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The Wizard's skills are divided into three skill trees, each of which has about 18 known spells. These were first seen at Blizzcon 2008, and while they are very much subject to change during the game's continued development, viewing them in this state is still informative. The three trees are: * [[Storm Skill Tree]]* [[Arcane Skill Tree]]* [[Conjuration Skill Tree]] ==Storm TreeDiablo 3 Skill Trees===Unlike the skill trees in Diablo II, the trees in Diablo III are not focused on just one aspect of a character. All known D3 skill trees have a wide variety of skills, with more passive than active skills, and all allow for a variety of play styles. All active skills in the BlizzCon build were capped at 1 skill point (or rank, as skill levels are called in D3), while most passives went up to 15 points. This will not be the case in the final game; active skills will allow more than 1 point, and passives may have different maximum ranks, to allow better game balancing. Know that skills will be modified, that some will be removed, that others will be added, and that the numbers are almost certain to change. [[Skill Runes]] could only be socketed in active skills, in the Blizzcon build. This may or may not remain true in the final game. ==Tier I 1 Skills====These skills are available for use as soon as new Wizard is created. ===Charged Bolt====* Active Skill* '''Description:'''Launch a volley of 3 electric bolts that deal 1-8 lightning damage each. Critical hits from lightning damage stun targets for 2 sec.*'''Max Rank:''' 1*'''Rank1:''' 0/3 bolts. Each deals 1-8 damage.
*'''Mana cost''' 8
When tested in the BlizzCon 2008 build, the bolts seemed to come out with a wider spread than they do in Diablo II. They were useful to hit monsters to the sides as well as straight ahead, but were not as good to land multiple hits to a target straight ahead, either very close or a few yards distant. They did not travel very far, and not at all in a wave ahead of the Wizard.
====Thunderstruck====
* Passive Skill* '''Description:'''Increases the critical hit chance of all lightning spells by 10%. Critical hits from lightning damage stun targets for 2 sec.''*'''Max Rank:''' 0/15
The spells did not display their [[Critical Hit]] % chance in the BlizzCon build, but it's assumed that they will in the final game. It's also a good bet that there will be items that boost critical chance from skills, as part of the D3 effort to provide a variety of valuable mods on weapons for non-combat characters.
It's not clear if this skill increases the casting speed for all spells cast by the Wizard, or just ones from this tree. From the wording, it sounds like it affects all of the character's spells. Nothing is yet known about spell casting speed boosts from items, but presumably they so it seems that most Wizards will be uncommonput some points into this one, or else this skill would be much less valuablewhichever tree they specialize in.
Nothing is yet known about how useful or common spell casting speed boosts will be from items.
Tier 2 skills do not require any amount of points to be spent in the tree to enable them. (There were rumors that 5 points were required, but that was not the case in the BlizzCon build.
This skill does not seem to offer any protection; just a sort of passive offensive attack. It's not known how long it persists for, or how much the damage will scale up.
[[Image:Skill_wizard_frostnova.jpg|thumb|right|Chill out!]]
* Active Skill* '''Description:'''An explosion of ice pelts nearby enemies for 1-3 cold damage. Has an additional Projectiles have a 25% chance of a critical hit. Critical hits from cold damage freeze targets.*'''Max Rank:''' 1**'''Rank1:''' 0/1-3 damage, 25% chance of critical hit.
*'''Mana cost:''' 25
*'''CooldownCool down:''' 12 seconds
The long cooldown cool down on this skill indicates that the D3 Team means it to be used as a sort of "panic button," rather than a killing attack. The boosted % of critical chance is more about potentially freezing enemies than killing them with a lovely explosion of ice. Storm Power and Lethal Energy will both add to this skill's lethality by adding to its critical strike chance and damage.
Rather than giving the Wizard a Glacial Spike-like instant freeze spell, the D3 team seems to be granting that possibility with critical hits on a variety of non-freezing cold spells.
An interesting variation on Mana Shield; this sounds like it's only of use to add mana, without any protective properties.
[[Image:Skill_wizard_electrocute.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Electrocute]]
''Lightning arcs from the wizard’s fingertips towards enemies, electrocuting them for 4-5 damage. Electrocute affects up to 2 targets. Critical hits from lightning damage stun targets for 2 sec.''
*'''Mana cost:''' 8
This spell works like beam weapons in most FPS games, locking onto a target and bending to keep it in the lightning zone even as the enemy moves around. It can chain to a second target, and during the BlizzCon 2008 demonstration, this spell was seen upgraded with a [[runes|multi-strike rune]], enabling it to hit multiple targets at once. A Lethality Rune was also shown in conjunction with Electrocute, which caused some enemies to explode in an AoE electric Nova upon death, as they will also do dealing damage to nearby monsters. This is the same sort of death monsters suffer when they die perish from a lightning [[critical hit]].
[[Image:Skill_wizard_rayoffrost.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Ray of Frost]]
* Active Skill* '''Description:'''Project a beam of cold energy that deals 6 cold damage per sec. Critical hits from cold damage freeze targets. * '' 'Max Rank:''' 1**'''Rank1:''' 0Deals 6 cold damage/1second.*'''Mana cost:''' 16 mana per sec.
This skill is similar to the fire-based Disintegrate spell; however, it does not pass through targets or increase damage over time. This spell seems useful for freezing and keeping enemies at bay, adding to the Wizard's arsenal of offensive spells that double as insurance protection against melee creatures.
An add -on type of skillpassive, this one does nothing by itself, but adds lightning damage that hits everything nearby, when any other lightning skill is used. With deaths from lightning critical hits and various multi-target lightning skills, the strength of that element in attack seems likely to be the ability to hit many things at once.
As with other skills in the Wizard's tree (and those of the other characters), boosting Critical Hits is a very powerful technique in D3.
This one was not seen at Blizzcon 2008, but it sounds like an interesting upgrade. It's unclear why anyone would put more than 1 point into regular Charged Bolt though, with this one waiting at a higher level. Also keep in mind that lightning critical hits stun enemies in D3, so imagine how effective this spell could be with a high level of critical adding damage and stunning the monsters as they bathe in the river of Charged Bolts flowing out from the Wizard.
==Tier IV Skills==
A wizard must invest 15 points in the Storm tree before the skills in this tier become available.
[[Image:Skill_wizard_tornado.jpg|right|thumb|150px|We're not in Kansas anymore...]]
* Active Skill* '''Description:'''Summon a large tornado that damages everything in its path.''*'''Max Rank:''' 0/1
*'''Mana cost:''' 15
Akin to the Druid's Twister skill from Diablo II, these tornadoes are formed from pure energy. In the gameplay trailer released at BlizzCon 2008, multiple tornadoes are cast one after another, each lasting for close to 5 seconds. Their path is semi-random, and they bounce off of enemies, heading in another direction when they hit once, instead of passing through in the same general directionover targets and dealing multiple hits, as do the Druid's tornados do tornadoes in D2.
As in DII with the Druid, the best use of the tornadoes will likely be multiple, concentrated casts in a small area packed with enemies, to ensure the most damage in the shortest period of time. Higher levels of the skill may increase their size or may simply increase raw damage. Epic Storm will increase the number of simultaneous tornadoes you can cast, and Lethal Energy will increase the chance to score critical strikes.
*'''Mana cost:''' 70
The mandatory spellthat had to be in the game, this one is visually improved in D3. There is now a cloud shown above the enemies, from which large chunks of ice crash down to earth.
An interesting mastery skill, this one boosts two different spells (but not everything in the tree), though by now much remains to be seen.
====Arcane Armor==Tier V Skills==''While your Storm Armor, Stone Armor, Stone Skin or Temporal Armor spells are active, your armor is increased by 20%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 Another interesting mastery; this one boosts the armor, but only while one (or more) of the other protective spells are active. ====Arcane Weakness====''Enemies damaged by your arcane spells are affected with arcane weakness, increasing damage taken by 10% for 5 sec.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 This would presumably stack with other passives that increase the damage and critical hit % of individual spell types, or all spells in general. Bang. ====Arcane Speed====''Reduces the cooldown of all arcane spells by 5%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 Arcane spell damage seems to be limited by There was a cooldown time on most of the spells, hence this spell. ===Tier III===The wizard must spend 10 points in the first two tiers of this tree before he may add points to any spells in Tier 3. ====Arcane Orb====* '''Description:''' "An orb of pure energy explodes on contact dealing 12-16 arcane damage to all enemies in the blast area. Critical hits from arcane damage silence targets space for 4 sec."*'''Rank:''' 1/1*'''Mana cost:''' 18. A glowing orb of energy travels about 10 yards, before bursting these in a nova of destruction. The spell looks something like the D2 Sorc's Frozen OrbBlizzcon build, but without the spray of ice spears as it flies across the roomno skill icons were found on that line. The spell only allowed one point in the BlizzCon demo, but the final game There will surely allow more than 1 level (rank) to be added to it. [[Image:Skill_wizard_arcaneorbsequence.jpg|frame|center|Sequence of Arcane Orb, cast from within the protective bubble created by a Slow Time spell.]] ====Slow Time====[[Image:Skill_wizard_slowtime.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Slow Time]]* '''Description:''' Warp space and time, slowing nearby monsters and projectiles. Enemy attack cooldown increase: 1 sec.*'''Rank:''' 0/1*'''Mana cost:''' 20 Slow time creates a bubble that surrounds the Wizard. Any enemies or enemy projectiles that enter the bubble are greatly slowed. The wizard, her spell projectiles, and her allies are not affected by the slow time bubble, giving them a huge advantage over the greatly slowed enemies. The bubble remains where it was cast, persisting for several seconds, but the Wizard can move as soon as the spell is cast, though if she moves outside the bubble monster may again target her without their shots or attacks being slowed. It's assumed that some boss monsters (and their projectiles?) will be immune to the slowing effect, but this is not yet known, and is subject to further balancing anyway. ====Arcane Distortion====''Enemies damaged by your arcane spells are slowed by 35% for 3 sec.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 There are a lot of interesting ways to slow or freeze or stun monsters in D3. Types of damage, critical hits, spells, masteries to spells, and more. ====Mana Recovery====''Enemies have a 7% chance to drop a mana globe that return 25% of maximum mana when picked up.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 No mana globes were dropping during the Blizzcon 2008 demo. It's not clear if they were not enabled, if they don't drop early in the final game, or if they never drop at all, unless this spell (or others with a similar effect, or perhaps the bonus comes from equipment as well?) is active. ====Improved Magic Missile====''Increases the number of missiles launched by your magic missile spell by 1 and increases their damage by 8%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 Boosts the number and damage of magic missiles. It's not known how this spell interacts with the basic magic missile spell. That one seems to set the base damage, which this one enhances. ===Tier IV===A wizard must invest 15 points into the skill tree before he may put points into any else existing skills in this tier. ====Temporal Armor====''Surrounds the wizard in a protective shell that stops all damage from an attack every 6 sec. The shell dissipates after absorbing 12 attacks.''*'''Rank:''' 0/1 An interesting variation will be redistributed so some occupy higher level tiers on spell shields. Rather than absorbing X amount of damage, or some % of damage, this one akes out 100% of the damage, but only works every 6 seconds. ====Teleport====''Teleport to the selected location up to 40 feet away.''*'''Rank:''' 0/1*'''Mana cost:''' 23 Teleport has been modified somewhat in D3. Rather than blinking instantly between locations, the Wizard leaps several yards straight up into the air, then falls back down when she arrives at her target point. This makes the movement considerably slower, though it's still very fast. In one of the BlizzCon 2008 panels, Teleport was demonstrated with a [[strike rune]] socketed in it, and the spell added damage to all monsters in the area, each time the Wizard teleported. ====Greater Mana====''Increases maximum mana by 12%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 ====Mana Burst====''Increases the damage of any spellcast from full mana by 25%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 Another creative spell. This one basically lets the Wizard deal substantial extra damage, but with just one spell, once in a while. A wizard who invested in this spell woulc have to modify her play style considerably; trying to use spells sparingly to remain full of mana, in order to score the huge damage hit possible with points in this skilltree. ====Runic Might====''Increases the effects of all runes.''*'''Rank:''' 0/5 A mysterious, all purpose skill description for this one. It sounds like it exists only in concept at this point, and hasn't been balanced at all, yet. ==Conjuring Skill Tree== ===Tier I Skills (0 points requirement)=======Spectral Blade====''Summons a spectral blade that strikes each enemy in front of the wizard 3 times causing 1-5 physical damage with each hit.'' *'''Rank''': 0/1*'''Mana cost:''' 7. ====Spell Speed====''Increases the speed of your magic missile projectiles by 16%.'' *'''Rank:''' 0/15*'''Next Rank:''' Increase speed by 24% ====Damage Resistance====''Increases armor by 10% and all resistances by 8%'' *'''Rank:''' 0/15*'''Next Rank''': Increase armor by 15% and all resistances by 12 ===Tier II Skills (5 points requirement)=======Stone Skin====''Shield yourself with rock and stone absorbing 30 damage.''*'''Rank:''' 0/1*'''Duration:''' 8 seconds*'''Mana cost:''' 12*'''Cooldown:''' 15 seconds ====Mirror Image====''Create an illusionary duplicate of yourself.''*'''Rank:''' 0/1*'''Duration:''' 8 seconds*'''Mana Cost:''' 18 ====Conjured Armor====''Magical armor surrounds the wizard increasing block chance by 2%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 ====Conjured Health====''Increases total health by 8% and the health of your conjured images by 12%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 ====Weapon Mastery====''Increases physical damage done by all weapons by 15.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 ===Tier III Skills (10 points requirement)=======Duplicate Conjuring====''Increases the images from your mirror image skill and Hydras from your Hydra skill by 1.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 ====Meteor Storm====''Meteorites pelt the targeted region dealing 10 to 20 damage per second.*'''Rank:''' 0/1*'''Mana cost:''' 12 mana per second ====Acid Cloud====''Drop a cloud of acid on the targeted area. Deals an initial 1-4 poison damage followed by 4-8 poison damage per sec to enemies who remain in the area.'' *'''Rank:''' 0/1*'''Mana cost:''' 15 ====Conjured Power====''Increases damage done by spells by 1% for every 10 points of vitality.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 ====Conjuring Duration====''Increases the duration of your Stone Skin and Acid Cloud spells by 1 sec and duration of your mirror image images by 2 sec.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15: ====Improved Spectral Blade====''Increases the damage of Spectral Blade by 14%.''*'''Rank:''' 0/15 ===Tier IV Skills (15 points requirement)=======Hydra====''Creates a multi-headed beast that attacks your enemies with bolts of fire.''*'''Rank:''' 0/1 ====Magic Weapon====''Imbue your weapon with magical energy granting it increased damage.'' *'''Rank:''' 0/1*'''Mana cost:''' 15