I don't post much, i but read these forums pretty much daily. I wrote a fairly extensive review of my thoughts regarding tweaks to DMO over at the PTR feedback forums. I've included that below (Look out for the wall of text). If you like my ideas, i'd appreciate you bumping my post over here:
Howdy all! I wanted to give some completely unsolicited feedback regarding my experiences with Delsere’s Magnum Opus (Henceforth, DMO). Right off the bat, I want to say that I am NOT a high level GR guy. I currently top out around GR 43 and I mostly play single player, so I’m not able to claim any fame in the 50 range. Therefore, this feedback is solely from the viewpoint of the single player experience up to the mid 40’s.
I’ve put in about 25 hours on the PTR over the past two weeks and almost all of it has been playing with DMO. I love the new choices that have been made available to wizards. That being said, there are a few ways to tweak DMO to make it a far better player experience from a “quality of life” perspective. I have broken this review into three parts, Play experience, Itemization, and Suggestions for improvement.
Part 1: Play Experience
From a single player perspective, I find that the play style is fairly straightforward. You move forward throwing out Slow Time bubbles and engage the enemies while they struggle through the bubble. You manage the various buffs available to you through Triumverate, Bastions of Will Rings (Henceforth BoW), and Arcane Dynamo (if you so choose). I find that I often fall into the rhythm of magic missile x2 followed by Arcane Orb x2, or more orbs if the situation warrants. If I have something with a large health pool, circumstances depending, I build up that 5 point charge with Arcane Dynamo and blast that nasty down with a 5 Billion point Crit. Large swarms of creatures can be problematic, so you need to try to hit them while they are bunched up. I have an Ess of Johan on my Templar, which certainly helps. I use Glacial Spike for MM to get some further slowing effects while building charges.
For the most part, I have played arcane. I tried a cold version and didn’t like it nearly as much because the damage output was just too low. I need to put more time into cold, but luckily, there is plenty of time on this PTR!
Part 2: Itemization
This set “feels” like it requires a fairly strict set of gear. I mostly used two different gear layouts:
Gear Set #1 DMO (6/6), BoW, Gesture of Orpheus, Triumverate, Neck of choice (Varies), Witching Hour
Gear Set #2 DMO (5/6), RoRG + (Whatever Ring suits your mood), Gesture of Orpheus, Triumverate, Neck / Belt of Choice
I have personally found that I like Gear Set #1 the best. (I’m not even sure if you can look up PTR characters on battle.net, but if you can, I’m logged out in the setup I used to beat GR43 tonight). The BoW set, if well rolled, is fantastic for this build. Considering we bump between MM and AO to fulfill the Triumverate requirement, this is almost a no brainer. I have tried the Primus option a few times, but I never seem to experience the same level of success in the GR 38+ range with the helm due to the raw damage output generated by BoW. I even tried using Tal Rasha’s belt and Neck at one point. It was interesting, but I need more time with it.
Part 3: Suggestions for Improvement
1. Off Set Items
There are THREE very build-specific Legendary Items in play when using DMO. Whereas nothing is “required” to play the build, they are certainly “required” for GRs above 35. Three non-set, build-specific items is a fairly steep price to pay while already making room for the 6 set pieces. The only other class I play is Barb, and at most I am seeing ONE set-specific non-set piece. By this I mean Skullgrasp Ring for WoW, and Vile Ward for Raekors. Granted, both of those can directly benefit from the Wrath of the Berserker Bracers, but for set specific items there is only 1. An argument can be made for using the one hand mighty weapon set for WoW, but that seems to be dependent on how the new nerfs to Immortal Kings set play out. The point here is that DMO has 3 pieces that are NOT part of the set that are basically “required” for higher level Grifts. That’s the heart of what I’d like to recommend changing.
Triumverate Part 1: This item is very limiting to build variety. When I first learned of DMO, I got very VERY excited about the possibilities. Could I do Wand of Who with an Ess of Johan and a Mirror Ball while using Arcane Orbit? Could I use Thunderfury or Shard of Hate in concert with a Mirken’s Ball of Hate? Could I use Shard of Hate or Rimehart with a Light of Grace or Winter’s Flurry for a really weird hybrid build? Could I use Ranslor’s Folly and Valthek’s Rebuke in a different hybrid build? My hopes were dashed though because of how overwhelmingly powerful Triumverate is to the build. If you could move the Triumverate Buff to a Belt or Bracer Item, it would be a huge boon to the flexibility of the build. You would get to see a lot more “Play Your Way Thursday” Builds coming out of Wizards that are actually viable for the GR 30 – 40 range.
Triumverate Part 2: In addition to moving this item’s special effect to another slot, you should consider allowing this buff to also apply to Energy Twister. Right now, unless I am missing something huge, Energy Twister isn’t exactly a go-to for this build. I don’t even consider using it because of how great the control, speed, power, and range of AO-Obliteration are compared to ET. Adding ET to the Triumverate special effect and moving that special effect to a new slot (Belt Ideally) would give even more variety to DMO builds. People might actually do a DMO / Valtheks / Ransor’s Builds. I’d definitely try it!
Gesture of Orpheus: I would actually recommend removing the ST CD buff from this item entirely and replacing it with a cool effect that wouldn’t feel so overwhelmingly beneficial. Maybe you could change it a bonus for Shock Pulse as that feels underused to me at the moment. I honestly don’t even consider using Shock Pulse because I really love using MM, though that’s just personal preference. Once the CD reduction buff is removed, consider simply reducing the CD of Slow Time natively by an appropriate amount to compensate for the buff removed from Gesture of Orpheus. Barring that, I’d recommend moving this buff it to a belt or wrist slot, or just adding it to the DMO set itself.
Crown of the Primus: I like this item, and I don’t recommend removing it. I do, however, recommend adding another piece to DMO in order to compensate for it. Adding a 7th piece (THAT IS NOT A WEAPON OR OFFHAND) would free up the ability to use the helm, but at a price. I would recommend adding a neck slot simply because using the helm would give Wizards more control. Control means survivability. The player would need to choose between an immunity necklace or the more robust efficacy the crown offers. That is a real choice for a player to make. Right now, I wouldn’t dream of choosing this hat with RoRG over BoW because of how effective BoW is with the playstyle of this build.
2. DMO Set
Consider changing the spells that benefit from the (2) piece and (6) piece bonuses to ALL Signature Spells, Arcane Orb, and Energy Twister. This would go a long way to opening up a wide variety of builds within this set and would also mesh well with Arcane Dynamo and the Triumverate effect, no matter which slot it that item ends up in.
3. Arcane Orb
Arcane Orb itself needs some attention. Right now, as far as I can tell, Obliteration is the only game in town. I have tried Frozen Orb, but it is WAY to short-range to take into rifts above 40. The mobs can easily out-range you and melt your face off and that says nothing about what the RG would do to you. The other runes are also noticeably weaker than Obliteration. All of them need varying levels of damage and/or range attention if you actually want us to use them. I’d love to have more choice here!
Conclusion DMO is a really awesome addition to a Wizard’s choices. Overall I am very happy with it and would be thrilled if it were tweaked a bit to make it more varied. It could be truly amazing with the changes listed above simply because it would give us a lot more choices. You guys are always telling us to “Play our Way.” Changes like these would allow us to do so without being restricted to playing our way in low level content!
I don't play hardcore or seasonal, but i have been rocking a Woh build since i found one about 5 months ago. Surviving the center of one's own private explosion is difficult, considering how the goal is to draw all the enemies to you, but here is what i find works:
I have a mirror ball, but i generally don't use or magic missile for my current Firebird-Woh build. I use Spectral Blades, Barrier Blades. That rune pops a shield that absorbs @ 10500 damage each time you use your spectral blades ability.
I use Force Weapon, Deflection. It also pops a shield for @ 10500 damage absorption (i can't remember the trigger there)
I vary between 350k and 400k health for T6. You don't need much more than that because mitigation is more important. Focus on Armor and Resist all after you hit a comfortable amount of life.
I use Blur even though i'm not doing Hardcore. You almost certainly want that as you are in hardcore.
I don't use Unstable Anomaly because, as i understand it, both UA and Firebird's proc when you die, blowing both cooldowns. (someone pls check that?). However, even if death triggers both to activate, the UA has a 60 second cd, so it may still be worth it to you.
After those, i have two general pieces of advice on gear, one for Regular Rifts and one for Greater Rifts:
IN REGULAR RIFTS:
If you have been lucky enough to find the Treasure Vault, you have a Boon of the Hoarder. If you slap that in a socket and use a Goldskin, you pretty much become invincible on higher Torments because the gold explosions from dying mobs hooks you up with about 20k-80k armor per explosion. Despite the 5 second CD on Goldskin, the CD gets reset every time you pick up gold, so if you are careful, you can run around a 1 minute long battle constantly increasing your armor and staying unkillable. Usually i leave patches of gold on the ground when i get near the time when the RG pops. This allows me to fight a running battle backwards through patches of invincibility (gold). Is it cheese? Totally. Does it work? :-)
IN GREATER RIFTS:
If you happen to want to rock a woh build in Grifts or if you don't want to cheese the game with boon/goldskin, you should invest your shards in getting Kadala to cough up a String of Ears. It really makes you beefier.
1
Hi Everyone,
I don't post much, i but read these forums pretty much daily. I wrote a fairly extensive review of my thoughts regarding tweaks to DMO over at the PTR feedback forums. I've included that below (Look out for the wall of text). If you like my ideas, i'd appreciate you bumping my post over here:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/16718592129
Here is that promised wall of text:
Howdy all! I wanted to give some completely unsolicited feedback regarding my experiences with Delsere’s Magnum Opus (Henceforth, DMO). Right off the bat, I want to say that I am NOT a high level GR guy. I currently top out around GR 43 and I mostly play single player, so I’m not able to claim any fame in the 50 range. Therefore, this feedback is solely from the viewpoint of the single player experience up to the mid 40’s.
I’ve put in about 25 hours on the PTR over the past two weeks and almost all of it has been playing with DMO. I love the new choices that have been made available to wizards. That being said, there are a few ways to tweak DMO to make it a far better player experience from a “quality of life” perspective. I have broken this review into three parts, Play experience, Itemization, and Suggestions for improvement.
Part 1: Play Experience
From a single player perspective, I find that the play style is fairly straightforward. You move forward throwing out Slow Time bubbles and engage the enemies while they struggle through the bubble. You manage the various buffs available to you through Triumverate, Bastions of Will Rings (Henceforth BoW), and Arcane Dynamo (if you so choose). I find that I often fall into the rhythm of magic missile x2 followed by Arcane Orb x2, or more orbs if the situation warrants. If I have something with a large health pool, circumstances depending, I build up that 5 point charge with Arcane Dynamo and blast that nasty down with a 5 Billion point Crit. Large swarms of creatures can be problematic, so you need to try to hit them while they are bunched up. I have an Ess of Johan on my Templar, which certainly helps. I use Glacial Spike for MM to get some further slowing effects while building charges.
For the most part, I have played arcane. I tried a cold version and didn’t like it nearly as much because the damage output was just too low. I need to put more time into cold, but luckily, there is plenty of time on this PTR!
Part 2: Itemization
This set “feels” like it requires a fairly strict set of gear. I mostly used two different gear layouts:
Gear Set #1 DMO (6/6), BoW, Gesture of Orpheus, Triumverate, Neck of choice (Varies), Witching Hour
Gear Set #2 DMO (5/6), RoRG + (Whatever Ring suits your mood), Gesture of Orpheus, Triumverate, Neck / Belt of Choice
I have personally found that I like Gear Set #1 the best. (I’m not even sure if you can look up PTR characters on battle.net, but if you can, I’m logged out in the setup I used to beat GR43 tonight). The BoW set, if well rolled, is fantastic for this build. Considering we bump between MM and AO to fulfill the Triumverate requirement, this is almost a no brainer. I have tried the Primus option a few times, but I never seem to experience the same level of success in the GR 38+ range with the helm due to the raw damage output generated by BoW. I even tried using Tal Rasha’s belt and Neck at one point. It was interesting, but I need more time with it.
Part 3: Suggestions for Improvement
1. Off Set Items
There are THREE very build-specific Legendary Items in play when using DMO. Whereas nothing is “required” to play the build, they are certainly “required” for GRs above 35. Three non-set, build-specific items is a fairly steep price to pay while already making room for the 6 set pieces. The only other class I play is Barb, and at most I am seeing ONE set-specific non-set piece. By this I mean Skullgrasp Ring for WoW, and Vile Ward for Raekors. Granted, both of those can directly benefit from the Wrath of the Berserker Bracers, but for set specific items there is only 1. An argument can be made for using the one hand mighty weapon set for WoW, but that seems to be dependent on how the new nerfs to Immortal Kings set play out. The point here is that DMO has 3 pieces that are NOT part of the set that are basically “required” for higher level Grifts. That’s the heart of what I’d like to recommend changing.
2. DMO Set
Consider changing the spells that benefit from the (2) piece and (6) piece bonuses to ALL Signature Spells, Arcane Orb, and Energy Twister. This would go a long way to opening up a wide variety of builds within this set and would also mesh well with Arcane Dynamo and the Triumverate effect, no matter which slot it that item ends up in.
3. Arcane Orb
Arcane Orb itself needs some attention. Right now, as far as I can tell, Obliteration is the only game in town. I have tried Frozen Orb, but it is WAY to short-range to take into rifts above 40. The mobs can easily out-range you and melt your face off and that says nothing about what the RG would do to you. The other runes are also noticeably weaker than Obliteration. All of them need varying levels of damage and/or range attention if you actually want us to use them. I’d love to have more choice here!
Conclusion DMO is a really awesome addition to a Wizard’s choices. Overall I am very happy with it and would be thrilled if it were tweaked a bit to make it more varied. It could be truly amazing with the changes listed above simply because it would give us a lot more choices. You guys are always telling us to “Play our Way.” Changes like these would allow us to do so without being restricted to playing our way in low level content!
Cheers,
Madrick
1
I don't play hardcore or seasonal, but i have been rocking a Woh build since i found one about 5 months ago. Surviving the center of one's own private explosion is difficult, considering how the goal is to draw all the enemies to you, but here is what i find works:
- I have a mirror ball, but i generally don't use or magic missile for my current Firebird-Woh build. I use Spectral Blades, Barrier Blades. That rune pops a shield that absorbs @ 10500 damage each time you use your spectral blades ability.
- I use Force Weapon, Deflection. It also pops a shield for @ 10500 damage absorption (i can't remember the trigger there)
- I vary between 350k and 400k health for T6. You don't need much more than that because mitigation is more important. Focus on Armor and Resist all after you hit a comfortable amount of life.
- I use Blur even though i'm not doing Hardcore. You almost certainly want that as you are in hardcore.
- I don't use Unstable Anomaly because, as i understand it, both UA and Firebird's proc when you die, blowing both cooldowns. (someone pls check that?). However, even if death triggers both to activate, the UA has a 60 second cd, so it may still be worth it to you.
- After those, i have two general pieces of advice on gear, one for Regular Rifts and one for Greater Rifts:
IN REGULAR RIFTS:If you have been lucky enough to find the Treasure Vault, you have a Boon of the Hoarder. If you slap that in a socket and use a Goldskin, you pretty much become invincible on higher Torments because the gold explosions from dying mobs hooks you up with about 20k-80k armor per explosion. Despite the 5 second CD on Goldskin, the CD gets reset every time you pick up gold, so if you are careful, you can run around a 1 minute long battle constantly increasing your armor and staying unkillable. Usually i leave patches of gold on the ground when i get near the time when the RG pops. This allows me to fight a running battle backwards through patches of invincibility (gold). Is it cheese? Totally. Does it work? :-)
IN GREATER RIFTS:
If you happen to want to rock a woh build in Grifts or if you don't want to cheese the game with boon/goldskin, you should invest your shards in getting Kadala to cough up a String of Ears. It really makes you beefier.
Hope this helps