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Build Guide

Meteors rain from the sky in this build. We use the FB6 bonus to gain both damage and defense. Seek out either high density or an elite (preferrably both). It's really easy to Ignite enemies with this build, all you need to do is channel, and perhaps cast Meteor a few times. The Magic weapon Ignite makes it such that you both don't need another fire spell, and it ensures etched sigil doesn't cast any other spell but meteor.

The main damage method is channeling to proc etched sigil. However, we also manually cast meteor in between ES about once every 3s. See below for more info on the rotation. Make sure you are holding down channeling, lest you risk dropping your Deathwish, Etched Sigil, and Taeguk bonuses.

For defense, you'll need to make sure you're positioned for increased DR from the Halo of Arlyse / APD combo. standing near density and near your enemies is fairly crucial with this build.

You can either Kite elites to more density, and begin killing of that additional density, or you can whittle the elites down, in the hopes of singling them out. This will allow your Nilfur's Boast Boots to deal quite a bit of increased damage.

In order to be able to face elites in this manner, we've placed some additional defense in the build. Unity makes an appearance, granting 50% DR (assuming follower and follower token).

We also use Flame Ward, Safe Passage, Blur, Unwavering Will to our advantage, allowing us to both move and stand still, with Illusionist helping keep our EW damage bonus high. FB2 pc also gives us a nifty Revive.

Additonal multipliers Audacity and Trapped give us more damage when up close. Bone Chill for the additive damage when Halo of Arlyse procs Frost nova on enemies. Stricken improves our capability against single target, which would otherwise be somewhat of a weakness of the build.

Hergbrash's Binding and APoC on source help ensure we don't run low on resource, even with single target RGs. The Grand Vizier in the cube is one of our other multipliers, but it also happens to help save AP on manual casting of Meteor.

For Follower: Oculus Ring, Unity, Enchanting Favor. Ess of Johan or Overwhelming Desire for amulet. Templar is preferred for increased regen, healing.

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Etched Sigil AS Breakpoint:

Etched Sigil was bug fixed on the PTR. Its' ICD is now approximately 60 frames (1 second) as the item tooltip indicates. However, you need to stay in certain attack speed breakpoints to get as close to this ICD as possible, and subsequently proc etched sigil as fast as possible. See this link for the full breakpoint chart. The breakpoint we are looking to hit is:

• 1.538462538 AS to 1.666666667 AS or 12 Frames / Tick

This breakpoint is easy enough to hit. All you need to do is max out your attack speed in paragon. This will give you exactly 1.54 AS on sheet. If you happen to get stuck with an AS roll on weapon, don't fret, you can stay within this breakpoint even with an additional (unwanted) AS roll on weapon.

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Meteor Shower Cast Rotation. Yes. You will want to manually cast meteor, even on a channeling build. This will bring down more meteors over time, and since we can channel during those impacts, this will bring more damage to the table than just channeling. However, you only want to manually cast meteor about once every 3 seconds.

Why 3 seconds? I timed both manually casting meteor shower and using meteor shower in combination with Etched Sigil + Arcane torrent.

• Manually casted meteor took 138 to 141 frames to have all 7 meteors impact from the initial time of cast.
• Channeled + manually cast meteor took 155 to 176 frames to have all 14 meteors impact from the initial time of cast.

Since 60 frames is equivalent to 1 second of game time, and 180 frames is 3 seconds, this puts the rotation for manually casting in between our channeled abillity at about once every 3 seconds.

Rotation:

1. Channel.
2. Immediately manually cast meteor.
3. Continue holding down your channeling ability.
4. Note that ES will continue to proc every second while holding down channeling.
5. Wait until Meteors from both your initial ES proc and your manual cast finish impacting.
6. Decide if you can stand and continue dpsing, or if you need to move your character (either dodge attacks, grouping, or for oculus) at this point.
7. Rinse and repeat.

Note that manually casting a second time (before 3 seconds have passed) will likely decrease your overall damage, as you wouldn't be benefiting from the multipliers of DW + ES as often during your meteor impacts. This is why it is very important to not manually cast too often either.

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Offensive Reminders:

• This is not a ranged build. You need to be close to enemies that you want to deal the most damage to. Unless you are igniting, or have an oculus spawn that is mid range, you should channel and cast meteor shower close to your character.
• Kiting and rounding up density properly can be very helpful. If you have a follower with Ess of Johan, try and position your follower properly so that his next pull will be helpful in this effort. In general, keeping your follower nearby your own character will help to condense the pack of mobs better. Often I will go to my follower after rounding up density for this reason.
• Oculus ring spawns can be very beneficial if positioned properly (near density, and near possible targets). Usually these are worth going for if they spawn closer to your target density. However, if they spawn farther out, usually they are not worth going for, as you will lose out on Audacity (30%), Trapped (40%+), and even Bone Chill (33% additive). That being said, you can use some mid-range spawns to both maintain multiplier somewhat, while simultaneously aggroing or kiting to density that previously might have been just out of reach.
• Try not to drop Taeguk after having kited, amassed, and engaged a group.
• Remember your Endless walk. If you are engaged and trying to kill enemies, try to remain as still as possible to get the full benefit of the damage bonus.
• Try and stick to the rotation, but if you have to move out of order, make it be for a good reason. Positioning is key for both damage and defense.

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Defensive Reminders:

• Unity on both yourself and your follower with enchanting favor.
• Make sure you are properly igniting elites and maintaining that bonus. Certain elite mob types can burrow or Vanish, sometimes removing the FB6 bonuses. Moving too far away from an elite (about a screen and a half) will also cause FB6 to disappear. This is due to the current design of the set.
• When pushing, you will need mob types that help proc your Halo / APD combo to allow survival, usually this means smaller mob types or summoners. You will die if the mob type / map does not provide enough density from the get-go.
• Try and cycle around the cc resistance of mobs. If you know you've been engaged with a nearby set of monsters for 7-8s, they'll likely become cc immune, and therefore won't provide you any more DR from APDs. Shuffling them around, moving next to a new group, or pulling in more density will help you survive.
• Ranged attacks can be tricky, especially when there are a lot of ranged attackers. Make sure you are getting hit with a melee attack once every so often to keep up your Ice Armor: Crystallize bonus. If this drops, toughness can become an issue temporarily, and if you're not prepared for it, might result in a death.
• Disregarding APD stacks, and assuming max Crystallize / EW at 100%, highest toughness will be after having cast Teleport, when Taeguk is at max, and after having stood still for 1.5s, to benefit from Unwavering Will. In this sense, you will be weakest right after casting Teleport. Use teleport to reposition to safer positions and be sure to stand still if you want to get that higher toughness from UW as quick as possible.
• While using Teleport on cooldown may seem tempting, and is usually a good choice (25% DR), it may not be required, depending on the situation. Recall that we also have Unwavering Will (20% armor, 20% resistance) and Taeguk (20% armor). These combined will provide slightly higher toughness than Safe Passage alone (near equivalent though). Having all of these bonuses up would be great, but if you have extra APD stacks or are engaging enemies that aren't doing as much damage, it's not required you do. That being said, I do advise having Safe Passage up as much as possible when you do need to move or reposition.
• Manage your EW bonus properly. When under duress, you can sacrifice some damage by moving around more to get extra defense. While kiting or grouping up density, this and Safe Passage will work together to help keep you alive.

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Alternate Options:

• Unstable Anomaly: Double revive is also very strong. However, the defense from UW is the better choice overall I think. UA is still a good swap for lower GRs. Swap out UW.
• Invigorating Gemstone: While not the best gem for solo pushing, this is a great substitute for lower than solo push gem ups or pseudo-speeds. I'd probably swap out either Taeguk or Stricken, depending on the GR level you're intending to go after. It makes you immune to CC, so no frozen, jailer, knockback, vortex, etc. However, wormhole still affects. This gem also gives a nice 30%+ healing received bonus, which works great for boosting LoH and recovery.
• For group speed build I now highly recommend AdamAdisco's FB meteor build: http://www.diablofans.com/builds/95115