Wizard Vyr Archon Build
Introduction
The signature D3 vanilla Archon Wizard playstyle is brought to viability with the dedicated Vyr's Amazing Arcana and Chantodo's Resolve sets. This guide will cover all of its available playstyles. The base one presented on this page is the Greater Rift Solo Pushing Variation, but this build also has a Nephalem Rift Farming Variation and a Greater Rift Speed Farming Variation; follow the links above to the respective alterations.
Quick Reference
Skill Setup
The basic skill setup of the Vyr Archon Wizard is displayed below. Read the dedicated Skills page for detailed information on choices, alternatives and build customization.
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
Gear Setup
The required gear setup for the Vyr Archon Wizard is listed below. Check the Gear page for detailed information on the required stat rolls on gear, itemization alternatives, gemming, Kanai's Cube and Paragon distribution.
- Head:
Vyr's Sightless Skull
- Shoulders:
Vyr's Proud Pauldrons
- Torso:
Vyr's Astonishing Aura
- Wrists:
Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer
- Hands:
Vyr's Grasping Gauntlets
- Waist:
Fazula's Improbable Chain
- Legs:
Vyr's Fantastic Finery
- Feet:
Vyr's Swaggering Stance
- Amulet:
Squirt's Necklace
- Ring #1:
Halo of Karini
- Ring #2:
Convention of Elements
- Weapon:
Chantodo's Will
- Off-hand:
Chantodo's Force
Altar of Rites
The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.
Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.
Legendary Gems
- Legendary Gem 1:
Bane of the Trapped
- Legendary Gem 2:
Zei's Stone of Vengeance
- Legendary Gem 3:
Bane of the Stricken
Kanai's Cube
- Weapon Slot:
The Furnace
- Armor Slot:
The Swami
- Jewelry Slot:
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac
Season 35 Theme — Eternal Conflict
This Season revives the Pandemonium Kill Streak buff from Season 19. Each stack grants a bonus to movement speed and damage, capping at +50% movement speed and +100% damage at 1000 kills. Hitting specific kill thresholds unleashes powerful effects. Read more in our dedicated Season of the Eternal Conflict Mechanics Guide!
While speedfarming sees limited use from this theme, Greater Rift
pushing benefits significantly. Effects like Geysers (150),
Meteors (400), and Angels (500) can clear elites and Rift
Guardians instantly. Players may reset streaks after 150 kills to repeatedly
trigger Geysers or push for 500+ kills near boss fights, often using
Nemesis Bracers to spawn extra enemies.
Because the most potent effects (Geysers, Meteors, Angels) can obliterate Rift Guardians instantly up to GR150, players can retool builds for efficiency and comfort. Here’s how:
Legendary Gem Considerations
Since you can rely on killstreak procs to clear the Rift Guardian,
Bane of the Stricken can be safely omitted in favor of:
- Another generic damage-scaling legendary gem (
Bane of the Trapped for builds with any form of crowd control and/or melee range,
Zei's Stone of Vengeance for far ranged builds,
Taeguk for channeling builds,
Simplicity's Strength for primary attack-focused builds,
Enforcer for pet-oriented builds, etc.)
- A survivability-oriented legendary gem (
Esoteric Alteration,
Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard), or additional utility (
Gogok of Swiftness for CDR-reliant builds,
Pain Enhancer for attack speed-heavy builds, or
Wreath of Lightning for extra movement speed).
Equipment and Skill Flexibility
Adjust your equipment to items that favor durability, health sustain, and ease of movement. Consider adjusting non-essential skills for the build to ones that pull, reposition, or otherwise displace enemies to facilitate large pulls of enemy packs. In more concrete terms, this means:
- For class-specific items, Wizards should consider
Halo of Karini if it's absent from the build; this is a powerful damage reduction item that incentivizes you to use
Storm Armor and maintain a pull for procs at all times, synergizing well with the killstreak theme. Another strong option is
Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer to significantly boost the strength of your shielding abilities. These help shore up Wizard fragility, especially in high-tier content.
- For additional options that balance between defense and offense, the
class-specific offhand
Orb of Infinite Depth offers a balanced boost of damage and defense for the reasonable requirement of
Explosive Blast inclusion. Helpful cross-class jewelry includes
Unity (combined with the same ring on the follower plus a follower immortality token), and the Endless Walk set (
The Traveler's Pledge and
The Compass Rose).
- Situational items that can bolster your defenses include
Stone Gauntlets, the drawbacks of which are negated via CC-immunity effects like
Ice Climbers, or the Altar of Rites CC-immunity node.A good number of Wizard builds can also afford the inclusion of an
Aquila Cuirass (for low AP-spenders) or a
Mantle of Channeling (for channelers).
- Utility items like
Nemesis Bracers are essential as more elites mean more killstreak maintenance and faster progression. When soloing, they should be equipped by your follower; in groups, at least one party member should commit to wearing them. Edge cases will see the inclusion of
Strongarm Bracers (extra damage vs. displaced enemies),
Warzechian Armguards or
Krelm's Buff Belt (more speed for easier scouting and pulls), and an
Aether Walker if you can spare the weapon slot for ultimate mobility. To facilitate large pulls, consider using a Follower equipped with
The Ess of Johan, a proc-based analogue to an enemy-pulling skill (albeit outside your control).
- Skill-wise, make sure to include at least one movement skill tool like
Teleport and an enemy-pulling tool like
Black Hole. Take a look if you can include passives like
Illusionist (for easy mobility resets) or
Unstable Anomaly (for a cheat-death).
Changelog
- 03 Jun. 2025 (gear page): Added Season 35 Eternal Conflict killstreak recommendations.
- 03 Jun. 2025 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 35.
- 03 Jun. 2025 (this page): Added Season 35 Eternal Conflict killstreak recommendations.
- 20 Jan. 2025 (gear page): Added Season 34 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 20 Jan. 2025 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 34.
- 20 Jan. 2025 (this page): Added Season 34 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 23 Oct. 2024 (gear page): Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
- 23 Oct. 2024 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 33.
- 23 Oct. 2024 (this page): Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
- 10 Jul. 2024 (gear page): Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
- 10 Jul. 2024 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 32.
- 10 Jul. 2024 (this page): Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
- 10 Apr. 2024 (gear page): Added Season 31 advice for the unbound Kanai's Cube slots.
- 10 Apr. 2024 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 31.
- 10 Apr. 2024 (this page): Added Season 31 advice for the unbound Kanai's Cube slots.
- 10 Jan. 2024 (gear page): Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
- 10 Jan. 2024 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 30.
- 10 Jan. 2024 (this page): Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
- 13 Sep. 2023 (gear page): Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
- 13 Sep. 2023 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 29.
- 13 Sep. 2023 (this page): Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
- 22 Feb. 2023 (gear page): Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
- 22 Feb. 2023 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 28.
- 22 Feb. 2023 (this page): Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
- 23 Sep. 2022 (gear page): Enriched the guide with additional information.
- 23 Sep. 2022 (skills page): Enriched the guide with additional information.
- 23 Sep. 2022 (this page): Enriched the guide with additional information.
- 26 Aug. 2022 (gear page): Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 26 Aug. 2022 (skills page): Skills and passives reviewed for Season 27.
- 26 Aug. 2022 (this page): Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 14 Apr. 2022 (gear page): Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 14 Apr. 2022 (skills page): Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 14 Apr. 2022 (this page): Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 06 Dec. 2021 (gear page): Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
- 06 Dec. 2021 (skills page): Reviewed for Season 25.
- 06 Dec. 2021 (this page): Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
- 14 Sep. 2021 (gear page): Enriched the guide with additional information.
- 14 Sep. 2021 (skills page): Enriched the guide with additional information.
- 14 Sep. 2021 (this page): Enriched the guide with additional information.
- 22 Jul. 2021 (gear page): No changes necessary for Season 24.
- 22 Jul. 2021 (skills page): No changes necessary for Season 24.
- 22 Jul. 2021 (this page): Added note regarding Ethereal weapons for Season 24.
- 02 Apr. 2021 (gear page): Adjusted gear recommendations, added follower information.
- 02 Apr. 2021 (skills page): No changes required for Season 23.
- 02 Apr. 2021 (this page): Adjusted gear recommendations, added follower information.
- 16 Jan. 2021 (gear page): Revised gear and Cube recommendations, introduced additional clarity for stat goals.
- 16 Jan. 2021 (skills page): Revised skill and rune recommendations.
- 16 Jan. 2021 (this page): Thorough revision of the guide in terms of information, presentation and variation splits.
- 20 Nov. 2020 (gear page): Added Cube recommendations for Season 22.
- 20 Nov. 2020 (skills page): No changes necessary for Season 22.
- 20 Nov. 2020 (this page): Added Cube recommendations for Season 22.
- 01 Jul. 2020 (gear page): Corrected jewelry recommendations to fall in line with the proper tables. Added notes on double element version.
- 01 Jul. 2020 (skills page): Revised skill selection away from channeling skills and into utility. Added notes on double element version.
- 01 Jul. 2020 (this page): Significant revision to reflect the top tier pushing meta. Added notes on double element version.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (gear page): No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (skills page): Minor revision to passive recommendations.
- 12 Mar. 2020 (this page): Minor revision to passive recommendations.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Expanded on stat, legendary gem and itemization choices with additional information.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (skills page): Added additional skill and passive alteration information for high-end GRs.
- 22 Nov. 2019 (this page): Added possible variations of legendary gems, skills and passives and improved stat tables. Updated for Season 19.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (gear page): Item recommendations are revised for Season 18.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (skills page): Skill recommendations are revised for Season 18.
- 23 Aug. 2019 (this page): Skill and item recommendations are revised for Season 18.
- 17 May 2019 (gear page): Guide was revised with additional recommendations for Season 17.
- 17 May 2019 (skills page): Guide was revised with additional recommendations for Season 17.
- 17 May 2019 (this page): Guide was revised with additional recommendations for Season 17.
- 18 Jan. 2019 (gear page): Added suggestions for the baseline Ring of Royal Grandeur for Seasonal characters.
- 18 Jan. 2019 (skills page): Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
- 18 Jan. 2019 (this page): Guide was revised with additional recommendations for Season 16.
- 20 Sep. 2018 (this page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 15.
- 14 Jun. 2018 (this page): Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 14.
- 26 Nov. 2017 (gear page): Significant revision to itemization.
- 26 Nov. 2017 (skills page): Significant revision to skill selection.
- 26 Nov. 2017 (this page): Significant revision to the itemization and skill selection.
- 27 Oct. 2017 (gear page): Revised gear to reflect its Patch 2.6.1 buffs.
- 27 Oct. 2017 (skills page): Revised skills to reflect its Patch 2.6.1 buffs.
- 27 Oct. 2017 (this page): Revised the guide to reflect its Patch 2.6.1 buffs.
- 27 Jun. 2017 (this page): Updated guide for 2.6 and moved it to new format.
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This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly publishes video guides on Youtube and streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.
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