DMO Frozen Orb Wizard Guide

Last Updated: September 12th 2023

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Introduction

DMO Frozen Orb Solo Push
View all variants

The Delsere’s Magnum Opus (DMO) is a staple Wizard set with a distinct playstyle. While it can be used with a variety of skills, one of the most popular ones is the iconic Arcane Orb Frozen Orb from Diablo II.

It’s quick, impactful and the explosions are very satisfying when played correctly. Very few builds incorporate the fantasy of a spell-slinging Wizard as well as this one. It's also possible to play this build as a Legacy of Dreams version, which frees up one skill slot and allows to include a lot of utility choices.

While it’s not the best in very fast speedfarming content such as Nephalem Rifts, it can be quite successful in Greater Rifts farming and especially pushing. The basic idea is to trap enemies inside your Slow Time bubble, stack them up by kiting and the use of Black Hole or the Energy Twister + Ranslor’s Folly combo and unleash devastating icy explosions onto them from the right distance.

Although it is not really one of the fastest in movement, the build's high damage makes it a great choice for pushing in solo Greater Rifts, while the AoE coverage is decent for farming. Throwing Frozen Orbs into a tightly stacked pull of monsters feels great while you get some supplementary damage from the shards flying in all directions. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to make it a more viable speedfarming alternative as you always have to rely on the Slow Time setup to activate your damage bonuses and can't just start blasting right away like other builds.

Iconic Frozen Orb ✔
Actual Spellcaster ✔
Rewards Good Gameplay ✔
Fun and Satisfying Explosions ✔

❌ Squishy
❌ Clunky Playstyle
❌ Difficult Execution

❌ Vulnerable to Crowd Control

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • The Delsere’s Magnum Opus (DMO) set grants 60% damage reduction to our character as well as a massive 12,500% separate damage multiplier to our Frozen Orbs.
  • Unstable Scepter is our core weapon, providing a 450% separate damage multiplier and a second explosion for Frozen Orbs, nearly doubling our total damage.
  • Triumvirate grants us a stacking 400% damage buff for a total 1,200% separate damage multiplier to Frozen Orb when using Signature Spells.
  • Wizardspike provides another 350% separate damage multiplier on top of a 25% chance to cast an extra Frozen Orb when attacking.
  • Squirt’s Necklace is a default inclusion for Wizards in any build due to their shield strength. Protecting our HP pool for a 100% global separate damage multiplier with continuously refreshing shields is a Wizard speciality.
  • Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer to double our Shields, to ensure we keep the Squirt's Necklace 100% damage multiplier.
  • The Shame of Delsere helps us by increasing the Attack Speed and Resource generation of Signature Spells.
  • Halo of Karini is a core Wizard defensive item, providing us with a tremendous 80% damage reduction at the cost of using Storm Armor.

Season 29 Paragon Cap

Season 29 brings several features, first the brand new Visions of Enmity mechanic. They are an optional and rewarding mini dungeon system where players slay monsters in quick succession of portals. These portals have a chance to spawn upon killing any monster in the open world and they hide many rewards for you to reap! Read the full guide on the Visions of Enmity Mechanics by Chewingnom to learn everything about this fantastic feature!

As if it wasn't enough, Season 29 also shakes things up with a Paragon Cap and a Paragon Distribution Twist! You can only assign a total of 800 Paragon Points to your character. Previously, you were only able to assign a total of 50 Paragon Points to each attribute within the Core, Defense, Offense and Utility categories, but now you can assign up to 200 in each attribute. Each category can only have 200 Paragon Points placed into them.

This forces you to make choices while also enabling crazy possibilities such as 200% Area Damage or 40% Cooldown Reduction! Note that Movement Speed now only grants 0.125% per point but can also go above the 25% Movement Speed cap from items. With that in mind, here is the Paragon Distribution you should follow for the build described in the main sections of the guide. Variants may differ, see below.

Season 29 Paragon Distribution

Global Stat Priorities

Stack the typical damage stats such as Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and Cold Damage on every piece possible. Next you want to add Arcane Orb damage rolls to your Helm, Boots and Offhand slots. In addition, the build relies on heavy Area Damage by stacking up monsters tightly. We want to have it on as many pieces as possible, especially Shoulders, Gloves, Offhands and Rings. The remaining options go to Resource Cost Reduction, Attack Speed, Damage Range (Rings) and Defense whenever you can fit it in. Arcane Power on Critical Hit (APoC) on Off-Hand can be useful especially for farming but is not required.

For toughness, like most Wizard setups, we take advantage of Galvanizing Ward and Spectral Blade Barrier Blades 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 in Greater Rift Solo Push.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
Echoing Nightmare
DMO Frozen Orb Solo Push

Concept
We stack up as much damage as possible while getting just enough toughness to keep up our shields at all times. Squirt’s Necklace is a considerable damage boost you don’t want to lose when pushing.

Gameplay
The basic gameplay revolves around making large pulls of monsters and stacking them up using Black Hole or the Energy Twister + Ranslor’s Folly combo and obliterating them with your Frozen Orb. Playing around this is the most important part as most of your damage comes from Area Damage procs and the explosion of the Orb. The shards do almost nothing on higher Greater Rift Tiers. Since the Bracers can’t pull in elites, you should generally either try to pull them on top / next to them, or just ignore and skip them entirely until you find some that you can kite and kill easily. Just be swift and go for the juicy big pulls.

Season 29 Paragon Distribution

Setups
The other variant you might find on the leaderboards is the Shi Mizu's Haori one which requires you to give up Crown of the Primus and get a specific gear and playstyle without any Life Regen, Life on Hit, Life on Kill or Pickup Radius for Health Globe Pickup. This also allows you to drop all Critical Hit Chance on your gear for other offensive or defensive stats.

Instead of Black Hole you can use Energy Twister Wicked Wind + Ranslor's Folly to pull enemies. You will have to give up the benefits of Crown of the Primus and the Cold damage bonuses from Absolute Zero, but gain a much larger pulling radius with a pixel-stacking ability (which however doesn't work with elites). This setup is generally better for very high end pushing with rifts that have big density. The Black Hole variant is recommended for most purposes and pushes that go all the way up to a few tiers below the build’s maximum potential, where killing elites is more realistic.

Video Guide

Mechanics

Arcane Orb Frozen Orb

Wizardspike

Wizard Shields

Black Hole Absolute Zero

The Shame of Delsere

Elemental Exposure

Summary

  • Put together the core items and acquire the full Delsere's Magnum Opus set.
  • Keep up your Storm Armor and Halo of Karini buffs at all times.
  • Trap enemies in your Slow Time to activate the set bonuses.
  • Activate your Triumvirate bonus by using your Signature Spell (Spectral Blade) regularly.
  • Pull enemies together with Black Hole or Energy Twister to stack them tightly.
  • Position yourself at the right distance to explode Arcane Orb Frozen Orb directly on top of the enemies.
  • Play around the Convention of Elements cycle to maximize your damage.

I hope you enjoyed this guide! Frozen Orb is one of the core Wizard builds and it can be very fun and rewarding setting up the correct pulls and destroying them with your icy explosions. Good luck!

Credits

Written by wudijo. Updated by Chewingnom.
Reviewed by Northwar.

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