Check out our other Diablo 3 guides!
Diablo 3‘s patch 2.2 has brought with it a huge shift in the Wizard end-game meta, which previously was locked into small variants of the Firebird’s build. Now, the Greater Rift leaderboards are being topped not by the Firebird’s set, but instead by the updated Tal Rasha’s set.
Variations of this build exist, but the one we present below has been used to beat Greater Rift levels as high as 54. Here’s how you can get there.
Skills
Here are the skills you need for this build:
Variants:
- Instead of the Arc Lightning rune on Electrocute, you can opt for the Surge of Power rune for increased range and Arcane Power generation.
- Rather than the Force Weapon rune on Magic Weapon, you can opt for Deflection for increased survivability at the expense of damage.
- Instead of the Unstable Anomaly passive, you can choose Blur for the ability to tank more hits rather than get a free revive.
Paragon points: Get your total Move Speed up to 25%, then dump everything else into Intelligence; for Offense, max out Crit Damage and Crit Chance, then Attack Speed; for Defense, max out All Resist, then Armor, then Life; for Utlity, max out Resource Cost Reduction, then Life on Hit, then Area Damage.
Gear
Your ideal gear will be six-pieces of Tal Rasha’s set: helm, amulet, chest, belt, pants, and off-hand. If you only have five pieces, then you can temporarily use a Ring of Royal Grandeur to get the six-piece bonus.
For your gloves, you want Tasker & Theo in order to make your Hydra attack faster. Magefist, for the fire damage, is good alternative until you can get your T&T.
Your bracers should be Ancient Parthan Defenders for maximum survivability.
Your boots must be Nilfur’s Boast in order to maximize your damage.
Your ideal weapon is a Serpent’s Sparker in order to have two Hydras at once, but until you get that, a Sunkeeper for the Elite Damage or a Devastator for the fire damage will do.
For your rings, you want a Halo of Arlyse for maximum crowd control and survivability, and the typical singleplayer Unity setup: one Unity for yourself, one on your follower, and the follower item that renders him invulnerable.
There is no single shoulder-slot item that is best for this build, so go with whatever rolls the best defensive stats.
As far as what stats you want on your items, where you can, stack Critical Hit Damage, Critical Hit Chance, Meteor Damage, and Fire Damage.
For your Legendary gems, you’ll want Bane of the trapped and Pain Enhancer for increased damage, and Esoteric Alteration or Molten Wildebeest’s Gizzard for survivability – whichever you prefer.
The Playstyle
While you could just button mash and do decently well, if you want to maximize your effectiveness, you need to time your attacks properly. Tal Rasha’s set revolves around using multiple elements to build up an increasing damage buff and call down meteors on cooldown. Here’s the sequence of attacks you want to execute.
Before engaging any enemies, spam Electrocutre to build up five stacks of Arcane Dynamo, which will give you a damage boost. Then teleport into a pack of enemies, which will trigger your Calamity rune and call down an Arcane meteor without triggering Arcane Dynamo. This will also stun the enemies around you and build up your first Tal Rasha stack. Immediately upon teleporting, cast Hydra to get your second Tal Rasha stack, use up your Arcane Dynamo buff, and call down a Fire meteor. Next, cast Blizzard to keep your enemy stun-locked, call down an Ice meteor, and get your third Tal Rasha stack. Then cast Electrocute until you’ve build up another five stacks of Arcane Dynamo – this will also give you your fourth and final Tal Rasha stack and call down a Lightning meteor. Once back up to five stacks of Arcane Dynamo, cast your second Hydra (if you have Serpent’s Sparker) and a second Blizzard, and finish by casting Electrocute again to get you back up to 5 stacks – you can cast these before your Tal Rasha stacks expire. Now, you are ready to repeat for the next pack of enemies.
So the order of operations is:
- Electrocute up to five stacks of Arcane Dynamo
- Teleport into a pack of enemies
- Summon first Hydra
- Cast Blizzard
- Electrocute up to five stacks of Arcane Dynamo
- Summon second Hydra
- Cast Blizzard
- Repeat
CJ Miozzi is a Senior Editor at The Escapist and is also known as Rhykker on Youtube. You can follow his livestreams on Twitch and Tweet to him @Rhykker.
