Vyr Archon Wizard BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Quick Reference
    • 2.1. Skill Setup
  • 3. Builds
    • 3.1. Gear Setup
    • 3.2. Legendary Gems
    • 3.3. Kanai's Cube
  • 4. Role in the Current Meta
  • 5. Reading Further
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Skills and Runes
  • 1. Rotation
  • 2. Skills, Runes and Passives
  • 3. ChangeLog
• ×Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points
  • 1. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
  • 2. Paragon Points
  • 3. Gems
  • 4. Kanai's Cube
  • 5. Follower
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Speed Farming Variation
  • 1. Speed Farming
  • 2. Adapting Skills
  • 3. Adapting Gear
  • 4. Adapting Gemming
  • 5. Adapting Kanai's Cube
  • 6. ChangeLog

General Information

Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your Vyr Archon Wizard in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for patch 2.6.1 and Season 15.

The other pages of our Vyr Archon Wizard guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

1. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives

The build incorporates the complete Vyr's Amazing Arcana set, taking all six available pieces and leaving the jewelry to balance offense (with the Endless Walk set) and defense (with Halo of Karini). Rolls-wise, this Archon-centric playstyle takes good advantage of Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction affixes. Vyr's Sightless Skull, Vyr's Astonishing Aura, Vyr's Fantastic Finery and Vyr's Swaggering Stance can all be dedicated to Toughness, as Archon abilities are not possible skill damage rolls on gear. Cooldown Reduction should be the fourth primary alongside Toughness stats on the Vyr's Proud Pauldrons, and is also taken on Vyr's Grasping Gauntlets alongside an ideal quadfecta of Crit Chance, Crit Damage and Attack Speed.

Patch 2.6.1 sees the change of the traditional Vyr to incorporate Manald Heal, one of the strongest, proc-based items in the game. While it should be generally cubed (as noted in the appropriate section below), it also enforces several particular considerations while gearing. First, in order to direct Archon to deal Lightning damage (the only elemental type that works with the Paralysis passive and triggers Manald Heal), Lightning % needs to be highest elemental damage on gear — but Lightning % itself will not affect the Manald Heal proc, so it doesn't need to be boosted across mutliple pieces of gear. Just one will serve, usually the bracer. Second, Manald Heal is unaffected by proc coefficients and internal cooldowns, and can trigger multiple times during a Paralysis proc — making Attack Speed a highly desirable stat alongside the usual CDR in Archon builds. The Manald Heal proc factors in crit stats, but will not trigger area damage, further influencing itemization. Last but not least, even if Paralysis procs and does not stun due to the diminishing returns on crowd control, Manald Heal will still produce its damage, making the ring deceptively potent.

The scaling difficulty of Greater Rifts forces you to split between offense and utility 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 mimics the Archon playstyle, alternating long distance movement to favorable monster density with periods of stationary Arcane Blast and Arcane Strike spam. Note that Manald Heal's proc curiously does not benefit from elemental damage, making Increased Attack Speed the fourth desirable primary on the amulet. Finish off your jewelry with the massive damage reduction bonus of Halo of Karini, whose trivial requirement is simply using Storm Armor in the build.

Spending a lot of time in the crowd control-immune Archon form, you will find yourself at your weakest and most susceptible to deadly affixes in your regular form. To counteract an unlucky streak of CC, include Krelm's Buff Bracers in your setup, as they render you immune to Knockbacks and Stuns.

Fazula's Improbable Chain belt is tailored after Archon builds, with a BiS roll giving you 50 automatic Archon stacks when entering 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.

With the powerful presence of Manald Heal dictating much of your itemization, the old favorite Chantodo's Resolve set ( Chantodo's Will and Chantodo's Force) find themselves outclassed by gear oriented at proccing and boosting the ring as much as possible. While they remain a viable choice, the currently preferred setup for your weapon and offhand has become Pig Sticker and Orb of Infinite Depth. While lacking any flashy bonuses, Pig Sticker more than makes up for the fact. First, it has the superior attack speed of the dagger weapon class (1.5 base); second, it rolls up to five primary stats, meaning it can have high Intelligence, Increased Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction and Damage %. And third, its unique bonuses vs. human and beast enemies are multiplicative in nature and can lead to massive damage spikes in certain rift compositions. In your other hand, Orb of Infinite Depth will provide both a multiplicative damage increase and (more importantly) substantial Damage Reduction at its maximum 4 stacks.

Slot	Pieces	Stat Priority
Head	Vyr's Sightless Skull	Intelligence Socket Critical Hit Chance Vitality
Shoulders	Vyr's Proud Pauldrons	Intelligence Vitality Cooldown Reduction Life %
Torso	Vyr's Astonishing Aura	Intelligence 3 Sockets Vitality Reduced damage from Elites Armor
Wrists	Krelm's Buff Bracers	Intelligence Critical Hit Chance Lightning Damage Life per Hit Vitality
Hands	Vyr's Grasping Gauntlets	Critical Hit Chance Critical Hit Damage Cooldown Reduction Attack Speed Intelligence
Waist	Fazula's Improbable Chain	Intelligence Vitality Armor Life %
Legs	Vyr's Fantastic Finery	Intelligence 2 Sockets Vitality Armor
Feet	Vyr's Swaggering Stance	Intelligence Vitality Armor All Resistance Movement Speed
Amulet	The Traveler's Pledge	Socket Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Attack Speed Intelligence
Ring #1	The Compass Rose	Socket Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Cooldown Reduction Intelligence
Ring #2	Halo of Karini	Socket Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Cooldown Reduction Intelligence
Weapon	Pig Sticker	High Damage Range Intelligence Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift) Cooldown Reduction Increased Attack Speed % Weapon Damage
Off-hand	Orb of Infinite Depth	High Damage Range Intelligence Cooldown Reduction Arcane Power on Crit Increased Damage Against Elites

2. Paragon Points

Slot	Paragon Points
Core	Movement Speed up to 25% cap Intelligence Vitality Maximum Arcane Power
Offense	Cooldown Reduction Attack Speed Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance
Defense	Armor Life % All Resistance Life Regeneration
Utility	Area Damage Life on Hit Resource Cost Reduction Gold Find

3. Gems

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 procs itself with the level 25 property, along with the constant Frost Nova triggers.

Taeguk is a rare hybrid of defense and offense among the legendary gem options, and continued Arcane Torrent channeling will ensure that your stacks remain capped for a consistent, well-rounded benefit during your Archon downtime.

For the vast majority of GR play, your final jewelry socket should be taken by Gogok of Swiftness. Gogok of Swiftness indirectly provides you with more damage and survivability by increasing the essential Cooldown Reduction, as well as scaling Dodge chance. Even its Attack Speed aspect is not lost, since it brings additional Manald Heal procs to the table. In the highest tiers of Greater Rift progression, you can consider replacing this gem with the scaling damage increase of Bane of the Stricken, as it can help you tear down the wall of Guardian HP that will otherwise prove impenetrable.

Slot	Gems
Jewelry	Bane of the Trapped Taeguk Gogok of Swiftness Bane of the Stricken (alt)
Helm	Flawless Royal Diamond (Cooldown Reduction)
Torso and Pants	Flawless Royal Topaz (Damage and All Resistance)
Weapon	Flawless Royal Emerald

4. Kanai's Cube

Tucked away in the weapon Cube slot, Deathwish is a pure damage increase to your Manald Heal procs while you channel Arcane Torrent in your normal state, leading to massive damage bursts that rival your alternate form's performance.

The Swami is an essential addition to the Cube for the armor slot, as the power of this Wizard Hat allows you to maintain the Archon stack benefits for 20 seconds in your normal form. That window of opportunity allows you to survive and safely wait out the next Archon.

As previously mentioned, Manald Heal needs to be stored in the jewelry Cube slot. While it is interchangeable with Halo of Karini in this slot, it has a bigger range of the unique property roll, making it easier to perfect by cubing.

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.

About the Author

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.

6. ChangeLog

• 26 Nov. 2017: Significant revision to itemization.
• 27 Oct. 2017: Revised gear to reflect its Patch 2.6.1 buffs.

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