Diablo III- Skills Article CXXXVII: The Wizard, Defensive Skills- Slow Time

Slow Time (Cooldown 20 Seconds): You create a warped zone out to a radius of roughly 16 yards that Slows enemy movement by 30% and enemy attack speed by 20%, and reduces the speed of enemy projectiles by 90%.  This area of effect is stationary, even if you move, and lasts for 8 seconds.

Slow Time is a very powerful defensive skill, especially combined with damaging zones like Blizzard or skills like Wave of Force.  The fact that it reduces only enemies makes it a very handy combination of a safe zone and an obstacle- since enemy projectiles are drastically slowed, it becomes easy to dodge nearly any ranged attack by moving out of the way.  This skill is also very party-friendly.

Miasma (Cooldown 20 Seconds): You create a warped zone out to a radius of roughly 16 yards that Slows enemy movement by 30% and enemy attack speed by 20%, and reduces the speed of enemy projectiles by 90%.  This area of effect is stationary, even if you move, and lasts for 8 seconds.  Enemies and projectiles that exit the bubble are still affected by it for the next 3 seconds.

Miasma increases the effect of Slow Time- but only for characters who hide behind it rather than in it.  Still, this lets the Wizard tactically set up a ‘combat area’ that grants a massive advantage to players who stay outside of it opposite enemies.  It requires a bit more movement and positioning than the base skill, but when you’re using it with a party, this is well worth it.  Using Miasma while you play solo is inadvisable- you waste a fair chunk of the extended effective duration running out the far side if you try to use it to the fullest extent, and if you stay in the slowed area, you will barely notice the rune’s effect.

Time Warp (Cooldown 20 Seconds): You create a warped zone out to a radius of roughly 16 yards that Slows enemy movement by 30% and enemy attack speed by 20%, and reduces the speed of enemy projectiles by 90%.  This area of effect is stationary, even if you move, and lasts for 8 seconds.  Enemies within the bubble take 20% more damage.

Close-range Wizards will love this skill, as it slows incoming damage and provides opportunities to hand out even more beatings than usual.  This is also a very fun rune for party play, especially if you have melee allies since slowed enemies have a harder time getting out of the way.  Unlike Miasma, though, this skill is equally nice alone or with friends.

Time Shell (Cooldown 20 Seconds): You create a warped zone out to a radius of roughly 10 yards that Slows enemy movement by 80% and enemy attack speed by 20%, and reduces the speed of enemy projectiles by 90%.  This area of effect is stationary, even if you move, and lasts for 8 seconds.

Time Shell is especially potent used with zones of damage- if you work with a Witch Doctor, a Demon Hunter, or an Earthquake-using Barbarian, they will love you super-hard for Time Shell.  80% is a very high and very rare degree of slow, and this is one of only two or three ways to get it- and when it’s tacked onto an amazing defensive skill like Slow Time, all the better.  Not as easy to take advantage of solo, but if you rely on damage zones- particularly through Elective Mode- you can squeeze some extra power out of it.

Perpetuity (Cooldown 16 Seconds): You create a warped zone out to a radius of roughly 16 yards that Slows enemy movement by 30% and enemy attack speed by 20%, and reduces the speed of enemy projectiles by 90%.  This area of effect is stationary, even if you move, and lasts for 8 seconds.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have Slow Time active half the time instead of 2/5 of the time?  Blizzard clearly thought so- and Perpetuity proves both you and them right on it.  Increasing the frequency of such a useful skill is incredible, and affords you a vastly improved level of defense, as well as far more opportunities to attack with impunity.

Stretch Time (Cooldown 20 Seconds): You create a warped zone out to a radius of roughly 16 yards that Slows enemy movement by 30% and enemy attack speed by 20%, and reduces the speed of enemy projectiles by 90%.  This area of effect is stationary, even if you move, and lasts for 8 seconds.  Allies of yours have their attack speed increased by 10% while in this bubble.

This is a purely-party-play rune, as you don’t benefit from the increased attack speed it grants.  It’s hard to say whether this or Time Warp is more useful for party play- this one is a bit more abusable by ranged attackers, where Time Warp is stronger for melee allies and better for you when you’re solo.  If you’re not sure, ask your party members which effect they’d rather have.