Build Guide
1. Use Energy Twister and Black Hole to proc 2 Tal Rasha's stacks before entering Archon form. Since we're using the Combustion rune, popping Archon will activate the third stack. Attacking while in Archon form will activate the 4th and final stack, increasing your damage by a total of 3,000% for 8 seconds.
- To proc [Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac] very quickly and efficiently between Archon phases, I like to use Energy Twister to group enemies up for maximum density and then attack with Arcane Torrent. I use Black Hole last so that I can benefit from the +3% damage per affected enemy for a few seconds once I pop Archon.
- Using your abilities in this order also gives you the benefit of massively increasing density before you quite literally nuke everything in Archon form. Remember, more density means much more efficient [Manald Heal] procs, not only because your DPS has a higher chance to proc it, but because the procs deal AoE damage, and you want to hit as many enemies with it as possible.
- DO NOT neglect Energy Twister as a tool for increasing density. With [Ranslor's Folly], Energy Twister is able to grab enemies in a huge radius and allows you to create nice density in otherwise uncrowded and boring areas. This can also keep you alive if your movement options are limited, which is one of the main reasons we don't need a teleport ability for this build.
- In group play, Energy Twister's pulling effect allows you to play the role of pseudo-support for a few moments between each Archon phase by pulling large groups of enemies into dense packs, making the jobs of your dedicated supports much easier. They'll love you for this.
2. [The Swami] leaves you with all of your Archon stacks for 20 seconds after it expires, so you want to enter Archon form again as quickly as possible to get the full benefit of your leftover stacks before they expire. If you have good DPS uptime and you minimize the amount of time you spend re-positioning or avoiding damage, you can basically have double Archon stacks almost 100% of the time. Coupled with the +3,000% damage bonus from the Tal Rasha's 6-piece bonus in step 1, this will temporarily make your damage monstrously powerful, so be sure to focus your DPS on champion packs and rift guardians first.
- To maintain as much overlap on your Archon stacks as possible, you need to stack a lot of Cooldown Reduction (~63-68%). Make sure you have Cooldown Reduction on your Shoulders, Amulet, Gloves, Rings, Weapon and Offhand.
3. This build turns you into a low orbit ion cannon if you DPS from a great distance. You gain huge damage increases from [Starfire] in the Cube, [Zei's Stone of Vengeance] and Power Hungry.
4. The last major consideration for you to keep in mind while running this build is your [Gogok of Swiftness]. It gives you 15% increased Cooldown Reduction at maximum stacks, so it is very important that you try to deal some damage at least every 4 seconds wherever possible to make this build work as smoothly as possible.
"1. Use Energy Twister, Arcane Torrent and Black Hole to proc Tal Rasha's stacks before entering Archon form."
I don't think you need to cast arcane torrent, the disintegration beam in archon form is lightning dmg so you'll have the 4 stacks.
Oh, you're right. Thanks for pointing that out!
Now that I think of it, the reason I mentioned the abilities in that particular order is because that's the basic strategy between Archon phases for the entire build, aside from the first Archon form. Arcane Torrent is certainly the most efficient way to proc the Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac once you have enemies grouped up. I'll rearrange my explanation.
The input is appreciated!