Lightning Arcane Torrent Wizard Spectral Blade Variation

Last updated on Jul 01, 2020 at 09:00 by Deadset 3 comments

On this page, we explain everything that is specific to the Spectral Blade variant of Lightning Arcane Torrent Wizard. Updated for Patch 2.6.9 and Season 21.

1.

Spectral Blade Variation

Taking advantage of the revised Fragment of Destiny Fragment of Destiny and The Shame of Delsere The Shame of Delsere, this Manald Heal Manald Heal Tal Rasha variation allows Spectral Blade Spectral Blade into the endgame.

2.

Adapting Skills

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Spectral Blade Icon Spectral Blade Thrown Blade Thrown Blade Right Mouse Button Teleport Icon Teleport Calamity Calamity 1 Explosive Blast Icon Explosive Blast Chain Reaction Chain Reaction 2 Frost Nova Icon Frost Nova Frozen Mist Frozen Mist 3 Magic Weapon Icon Magic Weapon Deflection Deflection 4 Energy Armor Icon Energy Armor Force Armor Force Armor
Passive Skills

Offering another flashy and fun way to trigger Manald Heal Manald Heal, Spectral Blade Spectral Blade replaces Arcane Torrent Arcane Torrent as the means of delivering the devastating proc. This melee primary skill has decent AoE coverage, and will attack twice as fast because of The Shame of Delsere The Shame of Delsere and Fragment of Destiny Fragment of Destiny unique bonuses. You will be taking the rune Thrown Blade Thrown Blade for its Lightning element (enabling the Paralysis Paralysis proc), as well as its increased area of effect.

The Spectral Blade Spectral Blade build takes a shielding route for its defenses over the Arcane Torrent Arcane Torrent variation's freezing approach. To that end, you will swap Magic Weapon Magic Weapon to Deflection Deflection and change your armor skill to Energy Armor Energy Armor Force Armor Force Armor. You will also include Galvanizing Ward Galvanizing Ward in your passives for the extra shield added in between fights (ideally over Unstable Anomaly Unstable Anomaly once you grow confident in handling the build). Both spells and the passive will be amplified in power with by the worn Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer.

3.

Adapting Gear

Firstly, we have to acknowledge Spectral Blade Spectral Blade is not a channeling skill. Second, if you followed the recommendations above, you have also dropped Unstable Anomaly Unstable Anomaly's cheat death. You can make up that drop of toughness by replacing Mantle of Channeling Mantle of Channeling and Illusory Boots Illusory Boots from the Arcane Torrent Arcane Torrent setup with Firebird's Pinions Firebird's Pinions and Firebird's Tarsi Firebird's Tarsi. Their 2-piece bonus reintroduces a cheat death in the build.

Since it does not rely on channeling a spell like the Arcane Torrent Arcane Torrent version, the Spectral Blade Spectral Blade playstyle is significantly more mobile. This allows it to wear the strongest offense jewelry combo in the game, the Bastions of Will set — Focus Focus and Restraint Restraint. These rings offer a 2.25 independent damage multiplier as long as you alternate primary and spender attacks, which you fulfill by spamming Explosive Blast Explosive Blast together with Spectral Blade Spectral Blade.

You can also focus this variation on Death's Breath farming with Sage's Journey set, whose 3-piece power increases Death's Breath drops by 1. You will be using Sage's Passage Sage's Passage (non-conflicting piece with Tal's set) as your boots, plus one more piece of your choosing — either Sage's Apogee Sage's Apogee or Sage's Purchase Sage's Purchase. In a setup like this, you will have to re-arrange your jewelry to wear Manald Heal Manald Heal instead of cubing it, along with an Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur to attain all necessary set bonuses.

Last but not least, with Manald Heal Manald Heal's proc scaling nicely with attack speed, you will reap immense benefits by adopting the Spectral Blade Spectral Blade signature weapon, Fragment of Destiny Fragment of Destiny, and the primary skill powerhouse The Shame of Delsere The Shame of Delsere.

It is important to recognize that Manald Heal Manald Heal is the major damage dealer of the build, and Spectral Blade Spectral Blade is simply the means to inflict the proc. The itemization of this build accommodates that fact in several ways. You should not take Lightning elemental damage on gear, as it does not affect the damage of the proc (likely a bug, but still in effect). You should also not itemize for primary skill damage, like taking Spectral Blade Spectral Blade % on gear, equipping Depth Diggers Depth Diggers or gemming Simplicity's Strength Simplicity's Strength.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Socket
  2. Intelligence
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Vitality
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Life %
  4. Armor
Torso
  1. Attack Speed (natural roll)
  2. Intelligence
  3. 3 Sockets
  4. Vitality
  5. Life %
  6. Armor
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Life per Hit
  4. Vitality
Hands
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Attack Speed
Waist
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Life %
Legs
  1. Intelligence
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
Feet
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. All Resistance
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Intelligence
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Intelligence
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Intelligence
Weapon
  1. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  2. High Weapon Damage
  3. Intelligence
  4. Attack Speed
  5. Life per Hit
  6. Vitality
Off-hand
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Crit Chance
  4. Arcane Power on Crit
  5. Vitality

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.

4.

Adapting Gemming

Since Taeguk Taeguk is not an option for non-channeling spells, you can either take Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken to progress this build in Greater Rifts, or use speed farming staples like Bane of the Powerful Bane of the Powerful and Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder in regular Rift farming.

Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

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

5.

Adapting Kanai's Cube

In regular rifts, you can choose to cube a Goldwrap Goldwrap in the Armor slot to complete the gold triumvirate with Avarice Band Avarice Band and Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder).

The jewelry slot will be taken by Manald Heal Manald Heal if you are wearing the damage jewelry setup (Focus Focus and Restraint Restraint), or by a speedrun staple like Avarice Band Avarice Band if you opt for a Death's Breath farming jewelry setup (equipped Manald Heal Manald Heal and Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur).

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.

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.
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