Frost Nova (Cooldown 12 Seconds): A burst of cold flashes outwards from you, dealing minimal cold damage to all enemies within about 12 yards and freezing them solid for 3 seconds.
Frost Nova is your first defensive skill, and unlike the more obvious defensive options (magical armors or evasion effects) serves multiple purposes. Close-range Wizards can use it to hold enemies in place to focus damage on them. Long-range Wizards can use it to stop things near them and escape. And mixed-range Wizards can combine or alternate the two options depending on the situation. Which rune you take for the skill depends very heavily on how you want to use it- but most of the runes are still viable options for the other use you want to put the skill to. Remarkably, Frost Nova freezes bosses as well, so there is really no situation in which it is useless to have.
Shatter (Cooldown 12 Seconds): A burst of cold flashes outwards from you, dealing minimal cold damage to all enemies within about 12 yards and freezing them solid for 3 seconds. Any enemy killed while still frozen by this skill has a 50% chance of releasing another Frost Nova.
Exceptionally useful for Wizards who use Frost Nova to pin down and kill an enemy, Shatter combined with area attacks (especially Disintegrate) can let you keep a hefty chunk of the battlefield frozen virtually as long as you feel like it. This is of especial import to Wizards who take the cold-oriented passive skill, but is useful to anyone, party or solo.
Cold Snap (Cooldown 9 Seconds): A burst of cold flashes outwards from you, dealing minimal cold damage to all enemies within about 12 yards and freezing them solid for 3 seconds.
Ranged attack Wizards who don’t have a way to keep enemies they can’t kill at a distance will find this rune to be very useful- the cooldown is only reduced by 3 seconds, but that can be an eternity of combat in Diablo III, so the acceleration in recharge speed is incredibly strong.
Frozen Mist (Cooldown 12 Seconds): A burst of cold flashes outwards from you, creating a cloud of mist about 12 yards in radius that lasts 8 seconds and deals 20% weapon damage as Cold damage per second to enemies that enter or pass through it.
Since Cold damage always inflicts a Slow while it’s being dealt, Frozen Mist becomes more of a tactical skill than a protective or pinning skill- drawing enemies through it can give you a good opportunity to blast out loads of damage or retreat to a safer position. This form of the skill is especially friendly to parties with melee attackers, who then have an easier time moving from one target to the next and mowing things down.
Deep Freeze (Cooldown 12 Seconds): A burst of cold flashes outwards from you, dealing minimal cold damage to all enemies within about 12 yards and freezing them solid for 3 seconds. If you freeze at least 5 targets, you gain a 15% increase to your critical hit chance for the next 12 seconds. This effect doesn’t stack with itself.
Deep Freeze is a version of Frost Nova that focuses on the offensive utility of pinning your enemies in place by adding a further chance to do improved damage after you use it. Close-range Wizards will love the effect of this skill, particularly with fast-attacking skills like Death Blossom or Spectral Blades.
Bone Chill (Cooldown 12 Seconds): A burst of cold flashes outwards from you, dealing minimal cold damage to all enemies within about 12 yards and freezing them solid for 3 seconds. Enemies frozen solid or chilled by this skill will take 15% extra damage until the effect wears off.
The other primarily offensive rune for Frost Nova is especially nice for party play, letting everyone kill things harder when you use it, not just you. On the other hand, the effect doesn’t last as long as Deep Freeze, which can be nearly continuous. Predicate your decision on whether you party or not, and whether your allies take advantage of the frozen state of your enemies or not. Not the best rune for single-player, though.
