generally when someone says optimal referring to the diablo series, at least with caster classes, it refers to killing speed. pretty sure that is well known. of course, we arent talking about defenisve and tactical abilities such as storm armor and teleport.
hydra isnt a damage "buff". it doesnt increase damage of all your attacks, it doesnt "buff" anything at all actually. its a cannon. it fires attacks while you do other things, or in the case that i explained above, while you do not do other things.
That's not how I would use "optimal," as situations vary sufficiently that offering killing power in one may not equate to killing power in another (Ray of Frost vs Meteor, for an easy example.) One can argue about average distribution of situations, and claim that X% of situations involve Y number of mobs, etc, but especially without seeing the whole game, this tenuously speculative.
Obviously, Hydra is not literally a modifier placed on your character in the sense of the Conjuration Wizard spells or passives, but as a spell cast relatively rarely, which increases your overall damage with minimal further attention, it can effectively be viewed as a damage buff.
quite simply, no. its more of a dot than anything. stop thinking of it as a buff. again, it just isnt.
was it ever even optimal in d2? most would agree when i say NO.
but was it viable? yes.
is it still viable? YES.
/rename thread to "is hydra optimal"
The question becomes, optimal for what? I'd say that counted as a damage buff along the lines of Familiar - Sparkflint or Magic Weapon, it is optimal, and probably does more net damage increase than either of those. Counting it like that, before even assessing its tactical value, "viable" seems to be an understatement imo.
generally when someone says optimal referring to the diablo series, at least with caster classes, it refers to killing speed. pretty sure that is well known. of course, we arent talking about defenisve and tactical abilities such as storm armor and teleport.
hydra isnt a damage "buff". it doesnt increase damage of all your attacks, it doesnt "buff" anything at all actually. its a cannon. it fires attacks while you do other things, or in the case that i explained above, while you do not do other things. im starting to doubt the intelligence of our community.
also keep in mind, there are people out there who just think its simply cool to have hydras attacking stuff. the devs recognize this niche, and cater to it.
was it ever even optimal in d2? most would agree when i say NO.
but was it viable? yes.
is it still viable? YES.
its not going to feel like a "wasted" skill slot at all. if blizzard designs a skill, and you dont use it because you feel it wastes a slot, they have failed. they really, really, really dont like failing. hydra can attack while you are "jailed", "walled", "feared", and many of types of cc.
imagine being "jailed" at 5 hp, one more hit and you die. you are facing your last enemy of the group, perhaps a boss or a rare champion who is also near death. you arent sure if you are going to make it. you cant cast anything or move due to the nature of the CC, however your trusty hydra is over there firing off attacks. one such attack hits the enemy right on the button, they die, you are released from the cc, and you can fortunately move on. as you continue, you remember why hardcore mode is so fun, and are glad you rolled it.
Hey guys, just wanted to bump this thread and let you guys know that the black mushroom and the other items cannot be sold or traded to other players and if you try dropping it to let a friend pick it up they will get a message saying that they cannot pickup that item.
I also wanted to let you guys know that if you do find a black mushroom in a game you can invite your friends to it and everyone should be able to pick it up from the original spawning location.
this combo definitely has its niche, i was just interested in what you guys thought of it, and if you had played around with it.
Wizard players, I have a couple challenges for you!
How many nova's can you proc? So far, my biggest combo of nova procs is 3. if someone could get 5 that would be really impressive!
Whats the biggest "blow" you can get with explosive bolts? So far, my biggest mighty blow was 16. Lets see someone hit 20, or even higher! I think it would be easier to reach higher numbers if you cornered yourself.
It would be really cool to see some screenshots and videos of what you guys can come up with. the release date is less than a month away, and beta is coming to a close, i think this would be a cool combo to toy with before the termination of the client.
i suggest having at least 60 base dps, in the video above i had a little more than that.
This is a quick video I made for a friend. Basically, when you cast frost nova (Shatter rune) and Shock Pulse (Explosive Bolts rune) your target afterwards, the AoE damage from the explosion also reaches enemies within the 10 yard radius of the explosion. Case in point, the 50% chance to release another frost nova is applied to all enemies within that radius of the explosion. You can see enemies approaching get caught in another nova during the first clip. This could prove to be extremely useful in higher difficulties when you are surrounded by more mobs than one should be comfortable with. Obviously you wont be able to "one shot" targets like I did here in hell and inferno, so the idea would be to use the nova once your closest enemies are at low health, kill them with explosive bolts, and follow up the next row of mobs with your main damage ability or another round of explosive bolts if they are at a low enough health percentage. Quite a chain reaction! The second clip was just "for teh lulz". Even so, at the bottom right of the crowd, one of the skellies is re-nova'd, and then slain, releasing a third nova! Triple CC! I wonder how many novas can be chained together from one original cast?
I gotta admit...seeing skeletal limbs fly across the screen is the most satisfying thing from a wizard perspective in my opinion. I'll definitely be making a build like this, even if its just to mess around. Slain enemies EXPLODE!?!?!?! FUCK YEA VIABILITY.
Diablo 3 Frost Nova Ability Overview
Level Unlocked: 4
Cost: No Cost
Cooldown: 12 Seconds
Category: Defensive
Effect: Blasts nearby enemies with frost, stunning them for 3 seconds
Rune: Shatter. Unlocked at level 12. Frozen enemies that are killed have a 50% chance to release another Frost Nova.
Diablo 3 Shock Pulse Ability Overview
Level Unlocked: 3
Cost: No Cost
Category: Primary
Effect: Releases 3 electric pulses along the ground which travel randomly across a medium range, dealing 105% weapon damage as lightning.
Rune: Explosive Bolts. Unlocked at level 9. Enemies slain by Shock Pulse explode, dealing 70% weapon damage as Lightning to all enemies within 10 yards
medium effect, sharpness on, i like it. i love color but the game always seemed a bit over saturated. i also didnt like the "blur" effect. id rather it be a bit sharper.
i ran a perfect dual dream zeal sorc in diablo 2. i played it for fun.
thats all a melee sorc/mage/wizard/ ____ ever was - just fun.
furthermore, this game is all about viability. im sure there will be a viable melee sorc build, with considerable gear, that can play most of hell and a bit of inferno.
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registered my account in 2008. been a lurker since long before then.
glad to see we have people so interested in the game.
big thanks for sharing this stuff OP.
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quite simply, no. its more of a dot than anything. stop thinking of it as a buff. again, it just isnt.
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generally when someone says optimal referring to the diablo series, at least with caster classes, it refers to killing speed. pretty sure that is well known. of course, we arent talking about defenisve and tactical abilities such as storm armor and teleport.
hydra isnt a damage "buff". it doesnt increase damage of all your attacks, it doesnt "buff" anything at all actually. its a cannon. it fires attacks while you do other things, or in the case that i explained above, while you do not do other things. im starting to doubt the intelligence of our community.
also keep in mind, there are people out there who just think its simply cool to have hydras attacking stuff. the devs recognize this niche, and cater to it.
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was it ever even optimal in d2? most would agree when i say NO.
but was it viable? yes.
is it still viable? YES.
its not going to feel like a "wasted" skill slot at all. if blizzard designs a skill, and you dont use it because you feel it wastes a slot, they have failed. they really, really, really dont like failing. hydra can attack while you are "jailed", "walled", "feared", and many of types of cc.
imagine being "jailed" at 5 hp, one more hit and you die. you are facing your last enemy of the group, perhaps a boss or a rare champion who is also near death. you arent sure if you are going to make it. you cant cast anything or move due to the nature of the CC, however your trusty hydra is over there firing off attacks. one such attack hits the enemy right on the button, they die, you are released from the cc, and you can fortunately move on. as you continue, you remember why hardcore mode is so fun, and are glad you rolled it.
/rename thread to "is hydra optimal"
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this combo definitely has its niche, i was just interested in what you guys thought of it, and if you had played around with it.
Wizard players, I have a couple challenges for you!
How many nova's can you proc? So far, my biggest combo of nova procs is 3. if someone could get 5 that would be really impressive!
Whats the biggest "blow" you can get with explosive bolts? So far, my biggest mighty blow was 16. Lets see someone hit 20, or even higher! I think it would be easier to reach higher numbers if you cornered yourself.
It would be really cool to see some screenshots and videos of what you guys can come up with. the release date is less than a month away, and beta is coming to a close, i think this would be a cool combo to toy with before the termination of the client.
i suggest having at least 60 base dps, in the video above i had a little more than that.
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plus i dont have to screw with my monitor.
cheers
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thats all a melee sorc/mage/wizard/ ____ ever was - just fun.
furthermore, this game is all about viability. im sure there will be a viable melee sorc build, with considerable gear, that can play most of hell and a bit of inferno.