Wizard Inferno Guide

Here is an in depth Wizard Inferno Guide submitted by morrt.

I downed Diablo the first time a few days back and have gone through Inferno three more times since. It get's easier guys!

Here are the builds I've been using have evolved during the acts. Better gear let you have more DPS output and you can spec less survivability.

Act 1: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#aiQXSO!YdU!ccYYYY


I've recently noticed that I don't need Force Armor in Act 1 or 2 any longer - which is great fun :)
Stats-wise I went from: 18k HP, 20k DPS, ~75 allres in the beginning, to: 41k HP, 38k DPS and 175 allres on Diablo (without Magic Weapon).
  • Always equip gear with Magic Find right before an elite pack or boss goes down. Do the same for chests.
  • Run speed is a must. 12% on shoes a minimum (worth dropping a lot of DPS for), but I tried some with 19% and suddenly the game was so much easier.
  • Resistances seem to be useless in the amounts I've tried out (up to 450). I still get one shot without Force Armor. So, having to have Force Armor I rather get more DPS and run speed and thus get hit less.
  • Have enough HP in Act 3 so that your Force Armor keep working properly. For me the magic barrier were at 32k HP. Some attacks will kill you through Force Armor though, learn what mobs do them.
  • Diablo is easier with > 40k HP, since you mostly can take a fireball (with Force Armor) if you mess up.
  • Gold-wise, run through Act 3 on Hell with a max aoe build and you'll find so much gold. Do every side dungeon and loot every pot and corpse. I average around 500k gold for 1,5 hours just by looting gold and selling all items to the vendor. A few (very few) items are worth selling on AH, netting you even more.
  • There's also a Resplendant Chest with 50% spawn rate in Act 3 The Keep Depths Level 1. There are three (3) different map layouts, and it takes around 10 seconds to check if it's the correct map. Just take the checkpoint and see if your map matches this layout: 

My first Diablo kill: 



Here's the gear I had when I killed Diablo: 


My priorities for gear is: Intelligence > Attack Speed % > Vitality > Crit % > Crit Damage % > Resistances


Belial guide


I grinded Belial for two full nights. That was possibly the toughest fight together with Diablo. There are two ways to go on that fight. For a wizard the hard part is phase 1 and 2.

One way is to have a lot of dps and just tear through Belial before he spawns his adds in Phase 2. I could not do that (my gear was way too bad) so I had to do the other way.

Second way is with Hydra (Venom) and Blizzard (Snowbound). I ran from one side of the arch to the other while kiting the adds. I did not focus on Belial at all, he will get down to 500k eventually and put you into

Phase 3. Save your cooldown on Diamond Skin and Teleport past the adds when they get close to you, running to the other side of the arch. It will take some time, but after a while you'll get the running back and forth down.

Phase 3 was the hard phase before Inferno, but now it's kind of simple when you get the hang of it. Belial has got three attacks and the meteor shower. Always stand close to the right side of the arch. You can not take any hits in Act 3, don't bother stacking vitality or anything such. You decide which attack it is from the green circle on the ground.
  • Attack 1 (green circle to the right of you): Belial will hit the ground where the circle is. As soon as it hits, run to where the circle was. The next two hits (one 1-armed and one 2-armed) will hit where you were standing originally. When those to hits have struck run back to your starting position.
  • Attack 2 (green circle on you): Run to the right, FAST! Belial will strike one time where you stood. Get back to your original position but DON'T if there's a breath coming.
  • Attack 3 (breath from right side to left): This is why you are standing on the right side. Belial will stretch a bit and lift both his arms to the side. You should already be running as far right as you can. If you do it right you won't take any damage.
  • Meteor AOE: I start by standing out by the fence, and then move along the fence towards the left. Use teleport if you must and don't be afraid of standing out in the middle or close to him. Even under his arms are okay. Hurry back to your starting position, but be aware if the circle to the right of you appears, then you have to change direction to get to where he struck in time.
During all of this, your Hydra will kill him. Just put a new one every now and then, no worries. You will have to survive around 4 full laps with meteor showers.

My best tip is to go do him on Nightmare or Hell difficulty. Do Phase 3 without damaging him (remove your Templar) and keep doing it for 20 minutes until you have it down and not taking any damage at all. Then you will feel much more confident when you hit Phase 3 on Inferno.

12% run speed on boots is a must in Phase 3.

This guy does Phase 3 really well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A6ZrnR4TejE#t=89s

Guide continued after the page break..

Diablo guide


Alright, here's my quick and dirty Diablo-encounter guide :)
The fight was between 12 to 14 minutes long. You can't rush it too much.
I changed my build by adding Slow Time (Perpetuity rune), this made his fireballs more manageable. The damage dealers is Venom Hydra and Magic Missile with Seeker rune.

Phase 1


-- Attack 1 (one fireball toward you): This one hits the ground where you are standing doing massive damage and also creates an aoe with a wide area of effect. It's even bigger than the graphic circle on the ground, so don't get close. It is almost always a instakill if you get hit with it.
You deal with it like this:
  • You are running and he misses you.
  • You teleport away.
  • You throw up Slow Time and smile at the opportunity to DPS the hell out of him with Magic Missile.
  • You have one of those rocks between you and he hit the rock.
  • You use Diamond Skin, run and pray.
-- Attack 2 (multiple fireballs in all directions): This attack is easier to avoid, but remember that the fireballs have much bigger hit boxes than they graphically seem to have.
  • You deal with this attack the same way as you deal with the first one.
-- Attack 3 (bone prisons): This is easy to avoid, always look at the ground! This attack is your friend since Diablo is standing still for a few seconds.
  • Run around and take the opportunity to either DPS him (look at the ground, not Diablo), get to the other side of the map or heal up.
-- Attack 4 (teleport & strike): This attack is annoying as hell but not that lethal unless you get his more dangerous melee debuff.
There's three different debuffs that you might get.
The first one increase the melee damage you get for a while, don't bother with it.
The second one reduces your healing with 50% for a while, run around to wait it out. The healing wells are not affected by this, they will always heal 100%.
The third one is the dangerous one. It puts a dot on you that will do around 3000 damage every second until it times out or you get to a Healing Well.
The teleport + melee attack will either:
  • Miss you because you are running (run speed on shoes anyone?)
  • Miss you because you teleport away
  • Miss you because you dodge
  • Do no damage because you use Diamond Skin, but might debuff you
  • Do damage
  • Do damage and debuff you
The tactics for Phase 1 is to keep one of the two holes with rocks between you and Diablo. Let your Hydra spew on him and lob your Seeker Magic Missiles around the rock. Be wary with angles so his fireballs don't pass the rock and kill you. When he teleports close, get away by teleport and be certain he'll throw fireballs after you. This is when Slow Time comes into use. The fireballs will be so slow that you can actually run back and dps him with Magic Missile while they are in the bubble.
When you get debuffed with the dot, Diamond Skin, Pot, Teleport to the Healing Well and stop it, then change side to the one with a full Healing Well. Rinse and repeat.


Phase 2


This phase isn't that hard actually. The dangerous part is to have your Shadow spawn on top of you and one shot you. When you notice that the shadow will spawn, throw down Hydra, Diamond Skin and be ready to teleport - anything to gain distance and then just kill it. It's very easy to kill, the Hydra will do it alone if you like to.
When Diablo is around, the most dangerous part is his fireball. Use Slow Time and Teleport to get from the top to the bottom of the map. Use the whole area and let your Hydras go to town.

Phase 3


-- Attack 5 (electricity-flame spew): Diablo roars flames after you.
  • Always keep your distance and they are no trouble. Teleport if you have to run through them.
Compared to the other phases this is a cakewalk. DIABLO NO LONGER TELEPORTS! YAY! Just run back and forth and keep an eye on him on the minimap. Put out your hydra and let it grind him down. Teleport away from his new attack. Don't rush it, he'll go down.

Good luck!


Note: After some comments from people, I tried out Mirror Images some more and I have to say they are really good. I'd exchange Diamond Skin for them.