Explosive Blast

Explosive Blast is a Wizard Tier 2 skill unlocked at level 3, blasting a small area for high damage.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Explosive Blast Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
A blast of energy explodes at the target causing 10-16 damage in a small radius.
Skill Details:
Type:	Direct Damage
Quantity:	10 damage
Effect:	Circular AoE
School:	Arcane
Arcane Power cost:	12
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	1.5 sec
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

The Wizard conjures volatile gasses to the physical realm, igniting with oxygen and creating a powerful blast in a very limited space.

Skill Design

This skill is basically a short-range nova centered around the Wizard, on a short time delay. Since the Wizard can move after activating it, she can select it, run into the midst of a pack of monsters, then laugh when they go boom.

The spell's delay (about 1.5 seconds) makes it unsuitable for emergency use, and its short range (at least at level 1) makes it difficult to use without getting pounded on. Skill runes will undoubtably make it more viable, and less a novelty skill.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: After building up for 1.5 seconds, an arcane explosion deals 10-16 damage to all nearby monsters.

Synergies

Explosive Blast benefits directly from the following traits:

• 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

• Unknown rune: turns the single blast into three consecutive blasts.

Development

Explosive Blast was first seen at BlizzCon 2009 in the gameplay demo available to visitors. It was one of the Wizard's starting skills at BlizzCon 2010.

Media

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

• Diablo 3 screenshots and pictures
• Explosive Blast specific gallery contents

References

• Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Entry no. 0007: Wizard
• BlizzCon 2008 Wizard Gameplay Report
• Full Wizard Skill Trees
• BlizzCon 2010 Wizard Hands-on Report