Melee Wizard

Will this be a viable build? Between the time distortion skills, teleport, the close range "magic blade" attack she keeps using in the demo and the as yet unseen "enchant weapon" skill, it seems like it could be a really cool light melee character. I do wonder whether it will fit in the design philosophy they are going for. It might be the case that characters are designed to be generalists and not focus on certain skill trees. Also issues with stat distribution could come up, since we dont get to decide any more and the Wizard could be extremely fragile in later areas of the game.

Maybe it would be a good PvP build. Anyway, thoughts?|||I really hope so. I've always liked builds that are the antithesis of the typical archetypes. A melee wizard. The Singer in D2, or the Ranger.

My hope is that Blizzard is doing everything they can to allow people to have true freedom with making their character truly unique. I think going with a lot of passives and masteries is a good way towards encouraging this. I think it will not only allow fringe builds but also allow some interested hybrid classes.|||http://www.shacknews.com/featuredart...id=1020&page=3

This forum needs a sticky already? My CTRL-V key is tiring itself out.

Short version: yes, if the Conjuration tree is anything to go by, a melee Wizard will be viable.|||We also have a complete list of the Wizard skill trees, much the same as with Shacknews in the Diablo3 Wiki I will assemble a thread with viable information and make it worthwhile for a sticky.

• Wizard basic information


• Wizard Skills

I will dig for more information that relates to the Wizard and can either be found in the Wiki or elsewhere.


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This forum needs a sticky already?




There ya go -> The Wizard Knowledge & Guide Library [1st Edition]|||i gotta say at first i thought they were killing the melee wizards but after seeing the wizard tree i think they will be better than ever. i myself will make one but probably will not be my first char(though right now a casting wizard will be)|||I think that Blizzard is purposefully making a melee wizard viable. The lack of attribute requirements on all items will be awesome too.....Sword and shield wizard? Wizard with a giant hammer? Should be doable.

On another note, I see melee wizards playing out the best by having longer term buffs up, but then debuffing groups of enemies before going into melee range.

A string of magic missiles that slow, creatures, reduce their armor, and increase their damage taken? As well as adding a percent of weapon damage to your Magic Missile? Then teleport in, drop a slow time, and start mowing things down.....

Who knows what will be possible or not based on mana and game play, but I could see it playing out like that and being totally awesomesauce.|||I like the way these ideas are going. Combined with Magic Weapon, Lethal Energy, Stone Skin, Slowing Strikes and Mirror Image and there are even more options open.

There are many ways to build a Melee wizard from the skills we see available at the moment. I think it even more simple to come up with an idea for a melee wizard, than other builds. Would that imply that its an intention to not only use spells, but melee attacks too, possibly to bridge mana recovery?|||if (attribute auto) then (not melee wizard)|||Can we get over this already?

Items + Skills = Melee Casters, auto-attributes or not.|||Quote:








Will this be a viable build? Between the time distortion skills, teleport, the close range "magic blade" attack she keeps using in the demo and the as yet unseen "enchant weapon" skill, it seems like it could be a really cool light melee character. I do wonder whether it will fit in the design philosophy they are going for. It might be the case that characters are designed to be generalists and not focus on certain skill trees. Also issues with stat distribution could come up, since we dont get to decide any more and the Wizard could be extremely fragile in later areas of the game.

Maybe it would be a good PvP build. Anyway, thoughts?




Looking at the current skill trees it seems like making hybrids is still going to be pretty tough, as each skill has like 4 - 6 "synergies" that you'd like to use within the same tree. A pure melee wizard looks like a viable build by just looking at the skill trees. I wonder if you'll be able to enchant other players with magic weapon skill.

As for PvP I'm afraid that with auto-stats system a melee wizard may be at a disadvantage against other melee chars in terms of life/chance to block/chance to dodge/chance to hit, but it's kind of hard to tell yet.

I was thinking about making melee/electrocute hybrid build and calling him with some cool sith name