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yes this is the build that i currently use . it jumped me from gr 38 to 41 solo, but instead of using Magefist, I use Tasker and theo. It snapshots trash mobs alot faster.

Hey Camermike! That's actually another great selection for gloves that I hadn't really considered. I added them to the build, thanks for the suggestion

No Prob. Just trying to do what i can to see this build higher in the ratings. ill let u know if i find out anymore tips.

That's an excellent question Hannibal, and I have the answer for you!

Hydra and Blizzard and actually both crit. The reason you don't see the yellow critical numbers when you're playing is the same for all DoT attacks. It's the fact that the damage numbers that pop up over small intervals of time, it's taking the sums of all the damage through that interval. In other words, in a 1 second interval, the white number that pops up is a sum of the crits and non-crits that take place through that interval.

It's the same reason that you'll see some Firebird's infinite ticks begin higher than usual - it's when you get a couple of crits in the same interval that make that DoT tick higher. This is also evident in the fact then as you add more crit chance and crit damage, you'll find that your DoT ticks increase as well.

Hope this answers you're question, let me know if I need to explain it further.

Cheers!

I been trying this build out and it is pretty fun, however I'm curious if the 2 hydras with Tasker and Theo and Serpent Sparker (I am at the 2.471 breakpoint) are better than using an Ancient Devastator with fire damage on it (mine has 17%). The raw dps numbers (via diabloprogress) indicate that the Devastator is better since my SS is not ancient, but I have not tried it out in greater rifts yet, only torment III rifts.

Also, is spellsteal better then blazar, and if so, why? I was under the impression that the firebird dot is most of our damage, and blazar with evocation puts the dot on super quickly.

Hey there Mouse,

It definitely makes sense that going with an ancient weapon over a regular one would yield more damage, even with the fact that the SS gives you 2 hydras. What is your total % fire damage buff from all of your equipment? I ask because something you want to take into account is the effect of diminishing returns on % fire damage from equipment. The easiest way to explain this is by watching Quin C's video on maximizing DPS as he does an excellent job explaining how it all works (I'll include a link to the video for you).

As for the blazar vs. spellsteal issue, it's debatable which one is better as you can make an argument for both. In the case of blazar, the fire damage hit's hard and it a great combo with the hydras to reach the Firebird's DoT much quicker. Especially when you're just clearing trash mobs on an easy difficulty, the blazar can shred a mob on it's own once your dps is there. As for spellsteal, the recent modification of mob density in rifts and greater rifts with the 2.1.2 patch has made this rune a contender for the best rune. Encountering massive groups allows you to hit a lot more enemies with a blackhole, effectively boosting the damage of your hydras and blizzard which is why it's such a good rune now - 3% per enemy can add up to a lot of damage (hitting a mob of 10 enemies boosts your overall damage by 30%). Spellsteal can become less effective against rift guardians since it's only hitting one enemy so you just have to consider the tradeoff:

Spellsteal boosts your damage to higher points throughout the rift, allowing you to clear enemies faster, while blazar hits harder when dealing with the rift guardian. I tend to switch the runes up once in a while myself, but usually go for spellsteal when pushing higher greater rifts as I believe it is more effective.

Hope this helps, and here is the link to the diminishing returns video by Quin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPknAzeLZ-k

Hey Tamere, thanks for the question.

The reality is that buffs to attack speed on equipment only affect your character itself. So when you look under "details" and you see your attacks per second, that's how many attacks your wizard can do - so fast they cast spells. This attribute doesn't affect hydras because the hydra is classified as a pet. That's why I suggested Camermike's idea of using Tasker and Theo, because these gloves increase the attack speed of your hydras, letting them reach the Firebird's infinite DoT faster.

Hope this helps! Cheers!

if most of the dmg comes from hydra why not use enforcer, instead of toxin?

Tamere it seems as though that is something I missed in the patch notes. Some attack speed on your equipment could be helpful, I wouldn't make it the main focus as stats such as CHC and CHD still have huge benefits for the hydra compared to faster attack speed.

That being said, it could be something worth looking into.

Mono, the reason I've chosen Toxin over Enforcer is mainly because of efficiency. The secondary effect on enforcer is useless for Hydra because they can't be killed, so the damage reduction doesn't do anything. The toxin provides extra DoT as well as the 10% damage increase from all sources. I think that blanketing enemies with Apocolypse spreads Toxin which overall becomes more efficient than Enforcer.

That being said, in a group setting, if another player is using Toxin, than it might be worth it to swap out Toxin for Enforcer.

Kallendo, I think your issue is a Unity. Once you get to 30+ grifts you should have a Unity ring in the left slot, with your follower also having a Unity and a relic that makes it so they can't die. Gives you instant 50% damage reduction. Should help you out a lot. I think it also might be worth it to roll the fire damage off your amulet and upgrade a Zei's Stone of Vengeance.

Other than that you're looking real good

Hey Siralexx!

To be honest I haven't tried the Hexing Pants since that update, but I do remember reading something about them getting rid of snapshotting as well, but I thought that it might have just been with regards to the power pylons - if could snapshot the 400% DoT when you had a power pylon active, I'm not sure if it affects all changes to DPS.

That's all I can really say about it right now, but I do agree that Wizard needs some love compared to other classes. Looking forward to the new set coming out Will probably make a new build then.

Hi ThisClockwork,

If you have furnace and you really need to choose between magefist and cindercoat what would be the best? I was thinking magefist as it can give you another stat (5stats) but i was wondering if the cindercoat's resource reduction is much better. Hope you can give details as to whats better.

Also on another note, if you have wand of woh, would this be better to incorporate wand of woh to this firebird build?

Any suggestions to what can the skill build be? Or will you suggest a different build and gear with wand of woh.

Thanks

Hey woreyour! Good questions, and I think I have some answers for you.

For the Magefist/Cindercoat dilemma, it's really up to you comfortable you are with the amount of arcane power you have. I really like running the cindercoat because of the reduced resource cost. I usually run that because I can cast my skills for often as I'm usually moving through rifts at a pretty fast pace. It kind of depends on your items though - if you have godly Magefist, and just an okay cindercoat, I would run the Magefist and maybe allocate some paragon points to increasing arcane power if you find yourself running out frequently.

TL:DR - Magefist offer a bonus stat but you might run into resource problems and cindercoat is awesome for casting skills a lot.

As for the Wand of Woh, it doesn't really have a place in this build unfortunately. For Woh you want a build where you're up close and personal to get the full effects of the explosive blast, and Firebird's focuses on staying at a distance and kiting the enemies. I haven't been fortunate enough to ever get a Wand of Woh, but if I ever do, I'll definitely be playing around with build and might come out with one if I find something I like.

Hope this helped! Feel free to add my bnet if you have any more questions!

Thanks for the reply!

Yes after a day of running magefist over cinder i had the resource problems really bad. I was thinking since the blizzard is not stacking (or is it in the same area with the set bonus?) i can get away with just one combo of blackhole-hydra and wait a sec for 1 blizzard but it is not feeling right - did slow me down a lot. I also did the resource allocation but still not enough.

On another note, if you are not running serpent sparker would it be better to stack %blizzard damage? since you only have one serpent?

Again thanks for replying, it really help me confirm the problems I faced with the switch.

% Blizzard damage would work but isn't ideal. You want % hydra damage, or if you're running the Blazar rune on your black hole, you could use % black hole damage as that's a great source of burst DPS. I usually go with the hydra damage though.

Stiff you raise a good point. I did some research into it and Zei's does in fact calculate pet DPS based on how far away the pet is. I haven't done testing with each of the gems yet to look at the differences in damage output, but I'm going to add Enforcer to my guide as a suggestion for the gem set up.

Thanks for pointing this out!

Why exactly is it %Hydra over %Blizzard?

And is it worth it over the other stats (Vit/%Life, etc.)?

Blizzard is more of a utility compared to hydra. It covers a huge area to aggro in monsters that you can drop a black hole on to power up your hydras. Using Serpent Sparker doubles to effectiveness of hydra because you get a second one, so stacking the % hydra damage makes them even more powerful. And yes, on the few pieces you can get % hydra damage on are the best option compared to vitality or % life.

Cool, thank you.

I see a lot of top Wizards using a Devastator weapon, and switching Magefist to Firebird's gloves. Do you know why that is?