The BlizWiz Build
I’ve been toying around with my character Brodix’s build ever since he hit 10th level, trying to find something that would make me both powerful and a bit distinctive. After all, there are dozens of mages out there who are straight pyromaniacs or arcanists. Realizing this, I decided to come up with a build that capitalized on one of the most destructive and massive area effect spells in the game, namely, Blizzard.
The BlizWiz build as I have lovingly dubbed it is based heavily on the chilling/freezing talents of the Frost tree. At lower levels, you concentrate on maximizing the effectiveness and duration of your frost spells’ chill effect. Permafrost is excellent for this, and meshes nicely with Improved Blizzard later on to ensure that chilled opponents stay that way even if they exit the area or resist a wave.
The second-tier talents are all very important to the build. You’ll need to spec Improved Frost Nova to get Shatter later on, but it isn’t immediately necessary. Ice Shards is an absolute must to spec. If you can spare the points, Winter’s Chill can turn your Improved Blizzard into one of the deepest chills in the game, with opponents cut to a sluggish one-quarter movement with both talents maxed out.
In the third tier, you reach the build’s signature talent. Spec Improved Blizzard as soon as possible. Given the massive damage the spell deals at higher levels, Piercing Ice isn’t a bad idea to finish out the tier, but don’t forget your all-important second-tier talents either.
The only two pieces remaining the puzzle after that are Shatter and Frostbite, both of which should be maxed out. Thus, with about 30 points, you can end up with an incredibly formidable area attack, perhaps one of the strongest in the game. Consider the implications; opponents caught in your Blizzard will be instantly chilled thanks to your Improved Blizzard, moving at anywhere from 25% to 35% of their normal movement depending on your level of Winter’s Chill.
But wait, there’s more. Each wave has a separate chance to chill, so your Blizzard has eight 15% chances to freeze your targets in place. Working the statistics, there is only a 27.2% chance that any particular opponent will avoid being frozen if they are hit by all eight waves.
Once the opponents are frozen, the real fun begins. Pump your Blizzard on them again and again and watch the damage rack up. After all, each wave now has a 50% greater chance to crit against them thanks to Shatter, and each crit deals 100% more damage thanks to Ice Shards.
I haven’t tested the build fully yet, but it should function as stated in theory. The end result is a mage that decimates large groups in party play. Whether or not the build works well in PvP is still anyone’s guess, and would likely depend on strategy more than anything.
The remaining 20 or so points should rightfully be applied to the Arcane tree to ensure that the resulting mage is balanced enough to survive. There is, of course, something to be said for specializing the Frost tree further, as there are many useful talents that this build neglects. Either option is viable depending on play style. Check out the complete rundown of the BlizWiz build.