High level Rift Wizard Build

[bubba56 2]

I am wondering which of the (listed on this site) high level Rift builds for a wizard that most folks would suggest.  I have about reached the end of the line with the Explosive blast build and I can barely get through a level 55 without multiple  deaths, I even tried adding a bit of a damage boost with the 4 piece bonus from Firebird set .. but taking too much damage and I haven't got a lot of Ancients. Because of this I can't really get better gear short of gambling or a very occasional minor upgrade drop and I obviously don't have high level gems to augment the few Ancient items I do have. I have all set pieces of all 4 sets couple ancients each is all, so  which build would the majority suggest, as I would really like to get to say tier 90-ish so I can get gems leveled up.  thanks in advance

[Guest]

I haven't played for a long time, but I played Wizard Firebird Archon.

https://www.icy-veins.com/d3/wizard-firebird-archon-build-patch-2-6-1-season-15

It's probably not the best build anymore, but I had a lot of fun in Great Rifts. (But the build is not great for doing Bounties or Farming Riftkeys, there are builds that are way faster.)

Highest was GR89 iirc. (Solo, I played solo 95% of the time).

[MrMakarov 0]

Hi. If you´re capped at GR55 and do not like to die at all I can suggest the old outdated DMO Arcane Orbit build. It will easily get you to GR75-80. Your problem will be the damage, not defense. Defensive melee DMO build can tank everything (zero deaths) up to gr100 without augments. But, what is "high level" for you? Not all the builds are that player-friendly as  they may appear on youtube videos and leaderboards. 

[bubba56 2]

I play solo 95% of the time, I am hoping to be able to get the season titles and be able to clear GR 85-90 in that range, higher would be great but that would be high enough to level up a lot of gems for augmenting.  Reason I solo most all the time is I just don't have to twitch reflexes most of you younger folks do to be able to get out of a bad situation fast enough and don't want to drag down a group. So I would be pretty happy to be able to clear GR 90 solo with the wizard.  I was looking at all the high tier builds listed on this site and gathering the items to cube and/or the other items needed for the various builds,

[Guest]

Well. like I said, I liked the Firebird / Archon build  lot.

I liked the playstyle of this build and can remmonend it 100%.

(But not for Bounties)

 

[bubba56 2]

OK I am trying this Firebird build, not much in the way of ancient yet. But.. I apparently (NO kidding) do not understand what I am doing or am supposed to be doing that makes this build good enough for high level rifts.  I backed down to Torment 6 to try it out and see if I could figure out ...HOW to attack if there is a cycle of button mashing but.. In the skill description it says fire damage (not weapon or procs) will cause a DoT, ok the fire blade on spectral blade, as far as I can tell THAT is the only skill giving fire damage. I am not understand where 3 separate fire skills could possibly come from to get the full effect dot and/or the "timer" over the mobs head..!!

The start of his description  says that you are supposed to drag the mobs with you to create a big target for the Archon I guess.. but there is very little mob following I suppose I could drop the Templar and then all mobs would be on me all the time but.. seems like suicide to me.  I did NOT notice a video of Deadset's for this build or play style. I must be missing something because a T6 regular rift is taking me far more time to get through than I would think it should and I do not see how this is a high level rift build unless you could almost permanently keep Archon form up?!?!  any help.hints, pointers would be appreciated

[Guest]

It is a little tricky.

High CDR is extremly important for this build.

Outside of Archon you need to hit with spectral blade to get your stacks up (20 is max). And you can drag some mobs with you.

In this build you kill ONLY elite-mobs (and the normal mobs you managed to drag to the elitepack). If you manage to have a great horde of stronger "normal" mobs you may kill those too.

But your damage to normal mobs is horribly low. You blast away elites in seconds, but you do not manage to kill trash. 

Why? I have absolutly no idea. You can take a look at the topic about this build.

That's why the build is quite bad for Bounties.

But it is great fun to teleport / run around the dungeon, get to the elite, position yourself correctly (inside the elite-pack) and activating Archon at the right time. You need to start your archon-form when convention of elements starts with fire. This way you have the element fire twice in Archon-Form. Extremly important on higher tiers, because this way you have the chance to kill the elite-pack and have enough time to run around, hopefully finding a second elite pack in time. (Or, if you are on higher rifts, you just need two fire-cycles to kill the mob)

[bubba56 2]

I am hoping it's just a matter of practice and getting the timing down, because as I say a T6 regular rift is ..tedious I have no idea of how nasty Tier 70 even would be, I am sure the Archon form damage will be able to clear it but the getting from elite pack to elite pack and waiting until Archon is up is.. well tedious lol.  Do you know if Deadset has a video of this build somewhere?

[bubba56 2]

running some torment 9(level 40)  GR to try and practice,  see about running to elite packs and bringing the trash with, taking 9.5 minutes to do a tier 40??  now have 6 ancient pieces but would need 6 level 50 legendary's to augment them and I am not sure how much more damage that would actually put out. It might help if I could see someone using this build and exactly HOW to play it 2 minutes between Archon forms is painfully slow, unless I run into a channeling pylon but still have to wait for 20 stacks on the Chantoo's.. 

 

signed, needing help or hints

[Guest]

13 hours ago, bubba56 said:

 It might help if I could see someone using this build and exactly HOW to play it 2 minutes between Archon forms is painfully slow, unless I run into a channeling pylon but still have to wait for 20 stacks on the Chantoo's.. 

 

signed, needing help or hints

I admit I don't understand the problem completly.

How on earth can you have 2 minutes between Archons? I told you CDR was very important - sure, if you have no CDR the build is just not playable.

And "wait for 20 stacks" - how long does it take to hit 20 times with spectral blades? 15 seconds? - and if you have a channeling pylon the fire cycle is more important then the stacks IIRC. You do not need to have 20 stacks at all cost! 

 

Since you have for a long time tons of "overdamage" (you kill elites in seconds, no matter if you are on GR 40 or 60) you won't take longer in higher Greater Rifts. Obviously there will come a point when it will take you longer (my guess is beginning at GR 75, give or take a few tiers). Just start a GR 60 and it should take you approx. the same time as a GR 40.

You will not be able to speed-run a GR in 3 or 4 minutes with this build however. 

[bubba56 2]

sorry the 2 minutes was just a mouse over that is the default, I have @ 56% CDR I believe, so about 50 some seconds?!?!  at work now can't check.  The "waiting on 20 stacks is not so much of a time thing but standing still  to attack!!  I did start running tier 50 (torment 11) GR's. die at least once every time, you are correct I have been finishing them in about the same amount of time.

Ranged attacks are my bane for some reason and I just try to run to the next level to avoid them skipping all bosses that level etc.  I was hoping to get to be able to clear a tier 70 in under 6 minutes for the Destroyer requirements but.. I am not seeing that happen.  I will keep plugging for another day or so at least then perhaps I may have to try one of the other "high tier" builds.

I was hoping to Augment my ancients with +Int, but... I need to be able to clear high enough rifts to be able to level gems to 50 at least and with the amount of deaths I am having I now wonder if I should just try adding Vitality instead?!?!  I have noticed one odd thing  in keeping with what you mentioned about trash mobs (being hard to kill) that even in some elite packs there are bosses that are harder to kill than the rift guardian!! Another peculiarity of the build I guess,