Before I died a day or two ago, I was having lots of fun playing a skillshot non-fire Wizard in hardcore mode. Of course, I wasn't having the success a fire build would, but I have to say that it is most likely the best non-fire build available for Wizard right now. I completed up to a Greater Rift level 25 (around #200 on the Solo Wizard Hardcore leaderboards) in solo play but could have made it up to a theoretical Greaater Rift level 27-30 if I had streamlined and tried more Greater Rifts (I made very few attempts). In the end, this character (my 5th hardcore Wizard in my entire D3 career and the my first Wizard to die in Reaper of Souls) died on 4-player Torment 6 when I foolishly went into a Rift portal that was using the Dhalgur Oasis tileset with 4-5 elite packs jammed at the entrance blocking me from clicking back on it. Whether it was a pk doing this or just an unfortunate coincidence, I'm not sure.
All in all, I had a blast playing this very active, stutter-stop-heavy Wizard build and wanted to leave a memorial for it. Perhaps in the future, Blizzard could see how fun this play-style is and hopefully develop it into a main Wizard build spec (which it already is very close to being). This build surprised me as it could do more single-target continuous damage (individual missiles sometimes hitting for more than 32 million damage each) than fire builds can with some decent mobility (no channeling). Without further ado, here is the Wizard, his items and his skills when he died (preserved on www.diabloprogress.com):
Head:
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom - For the set or any of the bonuses (with the chest its a solid 5% elemental damage)
Andriel's Visage - Top DPS in slot but will make you a bit less tough.
Amulet:
Tal Rasha's Allegiance - Condender for best in slot if you get a perfect roll. However, these are rather rare.
Haunt of Vaxo - Easy to get a good roll. Works well with the Zei's Stone of Vengeance legendary gem for an extra tank and some damage as the shadow clones stay up about 50% of the time.
Moonlight Ward - Also easy to get a good roll.
Shoulders:
Aughild's Power - Best in slot if you are running with a Ring of Royal Grandeur.
Chest:
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit - Best in slot for a non-fire wizard due to the extra attack speed attribute.
Bracers:
Aughild's Search - Best in slot if you are running with a Ring of Royal Grandeur.
Gloves:
Asheara's Ward - There are no good arcane gloves so this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur proving a major toughness boost.
Cain's Scrivener - As above, this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur providing extra attack speed.
Ring:
Ring of Royal Grandeur - Best in slot for value from sets (there are 3 sets worn in this build).
Stone of Jordan - Best in slot for raw damage.
Unity - Best in slot for toughness in solo greater rifts (with an immortal follower of course!).
Belt:
The Witching Hour - Best in slot for damage, hand downs.
Tal Rasha's Brace - Second best to enable the final bonus of the Tal Rasha's set which provides extra damage.
Hellcat Waistguard - Not the greatest but is decent if you can't find something better.
Pants:
Asheara's Pace - Not many great pant choices for wizard so this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur proving a major toughness boost.
Cain's Habit - As above, this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur providing extra attack speed.
Boots:
Ice Climbers - Best in slot for surivability. Being immune to Jailer and Frozen Crown-control is key as teleport should get you out of or keep you out of all other situations. Pretty rare to acquire.
Illusory Boots - Another good item to slot if you couldn't find Ice Climbers.
Off-Hand:
MirrorBall - Required for this build. A roll of 2 extra missiles is a must.
Weapon:
Thunderfury - The proc for this weapon is amazing as this build does not have much area damage and the extra crown control synergies well.
Rimeheart - Most likely best in slot when looking for single target damage only.
Legendary Gems:
Bane of the Powerful - One of the best legendary gems to start with. However, other gems become better once they become ranked and this should be replaced.
Bane of the Trapped - Very good multiplicative damage that will work off Blizzard and the Thunderfury proc.
Simplicity's Strength - A nice damage add to your MM skill bonus. The life gain at rank 25 is also very desireable for survivability.
Zei's Stone of Vengeance - You will need to keep a fair distance to keep having the multiplicative damage work in your favour but its a rather large boost to damage when you do. The stun at rank 25 is amazing due to the amount of times Magic Missile will proc.
Sorry I couldn't grab a video of the play-style but it is basically stutter-stepping through packs and aiming at the big guys while letting the area damage clear up the rest of the mobs! Blizzard - Frozen solid allows a great amount of CC including being able to freeze most enemies and bosses for several seconds in a row or continuously freeze-cancel boss attacks for the entire fight. This build encourages proper aim, positioning, distancing, timing and resource management which makes it quite engaging and rewarding to play!
If there is enough interest in this build, I will add more information to this post and some low torment speed-farming variants (black hole, etc.)
I am currently playing a cookie cutter fire wizard since the death but am working on bringing some gear up to make another Wizard like this in the future.
Before I died a day or two ago, I was having lots of fun playing a skillshot non-fire Wizard in hardcore mode. Of course, I wasn't having the success a fire build would, but I have to say that it is most likely the best non-fire build available for Wizard right now. I completed up to a Greater Rift level 25 (around #200 on the Solo Wizard Hardcore leaderboards) in solo play but could have made it up to a theoretical Greaater Rift level 27-30 if I had streamlined and tried more Greater Rifts (I made very few attempts). In the end, this character (my 5th hardcore Wizard in my entire D3 career and the my first Wizard to die in Reaper of Souls) died on 4-player Torment 6 when I foolishly went into a Rift portal that was using the Dhalgur Oasis tileset with 4-5 elite packs jammed at the entrance blocking me from clicking back on it. Whether it was a pk doing this or just an unfortunate coincidence, I'm not sure.
All in all, I had a blast playing this very active, stutter-stop-heavy Wizard build and wanted to leave a memorial for it. Perhaps in the future, Blizzard could see how fun this play-style is and hopefully develop it into a main Wizard build spec (which it already is very close to being). This build surprised me as it could do more single-target continuous damage (individual missiles sometimes hitting for more than 32 million damage each) than fire builds can with some decent mobility (no channeling). Without further ado, here is the Wizard, his items and his skills when he died (preserved on www.diabloprogress.com):
Gungnir the 5th (GungnirV): http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/willoc-1564/GungnirV/41162582
Rest in Peace guy!
Here is a short item guide for this Wizard:
Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom - For the set or any of the bonuses (with the chest its a solid 5% elemental damage)
Andriel's Visage - Top DPS in slot but will make you a bit less tough.
Amulet:
Tal Rasha's Allegiance - Condender for best in slot if you get a perfect roll. However, these are rather rare.
Haunt of Vaxo - Easy to get a good roll. Works well with the Zei's Stone of Vengeance legendary gem for an extra tank and some damage as the shadow clones stay up about 50% of the time.
Moonlight Ward - Also easy to get a good roll.
Shoulders:
Aughild's Power - Best in slot if you are running with a Ring of Royal Grandeur.
Chest:
Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit - Best in slot for a non-fire wizard due to the extra attack speed attribute.
Bracers:
Aughild's Search - Best in slot if you are running with a Ring of Royal Grandeur.
Gloves:
Asheara's Ward - There are no good arcane gloves so this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur proving a major toughness boost.
Cain's Scrivener - As above, this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur providing extra attack speed.
Ring:
Ring of Royal Grandeur - Best in slot for value from sets (there are 3 sets worn in this build).
Stone of Jordan - Best in slot for raw damage.
Unity - Best in slot for toughness in solo greater rifts (with an immortal follower of course!).
Belt:
The Witching Hour - Best in slot for damage, hand downs.
Tal Rasha's Brace - Second best to enable the final bonus of the Tal Rasha's set which provides extra damage.
Hellcat Waistguard - Not the greatest but is decent if you can't find something better.
Pants:
Asheara's Pace - Not many great pant choices for wizard so this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur proving a major toughness boost.
Cain's Habit - As above, this is one of the two best in slot with a Ring of Royal Grandeur providing extra attack speed.
Boots:
Ice Climbers - Best in slot for surivability. Being immune to Jailer and Frozen Crown-control is key as teleport should get you out of or keep you out of all other situations. Pretty rare to acquire.
Illusory Boots - Another good item to slot if you couldn't find Ice Climbers.
Off-Hand:
MirrorBall - Required for this build. A roll of 2 extra missiles is a must.
Weapon:
Thunderfury - The proc for this weapon is amazing as this build does not have much area damage and the extra crown control synergies well.
Rimeheart - Most likely best in slot when looking for single target damage only.
Legendary Gems:
Bane of the Powerful - One of the best legendary gems to start with. However, other gems become better once they become ranked and this should be replaced.
Bane of the Trapped - Very good multiplicative damage that will work off Blizzard and the Thunderfury proc.
Simplicity's Strength - A nice damage add to your MM skill bonus. The life gain at rank 25 is also very desireable for survivability.
Zei's Stone of Vengeance - You will need to keep a fair distance to keep having the multiplicative damage work in your favour but its a rather large boost to damage when you do. The stun at rank 25 is amazing due to the amount of times Magic Missile will proc.
A quick view of the Skills required:
Sorry I couldn't grab a video of the play-style but it is basically stutter-stepping through packs and aiming at the big guys while letting the area damage clear up the rest of the mobs! Blizzard - Frozen solid allows a great amount of CC including being able to freeze most enemies and bosses for several seconds in a row or continuously freeze-cancel boss attacks for the entire fight. This build encourages proper aim, positioning, distancing, timing and resource management which makes it quite engaging and rewarding to play!
If there is enough interest in this build, I will add more information to this post and some low torment speed-farming variants (black hole, etc.)
I am currently playing a cookie cutter fire wizard since the death but am working on bringing some gear up to make another Wizard like this in the future.