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Build Guide

Firebird

In order to get the full set bonus from Firebird, the wizard needs to ignite enemy monsters by hitting them with three different fire skills within three seconds. Igniting an enemy monster will give a Firebird stack which increases damage by 200% and reduces damage taken by 3% and will last until that enemy is killed, the wizard dies or walk too far away from it (1-2 screens very roughly). It is possible to reach a maximum of 20 Firebird stacks for a total of 4000% increased damage and 60% reduced damge taken. The best way of reaching 20 Firebird stacks is to ignite an elite or champion monster since this will automatically give you 20 stacks, this also includes minions.

The three fire skills that are used in this build are Arcane torrent - Flame Ward, Electrocute - Forked Lightning and Magic Weapons - Ignite. The fire damage from Magic Weapons is automatically applied to every attack, so if an enemy is hit with the two other spells it will count as using three fire skills and they will become ignited.

Area damage

In Diablo 3, Area Damage, or AD, is a mechanic that drastically increases damage output in rifts with high monster density. AD can be procced by all attacks and deals additional damage to all enemies within 10 yards of the monster that was hit with an attack. AD has a 20% procc chance, which can not be altered, but the damage dealt by AD can be increased greatly with the right gear. For example, if three monsters are standing within 10 yards of each other, hitting one of them will have a 20% chance of dealing a certain amount of that damage to the others monsters as well. The damage dealt by AD can vary from 0% to a maximum of 174% (for this build) of the damage dealt by the attack that triggered AD.

The entire playstyle of this build revolves around squeezing as much damage as possible out of AD. Therefore, it is important to really make an effort to trap elite packs at the center of big packs with normal monsters, in order for them to be hit with as much AD as possible. This also makes it very difficult to kill off small packs of monsters or lonely elites, even at low health.

Overall build strategy

The main idea with this build is to gather large groups of monsters around one or more elite packs and then blow it all up, letting AD destroy everything. For this to work, the monk always needs to stay close to the wizard and pull all the monsters in around them while the barb is dragging in more monsters from farther away. When done correctly, it is possible to trap the elites inside a big pack of monsters, making them take AD from all around them.

Damage rotation

The next step in dealing the highest possible damage is to work in the Occulus Ring into this rotation. The Occulus will spawn a yellow circle on the ground whenever a monster is killed, however only one circle at a time, for about 7 seconds and any players standing inside this circle will get a damage increase of up to 85%. The circle will spawn in a random nearby location and is not always within reach, but often enough it is possible to get to it, even when standing inside a big pack of monsters. The trick here is to try to time the spawn of a new Occulus circle with the arcane buff from the CoE. This is done by casting Meteor at approximately 2/4 - 3/4 way through the fire buff on CoE which will result in an Occulus circle, provided something got killed, which lasts for the first arcane buffed Meteor. It will unfortunately disappear before the second Meteor cast during the arcane buff, but this is part of the full rotation. The second Meteor during arcane will then spawn a new Occulus circle which will disappear in time for another one to be spawned for the next arcane buff. This leaves a window after the arcane buff, when cold is being buffed, where it is possible to cast another Meteor unbuffed by CoE but with Occulus without disturbing the Occulus circle spawn rotation. Moving to the Occulus circle will become increasingly difficult the higher the Greater Rift level, but for most gem upgrade runs it should be possible most rotations. The full damage rotation can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1. The CoE rotation with meteor cast windows and Occulus circle spawns.

Making this damage rotation work will take some practice since it has some quite precise spell cast timings. It is recommended to begin with just succeeding to start channeling before a Meteor lands. This is the basic concept of the whole build and as long as this works, the build is playable. After this it is recommended to try to learn to time the Meteor casts with the CoE for a massive damage boost, and eventually managing to sqeueeze two Meteors into the arcane buff each CoE cycle. And lastly, once those steps feel comfortable, it is recommended to try to fit in the Occulus circle spawns into the rotation.

Gameplay strategy

The role of this build is to be a so call "Trash killer" i.e. killing big groups of normal monsters, but with the right gameplay it is possible to deal high damage to elite packs as well. To do this, there are two main things to think about, the first being how the monster pack is prepared and the second is where in the monster pack the wizard aims the meteors. Ideally, the group should find an elite pack and a nice location on the map with a lot of open space. The wizard should then go stand right on top of the elite after which the monk starts pulling in the normal monsters around them, effectively trapping the elite next to the wizard and surrounded by a lot of monsters. If the monk starts pulling in monsters before the wizard is in position, it is very unlikely that the wizard will get there and usually results in that elite not dying. Furthermore, if the monk starts pulling in monsters without an elite at the center, any elites that arrive later will end up outside the pack, and not taking nearly as much damage. Still, it can be difficult to trap an elite perfectly in the middle of a monster pack, but the closer the better. Sometimes the elites move around a bit, either from pulls or the "Teleporter" affix, and then it is important for the wizard to try and move as close to them as possible to deal the most damage. Most of the time it will be difficult for the wizard to move, but right after a meteor lands there is usually a bit of wiggle room.

In terms of aiming the meteor at the most optimal spot in the monster pack, the closer to the center the more damage will be dealt due to proccing the most AD. However, at every stop the wizard should try to deal as much damage as possible to the elites in the pack, since they have a lot more Hitpoints than the normal monsters which will die regardless of where the meteors land. Thusly, aiming at the center of the monster pack is not always the best way to go, but rather where the elite is standing. Making sure that the elite is actually hit by the falling meteor, i.e. it is inside the area of impact, will make it go down much faster rather than simply aiming at the center of the monster pack. This is both because it will be taking damage from the meteor itself, while also hitting many targets near the elite, dealing as much AD to it as possible. Moreover, when casting the meteor during the fire buff to get an Occulus circle, it can sometimes be better to aim this at the very edge of the monster pack, rather than at a high damage area. This is because, especially at lower Greater Rift levels, a lot of the monsters may die from the initial hit, leaving very few left for the actual high damage cast during the arcane buff. By aiming at the edge this problem can be minimized while still spawning an Occulus, allowing most monsters to remain to procc AD when the arcane buffed meteor lands, which will greatly increase the damage taken by the elite.

Skill overview

Electrocute - Forked Lightning. This works as one of the fire skills needed to get the full set bonus of the Firebird set, it also lets you get 5 stacks on Arcane Dynamo as well as regaining Arcane Power between casting Meteor.

Arcane Torrent - Flame Ward. This is also one of the required fire skills for the set bonus, and is the channel skill that is used to benefit from both Deathwish and Etched Sigil.

Wave of Force - Arcane Attunement. This skill adds 4% arcane damage to your next Meteor cast for each enemy hit.

Meteor - Star Pact. This is the main damage dealing skill. The Star Pact rune changes the element of Meteor to arcane and makes each cast drain 100% Arcane Power. However, Star Pact does not require full Arcane Power to cast, it still costs 40 Arcane Power, but each additional point of Arcane Power spent on a cast increases the damage by 20%. Maximum Arcane Power can be increased by Astral Presence, paragon points and also as a secondary roll on the Etched Sigil off-hand.

Magic Weapons - Ignite. This skill increases damage by 10%, and the Ignite rune functions as the final fire skill required to gain the full set bonus.

Storm Armor - Shocking Aspect. This skill is for proccing the Halo of Karini ring, giving 80% damage reduction when hitting enemies at least 15 yards away. This buff will be up bsically the whole rift with no effort, and the Shocking Aspect rune increases the Arcane Power regeneration between Meteor casts.

Passive skills

Audacity - Increases the damage dealt by 30% when hitting enemies within 15 yards.

Arcane Dynamo - Every cast of Electrocute gives 1 stack of Arcane Dynamo up to a maximum of 5 stacks. When at 5 stacks, the next Arcane Power spending skill that is cast, ie either Wave of Force or Meteor, will consume the stacks and deal 60% increased damage.

Unwavering Will - Increases armor, all resistances and damage when standing still for 1,5 seconds.

Astral Presence - Increases maximum Arcane Power by 20 points which translates to higher damage dealt by Star Pact.

Legendary gems

Bane of the Trapped - Overall damage multiplier affecting anything within 15 yards or that is hit by the monk or barb.

Zei's Stone of Vengence - Increases damage to enemies farther away, increasing every 10 yards, but still gives the damage boost for the first 10 yards even at melee distance.

Esoteric Alteration - Increases non-physical damage reduction overall, as well as all non-physical resistances when below 50% health.