Explosive Blast

Explosive Blast is a Wizard skill unlocked at Level 14, blasting a small area for high damage.

Background

Diablo III Active Skill [e]
Explosive Blast
Used by:	Wizard
Enabled at:	Clvl 14
Skill Description
Gather an infusion of energy around you that explodes after 2 seconds, causing 20 - 30 physical damage to any nearby enemies. Cost: 45 Arcane Power Cooldown: 1 second
Type:	Direct Damage/AoE
Resource Use:	Costs Arcane Power
Skill Rune Effects
Alabaster rune:	Unknown
Crimson rune:	Unknown
Golden rune:	Unknown
Indigo rune:	Unknown
Obsidian rune:	Unknown

The Wizard conjures volatile gasses into the physical realm, which ignite with oxygen and create a powerful blast in a very limited space.

Skill Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Explosive Blast rune effects page for a more thorough summary of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Skill		Effect
Explosive Blast (Level 14)		Gather an infusion of energy around you that explodes after 2 seconds, causing 99 - 135 physical damage to any nearby enemies. Cost: 45 Arcane Power Cooldown: 1 second
	Short Fuse	An energy explosion fires immediately for 169 - 229 physical damage.
	Obliterate	Increase the explosion radius to 18 yards for 169 - 229 physical damage.
	Time Bomb	The blast detonates from the point it was originally cast after 2 seconds for 204 - 277 physical damage.
	Unleashed	Reduces the casting cost to 24 Arcane Power.
	Chain Reaction	8 consecutive explosions cascade off you that each cause 50 - 67 physical damage.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.

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 undoubtedly make it more viable, and less a novelty skill.

Synergies

• No synergies with any of the passive skills are yet known.

Skill Rune Effects

The following rune effects for Explosive Blast are known:

• Unknown rune: Turns the single blast into three consecutive blasts.
• Unknown rune: The blast hits at the point of activation, making it work more like a trap. The explosion also seems to set off other nearby Blasts. (Seen in video here.)

Development

Explosive Blast was first seen at BlizzCon 2009 in the gameplay demo, where it was on the Conjuring Skill Tree at Tier III. Originally, the Wizard targeted a specific location, and after a short delay, the blast went off.

By BlizzCon 2010, the mechanics had changed; the blast was focused on the Wizard. It was also moved to Tier 2 after skill trees were removed. It was one of the Wizard's starting skills in the gameplay demo, and Flux found it entertaining:[1]

It’s basically a short-range nova, on a time delay. You click it, and after 1.5 seconds (at level one) it blew up, dealing fairly substantial physical damage. The time delay made it unsuitable for emergency situations, but if you got used to the timing it was fun to click midway through a battle, knowing it would blast a moment later and finish off the enemy.

Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Explosive Blast became a level 14 skill.

Previous Versions

See the Wizard skill archive for more details on previous versions of Explosive Blast and other Wizard skills.

Media

Explosive Blast can be seen in action on video here:

• Cinematic: Wizard
• Gameplay: Blizzcon 2008
• Video: Blizzcon 2010 Rune Effects

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

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

References

• BlizzCon 2009 Full Wizard Skill Trees
• BlizzCon 2010 Wizard Hands-on Report
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses