Energy Twister (35 Arcane Power): You summon a tornado of arcane power at the target location that slowly wanders in random directions for six seconds. Any enemy that spends time in the tornado takes 60% weapon damage as Arcane damage over the course of each second it is in the tornado.
Energy Twister is a strange sort of almost-summon skill that costs a lot and does very little when the battlefield is not cluttered. The random factor in the tornado’s movement makes it a poor use of Arcane Power if the area you target isn’t absolutely crowded- and then you might well be better off dropping a Meteor and being done with it. Still, the fact that it lasts a while means it can be used to kite a bit.
Mistral Breeze (20 Arcane Power): You summon a tornado of arcane power at the target location that slowly wanders in random directions for six seconds. Any enemy that spends time in the tornado takes 60% weapon damage as Arcane damage over the course of each second it is in the tornado.
Cutting the Arcane Power cost of Energy Twister almost in half, Mistral Breeze is a very strong rune for the skill, turning it from a ‘maybe’ into a ‘sure’ as cost-to-effect goes. It remains impossible to control in other than the most general sense, but with the number of castings you can get out of it in a given time frame, it is far more useful than vanilla Energy Twister.
Gale Force (35 Arcane Power): You summon a tornado of arcane power at the target location that slowly wanders in random directions for six seconds. Any enemy that spends time in the tornado takes 78% weapon damage as Arcane damage over the course of each second it is in the tornado.
While Gale Force is a nice damage increase- slightly more than a quarter added on- the fact that it does nothing about the wandering, cost, or small-but-acceptable area of effect makes it a relatively undesirable rune. If you usually have large enough groups of enemies that you get full effect out of ordinary Energy Twister, it may be worth your while- otherwise, stick to Mistral Breeze.
Raging Storm (35 Arcane Power): You summon a tornado of arcane power at the target location that slowly wanders in random directions for six seconds. Any enemy that spends time in the tornado takes 60% weapon damage as Arcane damage over the course of each second it is in the tornado. If this tornado touches another tornado created by Raging Storm, the two tornadoes combine into a new tornado that lasts six seconds and deals the same amount of damage, but occupies a much larger area of effect.
Far more useful than Gale Force, Raging Storm can be used to improve the area of effect of every second tornado created by your Energy Twister. Casting it again just before a tornado expires, targeted right where that tornado is, you can squeeze out most of the first tornado before replacing it with a far larger one. Sadly, the skill remains uncontrollable, but at least it’s less likely to wander completely around the thing you want it to hurt.
Wicked Wind (35 Arcane Power): You summon a tornado of arcane power at the target location that stays in place for six seconds. Any enemy that spends time in the tornado takes 42% weapon damage as Arcane damage over the course of each second it is in the tornado.
At the cost of reduced damage, Wicked Wind promises absolute control over your tornadoes- an effect that is actually almost worth the cost. The fact that the tornadoes are small is the only hindrance here, as it’s hard to funnel enemies into the area of effect. To use Wicked Wind well, either team up with a control-oriented Demon Hunter or Witch Doctor, or make sure you’re using Slow Time a lot. The rest of the time, it- like the ordinary Energy Twister- is mostly a poor choice compared to your other Force options.
Storm Chaser (35 Arcane Power): Generate a Wind Charge. You may not have more than three Wind Charges. When you use a Primary skill, all your Wind Charges are consumed to create a large tornado that travels erratically in the direction you are targeting and deals 75% weapon damage as Arcane damage per Wind Charge consumed each second to all enemies in its area.
This bizarre form of Energy Twister is both the best and worst rune at the same time. On the one hand, it costs huge amounts of Arcane Power and time to really get a good effect out of the spell. On the other hand, you can build up Wind Charges between fights, and keep the effect readied to trigger the first time you use a Primary skill in the next fight as an essentially free bonus for having time between the fights. It’s very hard to judge a skill that takes a form like this, so if you’re considering it, test it. Just make sure you actually -use- your Primary skill on a regular basis first, or the skill is wasted.
