Wizard Leveling Build Guide (Patch 2.7.7 / Season 31) (2024)

Last updated on Jan 10, 2024 at 09:00by Deadset58 comments

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Active Skills
Disintegrate ConvergenceTeleport Wormhole1Explosive Blast Flash2Magic Weapon Force Weapon3Familiar Sparkflint4Storm Armor Power of the Storm
Passive Skills
Power HungryAstral PresenceIllusionistUnwavering Will

Note that while the skills and runes recommended in the build arespecifically chosen to be available at an early level and remain a solid pickthroughout the leveling and early character progression, you will have totemporarily work with other skills as the build gradually unlocks. Tofamiliarize yourself with the class, experimentation is stronglyencouraged.

Activate all your passive bonuses ( Magic Weapon, Familiar, Storm Armor), and be mindful of their duration — they all expireafter 10 minutes, so make a point to refresh them in between runs. Use Teleport to reach, reposition in, or simply avoid fights. Channelyou main damage ability (either Ray of Frost, Disintegrate or Arcane Torrent — read below). Use your utility skill (a generator, Frost Nova or Explosive Blast) when Arcane Power runs low, ormonsters get within reach.

The basis of every build lies in its chosen damage dealing skills. As theyinvariably require resource or cooldown management mechanics of some sort, andsuch are scarce for low level and less geared characters, you will focus on onedamage dealing ability early on. The typical early game build will feature adominant damage dealer, a mobility skill, buffs and/or shields, and resourcegenerators (either active or passive). The recommended split is:

• Slot 1 — Damage dealing ability: Without specific legendariesor sets to support his costly nukes, and armed with mostly sub-par primaryabilities, the Wizard does best with channeled DPS skills. You acquire Ray of Frost at level 2 and can further reduce its channeling cost withthe Cold Blood rune at level 7. Once you hit level 21, immediately switchover to Disintegrate, as it pierces through enemies (an effect Ray of Frost can only acquire from Light of Grace.) At level 26, youwill unlock Convergence, whose wider beam will serve you better than anyhigher level rune (except for Entropy, which sadly puts you in meleerange — dangerous for unequipped heroes). You can stay on Convergence for the remainder of your leveling, or deviate into Arcane Torrent at level 49, when you acquire the Static Dischargerune; an amazing tool for AoE destruction, whose missiles explode into additionalbolts, covering a wide area.
• Slot 2 — Mobility skill: Wizards' bread and butter mobilityskill is Teleport; slot it immediately upon reaching level 22. Foradditional safety, you can add the Safe Passage rune to it at level 26,but it is advisable to switch to the Wormhole rune at level 31 and stickto it for the remainder of your leveling due to its superior mobility.
• Slots 3 and 4 — Buffs: As mentioned before, a significantportion of your build is meant to support your damage dealing ability. At first,you will do so with Magic Weapon, whose 10% additive damage increase willbe absorbed into the build at level 20 (you will bump it up to 20% at level 35with the Force Weapon rune). At level 22, you will be able to summon a Familiar, bringing some negligible DPS of his own, but also boostingyour DPS from the rune Sparkflint at level 30. Note that if you strugglewith Arcane Power management (which you should not), you can consider swappingto the Arcanot rune at level 50.
• Slot 5 — Shield: While Ice Armor unlocks as early aslevel 14, it is deemed too defensive for leveling and low difficulties, and youshould switch to Storm Armor at first opportunity, level 17. Not onlywill it bring a small damage proc of its own, but it will also reduce yourArcane Power costs through the Power of the Storm rune, unlocked at level33.
• Slot 6 — Utility: Your sixth and final slot is less clearlydefined than the rest, and you are free to experiment and find something to yourliking. The general recommendation is to take something that does not interrupt Disintegrate channeling. Frost Nova is one of your options andoffers defensive utility, with some great late runes like Bone Chill atlevel 51. Explosive Blast is the offensive option, adding some some meleerange DPS if anything gets close. As early game characters often lack elementalbonuses on gear, Flash will offer the best damage persecond. Finally, you can take Archon for a taste of ultimate power— you are guaranteed to decimate everything while it is up, but beprepared to wait close to its full 2-minute downtime on an early gamecharacter.
• Passives: Power Hungry is a multiplicative damage increase forlong range builds, which an early Disintegrate Wizard should strive to be. Astral Presence will ease your Arcane Power management in thisgenerator-less build. Illusionist is a utility-packed passive that willspeed you up and reset your Teleports. Late during leveling, youshould add Unwavering Will due to its synergy with channeling builds. Atany point that you feel threatened, feel free to replace Illusionistwith the cheat death passive Unstable Anomaly.

As the leveling process in Diablo 3 is relatively quick, specific legendaryrecommendations are impossible. During leveling finding upgrades is frequent, soyour gear will be swapped in and out within the span of a few minutes. Followingthe in-game comparison system and the stat priorities outlined in the tablebelow will result in a solid character throughout the leveling journey.

The table below is meant to point you in a general correct direction and isby no means indicative of the exact rolls you want to go for. They can varygreatly from build to build and it is always preferable to refer to ourexact guide page. If you simply use the rolls below however, and roll for skilldamage on the applicable pieces:

• Disintegrate, Arcane Torrent, Arcane Orb, Ray of Frost, Energy Twister, Wave of Force, Meteoron helms and boots;
• Explosive Blast, Familiar, Black Hole, Hydra, Blizzard on shoulders and chest;
• Magic Missile, Shock Pulse, Electrocute, Spectral Blade on belt and pants.

Wherever it says 'Elemental damage', match it to the rune of your damagingskill of choice. You will come out with a functional spec, and probably not toofar off from what we would recommend in a dedicated build!

Note that skill damage and elemental damage recommendations only apply if themajority of your damage is done through that skill or element. For altcharacters however, sockets take priority above all other attributes, since youcan slot high level gems and benefit massively from their stat increase. Forthe purposes of an alt character, leveling a Gem of Ease to level 25 andsocketing it in a level 70 weapon will be the single biggest boost you canprovide to the leveling process.