DMO Energy Twister Wizard BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points

Last updated on Jan 10, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 17 comments

Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your DMO Energy Twister Wizard in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for Patch 2.7.7 and Season 30.

1.

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 Energy Twister Wizard and is a recommended roll on Dashing Pauldrons of Despair Dashing Pauldrons of Despair (along with Intelligence, Vitality and Life %) and perfected, quadfecta Fierce Gauntlets Fierce Gauntlets (along with both Crit stats and Attack Speed, replacing Intelligence). Harness of Truth Harness of Truth and Leg Guards of Mystery Leg Guards of Mystery should remain pure Toughness slots. Shrouded Mask Shrouded Mask and Striders of Destiny Striders of Destiny can roll Energy Twister %, 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. Notice also the absence of crowd control immunity in the spec (it is a non-Archon build), making Crowd Control Reduction secondary stats (ideally on helm, but can also roll on jewelry) very beneficial. Lastly, Attack Speed is an important affix as far as Arcane Torrent Arcane Torrent-Etched Sigil Etched Sigil combo builds are concerned, since you want to match the 60-frame internal cooldown of the source with a 10-frame/tick rate of the skill. In short, this requires that you get 1.81 to 2.00 sheet attacks per second, attainable from Paragon points and 3 maxed out gear Attack Speed rolls (weapon, gloves and one ring).

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 The Compass Rose ring and The Traveler's Pledge 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 Energy Twister playstyle, which crosses long distances into a favorably dense area and then transitions into stationary Arcane Torrent Arcane Torrent and Energy Twister Energy Twister alternation (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 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.

When starting out with the build, resource management of channeled skills can be an issue. While you learn the ins and outs of the playstyle, you can use Hergbrash's Binding Hergbrash's Binding — a dedicated legendary belt that reduces the strain on your Arcane Power reserves while holding down the Arcane Torrent Arcane Torrent barrage. Note the considerable range of the unique bonus, and strive to attain as close to the maximum 65% as possible. When you get comfortable with Arcane Power management and want to push the upper limits of this build, alter this slot to the all-out damage staple The Witching Hour The Witching Hour.

Ranslor's Folly Ranslor's Folly are an Energy Twister Energy Twister-dedicated item that both increases the skill's damage considerably (up to 300%) and introduces a powerful monster-pulling mechanic to the tornados. Similarly to the belt, there is a considerable disparity between a low and high roll of the unique property, so prioritize maximizing the damage bonus first.

The remaining item slots — weapon and offhand — will be occupied by dedicated channeling legendary items that enable the playstyle interactions in the first place and increase the build's damage output. Etched Sigil Etched Sigil is a build-defining legendary source that augments and casts Energy Twister Energy Twisters for free. The aptly named The Twisted Sword The Twisted Sword increases the skill's damage by up to 150% for each tornado you have out on the battlefield, up to a maximum of 5; it also nets you the strongest rune, Raging Storm Raging Storm, for free, with additional stacking enhancements.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Intelligence
  2. Socket
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Energy Twister %
  5. Vitality
  6. Crowd Control Reduction (secondary stat)
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Area Damage
  4. Life %
  5. Armor
Torso
  1. Intelligence
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Reduced damage from Elites
  5. Armor
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Arcane Damage
  4. Vitality
  5. Life per Hit
Hands
  1. Critical Hit Chance
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Attack Speed
  4. Area Damage
  5. Intelligence
  6. Vitality
Waist
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. Life %
Legs
  1. Intelligence
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
Feet
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Energy Twister %
  4. Armor
  5. Movement Speed
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Arcane Damage
  5. Intelligence
  6. Crowd Control Reduction (secondary stat)
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Area Damage
  6. Intelligence
  7. Crowd Control Reduction (secondary stat)
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Area Damage
  6. Intelligence
  7. Crowd Control Reduction (secondary stat)
Weapon
  1. High Damage Range (Cold damage preferred)
  2. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  3. Intelligence
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Life per Hit
  6. Area Damage
  7. Life per Hit
Off-hand
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Crit Chance
  4. Arcane Power on Crit
  5. Energy Twister %

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.

1.1.

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).

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.

2.

Paragon Points

Slot Paragon Points
Core
  1. Movement Speed up to 25% cap
  2. Intelligence
  3. Vitality
  4. Maximum Arcane Power
Offense
  1. Critical Hit Damage
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Attack Speed
  4. Cooldown Reduction
Defense
  1. Armor
  2. Life %
  3. All Resistance
  4. Life Regeneration
Utility
  1. Area Damage
  2. Resource Cost Reduction
  3. Life on Hit
  4. Globe Radius
3.

Gems

Bane of the Trapped 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, but can easily be triggered from afar with your numerous, large radius Slow Time Slow Times.

Esoteric Alteration Esoteric Alteration is the strongest damage mitigation gem in the game, and provides some much necessary survival to a fragile-yet-frontline build such as this one. You can notably alternate this gem slot to Zei's Stone of Vengeance Zei's Stone of Vengeance for another separate damage multiplier, since — contrary to its description — it grants its base benefits from a 0-yard distance, instead of starting out at 10.

Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken 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. In lower Greater Rifts, when you are not yet pushing against the very limits of your gear, you can alternate this slot to Bane of the Powerful Bane of the Powerful for the dependable overall damage and toughness increase.

3.1.

Season 30 Soul Shards

In Season 30, your helm and weapon sockets will be taken over by the supremely powerful Soul Shards. For this variant, we recommend the following:

  • HelmShard of Hatred with "You now deal 10% increased damage for every enemy" as its Rank 3 power. Note that this also alters the playstyle slightly and forces you into a mid range playstyle to proc the positive effects of the Shard. For optimization benefits, aim for Intelligence or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction on its Rank 2 roll.
  • WeaponEssence of Anguish with "When you deal Poison damage to an enemy, they receive 50% increased Poison damage from all sources for 10 seconds" as its Rank 3 power. For optimization benefits, aim for Arcane Skills % Increase or Weapon Damage Increase on its Rank 2 roll. Note that Essence of Anguish requires dealing Poison damage to trigger its Base Power; in this build, you accomplish this either by re-rolling the weapon damage range (the two numbers displayed just under the big total DPS number; the first Primary stat roll of any weapon) of your own weapon to Poison, or doing the same to your follower's weapon.
Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

4.

Kanai's Cube

Your weapon Cube slot should be taken by Valthek's Rebuke Valthek's Rebuke, another Energy Twister Energy Twister-specific legendary that amplifies the damage of the skill. There is an additional, path-straightening effect, which will be ignored in a setup with Wicked Wind Wicked Wind as the Twisters will remain stationary as priority.

Aquila Cuirass Aquila Cuirass is a damage reduction powerhouse that cuts incoming damage in half as long as you do not dip below 90% of your resource reserve.

Your jewelry Cube slot can vary between the protective Halo of Karini Halo of Karini and the offensive Convention of Elements Convention of Elements — again, dependent 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.

5.

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. Alternatively, if you feel yourself too squishy, you can alter to the Templar for his powerful heals and sustain boons.

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.

6.

Legendary Potion

Your recommended potion is Bottomless Potion of the Tower 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.

7.

Changelog

  • 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: Minor gear alterations and added follower advice.
  • 20 Nov. 2020: Revised item and 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.
  • 30 Mar. 2018: Added the guide.
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