Firebird Wizard BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points

Last updated on Jul 01, 2020 at 09:00 by Deadset 5 comments

Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your Firebird Wizard in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for Patch 2.6.9 and Season 21.

1.

Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives

The build incorporates the complete Firebird's Finery 6-piece bonus, taking six of the seven available pieces and opening up the jewelry for the Endless Walk set and its damage multiplication bonuses. The build benefits greatly from Cooldown Reduction, so it comes as a recommended roll on Firebird's Pinions Firebird's Pinions (along with Intelligence, Vitality and Life %) and Firebird's Talons Firebird's Talons (along with both Crit stats and Intelligence). Firebird's Down Firebird's Down, Firebird's Breast Firebird's Breast and Firebird's Tarsi Firebird's Tarsi should remain pure Toughness slots. Crit chance, alongside high Intelligence and Vitality is recommended on Firebird's Plume Firebird's Plume. 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 Firebird's Finery 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. Firebird Archon Wizards share this playstyle, alternating long distance movement to favorable monster density with periods of stationary Arcane Blast and Arcane Strike spam (see this build's skills page for more information).

A socketed Halo of Arlyse Halo of Arlyse will occupy the second ring slot in solo GR progression. Halo of Arlyse Halo of Arlyse will multiply the effectiveness of your Ice Armor Ice Armor mitigation, and provide additional crowd control. As long as the requirements of the ring are met, it will release a constant streak of Frost Nova Frost Novas, unhindered by internal cooldowns. Note that this slot is interchangeable with Convention of Elements Convention of Elements depending on your better rolled item, with the worse one going in the Cube jewelry slot.

In solo progression, Halo of Arlyse Halo of Arlyse finds a synergistic companion in the Ancient Parthan Defenders 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 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 that crowd control on the same monster diminishes with each successive application — so always seek out fresh enemies to reduce damage with.

Fazula's Improbable Chain Fazula's Improbable Chain belt is tailored after Archon builds, with a BiS roll giving you 50 automatic Archon Archon stacks when entering Archon Archon form. Aiding you in your most vulnerable moments, this belt gets your damage and Toughness off the ground quicker, making it vital for the playstyle.

The mandatory weapon and offhand for the build are the Chantodo's Resolve set, Chantodo's Will Chantodo's Will and Chantodo's Force Chantodo's Force. Essential to the playstyle by providing the stacking Wave of Destruction effect, this set will be responsible for a 7000% weapon damage chunk in your DPS. Rolls-wise, aim for Cooldown Reduction and either % Damage Increase or Life per Hit on Chantodo's Will Chantodo's Will, and high damage range, Crit Chance and main stats (Intelligence and Vitality) on Chantodo's Force Chantodo's Force. Note that Area Damage is not considered a priority due to the fact that Wave of Destruction (the pulsing of the Chantodo set) does the majority of your damage, and it is considered a proc by the game — thus, not proccing other procs (like Area Damage).

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Intelligence
  2. Socket
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Vitality
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Life %
Torso
  1. Intelligence
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Reduced damage from Elites
  5. Armor
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Fire Damage
  4. Vitality
  5. Armor
Hands
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. 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. Armor
  4. All Resistance
  5. Movement Speed
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Fire Damage
  5. Intelligence
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Intelligence
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Intelligence
Weapon
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Life per Hit
  6. % Weapon Damage
Off-hand
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Vitality
  5. Increased Damage Against Elites

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.

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. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Attack Speed
Defense
  1. Armor
  2. Life %
  3. All Resistance
  4. Life Regeneration
Utility
  1. Life on Hit
  2. Resource Cost Reduction
  3. Area Damage
  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. You will benefit from it naturally, as Archon Wizards tend to fight in melee range to maximize the Wave of Destruction — Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped procs itself with the level 25 property, along with the constant Frost Nova Frost Nova triggers.

Bane of the Powerful Bane of the Powerful provides a 20% multiplicative damage increase after killing an elite pack, as well as baseline 15% damage increase against, and damage reduction from, elite enemies. The bonus duration upgrades at a steady pace with gem levels, and is usually a good indication of your power — if it falls off, you are past the limits of your current setup.

Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and final jewelry socket during Greater Rift progression. 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. The Firebird Archon Wizard is not an exception, and Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken is considered a great addition to the setup.

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 in solo progression should be taken by The Furnace The Furnace, the strongest generic two-handed weapon in the game. With its 50% additional elite damage affix it speeds up clear times greatly, as Champion and Rift Guardian fights are the usual GR bottleneck.

Aquila Cuirass Aquila Cuirass will halve incoming damage as long as Arcane Power does not dip below 90% of its reserve, which should be a natural state for a build without spenders in regular form, and free damage dealing skills in Archon Archon.

Your jewelry slot will be best taken by Convention of Elements Convention of Elements; the ring rotates through all elements available to Wizards, providing a massive bonus to your main damage skills during the Fire proc (a cycle you will need to learn and time to maximize your damage).

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

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.

Changelog

  • 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.
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