I recently threw together a wizard to farm T13 and easy gem ups for my WD. That's besides the point, the reason I'm coming to you is because I have noticed that this build is ridiculously soft in that you die very easily. I was curious what people were doing to combat this without sacrificing to much of the build. This is what I'm working with currently. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Coadyham24-1382/hero/60094105
Keep in mind this was literally thrown together in about 5 hours, and I know I have the wrong the head piece lol I'm still looking for that.
1) This build IS squishy and requires some practice to play. It's probably one of the most difficult builds to play on high GRs right now (but also one of the most powerful and rewarding once you get into it). Basically, the first minute or so in a rift you're the most vulnerable due to having no Archon stacks, I regularly proc there. Play very defensively and just make sure that when your first Archon cycle goes off you're in a safe spot to cast a few ATs and get Archon up as soon as possible. Once you learn how to play this build, you will have an Archon downtime of 2-3 seconds.
2) Every. Build. Needs. Three. Legendary. Gems. Always roll sockets on every piece of jewelry. If an amulet or ring has no socket you never want to wear it, period. Roll a socket on your Obsidian and re-roll your Tal's amulet. I'm sorry to tell you, but your Tal's amulet is complete garbage (there's no way to sugarcoat that). The main gems most people use are Bane of the Trapped, Gogok, and Zei's. For learning purposes and to address the squishyness, you can also use Esoteric instead of Zei's in the beginning; it'll cost you a lot of damage but it's better than being dead (because dead your damage is zero and a death in an Archon build is particularly bad).
3) You have no Arcane Power on Crit. You really need an APoC roll on your off-hand, otherwise you can't keep up Arcane Torrent to get back into Archon, and that means you'll die, because the Archon downtime is the critical stage of this build. You need an offhand with APoC (or a Swami and then cube the belt, depends on what items you have available).
4) You need a diamond in your helmet. You absolutely need every cooldown reduction you can get; anything but diamond is not an option for your helmet gem. However, in chest+pants you can go for amethysts or rubies for a while to get more toughness.
5) As I said, the main piece of gear that needs to be replaced asap is your amulet. Just gamble any random Tal's piece (legs to get a random pair of pants), and then re-roll that (using 10 Death's Breath and 10 Forgotten Souls) until you get a better amulet. You absolutely *need* CHD, CHC, and a socket on you Tal's amulet. Fourth stat is kinda optional (NOT lightning damage; best is CDR, followed by IAS, then intelligence).
Ok, so the amulet is easily replaced I have enough materials to ensure a decent one, and then rerolling the socket off my off-hand in place of APoC. What, in your opinion, should be the next step? Those 2 will take very little time.
A belt with armor instead of life reg. An offhand with CHC+CDR+APoC. Gloves with CHC+CHD+CDR. A weapon with IAS instead of RCR. Note that the Pig Sticker is just chosen because it's easy to cube at average ~750 DB for an ancient one and there's no other clear "best weapon". But if you have another decent 1h weapon with better stats that'll do as well, in particular In-Geom is really great for farming (not so much for pushing).
After that, just try to get a few ancient pieces, augments, upgrading your gems. Just the usual stuff - besides those points I've mentioned there's nothing really "wrong" with your gear.
Oh, I just noticed that you're using Slow Time. Most people go for Magic Weapon - Deflection, which gives also a little bit of toughness. Try that instead. I'd also recommend switching Blizzard to Frozen Solid (more CC = you survive longer). The Blizzard cost shouldn't really be an issue, if you cast Blizzard more than once then you need to adjust your playstyle, it's very important to not waste AP on anything but AT except for a single Blizzard cast once you're out of Archon. For that reason, I'm not sure Blizzard on left click is a good idea, unless you constantly press the "force move" button.
Hi all,
I recently threw together a wizard to farm T13 and easy gem ups for my WD. That's besides the point, the reason I'm coming to you is because I have noticed that this build is ridiculously soft in that you die very easily. I was curious what people were doing to combat this without sacrificing to much of the build. This is what I'm working with currently. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Coadyham24-1382/hero/60094105
Keep in mind this was literally thrown together in about 5 hours, and I know I have the wrong the head piece lol I'm still looking for that.
Thanks In Advance!
1) This build IS squishy and requires some practice to play. It's probably one of the most difficult builds to play on high GRs right now (but also one of the most powerful and rewarding once you get into it). Basically, the first minute or so in a rift you're the most vulnerable due to having no Archon stacks, I regularly proc there. Play very defensively and just make sure that when your first Archon cycle goes off you're in a safe spot to cast a few ATs and get Archon up as soon as possible. Once you learn how to play this build, you will have an Archon downtime of 2-3 seconds.
2) Every. Build. Needs. Three. Legendary. Gems. Always roll sockets on every piece of jewelry. If an amulet or ring has no socket you never want to wear it, period. Roll a socket on your Obsidian and re-roll your Tal's amulet. I'm sorry to tell you, but your Tal's amulet is complete garbage (there's no way to sugarcoat that). The main gems most people use are Bane of the Trapped, Gogok, and Zei's. For learning purposes and to address the squishyness, you can also use Esoteric instead of Zei's in the beginning; it'll cost you a lot of damage but it's better than being dead (because dead your damage is zero and a death in an Archon build is particularly bad).
3) You have no Arcane Power on Crit. You really need an APoC roll on your off-hand, otherwise you can't keep up Arcane Torrent to get back into Archon, and that means you'll die, because the Archon downtime is the critical stage of this build. You need an offhand with APoC (or a Swami and then cube the belt, depends on what items you have available).
4) You need a diamond in your helmet. You absolutely need every cooldown reduction you can get; anything but diamond is not an option for your helmet gem. However, in chest+pants you can go for amethysts or rubies for a while to get more toughness.
5) As I said, the main piece of gear that needs to be replaced asap is your amulet. Just gamble any random Tal's piece (legs to get a random pair of pants), and then re-roll that (using 10 Death's Breath and 10 Forgotten Souls) until you get a better amulet. You absolutely *need* CHD, CHC, and a socket on you Tal's amulet. Fourth stat is kinda optional (NOT lightning damage; best is CDR, followed by IAS, then intelligence).
Hey Thanks!
Ok, so the amulet is easily replaced I have enough materials to ensure a decent one, and then rerolling the socket off my off-hand in place of APoC. What, in your opinion, should be the next step? Those 2 will take very little time.
Just overall improving your gear.
A belt with armor instead of life reg. An offhand with CHC+CDR+APoC. Gloves with CHC+CHD+CDR. A weapon with IAS instead of RCR. Note that the Pig Sticker is just chosen because it's easy to cube at average ~750 DB for an ancient one and there's no other clear "best weapon". But if you have another decent 1h weapon with better stats that'll do as well, in particular In-Geom is really great for farming (not so much for pushing).
After that, just try to get a few ancient pieces, augments, upgrading your gems. Just the usual stuff - besides those points I've mentioned there's nothing really "wrong" with your gear.
Oh, I just noticed that you're using Slow Time. Most people go for Magic Weapon - Deflection, which gives also a little bit of toughness. Try that instead. I'd also recommend switching Blizzard to Frozen Solid (more CC = you survive longer). The Blizzard cost shouldn't really be an issue, if you cast Blizzard more than once then you need to adjust your playstyle, it's very important to not waste AP on anything but AT except for a single Blizzard cast once you're out of Archon. For that reason, I'm not sure Blizzard on left click is a good idea, unless you constantly press the "force move" button.
I like the defelction idea, I use the scroll wheel to force move. Also Is IAS mean increased attack speed?
Yes.