Quote:
Originally Posted by Teh_Bandwagoner
My mage is up to 21k dps. Hopefully that's enough to at least farm the start of Act 1.
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I've been farming all of Act I since I had 14k dps as a mage. So yeah, you're more than ready. If you want to stay away from Hydra kiting (boring!) and cheezy Whirlwind builds, try using Meteor (Star Pact)/Arcane Orb (Tap the Source)/Diamond Skin (Crystal Shell)/Teleport (Fracture)/Energy Armor (Force)/(free slot, I've used Blizzard/Familiar/Wave of Force/Frost Nova/etc). Use Glass Cannon, Critical Mass, Astral Presence for passives.
Use Meteor when the mobs don't see you yet, are in choke points, or converge upon you; as the first mob is about to reach you, hit Diamond Skin and then spam Meteor right in front of you, running only when out of mana or your Skin is about to expire. Use Orb as a quick turn-around blast when being chased, or send volleys of them into grouped and mobile mobs while you are waiting for Diamond Skin to refresh. Use Teleport/Fracture defensively when you are cornered or can't outrun, use it offensively in choke points by 'porting forward, then allowing your clones to gum up the pursuers whilst you drop Meteors on them.
The key is to get used to using Diamond Skin offensively - if you save it as an emergency tool to escape elites, you are wasting it. You want to always be channeling the mobs into kill zones and then blasting them with as much burst damage as you can when they are up in your face, and therefore not moving. Obviously some elites don't let you do this effectively, which is when you will be kiting them with Orbs. I've yet to find an affix set that can't be beaten. You just have to practice, learn the timing, learn how to reverse field in tight spots, and learn the movement patterns of the different mobs.
You can get reasonably cheap gear that increases your Arcane Power limit on Wizard Hat, Source, and Wand. Prioritize this, then equipment with Int/Critical Chance/Critical Damage, then, in order of importance, +AP on critical, Resist All, Armor, and lastly Vitality. I have around 15K hp, and it's more than enough with the Energy Armor and proper use of Diamond Skin. I started, as I said, with around 14k DPS and I was able to use this build to run every bit of content in Act I other than The Butcher - whom I started being able to beat around 20k DPS when I could do enough damage to kill him before the whole room filled with flames, and not because he was killing me on his own.