Energy Armor
Energy Armor (known as Energy Shield prior to July 2011) is a Conjuration Wizard skill unlocked at Level 28, which uses Arcane Power to absorb incoming damage.
This is an Armor spell. Only one Armor spell can be active at a time.
Contents
Background
Drawing from long forgotten texts, this magical shield of energy absorbs harmful attacks through energy resonance, draining Arcane Power.
Skill Rune Effects
The following is a very quick summary. See the Energy Armor rune effects page for a more thorough description of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.
Name | Level | Description |
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<skill class="Wizard">Energy Armor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Absorption">Energy Armor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Pinpoint Barrier">Energy Armor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Energy Tap">Energy Armor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Force Armor">Energy Armor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Prismatic Armor">Energy Armor</skill>
Skill Design
The skill with lots of heritage is back in Diablo III. It's a shield that absorbs all damage taken, converting the damage to Arcane Power loss, draining 2 points of AP for every point of damage absorbed.
This skill is likely to be used by many Wizards, especially if they are going melee-style with Diamond Skin and Magic Weapon, or playing hardcore.
Synergies
The following Wizard passives provide a benefit to Energy Armor, runed or not:
Skill | Unlocked | Description |
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{{{icon}}} | [[{{{name}}}]] See: Armor spell |
40 | {{{desc}}} |
Development
Energy Armor first appeared in the BlizzCon 2009 demo (then named Energy Shield), located at Tier III in the Arcane Skill Tree and already one of the D3 Team's favorites. Flux didn't have much to say about it, unfortunately. The full quote:[1]
Not a skill I even considered using, in the easy Blizzcon demo.
Skill trees were removed shortly thereafter. At BlizzCon 2010, Energy Shield was a Tier 5 skill, making it too high-level for players to select.
Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, allowing skills to unlock steadily from levels 1 to 30. Consequently, all skill levels were adjusted and Energy Shield became a level 22 skill and was renamed Energy Armor.
Beta
The Diablo III Beta started in September 2011, and while it ran, all of the skills continued to undergo extensive iteration. Skill changes varied from changing the levels the skills are unlocked, to changes in resource cost, damage, and even function. A few skills were removed altogether, and a few new ones were added. Also, the entire skill system received an overhaul with the Beta Patch 13 update in February 2012, with physical runes replaced by rune effects that automatically unlock at various levels for the different skills.
Energy Armor remained at level 22 when the beta started. With the Patch 13 changes, it was classified as a Conjuration skill and bumped up to level 28.
Previous Versions
Energy Armor is similar to, and might have replaced, Temporal Armor. That skill was seen in the BlizzCon 2008 demo, and had a slightly different mechanic: protecting the caster from 100% damage once every 6 seconds. Something that could be either very good, if it fended off a strong attack, or quite useless, if it fended off a weak one.
See Energy Shield for the original version of this skill.
In Other Games
Energy Armor originates from the grossly overpowered Mana Shield from the original Diablo game, where every point of damage translated into mana lost instead of life. The spell had unlimited duration, as long as the character didn't die or travel to another level.
In Diablo II, the Sorceress got a nerfed version of the same spell but with the name Energy Shield. The spell has a time limit (needed, since no levels were limited by loading) and only absorbed a fraction of the damage.
Media
Energy Armor can be seen in action on video here:
- No videos yet.
You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:
References
- 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 — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site
Classes of the Diablo games |
Skills - Active skills - Skill runes - Passives - Resource - Movement ability [e] Barbarian Demon Hunter Monk Necromancer Witch Doctor Wizard Followers Other Classes Fan-made |
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The Barbarian | Fury - Barbarian Active Skills (Archive) | Barbarian Passive Skills (Archive) [e] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Primary Might |
Secondary Tactics |
Defensive Rage |
Pound of Flesh (10) |
Superstition (30) |
(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked. |
Barbarian skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Might Tactics Rage |
---|
Bash |
Cleave |
Frenzy |
[e] |
Hammer of the Ancients |
Rend |
Seismic Slam |
Whirlwind |
[e] |
Ground Stomp |
Leap |
Sprint |
Ignore Pain |
[e] |
Ancient Spear |
Revenge |
Furious Charge |
Overpower |
[e] |
Weapon Throw |
Threatening Shout |
Battle Rage |
War Cry |
[e] |
Earthquake |
Call of the Ancients |
Wrath of the Berserker |
[e] |
The Demon Hunter | Hatred/Discipline - Demon Hunter Active Skills (Archive) | Demon Hunter Passive Skills (Archive) [e] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Primary attribute:
|
Primary Hunting |
Secondary Devices |
Defensive Archery |
Tactical Advantage (10) |
Archery (30) |
(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked. |
Demon Hunter skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Hunting Devices Archery |
---|
Hungering Arrow |
Entangling Shot |
Bola Shot |
Grenades |
[e] |
Impale |
Rapid Fire |
Chakram |
Elemental Arrow |
[e] |
Caltrops |
Smoke Screen |
Shadow Power |
[e] |
Vault |
Preparation |
Companion |
Marked for Death |
[e] |
Evasive Fire |
Fan of Knives |
Spike Trap |
Sentry |
[e] |
Strafe |
Multishot |
Cluster Arrow |
Rain of Vengeance |
[e] |
Monk skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Techniques Focus Mantras |
---|
Fists of Thunder |
Deadly Reach |
Crippling Wave |
Way of the Hundred Fists |
[e] |
Lashing Tail Kick |
Tempest Rush |
Wave of Light |
[e] |
Blinding Flash |
Breath of Heaven |
Serenity |
Inner Sanctuary |
[e] |
Dashing Strike |
Exploding Palm |
Sweeping Wind |
[e] |
Cyclone Strike |
Seven-Sided Strike |
Mystic Ally |
[e] |
Mantra of Evasion |
Mantra of Retribution |
Mantra of Healing |
Mantra of Conviction |
[e] |
Necromancer skill categories: Primary Secondary Corpses Blood and Bone Reanimation Curses |
---|
Witch Doctor skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Terror Decay Voodoo |
---|
Poison Dart - Rune effects |
Corpse Spiders |
Plague of Toads |
Firebomb |
[e] |
Grasp of the Dead |
Firebats |
Haunt |
Locust Swarm |
[e] |
Summon Zombie Dogs |
Horrify |
Spirit Walk |
Hex |
[e] |
Soul Harvest |
Sacrifice |
Mass Confusion |
[e] |
Zombie Charger |
Spirit Barrage |
Acid Cloud |
Wall of Zombies |
[e] |
Gargantuan |
Big Bad Voodoo |
Fetish Army |
[e] |
The Wizard | Arcane Power - Wizard Active Skills (Archive) | Wizard Passive Skills (Archive) [e] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Primary attribute:
|
Primary Force |
Secondary Conjuration |
Defensive Mastery |
Blur (10) |
Conflagration (34) |
(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked. |
Wizard skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Force Conjuration Mastery |
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Magic Missile |
Shock Pulse |
Spectral Blade |
Electrocute |
[e] |
Ray of Frost |
Arcane Orb |
Arcane Torrent |
Disintegrate |
[e] |
Frost Nova |
Diamond Skin |
Slow Time |
Teleport |
[e] |
Wave of Force |
Energy Twister |
Hydra |
Meteor |
Blizzard |
[e] |
Ice Armor |
Storm Armor |
Magic Weapon |
Familiar |
Energy Armor |
[e] |
Explosive Blast |
Mirror Image |
Archon |
[e] |
Followers | Kormac the Templar | Lyndon the Scoundrel | Eirena the Enchantress [e] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 10: |
Level 5: Level 10: |
Level 15: |
Level 15: Level 20: |
Level 25: Level 30: |
Diablo III Other Classes | Diablo II Classes | Diablo I Classes [e] | ||||
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Archetypes: |
Archetype sub-types: |
Other classes: |
Diablo II: |
Fan-made Classes | Fan-made Skills [e] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
• Alchemist |
• Flagellant |
• Ranger |
Dragon Warrior Skills |
Aurian Mage Skill | |
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