Finally broke through and finished tier 41 today with a serpent sparker and blazing hydra. Tried 42 for the first time and was pretty overwhelmed. Gonna need some more practice and good RNG to finish that one. Not really sure what else I can do gear wise except get some good T&T and level them paragons. Found two T&Ts but both were trash unfortunately.
Kind of feel like I've peaked, but I am going to keep pushing.
Finally broke through and finished tier 41 today with a serpent sparker and blazing hydra. Tried 42 for the first time and was pretty overwhelmed. Gonna need some more practice and good RNG to finish that one. Not really sure what else I can do gear wise except get some good T&T and level them paragons. Found two T&Ts but both were trash unfortunately.
Kind of feel like I've peaked, but I am going to keep pushing.
Once you hit 39, 40, and higher RNG is the major issue. Exarchs, Winged assassins, Density, hostile map...completion is almost all RNG.
I think they should do to GRs what they did to Trials. Divide the mobs into groups, populate the rift levels with different mixes of mobs, remove traps AND Shrines, and probably buff density across the board. That's what needs to be done.
Finally broke through and finished tier 41 today with a serpent sparker and blazing hydra. Tried 42 for the first time and was pretty overwhelmed. Gonna need some more practice and good RNG to finish that one. Not really sure what else I can do gear wise except get some good T&T and level them paragons. Found two T&Ts but both were trash unfortunately.
Kind of feel like I've peaked, but I am going to keep pushing.
Once you hit 39, 40, and higher RNG is the major issue. Exarchs, Winged assassins, Density, hostile map...completion is almost all RNG.
I think they should do to GRs what they did to Trials. Divide the mobs into groups, populate the rift levels with different mixes of mobs, remove traps AND Shrines, and probably buff density across the board. That's what needs to be done.
This is actually the reason I have very little desire to push higher than 40. The frustration vastly outweighs my desire to be on top. I'm actually getting sick of "random" in general. I've been playing destiny quite a bit lately and that too makes me want to punch things. Can't progress because RNG dictates that I'm not worthy enough to get raid gear, despite clearing weekly.
Same thing here, due to RNG I may or may not be able to progress in a timely manner. It just serves to artificially inflate the time to do something, as if games can't find real ways of progression without hiding behind RNG to get it.
When they announced that they were going to populate rifts with random monsters, akin to what they did with A5 in D2, I was excited. Only to step into a rift and only having 3 types of mobs. It's as if someone just threw it together without paying attention to how it changes an encounter to fight several of the same type of monster. They're balanced in small numbers mixed with other mobs, just like in the acts, but the original rifts were just plain stupid.
Aside from the mobs being incessantly annoying, it's just plain not fun to fight so many of them. I really do hope they normalize GR's, because as it stands I'm not going to do very much with them.
On a side note, what is the viability of SS/TnT with Blazing vs Mammoth and 1h or 2h? Does 1H mammoth still beat it out? Or would I be able to switch? I've got a 2140 devastator with 17% fire(Still waiting for gift so I can roll off socket for +10% damage) and a 2232 SS(Ditto on gift). Since I haven't found a furance or a good maximus yet, I was curious how well it'd do.
On a side note, what is the viability of SS/TnT with Blazing vs Mammoth and 1h or 2h? Does 1H mammoth still beat it out? Or would I be able to switch? I've got a 2140 devastator with 17% fire(Still waiting for gift so I can roll off socket for +10% damage) and a 2232 SS(Ditto on gift). Since I haven't found a furance or a good maximus yet, I was curious how well it'd do.
Depends on what your 1H is and what you have to go in the slot freed up by using Firebird source. Devastator better for trash, but trash isn't really what's gating you on 40+ -- would probably prefer Sun Keeper if you had a good one kicking around. I clear 40 with both SS/TnT-Blazing and 1H-Mammoth and while they feel about equal in speed, Blazing feels like I'm having to do more / cast more / be more mindful of setup.
So when you next get a gift, probably toss it on the SS and go Blazing unless/until you find a Sun Keeper or Furnace.
Is it even worth it to change from my equipped firebirds, show below, to one with 17% fire, 9.5% crit, and 8% elite damage, should I be able to eventually roll it? Hate to lose the Vitality.
Depends on your current toughness. I generally give up vitality for more DPS rolls when I'm well beyond the 12-15M range (with about 500-550K HP and Prismatic Armor). That's just speaking from experience. 12-15M toughness is enough to get by in <GR45.
Haven't done solo GRs in a while, but I have since posting this guide reached GR42:
Same exact build. Just practice. Playing the build over and over and getting a better hang of the playstyle can get you pretty far, even if Rift RNG isn't in your favor.
Didn't change a single active skill/passive. Exactly the same spec I've been running since 2.1 launched. Some time ago I messed with Conduit, Force Armor, Glass Cannon, etc., but I still ended up settling with the aforementioned setup.
It's worth noting that the only upgrades I've made since I started running solo GRs were a pair of Firebird boots and a new Witching Hour (managed to reroll IAS to yield int, vit, life bonus, CHD). That's all I've changed. Same Firebird set, same Furnace, same Mara's, same Strongarm, etc.
I've done no more than 100 solo Greater Rifts since the launch of 2.1. No joke. The real change has been learning to play the build. A few weeks ago, it took me 40 minutes to "finish" my first GR42. I've sinced cleared it and have been attempting/finishing GR43-44 solo. Again, it's just practicing the play style and getting used to the mentality that's behind the spec. It's highly L2P aside from the RNG you deal with, but even RNG can be somewhat mitigated by making good decisions and playing well. Won't guarantee completions, but at least you can play knowing you did your best.
And that's more misinformation regarding Force Armor. You have to reach a threshold of HP before you can benefit from its effects.
The amount of damage that is absorbed cannot be higher than 100% of your maximum life. That means if you have 100K max HP: For hits X damage < 35K, you will lose X life. For hits that are 35K < X < 135K, you will lose exactly 35K life. For hits 135K < X < 200K, you will lose X - 100K life. For hits X > 200K, you are dead. This means you can take up to 200% of your max HP in damage with Force Armor.
There are justifications for Force Armor in high level Rifts. With my ~15M toughness, a regular Lacuni Slasher hits me for over 66% of my life with Prismatic on. Force Armor can mitigate that to 35%. However, I will have a tougher time surviving against DoTs like Frozen and Molten. Pick your poison.
There are justifications for Force Armor in high level Rifts. With my ~15M toughness, a regular Lacuni Slasher hits me for over 66% of my life with Prismatic on. Force Armor can mitigate that to 35%. However, I will have a tougher time surviving against DoTs like Frozen and Molten. Pick your poison.
I pick Force Armor, staying out of Molten, and Talisman of Aronach amulet All those people saying Xephirian amulet is Best in slot for a wizard are flatly wrong. you can MOVE OUT of TStorm, you can't escape Frozen
Finally found a good sunkeeper and was finally able to break into GR42!! Rank 6 America.Once I was able to farm 42 stones on my DH I was able to get a lot of practice and once the stars aligned it really paid off. Being able to use 10 keystones in a row really gets you into a groove, and I think it makes a HUGE impact on success rate.
Kind of sad I had to abandon my serpent sparker, but thems the breaks. I feel like the only way I could manage that is to find a good TnT and a useable cindercoat with hydra damage. My DH found a trifecta TnT with 50% attack speed, and it is hard to complain about that but was really hoping I'd land that on INT for wizard.
Now I have to find a way to beat 43...
Should I be using a witching hour instead at that point? Used SoE up until now, and I feel the mitigation is useful but it is really hard to tell. I guess I'll have to experiment with it more.
Quote from GamanionThings started to go better but have few questions: which is the correct sequence to deal maximum damage with dot? Apocalypse, blazar slightly apart the target to "suck" it, hydra as far ahead to maximize zei's?
There's really no set sequence. You do want to make sure you have good coverage on Apocalypse casts. The thing to pay attention to is over-cast. Apocalypse without Cindercoat is very expensive, so over-casting it once on the same area (as overlap do not stack damage) can be pretty damn detrimental in the long run.
I usually have Apocalypse going behind me and ahead of me. Behind me to make sure mobs are continuously following me while I'm moving deeper into the Rift level. Ahead of me to aggro enemies ahead and merge them with the mobs behind me.
While the Apocalypse casts are doing their thing, I pick my moments to cast Blazar. I either cast them to round up large groups of trash mobs or prep elites in order to trigger Strongarm. Blazar can also be used defensively to pull things out of your way when Teleport is on cooldown. This takes a lot of practice. You want to save your bullets, but you also don't want to be too passive, which can lead to wasted time and missed opportunities.
Hydra also takes practice. You will find that you'll resummon Hydra a lot in order to maximize its distance to get the most out of Zei's. Double casting Hydra while Mammoth's trail of fire is in motion can also speed up trail DoT stacks. Generally not recommended until you're against a single target that doesn't move around too much.
Quote from GamanionAny tips to kill the RG faster? Had a few 39s with 3 minutes left bit cannot kill the RG..
I generally try to save 3-4 minutes for any RG. Stonesinger can be killed in 2 minutes or less. Saxtris, Orlash, Crusader King and Bone Warlock can take significantly more time because of the frequency of add spawns. In GR44-45, I need around 4-6 minutes to down a standard RG. It gets really rough. Conduit is the easy way out at those levels.
Death is not an option against RGs. You want to get into an optimal position where you can cut off their line of sight and get the Templar to block their pathing. When you manipulate line of sight and pathing, it can save you A LOTof trouble against RG affixes. That takes practice and some RNG with the Rift tile set. After that, it's just rinsing and repeating your spells to maintain a steady flow of damage. Never idle and watch the infinite DoT ticks.
dang it would have been even better if you passed him ( assuming that's him ) xD
Nah, I have three other clan mates in the Top 20 (can't see them on the list) who are also chasing GR43+. They're the ones joking that I was gonna get pushed out soon.
Rank 9 so quickly. Guess I'll have to push harder. Grats Jaetch!
I fell from #6 to #10 in a month, so there was my excuse to start soloing again. The Top 50 or so normally don't move too much other than the same people leapfrogging each other once in a while. It'll be tough for anyone to top yours unless they go for GR43+. I did start to pressure my clan mates to hit Top 100 lately, so there's some movement there.
Video is also located in the OP.
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Kind of feel like I've peaked, but I am going to keep pushing.
Top 10 Solo Wizard Leaderboard - North America
Highest: Rank 6 // Greater Rift 42 12m40s
I think they should do to GRs what they did to Trials. Divide the mobs into groups, populate the rift levels with different mixes of mobs, remove traps AND Shrines, and probably buff density across the board. That's what needs to be done.
Same thing here, due to RNG I may or may not be able to progress in a timely manner. It just serves to artificially inflate the time to do something, as if games can't find real ways of progression without hiding behind RNG to get it.
When they announced that they were going to populate rifts with random monsters, akin to what they did with A5 in D2, I was excited. Only to step into a rift and only having 3 types of mobs. It's as if someone just threw it together without paying attention to how it changes an encounter to fight several of the same type of monster. They're balanced in small numbers mixed with other mobs, just like in the acts, but the original rifts were just plain stupid.
Aside from the mobs being incessantly annoying, it's just plain not fun to fight so many of them. I really do hope they normalize GR's, because as it stands I'm not going to do very much with them.
On a side note, what is the viability of SS/TnT with Blazing vs Mammoth and 1h or 2h? Does 1H mammoth still beat it out? Or would I be able to switch? I've got a 2140 devastator with 17% fire(Still waiting for gift so I can roll off socket for +10% damage) and a 2232 SS(Ditto on gift). Since I haven't found a furance or a good maximus yet, I was curious how well it'd do.
So when you next get a gift, probably toss it on the SS and go Blazing unless/until you find a Sun Keeper or Furnace.
Haven't done solo GRs in a while, but I have since posting this guide reached GR42:
Same exact build. Just practice. Playing the build over and over and getting a better hang of the playstyle can get you pretty far, even if Rift RNG isn't in your favor.
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Didn't change a single active skill/passive. Exactly the same spec I've been running since 2.1 launched. Some time ago I messed with Conduit, Force Armor, Glass Cannon, etc., but I still ended up settling with the aforementioned setup.
It's worth noting that the only upgrades I've made since I started running solo GRs were a pair of Firebird boots and a new Witching Hour (managed to reroll IAS to yield int, vit, life bonus, CHD). That's all I've changed. Same Firebird set, same Furnace, same Mara's, same Strongarm, etc.
I've done no more than 100 solo Greater Rifts since the launch of 2.1. No joke. The real change has been learning to play the build. A few weeks ago, it took me 40 minutes to "finish" my first GR42. I've sinced cleared it and have been attempting/finishing GR43-44 solo. Again, it's just practicing the play style and getting used to the mentality that's behind the spec. It's highly L2P aside from the RNG you deal with, but even RNG can be somewhat mitigated by making good decisions and playing well. Won't guarantee completions, but at least you can play knowing you did your best.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
There are certain buffs and debuffs that can be snapshotted and others that dynamically affect damage output.
Read more about buffs/debuffs and their respective categories here: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14058607023
And that's more misinformation regarding Force Armor. You have to reach a threshold of HP before you can benefit from its effects.
The amount of damage that is absorbed cannot be higher than 100% of your maximum life. That means if you have 100K max HP: For hits X damage < 35K, you will lose X life. For hits that are 35K < X < 135K, you will lose exactly 35K life. For hits 135K < X < 200K, you will lose X - 100K life. For hits X > 200K, you are dead. This means you can take up to 200% of your max HP in damage with Force Armor.
There are justifications for Force Armor in high level Rifts. With my ~15M toughness, a regular Lacuni Slasher hits me for over 66% of my life with Prismatic on. Force Armor can mitigate that to 35%. However, I will have a tougher time surviving against DoTs like Frozen and Molten. Pick your poison.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
I like my Mara's because of Poison Enchanted, Plague, bees, Heralds, Accursed, RGs like Blighter, Binder, Erethon, Choker and Voracity.
But yeah, any of the immunity amulets will help to some degree.
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Awesome guide Jaetch! Thank you for helping and inspiring the community. Looking forward to see you testing the new Slow Time set. Keep it up!
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Wiberg-21958/hero/35061489
Kind of sad I had to abandon my serpent sparker, but thems the breaks. I feel like the only way I could manage that is to find a good TnT and a useable cindercoat with hydra damage. My DH found a trifecta TnT with 50% attack speed, and it is hard to complain about that but was really hoping I'd land that on INT for wizard.
Now I have to find a way to beat 43...
Should I be using a witching hour instead at that point? Used SoE up until now, and I feel the mitigation is useful but it is really hard to tell. I guess I'll have to experiment with it more.
Top 10 Solo Wizard Leaderboard - North America
Highest: Rank 6 // Greater Rift 42 12m40s
There's really no set sequence. You do want to make sure you have good coverage on Apocalypse casts. The thing to pay attention to is over-cast. Apocalypse without Cindercoat is very expensive, so over-casting it once on the same area (as overlap do not stack damage) can be pretty damn detrimental in the long run.
I usually have Apocalypse going behind me and ahead of me. Behind me to make sure mobs are continuously following me while I'm moving deeper into the Rift level. Ahead of me to aggro enemies ahead and merge them with the mobs behind me.
While the Apocalypse casts are doing their thing, I pick my moments to cast Blazar. I either cast them to round up large groups of trash mobs or prep elites in order to trigger Strongarm. Blazar can also be used defensively to pull things out of your way when Teleport is on cooldown. This takes a lot of practice. You want to save your bullets, but you also don't want to be too passive, which can lead to wasted time and missed opportunities.
Hydra also takes practice. You will find that you'll resummon Hydra a lot in order to maximize its distance to get the most out of Zei's. Double casting Hydra while Mammoth's trail of fire is in motion can also speed up trail DoT stacks. Generally not recommended until you're against a single target that doesn't move around too much.
Practice, practice.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
I generally try to save 3-4 minutes for any RG. Stonesinger can be killed in 2 minutes or less. Saxtris, Orlash, Crusader King and Bone Warlock can take significantly more time because of the frequency of add spawns. In GR44-45, I need around 4-6 minutes to down a standard RG. It gets really rough. Conduit is the easy way out at those levels.
Death is not an option against RGs. You want to get into an optimal position where you can cut off their line of sight and get the Templar to block their pathing. When you manipulate line of sight and pathing, it can save you A LOT of trouble against RG affixes. That takes practice and some RNG with the Rift tile set. After that, it's just rinsing and repeating your spells to maintain a steady flow of damage. Never idle and watch the infinite DoT ticks.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
Top 10 Solo Wizard Leaderboard - North America
Highest: Rank 6 // Greater Rift 42 12m40s
I fell from #6 to #10 in a month, so there was my excuse to start soloing again. The Top 50 or so normally don't move too much other than the same people leapfrogging each other once in a while. It'll be tough for anyone to top yours unless they go for GR43+. I did start to pressure my clan mates to hit Top 100 lately, so there's some movement there.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site