HI! and welcome to our Wizard Leveling Guide! Leveling up Wizard is a struggle in the early part right up until a certain ‘tipping point’! This leveling build revolves ENTIRELY around abusing Disintegrate – once you have it… It’s a snap to 70!

I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU OPEN our D3 Leveling Process (all classes). It answers the usual leveling questions. “Leoric’s?” “Grinding?” There’s a ton of supplemental info there.

S28’s Altar of Rites VASTLY affects leveling

S28 is the ‘Season of Massacre Leveling’ due to Node A in Alter of Rites:
“Double massacre exp bonus and duration”.
Every other method is made worse by this. Also, Node C is “no item level requirement”…

First of all, see our Altar of Rites guide / order to get a clearer picture of what I’m talking about. Basically, this hinges around “Opening your first Challenge Rift Cache”, and if you want to take it ASAP. Also, there couple notes on Node C there, specifically how to get Node C with or without the cache.

Challenge Rift Cache woes

Every season, you should be doing the Challenge Rift, and opening the cache to get a huge boost in your leveling speed. However, this season, opening the Challenge Rift cache BLOCKS you from progressing the Altar of Rites past 15 nodes “until the next monday”  since you NEED a challenge rift cache to unlock the 15th node.

To Cache or not to Cache? To open or save? 

Open?

Opening the cache makes your leveling better, no doubt as it gives you the resources to fuel the usual seasonal tricks. Not only do you get Node A (double massacre bonus and duration), you also get to craft high level items to use alongside Node C, AND the usual shenanigans with Rift Caches. It’s a wild bonus. However, you must wait “until the upcoming monday” to go further down (15+) the Altar of Rites, which is a non-issue for many. For the season start, it’s just a few days wait.

Opening is a no-brainer for relaxed players, or if you don’t really plan to nolife week 1.

You also get a considerable boost as you step into 70, as you get 1 or 2 good legendaries.

Save?

Saving the cache vastly slows your leveling speed (in comparison), but you still get the huge bonus from Node A. If you’re getting boosted? save the cache is your best bet – you simply don’t need the EXP and power boost to leveling. You DONT have to wait to completely unlock your Altar of Rites.

Saving is a no-brainer for those getting boosted, or giga-grinders for Week 1.

People forget that massacre sucks for items, and without the cache you’ll be weak at 70.

I’ll be pasting this reminder in all leveling related content. GL leveling your wiz in S28!

Wizard Leveling – Quick Navigation:
FULL Leveling Build | Summary, Reminders | Leoric’s Crown? | Notes | Fresh Level 70!

!!! Challenge Rift Material Spending !!!

As mentioned in our general all classes leveling guide, you SHOULD be doing the Challenge Rift and WISELY be spending the resulting materials from it. TLDR: Challenge Rift -> Attempt Deaths Breath upgrade and Blood Shard gambles for a good legendary.

For a leveling Wizard, you have the worst chances compared to other classes to “cash out” of this process…

Death’s Breath

Upgrade 1h Wands for a 44/22/33 chance of something god/ok/suck. You’re looking for Wand of Woh, Unstable Scepter, Fragment of Destiny, or Serpent Sparker. Also, Starfire and Aether Walker are acceptable. Then there are three throwaway wands. Cross your fingers.

Blood Shards

If you somehow lucked out above, then you’re free to try Level 1 Bracers for Ashnagarr’s –  to shore up defenses. Otherwise, if you got a GARBAGE wand, just wait until L33 for Sources hoping for Etched Sigil.

Wizard Leveling: FULL BUILD per Level

This build is not SUPER optimized for MASSACRE (S28, you should be doing it)|
but it doesn’t need to be, given how easy it is to level.

Put your level in the box on the upper right – or hit back / next found in the bottom right! This build is very easily editable to accommodate any legendary you might have gotten. Mainly, swap out Disintegrate.

Help! I can't use those skills because they're from the same category! - Turn On Elective Mode

If you’re not allowed to put two skills on your bar because they’re from the same category – FEAR NOT! This isn’t a bug or a permanent in-game restriction. You simply have to CHECK ON ELECTIVE MODE, via Esc > Options > Gameplay > Elective Mode!

Binding Force Move to Mousewheel up & down is a value change that every player should make IMO. It prevents misclicks and skill misfires, and forces you to move to where otherwise an enemy might be.

Saved you from a bit of struggle, ey? Support us, don’t be an Arcannot!

Wizard Leveling: Skills & Reminders Summary

Help! I can't use those skills because they're from the same category! - Turn On Elective Mode

If you’re not allowed to put two skills on your bar because they’re from the same category – FEAR NOT! This isn’t a bug or a permanent in-game restriction. You simply have to CHECK ON ELECTIVE MODE, via Esc > Options > Gameplay > Elective Mode!

Binding Force Move to Mousewheel up & down is a value change that every player should make IMO. It prevents misclicks and skill misfires, and forces you to move to where otherwise an enemy might be.

Wizard Leveling & Leoric’s Crown – When, and is it worth it?

Review our D3 Leveling Process (all classes) for more notes on this. Summary:

Worth it! || You must be minimum L16 (to be safe)
You must beat him in Campaign Mode || You must not have beaten him previously

Wizards aren’t very mobile so it’s difficult to speed this up! Personally I do this every season as a change of pace. You won’t lose any time by taking this detour – likely the reverse!

Make sure you’re 21 at least. Pre-Disintegrate SUCKS, and you don’t wanna slog through Campaign with that. Equip Evocation (Passive) to reduce cooldown on Teleport.

I dislike opening seasonal characters by rushing to Leoric then switching to adventure. Imagine having to deal with that without Teleport or Disintegrate…

Wizard: Leveling Notes

Playing the Build

Disintegrate – Our whole build basically stacks passive effects which empower it! Needless to say, the short life pre-Disintegrate is noticeably worse for you.

Teleport is essential for SPEED. Much more so in basic BOUNTIES (Wormhole rune, especially). It’s too good to pass up, and should be in your hotbar at all times.

Hydra (Lightning) shines against Elites and bosses – generally another pseudo passive source of damage! Don’t be lazy to summon it whenever you’re swarmed, too. 

Familiar, Magic Weapon and Storm Armor are just there purely for passive bonuses. Between Disintegrate and Hydra – you have all the tools you need!

Aside from that, there’s nothing fancy goin’ on here. Seriously – Disintegrate2Win.

Followers – Hire them!

Get your Templar out with you! Templar takes care of any healing you might need. More importantly – increased Arcane Power regen. Choose all of the left skills!

Crafted Yellow Weapons

Craft the best 2H Yellow Axe (Level 8 onward). The difference is huge. What I do is just check if there’s a new one available to make whenever I’m in town after a few levels. Don’t forget to upgrade the Blacksmith as you go along.

Disintegrate and 2H weapons synergize well in the sense you do much more damage per mana spent – it’s really obvious seeing the difference in channeling spells!

At level 61 it is IMPORTANT you craft a new weapon since the stat difference is gigantic compared to pre-60 weapons. Oh, do this for armor too if you can.

Wizard: Gems while Leveling up

Ruby (red) gems should always be combined as much as possible as it’s the best gem to put in BOTH your Helmet and Weapon during the leveling up phase.

Topaz (yellow) gems in all other open sockets, for increased Intelligence (damage).

Fresh 70 Wizard, now what?

Congratulations on reaching Level 70 Wizard! A quick reminder – Craft a level 70 2-handed mace and any other outdated items you may have. We highly suggest you check out:

>> Fresh Level 70 Wizard Guide <<<

Here’s a list of all our Wizard Guides.

For other D3 info, go click on this link –> D3 Directory Guide.

Wizard Leveling – Quick Navigation:
FULL Leveling Build | Summary, Reminders | Leoric’s Crown? | Notes | Fresh Level 70!

Thank you for visiting our Wizard Leveling Guide. Hope our leveling guide helped you overcome the struggles of the early game. Congratulations Disintegrating your way to max level.

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47 COMMENTS

  1. Since there is no edit date i have to ask, when you say: “L33 for Sources hoping for Etched Sigil” is that after the change?
    If that isn’t the case, would you recomend at lvl 11 Winter Flurry? and level with Blizzard at lvl 27.

    • THis is not yet updated for S22 (in terms of gambles), so yes while Winter Flurry is definitely strong these days I would have to check the new level/item relation tables to make a recommendation.

  3. Hey, I keep reading that to do speed farming we need a group. Do you know where I can find a group?

    Am fairly new to Diablo 3, and your guide helped me a lot with Season 17 (Firebird’s Finery). I appear stuck at Torment VII though, and can’t move forward as I keep getting killed easily. Do you have any recommendations for this?

    And for season 18, how do I speed farm?

  5. Would you include a section for Blood Shards gambling?

    – Etched Sigil (gamble lvl 33; average 300 shards)
    vs.
    – Manald Heal (gamble lvl 27; average 600 shards) – relevant for Vyr’s. Gambling rings can also give Leoric’s Signet.

    If you were to get Manald Heal, how should you adjust your build to use it?

  7. How exactly are you suppose to craft lvl 61 gear at lvl 61? My blacksmith is capping out at 59 gear and requires a DB to lvl up any higher, and the odds of getting a DB before you hit 70 in Master is astronomically low

  8. Do these guides work with the XBOX One version? My wizard she keeps getting killed really easy. I’ve currently got her at lvl 52.

  12. I found Hergbrash’s Binding while running this build, and it opened up my skill slots substantially letting me customize a little of my play style

  15. Strangely enough (because the comments on this post seem recent) this guide seems outdated already: I am only lvl 20 so far but it appears that magic weapon and storm armor are on the same skill slot. Could you update the build (which of the 2 should be kept and what other skill to choose for slot 4)?
    Thank you!

    • Hi! it seems that not a lot of people are familiar with the elective mode so you can use the skills under the same category. here’s my reply to another’s comment about the same issue. * Hi! Try this: press Esc – Options – Gameplay. then under Interface,make sure that there’s a check mark on Elective mode. You’ll be able to customize skills selection now. *
      It looks like we have to include this in our guides the soonest.

  16. Thanks a lot. As a new D3 player, this guide taught me a lot!
    I noticed a small typo: the “Magic Weapon” currently links to the “Familiar” page. Feel free to delete my comment once fixed 🙂

  19. -On level 15 you should NOT rune Wave of Force. You want to be running into packs and wave forcing 2ish times, while kiting rare mobs to bigger groups until they die. The knockback of the rune makes it slower.

    -On level 29 should i craft the next 2 handed axe?

    Thanks for the guide!

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