Wizard Firebird Flame Blades

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Wizard Firebird Flame Blades build.

[Guest ShierTerror]

With the rework of the follower, do you have an update for equipping the follower for this build?  I've seen other guides that make the follower more tanky so you don't need the "Follower Cannot Die" token and can now take advantage of the other options.

[Guest Gaps]

Any chance you could reformat things to be as concise as all the other builds' pages here? 

[Deadset 108]

On 3/31/2021 at 9:13 PM, Guest ShierTerror said:

With the rework of the follower, do you have an update for equipping the follower for this build?  I've seen other guides that make the follower more tanky so you don't need the "Follower Cannot Die" token and can now take advantage of the other options.

Hey! It seems I skipped it by mistake, but I would recommend the usual split of Scoundrel for progression and Enchantress for speed farming in this build. I've added them in a small update that should be on the website shortly. Otherwise, I do have gearing recommendations in our Follower guide -  check it out!

Not sure about the 'more concise' request though - the build mostly  follows the format of all others? 🙂

[Guest Thanatos]

Hi, nice work!

I would like to understand why do you use CHAOS NEXUS on Disintegrate if we have fire damage on our gear. Wouldn't be better to change disintegrate damage to fire ?

[Guest Kat]

What's the point of using Focus & Restraint for solo pushing since you can't use a Unity? Unity does not have Emantes on it. Wouldn't Unity + Compass Rose be objectively better for high GR pushing so you get the damage mitigation?

[Antioch 0]

Thank you Deadset for all the work you put into updating, and maintaining the D3 stuff!  It's appreciated.

[Guest Rae]

Hi, I would like to play with my friend 2p group, with him playing this build and me being the support. just casually for fun. I've got 2 questions:

1. Can I (as support) detonate the ignite damage with a fire skill? Or it can be detonated only by wizz (or his minions)? 

2. What is the best class to supp in this 2p setup? Propably zNec is not the best pick, zMonk is useless since Wizz has good shields anyway, so the choice is between zBarb and zDH. Any advice which supp will be better for this wizz and why?

[Guest Chris]

Any suggestions for Hardcore configurations for this build?

[Deadset 108]

On 4/7/2021 at 2:02 AM, Antioch said:

Thank you Deadset for all the work you put into updating, and maintaining the D3 stuff!  It's appreciated.

Cheers, Antioch! Thank you for the kind words.

For the Ignition question - it needs to be combusted by the Wizard specifically. As for a 2-player setup, the default answer really is zBarb, since it offers the best damage reduction, CC immunity and monster grouping combo a support could hope for.

As for Hardcore, it's hard to come up with something outside of the survivability strengths already provided by the set, as it comes with a built-in cheat death every 60 seconds (2-piece bonus), and grants a whopping 80% damage reduction bonus as long as you maintain at least a single Combustion stack. Then you add in Orb of Infinite Depth as another source of damage reduction and the Firebird set's innate Teleport -resetting powers, and it's hard to come up with a more survivable setup! If you really dislike playing around Squirt's Necklace drawbacks, do the Endless Walk set + CoE combo, perhaps?

[ajotatxe 0]

Hi,
I'm having problems with survivality with this build. The funny thing is that I can kill easily elite groups and bosses. What is killing me is big packs of normal monsters. I had a hard time in Forsaken Ground, T13, for example. I feel that I can't kill them before they kill me, perhaps because of the "linear" AoE of Desintegrate.
I have to say that, although I already have all the items, only two of them are ancient (the weapon and the essence), but I still find it a bit weird.
Any tips?

[ajotatxe 0]

5 hours ago, ajotatxe said:

Hi,
I'm having problems with survivality with this build. The funny thing is that I can kill easily elite groups and bosses. What is killing me is big packs of normal monsters. I had a hard time in Forsaken Ground, T13, for example. I feel that I can't kill them before they kill me, perhaps because of the "linear" AoE of Desintegrate.
I have to say that, although I already have all the items, only two of them are ancient (the weapon and the essence), but I still find it a bit weird.
Any tips?

I have cubed Halo of Karini instead of CoE, and I'm usiing Storm Armor insetad of Black Hole. Of course, I deal less damage, but I'm not killed, and this build works reasonabily well.

[Antioch 0]

On 4/12/2021 at 10:13 AM, ajotatxe said:

Hi,
I'm having problems with survivality with this build. The funny thing is that I can kill easily elite groups and bosses. What is killing me is big packs of normal monsters. I had a hard time in Forsaken Ground, T13, for example. I feel that I can't kill them before they kill me, perhaps because of the "linear" AoE of Desintegrate.
I have to say that, although I already have all the items, only two of them are ancient (the weapon and the essence), but I still find it a bit weird.
Any tips?

I found that when my gear was lower level and I was going into large groups, I would always ensure I have Combustion up, I may sometimes teleport in (Drop) my mirror images, and pop out to approximately 10-15 yards, and use my Disintegrate. Now, I teleport in, drop the Mirror Images, Pop out, and then right back in with a Combustion/Teleport/Disintegrate rotation.  It works really well for me, as it takes the edge of the initial mob 'ganking' damage.  

To keep combustion up, I just teleport, teleport, Combustion, Teleport (With Dis. going), then 1-2 teleports without Disintegrate.  This helps with mana as well.

I hope this is helpful.  I'm not a champion(pro), but I am getting better! 🙂

Antioch

[Guest zZz]

I have tried this variant and then the Mirror Images variant.

For some reason I have an easier time using Hydras instead of the Explosive Blast.

It gets even easier with the Serpent Sparker for extra Hydras and extra damage. I use a Fire rune to get ignition and it seems quite efficient.

I have not gone too high in GRs yet (under 80, with 0 ancients yet and gems at 53 only) but the synergy seems good.

Once I get Deathwish I may need to compare options again.

I was wondering why this option has not been mentioned (Hydras instead of Explosive Blast).

 

[Deadset 108]

Hey there! It's actually mentioned, although passingly, in the Skills page of the guide:
 

Quote

While there is considerable freedom in your chosen method of fire spell to amp with Combustion stacks — with options that include Hydra Hydra and Meteor Meteor Meteor Shower Meteor Shower, among others (...)

Hydras are a completely sensible and viable way to alter the build, glad to hear you are finding success with it 🙂

[Guest zZz]

I've been using 5 items of Firebird for the 6 pc bonus, 2 items of Captain Crimson for the 3 pc bonus and 2 items of Aughild for the 3 pc bonus, the endless walk items and Convention of Elements.

This gives me lower cooldowns, cheaper spells, increased damage dealt and decreased damage taken.

In the cube I have a Serpent Sparker for extra hydras a three times their damage.

I am not sure yet about armor slot - checking Mantle of Channeling for more damage dealt/taken benefits but also The Magistrate for extra Hydra damage.

Finally got a Deathwish sword, and it's an ancient (yay!!) - added a socket to it using a Ramaladni gift.

Got a question - when I Augment a weapon in the cube I need a 30+ level gem. Will the augment be better if the gem is a higher level?

If so, is there a point of diminishing returns?

Thanks for the feedback :)

[Deadset 108]

Yes, the Augmentation is stronger the higher the gem level is, and will always yield +5 of the mainstat per gem level (so no diminishing returns of note, except of effort - do try to push your augmentation gems to a reasonably high level before spending them, to prevent the annoyance of reapplying augmentations multiple times on the same gear pieces).

[Sableflame 5]

On 5/4/2021 at 8:52 AM, Deadset said:

Hey there! It's actually mentioned, although passingly, in the Skills page of the guide:
 

Hydras are a completely sensible and viable way to alter the build, glad to hear you are finding success with it 🙂

Hey Deadset - I've been toying with this build, as I'm not a fan of Wizards being anywhere close enough to use Blades on a non-full shield build, and I have a question/concern:

I've been using Etched Sigil to cast free Energy Twisters (with the skill on my bar and the fire rune selected) - however, it doesn't seem to be triggering the ignite proc of the 6-piece.

The proc says it does 5k% x Combustion stacks (usually maxed, of course) damage - which would come out to 250k% of your listed damage... my sheet shows my damage at 1.7m... at 250k% of that, I should be turning everything my twisters touch into chunky confetti... yet, I'm clearly not, as it still takes a few seconds of effort to burn down elites/bosses on only T12.

Since the Energy Twisters created by the Etched Sigil are triggered by a channeled ability, does the 6-piece trigger see them as a "channeled ability" (even though ET is clearly not channeled) and therefore isn't proccing the 6-piece obliteration?

Setup: 6-piece Firebirds (Head, Hands, Chest, Legs, Feet, Source, no shoulders), Mantle of Channeling, Hergbrash's Binding, Endless Walk, Halo of Arlyse, Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer - currently wielding an Ancient In-Geom, simply as it is the highest 1H-INT DPS weapon I have (have a Deathwish, but want it upgraded before I use it). Bane of the Trapped/Stricken, Zei's Stone - all 52

Cubed are: Etched Sigil, Aquila Cuirass, Squirt's Necklace

Temporal Flux (more CC), Galvanizing Ward, Audacity, Unwavering Will

L-Mouse: Black Hole (Spellsteal) - considering moving this to Slow Time (either Time Shell or PoNR), the effect is bigger and longer and better at crowd control

R-Mouse: Disintegrate (Chaos Nexus)

1 - Teleport (Safe Passage)

2 - Energy Twister (Gale Force, obviously for the fire proc)

3 - Ice Armor (Crystallize)

4 - Magic Weapon (Deflection)

[Deadset 108]

You are on the right track, although the culprit lies elsewhere. It's not so much that the set "sees" Etched Sigil procs as related to a channeled ability as much as the game's own ruleset of proc dependencies. With some notable exceptions, the rule of Diablo 3 is that procced effects (say, from items like the situation you describe) do not proc other procs (such as other items or set bonuses), causing you to lose out on the extra damage you expect from the Sigil-spawned Energy Twisters.

[Sableflame 5]

On 5/14/2021 at 6:23 AM, Deadset said:

With some notable exceptions, the rule of Diablo 3 is that procced effects (say, from items like the situation you describe) do not proc other procs (such as other items or set bonuses),

So... likewise something like Razor Strop's fire burst from picking up a Health Globe would also not count?

So many fun, simple interactions... so little in-game functionality for them 😭

[Deadset 108]

Yup, sadly! I fully understand why it is done, since the alternative would spiral the potential for in-game exploits and out-of-control chain of effects too much, but it's still sad to see a lot of potentially fun interactions go down the 'balancing' drain.

[Guest ChaosNexus]

Thanks for the build guide - would have never figured this out on my own...

Q. Is higher innate weapon damage more important that the Deathwish channeling buff of 250-325% damage increase? I haven't made a primal sword yet (which would be nice!), but I can't figure out if going up 300 in ancient sword damage is worth losing 25% dmg increase on the buff.  How do I fugure this out? Again, nice guide - thanks!

[IveGottenSoLucky 1]

1 hour ago, Guest ChaosNexus said:

Thanks for the build guide - would have never figured this out on my own...

Q. Is higher innate weapon damage more important that the Deathwish channeling buff of 250-325% damage increase? I haven't made a primal sword yet (which would be nice!), but I can't figure out if going up 300 in ancient sword damage is worth losing 25% dmg increase on the buff.  How do I fugure this out? Again, nice guide - thanks!

In case of this weapon, for each 4.25% of affix you missing on it, you lose 1% of damage. For example, if you have Deathwish with 300% affix roll, you losing 5,8823% damage (325-300=25/4.25) compared to the exact same weapon with 325% affix roll. Now, all you need to do move your cursor over another Deathwish and check how much damage it says you gain or lose. So legendary weapon with 325% affix roll would be better compared to ancient weapon with 300% roll that gives up 5,8822% or less damage.

[Guest Chaos Nexus]

Thanks for the above reply (haven’t figured out how to reply directly to a reply). It makes perfect sense except for where the 4.25% came from. The same question applies to many other builds with a weapon which has an added damage buff. Can I figure the 4.25% out on my own (how?) or is there a listing of this somewhere I haven’t found? BTW, my sorceress is now stronger than she would have been without your advice.

 

[IveGottenSoLucky 1]

On 5/22/2021 at 8:14 PM, Guest Chaos Nexus said:

Thanks for the above reply (haven’t figured out how to reply directly to a reply). It makes perfect sense except for where the 4.25% came from. The same question applies to many other builds with a weapon which has an added damage buff. Can I figure the 4.25% out on my own (how?) or is there a listing of this somewhere I haven’t found? BTW, my sorceress is now stronger than she would have been without your advice.

 

Glad to hear it!

Here's how you can compare items with affixes, such as Deathwish, Convention of Elements, etc. For example Deathwish, 325% is the highest affix roll on this weapon. We need to add 100 to 325, 100+325=425 and divide on 100, 425/100=4.25. 4.25% equal to 1% of damage. So Deathwish with 308% affix roll gives 4% less damage compared to the weapon with 325% affix roll.
Convention Elements with 198% affix roll gives 0.66% less damage compared to one with 200% ((200+100)/100).