Crit Ignite Fireball Mage (sry no flamethrower, change of plans)

The idea is similar to Meteor+BlackHole mage, with following differences:

  • doesn’t kill your FPS as much as Meteors (in theory)
  • more convenient to use than meteors against small threats (arguably)
  • Satisfaction from burning your enemies with a Homing Bursting Critting waves of Fireballs.
  • Fireballs orbiting your Black Hole make a nice view

Other similar builds:

A word of caution: This is a “Hybrid” build in the sense that it goes after 2 things (crits and ignites), without there being real synergy between the two (apart from both benefiting from fire/elem damage and cast speed).
If you don’t have a good weapon (Prophecy Wand with 200+ increased base spell damage, 60+ crafted critical chance), you’d be better off going for a pure Ignite build.

Gear:
Unique:
Rahyehs Light - great for leveling, but you can craft something better for endgame
Prism Wraps - health leech on crit. So high you can even drop Bleeding Heart at endgame. (or don’t since the Heart leeches from Ignites, while Wraps don’t)
Calamity - mana, good damage and ignite chance
Soulfire - good damage and ignite chance
Bleeding Heart - health leech.
Strong Mind - a good choice if you have enough leech from Prism Wraps already.
Set:
Isadora’s Gravechill - added base spell damage; good for leveling, not so much for endgame.
Isadora’s Tomb Binding - 300 armor & 15% cast speed; good for leveling, not so much for endgame.
(2x) The Invoker’s Scorching Grasp - +50% ignite chance, +50% damage over time.
Weapon:
Prophecy Wand - look for highest base (up to 250% increased base spell damage); craft crit chance, fire damage, etc

Here’s how I see endgame equipment (mind that this is a draft):
Head: Calamity
Amulet: Elemental Damage, Hybrid Health Leech, Added Health, Added Mana
Weapon: Prophecy Wand; Critical Strike Chance, Elemental Damage, any 2 of (Void Protection, Mana, Mana Regen, Increased Shock Effect)
Body: Prism Wraps
Offhand: Solarum Shield; glancing blow, block chance, health/protections
Ring1: The Invoker’s Scorching Grasp
Belt: glancing blow x2, health/protections
Ring2: The Invoker’s Scorching Grasp
Gloves: glancing blow x2, health/protections
Boots: glancing blow x2, movement speed, health/protections
Relic: Soulfire
You need at least 7 Glancing Blow affixes to hit 100% mark, but if your rolls aren’t good you might need 8. If you can manage 7 affixes, fill 8th with block chance (on shield) or Intelligence (on gloves/boots).
It is possible to craft rings that will be better than Invoker’s ones, but I recommend focusing on other items first. Ring prefixes should be Int and fire/elemental damage.

Skills: Teleport, Black Hole, Focus, Fireshield, Fireball
Fireshield: I went for global Ignite chance, duration, and aura.
Focus: 9 points into mana regen, 11 points into ward
Black Hole: max duration, pull radius, blind chance, chance to create another hole on expiration. rest into pull strength.
Teleport: 14 points to max ward nodes, 6 into decoys
Fireball:
Seeker’s Ash (“fireballs are drawn to your target”)
Flameburst + Volatile Flames (AoE blast on target, when it’s hit by every 3rd fireball)
Arcane Divergence (7 fireballs total)
Remaining 2 points into Burning Wounds, for more crit chance (54% vs ignited mobs) assuming you have 70% crit on wand).
(5% base + 4% Skira’s) * (100% base + 230% passives + 70% gear) = 36%;
36% * 150% = %54

Compared to maxed Skira’s Gambit you only lose 1% crit
(5% base + 6% Skira’s) * (100% base + 230% passives + 70% gear) = 44%;
44% * 125% = %55; but Gambit also reduces cast speed by 5%

Explanation on Fireball setup:
Flameburst + multiple projectiles is a great combo for frying compact groups of mobs, Black Hole helps with the “compact” part.
Seeker’s Ash feels great, you don’t have to aim perfectly. You can hit moving targets, including those “moved” by a Black Hole. You can also shoot from behind obstacles, while enemies can’t reach you with their straight line of attack (Oculus Mortis for example).
Skira’s Gambit & Burning Wounds (critical chance) helps with health leeching via Prism Wraps; also it’s a good DPS increase that is multiplicative with “increased damage”.

Passives:
Mage Tree:
life+mana 8/8
intelligence 2/8
cast speed 5/5
Crits 10/10
Sorcerer:
Crits 8/8
Int+mana 10/10
cast speed 5/5 (2 second buff on spell cast, you are going to cast spells that often for the majority of time, so virtually it’s a flat 5% cast speed per point)
ignite duration 5/5 (I have tested this and the damage does not get diluted over increased duration, so this is straight 50% more ignite damage for only 5 points!)
(ascend to Sorcerer)
cooldown reduction 5/5
crit multi 10/10
int+bonus 12/12
life+ward retention 10/10
Continue as you see fit;
Notable candidates: Mark of Brilliance + followup node (when they get fixed), Warden, Pyromancer, Inferno

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