Hey Guys!  Things have been hectic since launch day, and I've decided to let Blizzard fix their server stability issues before I start streaming... however!  I'm halfway through rewriting the earlier Wizard article to better reflect the state of the game as it is now :D

I'm loving the game, and I'm sure if you are reading this blog you are probably currently enjoying the crap out of it too!

     "The Best Magic Finder in D3?"

 
  With Diablo 3 almost here (May 15^th), all up-and-coming magic finders have one real question on your mind, and that question is what is the best class to start your Diablo 3 experience with.  To me there are three main factors when choosing a character, and those factors are: ability to move quickly to the boss monsters of a zone, the ability to kill those bosses without the threat of dying, something that you personally find fun.  As most of us have at most only played the Beta, we look to what was effective at the start and throughout the life of Diablo 2.  The definitive answer to the dominant D2 magic finder was the MF (Magic Find) Sorc.  To note, later in the games life it could be argued that a Magic Hammer Paladin was more efficient at magic finding, however he had one major weakness, mobility.  Until the player obtained the teleport ability for an item (usually one of the most rare and hard to obtain items in the game), the Paladin was very subpar.

     

     What really made the MF Sorc shine was the ability to teleport at a rate that could be increased via the stat “Faster Cast Rate” to a point where the player could simply teleport around faster than most of the AI in the game could detect let alone attack you.  This meant that without any idea of where to go, you could just hold down teleport and zip around the level without fear of being hurt and find whatever monster you were targeting.  Secondly, after reaching the target the Sorc had a large amount of high damage spells to choose from.  As long as you specced in two or more different forms of damage, you were able to kill 99.9% of the enemies in the game by yourself, and with some decent gear, all enemies became killable on any difficulty.  A sample level 99 item and skill build for a Sorc would look something like the one listed below.

Blizzard Ball MF Sorc

Stats:

Strength : 90
Energy : 45
Dexterity : 25
Vitality : 425

Skills: cold, fire, lightning

Max firebolt, fireball, 1 in firemastery
Max blizzard, iceblast, 10 icebolt, 13 cold mastery
1 static, 1 teleport

Gear

Harlequin Crest (ptopaz)
Deaths Fathom (5/4 cold facet)
Mara’s Kaleidoscope 29%
Ormus Robes Blizzard 15% cold damage (Um)
Sanctuary Troll Nest 67%
Stone of Jordan
Bul Kathos Wedding Band
Arachnids Mesh
War travelers 50%
Magefist

Might Merc
Eth upped Kelpie Snare (Amn)
Eth upped Guardian Angel (jewel of fervor)
Kiras Guardian 70%

     It is important to point out some key points in this build; number one it is heavily focused on survival, secondly on damage, and as a tertiary stat +% Magic Find.  If you notice the stat distribution, almost 75% of the points were point into Vitality.  Also notice that with the choice in items all resists would be maxed and physical damage reduction would near max even on the hardest difficulty.  Many of the items also have +Skill modifications that vastly increase damage for a Sorc due to compounding bonuses from both the damage spell cast and its respective mastery increase.  Lastly, about one-quarter of the items mods are dedicated to +% Magic Find itself.  To note, the item build also included Faster Cast Rate, Faster Movement Speed, and +% Block Chance. 

The main skill chosen for this build was the high-damaging Blizzard spell, as well as supplementing Fireball for a non-cold source of damage for Cold Immune monsters.  Teleport was used to get around where you needed to go, and Static Tempest reduced tough monsters life down to 66% with a few casts.  It was simple, but effective.  With setups like this, the Sorc had nothing to fear, even on the hardest difficulty.  People even programmed small bot programs to kill monsters for them, look how easily this computer controlled Sorc defeats the most difficult bosses on the hardest difficulty, Hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5RgmJogkIs

     There is one last aspect of the Sorc that makes it so easy and fun to play, ranged spells.  By using the combination of slowing effects, ranged spells, and teleport; even the most difficult monsters could be taken down without any gear required at all.  This meant a skillful player could farm the most difficult bosses for gear, even though one shot from that boss might kill them!

While almost everything from what we discussed that made the MF Sorc great in Diablo 2 transferred over to Diablo 3, with the exception of Static Field.  Unfortunately, that free 33% damage we could expect to be instantly removed from any non Cold-Immune Monster is gone.  Bullocks :D

Next we have the build itself.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#acQkfP!dWX!cZZYac

Skills:
Magic Missle:  Signature Spell Primary Slot (Generates Arcane Power=Mana/MP) -  Launches a missles of magic energy, causing 110% weapon damage as Arcane.  Seeker Rune – Missles track the nearest enemy and their damage is increased to 121% weapon damage as Arcane.

This will give you a spammable spell that will find targets and generate mana or to help kill a Cold Immune target

Arcane Orb: Cost 35 Arcane Power Secondary Slot - Hurls an orb of pure energy that explodes when it hits, dealing 175% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies within 10 yards.  Arcane Orbit Rune – Creates 4 Arcane Orbs that orbit you, exploding for 70% weapon damage as Arcane when enemies get close.

This ability gives you a reactive shield that will explode whenever any enemy is close, including when you teleport on top of something!  Same as above, Arcane damage is welcome for alternative sources of damage against Cold Immune monsters.

Teleport: Costs 15 Arcane Power Cooldown: 16 Seconds Defensive Slot – Teleport through the ether to the selected location up to 35 yards away.  Wormhole Rune – After casting Teleport, there is a 1 second delay before the cooldown begins, allowing you to Teleport again.

Runing Teleport with Wormhole gives you the greatest possible ability to close or create distance at a given time.  This makes Teleport as close to what it was in Diablo 2 as is currently possible.

Meteor: Costs 60 Arcane Power Force Slot – Summons an immense Meteor that plummets from the sky, causing 200% weapon damage as Fire to all enemies it crashes into.  The ground it hits is scorched with molten fire that deals 60% weapon damage as Fire over 3 seconds.  Comet Rune – Transforms the Meteor to ice that deals 240% weapon damage as Cold.  The impact site is covered in a freezing mist that deals 72% weapon damage as Cold and Slows enemy movement by 60% over 3 seconds.

This is our main damage spell, and interacts very well with our passive and Ice armor creating a 20% boost in Comet damage.  240% isn’t the largest of damage increases, but there isn’t a listed cooldown on the spell so it is assumed to be spammable.

Ice Armor: Costs 25 Arcane Power Conjuration Slot – Surround yourself in a barrier of ice.  Melee attackers are either Chilled or Frozen for 2 seconds.  Last 120 seconds.  This is an Armor spell.  Only one Armor spell can be active at a time.  Chilling Aura Rune – Lowers the temperature of the air around you.  Nearby enemies are chilled, slowing their movement speed by 30%.

This spell will slow the area around us, allow us to set up the 1 second time between when meteor is casted and when it hits.  As it is not possible to simply chug potions in Diablo 3 like it was in Diablo 2, the spells you cast need to be hits or else you will run out of mana before you kill everything no matter how much damage you do.

Mirror Image: Cooldown 15 seconds Mastery Slot – Summon 2 illusionary duplicates of yourself that last for 7 seconds and have 25% of your Life.  The images may cast some of the same spells as you, but those spells deal no damage.  Mirror Mimics Rune – Spells cast by your Mirror Images will do 10% of the damage of your own spells.

YES!  This is what I’m talking about.  None of the Mastery level spells disappoint, but I really took a liking to Mirror Image.  2 duplicates that do 10% damage each is a 20% damage boost overall, and the fact that these will probably be running around distracting things while you are killing them is just icing on the cake.  I’ve always been a fan of summons, the one time a spell might have killed you that hits your pet instead is something you always remember.

Passive Skills:

Illusionist – Whenever you suffer more than 15% of your Life in a single hit, the cooldowns on Mirror Image and Teleport are automatically reset.

If you are getting low, getting out and healing up is key, and this skill almost guarantees that you will always have an escape plan.

Cold Blooded – Cold damage dealt to chilled and frozen targets is increased by 20%.

While glass cannon increases all damage by 15%, it also reduces armor and resists by 10%, and since now there is a new difficulty called Inferno that seems to require most of your resources to just surviving, I don’t see the bonus damage worth the hit to defenses.  Cold Blooded on the other hand is 5% more Comet damage, and Ice Armor will Chill all enemies close to you and maintain that 20% damage bonus to Comet.

Astral Presence – Increases your maximum Arcane Power by 20 and Arcane power regeneration by 2 per second.

As noted above Arcane Power, or Mana in Diablo 2, is more restrictive in Diablo 3.  Increasing both max Arcane Power and Arcane Power Regeneration Rate will help is sustain damage over longer periods of time, which is incredibly important for killing bosses.

Tips on Play:

Before adventuring, Arcane Orb and Ice Armor should be casted and regularly maintained.  Teleport around until Champion Level monsters are found and immediately cast Mirror Image and begin spamming Magic Missles.  As soon as the monsters are close enough to be chilled by Ice Armor start throwing out Meteors until they are dead.  Remember it is possible to teleport behind your Mirror Images if hit for a large amount and recast another set of Mirror Images thanks to Illusionist.  This should give you a good amount of time to assess the situation and respond accordingly.

While this build should be easy to play, the main thing to focus on is making sure your high cost Arcane Power spells like Meteor hit, to make sure kill everything before running out of firepower.  If things go wrong just Wormhole away and try again!

Keep in mind guys, this is just theorycrafting, and how Blizzard decides to do last minute tuning could make certain things considerably less or more powerful!  On experience of the Diablo universe as a whole, and how these skills seem to interact with that universe.  The last thing to note that I stated above in the three most important things for what character to choose is what is fun to you.  As I always have loved Sorcs, this Magic Finding Sorc would be my best bet pre-launch, however for those that don't love Sorcs as much as I....

Next time, I’ll be tackling what a lot of players seem to indicate as another possible top magic finder in the Witch Doctor.  I’ll discuss how they are similar to Fishy Necros, and how we can replicate that success in Diablo 3!