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The most popular build in diablo 3 for wizard is this:

http://diablo.somepage.com/popular/wizard#builds

It uses forked lightning and frozen orb

But why?

Does frozen orb synergy with cold blooded? Does it chill or froze enemies?

Why forked lightning? Does it generate more arcane power?

The 44% damage when crit seems to be very low. Blizzard for example, deal 1k% damage.

What I am really interested is something along why is this better than usual.

For example meteor seems to hit harder than frozen orb. Also living lightning also generates arcane.

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    That post is two years old, and hasn't been updated for the latest patch. I don't think it's a popular build anymore.
    – Frank
    Commented Mar 15, 2014 at 15:02
  • Why not ask in the forum it was posted on so the creator of the build can respond in person?
    – user37332
    Commented Mar 15, 2014 at 15:20
  • The URL was wrong. I updated the URL with the correct one.
    – user4951
    Commented Mar 15, 2014 at 17:46
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    @Frank Forked Lightning + Frozen Orb is something that's popular now, and didn't even exist 2 years ago. Asking about the merits of a particular build is on topic. This question may not be worded the best way, but it should not be closed.
    – Invader Skoodge
    Commented Mar 15, 2014 at 17:50
  • I posted the wrong URL. My fault. But yea it's a good question.
    – user4951
    Commented Mar 15, 2014 at 17:53

1 Answer 1

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Forked lightning is for use between casts of Frozen Orb. You said that 44% seems low, especially compared to 1000% from Blizzard, but you're not taking everything into account.

  1. Electrocute's attack speed is really fast, so that 44% has a chance to trigger twice as often as the cast speed of other skills.
  2. Electrocute is free. The primary attack on any wizard build is generally meant as a filler between "real" attacks, and Forked Lightning is probably the wizard primary that deals the most damage the fastest from range.
  3. Blizzard deals 1000% damage over time, whereas this damage is instantaneous. They both have their uses, but comparing the flat numbers to each other is disingenuous.

The reason Forked Lightning and Frozen Orb are used on the most common builds is because they both are the most efficient at what they do. They don't necessarily synergize with each other more than any other offensive spell/primary combination, but each one individually is very strong. Frozen Orb is a very strong arcane-power-costing offensive spell, and Forked Lightning is a very strong free offensive spell to cast when you can't afford more Frozen Orbs for the time being.

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4
  • These builds very often use Prodigy, Electrocute is then used to replenish arcane energy. I'm using this combination with my Wizard right now, and I'm tapped out very quickly if I continuously cast Frozen Orbs.
    – Mad Scientist
    Commented Mar 15, 2014 at 18:16
  • Yes either prodigy or for proccing apoc
    – l I
    Commented Mar 15, 2014 at 18:45
  • I prefer Surge of Power with Prodigy for maximum AP generation. Just to clarify you say Forked Lightning is the highest damage filler and that's not true, the highest damage filler is Electrocute+Arc Lightning at 310%. Fork Lightning is the highest long range filler though, and that's especially important with squishy low toughness no CC specs.
    – Blindy
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 17:26
  • @Blindy Very important point. Added that caveat.
    – Invader Skoodge
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 17:50

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