[2.2] GR55+ solo - a melee Wizard of Fire and Ice - Wizard - Diablo III Builds

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[2.2] GR55+ solo - a melee Wizard of Fire and Ice

by user-19535633 last updated May 6, 2015 ( Patch 2.2 )

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Skills

Spectral Blade Flame Blades
- Spectral Blade
This is a Signature spell. Signature spells are free to cast.

Summon a spectral blade that strikes all enemies up to 15 yards in front of you for 168% weapon damage as Arcane.
Flame Blades

Each enemy hit increases the damage of your Fire spells by 1%, up to a maximum of 30%, for 5 seconds.
Blizzard Frozen Solid
- Blizzard
Cost: 40 Arcane Power

Call down shards of ice that deal 1075% weapon damage as Cold over 6 seconds to enemies in a 12 yard radius. Multiple casts in the same area from the same caster do not stack.
Frozen Solid

Enemies caught in the Blizzard have a 100% chance to be Frozen for 2.5 seconds.
Teleport Calamity
- Teleport
Cooldown: 11 seconds

Teleport through the ether to the selected location up to 50 yards away.
Calamity

Cast a short range Wave of Force upon arrival, dealing 175% weapon damage as Arcane to all nearby enemies and stunning them for 1 second.
Hydra Mammoth Hydra
- Hydra
Cost: 15 Arcane Power

Summon a multi-headed Hydra for 15 seconds that attacks enemies with bolts of fire dealing 165% weapon damage as Fire.

Only one Hydra may be active at a time.
Mammoth Hydra

Summon a Mammoth Hydra that breathes a river of flame at nearby enemies, dealing 330% weapon damage per second as Fire to enemies caught on the burning ground.
Arcane Torrent Static Discharge
- Arcane Torrent
Cost: 16 Arcane Power

Hurl a barrage of arcane projectiles that deal 400% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies near the impact location.

Arcane Torrent damage is increased by 305% weapon damage every second, up to a maximum total of 1010% weapon damage as Arcane.
Static Discharge

Each missile explodes into 2 piercing bolts of electricity that each deal 150% weapon damage as Lightning.
Ice Armor Crystallize
- Ice Armor
Cost: 25 Arcane Power

Surround yourself in a barrier of ice that reduces damage from melee attacks by 12%. Melee attackers are either Chilled or Frozen for 3 seconds. Lasts 10 minutes.

Only one Armor may be active at a time.
Crystallize

When you are struck by a melee attack, your Armor is increased by 20% for 30 seconds. This effect stacks up to 3 times.

Arcane Dynamo
- Arcane Dynamo
When you cast a Signature spell, you gain a Flash of Insight. After 5 Flashes of Insight, your next non-Signature spell deals 60% additional damage.

The following skills are Signature spells:
Magic Missile
Shock Pulse
Spectral Blade
Electrocute
Illusionist
- Illusionist
When you take more than 15% of your maximum Life in damage within 1 second, the cooldowns on Mirror Image, Slow Time, and Teleport are reset.

When you use Mirror Image, Slow Time, or Teleport, your movement speed is increased by 30% for 3 seconds.
Elemental Exposure
- Elemental Exposure
Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will cause them to take 5% more damage from your attacks for 5 seconds. Each different damage type applies a stack, stacking up to 4 times.

Elemental damage from your weapon contributes to Elemental Exposure.
Unstable Anomaly
- Unstable Anomaly
When you receive fatal damage, you instead gain a shield equal to 400% of your maximum Life for 5 seconds and release a shockwave that knocks enemies back and Stuns them for 3 seconds.

This effect may occur once every 60 seconds.

Items

Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom

Set Helm

Primary Stats

Critical Hit Chance Increased by 4.5–6.0%
+3 Random Magic Properties
Empty Socket
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+330–524 Dexterity

+330–524 Strength

+330–524 Intelligence

Tal Rasha's Elements
Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit
Tal Rasha's Brace
Tal Rasha's Allegiance
Tal Rasha's Stride
Tal Rasha's Grasp
(2) Set: Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. There is an 8 second cooldown for each damage type.
(4) Set: Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 25% for 8 seconds.
(6) Set: Attacks increase your damage by 750% for 8 seconds. Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each add one stack. At 4 stacks, each different elemental attack extends the duration by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 8 seconds.
Death Watch Mantle

Legendary Shoulders

Primary Stats

+4 Random Magic Properties

Secondary Stats

25–35% chance to explode in a fan of knives for 750-950% weapon damage when hit.
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+85–108 Dexterity

+85–108 Strength

+85–108 Intelligence
Tal Rasha's Allegiance

Set Amulet

Primary Stats

Critical Hit Damage Increased by 51.0–100.0%
+4 Random Magic Properties
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+330–524 Dexterity

+330–524 Strength

+330–524 Intelligence

Tal Rasha's Elements
Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit
Tal Rasha's Brace
Tal Rasha's Allegiance
Tal Rasha's Stride
Tal Rasha's Grasp
(2) Set: Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. There is an 8 second cooldown for each damage type.
(4) Set: Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 25% for 8 seconds.
(6) Set: Attacks increase your damage by 750% for 8 seconds. Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each add one stack. At 4 stacks, each different elemental attack extends the duration by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 8 seconds.
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit

Set Chest Armor

398 - 472 Armor

Primary Stats

Sockets (1)
+130 - 149 Vitality

Tal Rasha's Elements
Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit
Tal Rasha's Brace
Tal Rasha's Allegiance
Tal Rasha's Stride
Tal Rasha's Grasp
(2) Set: Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. There is an 8 second cooldown for each damage type.
(4) Set: Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 25% for 8 seconds.
(6) Set: Attacks increase your damage by 2000% for 8 seconds. Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each add one stack. At 4 stacks, each different elemental attack extends the duration by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 8 seconds.

+ 2 Random Magic Properties
Ancient Parthan Defenders

Legendary Bracers

Primary Stats

+4 Random Magic Properties

Secondary Stats

Each stunned enemy within 25 yards reduces your damage taken by 9–12%.
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+85–108 Dexterity

+85–108 Strength

+85–108 Intelligence
Tasker and Theo

Legendary Gloves

Primary Stats

Attack Speed Increased by 5.0–6.0%
+3 Random Magic Properties

Secondary Stats

Increase attack speed of your pets by 40–50%.
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+330–524 Dexterity

+330–524 Strength

+330–524 Intelligence
Tal Rasha's Brace

Set Belt

Primary Stats

+81–85 Resistance to All Elements
+4 Random Magic Properties
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+220–349 Dexterity

+220–349 Strength

+220–349 Intelligence

Tal Rasha's Elements
Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit
Tal Rasha's Brace
Tal Rasha's Allegiance
Tal Rasha's Stride
Tal Rasha's Grasp
(2) Set: Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. There is an 8 second cooldown for each damage type.
(4) Set: Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 25% for 8 seconds.
(6) Set: Attacks increase your damage by 750% for 8 seconds. Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each add one stack. At 4 stacks, each different elemental attack extends the duration by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 8 seconds.
Tal Rasha's Stride

Set Pants

Primary Stats

+4 Random Magic Properties
Empty Socket
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+220–349 Dexterity

+220–349 Strength

+220–349 Intelligence

Tal Rasha's Elements
Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit
Tal Rasha's Brace
Tal Rasha's Allegiance
Tal Rasha's Stride
Tal Rasha's Grasp
(2) Set: Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. There is an 8 second cooldown for each damage type.
(4) Set: Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 25% for 8 seconds.
(6) Set: Attacks increase your damage by 750% for 8 seconds. Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each add one stack. At 4 stacks, each different elemental attack extends the duration by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 8 seconds.
Nilfur's Boast

Legendary Boots

Primary Stats

+81–85 Resistance to All Elements
+3 Random Magic Properties

Secondary Stats

Increase the damage of Meteor by 200%. When your Meteor hits 3 or fewer enemies, the damage is increased by 275–350%.
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+220–349 Dexterity

+220–349 Strength

+220–349 Intelligence
Halo of Arlyse

Legendary Ring

Primary Stats

+3 Random Magic Properties

Secondary Stats

Your Ice Armor now reduces damage from melee attacks by 50–60% and automatically casts Frost Nova whenever you take 10% of your Life in damage.
Empty Socket
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+220–349 Dexterity

+220–349 Strength

+220–349 Intelligence
Unity

Legendary Ring

Primary Stats

Critical Hit Chance Increased by 4.5–6.0%
Increases damage against elites by 12.0–15.0%
+2 Random Magic Properties

Secondary Stats

All damage taken is split between wearers of this item.
One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+220–349 Dexterity

+220–349 Strength

+220–349 Intelligence
Serpent's Sparker

Legendary Wand

Primary Stats

+128–163 Intelligence
+3 Random Magic Properties

Secondary Stats

You may have one extra Hydra active at a time.
One of 7 Magic Properties (varies)

+(32–39)–(39–49) Arcane Damage

+(32–39)–(39–49) Poison Damage

+(32–39)–(39–49) Lightning Damage

+(32–39)–(39–49) Holy Damage

+(32–39)–(39–49) Cold Damage

+(32–39)–(39–49) Fire Damage

+(32–39)–(39–49) Damage
Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare

Set Source

Primary Stats

+(94–118)–(95–142) Damage
+330–524 Intelligence
Critical Hit Chance Increased by 6.0–10.0%
Increases Meteor Damage by 20–25% (Wizard Only)
+3 Random Magic Properties

Tal Rasha's Elements
Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit
Tal Rasha's Brace
Tal Rasha's Allegiance
Tal Rasha's Stride
Tal Rasha's Grasp
(2) Set: Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. There is an 8 second cooldown for each damage type.
(4) Set: Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 25% for 8 seconds.
(6) Set: Attacks increase your damage by 750% for 8 seconds. Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each add one stack. At 4 stacks, each different elemental attack extends the duration by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 8 seconds.

More Details

Head
- Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom
- Stat Priority: Int CHC Socket Physical %
Shoulders
- Death Watch Mantle
- Pauldrons of the Skeleton King
- Homing Pads
- Stat Priority: Int Vit Life Poison %
Amulet
- Tal Rasha's Allegiance
- Stat Priority: Int CHD CHC Socket
Torso
- Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit
- Stat Priority: Int Vit AS Poison %
Wrists
- Ancient Parthan Defenders
- Stat Priority: Fire % Int Vit CHC
Hands
- Tasker and Theo
- Stat Priority: Int AS CHD CHC
Waist
- Tal Rasha's Brace
- Stat Priority: Int Vit AR Life
Legs
- Tal Rasha's Stride
- Stat Priority: Int Vit Armor + Socket
Feet
- Nilfur's Boast
- Stat Priority: Int Vit AR Physical %
Rings
- Halo of Arlyse
- Unity
- Stat Priority: CHD CHC Socket Int
Weapon
- Serpent's Sparker
- Stat Priority: Dmg % Int Vit AS
Offhand
- Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare
- Stat Priority: Int Vit CHC Poison %

Legendary Gems
- Bane of the Trapped
  Bane of the Trapped
  
  Gem
  
  Primary Stats
  
  Increase damage against enemies under the effects of control-impairing effects by 15.00%.
  Gain an aura that reduces the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30%. (Requires Rank 25)
- Pain Enhancer
  Pain Enhancer
  
  Gem
  
  Secondary Stats
  
  Critical hits cause the enemy to bleed for +2500% weapon damage as Physical over 3 seconds.
- Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard
  Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard
  
  Gem
  
  Primary Stats
  
  Regenerates 10000 Life per Second.
  After not taking damage for 4 seconds, gain an absorb shield for 200% of your total Life per Second. (Requires Rank 25)

Paragon Priorities

Core

Movement Speed
Primary Stat
Vitality
Maximum Resource

Offense

Attack Speed
Critical Hit Damage
Critical Hit Chance
Cooldown Reduction

Defense

Armor
Resist All
Life
Life Regeneration

Utility

Area Damage
Resource Cost Reduction
Life on Hit
Gold Find

Build Guide

Check out my 2.2 wizard builds in this thread 2.2 Wizard Builds

IMPORTANT NOTE: guide needs to be updated, a few players tested with mammoth hydra and found out that it does maximum dmg when casted right near the mobs (the farther u cast it the more dps u lose) http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/17085850012?page=1 and with this knowledge Black Hole actually becomes a very desirable skill since it can gather all the mobs in one point, and we can cast both hydras in melee range of that point in order to achieve maximum dps. So, I take back everything I said bad about BlackHole before. This new found mechanic should also bump the ceiling of this build a bit, and I'm willing to say we can hit GR58+ with it on season, but this is just an assumption, can't test yet since I don't have a SerpentSparker. I'm also starting to doubt this will be the top build for progression, since Vox might have created a stronger build around AetherWalker/meteor/rcr: http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/wizard-the-ancient-repositories/116841-gr-58-aetherwalker-build-made-by-vox but again, can't test and compare the builds yet, maybe others can test and let me know

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Like I promised, here are the videos that prove this can reach a few rifts higher than 55 (scroll down to BUILD DESCRIPTION if you don't care):

Live values hydra, average rift, GR 55 clear up untill the boss, ~ 9minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw7-Pvs9kMs

PTR bugged hydra, dream rift, GR 63 clear up untill the boss ~ 7:30 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5thr4lQ3O4

As u can see, the GR55 rift was similar with the GR61, same map, similar mobs, with the downside of having moon clan impalers in the 55 that were oneshotting me, but I cleared it faster, I just needed the boss RNG, spawned Voracity, RIP rift

Now let's say we get a dream rift like the GR 63 one, coupled with a lucky Stonesinger boss spawn, we could clear GR 58+ on live, nonseason, old TalRasha offhand. Chances of this happening are small, perfect gear, perfect rift, perfect boss, perfect pylon RNG.

Must also consider that I didn't play perfectly, I died stupidly many times, a better player than me can go higher, I am just theorycrafting here

This build was capable of GR 65 on PTR, but I couldn't reach that because pain enhancer was lagging the game, so I used toxin and lost a TON of damage, but I didn't lag out (see explanation in the build description).

TODO: make pastebin with math if needed

BUILD DESCRIPTION

In my opinion this build is the strongest build for solo (and maybe even group) greater rifts. In season 3 I am absolutely certain it can reach GR 55 with suboptimal gear, rift fishing required. In nonseason, with almost perfect gear, and with an old TalRasha offhand that can roll hydra damage% it can hit 58+ with extreme rift fishing.

You can use a variation of this build in groups too, with Focus+Restraint, but you need to have a puller (i.e crusader/monk) and a support wd. The boss will be a big problem, due to the lack of range. You might also lag the game when hydra hits the 2.5 APS bp, see below. LE: seems like the gamelag problem disappeared when patch hit live, there are groups that have cleared 65+ with melee wizards hitting even 3.33 hydra bp.

Physical % on helm and boots is meteor dmg%, there was no category for it.

Poison % on shoulders, chest and source is hydra damage%, there was no category for it. If u play season (like me :p) u will be unable to get a TR offhand that can roll hydra, meteor dmg% is the only option on the post 2.2 offhands.

If you wear homing pads, town portal when you are in trouble, so you get the shield. Thx to John Prodigy for asking the shoulders question, gave me the idea to add Homing Pads.

Build variations:

As Atu pointed out in the comments, we can swap ArcaneTorrent for Meteor-Thunder Crash, so we get more damage; but from my tests on PTR we cannot possibly sustain both Meteor and Blizzard-Frozen Solid; so if you decide to run Meteor, you have to use Blizzard-Snowbound in tandem with it, you will lose the ability to freeze annoying ranged mobs , but you get more damage in return; Tbh I like the Frozen Solid build variation, it requires less fishing, but it is your decision to make!
If u die too much, replace meteor dmg on helm with vitality.
Can drop Gizzard for Toxin/Iceblink if you don't need the life regen and want more damage.
~~Black Hole is not optimal for this build; we already have a lot of cc, and it's cooldown reduces the TalRasha 4 stacks uptime, you can hit a higher GR without this skill!~~
You can interchange the vitality and attackspeed from gloves and wand; keep one of each, depending on what items u find
LE: this gamelag problem might have been fixed on live, not 100% sure. If your game lags when u are near mobs u will need to replace painenhancer with toxin; the causes are the hydras reaching 2.5 APS and the inherent dynamical attack speed coming from painenhancer that stresses the server-client connection (Blizzard pls fix); this is a big DPS hit sadly, with toxin we can barely reach 100+ flame blade stacks in high density maps, pain enhancer can get us to 200+ stacks. So it's a double DPS loss, the hydra APS and the blade stacks.
~~Audacity~~ and hydra dmg% are each in their own class of multipliers, do not drop them LE: I was wrong by picking Audacity, it does not affect the hydra damage, thx bcrumbler for pointing out my big mistake! You can use Unstable Anomaly/ Unwavering Will/ Cold Blooded/ Blur instead of it!

Why am I not using Enforcer? : I do not recommend the enforcer gem, it is additive with elemental dmg (they are in the same damage multiplier class), and from bracers+flame blades we can stay at 100%-200% fire damage while hitting lots of mobs (using pain enhancer) . Enforcer would just make it 130%-230%, so clearly not worth. Enforcer would be helpful during the boss fight though. I recommend pain enhancer/toxin/iceblink/BOP as a second dmg gem (BoT and Gizzard are mandatory imo, but maybe it is possible to drop Gizzard for a 3rd damage gem for rly high pushes, though it will be hard to survive). Pain enhancer is the best damage-wise, but in my GR61 video I was forced to use toxin gem, since the pain enhancer was shooting my ping above 1000. If the enhancer didn't cause lag GR 65 would have been in range.

You will need attack speed on at least 2 pieces of gear and from paragon points in order to hit the 2 APS hydra breakpoint. Go here if u want to learn more: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/15270729572

The play style is very aggressive, you will see in my videos. Teleport into mobs, keep TR stacks up, buff your fire elemental dmg to extreme levels with spectral blade, cast arcane dynamo empowered hydras. Arcane torrent is used in order to aggro packs of mobs that are out of range, and blizzard is good for freezing at range and the elemental stack. You survive with the help of the bracers, by keeping the mobs perma frozen/stunned around you. Desecrator/plagued/molten affixes are your friends, frost nova is spammed while u stand in them. High Greater Rifts that mainly consist of ranged enemies will be hard to finish (moon clan impalers, bogan trappers are instant skip). Also beware elites with frozen affix and for that matter, any other mobs that can stun, your ice armor will stop casting frost nova when u are frozen/stunned, so u will die.

Have fun!

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