Damage calculation of the Wizard's Magic Weapon?

Question

I'm currently trying to determine how exactly the DPS calculation works. The only thing I'm not quite sure about is Magic Weapon, which gives me a huge dps boost. My unbuffed DPS is about 17k, using Magic Weapon increases my DPS to over 22k.

Has anyone already figured out what exactly magic weapon does?

Asked by Julian Hollmann

Answer

I have. It's pretty simple, really - it's double dipping. You get its effect twice.

First, it applies a modifier to your weapon damage - possibly unique, I haven't seen any other sources of a modifier like this - which is used in its own place in the calculation formula.

Second, it adds that same modifier to your skill damage bonus. This is why you'll notice your skill damage go up by 10% (15% with force weapon) in your details page of your inventory. So what ends up happening is magic weapon adds 1.1*1.1 = 1.21 = 21% bonus damage, instead of the listed 10%. (32.25% with force weapon rune)

The weapon damage modifier stacks multiplicatively with other sources of skill damage bonus, such as glass cannon and sparkflint - which all stack additively with each other. Glass cannon, sparkflint and force weapon combined would give you 15% + 12% + 15% = 42% skill damage modifier, and then there'd be an additional 15% weapon damage modifier, which would net you 1.42 * 1.15 = 1.633 = 63.3% damage increase.

(I played it fast and loose with two equals signs for the sake of brevity and clarity.)

Answered by Santiclause

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Can multiple Wizards cast Blizzard at the same time?

Question

The description of Blizzard states "Multiple casts in the same area do not stack."

What if there are two Wizards in my party? Does each of their Blizzards deal damage, or only one?

Asked by Brant

Answer

Even if more than one Wizard casts Blizzard in an area, there are still "multiple" casts in the same area, therefore the damage does NOT stack.

Answered by ItsColby

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Signature spell damage comparison with attack speed

Question

Shock Pulse with Piercing Orb fires at what appears to be a very low speed compared to Electrocute with Lightning Blast. Shock Pulse runed is listed to have 105%wd piercing, and Electrocute has 80%wd piercing.

Does the attack speed (animation?) matter for these two spells? It seems to me that for every Shock Pulse I cast, I'll cast at least 2.X Electrocutes in the same amount of time.

To clarify a little (I'm asking about overall effective DPS on a single target that isn't moving), does every single bolt from Electrocute do 80% of weapon damage (I assume that each Shock Pulse orb does 105%), and if it does, would Electrocute be better since you cast more in the same amount of time (so you would have 160%+)?

Asked by wizardio

Answer

While skills refer to percentages of weapon DPS, they each have internal attack and pulse rates that are not mentioned in the tooltips. Generally, they refer to the overall damage you'll see per second, and the damage values you'll see per individual hit will reflect that. If you're using passives like Prodigy or effects such as gaining Arcane Power on crits, you might find more use out of faster attacks like Electrocute despite their lower damage in general.

While not being a specific answer to the question, this post on wizard weapon selection and attack speeds may offer additional insight into why things work this way.

(Note that while the first link refers to DoTs and channeled skills, it appears to be generally applicable to all skills in the game, and my personal testing seems to reinforce that point. If anyone has non-anecdotal evidence to oppose that, please share!)

Answered by Ashel

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How should I be using teleport?

Question

I just keep dying with my Wizard, and seeing as I want to prepare myself for hardcore, but I keep facing death, I'd like a few tips on how to maximize my usage of teleport in order to avoid dying so often.

If it helps I'm level 45 on Nightmare act 3.

Asked by Nico

Answer

Teleport can be used in several ways:

Safe Passage/Fracture : Get close and personal in order to use Novas or close-ranged AOE spells without dying.

Wormhole : Quickly travel across the map or pass difficult Champion Packs

Calamity : Used for close range AOE builds

Keep in mind that teleport in itself is not very useful, but in conjunction with other abilities can be very poweful. For example, Safe Passage/Fracture with Disintegrate/Entropy can be amazing close range DPS.

Answered by ItsColby

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What are the Archon’s abilities?

Question

The description for Archon reads:

While in Archon form, your normal abilities are replaced by powerful Archon abilities

But no further information is provided. What does that mean, precisely? Which abilities are replaced, and what abilities replace them?

Asked by Oak

Answer

Taken from the Diablo Wiki:

• Arcane Blast
  Cooldown: 120 seconds
  Release a wave of pure energy dealing 100% weapon damage as Arcane to all nearby enemies.

• Arcane Strike
  Strike the ground in front of you, causing 1000% weapon damage as Arcane to enemies in the area.

• Disintegration Wave
  Thrust a beam of pure energy forward dealing 1000% weapon damage as Arcane.

• Cancel
  Release the powers of the Archon and return to your natural form.

The following abilities are unlocked with the skill's runes, so the player has to choose which one to use:

• Slow Time
  Project a bubble of warped space and time that moves with you, slowing the movement and attack speed of enemies by 40% and the speed of projectiles by 60% for 8 seconds

• Teleport (10 seconds cooldown)
  Teleport through the ether to the selected location up to 35 yards away.

All of the Archon's skills completely replace your wizard abilities, until you revert to your normal form.

Answered by Kappei

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Can enemies frozen by something other than Frost Nova trigger Shatter when killed?

Question

Frost Nova's Shatter rune claims that "A frozen enemy that is killed has a 50% chance of releasing another Frost Nova." Meanwhile, Ice Armor causes melee attackers to be chilled or frozen for 2 seconds, and a rune for Blizzard can freeze enemies.

If an enemy is frozen by something besides Frost Nova and killed while I have Shatter equipped, can it release a Frost Nova?

Asked by Brant

Answer

After testing¹ both the freeze effect from Ice Armor and from Blizzard, I've discovered that it is not possible to generate a Frost Nova when killing a frozen enemy unless that enemy was frozen with Frost Nova.

_{1: Because of the 50% chance of a Frost Nova on Shatter, it is statistically possible that in my testing I did not see the effect even though it could still be achieved. However, I tested roughly twenty freezings with each methodology, so that is extraordinarily unlikely.}

Answered by Ian Pugsley

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Does the damage bonus from Disruption affect itself?

Question

My Disruption rune says "Targets hit by Arcane Torrent become Disrupted for 6 seconds, causing them to take 15% additional damage from any attacks that deal Arcane damage."

Does this bonus include subsequent hits of Arcane Torrent? I find this skill very impractical to use unless I'm in a spot where I can sit down and hold the button down (it takes too long for the first projectile to hit) so this greatly interests me.

Asked by Shinrai

Answer

Yes. Arcane Torrent does arcane damage, so the 2nd missile and every one thereafter will benefit from the damage bonus.

Answered by Raven Dreamer

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Why is my Wizard taking so much damage?

Question

I'm primarily playing single player, and I've noticed that at the very end of Act I/beginning of Acti II the amount of damage that I'm taking from enemies has dramatically spiked. Whenever I'm near a crowd, I end up in the red almost immediately. Trying to hang back and used ranged attacks doesn't seem to work; they just keep coming. My Templar doesn't seem to be able to hold their attention, either.

I am using my armor spells, I have Blur equipped, and I've been upgrading my defensive equipment regularly. Are Wizards just that squishy in this game, or are there any other steps I can take to mitigate the damage? Do I just need to grind out some levels (I'm 17 at the very beginning of Act II)?

Asked by Shinrai

Answer

Abilities

I'm currently playing a Wizard in Nightmare, and I can confirm that there is some definite squishiness present. However, this is offset by the capability to do ridiculous damage to large numbers of enemies at a time.

If you're having trouble with large groups, consider what defenses you have. Are you using an Armor spell? Something as basic as Ice Armor can make a tremendous difference - when they hit you, they get frozen. Similarly, area-of-effect radius spells can be very effective - I'm still using Frost Nova at level 34. Wave of Force has a Stun ability at level 15, too.

Early on, my typical strategy when surrounded was to Frost Nova, try to deal some damage, then when they were un-frozen, Wave of Force for the stun and either more damage or run away. The Evocation passive skill you get at level 13 is great for keeping these up.

As time passes, these situations will get a little easier to handle (though the enemies get much harder). Skills like Teleport and Mirror Image will come in very handy for those exact cases - keep an eye out for what level you unlock them.

Items

Honestly, much of what your aim is as a Wizard is to not even get to the point where there are enough mobs aroud you to worry. You may want to take another look at your current weapon situation - are you using the highest-damage weapon/off-hand combination you can find? For a good six levels I was using an enormous two-handed sword, because it gave +50 Intelligence (and brought my damage up significantly).

Don't give up Intelligence if you can bear it. Non-stat abilities (especially Magic Find) this early in the game are not your friend - you will be tempted to give up good equipment for them, and it isn't worth it. Intelligence will increase your damage and resistances, and should be well above all your other stats. I don't care if those rare boots have 9% Faster Run walk and 10% MF - you use those +20 Int boots over them, any day of the week.

Follower

As a Wizard, you need the Templar. You need a tank. You've mentioned you're already using him, which is good. What abilities have you chosen for him? My recommendations are Heal, Loyalty, Charge, and Guardian (Guardian, in particular, is great for this situation, though obviously you don't get it until he's level 20).

Remember that followers get a multiplicative x2.5 bonus on stat bonuses from items. That means if you give them a +40 Vitality amulet, they'll actually get +100 Vitality (which is 1k life). Make sure you've got your follower properly equipped.

Answered by Ian Pugsley

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What attack does the Wizard do when attacking with a spell while out of Arcane Power?

Question

I've noticed that if my Wizard runs out of Arcane Power while I'm spamming an ability that costs arcane power, I start shooting little white dots at the enemy which do damage. This surprised me because I would have expected it to default to my primary ability, which doesn't cost any Arcane Power, when I run out of the shiney purple stuff

What attack is this?

Not sure if it matters, but I usually equip wands, so perhaps it's a wand attack? If it is a weapon auto-attack, is this a wand-specific attack or a wizard-specific attack? For example, if I equip a sword instead of a wand, will I start swinging my weapon instead of shooting dots?

Asked by Rachel

Answer

Yes, that is the basic weapon attack. When you start out a level 1 character, it's the skill that is on right mouse button. With wands it's a small projectile, with swords you would run up to the monster and slash it.

You can also set this skill if you are in elective mode, and assign a skill to a hotkey when it is already assigned. For instance, if you have Magic Missle assigned to left mouse, and decide to remap it to right mouse, you will get the default weapon attack set to your left mouse button.

Answered by Kexlox

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