Skills
Disintegrate on the left - I tried all of the arcane power builders available in this level range, and they all leave something to be desired. Disintegrate pierces everything, and is a nice barrel buster as well as a way to rapidly pile on more damage to your target.
Both runes Chaos Nexus (40% dmg to nearby enemies) and Volatility (enemies killed have 35% chance to explode for 395% weapon in 8yd radius) work well.
Blizzard on the right - This spell is a massive killer...by the time it has expired you have likely regained the arcane power to do another.
Grassping Chill (3s slow after it expires) and Frozen Solid (20% chance for freeze for 3s) are good. I like the freezing because it can force them to stay in it for just a little longer.
Venom Hydra - This thing is a real sleeper. If it stands still, your Hydra will rack up a lot of damage. When combined with Blizzard (and freezing) or if you face a boss that remains stationary, you can add up damage fast.
Energy Armor - gives you the armor to live. Tried a bunch of runes. Absorption is good early prior to Blizzard because you are getting hit more and the Arcane Power return is good then. Pinpoint Barrier (5% crit) is just more damage, and Energy Tap (can go to 140 AP with Astral Presence) is good for quicker AP return and a larger pool to lay down more Blizzards. Your AP flow is going to determine your preference here.
Magic Weapon - Its just more damage. You can replace this with something else if you like. I prefer the force weapon for the straight 15% damage, but Venom is good later on.
Familiar - Sparkflint (12% more damage) or Ancient Guardian (takes one blow for you every 6s when you are below 35%) are good runes here. If you want even more AP return, go Arcanot.
Blur is good for more survival (20% less damage)
Astral Presence ups your AP pool with Energy Armor, and improves AP regeneration, permitting you to get away with no energy builder.
Galvanizing Ward is nice with the life per second return, since it lets you kite and heal on the run...helps you stay full.
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Techniques
1. Dumping Blizzards beyond those walls. If you can target the floor, you can drop a Venom Hydra and a Blizzard and grind stuff up into snowflakes. When the Hydra stops firing it is safe to open the door.
2. Blizzard in the choke point, Hydra beyond it- Hydra activates stuff beyond the choke point, and it moves towards the door and gets stuck in the door Blizzard. Using Disintegrate with Volatility equals big booms here. You can often open by using blizzard to open the door and then dump the Hydra beyond.
3. Kite in circles - Drop a Hydra and run around it in circles, dumping blizzards in the middle. Stuff chasing tends to spiral into the middle and stand in stacked poison/Blizzard and die fast. This works great for leapers and things that just will not slow, or things that like to stand and fire stuff at you like mortar shots.
4. The long kite - Lead them with Blizzard and drop Hydra and fall back out of range. This works great for lightning enchants, arcane enchants, wallers, and the guys who yank you to their position. If you stay far enough off, you are out of range of that stuff, and the Blizzards do their work. If you are clearing a map try to find a loop. A loop is a hard object that can not be walked through that provides cover from effects and they must go around. With a good loop you can infinately path them until they die.
5. Rezzers - Facing Shamen with Goblins getting rezzed over and over can be annoying. If you drop the Hydra on the Shaman it will fire at the Shaman who likes to remain stationary in the poison and die fast. You then work Blizzard and Disintegrate to deal with the minions.
6. Bosses - In NM usually Blizzard on the Boss with Hydra is enough to kill it. You do not really need to train disintegrate on the boss. THis frees you up to move around obstacles. For instance you can use a pillar to hide behind as you dump blizzard and hydra on the boss on the other side...boss can't fire on you and moves slowly towards you, but never gets there since you run around the other side.
I like the Enchantress with this build. She gives you a few defensives, and your hand-me-downs work well to equip with her.
I prefer 2h weapons for bigger punch on spells.
At these levels I gear for vit, int, experience. The rest is gravy. I like sockets on the weapon, and I like speed on the boots.
