Illusionist Wizard Inferno Survivor Build

Illusionist Wizard Inferno Survivor Build submitted by squarcle.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#blQROP!dfY!bZZbYZ

I see most wizard builds using magic weapon for that extra dps but I find my effective dps is higher with this setup. If you're having to run away constantly you're not using all your dps anyway.

The basic idea here is to drop hydra, blizzard, and mirror images. Then you just stand there spamming you're primary + blizzard while the mirror images do the tanking. Diamond skin scales horribly in inferno so its a no go.

Also, having mirror images allows me to distract bosses and more easily res people. Often times I'm the only one left during a boss fight and I'm running around reviving everyone (only for them to get 1shot the moment they get up).

Teleport doesn't break out of ice, mirror does. Wormhole has saved me many times, more so than the fracture rune has. It's also is useful for parking crazy affixed invuln mobs without dying.

Illusionist is the only necessary passive. Galvanizing ward and glass cannon can be replaced after obtaining better/more specific gear.

12% boots are a must for when you do have to run and wait for cooldowns. Though sometimes I take a hit on purpose to get the cooldowns reset. Ironically this has saved me many times.

I've tried swapping out blizz, hydra, or mirror image for magic weapon (I gain about 13k dps), but I find I kill things faster without it. Effective dps > spreadsheet dps. In addition its more survivable without magic weapon.

Also, the main reason for using the frozen solid rune on blizzard is for freezing the loot goblin. Sometimes that's the only thing keeping it from escaping, otherwise I'd use grasping chill (additional snare) or snowbound (less ap cost).

I haven't beat the game on inferno yet but I'm up to act3 doing fine with this setup and relatively cheap gear.