Vyr Archon Wizard Skills and Runes
On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Vyr Archon Wizard in Diablo 3. Updated for patch 2.6.10 and Season 22.
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
Rotation
The strategy of this build revolves around the in- and out- of Archon
dynamic, trying to conserve and increase power as much as you can outside your
alternate form and unleashing the built up damage potential during the
Archon uptime.
Both Magic Weapon
Deflection and
Storm Armor should be activated
as soon as you enter the Greater Rift, and you should be cognizant that your
first
Archon activation will not be at a 20-stack capped Chantodo bonus;
build up what you can before endangering your survivability too much and enter
Archon form. Focus on building up Archon stacks during your initial
rotations via the left click melee attack (Archon Blast), as the right click
ranged attack (Disintegration Wave) is much slower at stack buildup — use
it for long distance monster aggro at most. Disintegration Wave snapshots attack
speed upon entering Archon form, and subsequent AS fluctuations (positive or
negative) during Archon will not affect its tick rate.
Once you return to regular form, The Swami helm in the Cube will ensure
you keep the positive effects of your
Archon stacks up to 20 seconds;
this enables you to survive and either reset (if you are using
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac), or simply wait out your
Archon
cooldown. During this downtime, get Chantodo's Resolve up to its 20 stack
maximum by attacking, and use
Black Hole and
Slow Time to
control incoming monsters and keep yourself safe. Make sure to cast a
Black Hole just prior entering
Archon to reapply the Cold damage
buff from the rune
Absolute Zero.
Skills and Runes
Its presence in the build is pretty self-explanatory, but Archon
should be on your skill bar. You have a degree of freedom with your element of
choice, as you receive the benefits of all the runes through the
Vyr 2-piece set bonus. For the
general version of this build that we recommend, we will be using the Cold rune
Slow Time, but if you experiment with the
Double Element variant, it will be
swapped out for
Combustion due to its superior burst damage as you enter
your Archon form.
In the general, cold-based version of the Archon build you will be using
Arcane Torrent with the
Static Discharge rune for its superior
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac proc potential. If you dabble in the
multi-element version of the build outlined below, this skill should be swapped
into
Spectral Blade
Flame Blades rune for its element-boosting properties.
Slow Time
Time Warp is another straightforward addition to the build, as
its additive damage buff also applies to the much more convenient, Slow Time-like
effect that is available to the
Archon form.
Black Hole is an excellent utility inclusion for numerous reasons.
First, it brings a monster grouping skill to the setup, which is always welcome
prior to entering your burst phase with
Archon. Second, the skill ticks
add to Chantodo stacks even after you re-enter
Archon, making it an
efficient pick in-between cycles. And third, you add a nice Cold damage buff that
scales with density through the rune
Absolute Zero. Note that in the
Double Element variation, this rune slot
is swapped out into
Spellsteal.
Fighting at a closer range than most Wizard builds can afford, the Archon
build exposes itself to regular danger; thus, a source of defense and minor
damage amplification will be found in Magic Weapon
Deflection. This long
lasting steroid remains quietly in the background and procs consistently off
your Arcane Blasts and Arcane Strikes, bringing a nice damage buffer on top of
your health and mitigation.
Storm Armor will round skills out, taken either with the more
consistent procs of the
Shocking Aspect rune, or the additional movement
speed value of
Scramble. With a fire-and-forget duration of 10 minutes
and a negligible damage proc (which still counts for
Elemental Exposure!),
it can be easily overlooked if not for the massive damage reduction bonuses of
Halo of Karini.
Notes Double Element Variation
The Double Element version of this build is significantly harder to pull off
mechanically, but rewards you with a higher damage potential. The necessary skill
alterations are as follows: Arcane Torrent gets swapped out for
Spectral Blade
Flame Blades;
Archon switches from
Slow Time to
Combustion;
Black Hole switches from
Absolute Zero to
Spellsteal.
In a Double Element variation of the Archon build, you have 32-second Archon
cycles, as dictated by the 16-second cycles of Convention of Elements and
the 20-second duration of
Archon itself. This allows for an 8-second
nuke period upon Archon activation.
The Double Element variation is enabled due to the mechanics of Chantodo's
set, which will always pick your highest elemental damage to base its damage off
of. This necessitates that you roll one piece (i.e. amulet) with the maximum 20%
Lightning elemental damage roll, and the other (i.e. bracer) — with 19% or
less Fire elemental damage. This way, by using Spectral Blade
Flame Blades
you will temporarily boost your Fire elemental damage to a higher point than the
Lightning just as you pop
Archon form, giving you 4 seconds of Fire
Chantodo waves, and then 4 seconds of Lightning Chantodo waves in perfect sync
with your
Convention of Elements cycles.
Needless to say, this variation playstyle is quite timing sensitive, albeit very powerful. You have to be very aware of your CoE rotation and be very strict with your CDR rolls on gear, as the Double Element variation requires absolutely perfected CDR on nearly all pieces that can attain it (shoulders, hands, both rings, weapon and offhand). Even with all these pieces in place, your Archon downtime will be 31.76 seconds, leaving you less than a second to sync with CoE.
Passives
Audacity gets a chance to shine in this dominantly melee range build
by bringing an impressive 30% multiplicative damage increase against enemies
within 15 yards.
Evocation offers a solid chunk of 20% Cooldown Reduction. With the
overarching goal of the playstyle to bring your Archon downtime as low as
possible, Evocation becomes a natural fit.
Galvanizing Ward brings excellent defensive value to the build, as it
works with the shield buff from
Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer.
You have some flexibility in your final passive slot; in general, we
recommend Unstable Anomaly, since its cheat death effect saves you from a
lethal situation once every 60 seconds. If you are pushing the build to its
limits with a double element variation however, we recommend the passive
Elemental Exposure as it will bring slightly more damage — with some
prerequisites. Notice that the passive bumps damage in 5% increments per element
used; you fulfill the arcane with
Spellsteal, the fire with
Flame Blades, and lightning with
Storm Armor. The final bump will
come from the damage type of your weapon,
Chantodo's Will — a lucky
roll (or reroll) of the base damage type will bring the last piece of the damage
buff (cold, in this case).
Changelog
- 16 Jan. 2021: Revised skill and rune recommendations.
- 20 Nov. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 22.
- 01 Jul. 2020: Revised skill selection away from channeling skills and into utility. Added notes on double element version.
- 12 Mar. 2020: Minor revision to passive recommendations.
- 22 Nov. 2019: Added additional skill and passive alteration information for high-end GRs.
- 23 Aug. 2019: Skill recommendations are revised for Season 18.
- 17 May 2019: Guide was revised with additional recommendations for Season 17.
- 18 Jan. 2019: Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
- 26 Nov. 2017: Significant revision to skill selection.
- 27 Oct. 2017: Revised skills to reflect its Patch 2.6.1 buffs.
More Wizard Guides
Builds from Other Classes
Farming Guides
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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