[2.6.6] Builds + S18 Starter Guide

Hello, Cratic here. I am very excited for S18, especially with new legendary powers in the mix this season.


Builds Spreadsheet is linked below. Do note certain builds may still be in testing, and may see edits in the future. Most of the current builds listed are Vyr / Archon / Chantodo related builds, though I have been finding time to revise a few off-meta builds.

[2.6.6] (S18) Builds:

  • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LpBCKPn4PCnjnRHkf7gsvVys2Km5h8Jj1MI2hrvmKoE/

I will also link the past season’s spreadsheet, as it might be handy to have. Not all of the builds from [2.6.5] carry over, and others I have outright replaced with a new version in [2.6.6], but a lot of them are still relevant. Most of the LoN / LoD builds, especially if they are for bounties, nephalem rifting, or low GR speeds, only require replacement of one of the legendary gems to fit in the new Legacy of Dreams gem, which is fairly nice.

[2.6.5] (S17) Builds and Mechanics:

  • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TqwYtDPwGh5YpL4pf0I8LyJNGXgD-1vUiuqlK9jy6AE/edit?usp=sharing

[2.6.6] S18 Wizard Starter Build (MSR+Swami+Chantodo’s):

D3planner:

  • https://ptr.d3planner.com/954868599

Intro:

Below is the guide for what will be my preferred leveling method of the season. This method uses Messerschmidt’s Reaver (MSR), and The Swami to level to 70 and combines with Chantodo’s to progress after leveling.

This leveling method offers similar benefits to Legacy of Dreams progression in that you don’t really have to do the seasonal journey earlier on, but can focus more on nephalem rifting, running GRs, and early Bounties for recipes and items.

It uses many of the newly revised sets and items, so I feel it will be an interesting and refreshing way to level a wizard in season. I hope you enjoy!


Video Guide (20 minute overview):


Written Guide:

Caveats and Summary Info:

This guide will highlight the important points of progressing with Wizard for season start. It highlights progression using just the Chantodo’s set, in combination with several items and crafted sets, new or newly revised for patch [2.6.6].

The guide will not go into specifics on nephalem rifting levels. For those, you should reference other guides, or just use a keen sense of judgement on whether you are clearing too slow or too fast at a certain difficulty, and adjust accordingly. I will say that I normally end up levelling 1-15 or so on normal, 15-50 on Hard if no multipliers, up to Master with multipliers or beneficial items. Increase to at least Torment 1 after level 70 weapon acquisition and use, and backing down again as I approach level 70.

NOTE ALSO: This guide assumes certain pieces that are random drops are acquired at specific times in the leveling process. I’ve tried to accomodate for variations in the order of discovery, however, if you are unlucky, you may have to acquire these at a later point to complete that listed stage of the starter build. A good example of this is not acquiring Swami via blood shard roll at level 30, or not finding Squirt’s Necklace via natural drop while leveling. Keep in mind that if you are exceedingly unlucky, you can always dedicate time to re-level another Wizard if need be, picking up items like Aquila, Swami, Fazula, Nemesis Bracer, and / or St. Archew’s in that order by rolling blood shards on the second character at the appropriate levels during the leveling process. Reference: http://d3planner.com/game/60803/kadala for item acquisition levels and blood shard chances.

WHETHER this is worthwhile will be up to your judgement. I would only do this if I were exceedingly unlucky, as usually this is not as productive as grinding out the missing items on your level 70 wizard.

HOWEVER: in the case of Squirt’s Necklace, this will always be worth doing, but only with creating a class other than Wizard, such as Necromancer or Witch Doctor, to gamble with. This is because the Wizard has two amulets in the level 1 pool, whereas these other classes have only Squirt’s Necklace in the level 1 pool.

And now, with those caveats behind, let us commence!

First, a high level overview of the core of the starter build:

  • Messerschmidt’s Reaver (MSR)
  • Chantodo’s Set
  • The Swami

A few other items that, while not 100% required to get started with this build, do help considerably:

  • Squirt’s Necklace
  • Captain Crimson’s Set
  • Aughild’s Set

Core Item Descriptions:

  • MSR is used to reset cooldowns and keep us in archon. Killing enemies will proc this bonus, resetting archon’s cooldown even when we are inside archon.
  • Chantodo’s for Wave of Destruction. This potent combination: Chantodo’s + MSR will be the base of the starter build, and in reality, this is all that is necessary to get going in season.
  • The Swami will be gambled for with challenge rift bag blood shards while leveling. This bonus allows archon stacks to persist after archon for up to 20 seconds.
  • Squirt’s Necklace. A sizeable multiplier earlier on. Shielding items and abilities will be a core of the starter build after hitting 70, to help keep us from taking damage.
  • Captain Crimson’s and Aughild’s, as well as items like Fazula, St. Archew’s, and Aquila boost the damage and toughness of the build, allowing us to push progressively higher in nephalem rift levels and GRs (TVIII+/GR35+).

Steps:

Stage 0: Leveling 1-70.

  • Start season, create seasonal character.
  • Finish Challenge rift while logged onto seasonal character.
  • Collect Challenge rift rewards.
  • Optional: Kill bounty boss Magdha or Zoltan Kulle for items. Swap follower weapon for yours.
  • Craft level 70 two handed axe. If the axe has secondary cc% effect, save it for later. If it does not, use this item for upgrade rare.
  • Upgrade rare level 70 two handed axe. If you have received the Messersmidt’s reaver, grats! First check and see if it has a sizeable secondary of reduced level requirement. If this is the case, save it to wear later on, and save your cube for Swami. Most of the time though, you will not see that secondary, and you will be cubing this item instead (see stage 0a).
  • If you were not lucky enough to get the Messerschmidt’s Reaver, save your one cube use for later.
  • After upgrading the crafters, you will have only 7 death’s breath remaining. However, after hitting level 60 you will begin collecting more of these. This will allow for one extract power cube use before hitting 70 and one after just hitting 70.
  • Now go back to your two handed axe that has cc% effect, recraft another if you have not put one aside already. Roll the other secondary effect, to try and get reduced level requirement. The other secondary should list only 4-5 alternate options when clicking the “?” near that affix at the mystic, including reduced level requirement.
  • Go and get the cube from Act 3, Ruins of Sescheron, Elder Sanctum. You will level fairly well along the way, try and get those kill streaks for extra experience.
  • Keep an eye out for the Squirt’s Necklace while leveling. This item will increase your damage potential significantly. In fact, the stage1-stage4 listings on d3planner assume you have found this item at some point in the leveling process, do note however that this is item is not required. Earlier on, it will be more important to roll CDR amulet than having a third socket available for a legenedary gem.
  • Run nephalem rifts until you get teleport, at level 22.
  • After Teleport is on the skill bar, start running bounties. Bounties will be very important for increasing your veiled crystal resource, and to have a few extra bounty mats available at 70. I recommend completing a few sets of bounties while leveling.
  • Once hitting level 30, roll blood shards on Helms to try and get The Swami. There is about a 54% chance to get this item.
  • If you are lucky, you can then spend remaining shards after leveling to 33 on one of two other items. If you did not get MSR on upgrade rare earlier, roll source for Etched Sigil. If you get an Etched sigil, cube the Etched Sigil and wear the Swami (see Stage 0b). If you did get MSR earlier from upgrade rare, roll belts instead to try and get a Fazula (lower chance at getting this item though).
  • If you did not get either MSR on upgrade rare or Etched Sigil, but did get the Swami, then you can now cube the Swami (see Stage 0c). Wear Leoric’s Crown when you find one or have one available in this configuration. Leveling with only Swami will be slower, but is still a fairly good leveling experience.
  • Note Stage 0 includes rerolls for CDR on gear pieces: rings, gloves, shoulder, amulet, weapon (if possible). This provides a minimum of 40% CDR, very useful for leveling with archon. Whenever you upgrade items be sure to replace the affix, however, keep an eye on veiled crystals as this resource will be important later on.
  • Pick up any veiled crystals or yellow items that are eligible for disenchant, and collect these as much as possible throughout the leveling process.
  • Note that it is also possible that you will find the Messershmidt’s Reaver while leveling (after level 51). If this happens, just save it until you start getting more death’s breath after level 60. You can opt to extract power cube it after that point.
  • Also remember to equip your level 70 reduced level requirement weapon, as early as level 40 or 50 (depends on the amount of reduced level requirement you ended up with).

Stage 1:

  • After hitting level 70 you will be down to less than a handful of DBs and will have expended a few bounty mats. However, doing bounties while leveling should have provided enough materials to replace these used, and after level 60 you should have begun collecting a few death’s breath.
  • Note: If you have not found a Swami at this point, you can opt to upgrade rare wizard hats, or re-level a wizard to 30 and gamble blood shards (preferred only if you’ve been really unlucky). Gambling shards on helms at 70 is optional. I would only prefer to do this I have nearly everything needed for the build except Swami (one of the last items needed).
  • If you have not yet found a Messerschmidt’s Reaver at this point, upgrade rare two handed axes until you get one and cube it. If you have one already or have cubed it already, continue with the below:
  • We will try and acquire the wand and source of the Chantodo’s set. Do this by upgrading rare wands and rolling blood shards on sources.
  • Note: you may have to complete a few rounds of bounties to acquire recipes after 70 for the Captain’s and Aughild sets.
  • At level 70, craft the Helm, Shoulders, and Chestpiece of the Aughild’s set. Equip these. Reroll the shoulders to have CDR.
  • At level 70, craft the Belt, Legs, and Boots of the Captain Crimson’s set.
  • After acquiring the Chantodos, and possibly the other sets, use the Stage 1 build (as noted on d3planner). Do note that the skill in the 4th slot and the first passive in the listings for all of these stages are fairly optional. If you want to swap it out, you can, I’ve just chosen what I think will work for best for these slots.
  • Stage 1 build assumes no Fazula, rings, or RoRG found as yet. The most important affix on weapon is CDR at this point. For the 4th slot on weapon you can place VIT or run with a socketed Ruby.
  • Spend time running a few Nephalem rifts and GRs, make them as efficient as possible, somewhere in the 3-4 minute range is preferred. The intent is to acquire and start leveling up your Gogok ASAP.
  • Roll Blood shards on belt and bracer to get Fazula, Squirt’s (if missing; via lvl 1 WD or Necro), and then Nemesis Bracer.
  • About this time, start seeking out more optimized affixes. CDR, Crit Hit Chance, and AS on weapon are preferred. Life% and VIT will also help with shielding, and +Armor will be of benefit also. For gems in armor, seek out Diamonds to help boost +AR this early. Paragon goes into +AR first, then +Armor, life%.
  • Finish leveling up the Gogok.
  • If you find a Puzzle Ring at any point, be sure to run though the greed’s realm and acquire the Boon of the Hoarder gem. Level this gem after getting your Gogok to 25, and use Boon (replace Powerful or get an amulet with 3rd socket) so as to acquire more Gold.

Stage 2:

  • About this time, grind out a RoRG by completing only Act1 bounties.
  • Optional: Dropping Aughild’s for Sages is possible here. I prefer to keep Aughild’s if I have it. However, if you found captain crimson’s recipe, but did not find aughild’s this would be a great opportunity to fill in an additional set. Sage’s is a recipe given via the crafter upgrade at the blacksmith.
  • Transition to the Stage 2a or Stage 2b builds as listed on d3planner. Note the Addition of St. Archew’s or Aquila, depending on what item you may have found, and the option to use either AT:SD or Barrier Blades, also Prism or Sleek Shell. Note that if you are not opting for Prism, but are opting for AT:SD, an RCR affix on shoulderpiece might be required to assist with resource.
  • If you have found both St. Archew’s and Aquila, you can opt to use both of these (no Leoric’s), and replace Diamond Skin with Stretch Time if desired.
  • Also note the swap to an emerald in weapon here.

Stage 3:

  • Progress into the Stage 3 listings on d3planner as soon as possible. 3a is for nephalem rifting, 3b is for GRs. Note the change into Cold% at this point, and use of the Cold Archon rune. Both 3a and 3b run lower CDR and keep the Messerschmidt’s Reaver. You can actually drop some CDR affixes than before because of the Vyr 2pc bonus giving the lightning rune on archon.
  • However, if you have well rolled CDR affixes, 75%+ CDR can be very advantageous for both reducing archon’s teleport cooldown for increased mobility, and for freeing up the weapon slot. 75%+ CDR would allow placement of The Furnace for 50% more elite damage (reference the stage 3c and 3d listings).
  • Stage 3’s main change involves having found at least 3 Vyr pieces, and rerolling them using the set item recipe in the cube to fit the preferred slots. The preferred slots are: Gloves, Helm, and Shoulder. Although Chest can work, you would have to sacrifice the Aquila if opting for that.
  • Find time to run act 3 bounties to get the Avarice Band. This will increase your progression quite a bit, as picking up orbs in nephalem rifts will become much easier.
  • If you happen to find a Halo of Karini, include it in the build with Storm Armor skill swap (Power of the storm).
  • Continue leveling your Boon of the Hoarder gem to level 50.
  • Finish Leveling your Bane of the Powerful gem to level 25. Note that for nephalem rifting, you will use Powerful instead of Trapped until you can level your Trapped Gem up higher (likely to about level 50).
  • Run Nephalem rifts and GRs until you get the full Vyr set.
  • Transition into using the [2.6.6] (TXVI) Vyr Cold Chantodo - AW + Squirt’s + Karini build as listed on the linked spreadsheet for Nephalem rifting.
  • Use the [2.6.6] Vyr Cold Chantodo Low GR build for grinding GRs.
  • Complete GR 70 Solo for Primal Unlock.

Have a good season!


Changelog:

  • 8/21/2019: Might need to acquire recipes after 70. Mistake on my part. Added step for bounties after 70, and recommend fewer bounties while leveling.
  • 8/22/2019: Fixed ordering of stage 1 acquisition to reflect: Chantodos, then the 3 piece sets.
  • 8/23/2019: Added step after level 70 with recommendations to account for not having found a swami (unlucky, but can happen). Also added Stage 2 optional for Sage’s if you haven’t found Aughild’s, or just prefer sage’s.
24 Likes

Your guide is very helpful. Thanks

1 Like

Great Post! Thank you for putting all these together!

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Thank you!

I would like to add some clarification about the starter build path, the question I’ve been getting is: “Should I go MSR+Swami+Chantodo or DMO Haedrig’s?”

Going Haedrig’s and DMO will be less risky and more consistent, but possibly slower to eventually acquire Vyr related items.

Going MSR+Swami+Chantodo is more risky but has higher reward in allowing you to transition easier.

It has the potential to be faster than going the DMO route. Usually I don’t take risks like this but I feel the odds in this case are high enough to take the risk, even though DMO is a pretty good starter set.

In particular there is no other point in season which you will have this high of a chance to get a Swami this early, and the synergy with the MSR is remarkable. I feel it is a very unique and different option for wizard start than we’ve had in the past. These reasons are why I am eager to try it out. :grinning:

3 Likes

I beg, pleaded, cajoled and negotiated with them to give us a consistent way of to get LoD early. They wouldn’t budge. I can’t believe it. It’s so obvious. Let the people play the way they WANT to. Kill Diablo on Torment 1, get guaranteed LoD gem.

Blizzard, man.

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I agree Venaliter, removing some (but perhaps not all) of the RNG associated with acquiring the LoD gem could be beneficial and make an LoD start worthwhile.

Assuming the gem is being premiered as a random acquisition, it might only be worth going after (for a speedy start) if the Haedrig’s starter is very poor that particular season.

Perhaps we could see changes to this in the future. All we can do is keep giving feedback.

Firebird’s, anyone? I really hate the Firebird’s start.

Regarding the aquisition, I would be happy if they replaced that dumb BotP gem. I don’t like it and being forced to upgrade it as my first gem every season is annoying. As such I would be happy if I could choose my first gem when talking with Urshi for the first time.

But hoping for that is pointless. Same as the rank 99 issue with this gem. If they introduce it with 99 ranks, then will stay that way for good - as moronic as that decision may be… :frowning:

Hey! I LIKE Firebirds. I want single element builds to be a thing. I just need Firebirds not to suck :frowning:

As a question, what are the most efficient bounty torment to start? Is it still t6-t7?

Given the 100% item cache drop chance on T6 and the increased materials from T7, yes, those would be pretty efficient.

I would want to keep it quick though, err on the side of quicker runs.

I would aim for T6, assuming you have the Chantodo’s set, Swami, and MSR. It shouldn’t be slow at that level, but if it is, you can always decrease level more.

Wish someone made such a detailed S18 starter guide for Demon Hunters too…

Impale. And you’re done :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

Prefer UE Multishot, don’t like the Impale play style…

“Upgrade rare level 70 two handed axe. If you have received the Messersmidt’s reaver, grats!” - from guide. Is not better to upgrade 1H Wand? 3/10 (30%) wands multiply damage to skills, Messersmidt’s reaver is one of 4 two H Axe (25%).

I think it’s about probability. There is a 1/4 chance you get the right weapon with two handed axes. If you upgrade wands, there is like a 1/10 chance of getting a Chants Wand, (for the Archon build, plus you’d need the source.)

Yes, the raw chance will be lower to get an MSR (two handed axe) vs a wand. However, MSR’s synergy with archon make it incredibly useful for leveling and early progression. As I said before, this is the high risk, high reward leveling option. :grinning:

Also consider that only two of the wands offer good multipliers (Woh/Unstable), and one of them drops fairly often while leveling (unstable scepter). Chantodo’s Will would be really useful to have for later, but isn’t really helpful for leveling. Fragment of Destiny is fairly good for use with DMO, but otherwise, not as helpful as the others.

I think we should note wands would be safer, because then we’re talking like 5/10 if your build is flexible. Still a possibility of rolling snake eyes with Gesture, Starfire, Slorak’s or one of the others, but it’s better than a 75% failure rate with two handed axes.

one last thing to note, Mr Schmidt’s reaver drops fairly often while leveling too.

Hey Cratic, thank you so much for this post and video guide!

Is it possibly better/safer to not spend 25 dbs on upgrade rare, and you could use it for potentially 3 cubed items while leveling? (maybe also getting a messerschmidt drop naturally during leveling)

Hi chopin, I think the key point here is that this particular build only needs two items to be really effective while leveling, and one of them can be worn.

I think the upgrade rare is worth going after in this case, even if you decide on wands, and not two hand axes, like I’ll be doing.

Getting MSR while leveling after having upgraded it from a rare two hand axe might feel bad, yes, but at least you would have gotten it. In my playtest leveling to 60, I got an executioner while leveling, but not the MSR, so it really is pretty random on the drops while leveling, same as with upgrading rare. The idea was to both increase chances of getting the item, and increase chances of being able to use it earlier in the leveling process.

1 Like