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Last time I showcased a live version of the Torrent-Woh build, which is arcane based: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKW_3KoalbE&feature=youtu.be

Currently on the PTR (July 9th edition), wizards received various lightning updates. This spec focuses on the lightning variants of Explosive Blast, Arcane Torrent, and Blizzard.

Arcane Torrent - Static Discharge provides a decent amount of DPS when you can sustain the channel for 3+ seconds. In addition, it tends to proc Paralysis quite well, which also means more uptime for Haunt of Vaxo.

Explosive Blast - Flash is the meat of the build. With a base cooldown of 3 seconds, you probably don't even need Wand of Woh to utilize this build (but obviously the wand makes the build better). Flash replaced the live rune of Time Bomb.

Blizzard - Lightning Storm is the main support skill that debuffs all affected enemies, making them take 20% additional damage from lightning. The thing about this skill is that it's a "dead skill" on your skill bar. You will never cast Blizzard on your own because the 40 AP is way too much to sacrifice when you have to spam EB and cast AT. This is why we use:

Mirror Image - Duplicates. The images will cast Blizzard for you, and... guess what, the Blizzard debuffs stack (additively) with each other. In addition, the images will mop things up with Black Hole, too.

Black Hole - Event Horizon is there for obvious reasons. One is to trigger Strongarm Bracers for even more damage. Because this build doesn't have room for Teleport (well, you can force it in, I'll talk about that soon), you'll need a defensive skill and Event Horizon fulfills that role.

Energy Armor - Prismatic Armor is again there for obvious reasons. However, once you get your base EHP and your DPS high enough, it might be an option to drop Prismatic for Teleport - Safe Passage. You still get good mitigation and you pick up a lot more mobility. Frost Nova - Bone Chill is another option here for additional CC and debuff.

For passives, I picked Blur, Evocation, Paralysis and Audacity. The former two are pretty much locked because you need the padding and the extra CDR. Paralysis is great with Static Discharge (we'll see if the synergy goes live) and considering this counts as a melee spec, Audacity is a no-brainer. If your weapon is an element that's not lightning/arcane, then it might be worth choosing Elemental Exposure instead of Audacity.

For items, I use pretty much the same items I picked out for the arcane Torrent-Woh build I use on live. The only changes I made were obviously switching arcane bonuses to lightning. The only significant change was switching Moonlight Ward to Haunt of Vaxo. Other than that, everything is more or less locked in.

Base items:

Aughild set (Aughild's Spike, Aughild's Power) - 3-piece bonus; elite bonus and damage reductions
Capt. Crimson set (Capt. Crimson's Thrust, Capt. Crimson's Waders) - 3-piece bonus; regen, AR, critical CDR and RCR
Tal Rasha set (Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit, Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare) - 3-piece bonus; damage, AR, AP regen
Ring of Royal Grandeur - required for a multi-set spec
Stone of Jordan - elite bonus, lightning bonus
Wand of Woh - not required, but takes the build to another level
Thundergod's Vigor - lightning bonus, proc damage scales with lightning bonus, useful in a melee spec. Harrington Waistguard is an alternative.
Strongarm Bracers - provides more monster debuffs
Haunt of Vaxo - provides additional support, synergizes well with Paralysis
St. Archew's Gage - gloves are an open slot; any pair of gloves can work here. Prefer Gloves of Worship, but Archew's can provide the occasional shielding that does help

Been seeing a lot of these types of threads pop up so I figured I’d aggregate all of them into one post for ease of access. I obviously can't include every single suggestion, but I'll try to put some cool ones I've found along with some of my own ideas.

I'm going to use the term "special powers" as the orange text that go with legendary items or abnormally high numbers like 30% melee reduction from String of Ears. Many legendary items come with properties that do not naturally roll on those types of items. But there's something about the orange text that makes an item seem much more special.

Current wizard legendary items with no special powers:

The Swami (wizard hat)
Starfire (wand)
Blackhand Key (wand)
Atrophy (crafted wand)

Current legendary items with no special powers:

Broken Crown (helm) - IAS the only unique property
Mempo of Twilight (helm) - IAS the only unique property
Profane Pauldrons (shoulders) - 4-6 pickup radius the only unique property
Vile Ward (shoulders)
Corruption (crafted shoulders)
Gungdo Gear (bracers) - life bonus and crowd control reduction, kind of special, but not really
Steady Strikers (bracers) - IAS the only unique property, unnecessary with the existence of Lacuni Prowlers
Slave Bonds (bracers) - movement speed and life after kill unique properties, kind of meh
Lacuni Prowlers (bracers) - IAS and movement speed unique properties, good for raw stats, but not really special
Kethryes' Splint (crafted bracers)
Stone Gauntlets (gloves) - high chance to immobilize, but that's it
Penders Purchase (crafted gloves)
Vigilante Belt (belt) - will have cooldown reduction in 2.1, but still not much going for it
Saffron Wrap (belt) - crowd control reduction the only unique property
Angel Hair Braid (belt)
Hellcat Waistguard (belt) - IAS and measly elite damage the only unique properties
Fleeting Strap (crafted belt) - IAS the only unique property, unnecessary with the existence of Hellcat Waistguard and The Witching Hour
Skelon's Deceit (crafted pants)
Hammer Jammers (pants) - movement speed the only unique property
Board Walkers (crafted boots)
Boj Anglers (boots)
The Crudest Boots (boots)
Squirt's Necklace (amulet)
Rondal's Locket (amulet) - Pickup and globes the only unique properties
Ouroboros (amulet)
Skull Grasp (ring)
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac (ring) - extra main stats the only unique property
Broken Promises (ring)
Band of Untold Secrets (ring) - movement speed the only unique property
Stolen Ring (ring) - pickup radius the only unique property
Manald Heal (ring) - bonus resources the only unique property

NOTE: I did not include items that are known to be updated in Patch 2.1, such as Depth Diggers (pants) and Eternal Union (ring).

Now let's take a look at some existing wizard items with special powers, but are rather underwhelming or unexciting.

Current wizard legendary items with very meh special powers:

Archmage's Vicalyke (wizard hat) - Mirror Images have a chance to duplicate when killed; this hat simply rarely ever works

Storm Crow (wizard hat) - lightning bonus and fireball proc are unique and the latter is very throwback to vanilla; the lightning bonus could use some more work given the existence of Andariel's Visage

Fragment of Destiny (wand) - high Spectral Blade bonus, but with the removal of signature spells from 2.1's Depth Diggers, the weapon is less attractive

Gesture of Orpheus (wand) - players use this for the arcane bonus, not the Slow Time cooldown reduction

Slorak's Madness (wand) - the Disintegrate bonus is nice, but the laughing part is arguable, much like the Pig Sticker squealing, The Paddle's slap, etc.

Triumvirate (source) - attractive triple elemental bonus, but at 10% and the ineffectiveness of maintaining multiple elemental damage sources, few players focus on Triumvirate over other offense-oriented sources like Mirrorball and Firebird's Eye

With all of those items in mind, items without anything truly unique and memorable about them, let's see what we can do to make them interesting. I won't use all of the items since this thread will focus mainly on wizard skills and item properties.

First things first, let's take a look at The Swami, Starfire, Blackhand Key and Ruinstoke because they have absolutely nothing going on for them.

THE SWAMI

What does The Swami remind you of? The flavor text reads: "Bestows upon the wearer both formidable power and an unsurpassed statement of fashion."

Okay, so it has no special powers and the text doesn't really tell you much. So this item is pretty much left wide open for customization. When an item is left wide open like this, I feel like it should truly be customizable, which is why I think items like the Swami should have multiple random special powers.

This means when you loot The Swami, it can come with one of several different orange text powers. It's a generic wizard hat, so perhaps it can come with powers that deal with the different elements.

One of 4 Random Legendary Properties (varies):

- Enemies damaged by Ray of Frost become enveloped by Black Ice that deals 575-625% weapon damage as Cold to nearby enemies over 3 seconds.

- Disintegrate deals Fire damage instead of Arcane.*

- Critical hits from your lightning resource spenders pull in all enemies within 25 yards toward your target and stun them for 2 seconds.

- Arcane damage you deal slows enemy movement speed by 60-80% and attack speed by 25-40% for 2 seconds.

*As soon as I posted this, I just realized Blizzard already made one of the Disintegrate runes Fire for 2.1's PTR.

The first random property, cold, gives Black Ice lovers the gameplay they want in multiplayer. Given Black Ice's current state, it's virtually useless in multiplayer because you have to be the one landing the killing blow in order to get the on-kill proc. Now that you can proc a weaker form of Black Ice (arguable, because Black Ice can stack) with any Ray of Frost rune, you get the AOE carnage and the synergy with Light of Grace.

The second random property, fire, has always been a popular one. Where are the Fire-based channeling spells? Where, there you go. Disintegrate now deals Fire damage instead of Arcane, which can pave the way to some new Fire-based builds with all these existing Fire items.

The third random property, lightning, feeds on the stun element and takes a bit from The Ess of Johan. This will be more of a support/crowd control property wizards can use in group play. If Arcane Orb - Spark ever gets some more love, there could be something cool in the making with such a power. Lightning Bind lovers could get a kick out of the pull effect, too.

The fourth random property, arcane, is basically a form of Temporal Flux. I know there are a lot of players out there who wish to utilize Temporal Flux in their Arcane builds, but are unable to because of other passives such as Blur, Audacity, Unwavering Will, etc. that are prioritized. In addition, many Arcane users enjoy the benefits of Moonlight Ward, which means it's a struggle to pick up the new Hellfire Amulet for the extra passive. Having a Temporal Flux-like ability on gear can allow Arcane wizards, especially those who run channeling spells, a more range-focused type gameplay.

STARFIRE

There's an ongoing discussion about the... rather uselessness of Starfire. It's a wand that just screams the time and space theme. The flavor text reads: "Crafted around a shard that fell from the sky during the Festival of Lights."

A shard that fell from the sky? What does that mean?

METEORS, BABY!

Starfire really needs to be the Meteor wand.

There's a problem, though. There are too many Meteor runes to choose from and many players prefer one rune over the other. Some like to rain Meteor Shower down without end. Some prefer Comet and Lightning Bind for their respective elements and their crowd control. Some prefer periodically dropping a bomb with Molten Impact. Some prefer spamming Star Pact for the lower AP cost.

That said, I think we can go the multiple random powers route like The Swami.

One of 5 Random Legendary Properties (varies):

- Increases the freeze duration of Comet to 3 seconds and the freezing mist damage to 390% weapon damage as Cold over 3 seconds.

- Meteor Shower projectiles home in on nearby targets.

- Molten Impact has a 50-70% chance to cast twice.

- Lightning Bind releases a Static Pulse on impact, dealing 351% weapon damage as Lightning. Damaged enemies take 15% increased damage from Lightning for 2 seconds.

- Removes the resource cost of Star Pact.

The Comet property is straightforward. I believe most players use Comet because 1. they like the Cold element and 2. they like the crowd control. So let's make the damage a little more competitive (for the stacking DoT) and increase the freeze duration. It's just a little flavor.

The Meteor Shower property has been a very popular one. A lot of players wonder just how powerful Meteor Shower can be if every single one of the seven mini-Meteors land on a single target. This would make Meteor Shower a neat AOE and single-target DPS skill.

The Molten Impact property was something I debated about. Some players wanted the cooldown to be outright removed. Depending on how Meteor damage in general is addressed in 2.1 or later in the future, that could be a little wild for just one item. So I figure having a chance to double drop a Molten Impact Meteor could be neat, especially if you're already running a cooldown reduction spec.

The Lightning Bind property is something that I've always envisioned with Meteor. The impact is strong enough to release a shockwave. And when I thought about shockwaves, I thought about Wave of Force. So there's Static Pulse, and the new one restores AP per enemy hit. I like the old one that buffs lightning damage, so...

And for the Star Pact property, it's already designed to be a more spam-friendly Meteor rune with no other special property. Why not just make it 100% spam-friendly? Purple light show FTW!

BLACKHAND KEY

Blackhand Key is a spine. It's a chunk of bone. The flavor text reads: "The spine of the urdar is known to possess unique magical properties that unlock arcane secrets for those brave enough to wield it."

The urdar is a monster from Diablo II. They're big and bulky, kind of like ogres. Actually, they probably are based on ogres. Blackhand Key itself is a weapon from Diablo II, albeit for the necromancer, not the sorceress.

Anyway, with that in mind, what can we do with Blackhand Key that fits the flavor text and the wizard?

I think in order to recognize the history of this weapon, it has to do something with draining effects. It's a bone. It was a necromancer weapon. Now it's in the hands of a wizard.

- Each enemy slain within 20 yards restores 6-8 Arcane Power.

It's not APoC, which I know a lot of players want back on wands, but it's a way to promote spamming spenders under the right conditions. It may not be optimal against a single target (actually, it's not), but it's something that could see a lot more use in speed farming sessions. I specifically worded it as "each enemy slain," not "AP on kill" because we know how much on-kill effects suck in multiplayer games.

I've thought about what the game would be like if there was a single wand in the game that retained the 10 APoC found on legacy wands. Would players choose such a wand over others?

ATROPHY

Atrophy and Ruinstoke are both crafted wands, the former being level 70 and the latter level 60. They're stat sticks with nothing much going for them. Actually, Ruinstoke comes naturally with elite bonus, but it's not like other weapons can't roll the same. The flavor text simply reads: "Crafted by demonic hands."

Welp. That means a lot.

Basically, this wand is wide open for any and all sorts of unique powers.

Energy Twister? Arcane Orb? Signature spells?

Anything!

- Energy Twisters periodically pull in nearby enemies and projectiles, trapping them for 2 seconds.

I think that's an idea that's come up quite often. They're twisters, right? Kind of like tornadoes? So how come they don't suck up everything along their path like real tornadoes? I can tell this would be a hassle to code, but since we see the effects of the witch doctor's Piranhado, this could work a similar way.

- Signature spells deal 80-100% additional damage.

Sounds familiar? That's what Depth Diggers did at the start of 2.1's PTR. Not sure if this would make witch doctors happy as they were left alongside the wizard being the only two classes unable to utilize the new Depth Diggers.

One thing I'm concerned about is the ease of access for this wand. It's easily craftable for such insane power. Might be better to move this power somewhere else... maybe Fragment of Destiny in place of its Spectral Blade bonus?

Well, since we're done with the wizard items without any properties, why not move on to the wizard items with underwhelming powers?

FRAGMENT OF DESTINY

I'm just going to talk about Fragment of Destiny first because of the whole signature spells bonus thing I mentioned with the new Depth Diggers and Atrophy suggestion. The power is strong, we all know that, so it might not be the best idea to make it so easily accessible through crafting. Perhaps Fragment of Destiny, which already sports up to 30% Spectral Blade bonus, can be the item to pick.

Like that. 80-100% additional damage from signature spells instead of the 30% Spectral Blade bonus. While the Spectral Blade bonus is a familiar one from vanilla D3, it's not a popular one. With the flat bonus to signature spells, Spectral Blade users can still use Fragment of Destiny, but the wand will also open up doors to other signature spell lovers, like Magic Missile users, Electrocute users, etc.

Speaking of vanilla D3 Fragment of Destiny, remember what it used to come with? The legacy Fragment of Destiny came with up to 25% skill bonus to Cold, Fire and Lightning. That's insane! But that job has more or less been relagated to the new Triumvirate (up to 10% for Fire, Lightning, Arcane).

But what if it retained the elemental nature of the weapon?

- Your spells take on the element of your highest elemental bonus.

This has also been a popular power. I've seen various forms of such a power in the wizard forum over the last couple of months, especially after Vyr's Amazing Arcana allowed Archon to take on the form of your highest elemental bonus. Since we know it's technologically possible for something like this to happen, why not allow players who don't want to use Archon have the ability to focus their spells into one particular element?

I wonder how this would work with The Swami suggestion I made earlier (the one that turned Disintegrate damage to Fire)? Hmm... which one would override the other? Interesting.

SLORAK'S MADNESS

Slorak's has always been a rather popular item. It's the go-to weapon for Disintegrate wizards, but we know how much trouble channeling spells are in right now so it's tough to say what can or cannot work down the line.

Anyway, Slorak's increases Disintegrate damage by 15-30% and will laugh at you when you die. The former is a respectable bonus and the latter is just flavor. But even with the bonus, with the ramp-up damage for channeling spells, the wand isn't too competitive. Keeping in mind the powers suggested earlier, Slorak's needs a little more oomph.

- Disintegrate no longer ramps up in damage and instead deals its maximum damage by default. The wand also finds your death humorous.

In the first 2.1 PTR update, Disintegrate now starts off at 360% weapon damage and ramps up to over 800% after channeling a few seconds. With this Slorak's suggestion, say Disintegrate skips the ramp up and fires at 800%+ damage right off the bat. For the Entropy rune, it starts off at 1100%+ damage.

The bonus range for Disintegrate should also close up a little bit. 15-30% seems a little far apart. Even 20-30% looks a lot better. In addition, we'll keep the sinister laugh because Slorak's wouldn't be Slorak's without it.

GESTURE OF ORPHEUS

A frequent suggestion for bonuses deals with Arcane Torrent. Perhaps this is because there are items focused on Disintegrate (Slorak's Madness) and Ray of Frost (Light of Grace), the other two channeling spells. Arcane Torrent has none.

Gesture of Orpheus is already a neat weapon that comes with up to 20% arcane bonus. However, its legendary power that reduces the cooldown of Slow Time is... very much wasted. With Illusionist and Mirror Image, no one really cares about Slow Time's cooldown.

So let's make Gesture of Orpheus the Arcane Torrent item.

- Death Blossom seeks out enemies, but its resource cost is doubled.

Death Blossom has always been an interesting Arcane Torrent rune. Its randomness keeps you on edge, but the damage it deals is colossal. Oftentimes, players have suggested making a legendary item that allows you to aim Death Blossom, but that seems kind of boring. it's be the same as all the other runes, just stronger. So why not channel the skill, but allow the projectiles to seek out its own targets? It's still a bit random, but at least you're guaranteed to deal damage. It'll be a little more reliable for AOE and will be really strong against a single target. How will the player adjust to the doubled resource cost? It'll make for interesting gearing strategies.

- Critical hits from Arcane Torrent lays an Arcane Mine.

Arcane Mines is strong, but its drawback is that it takes time to arm and explode. There's also a built-in limit to how many Arcane Mines you can have out on the field with new ones overwriting the oldest if the oldest have yet to explode. It's possible with this power to have extra Arcane Mines on the field to supplement the damage you're dealing. Easy and straightforward.

There are many ways Gesture of Orpheus can cater to Arcane Torrent users. So many suggestions are out there, ranging from ones similar to those I've suggested, in addition to:

- Arcane Mines explode instantly (a la Bolas and Emimei's Duffel).
- You may have limitless Arcane Mines active at a time.
- Power Stones also replenish the resources of your allies.
- Removes the resource cost of Arcane Torrent.
- Arcane Torrent no longer ramps up in damage and instead deals its maximum damage by default (like the Slorak's Madness suggestion).
- Arcane Torrent gains the effect of the Disruption rune.
- Etc.

ARCHMAGE'S VICALYKE

This wizard hat makes me mad. The first problem is that Mirror Images are mentally handicapped. They are. Their first action upon being summoned is usually running away. How are they supposed to get killed and used by Archmage's Vicalyke? The second issue is that they are horribly tame and aren't nearly as aggressive as they could be.

If images were more aggressive and did more damage, then perhaps it's worth having them multiply. With Illusionist and cooldown reduction, sometimes it really doesn't matter if the images multiply or not. You'll just resummon them and they'll do what they need to do and go away.

Either the Mirror Image skill needs to be redesigned or the wizard hat needs something else on it to make it more attractive.

- Mirror Images deal your full damage and last until they die. Mirror Image gains a 60 second cooldown.

This has been a frequent suggestion. It turns Mirror Image into a pet-like skill. However, in order for such a power to see any use (or be balanced), the skill itself will require necessary changes.

First of all, no one in their right mind would use Mirror Mimics (20% damage) over Duplicates (four images). No one would use Extension of Will (increase duration to 10 seconds) given the hat will allow them to last until they die. The 100% life boost to Extension of Will is also useless with Simulcrum (200% life).

Second of all, pet items like Tasker and Theo will have to apply to the images. The gloves apply to witch doctor pets like Zombie Dogs and Fetishes, demon hunter Sentries and Companions, barbarian Ancients, wizard Hydras, and crusader Phalanx avatars.

Third, the images are naturally fragile outside runes like Simulcrum. They're super squishy and they probably won't last the 60 seconds as suggested.

Sounds like a headache.

- Your Mirror Images cast the same spells whenever you do.

This one is more simple and gives a nod to the witch doctor's Carnevil (Fetishes shoot Poison Darts whenever you do). However, the problem is now damage. How much damage can these images dish out? Again, who would use runes outside Duplicates? More images dealing damage means more damage overall. It's a no brainer. Since they don't last forever, why bother trying to keep them alive if you can just slot in Illusionist and add cooldown reduction to have more uptime?

Also, what about channeling skills? It's already known that images cannot cast channeling spells. What if they were allowed to do so? Can you imagine multiple images fire off Arcane Torrent with you at the same target? Hmm.

That said, it's an easier item to synergize with others, especially if signature spell boosters like the previous iteration of Depth Diggers on the PTR (or the skill bonus I suggested on Fragment of Destiny) return to the wizard's arsenal.

OUROBOROS

Just a bonus. I wanted to put this here before I forget later on. The Ouroboros is based on an image of a serpent eating its own tail. The amulet's flavor text also reads: "'All energy flows from and returns to the eternal source.' —Archmage Kang"

Okay, so its serpent-based. The flavor text includes an archmage. So... why not make it a wizard-based item? Why not base it on Hydra? It's so clear.

- Your Hydra’s damage is increased by 10-15% for each enemy within 10 yards of its summoned location for 5-10 seconds.

This bonus plays into the whole energy flow and serpent theme. You cast Hydra and it feeds on the energy of nearby enemies, empowering it for a short period of time. At first I wondered if it'd be better for the bonus to remain dynamic, meaning if you drop a Hydra in a tight group of 10 enemies, it gains up to 150% additional damage. But as enemies drop one by one, the bonus keeps dropping until the Hydra stands alone and it simply deals its base damage.

I threw out the fixed life on hit roll for the amulet because Hydras, like all pets, do not benefit from life on hit stats.

There are other items that can use more work like I mentioned all the way in the first post.

Storm Crow needs to stand apart from Andariel's Visage. Even something simple like changing the bonus to 30% like the monk's Eye of the Storm could let it see more use. With Velvet Camaral and Andariel's Visage, there currently is no real purpose for Storm Crow. The fireball proc? For Elemental Explosure? Eh.

Triumvirate looks good on paper, but the effectiveness of multielemental builds take a back seat in favor of concentrated builds in the likes of pure Fire, pure Arcane... and dare I say pure Lightning and pure Cold.

As for all the other items that currently have no special affixes tied to them, there's room for more creative powers, not just limited to the wizard class.

Considering I've been working on this post for a few hours already, I'm going to stop right here. If anyone sees creative ideas, please link the threads or just post them here. I know there are suggestions everywhere, but because they're everywhere, it's hard to collect and pinpoint the sources. Hopefully with a thread like this, it'll be easier for the community team and developers to pick up some ideas or use any existing suggestions as inspiration for future items.

Quote from shaggy »

It's horrendously counter-intuitive.

They should simply remove sockets from rolls, let us use the damned gift on all items, and be done with sockets as either a mandatory property or a completely ignored property.

Creating an item that can only be used on weapons, which makes a socket roll LESS desirable than a Movement Speed roll is.... it's just stupid beyond words. All you're doing is adding another potential roll that counts as a "bad" roll. If you roll a socket the other 3 properties damned well better all be great. It's just like Movement Speed for most people paragon 200+. It's almost-universally a roll that MUST be enchanted off.

Bad design. It's just not good at all.

Sounds kinda like what I wrote on the official forum:

"I think this has been mentioned before, but with Ramalandi's Gift around now—call it crazy—just remove the ability for all weapons to roll sockets. Like it's impossible for bracers to roll sockets, make it so weapons can no longer roll sockets.

From 2.1 forward, if you find a weapon, you'll want to find Ramalandi's. It becomes a 2-step process. You'll find one before the other and you'll be looking ahead in your loot hunt for the next piece. Does this remind anyone of anything?

That way from that point forward, every time you find a weapon, you don't have to think, "ARGH NO SOCKET." Do what you need to do with that weapon (enchant it or whatever) and add a socket to it via Ramalandi's when the time is right.

Throw this hunt onto jewelry, too, given the role of legendary gems. Remove the ability for jewelry to roll sockets at all and let Ramalandi's do its thing."

The problem with that lies with the rarity of Ramalandi's Gift. If it's too rare, anyone who is on the shorter end of the RNG stick will constantly be stuck with an underpowered weapon simply because they're pretty much down 130% CHD. If it's too common, then the loot hunt isn't nearly as fun.

For those who feel like they got screwed with having a native socketed weapon (see all Thunderfuries), this is just part of the loot hunt. While four-primary socketed weapons may not be nearly as attractive as a pimped out five-primary one, they're not totally useless. I'd still use a four-prop 2K DPS Wand of Woh over none at all.

If you're trying to race to the top in Greater Rifts, I sure hope your character is geared to the max already or else forget it. If you're geared, you're going for the bragging rights and the ability to stroke your epeen more. You'll get some bonuses on the side.

If you're still looking for gear, mats, etc. that's what the standard Rifts are for. Leave the Greater Rifts solely for the PvEvP element.

Greater Rifts for epeen competitions and legendary gems.

Regular Rifts for your standard farming.

More options to suit whatever you feel like doing. Why bother with standard Rifts if Greater Rifts give you everything (items, gems, mats, experience)?

Quote from Xdmini

Arcane Orb does NOT deal less damage than one hit from a zombie dog..

Arcane Orb

Secondary
Cost: 30 Arcane Power

Hurl an orb of pure energy that explodes on contact, dealing 381% weapon damage as Arcane to all enemies within 15 yards.

Summon Zombie Dogs

Defensive

Cooldown: 45 seconds

Summon 3 Zombie Dogs from the depths to fight by your side. Each dog deals 30% of your weapon damage as Physical per hit.

I don't know, I can't seem to make my Arcane Orb deal as much damage as my Zombie Dog:


Anyway, many people I play with are rather confused about the buffs to Magic Missile and Hydra. They already were viable in the live game. Like Bagstone pointed out, it's the spenders that need help and channeling spenders actually got a massive nerf with the 30 AP initial cost requirement on top of the channeling costs. It's insane.

I got a little bored of my Conflagrate/Archon wizard (with and without using Wand of Woh) so I decided to switch it up a bit and see how an arcane WoW-based build would work. I intentionally took out Archon just for a change of scenery.

So far the build seems promising. My current gear isn't nearly optimized for the spec, but it does have potential.

Spec #1 Spec #2
Arcane Torrent - Disruption is used as supplementary damage, yet it's being channeled the whole time. I know, weird. Explosive Blast - Time Bomb is the primary source of damage and is buffed by AT. Further buffs include Black Hole + Strongarm and also Bone Chill if Teleport isn't selected. Harrington caps it off. I've seen EB crits of 90-100M per hit when all the engines are running.

Problem is that the spec is pretty difficult to set up. Obviously you need Wand of Woh, which is a nightmare to find. AT eats up resources like crazy so you have to run some kind of combination of RCR and APoC. CDR is also required on some level to get EB casts going. Unlike other Chainpocalypse-like builds, there's no need to nonstop spam EB because Time Bomb doesn't detonate at your location; it detonates where it was originally cast.

The build's a little clunky, I guess that would be the biggest downside. However, there's a ton of frontload damage, especially if Harrington is active (say 15M or so per AT hit in addition to 90M+ hits from each EB hit, plus crowd control options in FN and Black Hole?!).

If you somehow have the gear, give it a shot. See if you can make your own tweaks and get the build running more squeaky clean.

Edit: Added a sample T6 Rift using Unleashed for more consistent damage.

Quote from mikschu

Quote from Jaetch

Quote from Abyshaii

And yes, whenever the group allows, I do run Glass Cannon.

Please don't. It's not difficult to maintain 15 yards distance. Use Audacity instead. It's 15% damage without giving up a ton of EHP.

Would this be for solo? In group wouldn't conflagration be better? Assuming it's a toss-up between the two, as it seems to be for most of us.

Yes, in a group, your goal should always be to improve the eDPS of the group, not solely yours. Passives like Conflagration, Cold Blooded, Elemental Exposure, etc. should always be prioritized over personal buffs like Audacity.

1. Elemental Exposure triggers based on the damage you deal in addition to the weapon type. If it's a cold weapon, it will contribute 5%. If it's an arcane weapon, it will contribute 5%.

2. An elemental weapon will not necessarily trigger Meteors from Tal 4-piece. The ONLY times you can trigger a Meteor from your weapon will be:

A - You have Nephalem Glory and the bolt procs. The bolt is non-elemental damage and takes the form of the damage on your weapon. This carries over if you use legacy elemental bonus items on gear with a black weapon. The black weapon then takes the form of the elemental bonus, e,g, You have "Adds 6% to lightning damage," "Adds 6% to fire damage," "Adds 6% to arcane damage" legacy Triumvirate with a black weapon. If a Nephalem Glory bolt procs, you will get procs from Lightning Bind, Meteor Shower, and Star Pact, respectively, at the same time.

B - You use a wand with elemental damage. When you attack with zero AP or attempt to use a spell on cooldown, you will perform a "dry" wand attack (basic attack). The basic attack is non-elemental and takes the form of the damage on your weapon.

3. Elemental Exposure does not stack. Once the arcane requirement is fulfilled, a target will take 5% more damage. If another wizard in the party dishes out arcane damage, it's still just 5%. Max will be 20% on a target no matter how many Elemental Exposures are being used.

4. A cold weapon does not proc Cold Blooded unless that weapon specifically procs a cold effect that chills or freezes a target for a duration (e.g. Azurewrath's chance to freeze).

5. Strongarm's effect is a debuff on monsters, therefore it applies to any form of damage they take from any incoming sources (from you, your party, environment, etc.). It also stacks additively with other Strongarm Bracers. Yes, that means if you have a party of four players using perfect 30% Strongarms and unit displacement effects, affected targets can theoretically take 120% more damage.

6. I wouldn't recommend going all-in on Archon until you get 4-piece Vyr's. I run Molten Impact with CDR if I'm not running Wand of Woh as an item.

Quote from Jaetch

Quote from "71989646727" »

a few of the posts here appear to be dripping with the sweet nectar of well-honed internet sarcasm

And with that we lock the topic. A fine end.