Build Guide
Introduction
I'm going to preface the build by saying that this isn't meant to be a competitive build; it's also very likely that I may hit barriers to progress. No doubt there are more experienced and knowledgable players and guide writers. This guide is being used as a way to document my progress and learning what works and doesn't work. It's my hope that I'll get some positive feedback so that I can make some adjustments along the way to help in that regard.
The thing that always bothered me about the other Wizard Play styles that I tried was the constant kiting and feeling like I was a chicken with my head cut off, running around, finding that sweet spot to unleash all my big, powerful amazing spells. Now I know a lot of that can be countered by different gear setups and abilities, but using the Spectral Blade playstyle always felt more engaging and enjoyable.
Now, I know that crowd control has been sheeped, and Critical Mass imploded a long time ago, but my starting point was the play style I used to use back in the permafreeze days of earlier D3. So that's where I've started from and I feel that this type of build is a lot more free flowing, with a significant increase in damage output.
Build Basics
A Tal Rasha build focuses primarily on alternating between each of the four elements and stacking damage multipliers. In addition to that, by using Focus and Restraint you need to regularly alternate between a Primary, resource generating attack and a Secondary, resource spending attack to gain the damage bonuses.
Firebird's Set
The benefit of the Firebird set is pretty obvious, it gives you another Cheat Death, via the two piece bonus. It's proc'd a couple of times for me now, but only after I reached (GRift 38-40). It provides peace of mind, because Unstable Anomaly procs more frequently now.
In my earlier build I had chosen Meteor Shower as my resource spender. As long as you don't need to cube Unity, you can stick with a third piece of the Firebird set to get the added damage from the four piece. To take advantage of that setup you'll need to cube Ring of Royal Grandeur. That will provide a lot of flexibility. However, if you dont' feel like that 4 piece Firebird is as significant as a Cindercoat, then you can always switch the Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit and use the Gloves or Amulet from the set.
Active Skills
Right, I know it's a bit strange, all powerful wizard that can unleash a torrent of elemental destruction at range, wants to be a barbarian, monk or crusader. I don't use it heavily, but it's more immediate and on target. Further progression may require dropping it all together, but I'd like to keep it viable for as long as I can. Thrown Blade adds a bit more damage over the other options and it let's me use it at a further distance, which adds a small amount of safety.
As an alternative, you could use Flame Blades and the Thunder Crash rune for Meteor. You'll get a small boost to Spectral Blade, but the main benefit from the stacking Fire damage will occur when you get a 2 piece proc of the Tal Rasha's Elements for Fire.
Meteor (Meteor Shower,Thunder Crash) - Fire SkillWhat I like about Meteor over other options, such as Hydra, is that it, especially Meteor Shower, covers a lot of area and allows for a more mobile and free flowing play style. If I need to play it safe I can use it at a distance and from an adjacent room. While my current Passives emphasize more of a standing still approach to support Spectral Blade, it still does quite a bit of damage whether I'm taking advantage of Audacity or not. If you decide to go with the Flame Blades rune for Spectral Blade, then the Thunder Crash is my rune of choice. It doesn't blanket an area like Meteor Shower, but it will provide a larger strike in one area immediately, without the delay of the other Meteor varieties.
Even with out the Aether Walker it's still highly useful, in that situation you really need to have some cooldown reduction to take advantage of it.
Once you have the AW, Ancient Parthan Defenders synergize really well with Calamity. That also helps your survivability when you want to use your Spectral Blade and stand still to take advantage of Audacity and Unwavering Will. If you ever feel like you're in over your head you have the ability to quickly move away.
This is where some of the flexibility comes in for the build. With Explosive Blast, I can time my usage to coincide with when I will Teleport into the group. With a baseline cooldown of 6 seconds it's also easy enough to use to keep my damage stacks up. It fits in with the flow of my playstyle very well.
With Blizzard, using Snowbound, I'm not really relying upon it for damage, but it allows me to place the damage more effectively than Explosive Blast and it's very cheap at 10 AP.
With Blizzard, using Snowbound, I'm not really relying upon it for damage, but it allows me to place the damage more effectively than Explosive Blast and it's very cheap at 10 AP.
The Frozen Storm rune choice is a holdover from when my items/cube setup were a little different. It's useful in that it procs Meteors from the 2 piece, but it's really not an ideal choice for defense or utility.
Crystallize is a much stronger choice because it'll provide a greater boost to your survival. Since I'm using a melee style I should be able to keep the stacks up enough. That being said, I feel like Energy Armor is more reliable, the only caveat for me, at the moment, is the loss of Arcane Power if I choose Force Armor. With Energy Tap you gain some of that much needed armor benefit without a reduction to your max Arcane Power.
I'm still experimenting with this aspect of my build and I feel like this is a choice of preference.
I'm still experimenting with this aspect of my build and I feel like this is a choice of preference.
This is a more straightforward choice: A pure damage boost or the ability to generate some more Arcane Power. Switching these around in conjunction with some other abilities and spells based upon how you feel about your survivability and Arcane Power usage is the way to go.
Passive Skills
Using a Hellfire Amulet can be a good option, because it allows you to have a fifth wizard passive skill. Next I'll list each of the passive skills that work well with the build and explain why they're beneficial.
This build is focused around Spectral Blade, Explosive Blast and using Teleport to unleash all of those abilities when surrounded by a group. So, naturally, you're going to find yourself within a range to take advantage of Audacity. This gives you a 30% increase to your damage against targets within 15 yards.
This is widely viewed as a requirement in Hardcore; I'm starting to see it proc more regularly as I'm progressing in Greater Rifts. You need whatever cheat deaths you can get. Pairing this with the 2 piece bonus from the Firebird's Set helps to give you some extra piece of mind.
This is another commonly chosen defensive skill. Unwavering Will, in my mind, is a much better choice. If you're satisfied with your Arcane Power and your level of damage. I'm testing this out in my build right now, I'm up to 39-40 Greater Rifts in Hardcore and really feel like my survivability needs a boost. In this situation, I'm using a Hellfire Amulet with Prodigy as a passive, Astral Presence would also be another alternative.
Unwavering Will Offensive and Defensive Skill
This provides both a defensive boost - armor and resistance - and an offensive boon - 20%. The only caveat is that you need to stand still for 1.5 seconds to activate and then stay put. You can take advantage of this by timing the release of Explosive Blast to land when your Teleport lands you in your target group.
As you're arriving at your destination you'll throw out Spectral Blade and your Meteor. You'll then proceed to use Spectral Blade to help refill your Arcane Power otherwise, you'll continue using your Meteor.
If you feel like you need to back out then just Teleport to another group or to a safe spot. You can then stay put to reactivate Unwavering Will and unload another Meteor or Spectral Blade any mobs following you for some more Arcane Power.
Selecting Prodigy, which will give you 5 arcane power whenever you cast Spectral Blade, will really depend upon your playstyle and whether you feel like you're starved for Arcane Power. One option is to use the Conduit rune for Magic Weapon instead of this. You'll lose an extra 10% damage from Magic Weapon, but this will free you to choose another passive skill. If you decide to use a Hellfire Amulet, then this is one of the Passives that I'd try to shoot for.
As mentioned previously, I find myself spamming my Arcane Power spenders quite a bit. Between Meteor, Explosive Blast and mostly from using Teleport for both it's mobility and stun, you'll want to have as much Arcane Power as possible.
Elemental Exposure Offensive Skill
The mechanics of Tal Rasha's Elements, and Focus and Restraint, make this skill a really strong choice. However I think the boost from Audacity and Unwavering Will are overall better. If you feel like your Arcane Power supply is fine, then you can always use this as an option on a Hellfire Amulet.
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Posted Oct 14, 2015This is a long and informative guide for sure. Well done!
Only thing I saw which were a bit strange is some break rows in the beginning which breaks sentences
in the middle, like this.
"Since I've chosen Meteor Shower as my resource spender, I've decided to throw in one more piece of the Firebird set to get the added damage from the four piece."
Maybe phrase that to "if I've chosen Meteor Shower" or something, since you speak about different ways to play and your "build template" is not Shower but "Thunder Crash"
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Posted Oct 14, 2015Thank you for providing some feedback.
My build has been in quite a bit of flux lately. Since I'm trying to progress in Hardcore Grifts beyond 40, I have had to swap a few items and skills just to add some survivability. I'll be sure to add these changes and clean things up some!
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Posted Oct 15, 2015That's nice and what I thought. Just wanted to highlight it in case you had forgotten
Keep it up!