Build Guide
I've taken this build to GR81 thus far on the Patch 2.4 PTR, and it should be able to go higher with persistence. The video I link is of a typical GR76 clear for me, mainly created to show the gameplay and strength of the build.
Basic gameplay strategy is to aggro a bunch of mobs using Piercing Orb which will also build up your Triumvirate stacks, toss down a Slow Time bubble when you're ready to start killing, cast Wicked Wind to vortex the mobs tightly together inside of the bubble via Ranslor's Folly bracers, Teleport very close to the cluster of mobs, and then decimate them in short order using Arcane Orb: Obliteration. Be sure to recast Piercing Orb every so often to prevent your Triumvirate stacks from falling off completely and to help keep your AP up via Shame of Delsere's belt. Keep your Slow Time bubble up at all times on the mobs and be sure that you're inside of the bubble as well to get the Damage Reduction via the 4-piece bonus on the set.
That's a very basic rundown of how to play the build. There are a few little gameplay nuances that can go a long way toward furthering your success with the build. They are as follows:
1)- Your damage goes way up during Arcane phases of Convention of Elements. The Lightning phase comes before the Arcane phase, so when you see it turn Lightning, start making sure that you have full AP, full Triumvirate stacks, and that your Slow Time isn't about to expire. That way when it hits Arcane phase you can just hold down the Obliteration button the entire time to get a full 4 seconds of super amped up damage output. Try very hard to not ever have to cast anything else during the 4 seconds of Arcane phase as it will diminish your dps output greatly, especially on the Rift Guardian.
2)- When fighting large monsters that cannot be vortexed with your Ranslor's Folly + Wicked Wind, be sure to take the fight to them. What I mean is that you put a bubble on them and vortex the other, smaller mobs on top of them so that you can take strong advantage of your Area Damage procs to burst them down in short order. Always be sure to be right up in the large mobs' faces so that your Obliteration is always hitting them (it has a very small AoE, so keep that in mind).
3)- Pay attention to when mobs start to go immune to your crowd control (applied via Halo of Arlyse). Halo will help keep mobs clustered together after the vortex so that your Obliteration casts and Area Damage will make short order of them. Once crowd control resistances start to kick in and the mobs start to disperse, try to move around and gather more mobs. This will allow some time to elapse so that the resistances wear off and the initial mobs can be crowd controlled again.
4)- Try not to waste any time with the build. Always be doing something productive. It can take a bit of practice to get everything into your muscle memory and to where the build plays naturally and fluidly, but it becomes very rewarding and devastating when you do get it all down.
5)- As you move around on the map looking for mobs, be sure to cast your Piercing Orb from time to time to keep the Triumvirate buff up. You don't ever really want this to ever drop off during combat because re-stacking to full can be a big dps loss unless you're fighting a single mob or a small group (Rift Guardian fights mostly).
6)- Play it much like you would any other melee build. Meaning try to stay very close to the mobs if at all possible and vortex as many mobs together as you can to kill them all at once. Fighting at range should be reserved for certain Rift Guardians only.
Note that the build I use doesn't utilize Bane of the Stricken. Thus far I haven't found it's needed, but it might become mandatory as one pushes into the mid-80's. It can be hard to give up Esoteric Alteration or Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard, as the survival they provide are quite immense and allow for a much more aggressive playstyle. Less time spent re-positioning to avoid damage generally equates to more damage inflicted on the mobs during any given snapshot of time, and thus you're able to spawn the Rift Guardian earlier. However, as you push into the 80's, sometimes even that's not enough time to kill it. Thus Bane of the Striken might find it's way into the setup at some point. When that happens, you'll most likely need to start herding larger packs of mobs together and bounce between clusters of mobs when crowd control resistances start to build up on one pack so that Halo + Ancient Parthan Defenders will still keep you alive.
There's another variation of the build which will use the new Fragment of Destiny in the cube instead of The Furnace, and utilize Barrier Blades instead of Piercing Orb as the Signature spell. This setup makes it easier at times to drop Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard in favor of Bane of the Striken since the shielding from Barrier Blades can act as healing. I say "at times" because there are certain Rift Guardians that you simply cannot be in melee range for, so the damage you lose from not being able to hit them with Barrier Blades and losing the +Elite damage from no Furnace can really hurt. You're also not casting Barrier Blades full time, so you can easily lose your shielding stacks to expiration if you're not careful.
If you want some more information on the build, or just want to follow the evolution of it, feel free to visit the thread that ximae made on the official forums here:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/19890709435
We discuss the build quite a bit there and talk a lot about how to optimize it, it's potential, and other things.
And be sure to check out the video I provide and study the gameplay, as it's much easier for me to demonstrate how to play it effectively than it is for me to explain it.
Take care and enjoy the build.
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Posted Dec 23, 2015Yea, this isn't a T10 speed build by any stretch. It's for high level solo GR pushing mostly. However, there are some modifications you can make to it for speedy T10 farming. For example, you can drop The Furnace and bracers from the cube and replace them with Gesture of Orpheus and Crown of the Priumus, and replace the Amethyst in helm for a Diamond, for much more cooldown reduction on Slow Time. This allows you to play a bit more fluidly on Torment settings and lower GR levels. If you outgear the difficulty level, dropping Unstable Scepter for Aether Walker is a great option as well. You can also trade Obliteration for Frozen Orb since the AoE is much better. Overall damage is lower when using Unstable Scepter, but if you outgear the content then you should still be fine.
There are other Signature oriented setups you can do as well with Spectral Blades + Fragment of Destiny, or using Magic Missile: Conflagrate + Mirrorball, and cubing Depth Diggers. Then you can also run Arcane Orbit instead of Obliteration and speed through lower level stuff quite easily.
All in all, though, I feel that a good TalRasha setup is your best bet for speedy Torment farming. Not having to rely on mobs being inside your bubble really speeds things up when mobs are dying fast.
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Posted Dec 23, 2015Awesome guide Malakai! Thank you very much! This alone inspired me to main Wizard again in season 5 =)
You don't happen to have any suggestions for a level 70 Firebird starter build (as you probably know, you get 6p set from completing tasks in the Season Journey Season 5).
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Posted Dec 23, 2015Unfortunately I can't really comment on FB from a personal perspective, as I haven't touched the set at all during this entire PTR cycle. There were already a ton of folks testing the build out so I figured I'd go with something else. There are some great Fire Disintegrate FB setups floating around out there that should be able to guide you in the right direction, though.
Good luck, and thanks for the kind words and for checking out the guide.
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Posted Dec 24, 2015Malakai, do U think they will fix area dmg for wand of woh Explosive blast?