"Wizards are renegade spellcasters who use their bodies as vessels for arcane energy, forsaking the more careful path favored by other magic users. They manipulate all manner of forces to disintegrate, burn, and freeze their foes, and they can control time and light to teleport, create powerful illusions, and deflect oncoming attacks." -BlizzardIn Diablo III, the Wizard specializes in four different types of magic, they are as follows.
Elemental Mastery - Ray of Frost, Arcane Orb, Disintegrate, Arcane Torrent
Area Attacks - Wave of Force, Energy Twister, Hydra, Meteor, Blizzard
Protective Spells - Frost Nova, Diamond Skin, Slow Time, Teleport
Endless Energy - Magic Missile, Shock Pulse, Spectral Blade, Electrocute
Creating Builds
Before we get started I would like you to read this quote from wikipedia.org on Synergy. Synergy is two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable. The term synergy comes from the Greek word synergia from synergos, meaning "working together". Basically, our focus as a Wizard is to allow for the most damage while keeping our Arcane Power from running dry. No Arcane Power means no damage and if you aren't killing, then you are the one being killed.
I will not going to go into detail about every single spell and its benefits, rather, I will try to show you how to make your build viable for every situation you may encounter.
Here are a couple of examples of effective use of synergy. If you do run out of Arcane Power before a group is killed then you would use your signature spells to refill your Arcane pool.
Fire - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UiXRSm!YXe!aZZaZc
If you like a challenge and want to just utterly destroy things, this build is for you! Cast Disintegrate for a hard hitting nuke and Meteors / Electrocute for massive fire damage while keeping your armor spells active. Not really much else to say other than you will just destroy everything. This is a very effective nuke build for farming and co-op play. Do not use this for boss fights.
Frost - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#ZlYRfS!abW!bacYZZ
This frost build is tuned to slow enemies to a crawl while nuking with a reduced Ray of Frost and using Blizzard / Frost Hydra to debuff mobs with Cold Blooded. This effect is further enhanced by Magic Weapon / Force Weapon. This build is a powerful nuke that works well in multiplayer situations giving it an effective slow as well. Melee classes will be overjoyed by your ability to slow enemy attack speed giving them a higher chance to survive. Works quite well in solo as well! -submitted by Drothvader
Arcane - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#clXROj!XfU!YbZaYY
This is a very easy build for solo play. This build is designed to slow your enemies down to a crawl giving you plenty of kiting ability and a hard nuke. This build really shines with a slow hard hitting two-handed weapon, as your Arcane Orb is a hard hitting nuke. This is the one build that is viable without much gear. You can expect to easily solo Hell or Inferno with this build. The effect is simple, your hydra slows the enemies to 30% while you cast Blizzard to slow them even more. Blizzard will pretty much act as a DoT (Damage over Time) spell while you nuke them with Arcane Orbs. I recommend placing 2 or so blizzards in a row and kite the enemies through them. This build also does not utilize a signature spell. However, you won't need one when you utilize Astral Presence and Familiar / Arcanot. You don't need much DPS to play this build either. 3,000 DPS will get you through Hell. -submitted by Drothvader
Lightning - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UbXdRT!abV!acYZZY
This build is based around speed! The purpose is to try and take a single hit while Diamond Skin is active then use Wave of Force to throw the enemies around. You will now be buffed with immense speed from your Storm Armor. Summon a Lightning Hydra in your kite path and throw out some Living Lightnings and Electrocute when you gain some distance. Everything will literally just die on their way to you. Rinse and repeat when all cool-downs are up. I would recommend use a shield and fast hitting wand / dagger for this build as you'll want to be able to cast as fast as possible! Have fun, Speedy Gonzales! This is extremely effective in Act II. -submitted by Drothvader
Notes on Difficulty
Now that you have seen what I mean by synergy it's time to talk about the game and its difficulty.
Diablo III is difficult. You're not meant to just waltz through the game and be able to complete inferno in a day. In fact, it makes me sad to see so many players with this zerg mentality. Think of the game as dungeon tiers. You can't expect to proceed to the next tier wearing gear that you got 2 tiers ago. So, why do you expect to do that with Inferno?
Your focus with this game should not be "How much damage can I pump out?" as well, "How can I avoid damage and survive?" I see so many people talking about their massive DPS and I look at them with an inquisitive look on my face. How can a player that is dead do any DPS? They can't. With that in mind, here are a few tips to make you a better player.
// If you die on normal packs, it's your fault! //
Don't assume that since the content is hard that the game is broken. You're broken as a player. Cry about how hard the game is all you want but you won't appreciate it until you can master it. If you die it's because you did something wrong that allowed you to die. You either didn't play defensively, got careless, or just didn't have the right build for the situation. You're only going to stack Nephalem Valor bonuses if you stay alive.
// Bosses are easy, champions are not! //
The bread and butter of the Nephalem Valor system is the fact that bosses are pointless for gear. Cry all you want about it, but I personally don't think you should just kill Diablo 23092834098 times to get the gear you want. Diablo is easy. Hell, every boss is easy (except maybe Belial because he can be cheap). Once you've learned how to kill a boss you don't have to relearn anything. The boss fights become static and dull. Once you can overcome a Vampiric | Shielding | Molten | Mortar pack then you have finally mastered your class. If you can't get it the first time don't fret. It's not meant to be easy.
// Stop trying to max your DPS in favor of maxing your health! //
A dead DPS doesn't do DPS. However, one who lives will surely win the encounter. If you see a piece of gear that has + Vitality on it that will net you 2k HP but lowers your DPS by 50... take it. Who cares if you do 50 less DPS. That's 2,000 more damage you can take. Better chance of survival = more champions killed in a row = better loot. It's like running around out in the open with a grenade launcher wearing nothing but what you came into the world with. A single bullet will take you out even though you have the capability to level an entire building.
// Learn how to kite! //
Kiting is the act of keeping distance between you and your enemies. Try to always keep a gap between you and what you're killing. If enemies get too close use a defensive ability to get away. Just because you have Diamond Skin doesn't mean you can take 2982739487234 damage.
// Stay out of the fire! //
It burns... in every game! If you die to something because you're standing in it, it's your fault. Learn how to move away, when an enemy is going to strike, and when you should get the hell out of their path. Don't stand in pools of acid... or anything for that matter.
Leveling from 1 to 60
When playing Diablo you should keep in mind that certain difficulties are meant for certain levels. Here are the approximate levels for the types of content.
Normal - Level 1 to high 20's, early 30's
Nightmare - High 20's, early 30's to high 40's, early 50's
Hell - Early 50's to 60
Inferno - 60
Normal Mode
This is the part of the game where you try on the outfit before you buy it. Pretty much any play style will work here. Try every spell you get. See what it does. If you can't figure out how to beat Normal then maybe the Wizard isn't quite for you.
Nightmare Mode
Here's where the real game begins. By now you should be in your 30s and have at least some understanding of how spells work. Here are some builds to try out.
Mage Tank - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#WcXYOS!abc!aaaZaZ
Electrical Beams of Death - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UiXROS!abc!aZaaaZ
Meteor Build - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bkYXOS!WcX!bYZabZ
High Damage - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#ajXmSO!TYf!aaacZY
Inferno Build - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UcXSOj!fYX!baaZYa
Ice - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#akYgXj!WcX!YYcZZY
Twister - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UVdYXf!cY!aZaZZa
Fire - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#bkQjRX!eYT!ZaYacb
Suicide - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#acXYhg!bca!ZaaZbZ
Another Meteor - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UkYTSj!eYT!ac.ZZa
Hell Mode
Hell is considerably harder than Nightmare so you will have to start thinking about the aforementioned synergistic builds. During the beginning of Act I, use the build you had when you killed Diablo, until you reach level 50. This shouldn't take long I was well into the 50's before I started hell.
Arcane Snaresman - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#clXROj!XfU!.baabY
This build seems to be the best jack of all trades for Hell. The concept behind this build is to Summon a Hydra to debuff enemies with slow, cast Blizzard to slow them even further, then nuke with Arcane Orbs. Be sure to bring along a Templar specced with life regen and AP regen as he will be invaluable in your conquest. Gear for Vitality / Intellect usually a 3:2 ratio of Intellect to Vitality and you will be able to kill almost anything. I haven't had a single issue with this build yet.
The Flash - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UbXdRT!abV!acYZZY
This build is really helpful in Act II when there are tons of fast enemies that you can't quite control. Summon a Hydra, throw a Living Lightning behind you, use wave of force when anything comes close and just kite like your life depends on it. Stack lots of Vitality and equip a shield with a fast one-handed weapon. The less damage you can take the better. While this build doesn't have quite a high damage output, it is pretty easy to get away from fast enemies.
The Untrappable - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#iQXdRO!XdU!ZYaZaY
Find yourself getting trapped a lot? Try this build out. You will almost ALWAYS have a defensive ability to play. Caught in jail or in a wall, blink out of it. Caught in the middle of a swarming horde, knock them back. See a puddle and you just want to run by it, use Diamond Skin. Use your Arcane Hydra to slow enemies while blinking effortlessly away to nuke with Disintegrate.
Inferno Mode
This guide isn't yet meant for Inferno as it is a level 60 mode already. More to come in this section later.
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