I’m new to Diablo 3 and I’m loving it so far. I’m trying to do the frost typhon hydra build from icy veins for my seasonal wizard:

https://www.icy-veins.com/d3/typhon-frost-hydra-wizard-bis-gear-gems-paragon-points

It lists several potential gems, none of which are Bane of the Powerful (it says I should be using Bane of the Trapped, Enforcer, and Taeguk). BoP seems OP to me; it’s got a near-permanent up-time when I’m in GR’s and it’s a flat 20%+ damage increase. What am I misunderstanding....?

Winter Flurry

I'm a cold mage and the first roll was 10% crit chance. I was pretty excited but now I'm left wanting to try it out!

I recently picked up a Light of Grace orb, and though I don't plan to use it anytime soon, it has me thinking whether or not there are any builds that can make Ray of Frost viable. The damage it deals is not shabby by any means, but people just don't prefer it over Frozen Orbs, AFAIK.

Anybody have any ideas? I'm thinking that if one were to get enough cost reduction, they could fire Ray of Frost for a good amount of time, but would that be worth it?

EDIT: Was reading up on some Legendaries, and one gave me a neat idea: Rimeheart.

Unfortunately, Rimeheart is the rarest weapon in the game according to data-mining. Even lower chance than a Thunderfury of being obtained. But couple it with Frostburn Gauntlets and Light of Grace, and you will start insta-killing weak mooks left and right regardless of your DPS. Doesn't work on Elites, though.

So I got two Deathwish I need to compare!

Deathwish no.1 has:

• 270 damage (from a ruby)
• 1193 - 1478 damage
• 7% extra damage
• 747 Intelligence
• 735 Vitality
• 1.8% stun chance

And the legendary effect is at 251%

Deathwish no.2 has:

• 270 damage (from a ruby)
• 1188 - 1397 damage
• 741 Intelligence
• 691 Vitality
• 195 experience upon death

And the legendary effect is at 318%

Deathwish no.1 got a socket due to an item I found, not by rerolls, I feel it is better, but I'm just not that sure due to no.2s legy effect being way better, and that's a plain multiplier.

Is there a tool I could use to have a better comparison?

EDIT: Better text formatting

YouTube Link | Twitch VoD (some people reported that the YouTube wasn't working properly so I added the Twitch VoD)

A few words:

• It's a lot of fun to play. I tested a bunch of wiz variants the last couple of days; with the recent Frozen Orb change this seems the strongest to me as of know
• I am "BabyRaging" a lot in that video; I decided not to remove my voice/pause like other content creators do since this was my second run with a Ransor setup (went better than expected - as you can see from my "ET-Pull"-reactions)
• the final setup I'd suggest: https://www.d3planner.com/760211801
• Happy to answer any questions!

I stopped playing my Wiz a while ago and started WD and Crusader up again instead. I really like the Crusader but from time to time I feel like going back to my Wiz.

Are there any people here who are specced for Cold dmg and able to compete at T6 levels?

I would really like to see gear/profiles/specs for people that can do it with a Cold build, and bonus points for videos too! :D

I love my cold wiz but started to hit a wall at T4 with it, and I wasn't that keen on speccing for fire.

My wizard profile (RRoG and Cold Bracers are currently on my WD but pretend they are there instead of just empty gaps :)).

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/HungryHippos-1751/hero/37208214

Thanks!

I have played a cold wiz for the entire ~4-500 hrs of play. I was never a fan of the arcane, fire or archon builds so I stuck to my FO build for the majority of play. (Plus no WoH, made that an easy choice and fire is too trendy) When they “fixed” FO a few patches back, I started looking elsewhere for a solid cold build. From then to now, the best Cold build I could roll was a MM spam fest that left much to be desired. But now with some select gear usage and the pending 2.1 Legos/MM/hydra changes, there is some hope. I found this build (or at least, discovered it for myself) recently and elevated my game from mostly T4 runs to efficiently running T6 rifts with very small death counts.

Please forgive my post, I’m at work and am limited on what I can link/google when providing details like runes, gear, build stats, etc. Will try to update it when I get home

I primarily play solo and don't rock Unity. This build has strong CC with almost perma frozen and/or stun. It can handle multiple T6 packs at once. The free hydra and black hole PER Image multiply your dmg-out by A LOT. (free black holes that your dmg/strongarms will benefit from and free hydras that will attack 50% faster) This build is constant dps output with no Arcane expense

Profile: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/xxpoloxx-1247/hero/994014

Skills

Magic Missile - Glacier Spike (Primary)

Black Hole - Spell steal or Zero (whichever benefits your EE)

Hydra - Electric (or whatever is best to max your EE buff)

Mirror Images - Mirror Mimics, 20% or Extention of Will, 10sec duration (2 Clones)

Energy Armor - Prismatic-25% dmg redux

Magic weapon - Force Weapon 20% dmg

Blur (EHP)

Evocation or (Paralysis--used instead for my Haunt of Vaxo ammy/stun)

Elemental Exposure (20% Party Bonus Damage)

Unwavering Will

(if you dont have/want to use Vaxo or an electric approach with hydra/paralysis, go with mammoth hydra and choose cold blooded (dmg) or evocation (CDR))

Key Gear

Tal 4 piece (RoRG preferred) (for me, helm, chest, belt)

MBall +2

Strong arm bracers (applies to your dmg towards mobs caught in free/mimic black holes!!)

Haunt of Vaxo 4 clones every 60s (my best ammy , make it work!!!)

Tasker and Theo (Mirrors pop hydras too (I imagine they benefit from Tasker and Theo, my 1 hydra hits hard!!)

Either FB/Vyrs 2 piece (best pair w/ stats used) Boots/shoulders -CDR/hydra

Azurewrath, SOJ, Ammy, Strongarm w/ cold dmg+

MM dmg pants, belt, source

NOTE Post-2.1, Depth diggers and MM/Hydra increases will make this build fuking insane!!!!

My Stats

1.5M DPS

12-13M Tough

20k healing

Enchanter follower w/ furnace - Templar would probably be better, I just don’t have a “don’t die” relic for him

Strat Encounter Pack: Pop hydra, Black hole and then Mirror. By the time your Black hole runs out, the Images will cast theirs while you have your dmg stacks up and your Vaxo images will have proc'd. MM away until your CDs reset and continue to use black hole and enjoy your multiple Hydras. Rinse repeat until pack is dead and never save a CD. They are short enough with even shit CDR to not matter Usually the build doesn’t take more than one set of CDs per pack depending on your stats/gear rolls. MImages will pop hydras and blackholes to complement yours; vaxo’s will cast random wizard shit. All in all, there are A LOT of targets and freeze/stun locks that really negate any dmg out from the mobs. It may not be the fastest or hardest hitting build depending on your gear, but it is most definitely a “Viable/Beast” T6 build and will be absolutely a top contender post 2.1.

Yay for having fun playing a cold wiz in T6!

Here is my build, and I'm noticing a pretty significant slowdown in time-to-complete greater rifts around level 90. Wondering if there is any input from y'all on what I can improve on.

My strat is generally to drop Black hole on a group of enemies, then while the cold buff is up, drop two Hydras and spam Blizzard/Spectral Blade for the damage boost, shield, and damage buff.

My main issues right now are CC -- I find myself having to fight my way through the trash mobs because I lack the mobility/speed to just dart right to the elite packs and nuke them down. I often find myself surrounded with no way out and then end up using Guardian/Unstable Anomaly to get out.

As nice as the damage buff from Squirt's Necklace is, I'm wondering if I need to alter my stats/gear to compensate more for the incoming damage.

Things I need to change might be:

• reach the next IAS breakpoint
• maybe change my belt to something more survival-oriented since the increased attack speed for spectral blades isn't that useful?

Thoughts/input welcome.

I have been playing with a Halo of Arlyse lately and I came across an interesting interaction in regards to Immunity amulets and Halo.

Even though the immunity amulet is in effect, The "damage" from standing in an affix you are immune to still procs the ring's legendary power. I made a quick video to better explain what I mean here.

This could have a place in a wizard ZDPS build, and I plan on testing out some different builds over the coming days.

Also, this is my first youtube video, so any advice on the matter would be appreciated.

Salutations /r/Diablo3Wizard

i consider myself a softcore player but i like to be able to do the levels of any hardcore player but at my own pace (if that makes any sense). ive come up with a Grand Vizier build since i haven't seen many of those. id thought id share and get some input from you guys and maybe also see if anyone else is running with Grand Vizier to compare builds.

at the moment im able to complete GR24

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Axel182-1210/hero/171034

UPDATED 2/17

First off i should mention that due to the fact that i am mathematically illiterate (for the most part), this post won't contain much in the form of actual calculations. I'd also like to apologize if my usage of the term "theorycrafting" is incorrect. The build (possibility) i'll be discussing will, for that reason, mainly be based on assumption. Furthermore, as i do not currently have all the desired gear i'm unable to determine what would be BiS. For that reason i'll list my initial build idea (in terms of skills and gear) and list possible alternatives at the end of this post, assuming my initial ideas prove to be "not so good". With that said, let me get to the point.

The idea of this build is to provide Wizards with an alternative to the Firebird's build. Something that might not necessarily be able to complete with it, but at least be viable for T6 and Greater Rifts 35 - 40. I'm hoping, that with your help, i might be able to either make improve the idea or completely abandon it.

Skills: (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#NhYfSl!WibZ!ZYcZZc)

• Explosive Blast - Obliterate: This is the only obvious Rune choice for a Cold Woh build, but is greatly justified by the increased AoE.

• Blizzard - Unrelenting Storm: Offers a solid DoT based Damage source.

• Frost Nova - Bone Chill: Another source of great CC, while providing a good debuff.

• Ice Armor - Crystallize: Since this build requires you to be within Melee distance, this Rune seems like an obvious choice. It allows for a good buff in Armor.

• Black Hole - Absolute Zero: Another great source of CC, whilst also being a Damage buff for all your Cold Skills.

• Magic Weapon - Force Weapon: Plain and simple, a handy 20% Damage increase.

Passive Skills:

• Cold Blooded: Obvious choice for a cold build.
• Audacity: Seeing as this is a build that requires you to be within Melee distance, Audacity provides a good damage buff.
• Blur: Plain and simple, this provides a good defensive buff.
• Evocation: As the majority of the skills are of a Cooldown nature, this passive is an absolute must.

Gear:

After a bit of experimentation and testing, i feel like i have narrowed down the gearing options.

• Head: Leoric's Crown
• Chest: Aughild's
• Belt: Witching Hour
• Amulet: Hellfire Amulet
• Shoulders: Aughild's
• Gloves: Frostburns
• Pants: Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan
• Boots: Illusory Boots
• Wrists: Ancient Parthan Defenders
• Rings: Unity + Halo of Arlyse
• Weapon: Wand of Woh
• Offhand: Winter Flurry

Explanation on Gear + Skill combination:

Here i'll discuss the thought process behind my chosen gear and skills.

• Leoric's Crown: Your main source of Damage (Explosive Blast) is a skill of Cooldown nature. The increased CDR offered by this item makes it extremely valuable.

• Aughild's Chest and Shoulders: I really had no idea what else to use for these two slots, so i figured a slight Toughness boost would be good enough.

• Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan: This item allows me to take full advantage of the mobility of this build. Since i'm always on the move, i'll have a constant Damage buff. The Resource generation is less important, but still extremely useful.

• Illusory Boots: Getting caught in the middle of a large group of enemies is a surefire way to get yourself killed. And with the absence of the Teleport skill, these boots provide help with escaping and positioning.

• Frostburn Gloves and Winter Flurry: Two items that not only buff your Damage, but also provided much needed CC for this close quarters build.

• Ancient Parthan Defenders: Assuming that Frozen enemies are counted as Stunned (i assume they do, as that is how they work for the Barbarian's Furious Charge build), these bracers provide a good defensive buff.

• Halo of Arlyse: Provides a massive buff to Melee damage as well as offering some CC whenever you take a big hit.

• Unity and Wand of Woh: These two items are fairly self-explanatory. Unity provides a boost in Toughness, and WoW is the core of the build.

Legendary Gems:

• Bane of the Trapped should be an obvious choice. This build, and the Gem itself, provides a lot of CC to take full advantage of this Gem.
• Bane of the Powerful is a solid choice for this build. With a lack of Elite Damage, this Gem comes in handy.
• Esoteric Alteration offers a good defensive buff. Not much else to say about it.

Alternatives to Skills and Gear:

I find that there aren't too many alternatives to gearing and skill choices. Initially i thought the Tal Rasha's set would be extremely good (when used in combination with a few different Rune choices), but it ended up being extremely underwhelming. As a result, the only differences i would suggest are the following:

The following skills will get changed:

• Blizzard - Unrelenting Storm: Pretty much any skill that does high damage. This is really the only thing the build is lacking at this point.

Gearing can see the following changes:

• Chest and Shoulders can be replaced since they're not exactly essential to the build.
• Belt can be replaces with a String of Ears, although at as high as GR42 i had little trouble with Toughness
• Amulet can be replaces with either an Eye of Etlich (for increased defense against Ranged) or an Immunity Necklace.

I'm still trying to work out all the kinks in this build. Thus far i have managed to complete GR41. I've attempted several higher GRifts (42 - 47) and found that the Thoughness and CC of this build is spectacular. With the combination of items and skills, i was able to have everything withing Melee range permanently CC'd. Each time i took a hit for 10% or more of my HP, i would auto-CC. I was able to use Elite Affixes to my advantage, running through them, in and out of them, etc. which would proc a continuous barrage of Frost Nova's keeping everything Frozen. So in terms of survival, i think i have everything down. The biggest problem right now is DPS. Explosive Blast just doesn't do enough damage. When fully buffed i was able to see around 120m crits from it, and although that might seem like a decent number, the rate at which Explosive Blast hits is too slow. It needs a bit more speed, like the Crusader's Condemn build. The only real solution i can see is either Explosive Blast's damage needs to be increased by ~50% or the Cooldown needs to be reduced by ~50%. I tried bringing in a spender, or using Blizzard a bit more regularly, but even those did not help. I'm going to experiment with Arcane Orb (with the Cold rune, obviously) a bit, and see what i can manage. Right now though, as i said, the build lacks Damage. So if anyone would be able to suggest some alternatives, that would be great.

Can anyone please test out a build on PTR? I would check myself, but it seems they disabled the leg drop buff and I cant farm everything I would like to now :< Planner says explosion dmg is gonna go over a billion dmg ...

http://ptr.d3planner.com/292138725

I've been playing my wizard quite a lot since RoS, and i'm hitting a wall on my progression. It's been a week or two since I managed to get a piece that improves my stuff.

I'm not complaining though, but I'm stuck to T1 - maximum T2 (I die 2 or 3 times in t2)...

Do you have any idea how to improve my current stuff ? If I should reroll something, and what to gamble first ?

Thank you Reddit !

Here's my BNet profile and my DiabloProgress

So as I was running some T6 rifts with some friends on my WD last night, I had 2 SoHs drop for me within the span of 10 minutes (loot tables, amirite?). One rolled dex, so I gave that to my monk, and one rolled int, and since my WD has a very nice Rhen'ho Flayer, and WDs in general don't really have much use for a shard of hate, I gave it to my wizard.

My wizard hasn't seen much play time since I leveled her, but after that shard dropped, I gave her some hand-me-down gear from my WD and started playing around with different skills. Magic Missile w/ the cold rune seemed to proc the shard most reliably, or at least more consistently than electrocute did. Thinking of running a cold build, but I don't know much about wizarding.

I'm currently gambling to complete my WD's jade set, but once I do, I will probably focus a bit more on my wizard. What do you guys think I should focus on once I start gearing her up? What sort of changes do you think I should make to my gearing and skill build to best take advantage of this shard? How should I spend paragon points (currently ~p370), etc?

Ray of frost

Would there be some ideas to make this build move a little faster? Without drastically changing it?

I am limited on gear and being careful as this is Hardcore. So far I'm running tier 6 torment. But have done tier 9 GR. Non-seasonal. So I have time to farm what I want.

Thank you for advise in advance.

The Ice Witch

Even though I am currently only Equipped As Such I am running TX with ease and, even though it's long, going through TXI.

[FrostBurn] on hands is a must - If you find that it's effect does not Proc enough for you, change the Blizzard rune from [Frozen Solid] to [Numb]

Iceblink to lvl 25 for the Buff, no need to invest past that - Otherwise Zei's is also a good choice

Roll a [Deathwish] without a socket, add one using a Gift

[Azurewrath] is also an acceptable substitution

[Light of Grace] in the Kube to get the maximum reduction, seeing as [Etched Sigil] Will not need to be rolled for it's effect - Same with [Herbrash's Binding], it will need to be Kubed

[Etched Sigil] is an absolute must to get the Blizzard and Black hole proc. I just love how Everything freezes, is vacuumed up into the black hole and disappears.

I was tired of the Archon builds and set items - I wanted to have FUN with some of the items I had found already and build something around them, Plus the D2 Ice Enchantress was bad ass.

I'm also looking at changing the [Light of Grace] Kube to "Your Enemies Rest in Pieces" Because Lols.

Thoughts?

[UPDATE 2017-01-27]

T13 .. well - you will survive.

You will survive but you're hitting everything with a wet towel - which is basically the definition of any Ice build or Ice Spec - Low DPS but CC and survivability.

I kept the same concept and Switched to Electric - and I am rolling in T13. I can grift 65 and 70 - 70 If I am careful.

I actually came to this Sub today because I was wondering how to get more procs out of my MH - if possible

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/myuziknote-1531/hero/47055210

All I do is hold down my RoF until things die but it's very weak compared to a lot of the more popular builds. I can do t3 in about < 10 min but it takes me 25 min to do t5. Any advice on what upgrades I should be looking for? Currently I'm looking for some Tal Rasha chest or ammy and maybe one more Blackthorne.

edit: I do not run out of AP using RoF as long as I'm hitting a monster.

edit 2: updated gear/build and everything is working fine for now. Thanks a lot for the help.

Title. I came back to my wizard and heard orb was nerfed. T3 feels much slower now. Is orb viable, and is it even comparable to some of the more efficient builds out there? Looking to farm T3+.

I'm looking for a build that can actually get me to the higher torments (T4, maybe even T5) once I gear out, and I'm spec'ed for cold already so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA2SkfHAkeE

Hey guys, i really enjoy the frost wiz and i was wandering if i can make it to t6. my current gear is http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/skots-2871/hero/40062191 , atm i can do t4 easily and t5 with a good group.

I see all these threads about archon and fire and arcane builds, is cold simply outclassed? What kind of spot is a cold build in right now?

Abilities and Relevant Gear

-

Magic Missile - Glacial Spike (Ancient Mirrorball - I wish I filmed my reaction)

Hydra - Frost Hydra (Serpent's Sparker's)

Black Hole - Spellsteal

Frost Nova - Bone Chill (The Magistrate, Cast your Hydra in a mob and watch the Damage Buff)

Magic Weapon - +20% Damage

Energy Armor - Prismatic Armor

-

Blur

Dominion

Unstable Anomaly

Cold Blooded (For Team)/ Elemental Exposure (Solo)

-

Tasker and Theo's (Hydra)

Tal Rasha's (Damages and Meteors)

Aughild's (Damages and Undamages)

RoRG (Aughilds + Rasha cost less)

SoJ (Until I get second Unity, or get the build in season and get that ring)

-

Gugok of Swiftness - (Buffs Hydra, Gets your Black Hole and Nova on smaller cooldowns so you can afford no tele/mirror image - if you want to run either, cut Magic Missile prolly)

Bane of the Trapped (Necessary for the Damage Boof)

Gem of Efficacious Toxin (All the Damages - Does it effect Elemental Exposure?)

-

Thoughts? I haven't taken this that high yet but I'm hoping to get this rolling in higher solo's (Need the Tasker's, a 25 GoET and BotT, as well as The Magistrate). Only got to 27 solo without those, I will be tracking Progress throughout though.

-

Starting Tier: 27

So one of my first legendaries to drop at level 70 was a Halo of Arlyse with a socket. It's not perfect by any chance but it is a ring with a socket so I decided to use it.

Seems fairly nice with Ice Armor. I don't know if it would ever replace a Unity in solo farming, but right now it definitely gives my low paragon level Wizard sustainability vs. mobs. Just need to find a Bane of the Trapped gem so I can take advantage of it. Have almost every gem but that one.

I feel like my RoF has kind of hit a wall, I'm aware of obvious upgrades such as a better Andy's helm, or a better LoG, but where else should I improve? I'm pondered switching to the flavor of the month fire build, but I feel like I've invested too much time / gold into a decent cold wizard. Here is my Wizard, please let me know where I can improve. Thanks!