Wizard Inferno Guide submitted by Arktem.My experience includes Diablo 2 Hardcore for 5+ year. WoW Hardmode Raiding for 5+ Years, US 4th). And currently Act 4 Inferno on Diablo.
For those wanting a Video of how this works, or just want to chill and watch a stream, my stream page is located below.
www.twitch.tv/ArkD3/
Keep in mind as you are reading this that things CHANGE depending on if you are with a group or if you're solo. Many strategies, gear choices, and specs are far more viable in a group environment.
I wrote this all very quickly and probably missed a lot of stuff. I'll be happy to edit more/Fix some if people find it useful. If people get butthurt about "Mathcraft" for any of my recommendations below I will be happy to include numbers to support any of my claims.
Build
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#alQSOi!XYT!cYYZYb
Basic build, that is useful for any and all situations. Some people prefer to replace Blizzard with Arcane Orb + Temporal Flux. Both are 100% viable, and both have their pros and cons.
Blizzard gives you a lot more control over mobs, basically it's the "Safe Route".
Arcane Orb gives you more Damage, but you have to be much more careful.
Everything else should basically stay the same in nearly all situations. Diamond skin, while very strong early on, loses a lot of it's usefulness simply because it does not scale. The only time it can be useful is for Reflect Damage mobs, which can easily be dealt with by having a few extra pieces with + Life on Hit (Note, this isn't % Life Steal), and swapping to them when the need arises.
Gear
Boots - Every single boot you buy should have 12% movement speed. Nothing else matters.
Weapons -
2h - Two Handed weapons are superior damage over 1h/oh Combo, but they have the disadvantage of being much slower animations.
1h - have the advantage of having much faster attack animations, which in a kite spec is extremely important.
Please note if you are not using a signature spell, which I don't personally recommend, then you should always go with a strong 2h if you can get your hands on one.
Guide continued after the page break..
Stats
Vitality - Get 30k, maybe a bit more, then focus on other stats.
All Resist - Your number 1 defensive stat. Far more important than Vitality, assuming you have around the 30k mark.
IAS (Increased Attack Speed) - Far from useless as others seem to say. Anyone who has done testing with it knows the value of it. If you are not running a Signature Spell then IAS loses much of it's value, but again there really is no reason not to have a signature spell.
With a signature spell, and more specifically a kite solo spec, IAS is a god send. Being able to cast spells while kiting, and not lose any movement time, is absolutely amazing. I would highly recommend this stat to anyone who primarily does Solo Kite strategies.
INT - More damage is always good, but it also has an increased advantage of giving us All Resist which is HIGHLY valuable.
Crit Chance - Now that the Critical Mass build has been nerfed crit has lost much of it's appeal. With that said, once you reach about 15% crit, which isn't very difficult, it has the bonus of making Crit Damage Highly valuable.
Crit Damage - With a semi decent Crit chance, 10-15% crit damage is a very good stat to have. With 15% crit the value of having an Emerald (+70% crit damage) greatly outweighs the DPS value of a single Ruby (Bonus damage).
Magic Find - Do not have any magic find stats on your main gear. Assuming of course you don't have something better. Instead get together a strong Magic find set to keep in your bags at all times. When a boss/Last mob is about to die, swap really fast to your magic set.
Farming Spots
*Save yourself some time and pain and just skip act 2.*
Act 1 - I personally skipped all of act 1 and went straight to act 3. I just don't find the loot to be of any use, especially considering the AH. With that said many people choose to farm "The imprisoned Angel" and work their way towards Butcher.
Act 3 - Siege-breaker runs. First start a game on "Kill the Siege-breaker" and then teleport to the Bridge. This will give you "Tyrael" as a companion. Once you have him teleport to the Bridge of Korsikk. The mobs in this location are very easy to kite, as well as generally not having many "Bad Combos". This is by far my favorite place to farm. Once you reach a 5 stack kill Siege-breaker.
