Tal Meteor Wizard Nephalem Rift Speed Farming Variation (2024)

The Tal Meteor Wizard can dealreasonably well with Nephalem Rift Speed Farming, mostly thanks tooverwhelming damage potential offered by Meteor that allows you toinclude Aether Walker in the build, and versatility of the Tal Rashaset allowing for multiple utility legendaries. We have solo speed GR rankings and solo speed T16 rankings if youwant to know more about which builds are best for speed farming.

Within the limited scope of regular difficulties, the necessary damage andtoughness to triumph over the enemy is significantly smaller. Thus, your bestcourse of action is to improve utility and speed.

Active Skills
Diamond Skin PrismMeteor Thunder Crash1Explosive Blast Chain Reaction2Familiar Arcanot3Teleport Wormhole4Ice Armor Frozen Storm
Passive Skills
AudacityUnstable AnomalyIllusionistElemental Exposure

When you are speed farming regularrifts, parts of your playstyle will adapt to the lowered challenge andfocus more on speed and utility.

The T16 key farming build will mimic the GR speed farming rotation, butsped up one step further: with extremely aggressive Teleports ontop of enemies and their subsequent decimation with Meteors, madeimmediate with the rune Thunder Crash. Diamond Skin Prism and Explosive Blast Chain Reaction are cast on cooldown throughout the rift;the former to cut down Arcane Power costs, and the latter — to triggerthe Fire element of the Tal Rasha set bonus. Ice Armor Frozen Storm, Familiar Arcanot and Magic Weapon Deflection will keep yourresources and survivability stable as you recklessly port around the rift insearch of the next big fight; just do not let their 10-minute durationdistract you from refreshing them in between runs.

Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the base GreaterRift progression build, but others will have to change according to the taskat hand. Ability to cross over great distances faster and more efficientlytake precedence.

• The Lightning proc for Tal Rasha and your main source of damage comes inthe form of Meteor Thunder Crash. The rune's immediate effect fits rightin with the blistering pace of standard Rifts.
• The Cold proc for Tal Rasha comes from the persistent AoE effect of Ice Armor Frozen Storm.
• The Fire proc for Tal Rasha should come from Explosive Blast Chain Reaction; the multiple, staggered detonations ofthis rune will ensure at least one hit lands on an enemy as you maneuver in afight, keeping up the necessary elemental bonus.
• The Arcane proc for Tal Rasha comes from Familiar Arcanot; autility-driven choice, which also nets you the lucrative 4.5 Arcane Powerregeneration per second. You will further strengthen your resource managementby taking Diamond Skin Prism, and casting it on cooldown.
• Of course, during speed farming you will need to include a mobility skill;for Wizards, this means Teleport. Take the Wormhole rune,which gives you an extra use of the skill within 3 seconds of the first cast.In T16 keyfarm, Teleport will be completely spammable due to thecubed Aether Walker.
• Passive-wise, the proximity-based damage multiplication of Audacity, the element-based damage multiplication of Elemental Exposure, and mobility value of Illusionist remaincore to the setup. Supplement them with Unstable Anomaly; this cheatdeath failsafe lets you move and loot with no regards for your safety, and topull some truly reckless moves — like staying inside Molten explosionsto loot, etc.

The Tal Rasha's Elements setremains gloriously adaptable in T16 farming, and you should largely keep thesame split between pieces as you do in Greater Rift speed farming: 5 pieces ofTal's, plus utility inclusions. It is recommended that you wearspeedfarm-oriented legendaries like Goldwrap, Warzechian Armguards and Pauldrons of the Skeleton King when youfarm on your own, since your follower can wear the craftable sets Sage'sJourney (doubled Death's Breath drops) and Cain's Destiny (chance for extraGreater Rift Keystones) and emanate their power as if you were wearing themyourself. When you farm in groups however, consider dropping Goldwrapand Nilfur's Boast from the standard setup for Sage's Ribbon plus Sage's Passage, as you will have no follower and have to take care ofthe extra Death's Breath drops yourself. Ideally, you will also carry 2 piecesof Cain's set (i.e., Cain's Habit and Cain's Insight) in yourinventory and right before the Rift Guardian kill, you will swap to them forthe chance of additional GR keystone drops.

Utility slots also vary according to solo or group play, as you have to takecare of certain bonuses that are usually relegated to the follower yourselfwhen partying up. The bracer and shoulder slots that are occupied by Aughildpieces in the GR speedfarm variant are better taken by Warzechian Armguards (for environment destruction-based movement speedincreases), and either the Act I bounty cache legendary Pauldrons of the Skeleton King (for the extra cheat death proc in soloplay), or Homing Pads (for the safety during town portal when partyingup). When partying up, you might want to be able to proc the extra elite spawnat Pylons yourself (usually done by the follower in solo play); this meanseither cubing Nemesis Bracers, or equipping them over Warzechian's tokeep the Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan resource bonuses in the Cube.

Jewelry-wise, you should swap progression-oriented rings like Halo of Karini and Convention of Elements for more well-roundedbonuses. Our base recommendation is to wear a Lightning damage Stone of Jordan and a Unity (paired with another Unity on your follower, plus an immortality item like Enchanting Favor, this ring reduces incoming damage in half). Ingroups, use Avarice Band instead of Unity.

Unlike Greater Rift-oriented setups, your weapon needs to be altered to Aether Walker in T16 farm. This legendary wand turns your Teleport from a cooldown to a spender, and allows for nearlimitless mobility.

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two veryuseful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide tohelp you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear anda Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised andre-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — Forvirtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual toadvanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the pathoutlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of lifefirst, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive andedge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary PotionPowers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separateresource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Setitems of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, andin the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powersin our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

Either Zei's Stone of Vengeance or Bane of the Trapped can bringexcellent damage multiplication value to the build in T16 keyfarm. Within thelimited challenges of T16 keystone farming, Bane of the Stricken shouldbe replaced by Bane of the Powerful for a well-rounded damage increaseand damage mitigation bonus, with a duration-based (but very generous andmanageable) limitation. Lastly, Esoteric Alteration from the GRprogression build should be swapped for Boon of the Hoarder. This gemincreases your movement speed and provides near-infinite Toughness through itsinteraction with Avarice Band (either worn by you during group play, orworn by your follower in solo play), and the equipped Goldwrap.

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

The Greater Rift staple The Grand Vizier moves from a worn item to acubed power in T16 farm, freeing up a slot for Aether Walker mobility.Nevertheless, it should still be present in the build for its ubiquitousdamage multiplication and resource cost reduction bonuses.

Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan increase resource generation and damage dealtwhile moving — and decrease them while stationary. In the breakneck paceof T16 farm, this legendary should always provide its positive powers as yourelentlessly move forward.

In order to maintain the amalgamation of the Tal Rasha and Aughild sets, aswell as a slew of synergistic legendary items, you need to keep the Ring of Royal Grandeur in the jewelry slot of the Cube.

The recommended follower for this build during T16 speed farming is theEnchantress, due to her cooldown reduction bonus (cutting down Teleport downtime) and elemental damage increase. Note that thisrequires that you run Hand of the Prophet and optimize her survivability,as per our guide.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our FollowerGuide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear ofyour follower.

The preferred potions for this build are Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid(allowing you to break down Waller affixes that impede Frozen Orb DPS), Bottomless Potion of the Unfettered (giving you a brief window of CCimmunity to counter your lack of CC-breaking or immunity skills), or Bottomless Potion of the Tower (whose Armor-increasing propertiescomplement the naturally high All Resistances stat of Wizards). Pick whicheveryou feel helps you out the most.