Introduction
Firebird's Finery has been one of the weakest and most clunky sets in the game for quite some time, having to juggle between three Fire abilities to benefit from its set bonuses. Comically enough, the strongest Firebird build iterations have been using non-Fire abilities! Yet, Firebird's Finery had its glory days of dominating the META as a Trash Killer from Season 12 to 15 using Meteor Star Pact alongside channeling multipliers like Deathwish.
Patch 2.7.0 and Season 23, however, brought us a complete rework of this set. Firebird's Finery always had a strong fantasy around the Phoenix theme with the (2) Bonus "rising from the ashes" cheat death and the Fire element with an Ignite DoT. The set was successful with builds like Mirror Images or Flame Blades.
But with Season 27 rework to Tal Rasha's Elements around Meteors bringing two new items, The Smoldering Core and Mempo of Twilight, a new Firebird's Finery variant emerged. This build takes advantage of Meteor damage multipliers and unfortunately do not care about the Firebird Ignite DoT gimmick. With the heavy Tal'Rasha's Elements nerf in Season 30, this build now has a very similar if not higher potential than its Tal'Rasha Meteor counterpart.
This is an Area Damage (AD) build, since Meteors can proc it. The whole playstyle revolves around the precise use of Teleport and massive use of Meteor Comet, in order to wreak havoc onto the battlefield. This guide will show you the way to become a formidable Meteor Wizard!
Flavorful ✔
Caster Playstyle ✔
Smooth Gameplay ✔
Easy to Get Starter Gear ✔
❌ Boring Playstyle
❌ Random Meteor Landing
❌ Vulnerable to Crowd Control
❌ Conflicts with Firebird Set Spirit
Core Setup
Items
- The Firebird's Finery set provides 80% damage reduction to our character as well as a 5,000% damage multiplier. The Ignite DoT mechanic is irrelevant for this build.
- The Grand Vizier provides us a 400% separate damage multiplier and reduce the Meteor Arcane Power cost by 50%.
- The Smoldering Core grants us a stacking damage multiplier on consecutive hits on targets, up to 150%. It also lures normal monsters towards Meteor Impacts.
- Mempo of Twilight grants us a 400% damage multiplier on top of the Meteor Shower rune effect, the latest only affecting selfcast Meteors.
- Nilfur's Boast gives another huge 600% damage multiplier and even up to 900% when you hit only 3 targets or less.
- Squirt's Necklace is a default inclusion for most Wizard builds due to their shield strength.
- Halo of Karini is a core Wizard defensive item, providing us with a tremendous 80% damage reduction at the cost of using Storm Armor.
- Convention of Elements is another separate damage multiplier, giving you triple damage during your Cold cycle.
- Ring of Royal Grandeur allows us to complement our Firebird's FInery Set with another set, Guardian's Jeopardy.
Season 32 Ethereals
Ethereals are powerful rare weapons that can only be found during Season 32. They were initially the Season 24 Theme. They have incredible stats, a random Legendary power, and a free passive for your class. Read our Ethereal Mechanics Guide for full details on how they work and our Ethereal Farming Guide to learn how to acquire them. What you should prioritize on them is the following:
- The Legendary Power
This build requires The Grand Vizier and The Smoldering Core to be functional. We need our Ethereal to roll The Grand Vizier power so we can cube The Smoldering Core which is not available on Ethereals. We also want a good roll on our Legendary power if it has a range. For speed content it is always helpful to have Ethereals with Echoing Fury, In-geom or Messerschmidt's Reaver powers, so keep those if you find them. - The Ethereal Itself
There are 3 different weapons available to us, each with its own benefits:- Mang Song's Lesson - This is an amazing Ethereal for all kind of content from speed runs to endgame push. Its 50% Undead Damage makes it unbelievably strong on specific monstersets, especially the Hulks & Dust Eaters one.
- The Oculus - This is the option you can go for when it comes to speed content, especially T16 farming, due to its Damage Reduction debuff and its high Arcane Power on Critical Hit (APoC) roll to help out with resources.
- Wizardspike - This Ethereal can be used instead of The Oculus for speed content.
- The Ethereal Stat Rolls
Each Ethereal comes with its own fixed set of powerful affixes. While some have a static value, many have a wide stat range. This means the difference between good and bad rolls is significant and something you should look for. - A Useful Passive
This is just icing on the cake because a fifth passive is not going to make or break your build. You're better off hunting for the things above. Check out the Passives section down below to see which ones you're looking for.
Global Stat Priorities
You want to stack damage stats wherever possible, especially Critical Hit Chance and Damage, Area Damage as well as Cold Damage and Meteor Damage. Some Resource Cost Reduction is welcome (Shoulders and Flawless Royal Topaz in Helmet). You do not care about Firebird's Finery Ignite DoT mechanic to deal damage.
Regarding toughness, like most Wizard builds, in some setups we take advantage of Galvanizing Ward and Diamond Skin Prism to generate Shields based on our HP pool. This means Vitality and Life % are very important as they double dip into Shields. This is the reason why you want to aim for a decent HP pool.
Crowd Control Reduction is an incredibly valuable secondary Affix to roll on both Rings, Amulet and Helmet as we are very sensitive to Hard Crowd Control effects and mitigating these will ease up our gameplay significantly. Make sure to get the Primary Affixes locked in before attempting to get CCR though.
Assembling the Build
Item Stat Priorities
Gems
Skills
Passives
Paragon Points
Altar of Rites
Follower
Gameplay
Hardcore
Variants
Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
Concept
Like usual we utilize Boon of the Hoarder with Avarice Band (on follower) to become invincible and instantly vacuum the juicy Progression Orbs from Elites.
We focus more on mobility and utility like Teleport. The idea is to spam Thunder Crash on packs of monsters and Elites while running. We use Stone of Jordan and drop The Smoldering Core since its mechanics are not speed content friendly.
Gameplay
Teleport through the rift with Teleport while spamming Thunder Crash everywhere on the screen. Use Diamond Skin Prism on cooldown to ensure you never run into Arcane Power issues.
Setups
In groups, replace Warzechian Armguards with Nemesis Bracers and Ring of Royal Grandeur with Avarice Band while replacing Pride's Fall with Firebird's Plume. Swap The Witching Hour with Goldwrap if you want to be invulnerable.
Concept
We focus more on mobility and utility like Teleport. The idea is to spam Thunder Crash on packs of monsters and Elites while running. We drop The Smoldering Core since its mechanics are not speed content friendly.
Gameplay
Teleport through the rift with Teleport while spamming Thunder Crash everywhere on the screen. For a step-by-step gameplay description on how you should sequence your skills, check out the "Gameplay" section above.
Setups
If incoming damage is an issue, swap out Bane of the Powerful for Esoteric Alteration or Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard instead. You can also replace Teleport Wormhole with Safe Passage for an additional 25% damage reduction. If you're comfortable with both your damage and toughness, go for Invigorating Gemstone instead of Bane of the Powerful for the Crowd Control Immunity. Furthermore, you can go back to a Dual Staves setup with The Smoldering Core similar to the Solo Push setup for higher but slower clears.
Concept
We stack up as much damage as possible and take advantage of Teleport. The idea is to spam Comet during your Cold Convention of Elements cycle. Don't forget that Wizard shielding mechanics scale with your HP pool, so adding more Vitality and Life % is always a huge toughness boost.
Gameplay
Pull monsters all around using Teleport and Disintegrate. As your Cold CoE cycle is coming up, use Black Hole Absolute Zero to lock monsters and start nuke with Comet. For a step-by-step gameplay description on how you should sequence your skills, check out the "Gameplay" section above.
Setups
It is possible to play this build using Endless Walk instead of Squirt's Necklace and Convention of Elements. This setup has less damage but does not require you to keep Shields and rely on CoE cycles to deal damage if you do not lke that. Alternatively, it is possible to play this build with Star Pact.
If you're comfortable with toughness, go for the Enchantress as follower instead of the Templar. For more toughness, you can drop Zei's Stone of Vengeance for Esoteric Alteration (at the cost of massive damage loss) or swap Elemental Exposure with a defensive passive like Dominance or Unwavering Will.
Video Guide
Mechanics
Firebirds Finery
Wizard Shields
The Smoldering Core
Elemental Exposure
Summary
- Put together the core items and acquire the full Firebird's Finery set.
- Gather the Meteor related supporting items.
- Channel Disintegrate at the start of every Rift for damage reduction and infinite Teleports.
- Enjoy this flavorful Wizard spellcaster playstyle!
- Hard Crowd Control Effects are now your worst nightmare!
Good luck!
Credits
Written by Chewingnom.
Reviewed by wudijo.
