Diablo III- Skills Article CXXXIX: The Wizard, Force Skills- Wave of Force

Wave of Force (25 Arcane Power, Cooldown 15 Seconds): A wave of energy bursts out to a 16-yard radius from you, dealing 200% weapon damage as Physical damage, Slowing the movement of enemies hit by 60% for 3 seconds and knocking back all enemies hit.  Any enemy projectiles caught in a Wave of Force are thrown back the direction they were coming from, striking enemies for the same damage they would have done normally.

A powerful defensive effect with some other nice utilities, Wave of Force is a bit limited in that a Wizard either is trying to keep enemies from getting into its area to begin with (in which case they probably have Frost Nova anyways), or wants enemies nearby to hit with close-ranged Skills.  Still, having a redundant option with Frost Nova can be really useful, letting you alternate the two skills and always have one available every 7-8 seconds.  The projectile-rebounding effect is actually very useful- combining it with Slow Time can collect a lot of arrows, buglets, and other projectiles at once, dealing massive retributive damage to ranged enemies.

Impactful Wave (25 Arcane Power, Cooldown 15 Seconds): A wave of energy bursts out to a 16-yard radius from you, dealing 200% weapon damage as Physical damage, Slowing the movement of enemies hit by 60% for 3 seconds, Stunning them for 2 seconds and greatly knocking back all enemies hit.  Any enemy projectiles caught in a Wave of Force are thrown back the direction they were coming from, striking enemies for the same damage they would have done normally.

The first rune for Wave of Force is used to improve its ability to stymie melee opponents, making it a much stronger tool for long-range Wizards to protect themselves.  While the Stun is nice, it overlaps with the Slow effect, so there’s a limit to how much that improves.  The real advantage is in the increased knockback distance, which can really set melee monsters back in their attempts to mangle you.

Force Affinity (15 Arcane Power, Cooldown 12 Seconds): A wave of energy bursts out to a 16-yard radius from you, dealing 200% weapon damage as Physical damage, Slowing the movement of enemies hit by 60% for 3 seconds and knocking back all enemies hit.  Any enemy projectiles caught in a Wave of Force are thrown back the direction they were coming from, striking enemies for the same damage they would have done normally.

Force Affinity reduces the cost of Wave of Force drastically, which is nice.  More importantly, it matches the cooldown of Wave of Force to that of Frost Nova, letting the two alternate every 6 seconds instead of every 3 seconds.  This is a massive increase in defensive capacity for long-range Wizards, making them terrifying for melee monsters.  Even short-range wizards can use this rune with the combination of skills to pursue clusters of enemies about the terrain and repeatedly hinder them with crippling inactivity.

Forceful Wave (25 Arcane Power, Cooldown 15 Seconds): A wave of energy bursts out to a 16-yard radius from you, dealing 260% weapon damage as Physical damage, Slowing the movement of enemies hit by 60% for 3 seconds and knocking back all enemies hit a short distance.  Any enemy projectiles caught in a Wave of Force are thrown back the direction they were coming from, striking enemies for the same damage they would have done normally.

Best used by a short-range Wizard, Forceful Wave reduces the distance enemies are thrown back by the skill, in exchange for a large increase in the damage dealt.  This makes the skill an excellent opener or finisher for combat, depending on whether or not you mind the small knockback and pursuing your enemies to kill them.  If you play in a party, your melee allies will probably prefer that you use this form of the skill.

Teleporting Wave (25 Arcane Power, Cooldown 15 Seconds): A wave of energy bursts out to a 16-yard radius from you, dealing 200% weapon damage as Physical damage, Slowing the movement of enemies hit by 60% for 3 seconds and teleporting them to random locations.  Any enemy projectiles caught in a Wave of Force are thrown back the direction they were coming from, striking enemies for the same damage they would have done normally.

For use as a sheerest-emergency effect, Teleporting Wave replaces the knockback effect with a random teleport.  Don’t use this if you have melee allies- they’ll be frustrated endlessly by the way enemies are moved to random locations that will often be difficult or time-consuming to reach.  Ranged attack party members, on the other hand, will probably have a blast.

Exlpoding Wave (25 Arcane Power, Cooldown 15 Seconds): A wave of energy bursts out to a 16-yard radius from you, dealing 200% weapon damage as Physical damage, Slowing the movement of enemies hit by 60% for 3 seconds and knocking back all enemies hit.  Any enemy projectiles caught in a Wave of Force are thrown back the direction they were coming from, striking enemies for the same damage they would have done normally.  Enemies hit by the wave have a 40% chance on landing to create a secondary Wave of Force with a smaller radius that deals 100% weapon damage as Physical damage and knockback to other enemies in its area.

If you find yourself spending a lot of time on heavily crowded screens full of enemies, this form of Wave of Force will be ideal, creating a cascade effect that can send enemies scattering all over the place and hand out damage like candy.  If you’re using this rune, though, don’t spend Exploding Wave on fights with small numbers of enemies- you may find yourself missing it seven seconds later when a group of champions with the Minion modifier barge onto the screen and beat you down.