Tal Rasha and His Imaginary Friends:

“How will I survive? I don’t intend to get hit in the first place. If you even touch me, it’s because I allowed it.” This quote accompanies the Wizard passive, Glass Cannon, and is spoken by the unequivocal badass, Maloth, the renegade wizard.

The Skills

·        Magic Missile (Conflagrate)

o   Magic Missile + 2 additional missiles from Mirrorball, enough said

·        Meteor (Molten Impact)

o   Goes BOOM, Meteor Dmg % increase will impact this meteor’s molten levels as well as the damage from Tal Rasha’s meteor procs)

·        Teleport (Wormhole)

o   The new 3 second allowance makes this spell especially fun to play with, jump in, CC, and jump back out

·        Black Hole (Spellsteal)

o   Essentially your opener and the beginning of your CC chain, applies Arcane damage for elemental exposure as well as Tal Rasha’s star pact proc

·        Frost Nova (Bone Chill)

o   A spell for your imaginary friends to use, applies cold damage for elemental exposure as well as Tal Rasha’s comet proc.

·        Mirror Image – (Duplicates)

o   Propagates all your other spells, elongates your CCs and their accompanying effects, helps maintain Magic Missile’s DoT, and added DPS from Molten Impact Meteors

I wanted to formulate a build that adhered to the Glass Cannon philosophy – a high damage class with low toughness, but as I treaded into higher torments, I needed a way to retain my survivability. I needed control. Black Hole, Frost Nova, and the most integral piece of the puzzle, Mirror Image, serve this specific purpose.

Although the root of Frost Nova and Black Hole are defensive, the accompanying runes for both spells (Bone Chill and Spellsteal) were chosen to meet my damage and survivability needs somewhere in between.

The Passives

·        Conflagration

o   Boosts the damage of you and your allies, a solid inclusion

·        Glass Cannon

o   Don’t get hit :D

·        Elemental Exposure

o   A driving force towards how this build was constructed - your skills will trigger 3 of the elements, the lightning damage should come from your weapon

·        Evocation

o   Impacts 5/6 of your skill slots, nearly maxing out the passive’s efficacy

The Items

This build doesn’t need all that much to take you through the lower torments. But if you want to clear the likes of TV and TVI swiftly, you’ll need to get some specifics.

Tal Rasha's 4 piece, or 3 piece with Ring of Royal Grandeur, all the pieces are viable with the exception of the Source, Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare

Tal Rasha’s Relentless Pursuit (Chest)

Tal Rasha’s Brace (Belt)

Tal Rasha’s Allegiance (Neck)

Strongarm Bracers

Thunderfury

Mirrorball

Stat Preferences

Damage, damage, damage! The idea of the build is to be as glass-cannony as possible.

Your defense is reliant on your control spells, which are all based on cooldowns, making CDR your secondary focus.

Weaknesses

The most difficult affix this build has to deal with is Jailer. The damage from Jailer is immediate, is not broadcasted by a projectile, and is therefore pretty much impossible to dodge, but this doesn’t mean the build doesn’t have solutions. There are a couple of tactical solutions to cope with this predicament.

Option 1: the easiest solution would be to equip Don Julia’s Cameo, nullifying the damage issue all together. You have Image and Teleport to remove the immobilizing effect if necessary.

Option 2: Jailer, like many other affixes in the game, has a cooldown. Bait out this cooldown with your friends. They may die in the process, but don’t feel bad, they’re just imaginary.

Option 3: One cannot jail, if one is being sucked in by a black hole or frozen solid. Apply your damage during your CC rotation, and then teleport out when it’s finished. Wait for your cooldowns to refresh and then repeat.

Vortex can also be pretty deadly for the same reasons as Jailer, adhere to options 2 and 3 to cope.

Weaknesses

The most difficult affix this build has to deal with is Jailer. The damage from Jailer is immediate, is not broadcasted by a projectile, and is therefore pretty much impossible to dodge, but this doesn’t mean the build doesn’t have solutions. There are a couple of tactical maneuvers to cope with this predicament.

Option 1: the easiest solution would be to equip Don Julia’s Cameo, nullifying the damage portion of jailer all together. You have Image and Teleport to remove the immobilizing effect if necessary.

Option 2: Jailer, like many other affixes in the game, has a cooldown. Bait out this cooldown with your friends. They may die in the process, but don’t feel bad, they’re just imaginary.

Option 3: One cannot jail, if one is being sucked in by a black hole or frozen solid. Apply your damage during your CC rotation, and then teleport out when it’s finished. Wait for your cooldowns to refresh and then repeat.

Vortex can also be pretty deadly for the same reasons as Jailer, adhere to options 2 and 3 to cope.