Magic Weapon

Magic Weapon

Magic Weapon charges your weapon with energy and increases the damage you deal for a very long duration. It is a classic set-and-forget buff that you activate once and that then stays up for almost the entire play session, which is why it fits nearly any build that can spare the slot.

The runes decide what the buff does on top. Force Weapon is the most obvious choice, because it simply doubles the damage bonus and thus delivers pure, unconditional extra damage. Conduit goes another way and restores Arcane Power on hits, noticeably helping resource-hungry builds keep their expensive spells flowing. If you need more safety, Deflection builds a small shield when you attack. In most cases, Magic Weapon is a cheap, permanently running damage amplifier.

Ignite and Electrify: the damage runes

Two runes add an extra effect to your attacks instead of changing the base bonus. Electrify (level 27) gives attacks a chance to arc lightning to 3 nearby enemies for 61% weapon damage as Lightning each. Ignite (level 46) has a chance to set enemies ablaze for 300% weapon damage as Fire over 3 seconds. Since both only trigger on a chance, their contribution is hard to plan around – in a finished endgame setup they usually make way for Deflection.

Why Deflection dominates in practice

In fully geared wizard setups, Magic Weapon is mostly run with Deflection (level 55). Every attack creates a 3-second shield that absorbs 4% of your Life. The number looks small, but it refreshes with each attack – with a fast casting rhythm the shield is on you almost permanently. Conduit shows up occasionally when Arcane Power is tight.

Note the "Requires Weapon" condition: without a weapon equipped you cannot cast the spell at all. The cost of 25 Arcane Power barely matters given a duration of 10 minutes.

Skills that Magic Weapon appears alongside

It most often shares the bar with Galvanizing Ward – together with Deflection you get two shield layers: one for quiet moments and one for the thick of the fight. Teleport and Storm Armor are other regular companions, while the passive slots frequently hold Audacity, Illusionist and Elemental Exposure. Illusionist resets the Teleport cooldown after a heavy hit.

by eRnstl