18,567
edits
Changes
ADVERTISEMENT
From Diablo Wiki
no edit summary
==Class Design==
{|cellpadding="2" width="250px" align="right" style="border-collapse: collapse; float: right; border: none; background: #2D0606; clear:left; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 10px; line-height: 10px; font-size: 10px;"
!colspan="2" style="text-align: center; line-height: 12px; font-size: 14px;"|'''[[Diablo III Class]]'''
|-
|}
The Wizard is a fast-action, fast-casting, primarily-ranged attacker. The class is not really a "glass cannon," despite having a Passive skill called actually [[Glass Cannon]]. In fact, that's one of the main complaints about the class; that they are more of a mage tank than anything else, who must rely on defensive skills or strong [[crowd control]] and enemy [[debuffs]] to survive.
* Refer to Diablo3Ladders.com for a listing of [http://www.diablo3ladders.com/skills/mostused/wizard#softcore all Wizard passive skills ranked by popularity].
{|
==Wizard Passive Skills==
[[Image:Male Wizard2.jpg|thumb|300px|Male Wizard using [[Wave of Force]].]]
See the [[Wizard passive skills]] article for a full listing with descriptions and more details. These skills focus more on utility, variety, and defense than on boosts to the Wizard's offensive attacks or damage.
<br>
|}
By far the most used and most build-changing passive is [[Critical Mass]] which grants [[critical hits]] a chance to reduce the [[cooldown]] of Wizard skills by 1 second. Numerous Wizard builds rely entirely on "CM" in order to repeatedly use skills with 6, 8, 10 second, or even longer cooldowns. Blizzard has adjusted (lowered) the [[proc coefficient]] values of numerous Wizard skills several times since launch, since some skills (especially [[Energy Twister]]) that caused many, many hit checks were [[proc]]ing so often that Critical Mass was triggering almost constantly and effectively reducing cooldowns to nothing.
==Diablo 3 Wizard Lore and Story==
Like all of the characters in Diablo 3, the Wizard has a unique in-game backstory that gives insight into the character's personality and mannerisms. The male and female versions of each class are essentially interchangeable in these non-gendered fictions.
[[Abd al-Hazir]], the scholar and historian responsible for most of the in-game lore released pre-game, wrote about the wizard's time in a mage academy in [[Caldeum]] in his [[Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Entry no. 0007|seventh entry]].
<blue>This wizard was sent here to spend her formative years under the tutelage of the best mages in the world. Well, it seems they neglected to teach our wizard manners on her native island of Xiansai, for she was a rude and uncooperative student from the very beginning. Originally under the guidance of the Zann Esu mage clan, she was eventually handed over to the Vizjerei in the hopes that their strict and unbending discipline would break her anarchic spirit. Yet even the esteemed Vizjerei instructors were unable to rein her in. She was continually being caught seeking out dangerous and forbidden magics, heedless of the consequences to herself or anyone around her.
Although there is no truth to the tales that she actually ventured into the infamous Bitter Depths below the Sanctum, she was caught in the Ancient Repositories, where the most dangerous incantations are housed for the safety of the public. When confronted by the great Vizjerei mage Valthek and demanded to account for herself, she brazenly attacked him rather than face the punishment merited by her acts.
<br>
Exaggerated stories of the battle are already being inflated to mythic proportions by the more rebellious of our city's youth, but suffice it to say that she did not actually best Yshari's most powerful mage in single, honorable combat. The details of the encounter remain unclear, as Valthek has yet to regain consciousness, but it has been verified by reliable sources that she relied on trickery and deceit to bring the great man low. I have also been assured that the extensive property damage was chiefly the result of Valthek's magical prowess, not the upstart wizard's. As to where she is now, no one rightly knows, for she fled the city immediately after the encounter.</blue>
This story built fan expectations that the Wizard would be quite unruly and reckless. Unfortunately, those character traits do not really come through in the game, and even when the game action moves to Caldeum in Act Two, the Wizard does not show any concern or heightened attention in returning to that city.
