You are quite simply wrong on Deep Freeze? Why? You have to hit 5 targets. Meaning that it gives you no benefit for champion packs once all adds are dead. The specific benefit of Cold Snap as I outlined is that it allows you to increase uptime of Cold Blooded / reduce amount of time that elite packs are moving around and using their abilities. No, you cannot chain-cast nova on elites without Cold Snap at 30% crit.
If you need Astral Presense, then you should be running the Deep Cuts / Star Pact variant. AP alone does not go anywhere near compensating for not having sufficient AP on crit (which is not difficult to get in the first place if you recognize that you have to make a wand DPS sacrifice).
As for your suggested stat priority, I am confused at how you stay alive in Inferno with such low armor, resists and LoH. I am guessing that you either have 30k+ DPS from high-end gear, or are not in fact playing past act 1 inferno. Please clarify.
As far as your recommendations on unique items, it is far more important to focus on the top 4 stats than to get situational bonuses like crowd control reduction. A good hat for this build has AP on crit, a few points of crit, 50+ AR, +armor, and a moderate amount of int / vit.
I guess we differ on how we play then.
I run through the whole dungeon constantly, and only stop when I meet Champions or Elites. That way, I'd always have a ready pool of mobs to get AP from. When I rolled with Deep Freeze (I use Bone Chill now), I could consistently get the bonus. Indeed, Cold Snap is a useful rune, but I found it to be an overkill with both Evocation and >30% crit around.
I don't really need Astral Presence. I just suggested it as an alternative for those who can't afford AP on crit gear, since this was a thread targeted at those starting out on this build.
Similar to my Astral Presence suggestion, the 600 AR buffed, 5k-ish armor and 25k hp is for entry level melee wizards (as the thread title implies). Anyone can easily clear early Inferno with such stats. I'm not sure how my personal progression matters since this thread is targeted at entry level melee wizards, but I'm clearing Act 3 Inferno now.
Thanks for the guide, but I disagree on some points -
Frost Nova will always be better with Deep Freeze if your crit % is low, and Bone Chill if yours is high enough. While Cold Snap theoretically reduces the cooldown of Frost Nova, beyond a crit % of around 30% you should be able to just chain cast them. Especially since you have Evocation.
Another possible passive is Astral Presence, especially when you first start out and your AP on crit is not high enough to sustain this build.
As for stat priorities, I'd go AP on crit (till 15 or 20) > Crit % > Crit Damage > LOH > IAS > Int. Always strive to maintain 5k-ish armor, at least 600 AR buffed and at least 25k hp. Another stat to consider is CC reduction. This is not a very popular stat, but in a build like this where mobility and the ability to chain cast is key to our survival, having as little downtime as possible is important.
Some good pieces of gear include -
Dark Magus Hat - You'd definitely get Crit, Intellect, 9% CC reduction and one socket from this. Try to look for one with 3% crit bonus to EB as well. Pretty cheap usually, got mine for 200k.
Wizardspike - Definitely AP on Crit, Max AP and Intellect. Try to look for those with sockets as well. Can be slightly more expensive though. Lucked out and got my 669 dps Wizardspike with all these for 1.2m, but they're generally around 10m or so.
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I guess we differ on how we play then.
I run through the whole dungeon constantly, and only stop when I meet Champions or Elites. That way, I'd always have a ready pool of mobs to get AP from. When I rolled with Deep Freeze (I use Bone Chill now), I could consistently get the bonus. Indeed, Cold Snap is a useful rune, but I found it to be an overkill with both Evocation and >30% crit around.
I don't really need Astral Presence. I just suggested it as an alternative for those who can't afford AP on crit gear, since this was a thread targeted at those starting out on this build.
Similar to my Astral Presence suggestion, the 600 AR buffed, 5k-ish armor and 25k hp is for entry level melee wizards (as the thread title implies). Anyone can easily clear early Inferno with such stats. I'm not sure how my personal progression matters since this thread is targeted at entry level melee wizards, but I'm clearing Act 3 Inferno now.
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Frost Nova will always be better with Deep Freeze if your crit % is low, and Bone Chill if yours is high enough. While Cold Snap theoretically reduces the cooldown of Frost Nova, beyond a crit % of around 30% you should be able to just chain cast them. Especially since you have Evocation.
Another possible passive is Astral Presence, especially when you first start out and your AP on crit is not high enough to sustain this build.
As for stat priorities, I'd go AP on crit (till 15 or 20) > Crit % > Crit Damage > LOH > IAS > Int. Always strive to maintain 5k-ish armor, at least 600 AR buffed and at least 25k hp. Another stat to consider is CC reduction. This is not a very popular stat, but in a build like this where mobility and the ability to chain cast is key to our survival, having as little downtime as possible is important.
Some good pieces of gear include -
Dark Magus Hat - You'd definitely get Crit, Intellect, 9% CC reduction and one socket from this. Try to look for one with 3% crit bonus to EB as well. Pretty cheap usually, got mine for 200k.
Wizardspike - Definitely AP on Crit, Max AP and Intellect. Try to look for those with sockets as well. Can be slightly more expensive though. Lucked out and got my 669 dps Wizardspike with all these for 1.2m, but they're generally around 10m or so.
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You can pretty much chain cast diamond skin, frost nova and explosive blasts with >30% crit.
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