DiabloFans

Video: *Ripped from my Twitch channel

Segments:
1st Rift: 0:21 - 8:21
2nd Rift: 8:38 - 16:26
3rd Rift: 16:45 - 26:40
4th Rift: 27:34 - 37:36
5th Rift: 37:51 - 48:16

Full video session can be found here on my Twitch channel.

Things to know:
- Any gear talk assumes Ring of Royal Grandeur is included
- I'm going to assume you know the basics of gearing (i.e. importance of eDPS modifiers and EHP stats)
- CDR = cooldown reduction
- RCR = resource cost reduction
- EB = Explosive Blast
- WoW = Wand of Woh

Last week I posted up an early version of a Fire Archon build, which can be found here. So check that first if you haven't.

(For convenience, the video in that thread can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08MhpbYrPPs )

Anyway, I lucked out and managed to snag a very, very pretty Wand of Woh. And all I did to change my build was replace my Thunderfury with the wand, switch out Sparkflint for Explosive Blast - Chain Reaction, and as per Blizzard Entertainment advertising, the wand was build-changing in every possible meaning of the phrase.

For more information and discussion on pure EB Wand of Woh builds, a.k.a "Chainpocalypse," I highly recommend checking out this in-depth thread that my good friend Melkor spearheaded in the official wizard forum. It's an ongoing discussion with new insights coming in all the time.

About the Build:
Anyway, the overall play style isn't really all that much different than the generic Fire Archon build I ran before. Basically attack with whatever's in your arsenal and pop Archon when the situation calls for it. A common issue with any Archon build in RoS is that damage output drops when the wizard isn't in Archon form and WoW pretty much solves it.

Great things come from the combination of WoW and the Vyr 4-piece bonus.

1. In general situations, spamming EB and Conflagrate gets the job done.
2. Against elites with plenty of nearby trash mobs, Archon can burst the elites down in very little time, acting as either the initiator (feeding on trash mobs and burning down elites, or using the initial nuke from Combustion as a means to finish off a fight).
3. Against high HP single targets like Rift Guardians, the Mirrorball + Conflagrate combination quickly ramps up damage that a stackless Archon cannot cover in 20 seconds.
4. In scenarios where melee combat isn't the best option (against Fire Chains + Electrified elites, for instance), kiting and casting Conflagrate from a distance until Archon is off cooldown is a welcomed option that's not available for non-Mirrorball users (e.g. those who prefer buffing up with Flame Blades).

I find that most Chainpocalypse users have greater issues involving defense than they do with offense. Black Hole - Event Horizon and/or Teleport can deal with most situations, but the dangerous melee play can easily get anyone killed. For the Hybrid Chainpocalypse Archon variant, Teleport is given up in place of Archon, and Archon ends up being as much a burst kill button as an "oh @#$%" button for the added defensive stats, permanent Slow Time, free knockback attacks, and an absurdly low cooldown Teleport. Also, in place of insane amounts of CDR and EB bonus stats on gear (many run excess of 50-60% CDR), you can stack more generic DPS and EHP stats.

For instance, many traditional Chainpocalypse users will select the following gear:

Shoulders:
- intelligence
- vitality/life or AR/armor
- EB bonus
- CDR

Chest (generic):
- intelligence
- vitality/life or AR/armor
- 3 sockets
- EB bonus

Cindercoat:
- fire bonus
- intelligence
- vitality/life or AR/armor or EB bonus
- 3 sockets

In addition, many pieces of gear, such as gloves, rings and source may include CDR in place of defensive stats. On gloves? That's up to 750 vitality being traded away for 8% CDR. And all the AR and armor on gear given up for CDR really, really adds up. While CDR directly increases the eDPS of pure EB casts with WoW, like any other build, there's balance to be achieved.

In comparison, all of the EB and/or CDR stats above can be replaced with additional vitality/life/AR/armor for added survivability for a Fire Archon build. Instead of 50-60% or more CDR, I run about 47% (could go for a little more... maybe). In addition, I can't really justify running a Cindercoat with a Fire Archon because the build doesn't really use resources at all. The RCR from Cindercoat is, after all, its main point of attraction.

There is only one immediate change I would make with my gear setup, one that I am still actively working on.

Swap Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom to Aughild's Spike (I need to craft a good one) and replace Aughild's Search with Strongarm Bracers (sitting in my stash; Black Hole counts as a knockback effect).

I am contemplating replacing my Vyr's Grasping Gauntlets with Magefist and switching out my Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit to my Vyr's Astonishing Aura to maintain the 4-piece bonus, but the Vyr's chest is so much glassier than Tal's, resulting in a side-grade from defense to offense. The fact that my Vyr's gloves also have near maximum stun chance doesn't make the decision any easier (though I wish the IAS on the gloves were CDR).

What else?
Ah, inb4 "What about Arcane Torrent + Archon?" and "Did you try the arcane Explosive Blast runes?"

The traditional arcane variant of Archon is totally viable. 100%. I went as far as switching out all my fire gear to my original arcane gear and switching Chain Reaction EB to Obliterate and Time Bomb. While using Arcane Torrent - Disruption to debuff targets and hammering them with massive damage from Time Bomb (1039% damage per hit!!!) with Archon on the side for stickier situations, that's a lot of power right there.

But there's a big problem. It's incredibly difficult to sustain over longer periods of combat. Arcane Torrent requires you to stand still and the skill can get expensive in terms of resources. This means you will need APoC and RCR. Using Capt. Crimson's (Silk Girdle, Thrust, Waders) as part of your gear set is an option, but that takes away two of the belt/pants/boots slots, meaning you will have to run the Vyr chest (glassy) if you run Crimson belt and boots or belt and pants. You'll also lose offensive powerhouse belts like Harrington Waistguard or defensive powerhouse belts like String of Ears.

Then you'll probably throw APoC and CDR on the source (so no vitality, EB/Torrent bonus, area damage, etc. there). RCR and/or CDR on gloves and/or shoulders? Probably give up vitality and/or AR/armor then. Cannot stack attack speed because that will really drain resources when using Arcane Torrent. Balancing becomes a much bigger and much more daunting task. In the end, I'd just skip the EB portion of the build and stick with just Torrent and Archon, or vice versa, skip Archon and stick with EB and Torrent (replacing whichever dumped skill for another skill, like Teleport). Personally, I'd just go Torrent-Archon with maybe the Tal 4-piece mixed in (kind of like what I used to run before the 2.0.5 Archon changes).

Still, the arcane variant of Chainpocalypse can deal a truckload of damage in very little time. It's very bursty. The fire variant, in comparison, is much, much more sustainable because it needs no resource management (hell, I dumped Paragon points into gold find because my area damage and LOH are maxed out and there's no need for RCR). It might not deal damage as fast, but it ramps up and is more flexible.

But what if you can't run this?! AHH, WAND OF WOH IS TOO RARE.

Try Meteor - Molten Impact in place of EB. It isn't too shabby. I ran it for a bit before obtaining WoW. Clunkier, even with CDR, but it gets the job done.

Still need the Vyr set, though. No getting around that.

...

Just some of my thoughts. I'm still learning about the build and trying out new things.