DMO Frozen Orb Wizard Skills and Runes
On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing DMO Frozen Orb Wizard in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.8 and Season 34.
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
Rotation
As a Delsere's Magnum Opus
set build, you have to constantly keep in mind your dependence on dropping
Slow Times that regularly envelop your priority targets. Some
leeway was given with later reworks to DMO (you do not need to be in the
Slow Time radius to gain damage reduction, and affected enemies
are more susceptible to damage for 5 whole seconds after exiting the bubble),
but with the built-in resets coming from your generator attack you should make
a point to regularly apply
Slow Times as well. Use
Energy Twister to control the flow and positioning of a fight (via the
worn or cubed
Ranslor's Folly) and keep the
Storm Armor shield
active at all times. Last but not least, reposition smartly with
Teleport.
Skills and Runes
The main damage dealer and namesake of the build is
Arcane Orb
Frozen Orb — a long range projectile attack that hurls a
pulsating orb of frost, exploding at the end of its 40 yard travel distance.
Do your best to internalize the length of the
Frozen Orb shot to
maximize the benefits of said detonation, as it is stronger than the piercing
projectile while it is moving. Make a point to always cast
Arcane Orb
after you fully stack
Triumvirate, especially if the Cold cycle of
Convention of Elements is coming up.
To counteract the considerable Arcane Power spending of Frozen Orb
— 30 AP per shot — you will be including a primary attack in the
build, adding a resource generation angle to it through Arcane Power on Crit
on gear (see this build's gear page for more
information). You have a good number of viable primary attacks for the slot,
including the protective
Spectral Blade
Barrier Blades (our general
recommendation), the crowd control synergy of
Magic Missile
Glacial Spike, or the superior proc coefficient of
Shock Pulse
Piercing Orb.
Slow Time is integral to DMO setups, amplifying the damage of
multiple skills against affected enemies, as well as cutting incoming damage
by 60%. You should bolster its damage amplification angle by selecting the
increased damage taken buff of the
Time Warp rune.
You will be including another of the signature DMO skills,
Energy Twister, but strictly for its crowd control capabilities with a
worn or cubed
Ranslor's Folly. To that end, you will be taking the
static
Wicked Wind rune so you are able to pick and choose the location
to "pixel pull" monsters to. The so-called "pixel pulling" is the most
desirable form of monster displacement in the game, since it clumps up
monsters really tightly to the tremendous benefit of Area Damage on gear. An
alternative for this slot is
Black Hole
Absolute Zero; you will lose the
pixel pull but gain control over elites, and you gain a Cube slot for the
improved utility of
Crown of the Primus.
As consistent means of protection, you will be adding Storm Armor to
the build. With a fire-and-forget duration of 10 minutes and a negligible
damage proc, it can be easily overlooked if not for the massive damage
reduction properties of
Halo of Karini (see this build's gear page for more information). You will be
taking the rune
Shocking Aspect for the superior uptime of the procs
for the Karini buff, but you can also consider alterations such as
Power of the Storm for the Resource Cost Reduction, or
Scramble
for the additional movement speed.
Last but not least, Teleport will round out your skill
selection with valuable maneuverability across the battlefield; either to
engage, reposition, or simply move away from an unfavorable fight. The
preferred rune brings the multiple charges of
Wormhole.
Passives
Two defensive staples provide the foundation of your passive selection.
Blur is simply a powerful source of percentage-based damage
mitigation.
Galvanizing Ward brings a duration-less absorption barrier
that soaks 60% of your maximum (not current!) life in damage and refreshes
every 5 seconds after not taking damage. This passive is strengthened by
Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer and is a major protective layer for the upkeep
of the
Squirt's Necklace damage bonus.
Elemental Exposure is taken to bolster your damage through your
myriad of elemental damage sources. Notice that the passive bumps damage in 5%
increments per element used; you fulfill the cold with
Frozen Orb,
lightning with
Storm Armor, arcane with
Barrier Blades. The
final bump will come from the damage type of your weapon,
Unstable Scepter — a lucky roll (or reroll) of the base damage
from another type (i.e. physical or arcane) into fire will bring the last
piece of the damage buff.
Finally, take Power Hungry — it is the mirror of
Audacity, reworked into a multiplicative damage increase against
enemies further than 30 yards. This passive synergizes excellently with the
long range orientation of the build, coming from both
Frozen Orb and
Zei's Stone of Vengeance.
Changelog
- 20 Jan. 2025: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 34.
- 23 Oct. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 33.
- 10 Jul. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 32.
- 10 Jan. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 31.
- 10 Jan. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 30.
- 13 Sep. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 29.
- 22 Feb. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 28.
- 26 Aug. 2022: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 27.
- 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 06 Dec. 2021: Reviewed for Season 25.
- 22 Jul. 2021: No changes required for Season 24.
- 02 Apr. 2021: Revised skill and passive lineup.
- 20 Nov. 2020: Revised skill and passive recommendations for Season 22.
- 01 Jul. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
- 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 22 Nov. 2019: Reviewed for Season 19.
- 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 17 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 18 Jan. 2019: Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
- 12 Nov. 2017: Revised the skill selection to improve the endgame pushing potential of the build.
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