DMO Arcane Orbit Wizard BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points
Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your DMO Arcane Orbit Wizard in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for Patch 2.7.8 and Season 35.
Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
The build incorporates the complete Delsere's Magnum Opus set, taking
all six available pieces and opening up the jewelry for the Endless Walk set
and its damage multiplication bonuses. Area Damage is important for the Arcane
Orbit Wizard and is a recommended roll on Fierce Gauntlets (along with
both Crit stats and Intelligence) and
Dashing Pauldrons of Despair (along
with Intelligence, Vitality and Life %).
Harness of Truth and
Leg Guards of Mystery should remain pure Toughness slots.
Shrouded Mask and
Striders of Destiny can roll Arcane Orb %, and
it is recommended to seek the skill bonus on both. Note that stacking Armor
benefits you because of the balancing of sources of mitigation, as All
Resistance is already abundant on an Intelligence-based character.
Not skipping on any of the six available set pieces to obtain the full
Delsere's Magnum Opus set bonus allows you to split between offense and
defense in the jewelry slots. One of the 2.4 reworks, the Endless Walk set
— The Compass Rose ring and
The Traveler's Pledge amulet
— adds a unique mechanic that slowly increases your damage by up to a
100% if you remain stationary, and drains it away and increases your damage
reduction while moving. This is identical to the DMO Arcane Orbit playstyle,
which teleports long distances into a favorably dense area and then
transitions into a stationary
Spectral Blade and
Arcane Orb
rotation (see this build's skills page for
more information). Your other ring slot will be taken by the pure damage boost
of
Convention of Elements, whose rotation of elemental bonuses you will
need to learn and time to maximize the benefits of the short-lived Arcane
cycle.
Introduced in Patch 2.4, The Shame of Delsere belt is an Arcane Power
regeneration powerhouse that speeds up your signature spells by 50% and
restores up to 12 AP per hit.
In progression, the cubed Halo of Arlyse finds a synergistic
companion in the
Ancient Parthan Defenders, whose unique property
triggers off Freeze effects as well (inexplicably missing from the item
tooltip). With the chain triggers of
Frost Nova from the ring, diving
into massive fights turns from a suicide tactic into a survival tool through
the numerous damage reduction procs of the bracer. An important playstyle tip
to remember is to stay on the move, as crowd control on the same monster
diminishes with each successive application — so always seek out fresh
packs to reduce damage with.
The mandatory weapon of the progression build is the
Unstable Scepter, a 2.4 addition that not only increases Arcane Orb
damage, but also has a unique property that detonates
Arcane Orbs twice
— effectively doubling the spec's damage output.
Triumvirate is best-in-slot source for the progression
Arcane Orb build, whose unique bonus stacks
Arcane Orbit damage
in three increments, achieved by an easy triple attack from
Spectral Blade.
Orb of Infinite Depth can be used in the slot
interchangeably (provided you are not using the
Magic Weapon
Deflection
variant of the push spec), depending on your better rolled item.
Slot | Pieces | Stat Priority |
---|---|---|
Head |
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Shoulders |
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Torso |
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Wrists |
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Hands |
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Waist |
|
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Legs |
|
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Feet |
|
|
Amulet |
|
|
Ring #1 |
|
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Ring #2 |
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Weapon |
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Off-hand |
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To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.
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.
Paragon Points
Slot | Paragon Points |
---|---|
Core |
|
Offense |
|
Defense |
|
Utility |
|
Gems
Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is
its own multiplier in your total damage calculation. The gem procs itself with
its level 25 property when in melee range, perfectly suitable to the
Arcane Orbit playstyle.
Esoteric Alteration is the strongest mitigation gem available, and
its impact is noticeable in this close range caster build. Improving your
elemental resistances with every gem level and adding an emergency toughness
spike through the level 25 property,
Esoteric Alteration ensures that
enemies will have a hard time bursting you down.
Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and
final jewelry socket. Building up your damage multiplicatively in prolonged
fights and with a level 25 bonus specifically targeting Rift Guardians, this
gem is designed to assist AoE heavy builds in their struggle against single
target, high HP enemies.
Slot | Gems |
---|---|
Jewelry | |
Helm |
|
Torso and Pants |
|
Weapon |
For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.
Kanai's Cube
The default recommendation for the weapon slot in the Cube is
Orb of Infinite Depth, which turns every
Explosive Blast detonation
into a multiplicative damage increase and damage reduction bonus. Getting these
bonuses up as soon as possible dictate the choice of the
Chain Reaction
rune. If you run the
Magic Weapon
Deflection variation of the progression
build you can cube
The Furnace for the 50% additional damage against
elites, greatly speeding up Champion and Rift Guardian fights.
Crown of the Primus nets you the effects of all
Slow Time runes
except for
Point of No Return (a useful omission, since that rune's stun
can be ruinous during GR progression). At the mere cost of a Cube slot, you
gain the additional CC and utility of
Time Shell, the damage reduction
of
Exhaustion, the increase of damage dealt to enemies from
Time Warp, and the attack speed increase of
Stretch Time. On top
of that, the
Slow Time bubble follows you permanently, which is an
excellent quality-of-life effect for the build.
As a build that regularly stands toe to toe with monsters,
Halo of Arlyse will occupy the jewelry cube slot by necessity during GR
progression.
Halo of Arlyse will multiply the effectiveness of your
Ice Armor mitigation, and provide additional crowd control. As long as
the requirements of the ring are met (and they are calculated pre-mitigation),
it will release a constant streak of
Frost Novas, unhindered by internal
cooldowns. For the progression spec, the jewelry cube slot is interchangeable
with
Convention of Elements depending on your better rolled item.
The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.
Follower
The recommended follower for this build during solo GR progression is the Scoundrel due to his powerful crit buff, allowing you brief windows of extra damage that are well suited to the strengths of this build.
For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.
Legendary Potion
Your recommended potion is Bottomless Potion of the Tower, whose
Armor-increasing properties complement the naturally high All Resistances stat
of Wizards (due to Intelligence scaling Resistances) for optimal
survivability.
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: Added Season 35 Eternal Conflict killstreak recommendations.
- 20 Jan. 2025: Added Season 34 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 23 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
- 10 Jul. 2024: Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
- 10 Apr. 2024: Added Season 31 advice for the unbound Kanai's Cube slots.
- 10 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
- 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
- 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
- 26 Aug. 2022: Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 06 Dec. 2021: Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
- 22 Jul. 2021: Added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
- 02 Apr. 2021: Added follower recommendation.
- 20 Nov. 2020: Added Cube recommendations for Season 22.
- 01 Jul. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
- 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 22 Nov. 2019: Reviewed for Season 19.
- 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed and approved for Season 18.
- 17 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 18 Jan. 2019: Added suggestions for the baseline Ring of Royal Grandeur for Seasonal characters.
- 27 Oct. 2017: A few wording changes. Build remains unchanged for Patch 2.6.1.
More Wizard Guides
Builds from Other Classes
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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