Blizzard Entertainment released three images today after the Diablo III Facebook reached 975,000 Likes. Merely 20,000 away from reaching the one million goal as fans continue to support the recently revealed Diablo III Runestones system.
The following screenshot shows the male Wizard casting Wave of Force. The Wave of Force is a level 3 skill in the Arcane Tree, unlocked at Tier 2. The Wave of Force repels all nearby enemies outwards mostly as a defense mechanism. The visual effect looks like an expanding bubble that surrounds the Wizard and goes off knocking back all enemies in its perimeter.
The highlight of this screenshot in particular is that the Wizard is in mid-air, far above the ground, with the arcane bubble surrounding him. Looks like Blizzard found an interesting way to affect the skill with runestones.
Looking closely to the visual effect beneath the bubble, it shows the Wave of Force is used in this case as a way to escape the impending smash of the incoming red hulk.
Below are two concept art images: Caldeum City and the Witch Doctor.
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Hmm. Kind of disapointed with this one. The screenshot isn’t that interesting (it’s hard to show off a spell in a screenshot though), and the artwork is far from new. Let’s hope one million is really cool. 🙂
It’s hard to interpret a screenshot when we don’t know much. The other day I misunderstood the barbarian+wizard teams in the battle arena. Thought those were energy twisters cast by the wizard. Turned out to be a runestone effect of the Barbarian’s sprint skill.
This new wizard wave of force — I assume it is a runestone effect. If you see screenshots of the Wave of Force they look like a massive nova going off.
https://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss118-hires.jpg
However, the new screenshot shows the wizard wrapped by a bubble. Beneath him is an animation as if the bubble motioned upwards.
Wave of Force is meant to repel incoming enemies, and do some moderate damage. It’s meant as a defense mechanism when you get overwhelmed by too many mobs.
In this particular case, I theorize the Wave of Force was modified with a runestone. Instead of repelling mobs, the wizard propels himself upwards to get out of harms way. That massive monster seems about to slam the ground. Just in the nick of time, the wizard propelled himself out of harm’s way upwards. That’s my interpretation.
https://www.blizzplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/wave_of_force_malewizard.jpg