Warpfire + OFF + Panetti’s
http://gracefuldusk.appspot.com/items/8514-Warpfire
Help me make this work, fam. I can foresee this being ridiculously strong offensively, but OFF + Panetti’s is going to eat up a lot of points. How would you solve the defensive problems of Arcanist with such a build? Iskandra’s set? Was contemplating foregoing Demolitionist altogether in favor of Soldier/Shaman for % Health bonuses.
Any ideas?
I would defiantly go shaman over demo. 
you can get plus 1’s else where anyways. at least then you can focus on ele dmg while soldier is mostly phys and might cause some issues.
im going to look into this more because it could be a really sweet build. 
Pursuing such a build, though I have a bit less time to play now so it’ll take awhile to get to 85.
The best damage mitigation is full damage mitigation. Blast Shield + Mirror + ~40% CDR + Aldanar’s Vanity = enough to stay invincible for 10 second chunks.
Straight Health bonuses are nice, but they won’t help you tank Fabius/Shar’zul etc. One hit from them is still going to rip off chunks of your health, and then you spend too much time kiting.
Only downside is Blast Shield is almost certainly going to get either a cooldown increase, an absorption decrease or both.
Soldier is not worth it anymore due to all the nerfs for builds like this imho. I don’t see much benefit in going Shaman either.
Demo makes the most sense. Nightblade might be an interesting option as well…
I’m currently playing a bwc/devastation sorcerer in hc, lvl 76, character-only-found except for components. I can agree 100% with Tonberry: the combo is way tankier than it looks. Flashbang/searing light and Blastshield synergize really well with Maiven’s and Mirror. Demo doesn’t have the most hp, but everything he has works on bosses and scales well with the difficulty.
How about something like this?
Assuming that CoF and OFF debuffs stack, since I never actually tried it… but still, you could choose when to OFF and CoF due to OFF not always hitting bosses/enemies in general… CoF -> OFF -> Devastation -> PRM for massive meltdown mayhem.
In fact, I’m gonna try just that, thanks for the build idea, Ceno.
EDIT: Added Arcane Will instead of Absolute Zero, since Cold damage is not the point of this build.
Well, my build has been ruined…because you can’t put Devotions on OFF. Zantai plz fix.
Absolute Zero will apply the % Cold Damage bonus to the base skill prior to Conversion.
I like 1 pt in Absolute Zero just for the slow. I’d tweak the build a little for Ceno’s request for additional defense:
http://grimcalc.com/build/bQAwzq
More slow from Curse of Frailty and adding Blood of Dreeg for sweet heals should help with survivability, (aka defense’s cousin).
Alternatively, go the wily route via Spellbreaker for that sweet Pneumatic Burst, but with Shadow Dance to add a little extra damage avoidance, and Blade Barrier. A point in Shadow Strike for quicker movement and a few %damage to humans never hurt anyone…other than the humans.
http://grimcalc.com/build/OgWl4w
That’s because OFF is OP. It already freezes the entire screen. lol 
Even if OFF doesn’t proc any devo, Flashbangs are perfect for this job. So i would definitely choose demo with arca.
I’m currently building something quite similar, with max : OFF+Absolute Zero, Flashbangs+Searing Light, MoE, Maiven’s sphere, Reckless Power. I also put many points in Vindictive flames+Ulzuin’s Wrath. I’m 75 now, and it’s working quite well. My last skill points will go to Blast Shield I think.
The main difference is that I choose Blackwater cocktail instead of PRM for my main dps attack. (I’ve also choosen Devastation)
I’ve many many proc items and damage proc devotions, and it’s very funny (with the right setup even OFF can triger so many procs that it’s quite ridiculous ). Moreover it’s much more resilient than I first though.