Disintegrate

Disintegrate is a Wizard Tier 5 skill unlocked at level 14, doing damage to opponents in an AoE line. It's a signature skill of the Wizard.

The skill works like a laser beam, firing a straight line of Arcane damage that moves instantly from the Wizard's hand to the edge of the screen. This makes the spell reach the enemies faster than any other spell in the game, and its ability to pass through as many targets as are in the way gives it impressive piercing ability.

The drawbacks are fairly low damage, especially to targets behind the front row, and the fact that the Wizard is stuck in place while casting it.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Disintegrate Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
Emanate a beam of pure energy dealing X arcane damage per second. Damage is modified to 80% each time the beam passes through the target.
Skill Details:
Type:	Direct Damage
Quantity:	12 damage/sec
Effect:	Line AoE
School:	Arcane
Arcane Power cost:	12/sec
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	Concentrate?
Cooldown:	Unknown
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

A Wizard can call forth a torrent of Arcane energies to make matter simply vanish.

Skill Design

Disintegrating from within Slow Time.

Disintegrate fires a red, ruler-straight laser beam of arcane damage, striking everything in a line AoE right to the edge of the screen. The beam remains active as long as the mouse button is depressed (mana permitting), and can be moved around in all directions, emanating out from the stationary Wizard like spikes from a hub.

The spell does bonus damage (apparently doubling with critical hits) after it locks onto a target for more than about half a second. The beam turns from red to purple to give a visual indication of this; see the tutorial screenshots below.

On the whole, Disintegrate seems like more of a support skill than a main weapon. The Arcane Power drain is fairly fast, and the damage isn't very high. Its utility comes from hitting multiple monsters in a line, and the speed of it; Disintegrate is the only known skill that can instantly reach all the way to the edge of the visible screen. Literally instantly; as soon as the mouse is clicked the skill reaches from the Wizard all the way to the edge of the screen, which makes it good to hit fast moving monsters, or opponents in the Arena.

It's very useful to take out low hit point enemies from a distance. Monsters like skeletal archers or other ranged attackers who spawn behind other melee enemies are great to cook with Disintegrate, since the beam can get to them instantly, before their arrows or projectiles have traveled across the screen to the Wizard.

The damage decreases to 80% with each additional target it strikes, so if the goal is to kill the 3rd or 4th monster in a row it may take a while. Of course the ones closer are taking more damage and will die fairly soon, thus bringing the target closer to being the first impact and dealing higher damage. The damage decrease goes like this, with the damage 80% of the base with each monster in a row. 100%, 80% to the second, then 80% of that to the 3rd, which is 64%. It continues to decrease to 51%, 41%, and 33% to the 6th, should a Wizard find so many targets in a row.

Double Damage Upon Target Lock

Disintegrate critical hit tutorial.

As pointed out by Madmaxio and Arkadier in a forum thread, Disintegrate kicks into a higher level of damage once it's been locked onto the same target for more than about half a second. This is usually indicated by the red beam turning purple, but in some sequences the double damage kicks in without the beam changing color at all. It's unclear if this is a graphical bug, or if there are two mechanisms to deal double damage with Disintegrate: critical hit AND longer time locked onto target.

A few hits have been seen that seem to jump to quadruple damage, which might be a rare bonus from a lengthy lock on as well as a critical hit. This is still a subject of much debate, as contradictory evidence can be found in screenshot sequences taken from gameplay movies. See the Wizard forum thread on Diii.net for more details and images.

That Disintegrate deals extra (double?) damage when it's locked has not yet been listed in the skill's in-game description, but it is an original feature of the skill, discussed by the developers since their earliest comments on the skill.

The next spell, Disintegrate, was described as the ultimate face melting skill, and introduces a new mechanic. When you use Disintegrate, you will begin to emit a jet of searing red heat for as long as you hold down the mouse button. By sweeping the mouse around, you'll change the direction of the beam. The longer the beam holds on a specific enemy, the more damage it will do to that enemy.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: 12 damage per sec. 12 Arcane Power per sec.

Synergies

Disintegrate 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.
• Temporal Flux: Enemies that have been hit by your Arcane spells are slowed down by 25% for 3 seconds.
• Power Surge: Increase critical strike damage.
• Penetrating Spells: Reduces the resistances of your target to your spells by 20%.

Skill Rune Effects

• Obsidian rune: Short range (melee style) cone-shaped beam that deals very high damage.
• Unknown rune: lowered Arcane Power cost.

Spell Colour Feedback

Disintegrate, recolored Arcane style.

Not as bad as the art controversy, but some fans complained Disintegrate looks too much like a fire spell. Bashiok replied to this feedback by saying:

It doesn’t actually feel anything like fire in-game. The screenshots don't really give a good impression of the way it looks and acts. In a screenshot you may think… well it has a lot of colors of fire, but in motion you just don’t get that impression. It comes across as a red-dominated skill. And the sound of the ability actually plays a huge part in how it feels, and it feels like a very focused and powerful energy beam.

Development

Disintegrate was first shown at BlizzCon 2008 when the Wizard debuted, at that point located at Tier II in the Arcane Skill Tree. Flux described using it:[1]

That’s one of the most interesting things about using Disintegrate; that it’s more effective if you’re not moving. But Wizards seldom have that luxury, at least not when they’re playing alone. A solo wizard is a hit and run machine, throwing magical projectiles, rushing back or to the sides to dodge returned fire, darting in to land a few Spectral Blade strikes, etc. Disintegrate looks like it’ll be very useful against weak, ranged attackers, or else will be best used in a multiplayer game, when some other character is up front tanking, giving the Wizard the freedom to pour this one on non-stop.

Dueling Wizard action.

It was slightly changed in the BlizzCon 2009 demo, where it received a small boost in damage and mana cost. It was also boosted up to Tier IV, unfortunately putting it out of reach of players.

By BlizzCon 2010, with skill trees gone, Disintegrate was at Tier 5 and one of the Wizard's preset skills in the PvP demo. Flux spoke about using it in the Battle Arena:[2]

Very useful blasting, instant speed to the edge of the level, but it requires a clear line or sight, and it holds the Wizard in place while using it. Smart Wizards I saw used it a lot, but in bursts. Any time they had a clear shot they’d cook someone from a distance, ideally over one of the openings in the ground. The damage per second wasn’t huge, but it added up and was very easy to hit with.

• See the Wizard skill archive page for more info on how skills where originally organized.

Trivia

With Diablo III, Blizzard have looked more at the traditional Dungeons & Dragons pen & paper RPG for inspiration. The Disintegrate spell is one of the "trademark" D&D spells, which name is likely taken in tribute to the pen & paper RPG.

Media

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

• Diablo 3 screenshots and pictures
• Disintegrate specific gallery contents

• 

  Disintegrate used in a Slow Time bubble.

• 

  Disintegrate used on Zombies.

• 

  Disintegrate used on a Skeleton.

• 

  Concept art.

• 

  Sequence of Disintegrate in the Arena.

• 

  Sequence of Disintegrate in the Arena.

• 

  Sequence of Disintegrate in the Arena.

Disintegrate in character artwork by Blizzard artist Josh Tallman.

Related Articles

• Disintegrate -- Original page.

References

• BlizzCon 2008 Wizard Gameplay Report
• BlizzCon 2010 PvP Hands-on Report