hello there folks, ive just came back to D3 after a veryyyy long break (at least 3-4 months ish) and im in need of alittle upgrade advice, i normally have 2 gear sets, a archon set nad cm/ww set. althought i only ever use my cm set if im helping friends or people in ubers or hi mp. i want to upgrade my arch set and dont know where to start, i have abt 250M to spend, im unsure if i should upgrade a piece or two, or start from scratch, so any advice or recomendations would be greatly appreciated!!!!
Not entirely up to the Archon spec, however, I can definitely provide some survival aspect advice.
Skills
1) Frost Nova Cold Snap rune for out-of-Archon is better.
The only thing about this is that if you came from CM --> Archon (in terms of Critical Hit Chance gear from CM, then your Frost Nova if you happen to play more out-of-Archon-mode, then you will have a better cooldown to keep freezing, and also cooldown reduction via Critical Mass passive helps to regain access to Archon mode if you lost it somehow)
2) Switch out Cold Blooded for Glass Cannon
3) Temporal Flux is quite unorthodox, and you should go for the standard Galvanizing Ward, to try to top-off more Life Regen aiding the standard use of Vile Ward
**** Your current HP is 31.7k (with Star Amethyst in Helm) is a real warning sign. ****
Your Vile Ward (@ 175int/74vit/80AR/240Life Regen), while you succeed in minimally doing that Shoulder Slot for base Vitality, offensively, being below-200 Primary Stat is really not up-to-date.
Of course, good job on keeping yourself with 24% Movement Speed, however your current problem of HP will mean, 0 HP = 0 DPS.
So you may want to reconsider your Chest, Pants and Bracers, prioritizing more on Vitality in some way, while also noting that Life% on Strongarms, is not going to be as effective. Reason is: Life % also acts upon base +Vitality, the balance between both is important to boost up one's HP.
Armor is indeed important as Archon, however you'll need to start working to provide a certain balance. So far your Vile Ward and Zuni Pox are your two All Resistance pieces, so you got to know your Defensive slots, prioritizing +Armor and All Resistance properly on the Defensive Slots.
Okay onto DPS, your current Average Damage on your Triumvirate is: ( 106 + 263 ) / 2 = 184.5
1) You'll want to work onto grabbing 235-240+ Average Damage, on mid-tier.
2) Open socket weapon is always handy for more Critical Hit Damage.
3) Average Damage on your pieces of jewelry is also really important, so your Skull Grasp will most likely be your immediate change.
Right now, work on getting your HP towards 40k HP (preferably without that Vit Gem in Helm).
And then slowly work on that Primary Stat, Critical Hit Damage, and Average Damage.
I mainly help people with "foundation stats" than the actual "Sheet DPS", like I said, 0 HP = 0 DPS, and more time wasted to get back to where you were just killed is "loss of DPS".
I hope there will be others to help you with more about your DPS.
^I do agree in most cases with dropping Cold blooded for Glass cannon but his ehp is so low I dont think it would be wise. I'd probably keep cold blooded and run a Buriza Scoundrel.
^I do agree in most cases with dropping Cold blooded for Glass cannon but his ehp is so low I dont think it would be wise. I'd probably keep cold blooded and run a Buriza Scoundrel.
I have never bothered with Buriza scoundrel but Buriza did get expensive at one point, not many people bothers to gear a follower, even though, I do myself.
Also, to be really "efficient" as a Scoundrel, you need to grab him survivability of big HP, Attack Speed, and that Freeze + Pierce of Buriza is important. I mean you may spend quite a load just to get that done, when you can spend on getting his own defensiveness up, then he can play Glass Cannon.
I really just don't see that use of Cold Blooded. Like I pointed out, I know how I would play out-of-Archon-mode Shock Pulse Living Lightning + Frost Nova Cold Snap like a CM as an Archon, but unless he moves more of his CM set over, he won't be able to run effective Frost Nova boost for such DPS.
I would probably seek Unstable Anomaly for him if he can't play Glass Cannon, however again, I am telling about the standard Archon skills (which you mentioned "in most cases"), however we are talking about having built sufficient "defensiveness" for closing in on the "optimal mitigation values" that Glass Cannon is just used to drop things quicker.
To bring into point, "Offensiveness is your best defense". Some people believe in their mind to play some games via "Kill on Sight" then they will just never really die, and it doesn't take much to "kill 1 by 1", so with Glass Cannon, at whatever MP he can handle, he'll wipe them faster than you think
Anyhow, I mean no disrespect, I just think that I suggested a standard two-other passives, and also i suggested for him to look into his "Defensive" slots, and I did mention about the possibility of improving DPS with Average Damage and Critical Hit Damage.
So my question would be, should i build onto my archon n use some of the pieces i already have, or scrap it and start fresh n build a whole new set with about 200m budget and possibly have better all around results in terms of dps and ehp. i see on jaetch's video the set he made was around 300m. and yes i wasnt running glass cannon back then if i was playing solo due to having low ehp. all the input is appreciated, im on right now trying to get this together
Well in general archon hybrid, you run CM. You have two passive choices left. Your choices are glass cannon, cold blooded, unstable, galvanizing ward, evocation.
Run Ward if you're running on lower to mid up where you always have archon up so wont have to refresh buffs as often. If you wanna go max dps, you run both glass cannon and cold blooded with Buriza. The Cold blooded/Buriza route, you wont really notice against trash enemies. But the extra 20% damage from cold blooded is noticeable against elites. Cold blooded/Buriza is not for out of archon mode, as LL does pitiful damage anyways. It's for archon against elites mainly on higher mp where it takes longer to kill.
I guess expensive is different for everyone but gearing a follower is dirt cheap to me. You can get a 10+% freeze, 60+% pierce buriza for like 2-3mil. A Star of Azkaranaz(however you spell it) with 3+ freeze for like the same price. Ring wise, I usually give them a HF ring, and one rare with high vit, AR, and high attack speed which can be had for like 50k.
Welcome back, OP! Just to let you know, game-wise nothing has changed since you left, and from my attempts yesterday to gear up my friend's wizard I also feel that prices haven't dropped significantly (at least on EU).
@Lotware: Amazing advice. I saw you recent posts in other threads and I'm always delighted to see a new face on the wizard forums helping to answer all the question (although there haven't been many, since Jaetch's video guide answered almost everything ;-)). So... welcome to you, too!
You said you like discussion. Well, I like discussions, too ;-) I agree with all your advice, just two cents. First, about the Buriza: I kind of agree that it's too expensive if you want one with high pierce and high freeze. Not sure about prices on US, but unless you're willing to spend double-digits millions (and OP shouldn't, considering his budget), you won't get one with both. If you, however, consider to kill as many elites as possible and never skip an elite pack, a Buriza can indeed be viable and affordable; because you might consider getting one with high freeze but low pierce, which is significantly cheaper to get. A 12+ freeze, 70+ pierce Buriza (recommended for trash mob freezing) is just too damn expensive, but if you neglect pierce it's rather cheap.
Second, about Frost Nova: I'm not sure why you prefer Cold Snap. The main purpose of LL+CM is to reduce Archon cooldown. If you have no mobs (or only 2 or 3) around you, you can always "run away" into one direction and escape, so Frost Nova is not absolutely necessary as life saver. With more mobs (5+) you're probably surrounded and can't escape, and it doesn't matter that much whether mobs are frozen for 3 our of 12 or 3 out of 9 seconds, it's still enough time for them to kill you. What makes a difference, though, is that you significantly boost your DPS and CM procs if you freeze all of them. I just made the switch to Deep Freeze very recently and the difference is just mind-blowing. When Archon wears off, I run into a pack of mobs, hit Deep Freeze, start casting LL like crazy, and Archon is back in no time. Really, 70%+ crit chance and then casting LL on a pack of 10 mobs will get often you back to Archon even before you can re-cast Frost Nova a second time. Plus, the increased DPS from 15% CC and lots of LL hitting many mobs keeps life steal high enough to let me survive quite some nasty stuff.
So Bagstone based on what you've helped others do recently is 200m enough to make a decent set for archon? or jusr build off of what i have? mind you i can run mp5-6 with my current setup without alot of problema generally, so im looking to boost the dps from there, or build a set for 8+ either or
Welcome back, OP! Just to let you know, game-wise nothing has changed since you left, and from my attempts yesterday to gear up my friend's wizard I also feel that prices haven't dropped significantly (at least on EU).
@Lotware: Amazing advice. I saw you recent posts in other threads and I'm always delighted to see a new face on the wizard forums helping to answer all the question (although there haven't been many, since Jaetch's video guide answered almost everything ;-)). So... welcome to you, too!
You said you like discussion. Well, I like discussions, too ;-) I agree with all your advice, just two cents. First, about the Buriza: I kind of agree that it's too expensive if you want one with high pierce and high freeze. Not sure about prices on US, but unless you're willing to spend double-digits millions (and OP shouldn't, considering his budget), you won't get one with both. If you, however, consider to kill as many elites as possible and never skip an elite pack, a Buriza can indeed be viable and affordable; because you might consider getting one with high freeze but low pierce, which is significantly cheaper to get. A 12+ freeze, 70+ pierce Buriza (recommended for trash mob freezing) is just too damn expensive, but if you neglect pierce it's rather cheap.
Second, about Frost Nova: I'm not sure why you prefer Cold Snap. The main purpose of LL+CM is to reduce Archon cooldown. If you have no mobs (or only 2 or 3) around you, you can always "run away" into one direction and escape, so Frost Nova is not absolutely necessary as life saver. With more mobs (5+) you're probably surrounded and can't escape, and it doesn't matter that much whether mobs are frozen for 3 our of 12 or 3 out of 9 seconds, it's still enough time for them to kill you. What makes a difference, though, is that you significantly boost your DPS and CM procs if you freeze all of them. I just made the switch to Deep Freeze very recently and the difference is just mind-blowing. When Archon wears off, I run into a pack of mobs, hit Deep Freeze, start casting LL like crazy, and Archon is back in no time. Really, 70%+ crit chance and then casting LL on a pack of 10 mobs will get often you back to Archon even before you can re-cast Frost Nova a second time. Plus, the increased DPS from 15% CC and lots of LL hitting many mobs keeps life steal high enough to let me survive quite some nasty stuff.
Thank you for your welcoming Indeed I love discussions
Of course, the utilization of 15% straight onto CHC, is always efficient, however, like you said, if you fall into the trap, 3 seconds won't buy you anything, well you can't handle to stop them to cast more Living Lightning. The goal here is to actually let your Living Lightning play through.
Even though this game does not really "endorse" Hit Recovery, freezing them more consistently, 3-seconds of freezing time enables you to do more Living Lightning without feeling the pressure when you are indeed "surrounded". In fact, coming from this, most people I have seen actually ran Diamond Skin Crystal Shell of sorts, rather than Frost Nova of "any rune".
Your goal is to kill them, if you do crit them so much from having the need of Frost Nova Deep Freeze, then it's not really out-of-archon mode, it's actually a "lifesaving" concept then because you're now relying on your Deep Freeze rune to buck you back into Archon Mode. My way is an out-of-archon game play to do it at a relaxed rate, and then with foundation Critical Hit Chance ratio to your Critical Hit Damage, I am not saying you need a lot of Critical Hit Chance for Archon but it shouldn't be any different if you were to talk about the 15% straight up from the Deep Freeze rune, you can very well gear as if you were CM in Archon, you just got to prioritize the Critical Hit Damage, more than Attack Speed Bonus % and of course, the other things that you would need to do to get more "Sheet DPS", I am no expert in the "Sheet DPS" concept, but I do know that if I am not going to run out of archon, I don't need Deep Freeze to buck me back into it.
The idea of "Out-of-archon mode" is to enable you to still kill if you happen to say, you had to 'spilled' coffee, or like your party members didnt clear mobs for you to keep on reducing cooldown, like you went back to town, and you still came back in time. The idea is that your Critical Hit Chance should come from your gear.
Deep Freeze rune, even for CM side, has always been a rune in question. Most people use it, in CM, as a "reliance" because it is a direct 15%, so it's like you no longer need to purchase 15% CHC (which is beneficial to low low budget) but at some point, that is very well undermining the actual tooltip of the passive. So with a mindset of "reliance" over actually being able to gear that 15% from gear, you shouldn't actually need Deep Freeze to help you with that "recovery", mine is a lax out-of-archon method to play the game as if you were half CM.
If you get my drift. I am not saying you are wrong, and I am not saying I'm 100% right. But either way, you didn't really need to play out-of-archon for "bucking yourself back in", the idea is to be able to play outside of archon mode, in some situations you may take too long to clear an elite pack, and you need to "cc" them, yes your gear should have had that 15% CHC.
The fact is also, an elite pack is often 3 to 4, only the yellow elite boss is 5, but the minions fall off quicker "as your SHEET DPS" goes up and improving.
At the same time, even though the concept is to "chain" to buy time for your Archon (to stay in Archon), sometimes you just have no choice, like you say you're walled in, or surrounded, you need to get things done, you may not have the opportunity to have more than 5 creatures, like say in Leoric Courtyard, do you expect yourself to run thru the gates if you have already killed all the excess guys or you always want to ensure you have at least 5 to benefit that 12-seconds? The 12-seconds is also not used on a lower Sheet DPS (a low low budget).
Deep Freeze rune: That 12-second as the buff, especially in CM, the 12-second is the ideal time to "KILL" the elite, not the "reliance of the 15% chc", that should be within your endgame gear, 'coz when you end up with "Single Target", or below 5 whatever it may be, you're only talking about chaining, I want to see "Single Target" (I won't mind you teaching me on Single Target control for a low budget, that will be extremely helpful, and i don't mean to kill off on a lower MP that is suited to your DPS, I mean really for the CM tooltip and concept for CHC.
I hope that you understand my explanation and I really want to learn more about when you really don't have 5 targets, I know about mob density but there are certain situations that you are surrounded, but doesnt mean 5 monsters are within hit radius either.
So Bagstone based on what you've helped others do recently is 200m enough to make a decent set for archon? or jusr build off of what i have? mind you i can run mp5-6 with my current setup without alot of problema generally, so im looking to boost the dps from there, or build a set for 8+ either or
Well, I'm EU, not sure if US prices are significantly lower (they used to be).
For 200m I guess you can create a set for MP6-7 from scratch. MP8, I doubt so, quite difficult; and to be honest, you kinda have to replace almost every single slot in order to gear up for higher MPs. Of course this is very subjective. Some people like to run around glass canon-like, barely kill stuff before Archon runs out, and don't mind dying from time to time, just to play on a higher MP. I personally prefer to breeze through content, rather step down the MP and never die. And of course it depends on how lucky you are with AH snipes (I'm quite impatient and don't want to spend too much time on the AH, so I resort to rather dumb buyouts and stuff ;-)).
With your gear, I personally wouldn't feel able to run MP6. But it seems like you enjoy a different play style than I do - so if you invest 200m according to all the advice you got from lotware and follow the advice given in Jaetch's video (and maybe look at some of the alternatives I suggest in my gearing guide, see signature) you might be able to hit MP8 after all. MP9/10 is definitely still only accessible for billionaires. You kind of need both 400k DPS and EHP to survive and kill fast enough on MP9, and even if you're lucky you don't get there with less than multiple hundred millions (or even billions) of gold.
I am trying to say that "the 12-second buff" should be taken advantage of to "kill them off", and not the "reliance of the 15% chc". I understand about how much effectiveness is 15% but the limited time of the buff is what one should be taking advantage of.
From what I am seeing in words, is that, there is a certain "reliance over" the 15 chc, and not the use of the 12-seconds, it's like they might as well just give you a permanent passive for 15% chc.
I am not sure if that is too powerful to say, but I am pretty sure I utilize the 12-seconds if I had the DPS to do so.
It's not so much about the 15% when you have the budget to "Gear", for the lower end of the spectrum, for people with low budget, it is fantastic that you get the direct 15% to be able to play CM or to reduce cooldown.
Or for the highend people to use that 12-second buff, to finish things off even quicker, thus making chaining even easier.
And after all, for any build that is named, you use the primary skill of the named build, Archon for Archon, and an out-of-Archon mode is to be able to "play", not to utilize something to "get you back into it", you shouldn't be losing your Archon if you are able to "chain" to keep your Archon mode. So out-of-archon is another strategy to play that shows your survivability.
Otherwise, your Deep Freeze Frost Nova does make you use it for "Lifesaving" because you want to hurry back into Archon Mode.
I hope this is a better summary of what I wrote up above.
Sincerely,
Lotware
EDIT: I also upvoted your "2-cents", i really enjoy that kind of awesome feedback, as well as all your invitational words of wisdom.
So Bagstone based on what you've helped others do recently is 200m enough to make a decent set for archon? or jusr build off of what i have? mind you i can run mp5-6 with my current setup without alot of problema generally, so im looking to boost the dps from there, or build a set for 8+ either or
Well, I'm EU, not sure if US prices are significantly lower (they used to be).
For 200m I guess you can create a set for MP6-7 from scratch. MP8, I doubt so, quite difficult; and to be honest, you kinda have to replace almost every single slot in order to gear up for higher MPs. Of course this is very subjective. Some people like to run around glass canon-like, barely kill stuff before Archon runs out, and don't mind dying from time to time, just to play on a higher MP. I personally prefer to breeze through content, rather step down the MP and never die. And of course it depends on how lucky you are with AH snipes (I'm quite impatient and don't want to spend too much time on the AH, so I resort to rather dumb buyouts and stuff ;-)).
With your gear, I personally wouldn't feel able to run MP6. But it seems like you enjoy a different play style than I do - so if you invest 200m according to all the advice you got from lotware and follow the advice given in Jaetch's video (and maybe look at some of the alternatives I suggest in my gearing guide, see signature) you might be able to hit MP8 after all. MP9/10 is definitely still only accessible for billionaires. You kind of need both 400k DPS and EHP to survive and kill fast enough on MP9, and even if you're lucky you don't get there with less than multiple hundred millions (or even billions) of gold.
So basically, wether i build from what i have or replace majority of items i already have, im still starting from scratch (lol), so let me ask this, lets say the 200m isnt exactly enough, based on what i have, whats my order of importance or where to start to build a better set for mp6-7 to "breeze" thru the content, and im like u, im impatient so i just buy stuff out hehe. and my current set doesnt "seem" or "feel" so bad when in game, i think i survive more hits than im supposed to be able to (lol) but things could die faster, about an a hr ago was in a mp10 public game and i really dnt know how i was able to live through some things and kill certain packs if people ran off, thats why im seeking clarification if i should start alll the way from scratch or if there are some peices worth keeping n building off of. not to mention items in my bags as well
Deep Freeze rune: That 12-second as the buff, especially in CM, the 12-second is the ideal time to "KILL" the elite, not the "reliance of the 15% chc", that should be within your endgame gear, 'coz when you end up with "Single Target", or below 5 whatever it may be, you're only talking about chaining, I want to see "Single Target" (I won't mind you teaching me on Single Target control for a low budget, that will be extremely helpful, and i don't mean to kill off on a lower MP that is suited to your DPS, I mean really for the CM tooltip and concept for CHC.
I hope that you understand my explanation and I really want to learn more about when you really don't have 5 targets, I know about mob density but there are certain situations that you are surrounded, but doesnt mean 5 monsters are within hit radius either.
Ah, I see. Thanks for the elaborate explanation. I think the different thinking we have is that I perceive being out of Archon the same as being dead: a waste of time. I don't want to kill fast out-of-Archon, I just want to get back into Archon as soon as possible.
I completely agree with the example of the big fat yellow elite monster still in front of you with Archon worn off and Deep Freeze being useless. I'm playing Archon for well over a year now, and I've tried all sort of different skills and runes as fourth active button spell (including Diamond Skin, Wave of Force, and Teleport). I kind of switched builds almost every week, always giving it enough time to try it out, but I was never as satisfied as I'm now with Deep Freeze.
So, what am I doing when I hit this example of Deep Freeze being useless (1-4 quite healthy monsters around me)? Well, I look for other mobs. I just go around a bit to find a pack of 5 mobs, jump right into them, Deep Freeze and then go back to kill the elite. Again, this is not super efficient in "killing everything as fast as possible" but it's super efficient in terms of "getting me back to Archon as soon as possible". It's very subjective, but I personally prefer this style of play.
Note that if you're fine with playing "out of Archon", you might also consider other spells, such as Disintegrate, Electrocute, or Spectral Blades. LL (and WW, if you have APoC) are just the spells with best CM proc coefficients to get Archon back up, they're not the best in terms of DPS.
So basically, wether i build from what i have or replace majority of items i already have, im still starting from scratch (lol), so let me ask this, lets say the 200m isnt exactly enough, based on what i have, whats my order of importance or where to start to build a better set for mp6-7 to "breeze" thru the content, and im like u, im impatient so i just buy stuff out hehe. and my current set doesnt "seem" or "feel" so bad when in game, i think i survive more hits than im supposed to be able to (lol) but things could die faster, about an a hr ago was in a mp10 public game and i really dnt know how i was able to live through some things and kill certain packs if people ran off, thats why im seeking clarification if i should start alll the way from scratch or if there are some peices worth keeping n building off of. not to mention items in my bags as well
The problem is that unless you're ready to waste lots of money, making quick buyouts can backfire very quick. This is even more true now that the economy is a bit rocky after lots of people start to cash out, but others gear up their twinks; the fluctuation of prices is just as high as it is after a patch. For example, CC Mempos have dropped in price significantly (still to expensive for your budget though), but they started getting more expensive recently. Weapons, I feel, are still super expensive.
As an example for the difficult decisions and trade-offs, here's the Inna's vs. Lacuni's discussion recently.
Another thing is: can you craft some items? Amulet, bracers, shoulders can be crafted and if you're lucky, reduce your budget by a considerable amount. For example, I recently helped a friend of mine level his wizard to 60, he bought an MP5 capable Archon set for just 19 millions (but spend some time on it, some good snipes); but most of all, he was damn lucky to get a very nice int amulet.
So, once you've used up all your Demonic Essences, I'd start by getting a new weapon (Jaetch has said everything about weapons in his guide, just follow it); spend something between 15 and 30 million on a weapon (only more than 20 if you find a really good deal). Then get a good offhand for 10-15 million. After that, work your way up on all the different slots, but my primary advice is: on all the clothes slots, make sure you check if you can get all resist and/or armor for a bit more gold. You really need to have some mitigation, and it's difficult to get afterwards; it kind of sucks if at the end you realize you lack 100 allres and need to get it on jewelry or gloves, which are possible trifecta candidates. (Mitigation is harder to stack than HP; if you lack vitality, you can always start with some vitality gems and as you level up paragon, replace them with topaz gems.)
Like I said, for some slots there are some nice alternatives that people often overlook; for example Andariel's helm (try to get one without socket, since a ruby isn't mandatory on high MP anyways, but with low fire damage and high allres). Or Tyrael's Chest, which many people dismiss completely, and therefore you might be able to get a good deal (always go against the mainstream to get good deals on the AH). I pointed out all the pro's and con's of the alternatives in my guide.
There is really no way I can tell you here for which 13 items to go. Don't buy a single slot in isolation; always check for 3-4 items for 2-3 slots and "simulate" in D3up before making the purchase. It sucks if you dump 100m and realize "oh, I'm missing 10k HP".
^ not to do too much quoting and to take up more of OP's room for this.
Bagstone: "Note that if you're fine with playing "out of Archon", you might also consider other spells, such as Disintegrate, Electrocute, or Spectral Blades. LL (and WW, if you have APoC) are just the spells with best CM proc coefficients to get Archon back up, they're not the best in terms of DPS. " -- yep, what you say is true, I could be using other skills, pretty much. I was just trying to take up the knowledge as to whether people have thought about the way I put my emphasis on the "12-second buff" vs. the "direct 15% chc", is all.
Definitely enjoyed it and I hope others who are reading understood our discussion, and also too learned from this. I definitely understand you talking about "being already dead" but you can still "play" when you don't need to hit the "revive" button :), and freezing for others while you hope to get your Archon back like you said, is always very helpful, freezing consistently for people, of course there's the Cyclone Strike monk to keep everything intact but if Deep Freeze rune serves more of a non-group purpose when you do (fall out of Archon mode), then your chosen rune is rather " "self"-ish ".
Anyways, it was a very very good discussion and I too should try other skills to make my out-of-archon mode even more exciting and fun, instead of consistently freezing them Challenge myself for more survivability is always good to learn and for others to know when one has found something rather spectacularly insane.
"There is really no way I can tell you here for which 13 items to go. Don't buy a single slot in isolation; always check for 3-4 items for 2-3 slots and "simulate" in D3up before making the purchase. It sucks if you dump 100m and realize "oh, I'm missing 10k HP". "
I concur with this, especially that I am a foundation checker. Some items go hand-in-hand together, Chest and Pants, Shoulders and Bracers, or more often Bracers and Boots (due to Movement Speed), even though yes Pants and Bracers when you end up choosing Inna's and Lacuni's.
Use Jaetch's guide, as well as other awesome legitimate guides to help you spend your 200M+ more wisely. Like he said, don't hunt down ONE SINGLE item, work on a few at a time to better yourself.
1) Shoulders, Chest, and Pants
2) Helm and Bracers
3) Average Damage on Source
4) Gloves
5) Weapon
6) Jewelry
The order is subject to change but most likely that is the way to go when you're slowly getting tighter on budget, you don't want to spend on the stuff further down the list, unless you intend to build from scratch as an attempt to build a Low-Budget Set, or more commonly doing Set Builds.
Looks good! 277k sounds much better ;-) Also, your HP is quite nice, so you've got some flexibility left as well.
So, enjoy playing now and look for upgrades for weapon and gloves, I'd say. I'd also craft lots of int amulets with all DE's you find, and get better gems (in particular you should aim for a 100% or at least 90% gem in your weapon). The good thing is that you can even manage to lose some HP on your amulet or gloves (you can always upgrade the gem in your helmet as well).
Since your EHP is now significantly higher and makes EA:PA more effective, you should also give Glass Canon (instead of Temporal Flux) a try!
No sane Archon user will fight elites outside of Archon form in an attempt to pop Archon again. The strategy is to utilize trash mobs to fuel your Archon. If your Archon form drops off during an elite fight (unless the pack itself is almost dead), you herd them to nearby clusters of trash mobs. You are more likely to find trash mobs to combine LL and DF more often than not. Cold Snap is useful only for targets <4, which is incredibly unlikely unless you decided to clear the entire map before fighting any elite packs.
It takes 5-6 seconds to refresh Archon off of 100+ seconds of cooldown with LL and DF and a decently sized cluster of mobs. You're not going to find a better way to refresh Archon outside of using APoC and WW. If you want to run Archon on high MP levels, you want to minimize the time you spend outside of Archon form. That's why it's not advised that you fight single targets when outside of Archon form because you cannot proc CM enough with LL to refresh Archon. You just herd and make use of the mobs on the map.
Two great things come from this: 1. You have an immediate fuel source for Archon when you activate it again, 2. You immediately boost your Archon's duration rather than over time, which gives you a buffer to work with in case you have to do some more walking later.
Assuming now that you herd elites to trash mobs in order to utilize Deep Freeze, you then get another huge boost comes from popping Archon while DF is still active: a ton of critical hits against elites. 12 seconds is plenty to down elites or at least get close to it.
Again, I'm going to repeat that the whole point of the best and most effective Archon build is to have access to the form as much as possible and to remain in Archon for as long as possible. You can't do this with Cold Snap. You can back in the day before the monster density buff. It's a completely different story now. You have to use the map and the mobs around you for you own benefit, and really, in the vast majority of farming scenarios, both solo and multiplayer, you're going to find 5+ mobs way more often than not.
On the note of Cold Blooded, I highly, highly recommend it especially toward higher MP levels if it takes you more than 15-20 seconds or so to kill off the typical elite pack. 20% bonus damage on a target is no laughing matter. You don't even have to use Buriza. You can just pick up a Windforce and either a Stone of Jordan or Tal ammy with cold bonus. Hell, even an Eye of Etlich works. Now you combine Multishot with a high knockback Windforce and you're good to go. But the best is obviously still Buriza. Playing from experience, the difference in kill speed is dramatic between running Cold Blooded and no Cold Blooded. The same applies for with or without Glass Cannon. Remember the whole point of running Archon is to utilize as many offensive buffs as possible to kill enemies as fast as possible to sustain the form.
@OP - in your situation, scrap the Lacuni and craft rare bracers. No Lacuni can out-DPS the best crafted rare bracers (330 intelligence, 6% CC) unless you get a pair with insane intelligence in addition to 9 IAS and 6 CC. Those are incredibly rare and horrifically expensive (I paid 50 billion gold for mine when I got them and one of the previous owners shelled out a couple grand of U.S dollars). In addition, rare bracers can roll the high int and CC, along with vitality, armor and AR. A Lacuni with high intelligence cannot.
You can't make use of 36% movement speed. One of the MS items is a waste, and in this case, that's your Lacuni. Craft rare bracers and try selling your Lacuni for a profit, if possible.
^ Thank you Jaetch for interjecting positively. I do understand about Mob Density making a lot of changes. Perspective does show about that.
And yes, I really didn't intend to use Frost Nova, it is definitely not re-pop into like I mentioned (someone else did talk about using it in that way).
Anyways, it is definitely very much understandable now that I have read how awesome-Jaetch has put it. Of course, I still don't like to say about what Mob Density determines until you have foundation stats to fully handle "Mob Density" (in which you actually pull more or "be able to chain", or else you are just going to not really truly grasp "Mob Density", of course Fields of Misery can also sometimes have monsters wide apart enough to pull you apart, it just depends on how you rate your own Sheet DPS for a certain MP to effective "chain enough" to keep your Archon going.
I am also not suggesting to play out-of-Archon, I am saying that if you do happen to get to that point, you would think that defensively you are capable of handling that "Mob Density" but you don't, and Deep Freeze, pros and cons really, more pros from the tooltip and char stats & details but utilization of it, like you mentioned, should never really come into place, so one cannot say that DF is really useful when one won't really get to that point.
On the side of the Cold Blooded, it comes down to whether people bother to gear a follower in many different ways. But I definitely learned more about the "other possible items" even though I would prefer if my follower also shoot a little quicker, but i guess that's already limited by more items with the lack of speed already, so i won't get much out of that, so yeah you have taught me better on "freezing gear". That is really awesome advice on that Cold Blooded, I completely understand this one.
EDIT: To make it more clear, I don't like to "kill on sight", for almost any class, probably except DH, i would pull at least half the screen (meaning 20-35+ monsters, on at least MP8 to 10 respectively) before I "finish" what's remaining of their HP, i actually do a lot of "gathering" myself, of course Archon will probably be half of that but I am a big fan of "mass kill / rate of kill back from D2" so I am all "for" the Mob Density but the "reliance of DF" is not the same as "fueling Archon". And when one succeeds in keeping Archon, once again you won't reach your DF, unless you happen to go afk and back so fast but not fast enough that you lost your Archon form.
here's my char
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Batman-1825/hero/8105443
http://d3up.com/b/1076143#gear
Not entirely up to the Archon spec, however, I can definitely provide some survival aspect advice.
Skills
1) Frost Nova Cold Snap rune for out-of-Archon is better.
The only thing about this is that if you came from CM --> Archon (in terms of Critical Hit Chance gear from CM, then your Frost Nova if you happen to play more out-of-Archon-mode, then you will have a better cooldown to keep freezing, and also cooldown reduction via Critical Mass passive helps to regain access to Archon mode if you lost it somehow)
2) Switch out Cold Blooded for Glass Cannon
3) Temporal Flux is quite unorthodox, and you should go for the standard Galvanizing Ward, to try to top-off more Life Regen aiding the standard use of Vile Ward
**** Your current HP is 31.7k (with Star Amethyst in Helm) is a real warning sign. ****
Your Vile Ward (@ 175int/74vit/80AR/240Life Regen), while you succeed in minimally doing that Shoulder Slot for base Vitality, offensively, being below-200 Primary Stat is really not up-to-date.
Of course, good job on keeping yourself with 24% Movement Speed, however your current problem of HP will mean, 0 HP = 0 DPS.
So you may want to reconsider your Chest, Pants and Bracers, prioritizing more on Vitality in some way, while also noting that Life% on Strongarms, is not going to be as effective. Reason is: Life % also acts upon base +Vitality, the balance between both is important to boost up one's HP.
Armor is indeed important as Archon, however you'll need to start working to provide a certain balance. So far your Vile Ward and Zuni Pox are your two All Resistance pieces, so you got to know your Defensive slots, prioritizing +Armor and All Resistance properly on the Defensive Slots.
Okay onto DPS, your current Average Damage on your Triumvirate is: ( 106 + 263 ) / 2 = 184.5
1) You'll want to work onto grabbing 235-240+ Average Damage, on mid-tier.
2) Open socket weapon is always handy for more Critical Hit Damage.
3) Average Damage on your pieces of jewelry is also really important, so your Skull Grasp will most likely be your immediate change.
Right now, work on getting your HP towards 40k HP (preferably without that Vit Gem in Helm).
And then slowly work on that Primary Stat, Critical Hit Damage, and Average Damage.
I mainly help people with "foundation stats" than the actual "Sheet DPS", like I said, 0 HP = 0 DPS, and more time wasted to get back to where you were just killed is "loss of DPS".
I hope there will be others to help you with more about your DPS.
Enjoy!
Cheers!
- Lotware -
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)
I have never bothered with Buriza scoundrel but Buriza did get expensive at one point, not many people bothers to gear a follower, even though, I do myself.
Also, to be really "efficient" as a Scoundrel, you need to grab him survivability of big HP, Attack Speed, and that Freeze + Pierce of Buriza is important. I mean you may spend quite a load just to get that done, when you can spend on getting his own defensiveness up, then he can play Glass Cannon.
I really just don't see that use of Cold Blooded. Like I pointed out, I know how I would play out-of-Archon-mode Shock Pulse Living Lightning + Frost Nova Cold Snap like a CM as an Archon, but unless he moves more of his CM set over, he won't be able to run effective Frost Nova boost for such DPS.
I would probably seek Unstable Anomaly for him if he can't play Glass Cannon, however again, I am telling about the standard Archon skills (which you mentioned "in most cases"), however we are talking about having built sufficient "defensiveness" for closing in on the "optimal mitigation values" that Glass Cannon is just used to drop things quicker.
To bring into point, "Offensiveness is your best defense". Some people believe in their mind to play some games via "Kill on Sight" then they will just never really die, and it doesn't take much to "kill 1 by 1", so with Glass Cannon, at whatever MP he can handle, he'll wipe them faster than you think
Anyhow, I mean no disrespect, I just think that I suggested a standard two-other passives, and also i suggested for him to look into his "Defensive" slots, and I did mention about the possibility of improving DPS with Average Damage and Critical Hit Damage.
I always love discussion.
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)
Run Ward if you're running on lower to mid up where you always have archon up so wont have to refresh buffs as often. If you wanna go max dps, you run both glass cannon and cold blooded with Buriza. The Cold blooded/Buriza route, you wont really notice against trash enemies. But the extra 20% damage from cold blooded is noticeable against elites. Cold blooded/Buriza is not for out of archon mode, as LL does pitiful damage anyways. It's for archon against elites mainly on higher mp where it takes longer to kill.
I guess expensive is different for everyone but gearing a follower is dirt cheap to me. You can get a 10+% freeze, 60+% pierce buriza for like 2-3mil. A Star of Azkaranaz(however you spell it) with 3+ freeze for like the same price. Ring wise, I usually give them a HF ring, and one rare with high vit, AR, and high attack speed which can be had for like 50k.
@Lotware: Amazing advice. I saw you recent posts in other threads and I'm always delighted to see a new face on the wizard forums helping to answer all the question (although there haven't been many, since Jaetch's video guide answered almost everything ;-)). So... welcome to you, too!
You said you like discussion. Well, I like discussions, too ;-) I agree with all your advice, just two cents. First, about the Buriza: I kind of agree that it's too expensive if you want one with high pierce and high freeze. Not sure about prices on US, but unless you're willing to spend double-digits millions (and OP shouldn't, considering his budget), you won't get one with both. If you, however, consider to kill as many elites as possible and never skip an elite pack, a Buriza can indeed be viable and affordable; because you might consider getting one with high freeze but low pierce, which is significantly cheaper to get. A 12+ freeze, 70+ pierce Buriza (recommended for trash mob freezing) is just too damn expensive, but if you neglect pierce it's rather cheap.
Second, about Frost Nova: I'm not sure why you prefer Cold Snap. The main purpose of LL+CM is to reduce Archon cooldown. If you have no mobs (or only 2 or 3) around you, you can always "run away" into one direction and escape, so Frost Nova is not absolutely necessary as life saver. With more mobs (5+) you're probably surrounded and can't escape, and it doesn't matter that much whether mobs are frozen for 3 our of 12 or 3 out of 9 seconds, it's still enough time for them to kill you. What makes a difference, though, is that you significantly boost your DPS and CM procs if you freeze all of them. I just made the switch to Deep Freeze very recently and the difference is just mind-blowing. When Archon wears off, I run into a pack of mobs, hit Deep Freeze, start casting LL like crazy, and Archon is back in no time. Really, 70%+ crit chance and then casting LL on a pack of 10 mobs will get often you back to Archon even before you can re-cast Frost Nova a second time. Plus, the increased DPS from 15% CC and lots of LL hitting many mobs keeps life steal high enough to let me survive quite some nasty stuff.
Thank you for your welcoming Indeed I love discussions
Of course, the utilization of 15% straight onto CHC, is always efficient, however, like you said, if you fall into the trap, 3 seconds won't buy you anything, well you can't handle to stop them to cast more Living Lightning. The goal here is to actually let your Living Lightning play through.
Even though this game does not really "endorse" Hit Recovery, freezing them more consistently, 3-seconds of freezing time enables you to do more Living Lightning without feeling the pressure when you are indeed "surrounded". In fact, coming from this, most people I have seen actually ran Diamond Skin Crystal Shell of sorts, rather than Frost Nova of "any rune".
Your goal is to kill them, if you do crit them so much from having the need of Frost Nova Deep Freeze, then it's not really out-of-archon mode, it's actually a "lifesaving" concept then because you're now relying on your Deep Freeze rune to buck you back into Archon Mode. My way is an out-of-archon game play to do it at a relaxed rate, and then with foundation Critical Hit Chance ratio to your Critical Hit Damage, I am not saying you need a lot of Critical Hit Chance for Archon but it shouldn't be any different if you were to talk about the 15% straight up from the Deep Freeze rune, you can very well gear as if you were CM in Archon, you just got to prioritize the Critical Hit Damage, more than Attack Speed Bonus % and of course, the other things that you would need to do to get more "Sheet DPS", I am no expert in the "Sheet DPS" concept, but I do know that if I am not going to run out of archon, I don't need Deep Freeze to buck me back into it.
The idea of "Out-of-archon mode" is to enable you to still kill if you happen to say, you had to 'spilled' coffee, or like your party members didnt clear mobs for you to keep on reducing cooldown, like you went back to town, and you still came back in time. The idea is that your Critical Hit Chance should come from your gear.
Deep Freeze rune, even for CM side, has always been a rune in question. Most people use it, in CM, as a "reliance" because it is a direct 15%, so it's like you no longer need to purchase 15% CHC (which is beneficial to low low budget) but at some point, that is very well undermining the actual tooltip of the passive. So with a mindset of "reliance" over actually being able to gear that 15% from gear, you shouldn't actually need Deep Freeze to help you with that "recovery", mine is a lax out-of-archon method to play the game as if you were half CM.
If you get my drift. I am not saying you are wrong, and I am not saying I'm 100% right. But either way, you didn't really need to play out-of-archon for "bucking yourself back in", the idea is to be able to play outside of archon mode, in some situations you may take too long to clear an elite pack, and you need to "cc" them, yes your gear should have had that 15% CHC.
The fact is also, an elite pack is often 3 to 4, only the yellow elite boss is 5, but the minions fall off quicker "as your SHEET DPS" goes up and improving.
At the same time, even though the concept is to "chain" to buy time for your Archon (to stay in Archon), sometimes you just have no choice, like you say you're walled in, or surrounded, you need to get things done, you may not have the opportunity to have more than 5 creatures, like say in Leoric Courtyard, do you expect yourself to run thru the gates if you have already killed all the excess guys or you always want to ensure you have at least 5 to benefit that 12-seconds? The 12-seconds is also not used on a lower Sheet DPS (a low low budget).
Deep Freeze rune: That 12-second as the buff, especially in CM, the 12-second is the ideal time to "KILL" the elite, not the "reliance of the 15% chc", that should be within your endgame gear, 'coz when you end up with "Single Target", or below 5 whatever it may be, you're only talking about chaining, I want to see "Single Target" (I won't mind you teaching me on Single Target control for a low budget, that will be extremely helpful, and i don't mean to kill off on a lower MP that is suited to your DPS, I mean really for the CM tooltip and concept for CHC.
I hope that you understand my explanation and I really want to learn more about when you really don't have 5 targets, I know about mob density but there are certain situations that you are surrounded, but doesnt mean 5 monsters are within hit radius either.
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)
Well, I'm EU, not sure if US prices are significantly lower (they used to be).
For 200m I guess you can create a set for MP6-7 from scratch. MP8, I doubt so, quite difficult; and to be honest, you kinda have to replace almost every single slot in order to gear up for higher MPs. Of course this is very subjective. Some people like to run around glass canon-like, barely kill stuff before Archon runs out, and don't mind dying from time to time, just to play on a higher MP. I personally prefer to breeze through content, rather step down the MP and never die. And of course it depends on how lucky you are with AH snipes (I'm quite impatient and don't want to spend too much time on the AH, so I resort to rather dumb buyouts and stuff ;-)).
With your gear, I personally wouldn't feel able to run MP6. But it seems like you enjoy a different play style than I do - so if you invest 200m according to all the advice you got from lotware and follow the advice given in Jaetch's video (and maybe look at some of the alternatives I suggest in my gearing guide, see signature) you might be able to hit MP8 after all. MP9/10 is definitely still only accessible for billionaires. You kind of need both 400k DPS and EHP to survive and kill fast enough on MP9, and even if you're lucky you don't get there with less than multiple hundred millions (or even billions) of gold.
I am trying to say that "the 12-second buff" should be taken advantage of to "kill them off", and not the "reliance of the 15% chc". I understand about how much effectiveness is 15% but the limited time of the buff is what one should be taking advantage of.
From what I am seeing in words, is that, there is a certain "reliance over" the 15 chc, and not the use of the 12-seconds, it's like they might as well just give you a permanent passive for 15% chc.
I am not sure if that is too powerful to say, but I am pretty sure I utilize the 12-seconds if I had the DPS to do so.
It's not so much about the 15% when you have the budget to "Gear", for the lower end of the spectrum, for people with low budget, it is fantastic that you get the direct 15% to be able to play CM or to reduce cooldown.
Or for the highend people to use that 12-second buff, to finish things off even quicker, thus making chaining even easier.
And after all, for any build that is named, you use the primary skill of the named build, Archon for Archon, and an out-of-Archon mode is to be able to "play", not to utilize something to "get you back into it", you shouldn't be losing your Archon if you are able to "chain" to keep your Archon mode. So out-of-archon is another strategy to play that shows your survivability.
Otherwise, your Deep Freeze Frost Nova does make you use it for "Lifesaving" because you want to hurry back into Archon Mode.
I hope this is a better summary of what I wrote up above.
Sincerely,
Lotware
EDIT: I also upvoted your "2-cents", i really enjoy that kind of awesome feedback, as well as all your invitational words of wisdom.
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)
So basically, wether i build from what i have or replace majority of items i already have, im still starting from scratch (lol), so let me ask this, lets say the 200m isnt exactly enough, based on what i have, whats my order of importance or where to start to build a better set for mp6-7 to "breeze" thru the content, and im like u, im impatient so i just buy stuff out hehe. and my current set doesnt "seem" or "feel" so bad when in game, i think i survive more hits than im supposed to be able to (lol) but things could die faster, about an a hr ago was in a mp10 public game and i really dnt know how i was able to live through some things and kill certain packs if people ran off, thats why im seeking clarification if i should start alll the way from scratch or if there are some peices worth keeping n building off of. not to mention items in my bags as well
Ah, I see. Thanks for the elaborate explanation. I think the different thinking we have is that I perceive being out of Archon the same as being dead: a waste of time. I don't want to kill fast out-of-Archon, I just want to get back into Archon as soon as possible.
I completely agree with the example of the big fat yellow elite monster still in front of you with Archon worn off and Deep Freeze being useless. I'm playing Archon for well over a year now, and I've tried all sort of different skills and runes as fourth active button spell (including Diamond Skin, Wave of Force, and Teleport). I kind of switched builds almost every week, always giving it enough time to try it out, but I was never as satisfied as I'm now with Deep Freeze.
So, what am I doing when I hit this example of Deep Freeze being useless (1-4 quite healthy monsters around me)? Well, I look for other mobs. I just go around a bit to find a pack of 5 mobs, jump right into them, Deep Freeze and then go back to kill the elite. Again, this is not super efficient in "killing everything as fast as possible" but it's super efficient in terms of "getting me back to Archon as soon as possible". It's very subjective, but I personally prefer this style of play.
Note that if you're fine with playing "out of Archon", you might also consider other spells, such as Disintegrate, Electrocute, or Spectral Blades. LL (and WW, if you have APoC) are just the spells with best CM proc coefficients to get Archon back up, they're not the best in terms of DPS.
The problem is that unless you're ready to waste lots of money, making quick buyouts can backfire very quick. This is even more true now that the economy is a bit rocky after lots of people start to cash out, but others gear up their twinks; the fluctuation of prices is just as high as it is after a patch. For example, CC Mempos have dropped in price significantly (still to expensive for your budget though), but they started getting more expensive recently. Weapons, I feel, are still super expensive.
As an example for the difficult decisions and trade-offs, here's the Inna's vs. Lacuni's discussion recently.
Another thing is: can you craft some items? Amulet, bracers, shoulders can be crafted and if you're lucky, reduce your budget by a considerable amount. For example, I recently helped a friend of mine level his wizard to 60, he bought an MP5 capable Archon set for just 19 millions (but spend some time on it, some good snipes); but most of all, he was damn lucky to get a very nice int amulet.
So, once you've used up all your Demonic Essences, I'd start by getting a new weapon (Jaetch has said everything about weapons in his guide, just follow it); spend something between 15 and 30 million on a weapon (only more than 20 if you find a really good deal). Then get a good offhand for 10-15 million. After that, work your way up on all the different slots, but my primary advice is: on all the clothes slots, make sure you check if you can get all resist and/or armor for a bit more gold. You really need to have some mitigation, and it's difficult to get afterwards; it kind of sucks if at the end you realize you lack 100 allres and need to get it on jewelry or gloves, which are possible trifecta candidates. (Mitigation is harder to stack than HP; if you lack vitality, you can always start with some vitality gems and as you level up paragon, replace them with topaz gems.)
Like I said, for some slots there are some nice alternatives that people often overlook; for example Andariel's helm (try to get one without socket, since a ruby isn't mandatory on high MP anyways, but with low fire damage and high allres). Or Tyrael's Chest, which many people dismiss completely, and therefore you might be able to get a good deal (always go against the mainstream to get good deals on the AH). I pointed out all the pro's and con's of the alternatives in my guide.
There is really no way I can tell you here for which 13 items to go. Don't buy a single slot in isolation; always check for 3-4 items for 2-3 slots and "simulate" in D3up before making the purchase. It sucks if you dump 100m and realize "oh, I'm missing 10k HP".
Bagstone: "Note that if you're fine with playing "out of Archon", you might also consider other spells, such as Disintegrate, Electrocute, or Spectral Blades. LL (and WW, if you have APoC) are just the spells with best CM proc coefficients to get Archon back up, they're not the best in terms of DPS. " -- yep, what you say is true, I could be using other skills, pretty much. I was just trying to take up the knowledge as to whether people have thought about the way I put my emphasis on the "12-second buff" vs. the "direct 15% chc", is all.
Definitely enjoyed it and I hope others who are reading understood our discussion, and also too learned from this. I definitely understand you talking about "being already dead" but you can still "play" when you don't need to hit the "revive" button :), and freezing for others while you hope to get your Archon back like you said, is always very helpful, freezing consistently for people, of course there's the Cyclone Strike monk to keep everything intact but if Deep Freeze rune serves more of a non-group purpose when you do (fall out of Archon mode), then your chosen rune is rather " "self"-ish ".
Anyways, it was a very very good discussion and I too should try other skills to make my out-of-archon mode even more exciting and fun, instead of consistently freezing them Challenge myself for more survivability is always good to learn and for others to know when one has found something rather spectacularly insane.
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)
"There is really no way I can tell you here for which 13 items to go. Don't buy a single slot in isolation; always check for 3-4 items for 2-3 slots and "simulate" in D3up before making the purchase. It sucks if you dump 100m and realize "oh, I'm missing 10k HP". "
I concur with this, especially that I am a foundation checker. Some items go hand-in-hand together, Chest and Pants, Shoulders and Bracers, or more often Bracers and Boots (due to Movement Speed), even though yes Pants and Bracers when you end up choosing Inna's and Lacuni's.
Use Jaetch's guide, as well as other awesome legitimate guides to help you spend your 200M+ more wisely. Like he said, don't hunt down ONE SINGLE item, work on a few at a time to better yourself.
1) Shoulders, Chest, and Pants
2) Helm and Bracers
3) Average Damage on Source
4) Gloves
5) Weapon
6) Jewelry
The order is subject to change but most likely that is the way to go when you're slowly getting tighter on budget, you don't want to spend on the stuff further down the list, unless you intend to build from scratch as an attempt to build a Low-Budget Set, or more commonly doing Set Builds.
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Batman-1825/hero/8105443
http://d3up.com/b/1077507
basically went from 122k dps to 186k and 175k ehp to 277k. gained around 20k ish hp, slighty more all res, but 4-500 less armor ( ).
So, enjoy playing now and look for upgrades for weapon and gloves, I'd say. I'd also craft lots of int amulets with all DE's you find, and get better gems (in particular you should aim for a 100% or at least 90% gem in your weapon). The good thing is that you can even manage to lose some HP on your amulet or gloves (you can always upgrade the gem in your helmet as well).
Since your EHP is now significantly higher and makes EA:PA more effective, you should also give Glass Canon (instead of Temporal Flux) a try!
It takes 5-6 seconds to refresh Archon off of 100+ seconds of cooldown with LL and DF and a decently sized cluster of mobs. You're not going to find a better way to refresh Archon outside of using APoC and WW. If you want to run Archon on high MP levels, you want to minimize the time you spend outside of Archon form. That's why it's not advised that you fight single targets when outside of Archon form because you cannot proc CM enough with LL to refresh Archon. You just herd and make use of the mobs on the map.
Two great things come from this: 1. You have an immediate fuel source for Archon when you activate it again, 2. You immediately boost your Archon's duration rather than over time, which gives you a buffer to work with in case you have to do some more walking later.
Assuming now that you herd elites to trash mobs in order to utilize Deep Freeze, you then get another huge boost comes from popping Archon while DF is still active: a ton of critical hits against elites. 12 seconds is plenty to down elites or at least get close to it.
Again, I'm going to repeat that the whole point of the best and most effective Archon build is to have access to the form as much as possible and to remain in Archon for as long as possible. You can't do this with Cold Snap. You can back in the day before the monster density buff. It's a completely different story now. You have to use the map and the mobs around you for you own benefit, and really, in the vast majority of farming scenarios, both solo and multiplayer, you're going to find 5+ mobs way more often than not.
On the note of Cold Blooded, I highly, highly recommend it especially toward higher MP levels if it takes you more than 15-20 seconds or so to kill off the typical elite pack. 20% bonus damage on a target is no laughing matter. You don't even have to use Buriza. You can just pick up a Windforce and either a Stone of Jordan or Tal ammy with cold bonus. Hell, even an Eye of Etlich works. Now you combine Multishot with a high knockback Windforce and you're good to go. But the best is obviously still Buriza. Playing from experience, the difference in kill speed is dramatic between running Cold Blooded and no Cold Blooded. The same applies for with or without Glass Cannon. Remember the whole point of running Archon is to utilize as many offensive buffs as possible to kill enemies as fast as possible to sustain the form.
@OP - in your situation, scrap the Lacuni and craft rare bracers. No Lacuni can out-DPS the best crafted rare bracers (330 intelligence, 6% CC) unless you get a pair with insane intelligence in addition to 9 IAS and 6 CC. Those are incredibly rare and horrifically expensive (I paid 50 billion gold for mine when I got them and one of the previous owners shelled out a couple grand of U.S dollars). In addition, rare bracers can roll the high int and CC, along with vitality, armor and AR. A Lacuni with high intelligence cannot.
You can't make use of 36% movement speed. One of the MS items is a waste, and in this case, that's your Lacuni. Craft rare bracers and try selling your Lacuni for a profit, if possible.
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And yes, I really didn't intend to use Frost Nova, it is definitely not re-pop into like I mentioned (someone else did talk about using it in that way).
Anyways, it is definitely very much understandable now that I have read how awesome-Jaetch has put it. Of course, I still don't like to say about what Mob Density determines until you have foundation stats to fully handle "Mob Density" (in which you actually pull more or "be able to chain", or else you are just going to not really truly grasp "Mob Density", of course Fields of Misery can also sometimes have monsters wide apart enough to pull you apart, it just depends on how you rate your own Sheet DPS for a certain MP to effective "chain enough" to keep your Archon going.
I am also not suggesting to play out-of-Archon, I am saying that if you do happen to get to that point, you would think that defensively you are capable of handling that "Mob Density" but you don't, and Deep Freeze, pros and cons really, more pros from the tooltip and char stats & details but utilization of it, like you mentioned, should never really come into place, so one cannot say that DF is really useful when one won't really get to that point.
On the side of the Cold Blooded, it comes down to whether people bother to gear a follower in many different ways. But I definitely learned more about the "other possible items" even though I would prefer if my follower also shoot a little quicker, but i guess that's already limited by more items with the lack of speed already, so i won't get much out of that, so yeah you have taught me better on "freezing gear". That is really awesome advice on that Cold Blooded, I completely understand this one.
EDIT: To make it more clear, I don't like to "kill on sight", for almost any class, probably except DH, i would pull at least half the screen (meaning 20-35+ monsters, on at least MP8 to 10 respectively) before I "finish" what's remaining of their HP, i actually do a lot of "gathering" myself, of course Archon will probably be half of that but I am a big fan of "mass kill / rate of kill back from D2" so I am all "for" the Mob Density but the "reliance of DF" is not the same as "fueling Archon". And when one succeeds in keeping Archon, once again you won't reach your DF, unless you happen to go afk and back so fast but not fast enough that you lost your Archon form.
1) CMWIZ PL91, [EU]PL62 Crit NatsHelm; 2) 0-CD Dogs since MID-FEB 2013 PL44;
3) "Stunball Barrage" (Tball+F@W) Vengeance DH PL43 (1slot for H.Globe + PUR slot);
4) Lazy-Dbl-LS Monk PL48
5) Fundamental Barb (least played)