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Firebird Magic Missile Wizard Guide

Last Updated: January 8th 2024

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Disclaimer: This guide is the Season 27 Guide for the Firebird Magic Missile Build which does not exist anymore due to the  Sanctified Magic Missile Power removal. For up-to-date Firebird guides, go to the Firebird Flame Blades or the Firebird Explosive Blast Guides!

Introduction

Firebird Magic Missile Solo Push
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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.

But this new rework created a specific playstyle based around channeling Disintegrate to Ignite monsters and build Combustion stacks with the (4) Bonus. These stacks are then used to buff our Ignite DoT when hitting monsters with another Fire ability, on top of reducing our Teleport Cooldown.

While Flame Blades and Explosive Blast have been very popular skills to use with Firebird, Season 27 and Sanctified Items bring a whole new variant to the table, with the seasonal exclusive Sanctified Magic Missile allowing the Wizard to become a living machinegun on the battlefield!

This, however, comes at the price of not being able to benefit from the best way to scale our damage in density: Area Damage does not work with the Ignite DoT! As a result, we stack Attack Speed to maximize our hit count and the resulting Ignite DoT ticks. To get as many (6) Bonus Ignite procs as possible, this iteration utilizes Magic Missile Conflagrate in combination with Fragment of Destiny and The Shame of Delsere to reach insane Attack Speed Breakpoints. This guide will explain everything there is to know for you to master this unique shotgun Wizard!

High DPS ✔
Flavorful Playstyle ✔
Fast Paced Gameplay ✔
Easy to Get Starter Gear ✔

❌ Hardcap DPS
❌ Sensitive to Breakpoints
❌ Scales Poorly with Density
Vulnerable to Crowd Control

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • The Firebird's Finery set provides 80% damage reduction to our character as well as a 5,000% damage multiplier and the central Ignite DoT mechanic.
  • Orb of Infinite Depth grants us a massive 80% damage reduction and a 40% separate damage multiplier upon using Explosive Blast.
  • Fragment of Destiny for its 50% separate Attack Speed multiplier to Magic Missile, our main Ignite DoT proc ability. The Hydra effect is irrelevant.
  • The Shame of Delsere for yet another 50% separate Attack Speed multiplier to Magic Missile!
  • Ring of Royal Grandeur allows us to complement Firebird's Finery with other sets such as Aughild's Authority and Captain Crimson's Trimmings.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings provides us with 20% Cooldown Reduction and grants us damage and toughness based on our CDR and RCR.
  • Jewelry Slots offer several options: Endless Walk and Convention of Elements are commonly used in push meanwhile the combination of Squirt's Necklace and Focus & Restraint can be used at higher paragon or for speed runs for more damage.
  • It is very important to note that Mirrorball is not a good Off-Hand for this specific build! Firebird's Finery is your main source of damage, not Magic Missile. Adding 2 more projectiles to the base 10 from the Sanctified Magic Missile power is only an overall 20% damage increase.

Season 27 Sanctified Items

Angelic Crucibles are new consumables that drop anywhere once you're Level 70. Using them on items reforges them into Sanctified Items with Primal Ancient stats, and adds one of three new unique Class Powers listed below. For full details on how they work, check out this Seasonal Guide by Chewingnom!

Let's look at our Class Powers and see how they apply to our build:

  1. The only power for us is the Sanctified Magic Missile since it is at the very core of the build concept. It grants Magic Missile 10 additional projectiles on top of the Seeker rune. In combination with the pierce from the Conflagrate rune, this allows for a massive hits potential for Firebird's Finery.
  2. The Sanctified Arcane Orb power doesn't help us, so go for the one listed above.
  3. The Sanctified Storm Armor power doesn't help us, so go for the one at the top.

Since you can only equip one of them, choosing the right item to craft it on matters! Great candidates are Weapons, Offhands, Jewelry or any item with an important multiplier. With that in mind, we recommend Sanctifying one of the following items:

  • Fragment of Destiny
  • Convention of Elements
  • Squirt's Necklace

Global Stat Priorities

You want to stack damage stats wherever possible, especially Attack Speed, Critical Hit Chance and Damage as well as Fire Damage. Area Damage is completely useless in this build (and actively avoided in groups including in Paragon Points).

Magic Missile Attack Speed Breakpoints

Since this build only deals damage with Firebird's Finery (6) Bonus Ignite procs, Attack Speed is our most important stat by a long shot. Due to Fragment of Destiny and The Shame of Delsere granting us two 50% separate Attack Speed multipliers, we can reach the Magic Missile 12 FPA Breakpoint with 43% Attack Speed. This requires us to get perfect Attack Speed on both Rings and Weapon on top of Paragon Points, Gogok of Swiftness (or at least 5 bleeding targets with Pain Enhancer) and the 6% from the Enchantress' Focused Mind. We can miss up to 2% Attack Speed in total and still hit the Breakpoint. We can go for Cooldown Reduction on Gloves.

In regard to toughness, like most Wizard setups, we take advantage in some variants of Galvanizing Ward and Magic Weapon Deflection to generate Shields based on our HP pool. This means Vitality and Life % are very important as they double dip into Shields. This is why we aim for around 1 million HP in Greater Rift Solo Push. The next priority would be Armor wherever it is possible, mainly in Chest and Pants sockets using Flawless Royal Ruby if you feel too squishy.

Cooldown Reduction is only useful to ease up our Orb of Infinite Depth buff refresh through Explosive Blast Chain Reaction but we still want it for Captain Crimson's Trimmings (3) Bonus. 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

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Group Speeds
GR Solo Push
GR Group RGK
Echoing Nightmare

Select Build Version

LoD Magic Missile Setup
LoD Magic Missile T16

Concept
Like usual we utilize Boon of the Hoarder with Avarice Band (on follower) to instantly vacuum the juicy Progression Orbs from Elites.

However, as Firebird's Finery is clunky for T16 Nephalem Rifts, we are going to use a Legacy of Dreams setup to take full advantage of the Sanctified Magic Missile power!

Gameplay
The gameplay is pretty straightforward, move around as fast as possible and spam Magic Missile to annihilate enemies! While Teleport is a good mobility skill, its animation time and minimum 0.5 second cooldown are the reasons why you should consider walking manually between every Teleport, taking advantage of Movement Speed buffs from Boon of the Hoarder, Illusionist and eventually Warzechian Armguards.

Move from Elite to Elite and use Teleport regularly to always keep up the Illusionist Movement Speed buff.

Setups
If you want to be invulnerable, swap Harrington Waistguard with Goldwrap. If you feel comfortable with your toughness and want to move faster, replace Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer with Warzechian Armguards. In groups, replace Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer with Nemesis Bracers, Pauldrons of the Skeleton King with Homing Pads and Stone of Jordan with Avarice Band.

Firebird Magic Missile Greater Rift Speeds

Concept
Our main damaging ability is going to be Magic Missile Conflagrate from now on. We take Focus & Restraint and replace Boon of the Hoarder with Gogok of Swiftness for additional Attack Speed, Dodge and Cooldown Reduction granting us damage due to Captain Crimson's Trimmings (3) Bonus.

Gameplay
Your biggest enemy will be Hard Crowd Control Effects since you have no way of mitigating these except for Crowd Control Reduction on your Amulet, Helmet and Rings. 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 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.

It is also possible to replace Aughild's Authority with The Furnace and Ranslor's Folly, and removing Black Hole for Energy Twister Wicked Wind for pixelpulling.

Select Build Version

Standard Setup
Firebird Magic Missile Greater Rift Speeds

Concept
In Group Speeds the basic setup is exactly the same you use in Solo Speeds with the exception of replacing Dominance with Elemental Exposure for more damage. The setup revolves around two Magic Missile Wizards supported by a zBarb pulling Elites and grouping monsters together so you can hit many targets at once, with a zDH tremendously buffing your damage output.

Gameplay
The gameplay stays the same as in Solo Speeds: rush to Elites and big pulls of monsters, kill them and move onto the next pull quickly. Luckily you won't have to care about Crowd Control Effects since the zBarb is providing you with Ignore Pain Mob Rule.

Setups
As there are two Magic Missile Wizards in the party, the Wizard with the least damage should replace Evocation (or Elemental Exposure if you're playing Reverse Archon) with Conflagration to apply a 6% Critical Hit Chance debuff on monsters.



Select Build Version

Endless Walk Setup
Firebird Magic Missile Solo Push

Concept
The setup is pretty much the same than the Speeds setup except we use Endless Walk and Convention of Elements.

Gameplay
As usual, Hard Crowd Control Effects when you're actively spamming Magic Missile to deal damage are going to be your worst enemy since you have no way of mitigating these except for Crowd Control Reduction. For a step-by-step gameplay description on how you should sequence your skills, check out the "Gameplay" section above.

Setups
If you feel comfortable, replace Gogok of Swiftness with Pain Enhancer which makes you lose 30% Dodge but allows you to potentially make better damage bursts through additional Attack Speed Breakpoints.


Firebird Reverse Archon Magic Missile RGK

Concept
You're an Elite sniper during the Greater Rift and the Rift Guardian Killer. Hence why you stack as much Attack Speed and Elite Damage as possible.

Gameplay
You're not stacking Cooldown Reduction in order to keep a high Magic Missile Attack Speed Breakpoint. This means you have a 45 second cooldown on Archon and can damage twice every 3 Convention of Elements cycles, going into Archon at the start of your Cold cycle. The Trashkiller will feed you Archon stacks for you to use when you're out of Archon. A crucial point is to time your last Archon to finish when the Rift Guardian spawns so you have stacks from the last monsters killed and you won't waste any time on the Rift Guardian.

Setups
If you feel too squishy or can't reliably keep Squirt's Necklace on the Rift Guardian, switch Lacuni Prowlers for Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer to double your shields at the cost of a Flame Blades Attack Speed Breakpoint. Swapping out Elemental Exposure to take either Unwavering Will or Blur is also possible.

Echoing Nightmare Setup

Concept
For more information, check out our full Echoing Nightmare Guide and take a look at our Echoing Nightmare Build Tier List and our META post for the best builds and strategies! This build is bad for this game mode. Typically we utilize a Greater Rift pushing build with a few tweaks.

Changes

  • Swap Bane of the Stricken for Bane of the Powerful since we are fighting hordes of enemies.

Gameplay

  1. Click Speed Pylon instantly to boost your mobility and dodge Green Meteors.
  2. Around Wave 90, click Channeling Pylon and Power Pylon.
  3. After Wave 100, use Conduit Pylon.
  4. At Wave 122, stop attacking and run to the corner to let the timer run out.

The only thing to do is to Teleport around and bodypull enemies together using Disintegrate while keeping your Orb of Infinite Depth stacks up at all times. A few seconds before your Fire Convention of Elements cycle starts, channel Disintegrate to get your Combustion stacks to 50 and make sure all monsters are ignited, cast Black Hole Spellsteal to get a huge additive damage buff for 5 seconds then spam Magic Missile to kill monsters!

Video Guide

Mechanics

Firebirds Finery

Wizard Shields

The Shame of Delsere & Fragment of Destiny

Elemental Exposure

Summary

  • Put together the core items and acquire the full Firebird's Finery set.
  • Get your hands on the Sanctified Magic Missile power!
  • Channel Disintegrate at the start of every Rift for damage reduction and infinite Teleports.
  • Enjoy this very fast paced Wizard spellslinger playstyle!
  • Hard Crowd Control Effects are now your worst nightmare!

Good luck!

Credits

Written by Chewingnom.

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