Wizards are masters of the arcane arts, living conduits for elemental devastation. These powerful spell slingers offer a variety of play styles, but today we're honing in on one particular element that's simply…electrifying.

The "Electro-Stun God" build, created by BrvzerX#1972, focuses on exactly the elements and theme his straightforward name suggests. Lightning damage, and more specifically Electrocute, is the star of the show here, and the play style emphasizes massive amounts of stunning to support both your own survivability and that of your fellow party members.

About the Build:

BrvzerX put together the Electro-Stun God build with his very first Wizard—a hero created long ago, but only recently revisited after the launch of Reaper of Souls. When returning to this character, he decided he wanted to take a less traveled route when it came to its play style. "I wanted something I could call my own, and use whatever items I could salvage from the vast items I was picking up from farming. And then I saw Myken's Ball of Hate.”

It always starts with a single drop, doesn’t it?

What I did there, do you see it?

BrvzerX has used this build in every difficulty at level 70, from Torment I to VI in various settings. It carries its own weight while providing supplemental damage and always beneficial crowd control. While Myken's Ball of Hate plays a major role in bringing this build together, Brvzerx has provided a slew of item options to choose from and the core abilities synergize so well on their own that the items are nearly an afterthought.

The Skills:

While this build was originally submitted just prior to the 2.0.5 Patch going live, nothing has changed recently with the build's abilities that would affect its efficiency. You'll find the majority of skills are used to provide supplemental damage while allowing Electrocute to shine.

Active Skills:

• Electrocute (Chain Lightning)
  • The bread and butter of this build
  • While this helps generate Arcane Power as a generator, it also serves as a primary damage dealer
• Storm Armor (Shocking Aspect)
  • Provides supplemental Lightning damage, innately and from additional Critical Hits
• Familiar (Sparkflint)
  • Provides passive damage to increase DPS output
  • Provides a flat DPS increase to all abilities
• Magic Weapon (Electrify)
  • Additional Lightning damage is always welcome
  • Provides a flat DPS increase to all abilities
• Black Hole (Supermassive)
  • Provides much needed grouping to better enable Electrocute to hit as many enemies as possible
  • Additional Lightning damage plays well with the build
  • Can also proc Paralysis
• Slow Time (Point of No Return)
  • Usable as a potential escape method
  • Stuns enemies who enter or exit its radius
  • Allows extra maneuverability for dodging hard-hitting projectiles

Alternative Skills:

BrvzerX kindly provided additional options for tweaking his build during solo play:

• Electrocute (Forked Lightning)
  • While this hits fewer targets than Chain Lightning, it provides a greater damage output on monsters that have been grouped up
• Hydra (Lightning Hydra)
  • An additional DPS boost for solo runs
  • Capitalizes on bonus +Lightning damage

Passive Skills:

These passives heavily compliment the intended control-focused play style. As always, feel free to experiment or tweak as you see fit!

• Paralysis
  • This passive, combined with Electrocute, is the heart and soul of this build
  • Stuns offer crowd control, utility, and survivability
• Blur
  • Additional Toughness is always welcome
• Evocation
  • Reduces the cooldowns on Slow Time and Black Hole; the more often these two are available, the better you can manage your enemies
• Unwavering Will
  • Stunning enemies allows you to remaing stationary for longer periods of time
  • Additional damage and Toughness are netted as a result

The Items:

Naturally, the best items to supplement this build play off of enhancing Electrocute, offering additional Lightning damage or providing even more ways to stun and control your enemies.

Be sure to check out Brvzerx’s profile – he’s received some juicy upgrades lately!

Core Items:

The following items offer the largest benefits to this build, and each provides additional Lightning damage or otherwise synergizes with Electrocute to further propel you upward through Torment levels. Bear in mind these are goal items, and the build works quite well with just a couple of the following:

• Myken’s Ball of Hate
  • Essential for the build; this doubles the potency of Electrocute
• Velvet Camaral
  • Further multiplies the potential of Electrocute, doubling the number of enemies the skill can jump to
  • Plays especially well with Chain Lightning
• Thundergod’s Vigor
  • Integral for many Lightning damage builds; provides +Lightning Damage in a slot where it ordinarily isn’t available
  • As an added bonus, supplements damage with its Lightning discharge affix
• Ancient Parthan Defenders
  • Additional armor provided for each stunned enemy means you’re constantly gaining survivability simply by doing what you do best
• Wyrdward
  • As a fully Lightning-based damage build, the Stun proc will be fairly constant from this item
• Dovu Energy Trap
  • Doubles the duration of your Stuns, drastically increasing utility and crowd control

Complementary Items:

These items are recommended to help fill in gaps, but aren't inherently necessary to the overall success of this build:

• Countess Julia’s Cameo
  • Immunity to Arcane means no more dodging those pesky Arcane Turrets
  • Allows you to better capitalize on the Unwavering Will passive
• Blackthorne’s Battlegear
  • Can fill in missing core items while providing excellent survivability
  • With the 4-piece Set bonus, allows you to better capitalize on the Unwavering Will passive
• Cain's Destiny
  • Can fill in missing core items while the 2-piece Set bonus provides Attack Speed
  • As a crafted Set, offers an early path to gearing up for this build
• Azurewrath
  • Recommended for the high chance to Freeze, providing additional crowd control
• Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker
  • Lightning based proc fits in nicely with the build theme
  • Reduction in enemy Attack Speed and Movement Speed provides great utility, both in groups and in solo play
• Ice Climbers
  • One of the few things that can stop your Stuns is the Frozen monster affix
  • Great for survivability

Recommended Stats:

Specific items and affixes play best with this build, but there are plenty of regular affixes that can contribute greatly to its success:

• Attack Speed benefits this build multiplicatively—it leads to more procs, more crits, and overall, more damage
• +Lightning damage should definitely prove one of the higher affix choices on your gear, as skills deal Lightning damage across the board
• +Damage to Electrocute should also be highly valued, since Electrocute will attribute to the vast majority of your damage dealing

Recommended Difficulty and Game Mode:

Viable across every game type and difficulty, the only limiting factor to this build is your gear progression. However, an Electro-Stun God is welcome in every party, and they truly shine in group environments, such as Rifts and Bounties. While you'll find you're more comfortable between Torment I-IV for solo play, the utility and supplemental crowd control this build brings will allow you to reach a little higher with friends who are ready to tackle Torment V or VI.

Torment VI? No problem for BrvzerX or his friends!

Of course, we always recommend taking careful steps, especially in Hardcore, when trying something new. Be sure to feel out where your gear level is before diving headfirst into any build!

Why We Like This Build:

I'm a big fan of utility builds, as I prefer playing Diablo III with my friends. It's always nice to feel wanted and that you bring something special to the group, so the huge amount of control from this build is downright enticing.

There’s a pun here about beasts and charging, but I think I’ve used up my pun quota already.

I've also long since been a fan of Electricity damage, reaching back to a long history in traditional tabletop gaming. While it's true these kinds of effects are associated with stuns and that usefulness is always welcome, there's something very primal about cutting through swaths of enemies with a bolt of lightning. It evokes a traditional fantasy theme and, for lack of better phrasing, it simply leaves me… all charged up (there it is).

Tell Us What You Think!

What kind of Wizard build have you been experimenting with? Are any other Lightning-based Wizards roaming around out there? What would you have done differently, and do you have any recommendations for improving on BrvzerX's concept? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and if you've got your own creation to submit, don’t hesitate to send it to me over at TheorycraftThursday@blizzard.com!

Stay Tuned. . .

Next week, we'll be casting our first ever Theorycraft Thursday vote! Be sure to stop by and let us know which of the builds we’ve featured in the last month has been your favorite. On or around June 5^th (schedules pending), we’ll invite the winner to stream with us live on Twitch.tv/Diablo! Exciting things are on the horizon, but until then – may all your drops be Legendary!