What attack does the Wizard do when attacking with a spell while out of Arcane Power?

Question

I've noticed that if my Wizard runs out of Arcane Power while I'm spamming an ability that costs arcane power, I start shooting little white dots at the enemy which do damage. This surprised me because I would have expected it to default to my primary ability, which doesn't cost any Arcane Power, when I run out of the shiney purple stuff

What attack is this?

Not sure if it matters, but I usually equip wands, so perhaps it's a wand attack? If it is a weapon auto-attack, is this a wand-specific attack or a wizard-specific attack? For example, if I equip a sword instead of a wand, will I start swinging my weapon instead of shooting dots?

Answer 1

Yes, that is the basic weapon attack. When you start out a level 1 character, it's the skill that is on right mouse button. With wands it's a small projectile, with swords you would run up to the monster and slash it.

You can also set this skill if you are in elective mode, and assign a skill to a hotkey when it is already assigned. For instance, if you have Magic Missle assigned to left mouse, and decide to remap it to right mouse, you will get the default weapon attack set to your left mouse button.

Answer 2

It's your main weapon attack, in your case, the wand.

Answer 3

The basic attack also depends on what weapon you have. If you have a wand, you'll do the ranged attack. But I noticed while using melee weapons like a sword or a spear, if you're out of energy and you try to use the spell, your character will actually start running towards the enemy to do a melee attack.

This can be dangerous when you're trying to kite a mob and instead your character starts running towards them instead.

Answer 4

If you are out of mana, you do regain mana slowly but if you do not select your generator spell and try to cast a spell outside of your current mana bank - you will cast your wand by default.

Whatever the users's spell that is bound to their left click BY DEFAULT is their generator spell. Your signature spells are free to cast. ( 4 main spells ) Such as magic missile, electrocute, etc.