Magic Weapon

Magic Weapon is a Tier 6 skill unlocked for the Wizard at level 20, making your weapon magical and increasing damage.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Magic Weapon Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
Imbue your weapon with magical energy granting it increased damage. Damage: X-Y. Duration: 120 seconds.
Skill Details:
Type:	Self buff
Quantity:	25-35 damage
Effect:	Self
School:	Unknown
Mana cost:	10
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	120 sec
Cooldown:	1.5 sec
Synergies:	None
Requires:	Stone Skin
Prereq of:	N/A

When the need for physical combat arrives, the Wizard is well prepared, fusing her weapon with magical energies, cutting deeper into her foes even when using such a mundane thing as a physical weapon.

Skill Design

This skill is clearly designed to enable a Wizard to play in the Battle-mage style, going melee combat for better or worse. The Wizard isn't really designed for that approach, but by pairing the melee damage with excellent equipment/weapon, and some intelligent spell use, it may be a viable build.

This direction would've been useful in Diablo 2, what with all the "unique" builds, including the melee Sorceress. The question is if that kind of diversity will exist in Diablo 3, or else this skill seems useless.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: 25-35 damage for 120 seconds.

Only Rank 1 is currently known.

Synergies

Maxing out the Weapon Master trait is essential for any Wizard using this skill and playing as a Battle-mage.

Blur, a trait that reduces damage taken from melee attacks, would also be helpful.

Runestone Effects

No known runestone effects for this skill.

Development

Magic Weapon was first shown at BlizzCon 2008. Together with spells like the VERY similar Weapon Mastery (gone), Damage Resistance (gone) and Spectral Blade (still in), it gave a hint of seeing the Wizard getting the capability of going melee.

While the BlizzCon 2008 skills had several melee-related skills, most of those disappeared with the new BlizzCon 2009 build.

Magic Weapon was also shown at BlizzCon 2009, but was unfortunately too high level to try out by the fans. The skill is assumed to still be available in Blizzard's internal game build today.

Previous Versions:

• Weapon Mastery
• Magic Weapon (BlizzCon 2008)

References

• Full Wizard Skill Trees
• BlizzCon 2008 Wizard Gameplay Report