After reading Maxiym’s Entree level Melee Wizard guide, I decided that my previous spec and gear needed a small modification. I wanted to replace Spectral Blades by Energy Twister, but suspected I needed more +AP on Crit gear for that. So, I bought some on the AH.
Finding good, cheap gear on the AH is not an easy thing to do; you need patience, luck, and a smart strategy to search for the right items.
In this post, I want to share with you how I would go about gearing a fresh level 60 Wizard for this build, using no more than a million gold.
The most important thing to remember when looking for budget gear in the AH, is that the more useful stats an item has (especially if the values are high), the more expensive it becomes. An item with Intelligence, Vitality and All Resist is often ten or more times more expensive than an item with only 2 of those stats.
This is the key to finding cheap starting gear on the AH: focus on gear that has a few useful stats in large amounts. Instead of trying to find items with many useful stats, stick to finding items with only 2 or 3 useful stats, but with high values in those stats.
Some important stats for this spec are only available on a limited amount of slots (ignoring expensive Legendary items which break these rules). These stats are:
Arcane Power on Crit: Head, Main Hand, Off Hand
Crit %: Head, Amulet, Gloves, Bracers, Ring, Off Hand
Life on Hit: Main Hand, Amulet, Ring
Both AP on Crit and Crit % are important to have in large amounts, so you should find gear with these stats in every slot possible. Life on Hit is less important to have a huge amount of, so I would recommend going for 500 or more on the Main Hand only, since that is cheapest.
Let’s start with the “basic” slots. These slots can’t have any special stats like AP on crit, so we will focus on Intelligence, Vitality and All Resist. For each slot, pick one of either Int or Vit, set the lower limit to 120, and add a minimum of 70 All Resist. You should be able to find items for these prices easily:
| Slot | Price | Intelligence | Vitality | All Resist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulders | 100,000 | 120 | 0 | 70 |
| Chest | 50,000 | 0 | 180 | 70 |
| Waist | 100,000 | 0 | 160 | 70 |
| Legs | 50,000 | 120 | 0 | 70 |
| Feet | 50,000 | 120 | 0 | 70 |
With a bit more patience, you can find gear that is either better or cheaper. For additional stats, look for Armor (usually overlooked when pricing items, so that should be cheap too), sockets and the other stat of Int/Vit.
Then, the main Crit items. Here, it would be good to get another 50-100 All Resist, which I found cheapest on the Gloves. Again, also look for Armor and Int/Vit/AR.
| Slot | Price | Intelligence | Vitality | All Resist | Crit % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neck | 100,000 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Hands | 100,000 | 0 | 100 | 70 | 8 |
| Finger1 | 50,000 | 0 | 120 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Finger2 | 50,000 | 80 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 |
Then there are items with both Crit % and AP on Crit. These stats, you should be able to combine with some Int.
| Slot | Price | Intelligence | AP on Crit | Crit % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | 100,000 | 80 | 8 | 4 |
| Off-hand | 100,000 | 120 | 8 | 8 |
Finally, the weapon. I was able to find a weapon with 700 DPS, 600 Life on Hit and 8 AP on Crit for 100k gold. It’s always good if you manage to find a weapon which also has Int, Vit, Crit Damage, or a Socket.
| Slot | Price | DPS | Life on Hit | AP on Crit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main-hand | 100,000 | 700 | 600 | 8 |
All in all, this is a total of about one million gold if you just buy the first suitable item you see for each slot on the AH; you should be able to find this gear for under 500k gold if you are patient.
Then, you can try Maxiym’s spec, and you should be able to clear and farm Act 1 easily, and Act 2 should be doable too!