I've been following this topic because it's really interesting. I think we don't need to talk about SMK, but all the other weapons might be slightly easier to get and all come with several trade-offs, so not a clear cut choice. I've got a TF, Rhen'ho, and quite decent Sunkeeper but just can't decide what to use. Could people also post their spec+favorite element along with their weapon choice?
I'm thinking of running this spec with a Rhen'ho and physical damage (I'd like to go physical, not another fire spec please). Before that I ran the same build with Pile On walls and TF. But need more time to figure out what's best. ;-)
I have been running a similar build for the past day and a half since I got a Rhen'ho flayer to drop. It's been amazing. I have been reworking the gear to include more toughness so that I don't depend on unity. I can steamroll t4 in 5 - 8 minutes on average and t5 takes a little bit longer. I haven't tried much t6 and I still think I'm a ways away from efficiently clearing it. Here's a link to my profile w/ the build in there:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Tak-1454/hero/42633170
Horrify + Spirit walk is insane. I've been gearing for CDR as well. At this point I am thinking I can move out the 10% CDR from the flayer and just put 10% damage on it though. My goal was to emulate SMK in terms of having BBV up all the time. I must say it works fairly well. At this point I don't feel like I NEED SMK (which is a good thing cause it's insanely rare). I have spent about 12000 shards on gloves but no Tasker and Theo yet. I have basically given up and moved on to try to collect a full jade set. The magefist is still good however because of explosive toads, so I don't mind. I have experimented with tall man's finger and that is decent as well. I ditched RoRG cause I don't think it's necessary for this build. I think 3pc aughild's isn't horrible and I don't care about the 3pc bonus of Captain Crimson.
Horrify works extremely well, but you could always swap it for something else. I change tribal rites -> circle of life when I need my dogs and swap back afterwards as I can't justify "wasting" a lot on t4 for those dogs since they last 1 - 3 rifts. In t6 I can see needing it on your skillbar for constant mitigation.
I still want to try thing of the deep, but I have yet to find one. I have every other mojo, but the frog evades me!
Honestly you should just hold on to stuff for every element. You never know when they're going to buff/nerf things That's how I ended up going arcane. Just go with the elements that the gear has that you find. Remember if you have 3/4 good stats, enchant the last one!
Actually I think cold is viable. There are several posts that talk about a Ray of Frost build that can do those higher torments. However, that build hinges around Light of Grace. I gambled one and tried it, but it was just okay for me personally. I had to give up my 4pc tal set bonus because my third tal piece is the source. It definitely wasn't worth losing tal set bonus, but if I can ever find a tal helm (amulet to a lesser extent) I will give it a shot again. Black ice and cold damage amplification sounds promising, especially if you have things like thunderfury giving you added elemental damage to trigger meteors. So, imo, cold IS viable, but requires a LOT of specific gear (light of grace + tal set for added dps).
I was in the exact same spot as you a few weeks ago. I had spent a lot of time not being able to really progress past t1/t2 with frozen orb. I was mainly irritated with frozen orb because you have to place that orb in the right spot for explosions and I felt like I was running away from mobs too often. I wanted a different playstyle. I started collecting arcane % gear and ended up just going arcane / disintegrate (all rares minus a decent andariel's btw). I tried stacking mitigation but I wasn't able to break through the t3 difficulty easily even then. Then I crafted Aughild's set and that was the ticket. Once I used the shoulders/bracers for the Aughild's set and rerolled other pieces for higher armor/all res, I could do t3/t4. I still prefer t3 as I can face tank and run with glass cannon, so for speed it's better, but I have better gear now. If you don't have the gear, prismatic armor run is the way to go and that helped me break the t3 barrier.
TLDR: Aughild's set is amazing. Energy Armor / Prismatic rune is amazing. Those two pieces really let me push into t3. Cold is viable, but I like arcane playstyle.
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Tak-1454/hero/42633170
Horrify + Spirit walk is insane. I've been gearing for CDR as well. At this point I am thinking I can move out the 10% CDR from the flayer and just put 10% damage on it though. My goal was to emulate SMK in terms of having BBV up all the time. I must say it works fairly well. At this point I don't feel like I NEED SMK (which is a good thing cause it's insanely rare). I have spent about 12000 shards on gloves but no Tasker and Theo yet. I have basically given up and moved on to try to collect a full jade set. The magefist is still good however because of explosive toads, so I don't mind. I have experimented with tall man's finger and that is decent as well. I ditched RoRG cause I don't think it's necessary for this build. I think 3pc aughild's isn't horrible and I don't care about the 3pc bonus of Captain Crimson.
Horrify works extremely well, but you could always swap it for something else. I change tribal rites -> circle of life when I need my dogs and swap back afterwards as I can't justify "wasting" a lot on t4 for those dogs since they last 1 - 3 rifts. In t6 I can see needing it on your skillbar for constant mitigation.
I still want to try thing of the deep, but I have yet to find one. I have every other mojo, but the frog evades me!
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Good luck!
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I was in the exact same spot as you a few weeks ago. I had spent a lot of time not being able to really progress past t1/t2 with frozen orb. I was mainly irritated with frozen orb because you have to place that orb in the right spot for explosions and I felt like I was running away from mobs too often. I wanted a different playstyle. I started collecting arcane % gear and ended up just going arcane / disintegrate (all rares minus a decent andariel's btw). I tried stacking mitigation but I wasn't able to break through the t3 difficulty easily even then. Then I crafted Aughild's set and that was the ticket. Once I used the shoulders/bracers for the Aughild's set and rerolled other pieces for higher armor/all res, I could do t3/t4. I still prefer t3 as I can face tank and run with glass cannon, so for speed it's better, but I have better gear now. If you don't have the gear, prismatic armor run is the way to go and that helped me break the t3 barrier.
TLDR: Aughild's set is amazing. Energy Armor / Prismatic rune is amazing. Those two pieces really let me push into t3. Cold is viable, but I like arcane playstyle.