Just looking for some advice on how to sharpen my Tal Rasha build further. In particular, I’m considering switching from Disintegrate to something like Arcane Orb - Obliteration, which would mean dropping Hergbrash’s Bindings and Deathwish… probably putting Ashnagarr’s Blood Bracers in the cube instead, but I dunno what to look for in a new mainhand weapon. Maybe Serpent’s Sparker to double down on the Hydras? Then again, I mainly use it to aggro remote enemies on open-field maps in order to lead them into range of my other abilities, as well as for ‘breach-and-clear’ tactics on more enclosed maps with lots of doorways and such… dunno how much advantage an extra Hydra would offer in that regard.
There’s also the Legendary Gemstones I’m using. Taeguk would likewise have to be dropped - I’ve been leveling Zai’s Vengeance to replace it - but I’m thinking that Bane of the Powerful might be less than ideal, too. It was the first Legendary Gem that dropped for me this season, so I leveled it pretty much by default… but I’ve got the full lineup by now, and some of them sounds like they might be handier. Maybe Moratorium could help with my survivability versus large mobs? That’s really my main weakness at the moment - between enhanced Elemental Exposure and Nilfur’s Boast, I tend to rip apart bosses in seconds, even on very high Torment-levels… assuming I can REACH them in one piece!
Anyway, any advice would be welcome. I’m not looking to copy some cookie-cutter build, so much as just try to build my own sort of style, but that doesn’t mean I’m not looking for ways to improve on it.
Oh, and my profile’s on the EU servers, in case you were wondering - silly division. The forums over there are basically dead, and if you’ll believe it, the selection of Forum Avatars is also inferior. Go figure!
At the moment meteors are your biggest damage dealer.
Unstable scepter is the weapon you want to change to if you want your arcane orb to be closer in damage to meteor. That change would still beg of you to swap source to trumvirat, otherwise it will still be very underpowered in comparison.
Keep in mind you will have 2 heavy spenders in your build and decreased arcane power pool by energy armor. Resource management will need to be reconsidered.
Obliterate rune is nice from tactical point of view, but because the only rune that has seen some love is frozen orb, it does feel lackluster in damage. It’s small aoe means that you need to either group mobs or separate them to access elite, and works best at point blank.
I could be wrong on this but from what I remember dominance passive created shield is not buffed by blood bracers, changing dominance passive to galvinizing ward passive could yield more defence if you want to use them though.
I’ve got Galvanizing Ward on my Hellfire Amulet - didn’t realize that didn’t show. And I’m pretty sure Dominance is boosted by the bracers - at least, the wiki says they do, and there’s literally nothing to suggest that they don’t. That’s why I’m considering the alteration, honestly - with two layers of shielding on, the Blood Bracers seem like they could boost my survivability quite a lot. But without the belt I’ve currently got in the cube, I wouldn’t be able to support the expenses of Disintegration, hence thinking about replacing it…
I wouldn’t expect Arcane Orb to be a major damage-dealer - basically, I just need an Arcane spell on hand to trigger the Starfall-meteor and the Arcane part of the Tal Rasha buff. In the first place, I’ve noticed that if I’m playing at the highest level I can survive - around TXIII at this point - my Disintegration hardly does any damage anyway, and all the killing is done by meteors and fully-buffed Mammoth Hydra.
Of course, if the icy version is that much better… I could just use that, and alter my Signature Spell to something arcane. Plenty of options there. But you’re right about Resource Management. Arcane Orb isn’t cheap either… though I daresay it’d still be less draining than using Disintegration without Hergbrash’s Bindings.
In the end… I wonder how much difference the Blood Bracers will really do to my survivability. After all, I’ve ALSO got the Molten Gizzard Legendary Gem, providing ANOTHER Absorb-shield that ISN’T going to be affected. I can experiment with resource-management and damage-output with Arcane Orb/Disintegration setups, but it’s harder to really figure out how hard you are to kill…
Oh! Something else just occurred to me! What if I dropped the two pieces of the Aughild-set in favor of the Mantle of Channeling and a physical copy of the Blood Bracers? I’ve been clinging to the Aughild-set for a long time, both due to lucking into an Ancient version of the bracers, and just because the twin buffs it offers are so generically useful, but maybe it’s time to move on… and that WOULD enable me to get the Bracer’s bonus without dropping Disintegration. Still, would it really be worth the loss of those set-bonuses? There’s a reason I’ve used them for so long, after all…
Another option for Arcane Orb instead of Triumvirate would be Deathwish-Etched Sigil-Unstable Scepter. Triumvirate gives 300-400% increased damage to Arcane Orb after stacking a buff via signature spell whereas Deathwish gives 315% with novexrra effort on your part. So Deathwish is comparable in terms of damage for Arcane Orb and boosts all your other damage as well while channelling. However you would lose damage on Meteor as Unstable Scepter would take the place of The Grand Vizier.
Of course if we’re going all this far…how attached are you to your necklace?
Replace the Hellfire necklace with Tal Rasha’s. This frees up a spot on top of your boot slot so you can toss on two pieces of Captain Crimson’s for the cooldown reduction, damage reduction, and damage boost. Then swap in Mantle of Channeling and Ranslor’s Folly–MoC for more damage and damage reduction and Ranslor’s Folly for use with Energy Twister–taking the place of Meteor–using the Wicked Wind rune.
You end up with two arcane spenders on your bar–Arcane Orb and Energy Twister. Energy Twister will suck foes in and periodically Arcane Orb will fire off to blast the grouped foes. Mind you can fire off Arcane Orb yourself at will. Since the Energy Twister will not be moving (Wicked Wind) multiple of them will be in the same place damaging any foe sucked in.
…at that point, there isn’t actually much left of my original set, though. Can’t deny it sounds like it might be effective, mind. Although… I didn’t realize that Deathwish boosted Arcane Orb too? That is, I didn’t figure AO counted as a ‘channeling’ spell. Or am I misunderstanding your suggestion altogether?
Anyway, I know that Deathwish and Etched Sigil make for a potent combo, but I’m fairly dedicated to a ‘Bomberman’-style build, based around calling in heavy meteor-strikes. Although… I suppose you COULD built Deathwish-Etched Sigil into that, on reflection. Might even be quite potent. Though I’d lose that Primordial Soul I fought so hard to get my hands on… which would halve the impact of my Elemental Exposure. Probably worth it, though. Hmm. Wait, does Etched Sigil also autocast Teleport? Because if so, that could be… problematic.
Deathwish states, "While channeling Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate, or Ray of Frost, all damage is increased by XXX%. "
Any damage you deal while channeling is boosted.
As for Deathwish/Etched Sigil/Meteor, you might look at what my seasonal wizard is doing (though now that I’ve come up with a build that won’t be used, I might have to switch–even if working in all the elements is annoying).
Not even close. Triumvirate stacks up to 3 times, giving a maximum 1200% extra damage to arcane orb. Both Deathwish and Etched Sigil combined don’t give that much damage increase.
@OP, I would suggest using Etched Sigil instead of the Primordial Soul you are currently using, or switch the Meteor rune to something that takes a little longer to hit, and begin channeling just before it impacts. This will probably make the biggest difference initially, but there are many other less important changes you can make to increase the power of your build.
Oh, I picked the Thunder-Meteor with malice aforethought. The instant hit gives some quick damage exactly when I need it (like, say, when I accidentally teleport into the middle of a mob of mobs), while the free follow-up strike gets the bonus from channeling.
Anyway, a friend popped by and we worked through some variations. Came up with a new setup that works remarkably well - you can see for yourself. Just a minor switch to some less AP-intensive main and secondary attacks, and suddenly I have room for the Blood Bracers. Gives me just as impressive a forcefield as I’d hoped - I’m tankier than I’d honestly ever expected it to be possible for a Wizard to be, outside of something like Archon, and I’m still raining destructive meteors everywhere. Good times!
You are quite correct, though as I noted, you do have to spend time stacking.
As for Deathwish and Etched Sigil…I am back this season after several off, and have forgotten what is additive and what is multiplicative. I recall there are something like seven or eight classes of damage modifier which are additive within themselves but multiplicative with each other. Are Deathwish and Etched Sigil in the same class and thus additive or are they in different classes and multiplicative?
Deathwish and Etched Sigil are both separate multipliers, so it’s x4.25 x2.5 = x10.625 in total. Triumvirate alone means x13 (at three stacks). Since Unstable Scepter (x5.5, double explosions) on its own is stronger than Deathwish, the best combination is Scepter, Sigil and Triumvirate - as already mentioned, because while channeling you will shoot additional orbs. If you only look at the damage boost, Deathwish would be even better instead of Sigil, but you sill loose the auto casts.
My suggestion was Deathwish + Etched Sigil + Unstable Scepter so either way you are using Unstable Scepter. The difference was Deathwish + Etched Sigil vs Trimumvirate and what I said was that one was comparable to the other. 10.625 is comparable to 13, at least in my book, particularly when factoring in you do have to spend time ginning up Triumvirate.
Right, so, following the advice of several of you, I switched to the Etched Sigil. It certainly proved effective! Using my favorite skill-lineup, it basically just rains insta-hit thunder-meteors everywhere, all the time, for free. Combined with all the meteor-buffs I’ve stacked, that’s pretty damn destructive. Just gotta throw in a few other spells now and then in between channeling Disintegrate in order to keep my Tal Rasha buff fully engaged.
But now, I’ve got a new, more small-scale dilemma that I’d like some input on. Previously, I used a rather fast-paced style of frequently relocating and channeling in short, tactical bursts - out of necessity, more than anything else. Now, though, I’m more able - and thus more likely - to stand my ground and channel for longer periods of time. Thus, I’m wondering if I should switch the Zai’s Vengeance gem I’m carrying out for the Taeguk. On the other hand, I’m STILL killing at very long range most of the time, so it’s not like Zai’s isn’t useful. It’s just a matter of WHICH gem would be MORE useful.
The other two slots for Legendary Gems are taken up by the Gizzard, which I need in order to survive, especially since there’s once again no room in my build for the Blood Bracers, and the ever-popular Bane of the Powerful, so Zai is the only one that can really be unseated.
Place your votes! Loser gets sacrificed to the cube to power up my Ancient Deathwish.
Can’t deny it sounds like it might be effective, mind. Although… I didn’t realize that Deathwish boosted Arcane Orb too? That is, I didn’t figure AO counted as a ‘channeling’ spell. Or am I misunderstanding your suggestion altogether?