Wizard Typhon's Veil Fresh 70 Starter Build (Patch 2.7.6 / Season 29)

Active Skills
Spectral Blade Barrier Blades Arcane Orb Frozen Orb 1 Teleport Wormhole 2 Black Hole Absolute Zero 3 Hydra Frost Hydra 4 Energy Armor Force Armor
Passive Skills
Galvanizing Ward Elemental Exposure Illusionist Power Hungry

While the Typhon's Veil set is all about Hydras, the damage bonuses for the skill do not kick in until the 6-piece bonus. Naturally, this forces the skill into a supplementary role in the build, but it is still quite valuable due to the boost it gets from the 2-piece, as well as the damage reduction from the 4-piece. Noticing the 2-piece restriction on multi-headed Hydras, take the Frost Hydra rune and get used to the skill's mechanics. Note that you can get a Winter Flurry as an early gamble on the Wizard, which places a much greater emphasis on Hydra damage, and also necessitates that you swap Arcane Orb Frozen Orb from the presented beginner build above into Blizzard Unrelenting Storm. Until you get that item however, use Frozen Orb as a complimentary, or even main, damage dealer.

Part of your rotation will be dedicated to protection. Naturally, you will include a shielding spell, and due to the lack of Halo of Karini or Halo of Arlyse, you will be using the stock protection of Energy Armor Force Armor — decent enough early on. Your defenses will be strengthened in an active manner as well, through repeated attacks of Spectral Blade with the Barrier Blades rune. This skill should be taken over other primary skills to get you used to the endgame build, as it will remain in your final rotation due to Fragment of Destiny.

Two other cooldowns round out your build, both focused on controlling the battlefield. Teleport Wormhole will help you reposition and maneuver throughout the rift, while Black Hole Absolute Zero will clump up monsters and make them more susceptible to your Cold spells — ideal for the setup of this build.

You will split your passives 50/50 between offense and defense. Power Hungry offers a multiplicative damage increase as long as you keep your distance, which is an uncompromising teaching tool for positioning; Elemental Exposure is simply a nice additive damage buff on top. Illusionist is very helpful for resetting your mobility cooldown, and while its requirements seem daunting, you will be surprised how often you trigger its effects while remaining safe behind your shields. Speaking of shields, Galvanizing Ward rounds out the passive selection with a potent shield bubble, again — rewarding safe, ranged play and smart positioning.

The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have a rough list of high priority items to obtain, as well as a link to the build they pertain to.

• Typhon Hydra Build — Serpent's Sparker and Fragment of Destiny (wands); The Magistrate (wizard hat); Winter Flurry (source); Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer (bracers).