DiabloFans

^ c'mon, it's blue!! Everybody likes blue, right ?

Quote from RasAlgethi24

The way I see it, if it doesnt roll 3 sockets, you're basically losing 186 main stat which basically negates the damage to demon bonus you're getting. Most classes gain some kind of set bonus from using a class specific set chest, so losing that as well for tyrael's isn't worth it if you're also losing the 3 sockets.

That's a valid point of view. You're thinking the plate as a full-dps-oriented slot, in this case, am I right ? If so, I agree with both you and Jaetch's, Tyrael's is a niche item, blue (did I mention this before ?) and can be used as a full-dps item. So arguments here, just different points-of-view or use of a item.

^ I don't know, I have a Tyrael's with zero-socket, 179 int + 199 vit, and I think it's pretty good. 14% damage to demons, though.

EDIT: 12% damage to demons, not 14%. I just put it on my alt so you guys can see.

^^ I laughed hard here now. That's exactly what happens, although elites takes longer than 10~15 seconds for us. That's just silly to run around chasing dead mobs and doing nothing while your partners take all the fun.

On Ubers, though, the game changes.

Quote from Loroese

I hear ya. Poor SS doesn't get a lot of credit on these forums, ...

Quote from Loroese

I keep trying to slip in comments of my Arcane mines build...

Sleet Storm and Arcane Mines are the "Black Sheep" of wizard builds... Nobody talks to much of them, but they are incredible powerful and low on requirements, if compared to high-MP Archon and SNS. And both are easy on the hands/wrists.

I play Arcane Mines sometimes when paired with another Wiz friend of mine, and I like it. But the other guy complais a lot about the delay of the mines, because he kills the mobs faster than 2 seconds :P. So, I get behind.

But I like hybrid builds. I'll try to squeeze the mines into my current setup, or squeeze Sleet Storm into the mines setup.

No problem, I say you online earlier today (it was 06:00am for me, though), thanks for accepting!

Anyway, I do have about 9 Machines I'd like to run on MP10, but I lack the power to do them.

I won't be online during the day (right now it's 07:40am here in Rio), so I'll only be online at night. If we happen to be onine at the same time, I'll send you an invite.

Thanks again!

Ras, I added you tonight. I'm in need of some spines, and I can provide the machines. If you have the time, let me know.

@Loroese: Agreed, agreed and agreed. I'm just in love at the moment with SleetStorm, and I like to remember other players that this is a viable and not-so-expensive build for higher MP's.


@MangoMelone, maybe prices in Europe differ a lot from USA ? I'm not Justifying, but on US AH the barb gear is way cheaper than wiz gear, on mid/mid-high tier. Top tier gear is expensive everywhere, though.

Quote from Bodycount1

It's funny if I went to the barb forums, they would say the most efficient class is an archon wizard.

I see this as "keep your eyes off my class and look at him" game.

Actually my opinion about this is because Barbs are limited to the 15 sec limit on duration of Wrath of the Berserker, while Archon can stack more than 15 sec of duration. So, although Barbs are easier to play, easier to gear, receive less damage and do more damage, they are jealous of Archons because we can have bigger... er... duration ? Beams ? Purpleness ?

I don't know. I think they are Jealous because we look so more awesome than them while on "semi-god-purple-ball-of-death" mode. They get uglier. We have the WOW effect.

EDIT: And our lady wizards are way prettier than that ugly barb wenches.

Quote from Crowbar

Archon is very expensive if you want to farm high MP's properly, the most efficient class is still a barb..

Or a properly geared SleetStormer. Or a CoB WD.

^^ @RasAlgheti, CMWW and it's variants (like SNS) are the most powerful builds for the wizards right now, no questions asked. Even for trash mobs, on higher MP's they may be better, and are almost a "must-have" on a group.

I don't discuss fun-factor, because that's subjective, we agree on that. Some people find Archon boring, some think it's fun. That's personal. (And just for the record, I never talked about fun on my earlier posts).

What I can affirm, is that SS is easier on the hands (no button-smashing needed) and indeed does a ton of DPS. And doesn't have a windup time. So, it's "insta-ton-dps".

I think the biggest difference between a top-notch SNS and a top-notch SS is the crowd control against ubers/single target elites.

I don't know how people rate the build, but I can give you my input and some directions.

First, the directions: There is a very nice build compendium on the official forums you can look, and inside the compendium you can see the two most popular Sleet Storm builds: 1h + Offhand original build and the variant that uses Blizzard plus Explosive Blast.

Now, my personal input: I've used CMWW before, and for quality of life there's absolutely no comparison: Sleet Storm is way better than CMWW for your life and hands.

For damage, sleet storm does a ton of it. Look at my Wiz: 180k sheet DPS that does effectively 713k unbuffed DPS. That's a nice number, on my view, capable of running MP8~9 without hesitation. (And just for record, fully buffed I achieve 980k DPS and abour 1250k DPS against elites).

Maybe you don't have the great multipliers SNS gives to you, but it's not too shabby either. And way easier to gear. I swapped 3 pieces from my traditional Archon Gear (SoJ, Triumvirate with APoC and StormCrow for the APoC too).

Personally I'm using Explosive Blast, but because I don't smash the button. I use it only part-time, when the pack of white mobs is too big that would take a while to kill them all.

So, CMWW or SleetStorm ? SleetStorm, no questions asked. Easier to gear, easier to play, no RSI attached and big damage. If you pair it with Archon, you gain the damage reach and tankiness when necessary.

You're running the classic Hybrid-Archon build, that our good friend Jaetch made a video some time ago:


By the way, nice Archon. Remember me my old Wiz days.


EDIT: I would do 2 minor changes:

1) Change the armor to Storm Armor / Thunder Storm (more damage) or Scramble (more movement speed).
2) Change the weapon to a black weapon. See the video (on Youtube, not embedded) to check what a black weapon is. This little change on weapon could net you 17k DPS.

I use all times. My DPS against mobs is about 1M (or so), more than enough for MP10 white-mobs, and I don't have the patience to change any gear while in middle-fight.

The only DPS problem I have is when I'm on MP10, on a party with 4 against Extra-life elites, IF my partners are sub-par with my DPS.

When playing with DAC, for example, we can carry the whole party without a problem. Alone it takes more time.

Quote from Vitamuse

I can actually do mp 9 and 10 as well although those damn chargers bring me under 10% hp grrrrr...

I hate them too. Sometimes they come from nowhere-out-of-screen and hit me directly. And sometimes I can manage to time the Frost Nova just before the hit. It's beautiful when that happens!

Quote from Vitamuse

...I read through a previous thread about sleet skorn and i saw that link you made to your frineds build Bribous. JUST WOW his items lol. Do you still think its worth trying to get all that extra ray of frost crit? If i can get the money going i want to try and do that haha XD.

For reference: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/dac-1815/hero/34771609

The guy is obstinate! That's actually the 3rd Mara's Kaleidoscope he has and the second Skull Grasp. I've given him the first Skull Grasp he had, but it had Strength instead Intelligence, although a little more total crit chance (5CC + 5RoF).

On my point of view, If you don't have a SoJ, the Skull Grasp with the extra RoF CC is worth. More critical means more CM procs, with means less cooldown on everything, including APoC. The build works better.

Just for comparison, we play together, and he can easily out-DPS me on mobs and we can get par on elites, but my gear is more expensive than his. I use my Archon gear with 3 different pieces: StormCrow (on the place of a Mempo), Triumvirate with APoC and SoJ instead of a rare ring.

So, I have to run with 11 more APoC than him, and we have about the same AP consumption in-game. So, resuming, the extra RoF crit is nice, if you don't already have good items.

What FFS9 said: Change your rare ring for the best zuni pox with critical chance you can get. That will net you at least 120 AR, increasing your total mitigation (damage reduction) in 2% (that's a lot, if you ask me).

Your DPS is fine for MP9, but your mitigation is still low. Try to aim to at least 89.5% mitigation, and change your storm armor to Energy Armor / Pinpoint Barrier. That will get your EHP to 430~EHP (with the zuni pox) and your mitigation on 89%, ready for MP10. With this

Your elite DPS is very nice (you have a good 6/27/5 SoJ) and this probably will keep you alive during elite fights on MP10.

Also, pinpoint barrier gives you another 5% critical chance, putting you on a nice 57.5% SleetStorm critical chance, which paired with critical mass reduces all cooldowns and procs APoC more often.

Although Shock Armor gives more DPS, my feeling is that the build is more solid with Pinpoint Barrier. The only downside is the -20 AP loss because Energy Armor.

EDIT: Also, consider changing the Helm or Wand for one with APoC. Only 8 is a little low, when facing single elites. On a pack of 5 mobs that's not a problem, but when facing a single yellow/blue champion things tend to get ugly, and you run out of AP fast.