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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| | Piercing Attacks | Reduces the magical resistances of enemies by Template:Cyanize. | 25 | Wizard |-

| | Temporal Shift | Reduces cooldowns of skills by Template:Cyanize. | 26 | Wizard |-

Unstable Anomaly (previously named Unstable Energy) is a Wizard passive skill unlocked at Level 60, which causes knockback when the Wizard's health gets dangerously low.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Wizard">Unstable Anomaly</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Wizard passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Unstable Anomaly (as Unstable Energy) was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event as a level 28 passive.

Beta

When the beta started in September 2011, Unstable Energy was renamed Unstable Anomaly and move to level 30. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Unstable Anomaly was moved up to level 60.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Wizard Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Wizard Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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| | Knowledge is Power | Unknown. (Used to provide 25% extra Willpower, a stat that's not in the game anymore.) | 30 | Wizard |-

|}

Development

• See the Wizard skill archive for a full listing of skill changes over time.

July 2011 Press Event

The following skills were removed or renamed prior to the July 2011 Press Event:

• Charged Bolt
• Energy Shield - Renamed to Energy Armor

References

• Full Wizard Skill Trees
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011

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