Take her to see Fifty Shades of Grey and then when you get home, handcuff her to the bed; Now you can play Season 2 all you wish.
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ruksak posted a message on Blizzard hates lovers...Posted in: Diablo III General Discussion -
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ruksak posted a message on for those complaining about Blizzard seemingly forcing WOW on D3 players.Posted in: Diablo III General DiscussionAre you really this thick or is this a ploy for attention?
I believe the dev comment in question was meant to be understood as "D3 is meant to be played in binges, you get burned out and can go play whatever you wish until the desire to play D3 comes back". Of course they dropped their own product name, you goofball. Did you want them to use PoE as an example? C'mon man......grow up.
You took this crap a few steps too far into the realm of nonsense. They refuse to make D3 offline because of all the idiots that would immediately hack and dupe and lay ruin to the games integrity.
"It's a business". No shit.....really? I bet these Blizzard motherfuckers are even making money off us!!!!
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markall44 posted a message on Frack off the spam botsPosted in: Diablo III General DiscussionCan't you guys use a filter of some sort to stop this spamming?
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DeboSc2 posted a message on Debo's "The 24 Hour Witch Doctor"Hey guys I'm Debo, I Main the Witch Doctor class, ever since the beta for Diablo 3 Vanilla. Encouraging players to try out the Witch Doctor class, and enjoy Diablo 3 is my major focus. I started to do this by compiling my thoughts in guides, and streaming to provide information to those who seek it.Posted in: Witch Doctor: The Mbwiru Eikura
My Twitch Tag:
http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo
My armory Profile:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Debo-1782/hero/1274676
Diablo Fans Link to where I keep the growing list of all WD information:
http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/witch-doctor-the-mbwiru-eikura/95384-debos-2-1-witch-doctor-compendium
Now that the formalities are out of the way:
The 24 Hour Witch Doctor
This Guide, is meant to serve people whom might be new to Diablo 3, or new to the Witch Doctor Class. It provides a structured easy to follow process that will enable the player to maximize the first 24 hours of a New Witch Doctor that is Created.
Getting power leveled, using exploits, or group play will yield faster results in gearing up a Witch Doctor initially. The point of this guide is to provide an option for players to be self sufficient, or use as a itinerary list on what you should be focusing with a new Witch Doctor.
The guide Will be broken up into "Three Phases"
Leveling Phase
- * Getting your WD setup to level quickly to Max Level
- * Efficiency in Bounty Quest Choices
- * Difficulty Settings, Broken down by Levels
- * Skill Choice, Broken down by Levels
- * Tactics for Gearing while Level progressing
- * Appropriate gears choices while Leveling.
Gear Progression Phase
- * Executing the hunt for a boon of the Hoarder, and Solid Jewelry Choices (Rings/Amulets)
- * Identifying a Solid plan to begin gearing for Torment Lv. 1-3 Content
- * Determining (Based upon Drops) which Build to commit to, that will allow you to begin farming higher level torments (Lv's 5-6)
- * Acquiring 3 Legendary Gems for your build, to begin Gem development in the "GR" System
Grind Phase
- * All the remaining time you have left in the First "24" Hours to push your WD to T6 Farming
- * Finishing off Gem progression, (Legendary Gems, and Non Legendary counter parts)
- * Min-Maxing with Craft-able Sets.
24 Hour Witch Doctor Itinerary List
The following in which you are about to read, is a start to finish Itinerary for our first 24 hours for a "fresh" solo Witch Doctor. If you are in a group, you can use this as a rough outline on what you should be focusing on as you progress through content. The leveling Phase is pretty straight forward, it list what difficulty, and skill setup you should be running at different level intervals. The second phase shows how you should prioritize your time to quickly Progress onward to Torments 1 & 3. The final phase is all about rounding out your build, and gear itemization to have your Witch Doctor Torment Level 5/6 ready.
Part 1 Leveling Phase
Levels 1-12
- * Adventure Mode Bounties
- * Normal Difficulty
- * Hire Enchantress Follower
- * Poison Darts (Level 1)
- * Grasp of the Dead (Level 2)
- * Zombie Dogs (Level 4)
- * Poison Dart "Splinters" Rune (Level 6)
- * Soul Harvest (Level 9)
- * Jungle Fortitude *Passive* (Level 10)
Level 1-12 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
- * Poison Dart "Splinters"
- * Grasp of the Dead
- * Zombie Dogs
- * Soul Harvest
Passive skills
- * Jungle Fortitude
- * Adventure Mode Bounties
- * Master Difficulty
- * Haunt (Level 12) ---> Replaces Poison Darts
- * Zombie Dogs "Rabid dogs" Rune (Level 12)
- * Grasp of the Dead "Groping Eels" Rune (Level 15)
- * Spirit Walk (Level 16)
- * Gruesome Feast *Passive* (Level 16) ---> Replaces Jungle Fortitude *Passive*
- * Haunt "Consuming Spirit Rune" (Level 18)
- * Gargantuan (Level 19)
- * Blood Ritual *Passive* (Level 20)
- * Locust Swarm (Level 21) ----> Replaces Grasp of the Dead
- * Soul Harvest "Siphon"
Level 12-21 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
- * Haunt "Consuming Spirit"
- * Locust Swarm
- * Spirit Walk
- * Soul Harvest "Siphon"
- * Zombie Dogs "Rabid Dogs"
- * Gargantuan
Passive skills
- * Blood Ritual
- * Gruesome Feast
- * Adventure Mode Bounties
- * Master Difficulty
- * Gargantuan "Humongoid" Rune (Level 22)
- * Haunt "Resentful Spirits" Rune (Level 23)
- * Spirit Walk "Jaunt" Rune (Level 23)
- * Locust Swarm "Pestilence" Rune (Level 27)
- * Pierce the Veil *Passive* (Level 27) ---> Replaces Blood Ritual *Passive*
Level 22-27 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
- * Haunt "Resentful Spirits"
- * Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
- * Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
- * Soul Harvest "Siphon"
- * Zombie Dogs "Rabid Dogs"
- * Gargantuan "Humongoid:
Passive skills
- * Pierce The Veil
- * Gruesome Feast
- * Adventure Mode Bounties
- * Torment 1 or Master Difficulty
- * Zombie Dogs "Life Link" Rune (Level 28)
- * Gargantuan "Restless Giant" Rune (Level 29)
- * Fetish Sycophants *Passive* (Level 30)
- * Rush of Essence *Passive* (Level 36) -----> Replaces Gruesome Feast *Passive*
Level 28-36 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
- * Haunt "Resentful Spirits"
- * Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
- * Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
- * Soul Harvest "Siphon"
- * Zombie Dogs "Life Link"
- * Gargantuan "Restless Giant"
Passive skills
- * Pierce The Veil
- * Rush of Essence
- * Fetish Sycophants
Levels 37-48
- * Adventure Mode Bounties
- * Torment 1 or Master Difficulty
- * Spirit Walk "Soul to Waste" Rune (Level 39)
Haunt "Poisoned Spirit" (Level 48) Rune
- * Will be available in Patch 2.1.2
- * Poison Property Haunt, Increases Damage on Affected Targets by 20%
- * Very Strong leveling tool, will enable T1/T2 Farming easily until Level 70
- * For now however Resentful Spirits will get the job until the next patch is available
Level 37-48 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
- * Haunt "Resentful Spirits" (Patch 2.1.1) or (Poisoned Spirit Patch 2.1.2)
- * Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
- * Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
- * Soul Harvest "Soul to Waste"
- * Zombie Dogs "Life Link"
- * Gargantuan "Restless Giant"
Passive skills
- * Pierce The Veil
- * Rush of Essence
- * Fetish Sycophants
- * Adventure Mode Bounties
- * Torment 2 or Torment 1 Difficulty
- * Piranhas (Level 61) ----> Replaces Soul Harvest
- * Piranhas "Zombie Piranhas" (Level 63)
Level 49-70 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
- * Haunt "Resentful Spirits" (Patch 2.1.1) or (Poisoned Spirit Patch 2.1.2)
- * Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
- * Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
- * Piranhas "Zombie Piranhas"
- * Zombie Dogs "Life Link"
- * Gargantuan "Restless Giant"
Passive skills
- * Pierce The Veil
- * Rush of Essence
- * Gruesome Feast
- * Creeping Death
Phase 2 Gear Progression Phase
In Order or prioritization
Upgrading all Artisans to Max Level
- * Pretty Self Explanatory, Jeweler, Enchantress, Black Smith upgraded all to Max Level
Boon of the Hoarder
- * No way to get around it, you need gold and lots of it
- * Re-rolls on Gear, Crafting Gear, Gem Crafting
- * Shouldn't Take more then 1-2 Hours to pop a Goblin Rift, if you are farming them correctly
Jewelry Rings,Amulet
- * Rings Take 2 Marquise Diamonds + Gold To Craft from the Jewel Crafter
- * Amulets Require 1 of each Marquise Gem + Gold to Craft from the Jewel Crafter
- * Initial Ring/Ammy Stats: Int, Critical Chance, Socket
- * Optimal Ring/Ammy Stats: Int, Critical Chance, Critical Damage, Socket
Re-Rolling Rare (Yellow) Quality items to decent standing
- * Shoulders --> Int, Vit, Armor, Life %
- * Helm ---> Int, Vit, Critical Chance
- * Chest ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Socket (3)
- * Pants ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Socket (3)
- * Boots ---> int, Vit, Armor, Increased Movement Speed
- * Gloves ---> Int, Vit, Critical Chance, Critical Damage
- * Belt ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Life %
- * Weapon ---> 2 Handed Int, Increased Damage %, Socket
Torment Level 1
- * Target Toughness 3-4m
- * Target DPS 350-500k
- * Personally I await until 4m Toughness with 500k Dps before switching to Torment 1 @ Lv 70
Legendary Gems
- * Every-time after Defeating a Rift Guardian, you have a % Chance to acquire a Greater Rift token, the chance for it to drop increases with Torment difficulty
- * After Completing a Greater Rift, you receive 1 Random Legendary gem until you acquire all of them.
- * Your goal is to obtain 3 Legendary Gems that are working towards you "Gear Progression" Build
- * "Safe Gems" To Use/Level are as follows: Bane of the Trapped, Bane of the Powerful
- * Usually your 3rd Gem Option is determined by build
Torment Level 3
- * Target Toughness 4-5m
- * Target DPS 600-800k
- * Once you hit Torment Level 3, you should have a good understanding of What build your working towards
- * Getting to this Stage int he first 24 hours as quickly as possible, will allow more time int he final phase to reach T5-T6 Difficulty farming potential at the end of the first 24 hours as a New Witch Doctor
Phase 3 Grinding Phase
Getting into a Routine
- * Farming Rifts
- * Farming Greater Rifts when GR Keystones drop form Regular Rift runs.
- * Upgrading Your Legendary Gems
- * Spending Blood Shards on specific Gear slots to improve your Build
Gambling for specific item Slots to complete your Build
- * Knowing what Build you are committing to and making the correct purchases with Blood Shards
- * Making Purchases between runs, to allow for frequent upgrade
- * Identifying the 3 Gems that will work with your build
- * Upgrading gems with the 1-1-1 Method
- * Minimize Gem Failing once Gems Reach Level 15
Determining if you will need a Ring of Royal Grandeur
- * If running Cains Set, with Aughilds this might be necessary
- * If attempting to Go for a "6" Piece Jade Set this WILL be Necessary
Min-Maxing your Gear
- * Re-Rolling Sub Par Gear
- * Re-Crafting Sub Par Set Gear
Crafting high level Gems (non legendary)
- * Crafting Topazes to their highest level.
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Phase 1 "Leveling Phase" In Depth
This Section will cover these major points: Bounty Choices , Itemization, and Skill Build
Bounty Choices
Bounties are pretty much straight forward. While leveling there certain bounties that we avoid, and specific acts we stay away from. When you start a new Witch Doctor, everyone can start off in "Adventure mode", granted they've completed story mode beforehand.
Why do you only choose Act 1 Bounties Only?
- * Has the most easiest bounties to complete in game
- * Monster A.I. pales in comparison to other ones from Acts 2-5
- * Bounty maps objectives, usually spawn in the same areas
What Bounties should I do, avoid sometimes, or skip all together?
- * Here is a Image the explains it all:
- * Green = You should do these Bounties all the time
- * Blue = You should do these bounties, when it doesn't involve killing a boss
- * Red = You should never do these bounties.....period
Why am I avoiding these Bounties?
- * One case, is how Difficulty level effects bosses greatly, Last thing you want to do is fight Skeleton King, Queen Araneae, or the Butcher on Masters+ Difficulty or higher, for the amount of time they take, it is not worth it.
- The area also could just be to large, and random to successfully locate the bounty objective quickly. This rears its ugly head with any bounties that takes place on Caverns of Araneae, or Fields of Misery
What about the Maybe Bounties
- * It is ok to do these bounties, ONLY if the bounty that is given DOESN'T involve killing a Boss Monster.
If you complete all of the bounties, that are on the list, and all that remains are the ones that you should "NOT" do, it is more profitable to simply leave game to "Reset" the bounties.
Pools of Reflection
Whats a pool of reflection
- * Pools of Reflection provide a 25% bonus to experience
- * This bonus persists until you reach a set amount of bonus experience (equal to approximately 10% of the current amount of Paragon experience needed to reach the next Paragon level) or your character dies.
- * Gathering additional Pools of Reflection bonuses increases the amount of total experience bonus a character can receive until character death, stacking up to 10 times
- *This experience bonus persists on logout
While doing bounties you will come across these pools of golden goodness, it is very easy to keep these stacks going from levels 1-61. So to increase the rate at which you level stack these pools without dying. From levels 61 onward, things can get a little tough, so be extra careful to not die as the increased exp makes a BIG difference on your way level 70.
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Phase 1 - Itemization
What Gear should I be focusing on while leveling up?
- * 2 Handed weapons are the best due to our skill choices, their accessibility, and how well their damage scales as we level up.
- * The weapons scale Very well, and make it so we don't have to worry about finding a proper Off Handed weapon
- * Equipping anything that increases the Damage for your Witch docotor. (Armor more specifically)
- * Any type of gear, that increases the amount of experience you receive
- * Level 61+ Any Helmet that has a Socket for a Marquise Ruby Gem
What options do I have if I can't find a decent weapon?
- * NPC Merchants, believe it or not they do carry nice Weapons, and Jewelry
- * If your Weapon begins to start lacking, and you need to replace it to keep a good leveling pace, Checking the Merchants in each Act will help your out A TON. So don't neglect this option.
Things you don't need to worry about from levels 1-60
- * Breaking down Items at the Black Smith
- * Picking up, or using Gems
- * Learning any Pre-61 Crafting Plan
- * Keeping, or saving any Pre- Level 60 Legendary
- * Upgrading any Artisan Pre- Level 61
What about when I hit level 61?
- * Pick up everything you can Pre- 61, and sell it for gold
- * Once you reach level 61 Start picking up EVERYTHING, because these items are the "End Game" Crafting items.
- * If you get any Level 60-70 Voodoo Witch Doctor Helmet save them!
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Phase 1 - Skill Build
What is the most optimal Build in your opinion to level with?
- * Haunt, and Locust Swarm by far
- * Damage over Time spells are very powerful tools while leveling, and scale Dramatically well with 2 Handed Weapons.
- * The build that I have below is a build that works well into level 70, and beyond. If you need the level by level on what skills to you, you can check out the 24 Hour Witch Doctor Phase 1 Itinerary section located at the beginning of the guide.
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Pre-61
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Level 61-70
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Level 70
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Phase 1 Recap
Here are the important things to remember:
- * Only do the bounties that are "Green" or "Blue"
- * Pick up everything, and sell it to vendors until Level 61
- * If you are out leveling your weapon, Npcs can provide Excellent Weapon & Jewelry options, make sure to check all of the merchants in each Act
- * Remember to adjust Skills, game difficulty, passives, and runes as you are leveling.
- * Get a Socket-ed helmet for Levels 61-70, and place a Marquise Ruby inside it!
- * Pools of reflection are you friends, don't waste them by dying!
Here are my 1-70 Times for all 4 Test sessions I conducted:
Test Session 1
Test Session 2
Test Session 3
Test Session 4 Screen shot was lost but final time 1-70 was 6 hours 28 minutes
Test Session 4 Video proof Fast Forward to "10:45:00" Mark
Phase 1 "Leveling Phase" Video Tutorial:
Phase 1 Tutorial Video/Recap
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Phase 2 "Gear Progression" In Dept
Phase 2 begins immediately after you obtain level 70. Setting ourselves up to progress towards torment Difficulty levels 1-3 while also identifying (based upon what Items have dropped ) which build would be the most efficient for our Witch Doctor to run. With a little crafting, and some luck this phase will go smoothly.
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Phase 2 - Upgrading all Artisans to Max Level
- * Once your level 70 you will have more than enough Gold, and some Last breaths to upgrade these artisans to max level.
Black Smith
- * Crafting anything other than set items from the black smith is a little bit of a waste
- * Aughilds Power, and Cain's Set give you the greatest potential out of the items you can craft.
- * Crafting any items from the Black Smith give it the potential to roll "Ancient Level Stats"
Jewel Crafter
- * Would not advise to craft your gems higher then Marquise, unless you are using them as a crafting material when your re-rolling legendary Jewelry.
- * We will be using this Artisan mostly for the "Rare" Jewelry crafting option
- **Rare Ring Crafting**
- * Requires 2 Marquise Diamond, and Gold per Rare Ring Crafted
- * Optimal Stats wanted: Int, Critical Hit Chance, Increased Critical Damage, Socket(1)
- * Stat alternative that is "ok": Int, Critical Hit Chance, Socket(1)
Rare Amulet Crafting
- * Requires 1 Marquise Gem of each Color excluding Diamonds, and Gold per Rare Amulet Crafted
- * Optimal Stats wanted: Int, Critical Hit Chance, Increased Critical Damage, Socket(1)
- * Stat alternative that is "ok": Int, Increased Critical Damage, Socket(1)
Enchanter
- * Pretty simple here with this artisan, she allows you to re-roll one Stat of your choice. for crafting materials
- * Only thing to say about here, is that Chest, Pants, Belts, Shoes are fairly expensive to re-roll stats on so be careful.
- * Gloves, and Wrist are by far the cheapest to re-reoll.
- * Any items you continual re-roll has their base gold cost increased every time the enchantress is used, this is however excluded when re-rolling Legendary Jewelry (Rings/ Amulets) the cost for these items are consumed in the forum of Gems.
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Phase 2 - Boon of the Hoarder
- * Boon of the Hoarder is a Legendary Gem in Diablo III. It can only be socketed into Amulets and Rings, and, unlike other Legendary Gems, only drops from Greed in the Treasure Realm.
- * This gem gives a chance to cause any killed enemy (even if killed by a pet or a minion) to drop several large piles of gold in addition to their normal loot. The explosion does not cause any damage. Upgrading the gem increases the chance to proc, though for realistic purposes, it is not worth upgrading after reaching rank 50.
- * At rank 25, it also gives a brief movement speed boost after picking up gold.
- * This gem will have no effect in Greater Rifts. It will also not trigger off of kills made by anyone other than the Nephalem hero who uses this gem, even their own followers. It is also the only gem that gives no real combat effectiveness by itself. The massive quantities of gold offered, however, do prove very potent when coupled with items like Goldwrap and the Custerian Wristguards.
- * The Boon of the Hoarder is one of the three gems (the others being Gogok of Swiftness and Invigorating Gemstone) that actually have a limit of effective ranking at 50.
How do you go about getting a Treasure Realm?
- * By setting the game Difficulty to Normal, and targeting areas in Adventure mode (non rifts), where Goblin spawn rates are high.
- **Can I get a Treasure Realm to spawn from goblins in rifts?**
- * No you cannot, it has to be in Adventure mode, you must be level 70, and it is only Goblins that are NOT inside of a rift.
Do you have a list of Areas where you go to hunt goblins?
- * The goblins I target it are in these Areas: Act 1 Araneae, Tower of the Cursed level (1 & 2), Core of the Arreat
Map of Goblin farming areas
Why is it so important to get this gem right away after hitting level 70?
- * Gold is the sole reason, due to the fact that Crafting, Gem Crafting, and Using the enchanter for re-rolls is can get VERY expensive.
- * Securing this item early on, will grant you easy gold for a lifetime.
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Phase 2 - Re-Rolling Rare (Yellow) Quality items to decent standing
While Hunting for goblins, or simply running rifts to farm for gear, and mats, your going to come across a lot of Rare (Yellow colored) items. These pieces of gear can help you gear up quickly to getting started on torment farming. I've included a basic list on what stats you want on each individual piece of gear (Excluded are Jewelry pieces as that was covered int he section above)
- * Shoulders --> Int, Vit, Armor, Life %
- * Helm ---> Int, Vit, Critical Chance
- * Chest ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Socket (3)
- * Pants ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Socket (3)
- * Boots ---> int, Vit, Armor, Increased Movement Speed
- * Gloves ---> Int, Vit, Critical Chance, Critical Damage
- * Belt ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Life %
- * Weapon ---> 2 Handed Int, Increased Damage %, Socket
- * Weapon ---> 1 Handed Int, Increased Damage %, Socket
- * Off Hand ---> Int, Vit, Crit Chance, *Increased Skill Damage*
Phase 2 - Torment Levels 1 & 3
In regard to what target numbers I go for before progressing towards a higher level of difficulty, these are simply what worked for me, A.K.A My opinion. If you find your able to start Torment Level 1 sooner than what target Toughness/Dps then by all means go for it!
Torment 1
- * Target Toughness 3-4m
- * Target DPS 350-500k
- * Personally I await until 4m Toughness with 500k Dps before switching to Torment 1 @ Lv 70
Torment Level 3
- * Target Toughness 4-5m
- * Target DPS 600-800k
- * Once you hit Torment Level 3, you should have a good understanding of What build your working towards
- * Getting to this Stage int he first 24 hours as quickly as possible, will allow more time in the final phase to reach T5-T6 Difficulty farming potential at the end of the first 24 hours as a New Witch Doctor
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Phase 2 - The Two major, introductory Witch Doctor Builds
No specific gear is required to do these builds
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Level 70
- * All you need to run this build is a Solid 2 handed weapon, and sub-par Rolls on your gear.
- * Can get you into Torment 3 Farming very easily, and with the help of few items do Torment 6 easily.
1 Handed Per Build
- * Straight forward Pet build, can get you farming towards Torment Levels 1-3 Easily
- * Does take a little bit of luck, and effort to take this build T6 However
- * Only thing bad about pet builds, is that their initial gearing works well for lower torments, but takes a while to obtain the all the items that push it to the end game.
- * However once said items are acquired, many Pet builds can easily push Great Rift Level 40 + Content Easily
Due to Drops being fairly luck based, and random, I prefer to go with the 2 Handed Dot/Pet Build, due to the fact that it doesn't require item specific drops. Haunt, and Locust swarm also scale VERY well with 2 Handed weapons, and the right Increase Skill Damage/Elemental rolls on your gear. If you want less of a headache I'd advise to use the 2 Handed Dot build first, to help you farm efficiently, then proceed into a Jade, or one of the End game pet builds once you've acquired some nice build specific loot drops.
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Phase 2 - Greater Rifts/Legendary Gems
- * Every-time after Defeating a Rift Guardian, you have a % Chance to acquire a Greater Rift token, the chance for it to drop increases with Torment difficulty
- * After Completing a Greater Rift, you receive 1 Random Legendary gem until you acquire all of them.
- * Your goal is to obtain 3 Legendary Gems that are working towards you "Gear Progression" Build
- * "Safe Gems" To Use/Level are as follows: Bane of the Trapped, Bane of the Powerful
- * Usually your 3rd Gem Option is determined by build
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Phase 2 - What Witch Doctor Builds to be focusing towards
The guides inside my WD compendium showcase the different Builds for Witch Doctors, and the versatility of what options we have for T6/GR 30+ Farming.
WD Compendium (Scroll to the bottom for Guides/Videos)
List of Legendary Items that Can take you to T6 Easily, without requiring additional items
- * Jeram (Voodoo helm) 9.09% Drop Rate
- * Grin Reaper (Voodoo helm) 18.18% Drop Rate
- * Worm Wood (Season 2 Patch 2.1.2 Weapon) 18.18% Drop Rate
- * Quetzalcoatl (Voodoo helm) 9.09% Drop Rate
- * Rhen'ho Flayer (Ceremonial Knife) 7.04% Drop Rate
Drop rates mean the following:
- * The % Chance Drop is for when a legendary drops for that specified s
- * I.E.: A legendary Sword drops, Doom Bringer Drop Rate is Roughly 5-6%, so basically out of every 20 Legendary Swords that drop you "SHOULD IN THEORY", have one of those drops be a Doom Bringer.
- * Keep in mind you could go through 40 Legendary Swords, and see no Doom Bringer, then on your next two Legendary Sword drops you get two Doom Bringers in a row, that is what we call "RNG" or Random Number Generator.
Phase 2 "Gear Progression Phase" Video Tutorial:
Phase 2 Tutorial Video/Recap
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Phase 3 - "Grinding Phase" In Depth
The final phase is mostly coming to terms with what build to lock down (focusing on a specific build) so that by the end of 24 hours (in game time) your Witch Doctor will be able to farm T5-T6 easily. If you followed the correct steps listed in Phase 2, you should have a clear idea of what build your working towards, and only need to "Min/Max" the final pieces of your gear.
Debo what is Min/Maxing?
- * From the Game Theory Wiki Definition:
- * Min-maxing is the practice of playing a role-playing game, wargame or video game with the intent of creating the "best" character by means of minimizing undesired or unimportant traits and maximizing desired ones.[1] This is usually accomplished by improving one specific trait or ability by sacrificing ability in all other fields. This is easier to accomplish in games where attributes are generated from a certain number of points rather than in ones where they are randomly generated.[2] Min-maxing is particularly common in games where the cost of traits does not reflect their expected usefulness; for instance, in a combat-heavy game a player may focus on physical traits, giving a character abnormally low mental and social skills so that the remaining points can all be channeled to physical statistics that are more likely to come into play.[citation needed]
- Some video games have guides dedicated to building the absolute "best" character. Min-maxing in video games is considered expert-level play as it requires a perfect understanding of the game's mechanics and systems, but once it is achieved, a game is no longer challenging.
Does Min Maxing make a difference?
- * Lets look at 6 pieces of gear, with a Stat cap of 500 INT. With those 6 Pieces you average 440 Int per piece of gear, bringing you to 2,640 Int Count. If you were to able to bring the average to 460 Int per piece of gear gear, your new Int count would be 2,760 an improvement of 120 Int. If you were able to average 490 Int Average per piece of gear 2,940, that's a 300 Int Difference from the 440 Avg we started with. So with 13 Item slots in Diablo 3, improving your gear piece by piece, maximizing your Stat rolls on each individual pieces of your gear makes a huge difference in character development.
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Phase 3 - Getting into a Routine
Pretty Straight forward here, establishing a routine a to maximize your time to acquire the most amount of crafting materials, Gear, and Blood Shards.
Here is an example of a "routine" I used when I was in Phase 3
- * Farming Regular Rifts (Torment 3)
- * Farming Greater Rifts when GR Keystones drop form Regular Rift runs.
- * Upgrading Your Legendary Gems, after completing the Greater Rift
- * Spending Blood Shards on specific Gear slots to improve your Build, or Min-Max certain items
- * Repeat the steps above.
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Phase 3 - Gambling for specific item Slots to complete your Build
During phase 2 prioritization on Witch Doctor Voodoo helms is key initially, but after acquiring one of the Build changing Witch Doctor Helms, it is all bout rounding out the items that will improve your build. I.E. Maybe you have 3-4 Pieces of Jade Set, but your lacking the gloves, or Your running a poison Grin Reaper build, and you attempt to gamble for a Swamp Waders for additional poison damage.
- * Knowing what Build you are committing to and making the correct purchases with Blood Shards
- * Making Purchases between runs, to allow for frequent upgrades
- * Gambling for items that "realistically" get is easily, (High Drop % chance items)
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Phase 3 - Upgrading Legendary Gems
For the most part the following gems are commonly used for most builds: Bane of The Trapped, Bane of the Powerful, Enforcer, and Efficacious Toxin gems. For the most part these gems are would you should be upgrading first with a "New" Witch Doctor. The 1-1-1 Method I use, is to upgrade each gem one Level at a time to Maximize successful upgrades. By the time all your Gems reach level 15, you should have solid gear, and proper itemization with your build to already be clearing Greater Rift levels 25-30.
- * Identifying the 3 Gems that will work with your build
- * Upgrading gems with the 1-1-1 Method
- * Minimize Gem Failing once Gems Reach Level 15
Determining if you will need a Ring of Royal Grandeur
- * If running Cains Set, with Aughilds this might be necessary
- * If attempting to Go for a "6" Piece Jade Set this WILL be Necessary
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Phase 3 - Crafting high level Gems (non legendary)
Towards the end of the 24 Hour Witch Doctor Run, items should have solid rolls, and your Jewelry should be min maxed to a decent level. Most of your gear will be complete, and Gems should be stacking up due to the probability your jewelry re-rolling is complete. Not to mention your Gold count should be solid allowing you to craft all your gems to "Royal" or "Flawless Royal" very easily.
- * Crafting Topazes to their highest level.
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Screen Shots of the Test Session Witch doctors after 24 hours.
Test Session 1 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results (2nd Screen Shot)
Test Session 3 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results (2nd Screen Shot)
Phase 3 - "The Grind Phase" Video Tutorial:
Phase 3 Tutorial Video/Recap
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In closing
Hope you guys enjoyed this guide! I hope a lot of new players can utilize it to make their time more efficient with the game, become better players, and teach other players on how they can improve their Witch Doctors. More future guides to come, how your looking forward to them.
Links to all Recap/Map Images/Compendium Links:
Phase 1-3 Video Recaps
Phase 1 Tutorial Video/Recap
Phase 2 Tutorial Video/Recap
Phase 3 Tutorial Video/Recap
Map images used
Bounty List
Map of Goblin farming areas
Phase 1 Test Sessions
Test Session 1
Test Session 2
Test Session 3
*Test Session 4 Screen shot was lost but final time 1-70 was 6 hours 28 minutes*
Test Session 4 Video proof Fast Forward to "10:45:00" Mark
Phase 3 Test Session Result
Test Session 1 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results (2nd Screen Shot)
Test Session 3 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results 2nd Screen Shot
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1
DeboSc2 posted a message on Debo's WormWood Future 2.1.2 Patch GuideHey guys I'm Debo, I Main the Witch Doctor class, ever since the beta for Diablo 3 Vanilla. Encouraging players to try out the Witch Doctor class, and enjoy Diablo 3 is my major focus. I started to do this by compiling my thoughts in guides, and streaming to provide information to those who seek it.Posted in: Witch Doctor: The Mbwiru Eikura
My Twitch Tag:
http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo
My armory Profile:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Debo-1782/hero/1274676
Diablo Fans Link to where I keep the growing list of all WD information:
http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/witch-doctor-the-mbwiru-eikura/95384-debos-2-1-witch-doctor-compendium
Now that the formalities are out of the way:
Worm Wood Guide
Really a Worm Wood Guide Debo?!?
- * Yep :|
- * Yep >:|
- * 2 Handed Staff, been in the game for a While
- * Rolls Dex/Int for a Main Stat with a Secondary that has a chance to fear on hit.
- * Receiving an update in Patch 2.1.2, to be utilized by Witch Doctors
What changes are they making towards it in patch 2.1.2
- * Worm Wood will gain an new Secondary, that Auto casts Locust Swarm
- * Worm Wood will gain one additional Primary Stat that Increases Poison Damage (Up to 25%)
- * It will also (like all legendarys) have a chance to become an Ancient Version of its self in Patch 2.1.2
Evolution of WormWood
The Original Weapon: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/wormwood
The weapon in 2.1.2: http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/21/465/wormwood.png
The Weapon in 2.1.2 With Ancient Affix: http://imgur.com/KilQR2d
Worm Wood Facts
- * Having Locust swarm on you skill bar with a rune affix enables the Locus Swarm Auto cast by Worm Wood to gain that affix.
- * Current Drop % for Worm wood is 18.8% for the Witch Doctor class
- * The above statement refers, to when a Legendary Staff Drops you have almost a 1/5 Chance of it being a Worm Wood Drop
- * The Auto cast Locust Swarm (without it being set to your skill Bar) is poison, unless you are Running Locust Swarm with a Rune that changes it to fire or Cold
- * So in relation to the above statement, If you were to use Locus Swam with the "Searing locust" Run affix, all auto-cast Locust swarm will be "Fire property", and take on the additional effects of the rune selected.
Worm Wood In comparison to other "Jade" Build Weapons
- * 1.Furnace
- * 2.Worm Wood
The weapon in Future Patch 2.1.2: http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/21/465/wormwood.png
- * 3.Wrath of the Bone King
- * 4.Sun Keeper
1.Furnance
- * 2 Handed Mace , with up to a 50% Increased elite Damage roll
- * No matter How you look at it regarding this weapon it is undisputed King of all Jade Weapons, the Increased Elite Damage of up to 50% is not easy to overcome by other weapons.
- * 2 Handed Staff 25% Increased Poison Damage, with an Auto Cast Locust Swarm Secondary Effect
- * I only put Worm Wood Above Wrath of the Bone King due to the Fact in Patch 2.1.2 They changed one of the Rune options for Haunt to be poison property, and to have this added effect:
- *Witch Doctor: Haunt : Poisoned Spirit : Haunt now deals Poison damage and affected enemies take 20% more damage from all sources (reworked from slowing enemies).*
- * Since the Wrath of the Bone King Lacks the synergy of maximizing the Poisoned spirit Haunt Rune (By providing Increased Damage to Cold) Worm Wood Has an edge up over the WOTBK
3.Wrath of the Bone King
- * 2 Handed Mace with up to 30% Increased Cold Damage
- * Goes will With the Jade build do to 2h Working the best with DOT spells, but also it Increasing Cold Damage which effects are Haunt Rune due to all Haunt Runes being Cold Based
- * In the future patch this Changes, since one of the Runes for Haunt is Poison based, and has a 20% Increased damage from all sources Affix, which pushes it just Under the Worm Wood due to its future changes
- * Not much to say here, the only 1 Handed weapon you will be using for Jade Build, Outside of the 2 handed weapons I've listed above.
Legendary Items That Work well with Worm Wood
- * Quetzalcoatl
- * Swamp Land Waders
- * Hwoj Wrap
- * Grin Reaper
Active skills That Work well with Worm Wood
- **Haunt "Poisoned Spirit" (Not available until Patch 2.1.2)**
- *Witch Doctor: Haunt : Poisoned Spirit : Haunt now deals Poison damage and affected enemies take 20% more damage from all sources (reworked from slowing enemies).*
Locust Swam "Any Rune"
- * To have the added affect of the different Runes, to be applied to the Auto Casting effect of Worm Wood
Passive skills That Work well with Worm Wood
Creeping Death
- * Pretty obvious here, makes the Pestilence last forever(Forever= 5 minutes)
Bad Medicine
- * Locust swam Auto Casts ---> Spreads to all monsters on screen -----> Bad Medicine 20% Less Dmg dealt by all monsters under the effect of Locust swarm
Legendary Gems with Worm Wood
Gem of Efficacious Toxin
- * Base Effect: Poison all enemies hit for 2000% weapon damage over 10 seconds.
- * Upgrade rank grants: +50% weapon damage over 10 seconds.
- * Rank 25 unlocks: All enemies you poison take 10% increased damage from all sources.
- *Efficacious Toxin gem works well with Worm Wood due to the fact of auto cast Locust Swarm. Locust Swarm procs the 1st, and 2nd ability of Efficacious toxin Gem, plus scales well with the gem with the up to 25% increased Poison damage Primary Stat roll.*
Bane of the Trapped
- * Base effect: Increase damage against enemies under control-impairing effects by 15%.
- * Upgrade rank grants: +0.3% damage.
- * Rank 25 unlocks: Gain an aura that reduces the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30%.
- *Before unlocking the 2nd Ability Hwoj Wrap with Worm Wood works quite nicely with activating Bane of the Trapped. Once the 2nd ability is unlocked, simply being within the Auto Cast range with Worm Wood, also meets the requirement of being close enough for the Reduced movement speed aura provided by Bane of the trapped to trigger the 1st ability.*
Skill Builds with Worm Wood
- * Haunt is left "un-runed" due to the fact Poisoned Spirit will not be in the game until patch 2.1.2
- *Witch Doctor: Haunt : Poisoned Spirit : Haunt now deals Poison damage and affected enemies take 20% more damage from all sources (reworked from slowing enemies).*
Worm Wood Only: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#elUYTQ!WTRS!.baaYb
Worm Wood with Grin Reaper: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#elUYRb!WYSe!.babZZ
Worm Wood With Quezacotl Only: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#elUYTX!WTYS!.baaYY
Worm Wood With Jade: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ejUdXl!WTSe!.YaZYb
Video of Worm Wood in action:
Worm Wood With Jade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scy2eKsbAaY
Worm Wood With Quezacotl Only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frmTmvWqmhY
Worm Wood with Grin Reaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtaQczFqys8 -
14
Bagstone posted a message on [Guide] Wizard Gear Guide: Reaper of Souls Edition
Disclaimer: This thread has not been updated for 2.1 yet. First of all because I'm not playing wizard anymore (I might come back at some point, and update the thread then), but more importantly the wizard right now is a one-way street in endgame. The gearing advice in this thread might still be viable to players who do not seek for the absolute endgame cookie cutter spec. For a thread that explains almost everything about the Firebird wizard in 2.1, check Jaetch's Fire Wizard 101.
1) Introduction
2) Terminology and builds
3) Categories of stats
4) List by slot
5) Paragon
6) TL;DR cheat sheet: stats per slot
7) Getting started: roadmap for new wizards
8) Follower's gear
9) Appendix
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
1) Introduction
Déjà-vu anyone? Yes! This is nothing but a remake of my old D3V Wizard Gear Guide. I was hesitant to make this at first, but when I wrote this post I figured that we have actually come to a point in RoS where we can make general gear statements, and therefore it's time to remake my guide. Maybe it helps one or two people. I will try to keep this updated from time to time, especially when major patches hit, so please make this a community effort - reply when you think something is missing or wrong.
In this guide, I will first explain some of the basic terms and abbreviations that will be used later, introduce some of the main builds and summarize some of the main points to consider when gearing up by categorizing stats into different types. The main part consists of a list of all useful items (which will of course be growing as it's difficult to make such a list ever "complete") and explains for each item why and in which situations it will be helpful for your wizard. For those who prefer a TL;DR I've added a picture of preferred affixes per slot. There's also a section about paragon point distribution, "getting started" to let you know what to do next to improve your wizard, a short word on followers, and a list of useful links in the end.
I'm also well aware that much of this guide might change with 2.1 - but that patch is still far away, and I will just update it for 2.1. For some items I'll foreshadow 2.1, but since all of that is subject to change and we know as much about 2.1 as Jon Snow (i.e., nothing) it is too early to draw any final, comprehensive conclusion.
► Changelog ◄
July 4, 2014 - release
July 5, 2014 - minor changes based on internal and external feedback.
2) Terminology and builds
There are many terms and abbreviations that have developed in the past. For a full list please check Jaetch's D3 Urban Dictionary. I'll just try to cover most of the terms that will be used in this guide.
► Terminology ◄
CHC – Critical hit chance (sometimes CC, but could be confused with crowd control)
CHD – Critical hit damage (sometimes CD, but could be confused with cooldown reduction)
CC - Crowd control
CDR - Cooldown reduction
RCR - Resource cost reduction
IAS – Increased attack speed
APS – Attacks per second (displayed in detailed character screen)
AP - Arcane Power, the wizard resource that we turn into damage spells
APoC – Arcane Power on Crit
AR/Allres – "All resistance" (resistance to all elements)
MS – Movement speed
MF – Magic find
GF – Gold find
LS – Life steal
LoH – Life on hit
LaK – Life after each kill
DPS – Damage per second (displayed in character screen)
BiS – Best in slot item
XP – Experience points
HP – Health points
BoA - Binds on Account (i.e., non-tradable items)
T# - Refers to Torment difficulty setting, e.g., T6 = Torment 6 difficulty
WoW - The Wand of Woh, a very powerful endgame weapon
RoRG - The Royal Ring of Grandeur, a very powerful ring
SoJ - Stone of Jordan, another very powerful ring
AT - The wizard spell Arcane Torrent
EB - The wizard spell Explosive Blast
D3V - Diablo 3 Vanilla, refers to Diablo 3 before Reaper of Souls
► Builds ◄
It is a bit more difficult to define the endgame builds right now as compared to D3V. There are a few dominating builds, but we see lots of variants of those - especially due to the fact that the "cookie cutter build" for your character very much depends on the gear you have.
Probably the most popular build is Chainpocalypse, using Explosive Blast as main damage spell. However, it also the one that is most difficult to realize because of the elusive Wand of Woh. If you get this item consider yourself very lucky and make sure to give this build a try! The main knowledge repository for this build is Melkor's thread on the official forums.
The other very popular spec is based on Archon; it requires the Vyr's set and is oftentimes combined with the Tal's set as well. Since 2.0.5 Archon automatically turns into the damage type of which you have the highest elemental damage bonus, so it is in theory viable to create an Archon build for each of the four wizard elements. The popular ones right now (2.0.6) are fire and arcane, though.
The third very common build revolves around a signature spell: Magic Missile. It requires one specific item though: The Mirrorball. Note that it can roll with 1 or 2 additional missiles; 2 is better but even a Mirrorball with +1 missile can make the build work.
There are other interesting builds, for example based on Arcane Torrent, Ray of Frost, Arcane Orb (usually with "Frozen Orb" rune), or Meteor (in particular with the "Lightning Bind" rune). It is also very common to see combinations of all those builds; you can even combine the top three builds and run all three spells - Archon, Explosive Blast, and Magic Missile - to take full advantage of all those items if you're lucky enough to have all of them.
However, in the end the most important thing is that your items define your build! You can try to get a specific item through Kadala in return for your Blood Shards, in particular the Vyr set is a realistic goal to complete through gambling and to gain access to this endgame build. However, select the build based on what gear you have and which spells you like. Jaetch made a very nice guide about how to create a build - if you do not have a specific build in mind right now stop reading right here and read his guide first.
If you just want collections of builds, check out the "Builds" section on Diablofans, the Build compendium by Hope on the official forums, section #2 in RobertVarga's thread on the official forums, or a list of the most common wizard builds on Diablo Somepage.
3) Categories of stats
Diablo 3 has many different affixes on items. I'll loosely categorize them into four different categories: offensive, defensive, life recovery, and utility. These should be self-explanatory: offensive stats help to increase your pew-pew, defensive stats protect yourself against pew-pew, life recovery helps to clean up the mess if your pew-pew protection wasn't good enough, and utility... well, they're like the cousin you don't care about, who keeps eating all the cookies on your birthday party, but you hold on to him because he might be useful one day.
► Offensive ◄
Intelligence (int) is your main stat. For every wizard build it is very important and you want to get as much as possible. You want this stat on every single item - with one exception: sometimes it might be an option to skip this on jewelry. However, this is only for absolute endgame players who are min/maxing every single stat on every item - and those people know everything about gearing. Unless you have reached that level of ultimate wizard wisdom and you have several stashes full of perfect wizard gear, do not equip any item that has no int on it. Also keep in mind that int is a defensive stat as well: 10 int provide you with 1 AR; endgame wizards usually have about 9000 int, which translates to 900 AR!
Critical hit chance (CHC) and critical hit damage (CHD) are again very important for all builds. CHC not only contributes to damage, but in case you decide to run with APoC on your helmet and/or orb it will generate Arcane Power and therefore further increase your damage. Note that a perfect balance of CHC and CHD is roughly 1:10, therefore try to keep it balance. CHC is a must-have stat on helmet, bracers, and orb; similarly, an emerald in your weapon's socket is an absolut must. Furthermore, three types of items can roll both CHC and CHD: gloves, amulets, and rings. In a perfect world you want to get both, but it's not often possible, therefore the rule of thumb is: CHC > CHD on gloves and CHD > CHC on amulet and rings. (The maximum CHC, including paragon points and excluding the 2% on Vyr's chest, is 64% - maximum CHD is 530%; even if you switch to a staff in 2.1 for some reason the maximum CHC is still 54% and therefore still exceeds the 1:10 ratio. Therefore, do yourself a favor and prioritize CHD over CHC on rings for int classes, always.)
Elemental skill bonus increases, as the term says, all damage dealt by your skills (of that elemental skill type). Stacking this bonus is absolutely important, therefore it's a must-have on bracers and amulets. It also rolls on many slots for legendary items - more on that in the list down below. Elemental skill bonus are simply added; so two items of 20% increased fire damage increase your fire damage by 40%. Note that there's a sanity limit though - if you already have 100% increased elemental skill damage, adding another item with 20% will only increase your damage by 10%, therefore don't sacrifice too much to get this. Example: A Magic Missile deals 1 million damage; with 100% increased fire damage it deals 2 million damage, add another item with 20% to it and the damage is 2.2 million, thus just a 10% increase. Too complicated? Don't despair, you can see your elemental DPS under "details" on your character screen, at the end of the first (offense) section. Note that most item effects (e.g., Thunderfury's lightning damage proc) do not benefit from elemental damage bonus. This seems to be a bug and might get fixed. For a list of which items do and which don't benefit, see this thread.
Skill damage bonus works exactly the same as the elemental skill damage bonus - but obviously only for one skill. Signature spells (AP generators) roll on belt and pants; main damage spells (AP spenders) roll on helmet and boots; all damage spells that are considered to be utility/support roll on shoulders and chest. Orb can roll all those skills combined, so for any of those spells the maximum bonus is 45%. Getting the right skill damage bonus on an item is very difficult as it's not top priority and locks an item to a specific spec. Nevertheless, try to keep an eye out for such bonuses, especially on boots and orb. The following table highlights which spells can roll on which slots:
Belt, Pants Helmet, Boots Chest, Shoulders Orbs Magic Missile Ray of Frost Explosive Blast ◄ Shock Pulse Arcane Orb Hydra ◄ Spectral Blade Wave of Force Blizzard ◄ Electrocute Energy Twister Black Hole ◄ Disintegrate Familiar ◄ Meteor ◄ Arcane Torrent ◄ (Signature spells) (Main damage spells) (Support/cooldown spells) (All those 16 spells)
Elite damage bonus is a very useful stat for endgame wizards. It naturally only rolls on weapons and orbs but is not very desirable there as it is too low (up to 8%) compared to other stats; similarly, a diamond in your weapon is a clear loser to an emerald. However, elite damage is the reason why three particular items are endgame material: The Sun Keeper, Unity, and Stone of Jordan. More on that later.
Improved attack speed (IAS) gives a nice damage boost, but is not as important as in D3V anymore. If you use channelling spells (Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate, Ray of Frost) you might want to keep your IAS low - it increases your damage, but also increases your resource cost consumption. Endgame wizards usually don't have too much IAS; if you don't need cooldown reduction on gloves it's the fourth priority stat, and it comes naturally on The Witching Hour, The Royal Ring of Grandeur, and many amulets. The only reason to stack up lots of IAS is if you are relying on procs, for example, with a frost or lightning build and high proc coefficient spells.
Cooldown reduction (CDR) is a very important stat if you use Explosive Blast (with the Wand of Woh) or Archon (with the Vyr's set), and can be useful for many other spells that have a cooldown. Depending on how important the cooldown spells are for your build, you want it in a helmet's socket (up to 12.5% with a Flawless Royal Diamond), shoulders, gloves, and orb (up to 8% each). If your main damage spell is Archon or Explosive blast, it is also worth considering to get CDR on your weapon (up to 10%) and rings (up to 8%). There are only few cases where you'd want to get CDR on an amulet (up to 8%), but I will mention it here just for the sake of completeness. Last but not least, there are two sets that yield 10% CDR: Born's Command and Captain Crimson's Waders. They are especially great for starters, in particular if you don't have many of the class set items or endgame legendaries yet.
CDR suffers from diminishing returns, the formula is like this: 1-(1-cdr1)*(1-cdr2)*(1-cdr3) and so on. If you have 8% CDR from paragon, 20% CDR from skills, and 6% CDR from an item, your entire CDR is not 34% but 1-(1-0.08)*(1-0.2)*(1-0.06) = 1-0.69184 = 0.30816 (or 30.816%). However, note that this doesn't mean higher CDR is useless - quite the contrary, it is desirable to get to 50% for some builds. The maximum possible CDR for a wizard right now is 72.15% (with patch 2.1 this is going to be 74.378% as the Vigilante Belt will roll CDR as well). Check out this great website to calculate your cooldown reduction or see what the maxmimum amount is.
Resource cost reduction (RCR) is another affix that can make certain builds work; it is especially useful for builds with channelling spells (Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate, Ray of Frost). It can roll on the same slots as CDR and the same rules apply in terms of calculation. There is already a legendary belt that can roll RCR, the Sash of Knives. Usually, most wizards don't stack as much RCR as anyone would stack CDR, so don't sacrifice too many stats for it.
Average damage comes on weapon, orb, and jewelry. Obviously we want those values to be as high as possible on weapons and orb. On amulets and rings the average damage roll is a stat that is usually subpar to any of the other damage affixes - it doesn't hurt if you can't re-roll it, but in the end you want to change it to be something else.
Area damage is an affix that is not really used by many wizards right now. It's not because it's bad - but simply because other affixes are better. Maybe it will be improved in the future, but right now it seems like you don't want to keep this (or even re-roll this) on any item.
► Defensive ◄
Resistance to all elements (AR) is one of the most important stats. Luckily, we get a huge chunk of it through intelligence, and up to 250 through paragon. In RoS we don't get AR on as many slots as we used to do in D3V: it is a must-have on shoulders, belt, pants, and boots, and an optional stat on bracers - that's it. The key is maximizing it through buffs, paragon, getting high values on all the aforementioned items, getting max topaz gems in all armor slots, and stacking some single resistances on secondaries.
Armor is a stat that is heavily underrated by many wizards. There are two different rolls: the lower armor roll (up to 397) and the higher armor roll (up to 595). The latter can be found on chest, pants, helmet, and amulet, and is an absolute must on the first two (on helmet and amulet we want other stats). The lower armor roll is desirable on shoulders, belt, and boots if possible. Just like AR, it is an option on bracers.
A common topic is the "armor-AR 10-1 ratio". What does this mean? Essentially, this rule of thumb says that 1 AR is worth about 10 armor. However, this is only true if you are already at a 10:1 ratio, e.g., if your wizard has 4000 armor and 400 AR. This is usually not the case, because we get AR through int and AR comes in as much as 80 on a single slot, while we try to avoid strength (which gives 1 armor per 1 strength) and armor can't roll higher than 595 (chest, pants, helm, amulet) or 397 (other slots). Therefore, wizards have a natural imbalance of AR and armor. Try to get some armor and not go AR only – both ways of damage reduction work multiplicatively and it's inefficient to boost one to infinity while neglecting the other stat. In order to find out which stat is better for your, you can use this quick mitigation calculator.
Vitality is obviously another important stat. Each point in vitality awards you 80 HP, and your goal should be about 250k-350k HP. This is very subjective – some people prefer to have much more (although it's highly advised to not go over 500k), while some people manage to get along with much less (e.g., 200k). See what works for you, but aiming at around 300k seems to be a good idea. To give you an idea, if you get max vitality in helmet (750), orb (750), boots (500), and pants (500) you're already at 252k. Keep in mind that you can always tweak your life with paragon points in vitality or amethysts in armor sockets.
Life % is another way of raising your HP, however, it's only useful if you have already a considerably amount of HP. Since it is very advisable to not stack your HP too high, life% is in general considered to be almost useless. Never sacrifice any other affix for it. Wizards don't want life%, period. To read more about the mistake of hoarding too much life read this thread on the official forums (a developer even stopped by to agree on that matter, so I'm not making that up).
Elite/ranged/melee reduction offer another great way of improving your defense. Elite damage reduction rolls on chests, and it is not a bad idea to get this (after 3 sockets, int, and a 500+ armor roll). Melee and ranged damage reduction roll on bracers, chest, and amulet as secondaries and it is worth to keep an eye on them; in endgame it's all about perfecting your secondaries. Since melee damage is probably the more frequent (and more dangerous) type of damage, the String of Ears is a great item to consider. Note that many elite affixes that are considered melee or ranged currently can't be mitigated by that stat; for a comprehensive list check out this thread.
► Life recovery ◄
Since the removal of life steal (which doesn't work anymore at level 70) there are other, new measures of recovering life. Two things are important to consider: 1) Your best way to survive is not to recover as much life as possible but to avoid losing too much. Improve your mitigation as much as possible. 2) As of now, none of the primary affixes on any endgame wizard's equipment contributes to life recovery. This might change with patch 2.1 when life on hit and life regeneration are getting buffed - retroactively! That means, if you find an item with such a stat it might be worth considering to keep it, unless you desperately need it right now. The amount of life on hit or life regeneration on this item will be about tripled (!) when patch 2.1 hits the live servers. I'll go over those really quick, because there's not too much to say:
- Life regeneration is the #1 priority on your "defense" tab for paragon points because it gets really high (over 8000 at paragon level 200) but not worth getting on gear, since it occupies a primary stat.
- Life on hit (LoH) is a good way to recover life, but 1) it's enough to get it through paragon and 2) it's only worth to be considered on an item if you're using a high proc coefficient spell.
- Life steal (LS) doesn't work anymore at level 70.
- Life after kill (LaK) sounds nice and is only a secondary affix, but the value is not high enough to make it a high priority. On chest and amulet (melee/damage reduction) as well as rings (health globe bonus/CC reduction) other stats are better. It's only worthwhile on pants and weapon.
- Extra health from health globes is the most useful health recovery affix right now. It's the most desirable secondary affix on shoulders, boots, orb, and rings, and an alternative to melee/ranged damage reduction on chest and amulet.
► Other stats ◄
Movement speed (MS) is something we don't want on gear in endgame. WHAT? You might ask if you stopped playing in D3V. Well, once you are paragon level 200 you can get the maximum 25% MS from your first paragon tab. Everything you get through paragon you don't need to get on gear: 50 paragon points in MS save you two primary slots (2x 12% MS) on gear (technically even a bit more). All you sacrifice for that are 250 int - which is half a primary stat (or even one third for some slots). As soon as you are above paragon ~150 get rid of movement speed on gear if possible. Many items come with movement speed as fixed roll now - which will thankfully be removed in patch 2.1, stay tuned.
Crowd control (CC) reduction is a secondary stat on helmet and jewelry. It rolls up to 40% and although it's calculated multiplicatively it's awesome - you totally want this on 2-3 of these items if possible! With 3 items of 35% CC reduction each, you get 1-(1-0.35)(1-0.35)(1-0.35) = 1-(0.65)^3 = 1-0.275 = 0.745% CC reduction. It means that frozen, jailer, and all similar effects only last for one fourth of their initial time - which renders most of them harmless!
Pickup radius got nerfed to roll only 1-2 yard radius. It is not worth it and although it doesn't hurt to get some, it's totally underwhelming right now.
Arcane power on crit (APoC) also got nerfed to roll only 3-4 and only on orb and helmet. Especially on helmet there are too many other affixes that are too important to give up (int, CHC, vitality/skill damage/socket). It is an option for some builds, especially if you don't need CDR (and can give up the socket on helmet and CDR on orb), such as with channelling spells. But most builds get by without any APoC these days.
Sockets – on weapon (1 socket), pants (2 sockets), and chest (3 sockets) they are absolutely mandatory. On helmet you only want a socket if you need CDR. On an orb a socket can be a placeholder but ultimately other stats are more important (int, vit, CHC, skill damage). Since it is difficult to re-roll orbs, however, it's okay to keep it sometimes if the re-roll costs get too high. Two things to keep in mind for patch 2.1: There will be a new item, Ramaladni's Gift, that allows to add a socket to a weapon. Therefore, sockets on a weapon switch from becoming the most desirable to the least desirable affix. If you have a weapon that you haven't enchanted yet, wait until 2.1 - you might regret re-rolling it later on! Second, sockets will be added to jewelry, and new legendary gems will drop in Greater Rifts.
Bonus experience is not very useful. Not from the secondary affix, not from a ruby in helmet (41%), and not from the legendary items like Hellfire Ring (45%). The reason simply being that the bonus XP one gets on higher levels, especially in groups, is so high that the relative increase of XP by those items is not worth the loss of other stats (see XP calculator). There are exceptions - especially if you play sub-Torment, bonus experience might be an option - but in endgame it is absolutely useless.
Magic find (MF)/gold find (GF) are not important and should not be prioritized too high. Magic find only applies to legendary items with 10% of its value; so a perfect Nagelring with 50% will only yield 5% higher legendary drop rate. Feel free to wear it until you find something else, but don't go crazy on MF. Goldfind, on the other hand, can be very useful as it recently got changed to be multiplicative; a Goldskin helps a lot to simply double all your gold income and Goldwrap offers a considerable toughness boost if your killspeed is high enough. Don't hunt for GF items specifically - but if you are low on gold you might decide to keep it on some items as secondary affix.
Chance to freeze is a secondary stat that can roll on weapon, orb (up to 2.6%) and belt (up to 5.1%). It is not a bad idea to look out for that stat, especially if you ever consider to go for a cold build!
4) List by slot
For each slot, I'll list the items to consider, why they're good and in which situations it might be good to aim for them. Those who know the old D3V guide know my style - I like to point out not only why the item is good and what it's good for, but also what the drawbacks are (if any). The difference to my D3V guide is that there are so many sets right now and there will be lots of redundancy - therefore I'll keep it shorter.
Note that there are maaaaaany set items for almost every slot; I just copy/paste the description - which of those items you use to get the set bonuses is totally up to you! There are simply too many variations to go into detail for each of them. Keep in mind that the most important item in order to acquire as many set items as possible is the Ring of Royal Grandeur. No matter how many bounties you have to do in act 1 to get one - some people had to do as many as 1500 to finally get there - it's totally worth it and opens up dozens of different combination of gearing.
There is also no ranking for any slot - the items are just put there in arbitrary order. There is no "BiS ranking" of items since there are quite a few builds; and even for one specific builds players might argue about which sets to combine. Therefore: embrace the options and pick a gear set of your liking!
► Helm ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Aughild's Spike Best crafted set and if possible, you want to wear this set with any build. Always comes with AR (which we don't want on helmet). Tal Rasha's Guise of Wisdom Use when you want to get the 4 piece set bonus (adds about 20% DPS). - Firebird's Plume Set only useful in hardcore right now (4 piece bonus) Keep this for patch 2.1 - will be revamped! Annoying that they always come with RCR and Black Hole damage (useless) Andariel's Visage Only helmet that can roll elemental damage. Insane DPS boost. Turns you into an absolute glass canon; always poison resist, therefore no good secondary; only one random property (you need CHC). Velvet Camaral Enables you to turn the signature spell Electrocute into a considerable damage source. Combine with Myken's Ball of Hate, offers great CC. Lightning is not the strongest element right now and this item is super rare. Storm Crow Up to 20% lightning damage; potentially good item for a lightning build. Always rolls LoH, so very difficult to have good rolls. Andariel's can also roll lightning and might be better (additional IAS); most lightning wizards consider Velvet Camaral as BiS. The Magistrate Great for a frost build. Combine with Serpent's Sparker. Offers great CC. The proc rate seems to be quite low and cold is not the strongest element right now. Dark Mage's Shade Adds just a bit of extra survivability. The proc delay is way too high to make it useful. Archmage's Vicalyke If you use the Mirror Image spell, definitely consider this helmet; especially with Duplicates rune. Unfortunately, Mirror Images are only of limited use in endgame; it's more of a fun/toy item. Cain's Insight Potential starter set item because of 8% IAS Not really useful in endgame, don't craft unless you're desperate and don't mind spending some mats on an item that will be replaced.
► Shoulders ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Firebird's Pinions Set only useful in hardcore right now (4 piece bonus) Keep this for patch 2.1 - will be revamped! Aughild's Power Best crafted set and if possible, you want to wear this set with any build. - Born's Priviledge 10% CDR set bonus, great for Archon/Chainpocalypse. Aughild's set is simply the best in slot item here (until 2.1) Asheara's Custodian Nice starter set, considering the 2 piece bonus. Aughild's (and when using CDR spells Born's) are better. Pauldron's of the Skeleton King Might prevent death, occasionally. Only obtainable via bounty caches (act 1). I've worn them for a long time an never seen them proc. Homing Pads Keep this in your inventory at all times. Put them on before you teleport to town to avoid being interrupted. No real endgame material, only used for gear swap. Spaulders of Zakara Great to save repair costs. Repair costs are a joke - absolutely no need to wear those.
► Amulet ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Tal Rasha's Allegiance Use when you want to get the 4 piece set bonus (adds about 20% DPS). Always comes with vitality, difficult to get great rolls. Moonlight Ward BiS for arcane builds. Arcane damage roll will be buffed to 30%-40% range in 2.1, so keep yours no matter how high the roll is right now! To be really perfect, needs CHD/int random roll (and re-roll IAS). The Star of Azkaranth Turns fire damage into healing. Always comes with CDR. Rarest item in the game, insanely difficult to get a good roll. Countess Julia's Cameo / Xephirian Amulet Turns arcane/lightning damage into healing. Since IAS is fixed roll, difficult to get a decent roll. Mara's Kaleidoscope Turns poison damage into healing. Always rolls with CHC. Very rare. Talisman of Aranoch Turns cold damage into healing. Always rolls with LoH, therefore almost impossible to roll BiS. Haunt of Vaxo Always rolls CHC, high potential to roll BiS, especially nice for lightning builds - Golden Gorget of Leoric Always rolls CHC, potential to roll BiS Only obtainable via bounty cache (act 1), always rolls AR therefore difficult to roll good Squirt's Necklace / Rondal's Locket No fixed primary roll, can roll BiS - Rakoff's Glass of Life / Kymbo's Gold/Ouroboros Only one "wrong" roll, otherwise potential to roll BiS Need three good random rolls Ancestor's Grace Drops on hardcore only. Adds an extra life! It only works once... Blackthorne's Duncraig Cross / The Traveler's Pledge / Eye of Etlich / Dovu Energy Trap / The Flavor of Time / Halycon's Ascent - These amulets have more than one "useless" stat and therefore will never be considered in endgame The Ess of Johan Always rolls with socket+CDR, so almost impossible to be useful Socket will be mandatory in patch 2.1 (legendary gem) - might keep a good roll!
► Chest ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Cindercoat Bis for almost all fire builds, especially those that are resource-heavy One less primary stat, many wizard fire builds don't need resources. Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit Has one more primary affix (fixed IAS), therefore BiS - Firebird's Breast Set only useful in hardcore right now (4 piece bonus) Keep this for patch 2.1 - will be revamped! Vyr's Astonishing Aura Mandatory set for Archon build Least desirable item of this set (Tal's is better); fixed useless 1-2% CHC roll Aughild's Rule Best crafted set and if possible, you want to wear this set with any build. Class set chests or Cindercoat are to be preferred on this slot Born's Frozen Soul 10% CDR set bonus, great for Archon/Chainpocalypse. Loses to all other set chests Blackthorne's Surcoat Great survivability set for starters Loses to all set chests Goldskin Doubles your gold income Loses to all set chests
► Gloves ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Magefist BiS for fire builds, additional primary stat, only gloves with elemental bonus besides Frostburn - Frostburn BiS for cold builds, only gloves with elemental bonus besides Magefist, insane up to 45% chance to freeze! Always LoH, therefore often crap rolls; extremely rare Tasker and Theo BiS for pet builds (Hydra is considered pet!), might be BiS in patch 2.1 Quite rare Vyr's Grasping Gauntlets Mandatory set for Archon build - Firebird's Talons Set only useful in hardcore right now (4 piece bonus); always roll main stat, IAS, CDR Keep this for patch 2.1 - will be revamped! Cain's Sriviner Potential starter set item because of 8% IAS Not really useful in endgame, don't craft unless you're desperate and don't mind spending some mats on an item that will be replaced. Asheara's Ward Nice starter set, considering the 2 piece bonus. Loses to all other aforementioned gloves.
► Belt ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks The Witching Hour BiS if IAS/CHD rolls are high Very rare, damage comes at high costs (survivability stats) Harrington's Waistguard BiS thanks to insane damage boost. Not only chests but all clickable containers (dead bodies, vessels, ...) trigger the buff Situational - depends on the area. Should not be worn by too many in group (chest opening fights). Thundergod's Vigor Only belt with elemental damage (lightning), good option for lightning builds; lightning proc increased by lightning skill damage In terms of raw damage, Witching Hour or Harrington's are usually better String of Ears Best belt for toughness boost thanks to melee reduction secondary - Goldwrap Toughness alternative, in particular if paired with Goldskin chest Not really reliable Captain Crimson's Silk Girdle 10% CDR and 10% CRC set bonuses Loses to other belts in endgame Tal Rasha's Brace Use when you want to get the 4 piece set bonus (adds about 20% DPS). - Blackthorne's Notched Belt Very underrated set/belt, can be a real toughness help especially for starters Fixed life regeneration, therefore sometimes bad rolls Fleeting Strap Nice starter belt that can be crafted, fixed IAS For starters a DPS belt is usually better, and IAS is not that important for most builds Hellcat Waistguard Fixed IAS and elite damage Elite damage roll too low, not worth it
► Bracers ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Strongarm Bracers The "pull" from Black Hole triggers these, therefore BiS - especially in groups - Aughild's Search Best crafted set and if possible, you want to wear this set with any build. - Reaper's Wraps BiS for resource-heavy builds - Trag'oul Coils Can be useful to keep these in inventory to swap before using healing well and reduce Archon cooldown Very situational, can be annoying Lacuni Prowlers - Used to be BiS in D3V, now completely useless since we don't want neither IAS nor MS on bracers Warzechian Armguards Incredible speed boost, especially useful for speed runs and with AoE spells - Nemesis Bracers Mandatory to have in inventory for shrines Due to the fixed MS almost always bad rolls Custerian Wristguards - Don't be fooled: these are useless. The gold amount, even in T6 with GF equip, is negligible compared to XP. Ancient Parthan Defenders Toughness boost on stun, optional for lightning build Rolls two (one too many) toughness stats by default; other bracers are better
► Pants ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Vyr's Fantastic Finery Mandatory set for Archon build - Hexing Pants of Mr Yan Amazing DPS buff for always-moving builds Only works with Eplosive Blast build Pox Faulds Damage aura, nice starter pants Set chests or Hexing Pants more endgame viable Blackthorne's Jousting Mail Great survivability set for starters Always roll LoH and life% Firebird's Down Set only useful in hardcore right now (4 piece bonus) Keep this for patch 2.1 - will be revamped! Asheara's Pace Nice starter set, considering the 2 piece bonus. Loses to all other aforementioned pants Cain's Habit Potential starter set item because of 8% IAS Not really useful in endgame, don't craft unless you're desperate and don't mind spending some mats on an item that will be replaced. Captain Crimson's Thrust 10% CDR and 10% CRC set bonuses CDR is usually not worth it giving up other sets
► Boots ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Illusory Boots Great utility boots that allow to walk through all enemies Only obtainable through bounty cache (act 2) Ice Climbers Immunity to many CC effects (not only frozen, but also certain immobilize abilities) Very rare Blackthorne's Spurs Great survivability set for starters Always roll MS and life regeneration Firebird's Tarsi Set only useful in hardcore right now (4 piece bonus) Keep this for patch 2.1 - will be revamped! Vyr's Swaggering Stance Mandatory set for Archon build - Asheara's Finders Nice starter set, considering the 2 piece bonus. Loses to all other aforementioned boots Cain's Travelers Potential starter set item because of 8% IAS Not really useful in endgame, don't craft unless you're desperate and don't mind spending some mats on an item that will be replaced. Captain Crimson's Waders 10% CDR and 10% CRC set bonuses CDR is usually not worth it giving up other sets
► Rings ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Ring of Royal Grandeur Makes it extremely simple to combine sets. Absolutely mandatory - for starters as well as for endgame Only obtainable through bounty cache (act 1), always fixed IAS+LoH Stone of Jordan Only elemental damage ring and up to 30% elite damage, absolutely BiS. Re-roll random roll to CHD or CDR Difficult to get a good one that also has the right element, re-rolling expensive Unity Four fixed rolls: int, CHC, elite damage, LoH; BiS in solo play if you have two (one for you, one on follower with immortality token) - Wyrdward Adds the same as Paralysis passive; option for lightning builds Not worth wearing it if you have any of the other endgame rings. Bul-Kathos's Wedding Band Heals you for 1% of your maximum HP, drains 0.4% of any enemies maximum HP per second. Right now, this item is powerful on the 2.1 PTR, but it will probably be changed - still: keep one. Always rolls main stat, CHD, LoH, and life%. So right now it can never have perfect rolls.
► Orb ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Mirrorball Most powerful orb at this point, turns Magic Missile into a main damage spell Very difficult to get, especially with +2 missiles (can roll +1) Firebird's Eye Set only useful in hardcore right now (4 piece bonus); this orb is still useful because of up to 20% fire skill damage Keep this for patch 2.1 - will be revamped! Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare Great choice to gain the 4 piece set bonus - Winter Flurry Potential BiS for frost builds; great cold damage boost The Frost Nova procs "on kill", which makes it useless in fast group play Light of Grace Obvious BiS for Ray of Frost build For other frost builds consider Winter Flurry Myken's Ball of Hate BiS for lightning build Rare The Oculus Great utility orb Proc not reliable enough Triumvirate Great overall DPS orb Usually loses to set orbs Chantodo's Force Great starter set There are better set orbs and the Mirrorball Cosmic Strand Crafted starter orb For Teleport-focused builds, The Oculus might be better
► Weapon ◄
Item Why is it great and for which build? Drawbacks Wand of Woh Definite BiS weapon for wizards right now; optimal random roll: CDR! Extremely rare Thunderfury BiS for all non-Explosive Blast builds, adds not only great DPS but also debuff (proc) - Serpent's Sparker Might be BiS weapon in 2.1, definitely keep it! Hydra not that powerful right now Gesture of Orpheus Close contender to BiS weapon for arcane builds Some argue Thunderfury is better (also because of debuff proc) Slorak's Madness BiS for Disintegrate builds - Shard of Hate Can be useful for lightning or frost builds - some might even say BiS if you use high proc coefficient spells Lightning proc requires to be in close range to be useful Rimeheart Instantly kills frozen white mobs; potentially BiS in patch 2.1 Greater Rifts if combined with Frostburn Rarest weapon in the game Sun Keeper Up to 30% elite damage, great endgame weapon - The Burning Axe of Sankis Great for fire builds; the "Ignore Pain" proc adds survivability - Devastator Great for fire builds, craftable Burning Axe of Sankis is better due to the legendary proc, and has higher attack speed which can be useful Odyn Son Great for lightning builds - Utar's Roar Great for frost builds, craftable - Born's Furious Wrath 10% CDR set bonus, great for Archon/EB (unless you have the WoW). Decent starter weapon. - Azurewrath Great weapon for frost builds due to high freeze chance Rimeheart, Utar's Roar Chantodo's Will Great starter set No real endgame weapon
5) Paragon
With Reaper of Souls there is a new way of distributing stats: paragon points. While paragon points are not absolutely mandatory to be successful (as opposed to the high magic find buff from paragon in D3V), having a high level of paragon makes a huge difference. You have 13 slots on gear with 4 primary stats each, which means there are about 52 primary stats you can get from gear. A level 600 paragon player will have 25% MS, 500 int, 10% CDR, 10% CHC, 50% CHD, 250 all resist, 10% RCR, and 50% area damage from paragon - which equates to about 10-11 additional affixes! And we are not even taking into consideration the 25% armor bonus, over 8250 life regeneration, and 4126 LoH. Therefore: try to get as high paragon as possible. 200 should be your minimum goal!
On the core tab, the first 25% go into MS. The exception is if we can't get any better stat on an item (e.g., Blackthorne's Spurs always roll with life regeneration and MS, so we will keep the MS). After that, ask yourself: are you using a resource-heavy spell, in particular a channelling spell? If yes, maximize Arcane Power. Otherwise, every point goes into intelligence unless we are starving for HP (less than 200k). Here, the paragon points allows us to balance missing points on gear.
For offense, the first question is if we use a cooldown spell as a major skill in our build (Archon or Explosive Blast). If yes: maximize CDR first. If no: whatever gives most DPS. Usually it's CHD > IAS > CHC (if we don't need CDR, otherwise CDR is number 1).
Defense is very simple: fill it up from bottom to top. Done. Start with life regeneration, after that resist all, and then armor. Life %, as usual, is the most useless stats for us.
The utility tab again depends on our spec: do we need RCR, yes or no? If yes, maximize RCR first; if no, go for LoH (and RCR second). Area damage is almost always only the third option, and gold find is for those that are going towards paragon 800 (if you need gold, equip Goldskin - don't waste your points here).
6) TL;DR cheat sheet: Stats per slot
Too much text? Not interested in all the details? You have the items and just want to know the stats? Well, then this is what you might be looking for: a (relatively) simple cheat sheet that tells you which affixes on which slots you want.
7) Getting started: roadmap for new wizards
"So..., thanks for all the info, but where should I start?" If you are a bit overwhelmed by all the info and don't know where to start, I'll try to outline what (I think) is the quickest way to get into "wizard endgame", i.e., have a decent enough gear to try out several builds and play on Torment level difficulty. Note that these are only my subjective recommendations - this is not the only way to do this, and over all those activities your primary motivation should always be FUN. Do whatever you like to do - don't force yourself into anything you don't like, just because "maybe it will make my wizard better if I do 10 hours of this". In the end you'll get bored after a few hours, stop playing, and never get anywhere!
► Bounties ◄
The first thing you should do are bounties. Specifically act 1 bounties. There are two reasons why:
- Bounties will yield Rift Keystone Fragments that allow you to play Nephalem Rifts. You will get 1 fragment for each bounty - except for the first one. If you play in group, you will only get the fragment if you are in the specific area while the bounty is completed.
- If you complete all bounties in one act, and talk to Tyrael in town afterwards, he will award you a Horadric Cache. The cache contains a few of items, crafting materials, 2 Rift Keystone Fragments, Blood Shards, and has the potential to drop special legendary items: items that you can only obtain from those bounty caches. The The Royal Ring of Grandeur is one of these items and the main reason why you should do bounties. Never stop doing bounties (at least from time to time) until you have this ring!
Bounty caches roll when you open them - this means you can farm them on any character and open them on your wizard to get intelligence items (although you can get unlucky and still roll, for example, a strength ring). The cache loot is subject to the game's difficulty, however, it is still by far the fastest way to get as many caches and fragments by doing bounties on Normal difficulty - and in groups. There are in-game communities you can join to find other people to run with - just search for some keywords like "bounties" and you'll find them, or ask in any clan/community/general chat for "LFG act 1 normal bounties".
Since you can pretty much one-shot everything on Normal this requires almost no gear, but a build that is focused on running really fast. Here's one build that does accomplish that (just one of many variations, pick whatever damage spells you like). Important: pick up as much as you can when doing bounties and salvage everything - you will need all materials you can get! See next section.
► Crafting ◄
The other thing you can do in the beginning is crafting. There are five sets that are worth crafting:
The Aughild's set is by far the most important one as it is worn by almost all classes and specs even in endgame (on fully geared Torment 6 characters). It is never wrong to craft any of those set items (specifically shoulders; they are simply "best in slot" as of now). Some people wear Captain Crimson's and Born's for quite a while for Archon builds due to their high CDR. Asheara's and Cain's are good starter sets but will definitely be replaced as you find more loot.
If you have no The Royal Ring of Grandeur but all sets, I suggest to craft helmet, bracers, and chest of Aughild's, and all four items of the Asheara's set. They complement each other best. If you have the ring, you could craft Aughild's bracers and helmet, Born's chest and weapon, Captain Crimson's belt and pants, and Asheara's gloves, boots, and shoulders. That way you get all set bonuses of four sets! If you get decent rolls on those items, simply crafting them might enable you to jump right into Torment 2/3 (or even higher, depending on rolls on gear, gems, and jewelry)!
As for your off-hand, the Cosmic Strand is a very decent starter orb. You see, crafting can get you fully decked out with legendary armor right from the start - you only need to make sure you pick up as much crafting materials along the way as possible. Crafting all those items and re-rolling them into useful stats might cost you anywhere between 2k and 5k of each material, so start stockpiling them now!
You should only craft rings and amulets though if you really have nothing (not even yellow) for those slots at all, and if you can spare the gems (upgrading gems for your gear is way too important in the beginning). If you decide to craft rare rings and amulets, set yourself a fixed limit and absolutely do not go over it. I suggest to not craft more than 10 rings and 10 amulets unless you have close to (or more than) a thousand Marquise gems of all types. You need lots of gems for your gear, but also upgrading legendary rings and amulets!
► Gems ◄
We haven't talked about gems yet, so let's do this real quick:
- In a weapon, use an emerald. The emerald is way more powerful than any other gem in weapon; this will be fixed with a future patch, but for now there's no choice.
- In helmet, the only gem worth wearing is a diamond if cooldown spells as a main part of your build (e.g., Archon or Explosive Blast). If you don't need CDR, get a helmet with no socket!
- In all other armor slots, use either topaz or diamond. As a rule of thumb, use diamonds until you have enough money to create Royal (or even Flawless Royal) topazes; until then, diamonds are simply better (diamonds scale more evenly from low-level to high-level gems, topaz only pick up at the end). If you start crafting from Marquise, a Flawless Royal costs 9.8 million gold, so upgrading all 6 required gems to max level will cost you almost 60 million gold! (It is not as much as it used to be though; especially in 2.1, there are ways to get that much gold in a few seconds.)
With 2.1 we will see new legendary gems for amulets and rings and hopefully more diversity for the weapon slot, so stay tuned!
► Rift it Forward ◄
So, you have done lots of bounties, the ring, many rift key fragments, and all the crafted gear, but you really want to get the real loot? Then it's time to do some rifts. You can do rifts on your own, using your follower (see next section); you can rifts in groups, with your friends and clan mates; but there's also a different way, called "Rift it Forward". The concept is that there are two groups: runners and openers. Runners clear the rift up to the Rift Guardian and then invite others by posting it in the Rift it Forward community channels. Openers send party invite requests to runners, join for the kill, one of the openers opens the next rift (hence the name) and then leave. This works because the runners get to do lots of rifts without paying any rift key fragments, and openers get lots and lots of Rift Guardian kills.
Join any of the communities (there are several of them, but they all start with "Rift it Forward", so search for that). Whenever you do rifts and your group isn't full, consider doing this to save rift key fragments (disadvantage: you can't clear the rift after the Rift Guardian is killed). If you have plenty of rift key fragments from your bounties, consider RiF as opener - because it will yield an insane amount of blood shards. Blood shards can be turned in at Kadala to gamble for legendary and set items. You can gamble anything from Kadala (even class set items) except for legendary potions, Legendary follower items, and bounty cache items. I highly recommend start gambling orbs, as you might get a Mirrorball - and this one item enables you to run lots of different builds that don't have high gear requirements. After that, gamble all armor slots to get the wizard sets; do not gamble for weapons or jewelry, it is too expensive. Here's a thread that can help you find out about the "expected blood shards" to get a specific item. Note that this is gambling - you might get your desired item after spending 5 blood shards, or you might not get it after spending 12,000 shards. On average, getting a specific set item takes roughly about 3,000 blood shards, so hang in there and don't give up!
► Endgame ◄
For endgame gearing, there are three wizard sets: Tal's, Firebird's, and Vyr's. Vyr's is only worn by those that run Archon in their build - and obviously Vyr's is also almost a must-have when you want to run Archon. Tal's is a decent set that gives about 20% extra damage with its 4 piece set bonus plus an additional primary on the chest, but it's optional and not necessary for any build. Firebird's is currently considered to be useless and will be buffed in 2.1 - so keep it, but don't wear it. The 4 piece bonus might be helpful for those who play hardcore, though.
Two weapons are considered to be endgame: the Wand of Woh, which is extremely rare, and Thunderfury - especially for those who don't like the visual craziness of the WoW build (your screen is constantly exploding). For rings, everyone is wearing the Ring of Royal Grandeur and the Stone of Jordan as soon as you have both - there are some exceptions though, for example for those who play solo (see below, follower section). As mentioned earlier, Mirrorball is used by most wizards in endgame.
For other slots there are at least 2 or 3 dominating endgame items, so I will stop here. See this list for most common items worn by wizards and you will notice that there is more diversity than in D3V.
► Prepare for 2.1 ◄
At some points in this guide I already mentioned - at the end of this summer or beginning of fall we will see the patch 2.1 that will change everything. It will make the Firebird's set viable, it makes items such as Rimeheart and Serpent's Sparker highly desirable, and it will change a lot of things, hopefully also further increase diversity and choice. Many many legendary items will get new affixes, such as Depth Diggers (+100% damage to signature spells). There will be a new item that allows to add a socket to any weapon - Ramaladni's Gift - which essentially means you should not re-roll an affix on any weapon that has a socket right now. As soon as 2.1 hits, you want to re-roll that socket into a different stat and add the socket using Ramaladni's Gift! Similarly, if an weapon doesn't have a socket think twice before re-rolling it now - rather than, for example, rolling vitality into a socket you might want to keep the weapon and re-roll the damage (and again add the socket using Ramaladni's Gift).
Furthermore, some items will get changed retroactively (Moonlight Ward will get the damage ranged changed from 30%-40%, up from 20%-25%; if you have a 20% MLW right now it might have a perfect 40% MLW in 2.1, so definitely keep it! Some other items, like Depth Diggers or Vigilante Belt, will not get rolled retroactively - you have to find new ones. Also not that jewelry seems to be able to roll 5 primary affixes - so eventually you want to find new SoJs and amulets to have a socket on them (for the new legendary gem).
There will also be a new amulet - the Hellfire amulet, a level 70 amulet that can be crafted (the design can be bought from the merchant in act 2 for 5 million gold). It will roll one of your class' passives - so if you're lucky, you get a perfect amulet plus an additional fifth passive! It costs 10 Forgotten Souls, 50k gold, and all four organs from the uber event; this means you can already prepare and farm the organs now. For more information on level 70 check the FAQ.
Check the 2.1 PTR patch notes and Zero's compilation of undocumented changes! As the PTR will constantly see changes, make sure to follow all the updates. It's very simple - just check DiabloFans once a day! :-)
8) Follower's gear
I am going to keep this section really short because simply put, the overwhelming majority of players will use the follower for only one purpose: the Unity survivability boost. What exactly is this and how does it work?
With Reaper of Souls, two legendary items for each follower were introduced - one that enables your follower to access all skills, and one that grants immortality. Soon players found out that the Unity bonus (split damage between all wearers of that item in a party) also works if the follower wears this ring. In other words: if the follower has the immortality token, and you and the follower are both wearing a Unity, 50% of your damage is directed to your follower and he/her will never die - which increases your mitigation by a flat 50%. This bonus is so huge that nothing beats this. Note that this is not an exploit, as some people have said earlier, but was intended by the developers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJyMn04633M&feature=youtu.be&t=19m27s
This makes gearing of your followers extremely simple: you don't need any toughness stats on them. Also, followers critical hit damage is capped at 150%, and since they gain a native 50% bonus and the follower token itself can roll up to 100%, there is no need to stack neither critical hit damage nor critical hit chance. Altogether, any follower in Reaper of Souls will never even come close to your DPS and it is not worth investing too much into any of them (unless for fun, of course). Choose a follower of your choice; most pick the Templar because he has the best buffs, but if you find any of the other follower tokens first choose those instead. As the followers have some cooldown abilities, it makes sense to give them some items with cooldown reduction - otherwise just equip them with utility stats (magic find, XP bonus, gold find - you get 20% of its value) or other random items: it really doesn't matter much! For example, The Ess of Johan offers CDR and such utility and is therefore always a great choice for your follower. Especially in higher difficulties, Bul-Kathos's Wedding Band might be useful as it drains 0.4% of mobs' maximum HP per second (as of now - this might get changed in 2.1).
Now, if you think there should be more to it and you want to invest more time into gearing your follower, there is a very in-depth and comprehensive guide that contains everything you ever need to know: AshTag's RoS Follower Guide on the official forums.
9) Appendix
► Useful links ◄
- Mechanics and Game Information Compendium (Apo): The ultimate source of information about everything wizard-related (and beyond).
- Wizard Build and Items Compendium (Hope): A compendium that bears some similarities to this guide, with a bit more focus on builds.
- Wizard FAQ (Jaetch): FAQ, not necessarily restricted to wizards, answering questions that popped up especially frequently after the release of RoS.
- RoS FAQ (Bagstone): A general (not class-specific) collection of frequently asked questions.
- Wizard Guides and Community (RobertVarga): Collection of dozens of useful links to wizard guides on the offical forums.
- Skill proc coefficients (ZzEzZ): Check which skills are good and which are bad to proc LoH, APoC, and other effects. Always up-to-date.
- How to create a build (Jaetch): As the title suggests, this guide give you direction if you don't know how to create a meaningful wizard build.
- DPS and EHP Spreadsheet (Loroese): An Excel spreadsheet to calculate and simulate every little detail of your wizard.
- Gambling guide for beginners (Solmyr77): Lists the expected shards required to gamble specific items (your mileage may vary, of course).
- D3MaxStats: Looking for the maximum stats on an item? This website tells you everything.
- Cooldown Reduction Calculator: Let's you calculate the exact percentage of cooldown reduction to find out if it's worth it to get even more.
- Mitigation Calculator: Find out if you should rather get more all resist or armor.
- Elite affixes (KirusAlufras): Very helpful information about elite affixes, which damage type they are, and how they can be mitigated.
- RoS Wizard Tool (dolynick): A tool to help with gearing choices.
- Survivability Guide (Gazly): Always worth a read - how to correctly gear for survivability (TL;DR: avoid too high HP).
- Paragon level scaling: For those who always wanted to know how much XP is left to get to paragon 1000.
► Acknowledgements ◄
I'd like to thank my fellow DiabloFans mods MrMonstrosity, overneathe, and Zero(pS) for feedback on early drafts of this guide, especially in terms of spelling mistakes, visual improvements, barrier-free image design (:P), and funny discussions along the way. Also thanks to Diablofans' wizard mod and Blizzard's wizard MVP Jaetch for lots of helpful advice! Furthermore, thanks to the entire wizard community, the DiabloFans (EU) clan, all of DiabloFans (yes, all of you :P). Oh, and screw you, Blizzard, for making this damn game that I can't get away from! ;-)
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Wait, you mean a commercial enterprise shouldn't be worried about money and profits? Unpossible.
It's a game in case you forgot. Cheaters got caught and were punished, doesn't seem that complicated.