Newb Wizard - I feel really useless...

[Lyrpen]

So I'm quite new to DDO, only been playing for 2 months...

That aside. I like magic. It's always the first class I choose when playing a new MMO. There is a good variety of spells you can toy with so I can usually don't get bored like with melee classes where you whack mobs all the time. Not to mention the magic effects are really cool. :D

I've played and rerolled a lot of wizards in these two months, I've also tried clerics and sorcerers. I never really liked being a healbot so I dropped cleric quickly. Sorcerers are fun, their casting ability is amazing but they lack that versatility that wizards have.

My sense of direction is bad but my ability to remember quests, like where to go, where mobs are, where shrines are is even worse, far worse. So even though I've done the Harbor quests like at least 10 times each, I still have no idea how to do them. I've mastered the Korthos quests though. :)

The lack of remembering those things is one of the biggest problems for me and I really don't feel like opening up the DDO Wiki page for every quest, especially in parties. I usually fall behind for some reason. Sometimes I want to smash some crates, there are some mobs left behind, need quick rest, have to change some spells, have to go AFK, you know. Usually it's not much of a problem, I just run back to the group, usually... Here is where the problem appears. I sometimes get lost or go the wrong way (same thing) and end up getting killed. Like in the quest "Where there's Smoke", that was just terrible. I died, everyone ran ahead, 5 minutes later someone decides to bring me to the shrine. I res'd while that guy ran back to the group. I looked on the map and went in the direction of the group and bumped into 2 Orc rangers. I cast Charm Person --> Got Saved --> Died in like 10 seconds. Or some other time when I came in late because I had to change my spells. They blew up the ship and Yaryarr spawned right next to me. XD And everyone was like: "Omg, he died again..." There was also Haverdasher. I joined a group and their party sort of wiped and were counting on me to save their ass which is really rare by the way. Trying to live up to their expectations, I decided to revive the unconscious sorc. He quickly died again so I had to take on the scorpions alone. I used Niac's on them. It was like miss, miss, miss, saved, miss, saved, hit!, miss, saved, saved and managed to kill one of them and then I died too... I was like "***, is there a limit to my uselessness..?"

Another thing I have problems with is choosing which spells to use. Aside form preparing for quests, something I never do, I mean "Who would want to wait for a newb wizard to select his spells?" The answer is clearly "Nobody" based on my experiences so I usually have a basic set of spells I use for every quest. Choosing which spell to cast in a certain situation is far harder though. When I come across some mobs, do I let the melee-ers take care of them or do I hypnotise them or do I charm them or should I cast acid blast? I can't react fast to a situation so end up doing something unnecessary or just nothing at all. And when I get aggro, what do I do? Do I kill them, CC them or run to the melee-ers? Often I end up panicking as I watch my health getting blast away and cast I lot of DMG spells only to find them doing very little damage and die.

Sometimes there are these weird phenomena like when I did the Lair of Summon (Was it called that?). We were at the boss. I gained some confidence because I had Frost Lance and planned to use it on the fire mobs. We went in, I cast a Frost Lance at the Fire Elemental, nothing happens... No DMG number, Save whatsoever. Then I got one-hit by it's Fireball. I res'd and got ready for my second try. This time I cast Frost Lances on the Fire Mephites. I cast like 4 of them but nothing happened again. Then the party wiped at the shrine and we all res'd the whole time and tried to kill the Mephites that followed us. In the end I used Acid Blast and died like 5 times due to the aggro eventohugh the DMG was very low. When we came back to the boss I had run out of SP a long time ago so I grabbed a random club hitting him in vain (0 DMG), died, res'd. When I came back the Fire Elemental was already killed b the others. A few hours later I did Recovering the Lost Tome with some people and Frost Lance hit over 100 on the Fire Mephites there...

SP conservation is a real problem for me. I run out of SP really quick even if all I do is CC and even faster when I do damage. The only way for me to conserve SP right now is to just do nothing which is not really a solution.


Summary:
It doesn't make a difference whether or not I do something in a dungeon. Sometimes it's even better if I don't do anything. Any advice?

[szaijan]

At very low level as a Wizard, first Hypnotize and then Web are your only real spell contributions to quests. At 3rd you get Scorching Ray, which is quite effective when Maximized, but it'll eat all of your mana in two or three shots. Low level Wizard play is a waiting game. Get skilled with your CC (Web placement is an art in itself), communicate well, learn the quests, and one day, a bright shiny Firewall will appear under your tree.

[Shanadeus]

I just thought "Screw it" and got the mental toughness and improved mental toughness feats on my drow wizard.
After that everything has been easy pickings, instead of maximizing or empowering spells I just cast more of them. I will have to switch out the improved mental toughness soon and get myself at least maximize - but I'll be enjoying the amount of spell points I have until then.

[Phidius]

...

SP conservation is a real problem for me. I run out of SP really quick even if all I do is CC and even faster when I do damage. The only way for me to conserve SP right now is to just do nothing which is not really a solution.


Summary:
It doesn't make a difference whether or not I do something in a dungeon. Sometimes it's even better if I don't do anything. Any advice?

You'd be better off using spells for buffing (Resist Energy, Haste, Blur, Displacement, etc...) and stick close to your party. If they're not willing to wait for you to explore and smash boxes (a valid way to play the game, btw), the problem isn't you, it's that you're grouping with people who don't share your method of playing the game.

If all you do is buffing, you may feel like you're doing nothing. You are, though - you're helping to conserve your healer's spell points, and helping the melee kill things faster. It can feel boring, though, so I build my arcane casters as WF and give them decent melee ability.

As far as damage-dealing spells, ray spells can be difficult to land, as the target has a chance to avoid them. In addition, save-or-nothing spells like Niac's aren't the best choice for mobs with a good Reflex save.

[Wizard_Zero]

Yup, being a caster can be tough, especially if it is your first class. I recommend playing a cleric or FvS to 20, you get some good experience, do a little magic attacking, while learning the quest and how others play. That is what I did, and it taught me so much. Just my suggestion.

If you don't want to do that, then you need to be WF caster due to their healing ability. WF caster is broken and we all know it. Anyways, levels 1-11 were pretty hard for me when I first started. I did a little melee for the first couple of levels and then I got 3 eternal wands. They aren't great damage, better than just standing there and use no money.

I'm not gonna say what spells to use or when to use them, up to each person, but I mostly use FW or CC as a Wizard. I buff, buff, buff everyone in the party. Many times it is in your best interest to fully buff a melee than to use three for four attacking spells. I used this tactic in early levels and endgame.

Many times you are gonna feel useless and run out of magic. I say between levels 12-18 is where casters really shines and you are more powerful than any melee could ever be. Then you hit end game and no one wants you, except to buff, very degrading (Mostly happens to newer casters with little play knowledge and gear.)

Which brings me to my final suggestion: GEAR, GEAR, GEAR, if you don't have the right gear, you are going to be pretty useless as a caster. A melee can run around with sub-par gear and remain moderately effective, casters can not. Casters have a blue bar, and when that runs out, your dead weight. So you have to do everything in your power to maximize that bar. For example a caster with Superior Potency and Superior (Element) has just doubled their mana pool. It now takes 1 shot to kill an enemy with Scorching Ray instead of two or three.

There are lots of forums on here about advice and gear. But just remember, it takes a LOT longer to gear out a caster and make them effective (a lot of grinding). Once you get the gear and knowledge though, you can compete with the best melees.

[hityawithastick]

Major kudos for sticking with the wizard, Lyr.
It's one of the classes that requires a bit more thought before the quest, but I find it way, way more fun than just grabbing an axe and banging away.

For a wizard, it's important that you know your enemy (even vaguely) and prep your spells accordingly. Kobolds? Good reflex saves, bad will saves, usually bad fortitude saves (tiny, fast, and dumb). Ogres? Epic fortitude saves, poor will saves, mostly decent reflex saves (Big and dumb). Scorpions? High AC, decent Reflex, decent Fortitude, low will--but immunity to most spells requiring a will save. (best bet? Magic missile).
Fire elementals? Good reflex saves. Pack up all your ice and force spells--except Niac's Cold Ray, which requires a reflex save.

And remember--very few things can dodge, resist, or dispel a magic missile.

Don't be afraid to take a minute or two to prepare for any quest, on any character--if no one wants to wait, they don't deserve your help anyway. (although I stress the 'minute or two' part. =P). Ask if they have any requests. Are there warforged? Can they self-heal, or would they like you to pack a repair spell or two. Gather information about your foe, if you don't know the quest.

Buff yourself. The longer you're alive, the more you're putting out damage, even if you're just throwing your +1 returning throwing dagger. Nightshield, blur, false life, mage armor, resist energy--these are your friends.

Wands are also your friends. Buy them, collect them from chests, hoard them. Don't waste mana on those first trash mobs--haul out a wand, mage armor/blur/false life yourself, and blast away. Conserve your spellpoints--they'll keep you alive.

With low hit points and usually a complete disregard of AC, a wizard can always use a meat shield. The Summon Monster spells and the Pale Master's Summon Skeleton provides that much-needed bodyguard--with that and invisibility, you can catch up to the party relatively easily, using the skelly to distract your enemies and then running like the wind.

And finally: The non-warforged wizard, at low levels, really has two choices:

Dish out a lot of small bits of damage, buff the party, and incapacitate the enemy (web, fireball, snowball storm, electric loop, hypnotism, blur, jump, bull's strength, energy resist spells). You won't be making huge spectacular kills, but you'll be greatly increasing the party's kills overall. (this is mostly what I do: I focus on making my spells hard to resist, rather than making them instakills). You'll want wands of popular buffs.
[I've got to agree with Shanadeus here: Mental Toughness, Improved Mental Toughness, the spellpoint enhancements, wands...get that set up, and you will be able to afford to spam magic missiles at everything that moves)

OR (this is mostly what sorcerers do, but I've seen some wizards do it as well): Grab maxmize, empower, heighten, anything that makes your spell bigger, keep your eternal wands close by, and wait until you see a redname. When you do, let loose a fireball, eat up half your spellpoints, and kill it--and everything nearby--instantly.

And don't take ANYONE's advice (including mine) as infallible. Take it as a suggestion. Use it. It may or may not work, depending on your play style, your character--even your manual dexterity. =P But as you go on, if you stick with the wizard, you'll find out what works and what doesn't, learn how to guard your weaknesses with resist fire or stoneskin, and even learn how to use the game's occasional wierdnesses to your advantage.

Most importantly: Have fun!

P.S. once you hit about 6th level, consider permanently adding Jump to your prepared spells. With good hand-eye coordination and that nifty +20 bonus, it's usually possible to dodge just about anything.

c[:D

[Muladas]

As mentioned, as a low level wizard your going to be more support than main dps. I went with warforged on my wizard as well (warforged race + repair spells = can heal myself).
Until level 7 I typically hit myself with blur, masters touch and bulls strength (and resist energy at times) and melee'd a good bit, and cast spells occasionally like fireball if a 3+ monsters looked close enough to all get hit. Also try taking a mix of spells. niac's is great when it lands, but fairly useless against certain types of monsters like kobolds. Try looking at this thread:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=260054
about 1/2 down you will run over a list of what to look out for monster wise.
At 7 you can get wall of fire, and that will be your main offensive spell. cast it, run into it, and block and hope the monster's die before it wears off :) (well, you run in if they are melee mobs because its likely to give you agro, and block so you survive getting beat on and you can tumble some too. ranged mobs you stay away so they dont back out of the fire).

[Lyrpen]

At very low level as a Wizard, first Hypnotize and then Web are your only real spell contributions to quests. At 3rd you get Scorching Ray, which is quite effective when Maximized, but it'll eat all of your mana in two or three shots. Low level Wizard play is a waiting game. Get skilled with your CC (Web placement is an art in itself), communicate well, learn the quests, and one day, a bright shiny Firewall will appear under your tree.

I got Firewall on my previous wizard. Everybody is like: "Firewall is amazing. It will change your casterlife dramatically." I didn't find it very useful and never really used it. I have no clue where to place it and solo-ing with it is absolutely not an option. I died using it in Irestone on normal.


I just thought "Screw it" and got the mental toughness and improved mental toughness feats on my drow wizard.
After that everything has been easy pickings, instead of maximizing or empowering spells I just cast more of them. I will have to switch out the improved mental toughness soon and get myself at least maximize - but I'll be enjoying the amount of spell points I have until then.

Ye, I already have mental toughness. I didn't take Empower till lvl 5 since I got Heighten at lvl 3 to boost my CC spells and Niac's.


You'd be better off using spells for buffing (Resist Energy, Haste, Blur, Displacement, etc...) and stick close to your party. If they're not willing to wait for you to explore and smash boxes (a valid way to play the game, btw), the problem isn't you, it's that you're grouping with people who don't share your method of playing the game.

If all you do is buffing, you may feel like you're doing nothing. You are, though - you're helping to conserve your healer's spell points, and helping the melee kill things faster. It can feel boring, though, so I build my arcane casters as WF and give them decent melee ability.

As far as damage-dealing spells, ray spells can be difficult to land, as the target has a chance to avoid them. In addition, save-or-nothing spells like Niac's aren't the best choice for mobs with a good Reflex save.

I don't have enough SP to buff the whole party. XD It sure seems an easy way to play but only buffing is like being a semi-healer. I always liked the offensive part of magic.


Yup, being a caster can be tough, especially if it is your first class. I recommend playing a cleric or FvS to 20, you get some good experience, do a little magic attacking, while learning the quest and how others play. That is what I did, and it taught me so much. Just my suggestion.

If you don't want to do that, then you need to be WF caster due to their healing ability. WF caster is broken and we all know it. Anyways, levels 1-11 were pretty hard for me when I first started. I did a little melee for the first couple of levels and then I got 3 eternal wands. They aren't great damage, better than just standing there and use no money.

I'm not gonna say what spells to use or when to use them, up to each person, but I mostly use FW or CC as a Wizard. I buff, buff, buff everyone in the party. Many times it is in your best interest to fully buff a melee than to use three for four attacking spells. I used this tactic in early levels and endgame.

Many times you are gonna feel useless and run out of magic. I say between levels 12-18 is where casters really shines and you are more powerful than any melee could ever be. Then you hit end game and no one wants you, except to buff, very degrading (Mostly happens to newer casters with little play knowledge and gear.)

Which brings me to my final suggestion: GEAR, GEAR, GEAR, if you don't have the right gear, you are going to be pretty useless as a caster. A melee can run around with sub-par gear and remain moderately effective, casters can not. Casters have a blue bar, and when that runs out, your dead weight. So you have to do everything in your power to maximize that bar. For example a caster with Superior Potency and Superior (Element) has just doubled their mana pool. It now takes 1 shot to kill an enemy with Scorching Ray instead of two or three.

There are lots of forums on here about advice and gear. But just remember, it takes a LOT longer to gear out a caster and make them effective (a lot of grinding). Once you get the gear and knowledge though, you can compete with the best melees.

I tried cleric but I didn't like it. Besides, I don't like responsibility. The less I have of it, the less it matters whether I screw up or not and I screw up a LOT. I don't have WF. Not planning to take it either. The class is way too bulky for my liking. :D
Gear is not an issue for me. I don't get better gear, simply because I have to spend all my money on inscribing spells. I'm busy saving up money for my lvl 3 spells now at lvl 5 and by the time I have them all inscribed I will hit lvl 7. I remember wearing the same robe form Korthos at lvl 7 on my previous wizard.

Thanks for all the great replies. :D

[protokon]

a few comments from reading your post:

-casters are probably the hardest classes to start out with. they start with very little hp + SP, not to mention are limited in spells. in all honesty you wont 'really' feel the power of this class until you gain firewall at level 7 as a wizard.

-with the introduction of true reincarnating and allowing vet's to start at level 1, and needing double the EXP to get back to lvl 20 (around 4.3 mil if i remember correctly for a 2nd tr), most of these players prefer to finish lowbie instances as quickly as possible. for instance, ringleader if one of the more common farmed lowbie instances - a 2-3 minute completion if you hop over the box, run to the levers, run to the end fight. the long way around and breaking boxes for ransacked can easily triple this amount of time (which could've been used to finish the quest 2 more times).

-I completely understand playing at a slower pace requires party members that are willing to slow down or are playing at the same pace. maybe trying to find a guild that fits your playstyle could help you save yourself the frustrations of pugging.

-Don't feel useless because your not a 1-man army on your low lvl wizard. after all, you've been playing for a few months - quite a few of us have been playing for years and still suck, such as myself - worst lowbie leveling vet you'll ever meet LOL :)

...Enjoy the game, don't feel useless because you can't carry an entire party on your shoulders.

[byzantinebob]

I'm leveling up a wiz with 2 rogue for evasion. He's a WF and he is a battle mage because he just cant survive as a caster yet. Key word:yet.

When I enter a quest I have a package ready: Master's Touch (while wielding the best 2 handed weapon I can find), Shield (to stop magic missile cast at you), Blur, Heroism, Bull's Strength, and maybe a resist element based on the quest. Then I stay a step or two behind the melee and just do support DPS.

I can drop a WoF every so often, and do under some circumstances, but melee just is more efficient for me. In a level or two, this will change as my max SP is already starting to take off. It just isn't there yet.

[quickgrif]

I got Firewall on my previous wizard. Everybody is like: "Firewall is amazing. It will change your casterlife dramatically." I didn't find it very useful and never really used it. I have no clue where to place it and solo-ing with it is absolutely not an option. I died using it in Irestone on normal.



Ye, I already have mental toughness. I didn't take Empower till lvl 5 since I got Heighten at lvl 3 to boost my CC spells and Niac's.



I don't have enough SP to buff the whole party. XD It sure seems an easy way to play but only buffing is like being a semi-healer. I always liked the offensive part of magic.



I tried cleric but I didn't like it. Besides, I don't like responsibility. The less I have of it, the less it matters whether I screw up or not and I screw up a LOT. I don't have WF. Not planning to take it either. The class is way too bulky for my liking. :D
Gear is not an issue for me. I don't get better gear, simply because I have to spend all my money on inscribing spells. I'm busy saving up money for my lvl 3 spells now at lvl 5 and by the time I have them all inscribed I will hit lvl 7. I remember wearing the same robe form Korthos at lvl 7 on my previous wizard.

Thanks for all the great replies. :D
If you play on Argo you can look me up and I will help you with gear and show some of the common survival tactics casters use. Look for Tyevic, Jastair or anyone in the Killing Dance guild and you will be directed to me.

[RTN]

At low levels, casters are all about picking your spots to use your few spell points. It takes patience. Also, make sure to memorize Master's Touch and get a decent two handed weapon. Smack away at whatever the melee are hitting to avoid getting agro and you'll be fine.

[Phidius]

I got Firewall on my previous wizard. Everybody is like: "Firewall is amazing. It will change your casterlife dramatically." I didn't find it very useful and never really used it. I have no clue where to place it and solo-ing with it is absolutely not an option. I died using it in Irestone on normal.
...

I agree with you - Wall of Fire isn't the auto-win-DDO spell a lot of people portray it as. However, there are some quests where Wall of Fire is truly awesome.

Being mobbed by undead, for example.


...
I don't have enough SP to buff the whole party. XD It sure seems an easy way to play but only buffing is like being a semi-healer. I always liked the offensive part of magic.
...

I also like the offensive part of magic - bide your time, though, you'll get it. If you don't have enough sp to buff your entire party, you're not going to have enough to kill everything (which you'll have to do if you get seperated from your party).

[Amberyll]

If you are on Sarlona, give me a character name. I can help with a playing style.

Look up anybody in Black Company and ask if Amberyll is on.

[voodoogroves]

There are a few things that makes leveling lower level toons much much much easier, which everyone kinda has to figure out on their own. I'm assuming your build is moderately decent (for a wiz, max INT, decent CON, remainder in either DEX or STR possibly some WIS)

In the early levels, you need some form or DR.
- Sounds difficult, but cruise the AH for a robe or outfit of invulnerability. That'll save you quite a big of headache for quite a few levels.
- If you can't manage that you can work it out with some blocking gear. On Korthos you can get a Spear-block set of bracers ... which makes things like archers / etc. much more tolerable. A hammerblock robe helps against blunt ... and you can get Furor's Hide in a harbor free quest for axeblock 3. It isn't invulnerability, but it will help.

In the early levels, some form of energy resistance is useful.
- You get this as a spell at 3rd level. Very handy. Minor resistances (esp cold, fire, acid) are handy too.

In the early levels for a wizard, charm / hypno / etc. as suggested are very useful. Web.
- Charmed dudes attack your enemies.
- Dudes who are stunned / fascinated / webbed / etc. don't swing back. You can hack at them w/ a greataxe and they can't hit back.

In the early levels, don't feel bad about swinging a greataxe (or staff).
- Seriously. Pound on them.

Carry healing pots
- Don't rely on others to heal you.

Summoning clickies are handy
- A number of quest chains have as possible end rewards summon monster clickies. No SP cost, gets you something to distract monsters and get aggro from you.

[Lyrpen]

If you are on Sarlona, give me a character name. I can help with a playing style.

Look up anybody in Black Company and ask if Amberyll is on.

No, I'm on Khyber. Thanks for the offer though. :)


At low levels, casters are all about picking your spots to use your few spell points. It takes patience. Also, make sure to memorize Master's Touch and get a decent two handed weapon. Smack away at whatever the melee are hitting to avoid getting agro and you'll be fine.

I still get hit even when I'm staying behind. Oozes can pretty much kill me in 4 or 5 hits. I don't think melee-ing is a good idea.


I agree with you - Wall of Fire isn't the auto-win-DDO spell a lot of people portray it as. However, there are some quests where Wall of Fire is truly awesome.

Being mobbed by undead, for example.



I also like the offensive part of magic - bide your time, though, you'll get it. If you don't have enough sp to buff your entire party, you're not going to have enough to kill everything (which you'll have to do if you get seperated from your party).

Ok, I tried the Depths chain with a group on elite and all I did was buffing. It was really easy. XD Heroism, Bull's Str and BLur on everyone when we enter and I could just follow them doing nothing.


There are a few things that makes leveling lower level toons much much much easier, which everyone kinda has to figure out on their own. I'm assuming your build is moderately decent (for a wiz, max INT, decent CON, remainder in either DEX or STR possibly some WIS)

In the early levels, you need some form or DR.
- Sounds difficult, but cruise the AH for a robe or outfit of invulnerability. That'll save you quite a big of headache for quite a few levels.
- If you can't manage that you can work it out with some blocking gear. On Korthos you can get a Spear-block set of bracers ... which makes things like archers / etc. much more tolerable. A hammerblock robe helps against blunt ... and you can get Furor's Hide in a harbor free quest for axeblock 3. It isn't invulnerability, but it will help.

In the early levels, some form of energy resistance is useful.
- You get this as a spell at 3rd level. Very handy. Minor resistances (esp cold, fire, acid) are handy too.

In the early levels for a wizard, charm / hypno / etc. as suggested are very useful. Web.
- Charmed dudes attack your enemies.
- Dudes who are stunned / fascinated / webbed / etc. don't swing back. You can hack at them w/ a greataxe and they can't hit back.

In the early levels, don't feel bad about swinging a greataxe (or staff).
- Seriously. Pound on them.

Carry healing pots
- Don't rely on others to heal you.

Summoning clickies are handy
- A number of quest chains have as possible end rewards summon monster clickies. No SP cost, gets you something to distract monsters and get aggro from you.

As for the gear. I'm kind of broke right now... Actually, all the time. Just spent all my money on lvl 3 scrolls and 8 inscription materials. Busy saving money for the next lvl 3 spells to inscribe.
I never found Energy Resistance to be really useful. It's just 10 dmg, not really worth the SP. Might as well just chuck 2 of my Starter Healing Potions.
My charms and hypno's get saved a lot. I'm still busy learning how to use Web.
Melee-ing is not going to work for me. I'm still getting hit a lot even though I stay behind. Can't imagine what would happen if I'm on melee range.
Healing pots are really expensive so I don't use them a lot. If I'm bound to die again in a few minutes I'm not gonna waste 10 Cure Light Potions.
I'll try the summoning clickies, thanks. :)

Thanks for all the advice, guys.

[jwdaniels]

I never found Energy Resistance to be really useful. It's just 10 dmg, not really worth the SP. Might as well just chuck 2 of my Starter Healing Potions.

It's the first 10 points of energy damage every time you're hit by that energy type. For example, resist acid can basically nullify melf's acid arrow and (to use an example of a mob you mentioned needing help with) oozes.

I suggest you experiment with Mage Armor, Shield, and Master's Touch and pick up a big weapon. That can help you do something while conserving spell points, especially at low levels on normal difficulty.

[Irinis]

Dudes who are stunned / fascinated / webbed / etc. don't swing back.

Actually, unless the bard is a Virtuoso, dudes who are fascinated WILL break fascinate and start hitting back. (I ran into level 20s in a VON6 epic who did not know this!) Same with Hypno, you hit them once and they are no longer hypnotized. Virtuosos get a special song called Enthrall.

To the OP: Firewall is great because when you have haste or expeditious retreat on, you can "kite" the mobs around in the firewall. I think it's called kiting because they string along behind you as if you're the kite and they're the little bows on the tailstring.

One other thing, if you're a wizard then your starting constitution needs to be HIGH. I started with 18 on my latest wf and he's still squishy! If you don't have at least 14 on an Elf/Drow and 16 on anything else, reroll because it's horrible to get to later levels and find out you're just not going to make it or you need $10 to fix it.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Buy scrolls of Invisibility (or memorise the spell)

And whenever you are alone, or even with the group just to make sure....cast Invis and run down the next hallway, with only a little fear... :)

Monsters can still hear you, but you should be able to run along without dying.


Hynotism is the great "time out" spell. Little SP, and stops a whole mob in their tracks so you can decide what to do next.

Trying to nuke your way through every fight with damage spells will use up your SP very fast. (and get lots of monsters mad at you)

[Lyrpen]

Actually, unless the bard is a Virtuoso, dudes who are fascinated WILL break fascinate and start hitting back. (I ran into level 20s in a VON6 epic who did not know this!) Same with Hypno, you hit them once and they are no longer hypnotized. Virtuosos get a special song called Enthrall.

To the OP: Firewall is great because when you have haste or expeditious retreat on, you can "kite" the mobs around in the firewall. I think it's called kiting because they string along behind you as if you're the kite and they're the little bows on the tailstring.

One other thing, if you're a wizard then your starting constitution needs to be HIGH. I started with 18 on my latest wf and he's still squishy! If you don't have at least 14 on an Elf/Drow and 16 on anything else, reroll because it's horrible to get to later levels and find out you're just not going to make it or you need $10 to fix it.

I think your playstyle determines how much you need. Some need 10, others need 14. I have 16 on my human. No idea what my playstyle is though. XD I tried kiting the hobgoblins in Irestone that way. Total fail though. Died on the first group of mobs, which consisted of 3 hobgoblins.


It's the first 10 points of energy damage every time you're hit by that energy type. For example, resist acid can basically nullify melf's acid arrow and (to use an example of a mob you mentioned needing help with) oozes.

I suggest you experiment with Mage Armor, Shield, and Master's Touch and pick up a big weapon. That can help you do something while conserving spell points, especially at low levels on normal difficulty.

Oh, didn't know that Resist Energy worked like that. :o I once did that on a wizard in Kobolt Assault. The party wiped because the healer burned all his SP on me...


Buy scrolls of Invisibility (or memorise the spell)

And whenever you are alone, or even with the group just to make sure....cast Invis and run down the next hallway, with only a little fear... :)

Monsters can still hear you, but you should be able to run along without dying.


Hynotism is the great "time out" spell. Little SP, and stops a whole mob in their tracks so you can decide what to do next.

Trying to nuke your way through every fight with damage spells will use up your SP very fast. (and get lots of monsters mad at you)

I'll try the invisibility spell, thanks. :) Hypnotism was great at lower levels, now most mobs save against it even with heighten.

[voodoogroves]

Actually, unless the bard is a Virtuoso, dudes who are fascinated WILL break fascinate and start hitting back. (I ran into level 20s in a VON6 epic who did not know this!) Same with Hypno, you hit them once and they are no longer hypnotized. Virtuosos get a special song called Enthrall.

Once you hit, yes. Until then, you should have some time. Fascinate 3, work on them one at a time.

[Lyrpen]

offtopic:

I'm going to sleep now so I can't reply. Thanks for all the great responses. The DDO forums are really active compared to other forums where I had to wait 2 days before someone replied. :D

[Muldamai]

If you have no money, or wizard is your 1st toon, it is a bit harder than most other classes. You will be spending lots on spells and inscribing them, so you have to pick wisely and wait to scribe many spells. So, just for you:

Link to spell review: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=116560 It was written quite a while ago, but it is 90% relevant still. It helps to know the spells so you can choose better, and most comments are still true.

Offensive spells: You have to ask if you can afford the worst possible outcome when casting an offensive spell. In my opinion only, I don't like Niac's on my wizard, it's an all or nothing spell, and nothing is not acceptable for my wizard. The 1st spell for damage I really like is Scorching Ray: no save allowed, 4d6 fire damage (errrrrr, that's 4-24 fire damage for the d20 challenged), and stays a relevant as a spell for a long time. Play with your spells and see what they do.

If you are having a really hard time, head all the way back to Korthos Island, and run quests to practice, practice, practice. Better to experiment with critters that take longer to kill you.

[voodoogroves]

Offensive spells: You have to ask if you can afford the worst possible outcome when casting an offensive spell. In my opinion only, I don't like Niac's on my wizard, it's an all or nothing spell, and nothing is not acceptable for my wizard. The 1st spell for damage I really like is Scorching Ray: no save allowed, 4d6 fire damage (errrrrr, that's 4-24 fire damage for the d20 challenged), and stays a relevant as a spell for a long time. Play with your spells and see what they do.

Word. This.

I've got one wizard to 20 and never cast Niac's with it. At all. Some of this is/was based on my PNP assumptions and maybe I'd do things differently before, but not now. Instead, farm Waterworks for the eternal acid wand. Use the eternal finger of fire wand. If you're VIP, get the MM wand from Catacombs.

I *do* use Frost Lance at later levels if I need a single target ice thing and I do try to carry one direct fire, one direct ice, etc. spell.

So, I know the OP is sleeping. When I started getting close to capping my first wizard, I started a lowbie to plan out some things. Here's what I did:

1 - Extend, Toughness, Focus Enchantment
3 - Focus Necromancy
5 - Greater Focus Enchantment
6 - Maximize
9 - Augment Summoning
10 - Empower
12 - GSF Necromancy
15 - Quicken, Spell Penetration
18 - Heighten
20 - Greater Spell Penetration

Gear-wise, I basically have coasted to 9th level with the following:

* Robe of Invulnerability (ML 4) - also have X guard of Invulnerability I switched in at 6th (lesser acid guard of invuln) and 8th (acid guard of invuln) ... but honestly the guard is not that useful.
* At 7th, two efficiacy 4 clickies - I found I misplaced my potency gear. I don't need Wall of Fire often but when I do need it, I want the free boost from potency / efficacy.
* Scaling items of power / magi / etc. .... free SP after resting is like free pie and chips
* Necromancy, enchantment, conjuration +1 DC items (daggers, etc.) ... slotted in when needed
* Eternal wands of Acid, Magic Missile, Finger of Fire
* Eternal Wand of Charm Monster (for the heck of it; it rarely lands)
* Totemic Staff of Splinterskull (3x summon monster 3 clickie - actually have two of these); also have the Scorpion Staff, but don't really use it
* INT items (using a +3 right now; think it was a set of BTA goggles from Tangleroot; started w/ a BTA +2 hat)
* CON, other stat boosters
* Lightning Rod & Pillar of Light (for occasional melee)
* Archivist set
* Two picks, whatever I can grab, for smacking held things

That's kinda it. Instead of focusing on getting lots of SP so you can cast lots of spells, I'm using items (eternal wands, summon monster clickies) so that I'm not using my own SP. Instead of spending SP on multiple charms, I'm making sure the ones I do cast land (which actually saves SP).

I solo a fair amount w/ a cleric hireling (whichever one at my level has DV). I start each run with a summoned mosnter (still use the hellhounds - actually have 2 of those staves), a Pale Master summons (whatever I think may work best) and the hireling. Then I charm / ooze puppet / command undead / etc.

Rarely run out of SP.

[agent00skid]

**** I'm happy that I got helped through those levels. :S

But else, when you get AoE spells, try to maximize the number of targets, as the more you hit, the more damage your SP did, which is everything on a wiz (Especially for a soloing wiz). But generally, wiz is not the damge dealer in parties, but the practical support caster.

And quests can be like night and day with a wiz, when just looking at lvl. And firewall is the most fantastic thing against undead, but else it's not all that great, the damage is too low. And also, don't buy spells you don't need, because gear are essential, if you want to do proper damage. (My wiz have 40% or 50% damage for most spells, and had it since lvl 5 or 6.)

I am primarily a soloer, so can't really give all that good advice. :S
And in the early lvls, I had friends helping me (Now I'm helping them, my oneshot AoE is just fantastic with my friend's cleric. :P)

And also, those eternal wands that shoot those things, that deal a little damage, can be practical to use, make you actually do something, and if the enemies aren't running around too much, then they are more effective that hitting them too.

And if time shows, healing clickies can be really nice, but not in combat (Pots don't work much better usually).


And hope I wrote anything that was useful, because I just threw what came into my mind.

[Aurora1979]

You got lots of great advice here but ill just throw in with a quick point.

dont sweat being left behind in a group. unless it says zerg on the lfm, or some such, then just say that your falling behind. In your example where you got dropped at the shrine then lost for a second time thats just bad teamwork.

If someone dies they obviously encounter a problem of some kind or another, to just leave them to "try again" is just bad form.

I got my hand held through a raid tonight ive never done, i been playing well over a year but id never done this one so i let everyone know and was the only first timer.... who spoke up. on the way we all got massive lag and a few of us missed this jump and fell. I stuck with the two guys infront of me. and couldnt even see the map, mobs everywhere mad lag etc. we ended up in a corridor miles from everyone. one guy died, the other ran off while i was trying to make a stand and wand cure the fallen guy..... it was a right mess. in the end the main group came back, rescued us and we moved on, completed the raid first time. Was a great group.

Another group may have just muttered, noob, left me there and booted me when i RC'd. :)

[RTN]

I still get hit even when I'm staying behind. Oozes can pretty much kill me in 4 or 5 hits. I don't think melee-ing is a good idea.


This sends up warning flares to me. Your CON might be too low. A common error for new folks is to skimp on CON. In DDO, CON isn't a dump stat for any class. For a Wiz, I'd recommend at least a starting CON of 14.

Maximize your HP. Make sure you have on the best CON item you can get that makes your CON score even. Wear false life items.

[agent00skid]

I believe he mentioned having 16 CON.

And just looked back over my own char, and is surprised that I have a meagre 14 CON and a +5 health item. So fairly low hp can do it as well.

And also a little thing with Oozes(Not the other blops, only those named Ooze), they are immune to fire and ice. (**** thingies, it took me ages to get proper acid equipment.:()

[diamabel]

I have a few arcane caster toons (both sorceror and wizard). My approach when starting is to take some other class first which gives certain bonuses (free feats or skill points). This way I'm loosing the cpastone, but I don't care.
On lower level I also use armours more often on my casters (despite the arcane spell failure). Especially when out of SP it's possible to switch to armour, shield and weapon. Makes surviving a little easier (but only on low level quests). You can still use armours and shields without having the appropriate feats, but you'll have to live with the skill and attack penalties while doing so.


One thing I could recommend is a bard x2/wizard x18 or sorceror x18 / bard x2. You will be able to wear light armour and shields without penalty and you'll have access to fascinate, which might save you in certain situations.


Concerning arcane spell failure. Spells require some sort of spell materials: Material spell components, Somatic spell component (gestures etc.), Verbal spell component (some words or phrases muttered). The arcane spell component is only applied to spells which require a somatic spell component (some gestures). This means in return that spells that don't require a somatic spell component don't have a arcane spell failure. The drawback is that only a few spells fall into this category. But it's possible to wear a full plate and towershield and be able to cast such an arcane spell with 0% arcane failure.


Concerning spell point conservation. On lower levels the spell durations are rather short. Even with extend spell. Besides not everyone in the group will need to be buffed up through the roof. If you have a ranged toon in your party, this one won't need the full set of buffs that melees might require. Sometimes it's best to give vital buffs when you're about to face an encounter which requires it (e.g. meeting some mephits). If you're new to the game and don't know the quests well, then the other party members should tell you in time which buffs they need. If not, it's their own fault and sadly will tax the cleric's spell points.

[grimbot]

I am new to the game as well, and have a lvl 7 Wiz. Here's my experience running it:

Get an item that enhances your spell effectiveness. I got the Lighting Rod with Greater Magnetism III. That makes your level 3 and lower electric spells do 40% more damage. I usually cast Maximized Electric loops or Lightning Bolts. Keep Maximize on and just watch what you cast....big group? Throw an Electric Loop and stun some of them...see a shaman? Knock him out with a Lightning Bolt. Burning Hands is also nice for AoE damage. You also may want to consider going with the Pale Master line of enhancements, as you will have a nice pet to do damage and tank if you are out of SP. Augment Summoning is a great feat to take if you run this route. I get a lot of comments about how awesome my pet is, and he often saves wipes with his ability to tank hard mobs. Get used to running out of SP, just make sure you have done massive damage while doing it. I often hold back casting on easy groups of mobs and just melee with my staff, then when thing get hairy, nuke some stuff and bask in the appreciation of my group. Get used to having aggro and learn to avoid damage by jumping / kiting mobs. When you throw down massive nukes, things tend to run after you..so knowing how to jump over/ away from them, getting behind things, or around corners while melee takes them down is a good skill to learn.(My mantra: "Be the Kobold Shaman") Remember, you are a nuker...you can do massive damage at will. So do that when the time is right...that time is either when your group is in a fight with a lot of mobs, or when your group is in a fight with a boss. As far as spell selection I run this for damage: burning hands, electric loop, lightning bolt, ice lance, fire wall, magic missile. That way you generally have an element that mobs don't have a resist to. I also keep utility spells slotted, such as feather fall, jump, false life, blur, knock, and haste. Hope this helps...I have had a great experience so far as a wizard, hope yours improves.

[Lyrpen]

If you have no money, or wizard is your 1st toon, it is a bit harder than most other classes. You will be spending lots on spells and inscribing them, so you have to pick wisely and wait to scribe many spells. So, just for you:

Link to spell review: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=116560 It was written quite a while ago, but it is 90% relevant still. It helps to know the spells so you can choose better, and most comments are still true.

Offensive spells: You have to ask if you can afford the worst possible outcome when casting an offensive spell. In my opinion only, I don't like Niac's on my wizard, it's an all or nothing spell, and nothing is not acceptable for my wizard. The 1st spell for damage I really like is Scorching Ray: no save allowed, 4d6 fire damage (errrrrr, that's 4-24 fire damage for the d20 challenged), and stays a relevant as a spell for a long time. Play with your spells and see what they do.

If you are having a really hard time, head all the way back to Korthos Island, and run quests to practice, practice, practice. Better to experiment with critters that take longer to kill you.

The thing I don't like about Scorching Ray is that the damage is kind of low even though it costs a lot, SP wise. Even at level 7 when an extra ray is added the damage is lower than Frost Lance, since I gain an extra lance on that level too. I'll try to practice on Korthos, still trying to figure out what to practice though. :P


Word. This.

I've got one wizard to 20 and never cast Niac's with it. At all. Some of this is/was based on my PNP assumptions and maybe I'd do things differently before, but not now. Instead, farm Waterworks for the eternal acid wand. Use the eternal finger of fire wand. If you're VIP, get the MM wand from Catacombs.

I *do* use Frost Lance at later levels if I need a single target ice thing and I do try to carry one direct fire, one direct ice, etc. spell.

So, I know the OP is sleeping. When I started getting close to capping my first wizard, I started a lowbie to plan out some things. Here's what I did:

1 - Extend, Toughness, Focus Enchantment
3 - Focus Necromancy
5 - Greater Focus Enchantment
6 - Maximize
9 - Augment Summoning
10 - Empower
12 - GSF Necromancy
15 - Quicken, Spell Penetration
18 - Heighten
20 - Greater Spell Penetration

Gear-wise, I basically have coasted to 9th level with the following:

* Robe of Invulnerability (ML 4) - also have X guard of Invulnerability I switched in at 6th (lesser acid guard of invuln) and 8th (acid guard of invuln) ... but honestly the guard is not that useful.
* At 7th, two efficiacy 4 clickies - I found I misplaced my potency gear. I don't need Wall of Fire often but when I do need it, I want the free boost from potency / efficacy.
* Scaling items of power / magi / etc. .... free SP after resting is like free pie and chips
* Necromancy, enchantment, conjuration +1 DC items (daggers, etc.) ... slotted in when needed
* Eternal wands of Acid, Magic Missile, Finger of Fire
* Eternal Wand of Charm Monster (for the heck of it; it rarely lands)
* Totemic Staff of Splinterskull (3x summon monster 3 clickie - actually have two of these); also have the Scorpion Staff, but don't really use it
* INT items (using a +3 right now; think it was a set of BTA goggles from Tangleroot; started w/ a BTA +2 hat)
* CON, other stat boosters
* Lightning Rod & Pillar of Light (for occasional melee)
* Archivist set
* Two picks, whatever I can grab, for smacking held things

That's kinda it. Instead of focusing on getting lots of SP so you can cast lots of spells, I'm using items (eternal wands, summon monster clickies) so that I'm not using my own SP. Instead of spending SP on multiple charms, I'm making sure the ones I do cast land (which actually saves SP).

I solo a fair amount w/ a cleric hireling (whichever one at my level has DV). I start each run with a summoned mosnter (still use the hellhounds - actually have 2 of those staves), a Pale Master summons (whatever I think may work best) and the hireling. Then I charm / ooze puppet / command undead / etc.

Rarely run out of SP.

I tend to avoid Spell Focus because most people say that you should only take Spell Focus if you have the shards to swap those feats later on, something I'll probably never have. I tried taking Spell Focus Conjuration and GSF Conjuration but the difference wasn't that great. I was still missing (getting saved) a lot of Niac's Cold Rays.

I've never gotten Augment Summoning before because people say it's bad and a waste of a feat slot though recently I've seen an increased amount of threads about that Pale Master stuff and that feat. I've no clue what Pale Master is. Is it an enhancement line focus on Necromancy or something?


**** I'm happy that I got helped through those levels. :S

But else, when you get AoE spells, try to maximize the number of targets, as the more you hit, the more damage your SP did, which is everything on a wiz (Especially for a soloing wiz). But generally, wiz is not the damge dealer in parties, but the practical support caster.

And quests can be like night and day with a wiz, when just looking at lvl. And firewall is the most fantastic thing against undead, but else it's not all that great, the damage is too low. And also, don't buy spells you don't need, because gear are essential, if you want to do proper damage. (My wiz have 40% or 50% damage for most spells, and had it since lvl 5 or 6.)

I am primarily a soloer, so can't really give all that good advice. :S
And in the early lvls, I had friends helping me (Now I'm helping them, my oneshot AoE is just fantastic with my friend's cleric. :P)

And also, those eternal wands that shoot those things, that deal a little damage, can be practical to use, make you actually do something, and if the enemies aren't running around too much, then they are more effective that hitting them too.

And if time shows, healing clickies can be really nice, but not in combat (Pots don't work much better usually).


And hope I wrote anything that was useful, because I just threw what came into my mind.

Thanks, I'll try that "nuking only when needed" tactic. Though I find it hard to determine when I need to nuke and when not to like "We meet 3 kobolds, should I just stand still or do nothing?", "There is a small group of Oozes. Should I fire a spell to prevent equipment damage?" or "There is a large group of Kobolds but they're spread all over the place. Should I just fire but only hit 3?"


You got lots of great advice here but ill just throw in with a quick point.

dont sweat being left behind in a group. unless it says zerg on the lfm, or some such, then just say that your falling behind. In your example where you got dropped at the shrine then lost for a second time thats just bad teamwork.

If someone dies they obviously encounter a problem of some kind or another, to just leave them to "try again" is just bad form.

I got my hand held through a raid tonight ive never done, i been playing well over a year but id never done this one so i let everyone know and was the only first timer.... who spoke up. on the way we all got massive lag and a few of us missed this jump and fell. I stuck with the two guys infront of me. and couldnt even see the map, mobs everywhere mad lag etc. we ended up in a corridor miles from everyone. one guy died, the other ran off while i was trying to make a stand and wand cure the fallen guy..... it was a right mess. in the end the main group came back, rescued us and we moved on, completed the raid first time. Was a great group.

Another group may have just muttered, noob, left me there and booted me when i RC'd. :)

I don't really have an eye for such things like teamwork but I can understand others too. Sometimes you just want to get on with the quests and not bodyguarding this wizzy that keeps dying all the time.


This sends up warning flares to me. Your CON might be too low. A common error for new folks is to skimp on CON. In DDO, CON isn't a dump stat for any class. For a Wiz, I'd recommend at least a starting CON of 14.

Maximize your HP. Make sure you have on the best CON item you can get that makes your CON score even. Wear false life items.

Nah, my CON is 16 but the Oozes and stuff just hit really hard. They usually hit 16 on me. Is that normal?


I believe he mentioned having 16 CON.

And just looked back over my own char, and is surprised that I have a meagre 14 CON and a +5 health item. So fairly low hp can do it as well.

And also a little thing with Oozes(Not the other blops, only those named Ooze), they are immune to fire and ice. (**** thingies, it took me ages to get proper acid equipment.:()

I usually just let the group take care of them or try to melee some in vain...


I have a few arcane caster toons (both sorceror and wizard). My approach when starting is to take some other class first which gives certain bonuses (free feats or skill points). This way I'm loosing the cpastone, but I don't care.
On lower level I also use armours more often on my casters (despite the arcane spell failure). Especially when out of SP it's possible to switch to armour, shield and weapon. Makes surviving a little easier (but only on low level quests). You can still use armours and shields without having the appropriate feats, but you'll have to live with the skill and attack penalties while doing so.


One thing I could recommend is a bard x2/wizard x18 or sorceror x18 / bard x2. You will be able to wear light armour and shields without penalty and you'll have access to fascinate, which might save you in certain situations.


Concerning arcane spell failure. Spells require some sort of spell materials: Material spell components, Somatic spell component (gestures etc.), Verbal spell component (some words or phrases muttered). The arcane spell component is only applied to spells which require a somatic spell component (some gestures). This means in return that spells that don't require a somatic spell component don't have a arcane spell failure. The drawback is that only a few spells fall into this category. But it's possible to wear a full plate and towershield and be able to cast such an arcane spell with 0% arcane failure.


Concerning spell point conservation. On lower levels the spell durations are rather short. Even with extend spell. Besides not everyone in the group will need to be buffed up through the roof. If you have a ranged toon in your party, this one won't need the full set of buffs that melees might require. Sometimes it's best to give vital buffs when you're about to face an encounter which requires it (e.g. meeting some mephits). If you're new to the game and don't know the quests well, then the other party members should tell you in time which buffs they need. If not, it's their own fault and sadly will tax the cleric's spell points.

I've tried splashing rogue twice but it usually resulted in the huge drawback of DC and damage so I couldn't do anything. My rogue skills were gimped too since I couldn't find any control boxes like in that elven cult quest in house Phiarlan or the fire trap in Rest for the Restless.
I'm not really a quick thinker. It's hard for me to adapt to all these situations quickly. I have all these spell damage increasing clickies but I always forget to use them. I tried using them once, which was in the Lair of Summon but my spells didn't work for some reason and I died without seeing the effect of them. XD I can't imagine remembering all those armours to switch all the time.


I am new to the game as well, and have a lvl 7 Wiz. Here's my experience running it:

Get an item that enhances your spell effectiveness. I got the Lighting Rod with Greater Magnetism III. That makes your level 3 and lower electric spells do 40% more damage. I usually cast Maximized Electric loops or Lightning Bolts. Keep Maximize on and just watch what you cast....big group? Throw an Electric Loop and stun some of them...see a shaman? Knock him out with a Lightning Bolt. Burning Hands is also nice for AoE damage. You also may want to consider going with the Pale Master line of enhancements, as you will have a nice pet to do damage and tank if you are out of SP. Augment Summoning is a great feat to take if you run this route. I get a lot of comments about how awesome my pet is, and he often saves wipes with his ability to tank hard mobs. Get used to running out of SP, just make sure you have done massive damage while doing it. I often hold back casting on easy groups of mobs and just melee with my staff, then when thing get hairy, nuke some stuff and bask in the appreciation of my group. Get used to having aggro and learn to avoid damage by jumping / kiting mobs. When you throw down massive nukes, things tend to run after you..so knowing how to jump over/ away from them, getting behind things, or around corners while melee takes them down is a good skill to learn.(My mantra: "Be the Kobold Shaman") Remember, you are a nuker...you can do massive damage at will. So do that when the time is right...that time is either when your group is in a fight with a lot of mobs, or when your group is in a fight with a boss. As far as spell selection I run this for damage: burning hands, electric loop, lightning bolt, ice lance, fire wall, magic missile. That way you generally have an element that mobs don't have a resist to. I also keep utility spells slotted, such as feather fall, jump, false life, blur, knock, and haste. Hope this helps...I have had a great experience so far as a wizard, hope yours improves.

Massive damage... err no? I just got Empower Spell recently. I will get Maximize at level 10 or something. Anyway, I'm following the Wizard's Handbook. I can jump and kite, no problem. The problem is that I get hit while jumping and kiting. :D I never found Electric Loop to be really useful. The damage is low and most mobs save against the daze effect. The only damage spells I have right now is Frost Lance and Acid Blast. Works in most situations but the damage is like blah. I don't use False Life. The +10 Health gets knocked away rather easily and I don't have the SP to keep casting it over and over again.

It's probably just me but Firewall is not useful for me. I used to have it on my previous wizard and I threw it in sometimes. Never found the real use for it. It's as useful for me as Niac's which is pretty bad.

I'm trying to summarize the advice since it's quite a lot:

- Only nuke when it's needed.
- Get robe of Invulnerability.
- Only inscribe what you need.
- Get damage boosting gear.
- Try to be buffer instead of nuker.
- Try to CC instead of nuking.
- Learn to use your Spells better (how?)

Tell if I'm missing something. :)

[rodallec]

Your livin the dream wizards are the boss.
you have heighten! thats cool at low level.
use WEB. if mob gets through run through your web til it gets caught!
cast JUMP on your self so they hit you less!
its not your fault your new and die. con is every newbies dump stat. was mine too.
as good as hypnotize is at low levels parties will just hit whatever and break your beautiful CC
when i TR'd my sorc to wiz and found myself in your situation
i grabbed a weapon with a nice crit multiplier x3 or 4 and used HOLD MONSTER
use HASTE on yourself and party and if they miss any mob or one comes after you, you can cast hold on it then any weapon will be free crits and kill it in seconds! sergod actually gave me caster gear after he saw me doing this cos he thought it was such a joke. but remember if they cant hit you you wont take damage.

Just be patient not long and youll be running through quests going eat my DC42 wail MWAAAHAHAHAAH

oh and firewall + deleras chain = lots of fun

[hockeyrama]

Comments:
You should really look through the forums at all the helpful threads about how to play a sorceror/wizard.

First, i would have to say thank you for not quitting. It is hard to play a wizard especially if you don't have wf. Now, if you are eating through your sp very fast then go with sorc and if you have it take a drow one and you will have no sp issues however it may be better to take a human for the extra feat but your call.

However, that said if you don't figure out the right spell for the situation you will have trouble picking spells for the sorc and will get frustrated often.

Advice:
Aggo:
First, with expedious and haste you can literally run away from anything faster then it can catch you. Groups hate when sorcs/wiz do this but if you have to then you have to. Actually, as mentioned with fw this is a good tactic. Just run around the mulberry bush while they literally kill themself.

Also, you mentioned having issues with staying with the group. Put expedious retreat as one of your first level spells and that eliminates that problem for most lower levels.

Second, aggro is something every caster has to deal with. When you cast offensive spells you get alot of attention. So you need to stop them from moving (hypno, charm, hold) or kill them before they get to you. Unless, you a wf, and built for fighting usually a caster cannot stand toe to toe long. So then don't. Standing toe to toe when you have lowHP and a low AC is not advised unless you have a healer on speed dial. What you need to do is have a plan on how to deal with the aggro. I like hyno as it freezes many as it a will save area effect save. You may get one or two who make the save so then the party and you kill those then take out everything one at a time. Good to discuss this with the party as many swing at them even when they see the held halo. That my spell choice for that situation but you may like something else the point is have an effective plan for aggro management (kiting a fw, stunning everything, blasting it with fireballs soo fast it dies before it gets to you).

Spell choices:
As a wiz, you have the full gamut but unlike a sorc you have to be careful about your sp usage. If you have out extended level 2 resists acid, fire and electrict to the whole party and say a bull's strength to the fighters you not going to have alot of sp left. So resign to doing very little and plan how to use the rest of your sp. Maybe you save to rebuff a fallen comrade later or maybe you save to throw out the odd cc spell when the mobs are conveniently gathered up for you. Eithier way if you buff alot then you may find you not going to be able to do much us.

So ask the group what buffs they need. If you can't remember the quests that is fine. If you say "guys, what resist you need for this one, I'll hand it out" you may get some who have house buffs say, don't buff me, I'm good (or a ranger for example with his resist knows he has enough resist for the quest). This saves you alot in buffs as many people have that stuff on clickies or house (now even some buffs from guild may change what you may want as well). The less buffs you cast the more sp for you to use the entire quest so ask and you still buff but it is easier.

Damage spells is a biggie for casters. YOu can make or break a caster by their ability to slaughter mass mobs. If you learn the enemies and what they are best to hit with then you will go far here. Example, in misery I use the eternal finger of fire wand (with the one AP spent to improve wands) on all spiders and the fiend. They take extra damage just like trolls and it kills them fast and cost me no sp. So learn your enemy and prepare the right spell. Example kobold shamans will have higher will then warriors so you target the warriors with your charm spell and let them beat up the shaman. Acid is great for many things but it is usually not the highest damage spells so you may want to ask around, read the forums, or ask in game for spell choice advice on certain quests.

Finally, SP
Since you are not a sorc you will have a lower sp. All that means is you can't spam spells left and right. However, with some tricks you can do fine. Example: you just cast hypno on a group of lizards. They standing looking dumb. YOu stand back and let the melee kill them one at a time and take a sip from your drink. Another example: you cast a fireball at a bunch of trolls and it almost completely kills them. YOu start walking slowly away using your eternal wand of fire from the grotto quest, or some other tactic where you don't need to cast a spell while the group kills them off (they will be running at you so have a plan). YOu severely wounded them so let the melee kill them instead of wasting more sp (who cares about kill count).

[Adarro]

I'm trying to summarize the advice since it's quite a lot:

- Only nuke when it's needed.
- Get robe of Invulnerability.
- Only inscribe what you need.
- Get damage boosting gear.
- Try to be buffer instead of nuker.
- Try to CC instead of nuking.
- Learn to use your Spells better (how?)

Tell if I'm missing something. :)

I figured I'd just add my 2 cents.
Many of the low level spells are unimpressive by themselves, but can be devastating in the right combination.

Nilac's as you mentioned has a reflex save which most agile creatures save against, but for its level and cost can do some real impressive damage, if it hits... So hit em with a web or any other paralyzing spell / skill and guess what? There's no reflex save when you're tangled up.
Nilac's along with the other 'ray' spells are what I call cherry pickers. I use it to hit anything that's tied down and can't jump out of the way.

Firewall with Solid Fog is another one.

Also, I might have missed it in the gear suggestions, but along with the 'invulnerability' robe, a handy robe to have is anything with 'fearsome'.

Soloing: If 5 irestone bad guys come my way, the first spell I'm casting is hypnotize. Maybe 2 will save, I'll try to charm person / monster / dominate one who saves while backing away. Now I'm down to 1 on 1. At this point I might have otto's and ghoul touch ready. otto's is a will save and ghoul is a fort save, so otto for fighter types and ghoul vs caster.

Essentially as a Wizard, I generally try to sow chaos then walk away with everything either fighting each other or just staring around enfeebled.

Never underestimate the power of the hot bar.
Things become a lot less complicated when all you need to do is press 1,2,3,4 instead of trying to remember set-ups and combinations while getting wailed on.

A final thing is:
A little diplomacy never hurts. If you're getting too much aggro, run over to that great axe wielding juggernaut uber leet Fighter and hit the diplomacy button! (Also sometimes effective vs absentminded battle clerics with a decent grease clicky, but that's a lesson for another day :)

[voodoogroves]

Your remark about SF / etc. and then using it with Niacs basically shows the problem.

Niacs' attacks fort. Stop shooting tough guys with it; it's gonna fail. If you're single-target attacking use a will save (or no save) on the toughies, fort save on the casters, etc. However, if you're single-target attacking like that unless you have tons and tons of SP, you're doing it wrong. You're better off casting spells like web, charm, etc. that either take multiple people out directly (web) so you or others can beat on them or change the balance (charm). Charm, when it lands, takes 1+ people out of a fight ... and charm person works well enough through 5th to 6th, then Charm Monster takes over for a while if you choose.

I think you're playing like you're a sorc; you can't do that. They have a much bigger SP pool and lack the feats to really be as flexible as a wizard. To them, every problem is somewhat of a nail because they are a hammer. As a wizard, you need to figure out what to use against each foe and understand that you're probably needing to swap tactics.

[Jacket]

A lot of good info here but I'll add my two cents.

*Niac's is garbage.
Don't use it. I know, I know, it can be situational, great on low reflex guys, but man that's a spell slot you can ill afford to loose.

*Don't skimp on CON.
You need it.

*Don't skimp on STR either.
While you're not a melee class, having 8 STR is a real nice way to get STR drained and unable to cast. Pick up a STR item if you really feel you can't spare the points.

*Summons are your friend but I would say buy the scrolls. They are available in the marketplace at a relatively low cost and it's great to have a dog/scorp friend that costs you no spell points.

*Masters Touch and big ol two hander.
I can't emphasize that enough. As a wizard, at low levels, you just don't have enough spell points to magic everything to death. You just can't do it. You're going to have to melee things or have other people melee things for you. People point to wands.. and wands are great until you run out of charges and are hosed. Crossbows take too long to reload and you can't cast till your done reloading. Throwing knives are nice for ranged but don't do too much damage. With the new master touch change (it lasts on a wep till you rest, no wearing off) there is no substitute for something you can swing for damage at any time. Even with a marginal STR score (say 12) at low levels you'll find that you hit more often than not and for more damage than your low level magic missile will do. You don't need an uber two hander of flaming burst pure good either. Pick something that has a high plus value for your level so you can hit things.

*Web.
Web is about the best thing ever. Webbed enemies just sit there waiting to be whacked on, wanded, chewed up by dogs or any other thing you can think of. Be aware, however, of what destroys web and what doesn't. Snowball swarm is a good choice for multiple webbed guys as is acid blast (but not acid spray and i really wish they would get around to fixing that). Electric loop will not bust the web either. Don't firewand, scorching ray, burning hands(or acid spray since it's busted) or fireball webbed guys as that will destroy the web and also be aware that if you're standing in the web and take fire damage it will likely destroy the web as well. Put the web in a choke point (doorway) or if in the open between you the baddies. If there are stranglers who save just run through the web again.

*Extend meta magic.
If you're low level, extend is the best bang for buck meta magic out there. Empower and maximize are great for when you have spell points to burn but you know you're hurting for SP already. Try not to extend first level spells as the point cost is the same as just casting over again when it wears off. An extended acid arrow burns for twice as long, webs last longer etc. If you're running low on SP just turn it off.

*Ghoul touch.
A great low level spell but if you don't have necromancy focus (or a necromancy plus item(or both)) you might want to skip it. The beauty of ghoul touch is that it is the lowest level hold spell and held creatures are auto hit auto crit. That means that even if you don't have masters touch on you can whip out your two hander and crit the face off almost anything in about three seconds. Be aware that if you have extend on it will cost you 10 more spell points because of the increased hold duration. You don't need very long to uber pwn held things so take extend off before you use ghoul touch. Also, ghoul touch is TOUCH spell so you have to get close to use it. While held ogres are nice in theory, your probably better off with a nice extended acid arrow.

*Expeditious retreat.
In my opinion you should have this spell active on you ALL THE TIME. It allows you to GET AWAY from bad things and when you feel a bit more comfortable with your spells you can use it to run circles around your web and make sure everything is in it. Also, this is about the only first level spell that I would extend because you don't want to be caught in a situation where you have slow down to recast. Retreat items are nice but they don't last nearly long enough. Get the spell.

*Invisibility wands or pots.
I don't think that invisibility is worth slotting as you can get the same effect for no SP cost. Invisibly is great for dropping agro but make sure to keep moving as things can still hear you and will know generally where you are. You can self buff and not break it but if you attack or cast it goes away. Also great for when the rest of your part is all dead and there are still lurkers around their stones. Use the "q" and "e" keys to pick up stones so as avoid accidentally attacking and breaking the invisibility.

*Charm person.
I don't use this spell, but it is a great way to keep things off of you. Your charmed guys are unlikely to do too much damage but a few charmed guys in a mass can go a long way toward keeping you alive. Works with extend but monsters still get a chance to save out of it. Suggestion is better and works on a wider range of things but costs more.

Until about level three you're probably going to want to run with other people. After that, it is totally possible to solo most quests but IS hard. Be sure to have plenty of cure pots, candy canes or wands so you can keep yourelf topped up. Healers are great but self sufficiency is king.

The nice thing about wizards is the range of things you can do. Use everything you can to gain an advantage! Have fun and practice makes perfect!

[Nick_RC]

offtopic:

I'm going to sleep now so I can't reply. Thanks for all the great responses. The DDO forums are really active compared to other forums where I had to wait 2 days before someone replied. :D

Heh honestly man everyones covered it just wanted to chime in and say I wish other noobs were as bluntly honest and humorous as ur OP. I laughed quite a bit at how bad u were/are but would help you out anytime. Far FAR better than wondernoob who thinks he knows it all.

Gluck.:)

N

[Anzanel]

+1 for this thread, since I'm also a noob wizard (Same as the OP, except lvl 11 -_-)

What should I do with my spell hotkeys? What do other, more experienced Wizards do with their spell hotkeys? I find I'm having a hard time keeping track of everything. Right now I'm using 6 hotbars: all lvl 1 spells on the 1st one, 2nd lvl spells on the 2nd, etc. I'll end up with 10 bars by the time I'm at the end of the game (I put all my clickies on hotbar 10.) ...Is this a good idea?

I find that I remember a LOT better where my spells are, which makes it easier for me to swap spells often and not go "O SHI, WHERE DID I PUT THAT SPELL!?" in a stressful situation. The downside is that it's a lot of hotkey mashing and mousewheel rolling...but I'm starting to get used to it...slowly :P (**** that mousewheel for being so touchy!)

Should I just stick with this method?

Also, is there a thread for what gear a Wiz should have around mid-level?

[dragonlo]

any one who isn't a **** will help a noob. So my best advice either find noob friendly guild (there are alot out there) or if some one has a prob with you noobness freaking leave pt and say thanks ****. any ways thats what I would do. Freaking Elitest trash out there >.<. and most of all have fun it's a game ^^

[RTN]

If you have a CON of 16 and are still getting hit too hard, then you need to make sure the melee get agro. Jump in later. However, once you have Firewall, then Jump and Blur (or Displacement) are your friends. Use those with haste and jump around your firewall.

If you're by yourself, sneak up and charm (Suggestion) a big melee mob. Let him get the agro, then you can jump in.

As far as hotbars, I put my most commonly cast non-buffs on the 2-10 keys (1 is Diplo). Two is healing (WF Wiz--I never make any fleshling wizards). I'd have to check, but I think I usually have scorching ray on 3, Cone of Cold on 4, FW on 5, etc etc.

[agent00skid]

Frost lance have half damage fort save, which is very good to notice, as it is worse than scorching when saved, and costs more SP too.

[Lyrpen]

Your livin the dream wizards are the boss.
you have heighten! thats cool at low level.
use WEB. if mob gets through run through your web til it gets caught!
cast JUMP on your self so they hit you less!
its not your fault your new and die. con is every newbies dump stat. was mine too.
as good as hypnotize is at low levels parties will just hit whatever and break your beautiful CC
when i TR'd my sorc to wiz and found myself in your situation
i grabbed a weapon with a nice crit multiplier x3 or 4 and used HOLD MONSTER
use HASTE on yourself and party and if they miss any mob or one comes after you, you can cast hold on it then any weapon will be free crits and kill it in seconds! sergod actually gave me caster gear after he saw me doing this cos he thought it was such a joke. but remember if they cant hit you you wont take damage.

Just be patient not long and youll be running through quests going eat my DC42 wail MWAAAHAHAHAAH

oh and firewall + deleras chain = lots of fun

I've tried web, but I have no idea how to use it. Like when I encounter a large group of kobolds. Am I supposed to cast it in the middle and hope they get stuck or just throw in a few hypno's? I tried using it right before a door, but people usually just storm right in the next room and the mobs never even touch the web or we're in front of an empty room...
So I gave melee a try. Grabbing a +2 Great Axe from the weapon broker and pulling Master's Touch from a dusty corner of my spellbook. I cast Bull's Str on myself when I use it if I have enough SP left. It works pretty well, missing a lot though. I was in a group doing Irestone Inlet but it was a lot harder than we expected though but I managed to kill some Witch Doctors and Clerics. :D The melee-ers are rather tough though.


Comments:
You should really look through the forums at all the helpful threads about how to play a sorceror/wizard.

First, i would have to say thank you for not quitting. It is hard to play a wizard especially if you don't have wf. Now, if you are eating through your sp very fast then go with sorc and if you have it take a drow one and you will have no sp issues however it may be better to take a human for the extra feat but your call.

However, that said if you don't figure out the right spell for the situation you will have trouble picking spells for the sorc and will get frustrated often.

Advice:
Aggo:
First, with expedious and haste you can literally run away from anything faster then it can catch you. Groups hate when sorcs/wiz do this but if you have to then you have to. Actually, as mentioned with fw this is a good tactic. Just run around the mulberry bush while they literally kill themself.

Also, you mentioned having issues with staying with the group. Put expedious retreat as one of your first level spells and that eliminates that problem for most lower levels.

Second, aggro is something every caster has to deal with. When you cast offensive spells you get alot of attention. So you need to stop them from moving (hypno, charm, hold) or kill them before they get to you. Unless, you a wf, and built for fighting usually a caster cannot stand toe to toe long. So then don't. Standing toe to toe when you have lowHP and a low AC is not advised unless you have a healer on speed dial. What you need to do is have a plan on how to deal with the aggro. I like hyno as it freezes many as it a will save area effect save. You may get one or two who make the save so then the party and you kill those then take out everything one at a time. Good to discuss this with the party as many swing at them even when they see the held halo. That my spell choice for that situation but you may like something else the point is have an effective plan for aggro management (kiting a fw, stunning everything, blasting it with fireballs soo fast it dies before it gets to you).

Spell choices:
As a wiz, you have the full gamut but unlike a sorc you have to be careful about your sp usage. If you have out extended level 2 resists acid, fire and electrict to the whole party and say a bull's strength to the fighters you not going to have alot of sp left. So resign to doing very little and plan how to use the rest of your sp. Maybe you save to rebuff a fallen comrade later or maybe you save to throw out the odd cc spell when the mobs are conveniently gathered up for you. Eithier way if you buff alot then you may find you not going to be able to do much us.

So ask the group what buffs they need. If you can't remember the quests that is fine. If you say "guys, what resist you need for this one, I'll hand it out" you may get some who have house buffs say, don't buff me, I'm good (or a ranger for example with his resist knows he has enough resist for the quest). This saves you alot in buffs as many people have that stuff on clickies or house (now even some buffs from guild may change what you may want as well). The less buffs you cast the more sp for you to use the entire quest so ask and you still buff but it is easier.

Damage spells is a biggie for casters. YOu can make or break a caster by their ability to slaughter mass mobs. If you learn the enemies and what they are best to hit with then you will go far here. Example, in misery I use the eternal finger of fire wand (with the one AP spent to improve wands) on all spiders and the fiend. They take extra damage just like trolls and it kills them fast and cost me no sp. So learn your enemy and prepare the right spell. Example kobold shamans will have higher will then warriors so you target the warriors with your charm spell and let them beat up the shaman. Acid is great for many things but it is usually not the highest damage spells so you may want to ask around, read the forums, or ask in game for spell choice advice on certain quests.

Finally, SP
Since you are not a sorc you will have a lower sp. All that means is you can't spam spells left and right. However, with some tricks you can do fine. Example: you just cast hypno on a group of lizards. They standing looking dumb. YOu stand back and let the melee kill them one at a time and take a sip from your drink. Another example: you cast a fireball at a bunch of trolls and it almost completely kills them. YOu start walking slowly away using your eternal wand of fire from the grotto quest, or some other tactic where you don't need to cast a spell while the group kills them off (they will be running at you so have a plan). YOu severely wounded them so let the melee kill them instead of wasting more sp (who cares about kill count).

I don't buff a lot except on quests where I can't do a lot like Redfang the Unruled. My CC spells don't work there and I don't have enough SP to keep casting damage spells so I resign to buffing and melee the spiders instead.
Asking about buffs usualy doesn't work well. Most people just don't respond which is quite annoying so I usually just give Bull's Str to the melee-ers and Fox's Cunning for the rogue.
The last part about SP, I'm already doing that. :)


I figured I'd just add my 2 cents.
Many of the low level spells are unimpressive by themselves, but can be devastating in the right combination.

Nilac's as you mentioned has a reflex save which most agile creatures save against, but for its level and cost can do some real impressive damage, if it hits... So hit em with a web or any other paralyzing spell / skill and guess what? There's no reflex save when you're tangled up.
Nilac's along with the other 'ray' spells are what I call cherry pickers. I use it to hit anything that's tied down and can't jump out of the way.

Firewall with Solid Fog is another one.

Also, I might have missed it in the gear suggestions, but along with the 'invulnerability' robe, a handy robe to have is anything with 'fearsome'.

Soloing: If 5 irestone bad guys come my way, the first spell I'm casting is hypnotize. Maybe 2 will save, I'll try to charm person / monster / dominate one who saves while backing away. Now I'm down to 1 on 1. At this point I might have otto's and ghoul touch ready. otto's is a will save and ghoul is a fort save, so otto for fighter types and ghoul vs caster.

Essentially as a Wizard, I generally try to sow chaos then walk away with everything either fighting each other or just staring around enfeebled.

Never underestimate the power of the hot bar.
Things become a lot less complicated when all you need to do is press 1,2,3,4 instead of trying to remember set-ups and combinations while getting wailed on.

A final thing is:
A little diplomacy never hurts. If you're getting too much aggro, run over to that great axe wielding juggernaut uber leet Fighter and hit the diplomacy button! (Also sometimes effective vs absentminded battle clerics with a decent grease clicky, but that's a lesson for another day :)

I wonder why I should use Otto's. It's a will save spell too. Why not just use Hypno or Charm against it? Thanks for the tip btw. I used it in Irestone and it works great. Too bad the casters still save a lot against Ghoul Touch. :/


Your remark about SF / etc. and then using it with Niacs basically shows the problem.

Niacs' attacks fort. Stop shooting tough guys with it; it's gonna fail. If you're single-target attacking use a will save (or no save) on the toughies, fort save on the casters, etc. However, if you're single-target attacking like that unless you have tons and tons of SP, you're doing it wrong. You're better off casting spells like web, charm, etc. that either take multiple people out directly (web) so you or others can beat on them or change the balance (charm). Charm, when it lands, takes 1+ people out of a fight ... and charm person works well enough through 5th to 6th, then Charm Monster takes over for a while if you choose.

I think you're playing like you're a sorc; you can't do that. They have a much bigger SP pool and lack the feats to really be as flexible as a wizard. To them, every problem is somewhat of a nail because they are a hammer. As a wizard, you need to figure out what to use against each foe and understand that you're probably needing to swap tactics.

Yeah, that's the part I like about Sorc. No need to think all the time, just blast it into oblivion. >:D I've been trying to prepare better lately and it's HARD. Missed Sunken Sewer while thinking about the spells I might need for it... Adapting to the different types of mobs is getting slightly better especially with CC spells.


A lot of good info here but I'll add my two cents.

*Niac's is garbage.
Don't use it. I know, I know, it can be situational, great on low reflex guys, but man that's a spell slot you can ill afford to loose.

*Don't skimp on CON.
You need it.

*Don't skimp on STR either.
While you're not a melee class, having 8 STR is a real nice way to get STR drained and unable to cast. Pick up a STR item if you really feel you can't spare the points.

*Summons are your friend but I would say buy the scrolls. They are available in the marketplace at a relatively low cost and it's great to have a dog/scorp friend that costs you no spell points.

*Masters Touch and big ol two hander.
I can't emphasize that enough. As a wizard, at low levels, you just don't have enough spell points to magic everything to death. You just can't do it. You're going to have to melee things or have other people melee things for you. People point to wands.. and wands are great until you run out of charges and are hosed. Crossbows take too long to reload and you can't cast till your done reloading. Throwing knives are nice for ranged but don't do too much damage. With the new master touch change (it lasts on a wep till you rest, no wearing off) there is no substitute for something you can swing for damage at any time. Even with a marginal STR score (say 12) at low levels you'll find that you hit more often than not and for more damage than your low level magic missile will do. You don't need an uber two hander of flaming burst pure good either. Pick something that has a high plus value for your level so you can hit things.

*Web.
Web is about the best thing ever. Webbed enemies just sit there waiting to be whacked on, wanded, chewed up by dogs or any other thing you can think of. Be aware, however, of what destroys web and what doesn't. Snowball swarm is a good choice for multiple webbed guys as is acid blast (but not acid spray and i really wish they would get around to fixing that). Electric loop will not bust the web either. Don't firewand, scorching ray, burning hands(or acid spray since it's busted) or fireball webbed guys as that will destroy the web and also be aware that if you're standing in the web and take fire damage it will likely destroy the web as well. Put the web in a choke point (doorway) or if in the open between you the baddies. If there are stranglers who save just run through the web again.

*Extend meta magic.
If you're low level, extend is the best bang for buck meta magic out there. Empower and maximize are great for when you have spell points to burn but you know you're hurting for SP already. Try not to extend first level spells as the point cost is the same as just casting over again when it wears off. An extended acid arrow burns for twice as long, webs last longer etc. If you're running low on SP just turn it off.

*Ghoul touch.
A great low level spell but if you don't have necromancy focus (or a necromancy plus item(or both)) you might want to skip it. The beauty of ghoul touch is that it is the lowest level hold spell and held creatures are auto hit auto crit. That means that even if you don't have masters touch on you can whip out your two hander and crit the face off almost anything in about three seconds. Be aware that if you have extend on it will cost you 10 more spell points because of the increased hold duration. You don't need very long to uber pwn held things so take extend off before you use ghoul touch. Also, ghoul touch is TOUCH spell so you have to get close to use it. While held ogres are nice in theory, your probably better off with a nice extended acid arrow.

*Expeditious retreat.
In my opinion you should have this spell active on you ALL THE TIME. It allows you to GET AWAY from bad things and when you feel a bit more comfortable with your spells you can use it to run circles around your web and make sure everything is in it. Also, this is about the only first level spell that I would extend because you don't want to be caught in a situation where you have slow down to recast. Retreat items are nice but they don't last nearly long enough. Get the spell.

*Invisibility wands or pots.
I don't think that invisibility is worth slotting as you can get the same effect for no SP cost. Invisibly is great for dropping agro but make sure to keep moving as things can still hear you and will know generally where you are. You can self buff and not break it but if you attack or cast it goes away. Also great for when the rest of your part is all dead and there are still lurkers around their stones. Use the "q" and "e" keys to pick up stones so as avoid accidentally attacking and breaking the invisibility.

*Charm person.
I don't use this spell, but it is a great way to keep things off of you. Your charmed guys are unlikely to do too much damage but a few charmed guys in a mass can go a long way toward keeping you alive. Works with extend but monsters still get a chance to save out of it. Suggestion is better and works on a wider range of things but costs more.

Until about level three you're probably going to want to run with other people. After that, it is totally possible to solo most quests but IS hard. Be sure to have plenty of cure pots, candy canes or wands so you can keep yourelf topped up. Healers are great but self sufficiency is king.

The nice thing about wizards is the range of things you can do. Use everything you can to gain an advantage! Have fun and practice makes perfect!

What am I supposed to use if I shouldn't use Niac's at low levels? :S Burning Hands has pretty low damage. Scorching Ray eats through SP while still having far lower damage than Niac's even with Maximize on.
I didn't treat CON as I dump stat. My CON is 16. ;) And I put the rest of the points into STR.
I've tried bringing Summon scrolls since other have advised me to do so too but man, the duration is really short. I used up 5 scrolls in Irestone and that was only before fights.
I got Extend spell on like always when I'm buffing. Ghoul Touch is pretty good against casters but they save it quite a lot but it's awesome when it hits.
K, Expeditious Retreat on all the time... (writes down)
I'm still searching for Invisibility Wands, hard to find though.
Yeah, I have Charm Person pretty much always prep'd.
I had like 450 of those Candy Canes and a tab full of recipes so I ended up giving all the canes away. >.<


Heh honestly man everyones covered it just wanted to chime in and say I wish other noobs were as bluntly honest and humorous as ur OP. I laughed quite a bit at how bad u were/are but would help you out anytime. Far FAR better than wondernoob who thinks he knows it all.

Gluck.:)

N

Haha, thanks. :P


+1 for this thread, since I'm also a noob wizard (Same as the OP, except lvl 11 -_-)

What should I do with my spell hotkeys? What do other, more experienced Wizards do with their spell hotkeys? I find I'm having a hard time keeping track of everything. Right now I'm using 6 hotbars: all lvl 1 spells on the 1st one, 2nd lvl spells on the 2nd, etc. I'll end up with 10 bars by the time I'm at the end of the game (I put all my clickies on hotbar 10.) ...Is this a good idea?

I find that I remember a LOT better where my spells are, which makes it easier for me to swap spells often and not go "O SHI, WHERE DID I PUT THAT SPELL!?" in a stressful situation. The downside is that it's a lot of hotkey mashing and mousewheel rolling...but I'm starting to get used to it...slowly :P (**** that mousewheel for being so touchy!)

Should I just stick with this method?

Also, is there a thread for what gear a Wiz should have around mid-level?

Hehe, I have that problem a lot to be honest. Always have a look at least once at my hotbar and my keyboard before casting which can be pretty annoying.


any one who isn't a **** will help a noob. So my best advice either find noob friendly guild (there are alot out there) or if some one has a prob with you noobness freaking leave pt and say thanks ****. any ways thats what I would do. Freaking Elitest trash out there >.<. and most of all have fun it's a game ^^

Can you give some examples of noob friendly guilds? :D


If you have a CON of 16 and are still getting hit too hard, then you need to make sure the melee get agro. Jump in later. However, once you have Firewall, then Jump and Blur (or Displacement) are your friends. Use those with haste and jump around your firewall.

If you're by yourself, sneak up and charm (Suggestion) a big melee mob. Let him get the agro, then you can jump in.

As far as hotbars, I put my most commonly cast non-buffs on the 2-10 keys (1 is Diplo). Two is healing (WF Wiz--I never make any fleshling wizards). I'd have to check, but I think I usually have scorching ray on 3, Cone of Cold on 4, FW on 5, etc etc.

Somestimes I'm forced to cast before the meleers get there though. Hypno isn't gonna work when all the mobs are gathered next to that Battleaxe swinging juggernaut. I usually use Charm Person since the duration of Suggestion is so short and Extending it will burn through my SP in no time. I might use Scorching Ray if I can get my hands on a Superior Potency or Combustion item, for now I'll stick to my Superior Glaciation V from the ice games.


Frost lance have half damage fort save, which is very good to notice, as it is worse than scorching when saved, and costs more SP too.

Frost Lance doesn't get saved a lot for me, or I'm just not noticing it. XD

[Lobster5]

Haste and blur the party, displace yourself.

With haste and displacement you will get hit a great deal less, when you get firewall, use haste and displacement and kite mobs around it.

Make sure you have a potency item and a fire lore item (one in each hand)


But basically if you're a wizard and you extend haste and blur on the party you're helping that party more than any other individual member.

[Muldamai]

Been thinking about this thread, and a few questions for the OP, so maybe we can better tailor some responses:

1) What level are you?
2) What race are you?
3) Your current hit points/ spell points?
4) What feats?
5) What enhancements?
6) What level of difficulty dungeons are you entering?

I think with some info maybe we can give you something to exactly help you with some of the difficulties you are encountering.

[agent00skid]

Would strongly suggest not to maximize scorching, except if you really need to kill something fast.
But yeah, general information about your char would be good. :)

And remember that AoE spells have the ability to hit multiple enemies, so often they are the best choice, though there are times where single target can be better. (Dealing damage is my speciality, and have never even done CCing. :P)

Edit: The more I'm reading this thread, the more odd I feel my playing method is. :S

[Lyrpen]

Been thinking about this thread, and a few questions for the OP, so maybe we can better tailor some responses:

1) What level are you?
2) What race are you?
3) Your current hit points/ spell points?
4) What feats?
5) What enhancements?
6) What level of difficulty dungeons are you entering?

I think with some info maybe we can give you something to exactly help you with some of the difficulties you are encountering.


Would strongly suggest not to maximize scorching, except if you really need to kill something fast.
But yeah, general information about your char would be good. :)

And remember that AoE spells have the ability to hit multiple enemies, so often they are the best choice, though there are times where single target can be better. (Dealing damage is my speciality, and have never even done CCing. :P)

Edit: The more I'm reading this thread, the more odd I feel my playing method is. :S

Ye, like I already said. I'm following Viene's Wizard's Handbook. I have all the ice/fire, elect/acid and force/repair enhancements available at lvl 5 and got the +1 INT enhancement. I have Concentration I too and the first of the Improved [Metamagic].

I will post a more detailed profile if you want. Too tired right now.

[hityawithastick]

Dude, three points.

1. If people keep running past your webs and whacking your hypno'd mobs, you need to yell at them. Most of the time, if you give people a heads up, even just throwing a FW and saying 'Pull to me!' they'll get the idea, in my experience at least. Let them know that you're providing an easier encounter, and they get to decide if they want it or not.

2. Level 2 spell: Electric loop. I spam the thing everywhere. 1-5 targets, and if you're lucky, it stuns them. As in, 'stunned so-every-hit-is-a-critical-hit', for about 8, 10 seconds. Get a greater Magnetism item and you can be dishing out 40 damage per hit, with crits of 60. Works great on oozes, kobbers, hobgoblins, ogres...anything with a low Will save and/or non-immunity to electricity. Even better, the damage and the stun are independent effects, so if your critter saves, it still takes damage, and if it resists the damage, it may still be stunned.

3. You don't always need to do something in EVERY fight. Sometimes I just stand at the back for the first few encounters of the quest. But if you've buffed up your pals, and as long as those buffs are active, well, you ARE doing something. Keep that SP until something really nasty comes up. As a quick reference, I just select an average-looking target and compare its CR to my level. If it's lower than my level, I don't waste time on it. Greater than my level, I cut loose with a spell or two. If it's clearly a boss, I give it ten seconds of my best, whatever the SP cost. Great example: Waterworks: Clan Gnashtooth's Den (part 1). The first chamber where the kobolds drop from the ceilings? I hardly ever even waste crossbow bolts on it. Instead, I focus on getting myself and my homies buffed up for the fights and traps ahead.

Keep on trucking! And don't give up on the wizard! :)

()_()
(^^)
(> <)

[nanobot1994]

Just read the first 2 pages and, no offence, but your disregarding alot of solid advice. As a rule of thumb, if more than 2 people that have been playing for more than a year say something, automatically assume its right. Really, I doubt anyone on this forum would try to intentionally troll you, and if they do, almost all of them get shot down fast.

That said, Ill just list my experiences on my warforged wiz, this wont be -that- far off since Ive tried alot builds, including a wiz/sorc of every race. Heres what I did -

Stats - 18int, 16con, rest in str

Lev 4 -
Spells-
Masters Touch, Blur, Expeditious Retreat, Resist, Bulls
Quests -
Bonebite (10xnorm/hard/elite/casual), Info is Key (10xnorm/hard/elite/casual)
Equipment -
Nothing major that I remember, but an elemental 2H weapon (that you get from vet status for free) would go a low way (1d6 extra)
Plan -
Get in quest, cast buffs, charge, kill, repeat ;). Really, pretend you're a barb, the games so horribly easy before lev6-8, even a 6 CON elf might survive...

That should've got you to lev5, but hold of your level, now go do WW(nx10/h/e/c). Now, go get to lev5, do haverdasher once on casual, get to lev6. Also, remember to get invis and haste, huge boost to soloing, haste, invis, run. Shoot a max'ed empowered scorching ray at boss, repeat. When you do get acid blast, its another huge boost, since its an AoE that does half-way decent damage. Repeat the same strategy used at level 6 to get to level 7, then you get Firewall, which -is- a game changer. I go from being a decent contributer, to a person who solos quests for the party. Now, this wont last too long, but it will be awesome till about lev9. At 9 go run shadow crypt, 12 times on norm, an hard, an elite, and a Casual. Now your lev11.

Thats more or less the path my warforged wiz used. I never really did run out of mana/die in quests, it was probably more due to self healing, but you can easily replicate that with a cleric hire. Atleast at low levels.

Heres some awesome links that you'll find very useful:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=226992 - From Mr.Cow
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=232660 - From Tihocan
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=1347759#post1347759 - From Dragon.Star

Mr Cow's thread uses a warforged, but you can get a cleric hire and go a bit slower. Tihocan's thread has some very nice builds. Finally, Dragon.Star's build has most of the static loot in the game, to find you some places to grind/look out for gear.

Well, if im completely off on my points, just remember that these are my experiences, it may be a little different for everyone.

EDIT - Also, a wiz is worth-it if its only because I'm 1-shotting everyone at lev11 with scorching ray/disintegrate :D.

[Lyrpen]

Dude, three points.

1. If people keep running past your webs and whacking your hypno'd mobs, you need to yell at them. Most of the time, if you give people a heads up, even just throwing a FW and saying 'Pull to me!' they'll get the idea, in my experience at least. Let them know that you're providing an easier encounter, and they get to decide if they want it or not.

2. Level 2 spell: Electric loop. I spam the thing everywhere. 1-5 targets, and if you're lucky, it stuns them. As in, 'stunned so-every-hit-is-a-critical-hit', for about 8, 10 seconds. Get a greater Magnetism item and you can be dishing out 40 damage per hit, with crits of 60. Works great on oozes, kobbers, hobgoblins, ogres...anything with a low Will save and/or non-immunity to electricity. Even better, the damage and the stun are independent effects, so if your critter saves, it still takes damage, and if it resists the damage, it may still be stunned.

3. You don't always need to do something in EVERY fight. Sometimes I just stand at the back for the first few encounters of the quest. But if you've buffed up your pals, and as long as those buffs are active, well, you ARE doing something. Keep that SP until something really nasty comes up. As a quick reference, I just select an average-looking target and compare its CR to my level. If it's lower than my level, I don't waste time on it. Greater than my level, I cut loose with a spell or two. If it's clearly a boss, I give it ten seconds of my best, whatever the SP cost. Great example: Waterworks: Clan Gnashtooth's Den (part 1). The first chamber where the kobolds drop from the ceilings? I hardly ever even waste crossbow bolts on it. Instead, I focus on getting myself and my homies buffed up for the fights and traps ahead.

Keep on trucking! And don't give up on the wizard! :)

()_()
(^^)
(> <)

40 with Electric loop on average? O_o I deal 20 if I'm lucky with Greater Magnetism but I guess I'll give it a try again.


Just read the first 2 pages and, no offence, but your disregarding alot of solid advice. As a rule of thumb, if more than 2 people that have been playing for more than a year say something, automatically assume its right. Really, I doubt anyone on this forum would try to intentionally troll you, and if they do, almost all of them get shot down fast.

That said, Ill just list my experiences on my warforged wiz, this wont be -that- far off since Ive tried alot builds, including a wiz/sorc of every race. Heres what I did -

Stats - 18int, 16con, rest in str

Lev 4 -
Spells-
Masters Touch, Blur, Expeditious Retreat, Resist, Bulls
Quests -
Bonebite (10xnorm/hard/elite/casual), Info is Key (10xnorm/hard/elite/casual)
Equipment -
Nothing major that I remember, but an elemental 2H weapon (that you get from vet status for free) would go a low way (1d6 extra)
Plan -
Get in quest, cast buffs, charge, kill, repeat ;). Really, pretend you're a barb, the games so horribly easy before lev6-8, even a 6 CON elf might survive...

That should've got you to lev5, but hold of your level, now go do WW(nx10/h/e/c). Now, go get to lev5, do haverdasher once on casual, get to lev6. Also, remember to get invis and haste, huge boost to soloing, haste, invis, run. Shoot a max'ed empowered scorching ray at boss, repeat. When you do get acid blast, its another huge boost, since its an AoE that does half-way decent damage. Repeat the same strategy used at level 6 to get to level 7, then you get Firewall, which -is- a game changer. I go from being a decent contributer, to a person who solos quests for the party. Now, this wont last too long, but it will be awesome till about lev9. At 9 go run shadow crypt, 12 times on norm, an hard, an elite, and a Casual. Now your lev11.

Thats more or less the path my warforged wiz used. I never really did run out of mana/die in quests, it was probably more due to self healing, but you can easily replicate that with a cleric hire. Atleast at low levels.

Heres some awesome links that you'll find very useful:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=226992 - From Mr.Cow
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=232660 - From Tihocan
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=1347759#post1347759 - From Dragon.Star

Mr Cow's thread uses a warforged, but you can get a cleric hire and go a bit slower. Tihocan's thread has some very nice builds. Finally, Dragon.Star's build has most of the static loot in the game, to find you some places to grind/look out for gear.

Well, if im completely off on my points, just remember that these are my experiences, it may be a little different for everyone.

EDIT - Also, a wiz is worth-it if its only because I'm 1-shotting everyone at lev11 with scorching ray/disintegrate :D.

I try to follow all the advice but if something doesn't work, am I supposed to keep doing it? Eh... Easy...? So it's gonna get way harder? O_o
Is there any trick behind FW? Because I get hit a lot with jump and expeditious retreat on.
I don't really like solo-ing. I'd rather wait for a good PUG to pop up than solo.
Thanks for the links, I'm already using the first two though.

[agent00skid]

Lyrpen, some info about your char would still be wonderful. :)

And what about repeating quest, do you have anything against that? (Not that i think so, but I have that feeling myself)

[Tyrande]

40 with Electric loop on average? O_o I deal 20 if I'm lucky with Greater Magnetism but I guess I'll give it a try again.


Get a lightning rod. Should be one in the brokers. If not, just do VONS 4. It works great with Electric Loop and Lightning bolt.



I try to follow all the advice but if something doesn't work, am I supposed to keep doing it? Eh... Easy...? So it's gonna get way harder? O_o
Is there any trick behind FW? Because I get hit a lot with jump and expeditious retreat on.
I don't really like solo-ing. I'd rather wait for a good PUG to pop up than solo.
Thanks for the links, I'm already using the first two though.

To help with firewall, do you have a Superior Inferno IV (or higher) or Superior Combustion IV (or higher) item? A (greater or major or superior) fire lore item (or accessory)? The Fire Damage enhancement potions in the house Jorasco Featherfall apothecary or house Phiarlan Object Desire will help with firewall too, but they don't stack with the Superior Inferno clickies.

If not, a superior potency (IV or higher item may be?)

[Darkrok]

Just read the first 2 pages and, no offence, but your disregarding alot of solid advice. As a rule of thumb, if more than 2 people that have been playing for more than a year say something, automatically assume its right. Really, I doubt anyone on this forum would try to intentionally troll you, and if they do, almost all of them get shot down fast.

That said, Ill just list my experiences on my warforged wiz, this wont be -that- far off since Ive tried alot builds, including a wiz/sorc of every race. Heres what I did -

Stats - 18int, 16con, rest in str

Lev 4 -
Spells-
Masters Touch, Blur, Expeditious Retreat, Resist, Bulls
Quests -
Bonebite (10xnorm/hard/elite/casual), Info is Key (10xnorm/hard/elite/casual)
Equipment -
Nothing major that I remember, but an elemental 2H weapon (that you get from vet status for free) would go a low way (1d6 extra)
Plan -
Get in quest, cast buffs, charge, kill, repeat ;). Really, pretend you're a barb, the games so horribly easy before lev6-8, even a 6 CON elf might survive...

That should've got you to lev5, but hold of your level, now go do WW(nx10/h/e/c). Now, go get to lev5, do haverdasher once on casual, get to lev6. Also, remember to get invis and haste, huge boost to soloing, haste, invis, run. Shoot a max'ed empowered scorching ray at boss, repeat. When you do get acid blast, its another huge boost, since its an AoE that does half-way decent damage. Repeat the same strategy used at level 6 to get to level 7, then you get Firewall, which -is- a game changer. I go from being a decent contributer, to a person who solos quests for the party. Now, this wont last too long, but it will be awesome till about lev9. At 9 go run shadow crypt, 12 times on norm, an hard, an elite, and a Casual. Now your lev11.

Thats more or less the path my warforged wiz used. I never really did run out of mana/die in quests, it was probably more due to self healing, but you can easily replicate that with a cleric hire. Atleast at low levels.

Heres some awesome links that you'll find very useful:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=226992 - From Mr.Cow
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=232660 - From Tihocan
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=1347759#post1347759 - From Dragon.Star

Mr Cow's thread uses a warforged, but you can get a cleric hire and go a bit slower. Tihocan's thread has some very nice builds. Finally, Dragon.Star's build has most of the static loot in the game, to find you some places to grind/look out for gear.

Well, if im completely off on my points, just remember that these are my experiences, it may be a little different for everyone.

EDIT - Also, a wiz is worth-it if its only because I'm 1-shotting everyone at lev11 with scorching ray/disintegrate :D.

This post is dead on. Buff yourself - master's, blur, exp retreat, and bull's are the keys to give you similar defense to a barb. Resists is just icing on the cake. Resists are best off of wands until you get a 3rd level 2 spell as until you hit level 7 the cheap and easily bought wands give the same resists as your spell for 3 min's at a time. After that, you can truly play as a barb, chugging pots to heal (just like a barb). Your sp's can then be used to dump on tough fights or the boss, although often you'll be better off just continuing in barb mode. Plus in groups you can hand out buffs. As most melee will have at least a +1 str item if not +2 it can sometimes make sense to only blur depending on your sp pool. Key feats for this method are toughness and extend (both available at level 1) so that you are resilient enough to stand in the fray and have to cast your buffs much less often.

[Lyrzar]

Lyrpen, some info about your char would still be wonderful. :)

And what about repeating quest, do you have anything against that? (Not that i think so, but I have that feeling myself)

I have nothing against repeating quests as long as I can do them in groups. I've rerolled ons already so I have repeated most marketplace and harbor quests.

Alright, here is some info about my char:

Stats:
STR 10
DEX 8
CON 16
INT 21 (18 + Wizard's INT I + Human Adaptability Intelligence I + Clever Goggles)
WIS 8
CHA 8

HP 60
SP 370

Skills:
Balance 3
Concentration 15
Diplomacy 3
Jump 4
Search 5
Spot 3
Tumble 6
UMD 3

Feats:
Mental Toughness
Insightful Reflexes
Extend Spell
Heighten Spell
Empower Spell

Enhancements:
Human Adaptability
Wizard Concentration I
Wizard Lineage of Energy I
Wizard Lineage of Elements I
Wizard Lineage of Force I
Wizard Energy Manipulation I
Wizard Energy Manipulation II
Wizard Elements Manipulation I
Wizard Elements Manipulation II
Wizard Force Manipulation I
Wizard Force Manipulation II
Energy of the Scholar I
Wizard Intelligence I
Wizard Scroll and Wand Mastery I

Gear:
Straw Hat
Clever Goggles
Archivist's Necklace
Nimble Gloves
Ice Skates
Axe Bane
Peridot Ring
Rugged Belt
Crude Bauble

I don't know if that's all you want to know, just tell if oyu want to know more.


Get a lightning rod. Should be one in the brokers. If not, just do VONS 4. It works great with Electric Loop and Lightning bolt.



To help with firewall, do you have a Superior Inferno IV (or higher) or Superior Combustion IV (or higher) item? A (greater or major or superior) fire lore item (or accessory)? The Fire Damage enhancement potions in the house Jorasco Featherfall apothecary or house Phiarlan Object Desire will help with firewall too, but they don't stack with the Superior Inferno clickies.

If not, a superior potency (IV or higher item may be?)

What's VONS4? Anyway, a guildie gave me a Superior Combustion IV but I have no idea when to use FW. Only time I've used it succesfully was in Tear of Dhakaan, threw it in the doorway where the melee-ers were fighting.


This post is dead on. Buff yourself - master's, blur, exp retreat, and bull's are the keys to give you similar defense to a barb. Resists is just icing on the cake. Resists are best off of wands until you get a 3rd level 2 spell as until you hit level 7 the cheap and easily bought wands give the same resists as your spell for 3 min's at a time. After that, you can truly play as a barb, chugging pots to heal (just like a barb). Your sp's can then be used to dump on tough fights or the boss, although often you'll be better off just continuing in barb mode. Plus in groups you can hand out buffs. As most melee will have at least a +1 str item if not +2 it can sometimes make sense to only blur depending on your sp pool. Key feats for this method are toughness and extend (both available at level 1) so that you are resilient enough to stand in the fray and have to cast your buffs much less often.

I've noticed lately I keep nudging further and further in that direction. I'm barely using Damage spells lately which is something I like about magic though. =/ I want to be a wizard, not a barbarian.

------ Status Update ------

Clay asked me to reroll on Thelanis so he could show me some tricks and it was awesome. O_o He handles all those kobolds with ease. We were a small group of 3 people though. His guildmate knew what he was doing so everything worked out great, unlike in PUGs where people runs whacking things all over. He showed me how to use web and stuff and gave some tips. I've recently started using web along with hypno. Too bad web only really works if you have aggro. Most melee-ers don't even notice the web. >.>
I've been purple coin farming recently so I have Superior Glaciation VI now so my ice spells are a bit stronger now.
As I've said earlier I'm doing things the barbarian way now. It's pretty easy, just whacking things and not having to worry about SP or which spell to use but I get the feeling I'm not learning how to play a wizard that way, besides if I want to do it the barbarian way. I might as well roll a barbarian. Clay told me to not melee when in PUGs because I'd burn up the SP of the healer since I'm so squishy.

I've been trying to ask what the party thinks of my performance but I didn't get a lot of feedback. They probably don't even notice what I'm doing. >.< But I guess that's better than standing ot because I constantly screw up.

[Adarro]

I wonder why I should use Otto's. It's a will save spell too. Why not just use Hypno or Charm against it? Thanks for the tip btw. I used it in Irestone and it works great. Too bad the casters still save a lot against Ghoul Touch. :/

Most spells are situational and are 'better' than another one based on what you're trying to do, and what you're trying to do it on.

Charm Person works great... on humans and other humanoid type creatures, but useless vs say... elementals or an Ogre. Sometimes party members (mostly fighter-type/melees) get annoyed with charmed mobs and other times charmies do things they shouldn't.

Hypno works great to stop a crowd, but breaks the second their attacked

Otto's works on pretty much everything charm person does, is 1 level higher (for Wiz / Sor) so it's a bit harder to resist, and also works on elementals, dogs, Ogres and other things that charm doesn't. Down side, it lacks the range so you have to be closer to cast it vs Charm / Daze Monster.

Also, if things are saving much more than you think they should, you might want to boost your casting stat (+ INT Items / Fox's Cunning Pot for Wizards) and possibly get a focus item (like a scepter with Enchantment Focus or whatever school you're mainly casting from). In addition, spells like Bestow Curse give them -4 to save which makes landing a will save spell much easier.

Ghoul Touch is a Fortitude save like Frost Lance, so casters should save much less often than classes with high constitution such as barbarians and fighters. Sometimes, its just a series of bad / good rolls.

One last tip: Many people overlook the Trip (http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Feat:Trip) skill when they're not warrior classes, but hit a cleric / Wizard with [url=http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Spell:Ray_of_Enfeeblement]Ray Of Enfeeblement[/QUOTE] and even a Wizard with Bull's Strength can Trip him up.

[agent00skid]

So you're lvl 5, eh? :)

One thing that popped into my damage specialized mind is, that I use Maximize(Though that came with time, or hard or elite) quite a lot. And also, I don't think force specialization is worth it.

The problem is, that groups don't expect you to deal damage, most likely, and therefore, it's a bit hard to say to do it. But actually I can't see why you shouldn't be able to deal good damage, the lvl is right, the enchancements look fine too. But good gear is important too, I have a plus 40% or 50% thing in one hand, and a lore thing in the other, and then have for fire, acid and lightning, and shift as the enemies demand. (Immunities and weaknesses.)

Fireball and Acid blast were the 2 spells I used a lot when i got them, as no good AoE spells come before lvl 9 then.

[Gorbadoc]

I tried cleric but I didn't like it. Besides, I don't like responsibility. The less I have of it, the less it matters whether I screw up or not and I screw up a LOT.
Taking responsibility is what will make you a good player. I mean that two ways.

When I say that a player is good, I mean that the player plays responsibly-- not pulling too much aggro, playing his or her part in killing stuff, and generally makes a positive contribution toward completing the quest.

I also mean that, by trying to take responsibility, you will become a better player. I can never remember a quest from following someone through it. I don't necessarily have to lead a quest to learn it, but I do have to be a responsible member of the team. That's why, when I lead a party, I try to explain things as we go along; "In this next room, we'll find many hobgoblins and a lever that opens that door back there. Range the casters." That kind of thing.


I think your playstyle determines how much [constitution] you need. Some need 10, others need 14.This is incorrect. There is no useful playstyle that includes "I will never get hit". At the same time, every good play style includes aggro management-- understanding how monsters behave, so you can reduce how often you get hit independent of your AC. This includes hiding behind doorways, staying just out of reach of melee enemies, running around melees so you don't get more than one of them attacking you at a time, and other little clever things you'll learn as you play. Edit: Oh, and, of course, understanding how the AI decides which character a monster will attack.



I still get hit even when I'm staying behind. Oozes can pretty much kill me in 4 or 5 hits. I don't think melee-ing is a good idea.
Three things will help:
1) Stay close to the party.
2) Get a feel for how aggro works.
3) Learn the animations monsters go through for their special abilities. Once it becomes second-nature to jump aside when a shaman starts casting, those nasty AoE spells will be way less devastating.

DDO is not an easy game. Outside of Korthos, you do actually have to learn how things work if you're going to play competently. Fortunately, you have Korthos to practice on. Good luck.

[dcp101]

I would ask the group first if they are fine kiting mobs across your FW. Some people won't have the patience of grouping them up for you to drop it down (where the spell really shines). However, it is probably one of the best spells when you solo. If they choose not to kite, then I would recommend spells like Fireball/Acid Blast as they are insta damage. Electric Loop/Lightning Bolt is fun, too. My wizard carries all Major elemental lore sticks, and every elemental damage boost sticks so I can swap them as I need them.

[GuntherBovine]

Some more advice:
1. Get a weapon of Wizardry II. Equip it when you go into a quest or are about to rest. It gives you 50 extra SP. You then cast all your buffs, equip another weapon and you are ready to go
2. Get a Greater Spell Penetration I weapon and equip it when you are going to be cast Hypnotism. It adds 3 to your die roll for overcoming resistances
3. Get a Mage Armor ring or gloves. You get three casts, each lasting 6 minutes. You shouldn't be 18 minutes between shrines
4. Always have Mage Armor and Shield cast on you. That way if someone starts swing on you, you won't lose most of your hp in a hurry
5. I like to have Summon Monster I always cast. The dog pulls a lot of aggro and finds the monsters that I didn't notice and that will be soon whacking on me. Summon Monster II isn't as good of a spell as Summon Monster I

When I play, my mission is to keep the melee fighters from getting mobbed. That usually means having my dog take up some aggro and casting Hypnotism to freeze enemies. Hypnotism is quick and cheap, so I can cast it multiple times if I have to. If someone starts attacking me, I typically back up while using diplomacy.

[ckorik]

How the targeting works on a wizzie is huge -

Some tips for low levels:

1 charmed mob usually = more damage than 1 other spell (non maximized/empowered)

Web can be offensive - but it can be defensive also. Practice casting it so you understand roughly how to toss one at your feet - even when you are comfortable it will sometimes target totally wrong. You don't have to have a target to cast - but in the same breath you can target a mob and drop a web right on it's feet.

Once a web is down - if you are being chased - run through it - every time a mob has to cross the web they have to save - don't let it run at you and swing - make it chase you back and forth until it gets stuck.

Fire eats webs - don't use web + burning hands - use web + acid splash (acid does not eat the web)

Searing Ray (level 2) is useful as a single target fire nuke for a long time - no save spells are great for the *must hit now* type of situation.

Blur yourself - extend it if you can - keep yourself blurred at all times.

Try to find an item that gives you +40% or better to your level of spell and the energy you prefer to use (acid/electricity/fire/etc) - it can be a clicky - if you think you need to nuke - make sure you have the item/buff up - the extra damage makes a *world* of difference. Also get a 'lore' item - +6% chance to crit is huge :)

You can solo most of the harbor quests with just charm person/web and acid splash never casting another spell.

And last but not least - sometimes your targeting will mess up - the spell goes off but doesn't hit - the mob runs behind you and you get 'not facing target' - whatever. Next thing you know you have no spell points and a bunch of aggro. It happens... and a proper wizard will just dust off and go at it again :)

[agent00skid]

Ohh, the art of hitting. :D

It's a *****. :(
In my now quite some time of playing, nothing have annoyed me more than the ****ed targeting system, works most of the time, but the bad things happens often enough. (For me at least. :()

"You're not facing the target" or something in that way (The target got in cover, or besides you, from the time you begin to cast the spell, until it's being cast). That nulifies the spell, which is **** when it's a fireball, or other AoE, and it might not hit the target, but it might actually hit somthing, but thats just bad luck, it won't do ****. So actually, I rarely target enemies when I cast AoE, mostly just target the ground, though, if they are far away, I target more than when I'm close.

And also, sometimes your spells just go puff, they fire, hit the target, and does absolutely NOTHING. It's happens, and it has killed me.

But it's not game breaking, just an annoyance... A big one, but I can live with it.

[Dunfalach]

+1 for this thread, since I'm also a noob wizard (Same as the OP, except lvl 11 -_-)

What should I do with my spell hotkeys? What do other, more experienced Wizards do with their spell hotkeys? I find I'm having a hard time keeping track of everything. Right now I'm using 6 hotbars: all lvl 1 spells on the 1st one, 2nd lvl spells on the 2nd, etc. I'll end up with 10 bars by the time I'm at the end of the game (I put all my clickies on hotbar 10.) ...Is this a good idea?

I find that I remember a LOT better where my spells are, which makes it easier for me to swap spells often and not go "O SHI, WHERE DID I PUT THAT SPELL!?" in a stressful situation. The downside is that it's a lot of hotkey mashing and mousewheel rolling...but I'm starting to get used to it...slowly :P (**** that mousewheel for being so touchy!)

Should I just stick with this method?

My highest toon is a level 7 halfling wizard, and I'm currently focused on a level 4 warforged wizard. I find that I do best if I organize my spells by type rather than by level. I also find it's best to make use of which keys I can most easily reach. How you use your hands in play will affect that.

I have large hands and happen to be left handed, but I've grown up using a right-handed mouse. This means my best hand is on the movement keys, and with a large hand I can relatively easily reach the Control key with my pinky and the number keys 1-5 with a forefinger or other fingers. So I make use of this. I get used to using Ctrl+# to swap quickbars rather than the scroll wheel on the mouse. And I try to organize the things I'm most likely to use in combat on the first five keys of the first five quickbars. My most frequent combat spells are usually in slots 1-3 on the first bar, with a basic healing (spell, potion, whatever) in slot 4. Slot 5 may be diplomacy, or some other thing I know I need handy in combat. The right side of the first bar is likely to be buffs and other clickies, etc that are frequently used but not usually combat cast. Bar two tends to be my weapon bar on the left half, with less critical spells, buffs, and items on the right side.

For my level 4, that's eternal wands of finger of fire and whatever the Risia eternal wand is called, plus a quarterstaff with a fire boost spell and +2 spell penetration, and a club with a negative energy boost spell. I carry the spell pen staff whenever I'm casting, and only clicky the negative boost spell long enough to start it before switching back to the staff again. So the sequence to boost both fire and negative spells and end up with the spell pen staff in hand again is Ctrl-2, 2, 3, 3, 2, Ctrl-1 (to set focus back to main casting bar). I also keep a +2 crossbow that I picked up from a chest somewhere, for those times I want to stay out of the melee and either lack SP or feel the target doesn't justify a spell. And a pair of handwraps also from a chest, which i hardly ever use but have handy for those times I'm forced to melee an ooze. Soon as I get a muckbane, the handwraps will go.

Bar 3 tends to have some less critical skills like hide and search, and the first of my potions and buff wands. If I have a lot of healing options, though, some of them will go on bar three on the left side, and bump the skills to bar 4 as necessary.

But the point is not really to mimic what I've got set, but rather to find out what button bar positions you can hit easiest, and try to put in those positions the items you'll need the most in critical combat situations, especially your main attack spells and heals. Save ones you can afford to hunt for in non-combat moments for the bars that are harder to reach.

One thing my method does require, which I occasionally flub, is remembering to update your quickbar whenever you swap spells for a quest. I had a disturbing moment in a recent quest when I hit my 1 to cast Chill Touch and a grayed out feather fall stared back at me uselessly. I'd been using feather fall while farming ice coins and forgot to swap the quickbar when I swapped CT back in. :> As soon as I was clear of combat, I took a moment to drag CT back into the bar.

[Dunfalach]

A few notes for the original poster (OP) after seeing your stats and some of the various replies.

1) That 8 dex is potentially hurting you at lower levels. It's not a stat you should emphasize, but with a -1 at low levels it's probably contributing to that "everything hits me" sensation. When it's a dump stat, I set it at 11 if possible. This lets me snag a +1 dex item to get it to 12 for a +1 bonus. Or even set it at 9 so the +1 item can put you at a 0 instead of -1. You're not going to make a hit-proof wizard, but making it just slightly difficult will cause a lot more misses by mobs at earlier levels. Everyone gets smacked by an ooze now and then, but you really shouldn't be taking constant hits from the low level ones. Also try to avoid letting mobs get behind you, even if it means putting your back against a wall sometimes. The bonuses they get from hitting you from behind increase the pain.

2) Haggle skill. Charisma is a natural dump stat for wizards, but it pays to put a few skill points into haggle after you've fleshed out your critical skills like Concentration. Boosting haggle reduces the cost of stuff from vendors, and increases what they'll pay you for stuff you sell. This means your scribing components and such cost you less, and you get more profit from sales, so it stretches your budget. This should help in getting better gear. Sometimes delaying scribing a little used spell in order to get a useful piece of gear is valuable.

3) Summon Monster I. Some people consider summons a wasted slot, and there's room for argument if it prevents them from getting another spell that suits their play style well. But for me, at least the dog is very helpful. Many mobs are coded to place the summons high on their aggro list, so often you can avoid pulling aggro for a bit by letting them engage the summons before you hit them. And when going into melee to save spell points, standing behind an enemy focused on your summons will give you a +2 to hit for flanking. In particular, the dog will often beeline for oozes, thus keeping them off you.

4) Tumble. Unless you're focusing on it, don't worry about putting much into it as it's an expensive non-class skill. But I do recommend putting 1 point into it so you can use the basic tumble move. Sometimes it can save your life. Tumbling in a tight circle around your party so they have a chance to hit your pursuer and pull it off you is usually better than tumbling off down the hall away from everyone.

5) Diplomacy. Again, you'll have to spend skill points if you want to overcome the charisma penalty. But this is an area effect "please go bother someone else". Any mob in range will lower you slightly on the priority list for aggro. With any luck, they'll go beat on your tank a while instead till you do enough further damage to them to move up the aggro list again.

6) Focused enhancement. It looks like you're grabbing enhancements for every spell type. General consensus seems to be to max one or two spell types, and put other action points into other things that boost your survivability. Your mileage may vary.

7) Prestige enhancements. See if there's a prestige you want to take. If so, be sure you have the prerequisites and the spare action points to take it as early as it becomes available. I knew from the start my current wiz would go pale master, so I have to have certain feats and enhancements, as well as spare action points to buy Pale Master I, by level 6. And I additionally needed Mental Toughness and/or Toughness if I want to take Wraith and/or Lich forms that PM offers.

[phalaeo]

If you don't have at least 14 on an Elf/Drow and 16 on anything else, reroll because it's horrible to get to later levels and find out you're just not going to make it or you need $10 to fix it.

Do you mean just for Wizzies or for all classes? I started with 12 CON on my main (Cleric) and she can sustainably hit ~514HP at level 20....

[Bodic]

for any lvl of wiz most dominately lowbies' spells you need to know are Nightshield, Magic Missile,Sonic blast, Jump, Expo retreat,Knock, haste, resist, protect, Electric loop, Sorching ray, Blur, Displacement, Fireball,Acid Blast,Acid rain, Firewall. Dont bother with repair spells until reconstruct even if you are a WF. Use wands

Edit recommend weapons: potency and lore,Shocking grasp wands, Von4 Qstaff (ml4)

[Dunfalach]

Since my last posting, my WF has reached level 6 and halfway to level 7. I second the suggestion of Nightshield. It has a decent duration even without metamagics, and it doesn't cost much. Even at level 6, I still have Nightshield prepped and cast it routinely. The protection from magic missile can be useful to have around considering the minimal sp cost. I do think I saw a thread somewhere that indicated the +1 bonus it gives doesn't stack with items giving the same bonus however. Not sure if that's so or not.

Blur is another very good spell to have around. Its duration will grow as you level. I cast it on myself and on my summons, usually. Whether I cast it on other party members depends on the SP cost and whether they will wait for buffs. I'm not going to chase someone down to cast it. If I know I won't have to do a LOT of casting in a particular quest, I'll probably buff the whole party with it. If I'm feeling the need to conserve spell points, though, I won't unless someone asks for it.

I tend to keep a Repair Light Damage prepped just in case, but I don't usually prep any higher repair spells, relying on wands as Bodic suggests. Also, at the moment, on an overabundance of candy canes from the Risia games.

My currently prepped spell list, as best I recall (not in game at the moment): Nightshield, Blur, Chill Touch, Scorching Ray, Glitterdust (somewhat quest specific), Fireball, Repair Light Damage, Summon Monster III (only for my last quest), Magic Missile, Suggestion. I think I'm missing one from that list, but that suits. If facing undead, I always include Command Undead.

[warlock-1]

-Carry alternate means of damage for trash mobs. Eternal wands are useful, the highest base enhancement heavy crossbow you can use is a cheap means of extra damage (especially if you are always smashing barrels and picking things up - you'll invariably end up with useful ammunition to enhance the xbow's damage). And the Xbow can be used at extreme range to pull mobs or snipe along with rangers and other bow/xbow users. Either way, a ranged damage source keeps you OUT of melee combat, which means you don't have to waste SP and spell slots self buffing yourself.
-Wizards are a combat-enhancement class. Your job is to make hard encounters easier. If you are interested in blasting, as much as the limited spell selection sucks you should probably play a sorcerer - they have the SP and other benefits to support that play style effectively. So, as per your role in the party, look for ways to enhance your group and smooth encounters.
-Charms - reduces incoming damage, increases outgoing damage, and creates targets to absorb enemy damage other than you and your party members.
-Web - slows and stops enemies, keeps them away from casters (Healers and yourself).
-Haste - fast movement for combat classes, faster attacks. Kills enemies faster and helps squishies escape.
-Buffs in general - go for buffs that mostly wizards can provide - Blur, Heroism, haste, etc. Use those buffs on the classes that really need them - I normally Blur and Heroism physical damage classes and blur casters, nightshield myself, and after that use buffs situationally.
-Concentrate on casters as focus for your damage, when you are offensively spellcasting. Most of your damage spells are ranged, which means you can kill casters first and in general more quickly than most other classes. Enemy casters are the #1 threat to causing big big problems to your party.
-Be prepared to be self sufficient. You shouldn't have to do all of your self healing, but you should realize that Melee tanks and healers are higher on the priority list than you are. If you don't carry enough healing to survive until your priority comes up to the healer, you are going to be spending a lot of time taking dirt naps.
-If you solo, pick Warforged tanks/support when possible. You can carry repair spells or wands for use on him and effectively play both healer and wizard, which is very very useful.
-Diplomacy is a useful skill, carry an Eloquence item equal to your level to enhance your skill and make it more useful. As a wizard you should have plenty of skill points to invest in it.
-As just a personal preference, I like to carry useful clickies and wands. I usually have an Aid/3 per day item to bring healers or other characters back up if they drop. I usually carry resist energy wands and buff wands (not bought, just stuff I've found and kept instead of selling). Stuff that gives you a little extra utility and usefulness when things might get difficult. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people just sit and stare at the healer or another character as he dies because no one had a healing or aid clicky. Its quite frustrating.
-Oh, and I know it annoys some people, but I can't tell you how many times my bacon has been saved by using a fearsome robe. It effectively means mobs that get to you usually only get one hit in on you.

[GuntherBovine]

Since my last posting, my WF has reached level 6 and halfway to level 7. I second the suggestion of Nightshield. It has a decent duration even without metamagics, and it doesn't cost much. Even at level 6, I still have Nightshield prepped and cast it routinely. The protection from magic missile can be useful to have around considering the minimal sp cost. I do think I saw a thread somewhere that indicated the +1 bonus it gives doesn't stack with items giving the same bonus however. Not sure if that's so or not.
I have a Drow Wiz4/Rogue1 and Nightshield is a waste to her. I always have Shield cast (I don't know if a WF can use that) and I always have an item that provides resistance boost. Nightshield is then redundant.


Blur is another very good spell to have around. Its duration will grow as you level. I cast it on myself and on my summons, usually. Whether I cast it on other party members depends on the SP cost and whether they will wait for buffs. I'm not going to chase someone down to cast it. If I know I won't have to do a LOT of casting in a particular quest, I'll probably buff the whole party with it. If I'm feeling the need to conserve spell points, though, I won't unless someone asks for it.
I don't understand the love for Blur. It makes attacks have a 20% chance of missing. That isn't a whole lot of effect to me. False Life has a much bigger benefit for me. There is always some other spell that I think will provide a bigger benefit on the quest than Blur.

[Ainimache]

GuntherBovine said:

I don't understand the love for Blur. It makes attacks have a 20% chance of missing. That isn't a whole lot of effect to me. False Life has a much bigger benefit for me. There is always some other spell that I think will provide a bigger benefit on the quest than Blur.

------------------------------

It's a 20% chance that an attack that has already hit will, instead, miss. It basically forces a second attack roll. If for the duration I can avoid even 1 out of 5 hits that would have otherwise hit, It's spell points well spent. If only a couple of those misses are crits, it's even better. It's much better than spending spell points (or time and plat using wands) on healing.

Just my opinion.

[GuntherBovine]

It's a 20% chance that an attack that has already hit will, instead, miss. It basically forces a second attack roll. If for the duration I can avoid even 1 out of 5 hits that would have otherwise hit, It's spell points well spent. If only a couple of those misses are crits, it's even better. It's much better than spending spell points (or time and plat using wands) on healing.
First off, nice way of quoting.

False Life provides 13 hp's to my W3/R1 toon. For Blur to save the same number of hit points, she would have take ~52 points of damage. As she only has 47, that is not going to happen. Does Blur works against spells? That is what does most of the damage to my toon. Blur does have the advantage that it can be used on your hirelings/party members in addition to yourself, where as False Life can only be used for your Wizard. I put a very high value on keeping my toon's hp close to max, so False Life is hands down better to me.

[warlock-1]

I don't get where you are getting 52 points of damage. Blur only needs to stop 13 points of damage to give you equal utility (or, more likely 26, since most people extend blur but don't extend false life, so you'd get to cast 2 false lifes).

That's 2-4 hits probably. So blur needs to be up for approximately 15-20 successful attacks on you, negating 3-4 of those hits. Depending on your party, on whether you are soloing with a henchman, etc., that utility is highly likely to kick in enough to at least make it break even with false life.

On top of that, blur helps against attacks which inflict other negative effects on you... like trips. Dodging a Trip attack due to blur is equal to stopping 2-4 additional hits just in itself in most cases, and false life provides no defense whatsoever against that, except for added buffer.

Really, if you are intent on self preservation, you should probably carry both, but blur more than holds its own for self utility, and since it has added group utility, is in general the preferred spell.

[GuntherBovine]

I don't get where you are getting 52 points of damage. Blur only needs to stop 13 points of damage to give you equal utility (or, more likely 26, since most people extend blur but don't extend false life, so you'd get to cast 2 false lifes).
.2x = 13 (damage saved from blur)
x = 65 (total damage including what blur stops)
.8x = 52 (damage the toon still receives)

Let's take an example. Let's say that I am hit 5 times for an average damage of 3 per hit. With False Life, the spell is dissipated and I am down to 45 life. I recast False Life and move on. With Blur, one attack misses and I am down to 35 life. I won't continue with my life down over 25%, so I need a couple of heals cast on me. With False Life, I am self-sufficient. With Blur, I constantly need heals.

That's 2-4 hits probably. So blur needs to be up for approximately 15-20 successful attacks on you, negating 3-4 of those hits. Depending on your party, on whether you are soloing with a henchman, etc., that utility is highly likely to kick in enough to at least make it break even with false life.
The numbers above beg to differ.


On top of that, blur helps against attacks which inflict other negative effects on you... like trips. Dodging a Trip attack due to blur is equal to stopping 2-4 additional hits just in itself in most cases, and false life provides no defense whatsoever against that, except for added buffer.
My toon stays in the back, avoids melee and does crowd control. I can't remember being tripped.


Really, if you are intent on self preservation, you should probably carry both, but blur more than holds its own for self utility, and since it has added group utility, is in general the preferred spell.
False Life does a lot better job of keeping my hit points up. I prefer to use the other second level slot for an offensive spell. But that is just my preference

[warlock-1]

I think you are grossly misrepresenting how much damage is incoming. Maybe quests like Durk's got a secret and other level 2-3 harbor quests, on normal or hard, will result in hits which cause 3 damage a hit. That changes quite a bit once you start branching out. Irestone inlet, Waterworks, and progressively more advanced quests match you against foes which sneak, bypass tanks, and generally leak through to kill your butt with hits in the 10-30 damage range. The wolves in Irestone Inlet, for example, delight in sneaking right past the tanks and going for the clothies and healers. 1 trip hit +1-2 more hits, on hard and elite, is going to do you for 30-50 damage.

And as I mentioned, your utility as a wizard isn't exclusively keeping yourself alive. 1 Blur spell cast on the party's tank(s) will reduce incoming damage they receive by at least 10%, which is a lot of SP saved for your healer and a lot better margin for success. So if its a choice between getting the same or better utility out of Blur for my own use, as well as getting wonderful utility for my allies out of blur as well, It wins hands down if I've got to choose between it and False Life.

[LunaCee]

False Life? Get a wand of it. Though if you were really wanting some damage soak get a invulnerability robe. That DR 5/Magic lasts you up until about 7th level quests for full coverage against melee and ranged attacks. If 5 points of damage on every attack is soaked up your HP goes a *lot* farther.

Blur? Use it! A triple swinging ogre seen as early as WW or the end of Kobold's New Ringleader will eat the entirety of false life with swing #1 and hit for full on the two follow-up hits. When using blur that same ogre has a decent chance of missing at least once, and an outside chance of missing twice if the RNG favors you. Each hit that ogre does is for 10-15 roughly, with chances for a 40+ crit on any of the hits.

[zorander6]

Invest in as much Fort as you can find as well. Fort reduces the chances of critical hits. By level 11ish you should have Heavy Fort (for everything but WF.)

As for my wizard WF are great as they can heal themselves. Up to about level 7 I melee'd more often and still do. Basically cast haste/exp retreat, get some striding boots/items and then draw the badguys to your fire. Charm one of them and they will fight for you. Charm/suggestion multiples and you have your own little army. When soloing low levels I'd charm the casters if I could or 4-5 of the melee badguys as soon as I saw them. The celestial puppy is good for drawing agro, I like the hellhound (level 3 spell) more. Bear's endurance will give you an extra 4 con and stacks with aid/false life/etc. Bull's strength helps your melee. Firewall in the doorway is one of the best places. Later when you run with clerics and they cast Blade Barrier, throw your firewall in the middle of the blade barrier. Anything drawn across those will take lots of damage usually. Hirelings while soloing can be very helpful (annoying and dumb as they are.) Blur and other spells reduce damage, use them.

Stay in LOS of your cleric, he can't heal through walls etc.

Just a few things from a new person who normally plays clerics.

[Archer001]

Invest in as much Fort as you can find as well. Fort reduces the chances of critical hits. By level 11ish you should have Heavy Fort (for everything but WF.)

If you intend on spending much time in the undead forms from level 12 onwards heavy fort items are less important as standard gear as you get perfect fortification while in undead forms. Although an swappable item pair would be handy for those times you won't want to be in the undead form and need the fortification over some other item benefit.

[Dunfalach]

My warforged wizard is now level 7, and has a moderate fort belt sitting in the bank awaiting him reaching level 9 I think it is. The nice thing about WF, as zorander I think was alluding to, is that they have 25% fortification innately, so they only need a moderate rather than heavy fort item to reach 100% fortification.

I adore Suggestion. Incidentally, if you do any charming, be sure to find the "dismiss charm" feat on your character sheet and have it on a quickbar you know how to reach. Some parties get annoyed with charmers because they can't kill a charmed critter. Smarter parties know the value of crowd control anyway, but even the more impatient ones will be more tolerant if you let them know you're all prepped to uncharm as soon as the other enemies are killed. You have to get in pretty close to dismiss charm, so be prepared to hop back fast and let your melees get in and whack at it the moment your charm is released. You want the aggro on them and not you. :> Also, it takes a couple of moments for a released charm to come to its senses, so your party can get a free whack or two in before it's alert if they're standing there ready.

On a related note, you almost never want to leave a charmed mob behind. This can cause two main problems:

1) There's an XP bonus for wiping out a certain percentage of enemies in the quest. Those five or six charmed mobs you left alive may be the difference between getting it and not.
2) Re-entries (releases after dying) or late entries will not love you if they go trotting through to join you and run into a half-dozen angry previously-charmed enemies and die.

Exceptions to the rule may arise, including the few quests with respawning enemies where your objective is just to get through the respawn area quickly, or certain quests that may have tight time limits for completion. In those cases, charming some of the enemies there and dashing through may be a better strategy.

Also, don't forget that most charms have a time limit, and many charmed mobs get periodic fresh will save chances. Once in a while that dumb troll will suddenly make a high will save roll and turn around and crack your skull open before you have a chance to blink. So try not to stand too close or let them stand behind you. ;)

Regarding blur, I rarely used it on my first wizard, but I use it a lot on my current one. Part of that though is that I tend to be closer to the lines with this one because as a Pale Master build I've gotten decent bonuses on my chill touch attack since level 1. And I tend to utilize the greater survival of warforged in lower levels to be more aggressive in going after enemy casters in particular. Now that I'm transitioning from low-level towards mid-level, I'm doing more hanging back but still have to deal with enemies slipping through or archers annoying me from afar.

[ragwa1]

So I'm quite new to DDO, only been playing for 2 months...

That aside. I like magic. It's always the first class I choose when playing a new MMO. There is a good variety of spells you can toy with so I can usually don't get bored like with melee classes where you whack mobs all the time. Not to mention the magic effects are really cool. :D

I've played and rerolled a lot of wizards in these two months, I've also tried clerics and sorcerers. I never really liked being a healbot so I dropped cleric quickly. Sorcerers are fun, their casting ability is amazing but they lack that versatility that wizards have.

My sense of direction is bad but my ability to remember quests, like where to go, where mobs are, where shrines are is even worse, far worse. So even though I've done the Harbor quests like at least 10 times each, I still have no idea how to do them. I've mastered the Korthos quests though. :)

The lack of remembering those things is one of the biggest problems for me and I really don't feel like opening up the DDO Wiki page for every quest, especially in parties. I usually fall behind for some reason. Sometimes I want to smash some crates, there are some mobs left behind, need quick rest, have to change some spells, have to go AFK, you know. Usually it's not much of a problem, I just run back to the group, usually... Here is where the problem appears. I sometimes get lost or go the wrong way (same thing) and end up getting killed. Like in the quest "Where there's Smoke", that was just terrible. I died, everyone ran ahead, 5 minutes later someone decides to bring me to the shrine. I res'd while that guy ran back to the group. I looked on the map and went in the direction of the group and bumped into 2 Orc rangers. I cast Charm Person --> Got Saved --> Died in like 10 seconds. Or some other time when I came in late because I had to change my spells. They blew up the ship and Yaryarr spawned right next to me. XD And everyone was like: "Omg, he died again..." There was also Haverdasher. I joined a group and their party sort of wiped and were counting on me to save their ass which is really rare by the way. Trying to live up to their expectations, I decided to revive the unconscious sorc. He quickly died again so I had to take on the scorpions alone. I used Niac's on them. It was like miss, miss, miss, saved, miss, saved, hit!, miss, saved, saved and managed to kill one of them and then I died too... I was like "***, is there a limit to my uselessness..?"

Another thing I have problems with is choosing which spells to use. Aside form preparing for quests, something I never do, I mean "Who would want to wait for a newb wizard to select his spells?" The answer is clearly "Nobody" based on my experiences so I usually have a basic set of spells I use for every quest. Choosing which spell to cast in a certain situation is far harder though. When I come across some mobs, do I let the melee-ers take care of them or do I hypnotise them or do I charm them or should I cast acid blast? I can't react fast to a situation so end up doing something unnecessary or just nothing at all. And when I get aggro, what do I do? Do I kill them, CC them or run to the melee-ers? Often I end up panicking as I watch my health getting blast away and cast I lot of DMG spells only to find them doing very little damage and die.

Sometimes there are these weird phenomena like when I did the Lair of Summon (Was it called that?). We were at the boss. I gained some confidence because I had Frost Lance and planned to use it on the fire mobs. We went in, I cast a Frost Lance at the Fire Elemental, nothing happens... No DMG number, Save whatsoever. Then I got one-hit by it's Fireball. I res'd and got ready for my second try. This time I cast Frost Lances on the Fire Mephites. I cast like 4 of them but nothing happened again. Then the party wiped at the shrine and we all res'd the whole time and tried to kill the Mephites that followed us. In the end I used Acid Blast and died like 5 times due to the aggro eventohugh the DMG was very low. When we came back to the boss I had run out of SP a long time ago so I grabbed a random club hitting him in vain (0 DMG), died, res'd. When I came back the Fire Elemental was already killed b the others. A few hours later I did Recovering the Lost Tome with some people and Frost Lance hit over 100 on the Fire Mephites there...

SP conservation is a real problem for me. I run out of SP really quick even if all I do is CC and even faster when I do damage. The only way for me to conserve SP right now is to just do nothing which is not really a solution.


Summary:
It doesn't make a difference whether or not I do something in a dungeon. Sometimes it's even better if I don't do anything. Any advice?

Wait a second here... You died in haverdasher as a lvl 9?

Edit: Furthermore... an entire party of like lvled toons died in haverdasher?

[ragwa1]

No, I'm on Khyber. Thanks for the offer though. :)



I still get hit even when I'm staying behind. Oozes can pretty much kill me in 4 or 5 hits. I don't think melee-ing is a good idea.



Ok, I tried the Depths chain with a group on elite and all I did was buffing. It was really easy. XD Heroism, Bull's Str and BLur on everyone when we enter and I could just follow them doing nothing.



As for the gear. I'm kind of broke right now... Actually, all the time. Just spent all my money on lvl 3 scrolls and 8 inscription materials. Busy saving money for the next lvl 3 spells to inscribe.
I never found Energy Resistance to be really useful. It's just 10 dmg, not really worth the SP. Might as well just chuck 2 of my Starter Healing Potions.
My charms and hypno's get saved a lot. I'm still busy learning how to use Web.
Melee-ing is not going to work for me. I'm still getting hit a lot even though I stay behind. Can't imagine what would happen if I'm on melee range.
Healing pots are really expensive so I don't use them a lot. If I'm bound to die again in a few minutes I'm not gonna waste 10 Cure Light Potions.
I'll try the summoning clickies, thanks. :)

Thanks for all the advice, guys.

You have a very terrible outlook on this game. Very close-minded.

I'm not going to bother explaining why energy resist is better than you personally suggest it is, because if the value hasn't already been explained to you by one of our peers, then our peers have done a terrible job as well.

As for a proper analysis, What were your starting stats? Feats? Skills progression?

Btw. Firewall IS what makes soloing on a caster so easy.

I'm on Khyber, We should hook up soon and I'll show you some shady trickery :P

[FaSo]

after lvling one wiz to close to cap 19(now is a shroud farmng toon) and now working on another i find that if u hav a good str(can get to like 14-16 with bulls str) and masters touch with a good axe u can do quite well aslong as you watch your hp

Gl

and once u get to lvl 7 u get fire wall and from there its easy


thanks

faso

[fox5s]

It sounds like you have already received the answeres you were looking for and have improved your performance. However, I would still like to offer information because, who knows, it may still help you or others.

I'm a newish player so take what I say with a grain of salt. My highest character is my lvl 8 elven wizard (don't start dissing the elven types...). I use the 32 point build so have 16 con and 18 int (I figure I'll cover the required str with items later or bulls str now). My feats are Mental Toughness, Augment Summoning, Extend, Improved Mental Toughness, and Spell Focus Necromancy (for Pale Master).

My typical spell list includes: Mage Armor, Shield (items make nightshield redundant), Niac's Cold Ray, Detect Secret Doors, Resist Energy, Blur, Melf's Acid Arrow, Knock, Chain Missle, Hast, Suggestion, Summon Monster IV, and Firewall. I used to use Burning Sphere as well but it's not as useful any more and doesn't last long enough.

Typically, I walk into a dungeon, summon up my Skeleton and the highest Summon Monster that I have, buff myself with various stuff, and Blur the party. Generally, I cast resistances to fire, acid, and electricity on myself. fire seems to be the most common elemental type, acid geterally comes in DoTs (though not always) so any small resistance can nullify a lot of damage, and I could probably switch to cold resist but I'm used to getting shot by lightning bolting shaman. *grumbles* I generally let my Summons engage. Then, I either pick out casters with Niac's (an average of 50 damage a pop for 10 sp is nothing to sneeze at unless they reisist :D), use my Nicked Longsword (Gods I love being an Elf), or if it's ooze or I feel like it throw Melf's on it. I like Suggestion better than charm because it's reliable. They only get the initial save and its duration is set. You don't have to worry about the charm breaking after 20 seconds and that nasty coming to beat you down. Plus, it works on ogres. If i run into a largish crowd, I'll drop a firewall. This seems to do pretty well soloing. Works okay partying too. I find that I'm usually doing more damage with my longsword than any specific spell. The main thing is that I'm not generally taking much damage (go invulnerability robe and resists).

If I'm soloing it's pretty much on normal. In parties, it's whatever the party wants (and stoneskin is available if anyone wants it). I don't really have the SP to dish out the damage. And I tend to hoard about 1/4th to 1/3rd of my SP bar for the bosses/emergencies.

The random number generator is a bit broken IMO. I can't tell you how many times I've seen something like concealed, miss, concealed come up over my head even with my puny AC of about 20.

I have wants of all the stat boosters in case someone needs them for opening something. I have (but rarely use) a wand of false life. I tend to use one of my four Aid bracers from Korthos first. I also have three cloaks of Cure Light Wounds and a robe with 3 charges of it. I also have a Wizardry I necklace that I keep equiped. After my inital buffage I switch to archivists, use the charges, and switch back. That helps out a lot.

I used web a bit and had trouble. I should probably work on it a bit more but, I'm a bit lazy. I'm planning to experiment with the increased damage metamagic feats but was waiting until I had a spell point pool that could semi support it.

I know that my gameplay will need to adapt to higher level quests and spells but I'm looking forward to it. It seems that as you level, you need to change the way you play based on your new spells. Like anything in DDO, there are multiple ways to play and succeed. You just need to pick your way.

[Dunfalach]

I'm a newish player so take what I say with a grain of salt. My highest character is my lvl 8 elven wizard (don't start dissing the elven types...). I use the 32 point build so have 16 con and 18 int (I figure I'll cover the required str with items later or bulls str now). My feats are Mental Toughness, Augment Summoning, Extend, Improved Mental Toughness, and Spell Focus Necromancy (for Pale Master).

My typical spell list includes: Mage Armor, Shield (items make nightshield redundant), Niac's Cold Ray, Detect Secret Doors, Resist Energy, Blur, Melf's Acid Arrow, Knock, Chain Missle, Hast, Suggestion, Summon Monster IV, and Firewall. I used to use Burning Sphere as well but it's not as useful any more and doesn't last long enough.

If going the Pale Master route, it's worth taking a look at the Compendium online and pulling up the list of Necromancy spells. Blindness, various fear spells, and some debuffs are all necromancy. Since you have to take the necromancy feats anyway for PM, you might as well see if there are any of those that would be useful to you as you'll have the bonus on them from the feats. Kobold Shamans do NOT like being blinded, for instance. :D I'm kind of fond of Enervate of late, myself.

[Lyrpen]

I've been experimenting with my spells a bit to see how they work and all.
Also unlocked Drow and now playing on Orien.

I've also bought Warforged race recently too since everyone is saying they make awesome Wizards. When I came to the char creation screen, I was like blegh... and quickly chose Drow again.

The increased DC is awesome. Hypno works really good now. I throw is at whatever is chasing me and move on in the dungeon.
I've also been watching some of MrCow's videos. He's awesome. Too bad he only shows solo tactics and groups won't like if I zerg though quests to herd the mobs. Besides, I have no idea how he manages to avoid getting hit. It already started with Heyton's Rest. He grabbed the crest in an instant and ran away again. My character kept swinging his staff instead of grabbing the crest and spent like twenty seconds trying to grab it. By the time I did the second altar I died. Or also with Redemption, he ran past the iron defenders with ease while I got knock-downed all the time and died... Also with Haverdasher, he somehow placed his burning hands perfectly and killed the scorpions in an instant while I'm getting chased my them trying to set them up in a good position. Or that time with Stealthy Repossession. He ran through it easily while I kept getting harried and died halfway through. Or that Irestone Elite run. He melts them down with ease while I get chased by hoards of mobs and died really fast. Not to mention the Depth's series. I died really soon with all those mobs chasing me.

Things I've learned from watching them:
- Carry Shield or Nightshield for those magic missiles.
- Always have Expeditious Retreat on.
- Herd mobs to takes them all out with an AoE spell.
- Stoneskin is awesome.
- A good melee weapon helps a TON.
- Good supplies help a TON.
- I can't imitate MrCow.

Herding mobs is hard in a group and I don't have the money for a good weapon or supplies, so yeah...

Korthos is a nice place, lol. A place where hypno always works (on normal), where Niac's always lands (on normal). The moment you come to Harbor everything falls apart. Everything is saved against and your AoE spells do crappy damage. Normal is pretty do-able. On hard everything works half as good and on elite I have to resort to using my Eternal Wand Of Finger Fire because nothing works.
Some spells I just don't know how to fit in my playstyle (no idea what it is though. Just means that I never miss them or use them) like Web or Charm spells. Haven't found an good place to use Web where I couldn't throw in a Hypno. Those casters barely move anyway, so they don't get stuck in the Web unless the person with the aggro runs far away. Something that's impossible to organize in a PUG.
My performance has improved in some ways. But my biggest problem is the elite mode after all. My damage spells are too weak, my CC spells get saved a lot so I usually just buff and watch them go at it.

Sorry for not posting for a while. But I'm reading every post in this thread. :P

By the way, is Pale Master worth getting?

[Angelus_dead]

Heyton's Rest. He grabbed the crest in an instant and ran away again. My character kept swinging his staff instead of grabbing the crest and spent like twenty seconds trying to grab it.
Ok, that's keyboard interaction with the items.

Get close to it, press Backspace to target, then U to pick it up. Myself, I remapped Backspace to Y so that it's faster to press (mainly for scooping up the treasure bags that fall from monsters, although I can also get epic scrolls almost before anyone else sees them)

[Adarro]

Ok, that's keyboard interaction with the items.

Get close to it, press Backspace to target, then U to pick it up. Myself, I remapped Backspace to Y so that it's faster to press (mainly for scooping up the treasure bags that fall from monsters, although I can also get epic scrolls almost before anyone else sees them)

A similar concept, I can usually run through catacombs (the one where you need to unlock / pull all the levers to open the centre) by running in and pressing 'Q' then 'E' and I can usually run back out to face them all in the doorway.
I don't recall doing any extra mapping, but it seems to work pretty effectively.




The increased DC is awesome. Hypno works really good now. I throw is at whatever is chasing me and move on in the dungeon.
I've also been watching some of MrCow's videos....

- I can't imitate MrCow.

:) practice... I've seen good cc'ers / AoE seem to alway hit just what they need to, and others that seem to be casting while manning a firehose.



Herding mobs is hard in a group and I don't have the money for a good weapon or supplies, so yeah...
Many fairly decent low level items are available from some of the non-F2P packs. You might want to look up the 'Definitive Static Loot' threads and save some Turbine points for one or more of them.
Having the proper gear makes a world of difference and many of them really aren't all that hard to get.


The moment you come to Harbor everything falls apart. Everything is saved against and your AoE spells do crappy damage. Normal is pretty do-able. On hard everything works half as good and on elite I have to resort to using my Eternal Wand Of Finger Fire because nothing works.
This is a min/max situation, (not build wise, but strategy wise). Things only get tougher, so it becomes more important to exploit the weakness of what you're fighting. A barbarian orc on Elite is probably going to save against most of your fortitude based spells, but not so much on Will based ones, casters will probably be easier to hit a reflex or fort save etc. Also, sometimes it's worth it to use debuffs. Bestow curse (http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Spell:Bestow_Curse) is a negative 4 to saves... that's like +8 to your casting stat, and can make a big difference.



Some spells I just don't know how to fit in my playstyle
If you're spells work for your playstyle, then I woudn't worry about it. While there is a general consensus about certain spells, what works for you is what works for you. If you can't place Web effectively, then its not really as helpful as a spell you can hit with, regardless of 'how technically good' the spell may be.
It's kind of like trying to use a Kopesh when you're not proficient with it because its 'better' than the weapon you know how to use.


By the way, is Pale Master worth getting?
That's a very subjective question. End game raiders are probably not wanting to see a pack of nearly un-healable Wraith forms sitting at the boss, but since the update, there are so semi-decent virtually free damage options and better self-healing than before.

I'd suggest checking out some of the PM related threads on here.

[fox5s]

Unless you massively outlevel the dungeon, running on elite generally means that your damage spells don't hurt the baddies enough. Or at the very least your SP bar won't last if you try that. I still farm muckbanes sometimes and at level 7 I don't have an SP bar that could handle pure nuking through the whole thing. My longsword gets used, my summons kill, and my eternal acid wand are all helpful. Also, in dealing with ooze when you are alone, shoot them with Melf's, and start hitting them with your eternal acid wand all while backing away. Ooze are pretty slow compared to most things that want to close in on you. Plus if they do hit you the acid resist plus that invulnerability robe (or stoneskin) helps out a lot.

Pale master is a personal choice. The only thing it required that I wasn't going to get anyway was the spell focus which will be useful eventually anyway. I like it because it lets me have an extra (really tough) summon. I think with Pale master thrown in, you can eventually get up to having three minions plus hirelings and charms (summon monster, pale master skel, and create undead). Some people don't like minions they can't directly control. I personally do.

A note to the person telling me about necromancy spells: I probably would use more that had saves if the current ones were terribly useful. Blind should be awesome and impose all sorts of casting penalties. However, in DDO, I've blinded a shaman only to have him start randomly casting lightning bolts all over the place still hitting me about half the time. Fear would be more useful IMO if it acted like it does on players. As it is currently, if they are affected at all due to the hit dice requrements, they run all over the place making it diffifult for my summons to attack them and -4 to my hit chasing them can be bad too. It could also be that I'm not using it in the right places. I've been wanting to experiment with enervation. It seems like it would be great. I don't recall them getting a save so it doesn't sync particularly well with my feats. The main problem is that it's a fourth level spell. The same level as firewall and stoneskin. I'll probably start experimenting with it when I hit level nine and move my summon monster spell off of the level four list. At the higher levels there are some more useful ones. Finger of death stands out as the main hurty one.

[BDog77]

I'm gonna jump in here and say that sometimes it seems people are playing a different game.

Now, granted this is my Drow Sorc, but I use Niac's all the time. The save on it is 20 (at 4th level), not many things make their save. I also do 90-100 damage normally, and up to 170ish on a crit. Well worth it, even if I have to cast 3 times (no other spell I have could possibly do as much for 30 sp). I do have Sup Glac and the fire/ice line to boost damage. All that being said, however, I have to admit, playing him versus other Sorcs I played before update 5 is a bit different. A lot of spells since U5 get "lost", either the enemy is too close, causing the spell not to fire right, or I cast, it takes spell points, but no spell fires, no animation, no effect. That is irritating, however, since it happens with all spells, Niac's is still cheaper when it fails than even scorching ray.

I do currently have an 8th level Wizzy that I started ages ago, but parked for a bit till they fixed Palemaster. I'm not sure my experience with him would help you tho, since I had a very specific RP type with him when I created him. I was thinking the Scandinavian type "witch" or "warlock". A guy who was very in tune with the "other side" (necro), but who also was expected to hold his own in a fight, and mainly use his magic to augment his melee capabilities. When I solo with him I usually buff mage armor, shield (with the manacles for Deleras, I actually hit 25 AC, usually good enough for normal and hard), then Bear's End (I have a +4 str item), blur, and magic circle against evil (for me and my Skeletal mage). Then I mostly whack stuff (I actually took a feat for greatsword, since, as I said, it fit in with the build I imagined). With a str of 20, buffed con of 20, and Int of 23, I do pretty good, he can even land Niac's, altho his save is a 17. I know the AC, Str, and Con will help me less and less as I go up from 8th, but so far, most challenges are trivially easy, and I do have FW now...

Someone mentioned learning to cast web at your feet, and it reminded me of a tactic I use. I run, gather the baddies, getting all the aggro I can, then when they surround me, drop a fireball at my feet. Bit cheesy, but it works...especially with that greatsword getting glancing blows on the few that are left....

Since my Wizzy got FW, tho, whenever I party, all they want from me is buffs and FW. Funny story, I was running Delera's in a group, and we got to the end of part 1, and one of the melees said, "hey, Djofull, you got FW or what?". I said "Sure I do, but the fights are gonna hafta last longer than 2 seconds for me to use it..." Some folks are just hard to please.

Anyway, just my thoughts on what I have been reading here. I guess my best advice would be that it's easy to be an instakill, easy to be a nuker, easy to be a melee specced wizzy (at least at low levels), but you really gotta decide what you want to do, and then go for it, whole hog and no holding back. Otherwise, you end up with a confused character, ok at a lot of things, but not really good at any of them, and I think then you would see the type of problems you seem to be describing.

Just my 2cp, thanks for listening.

[Dunfalach]

I've been wanting to experiment with enervation. It seems like it would be great. I don't recall them getting a save so it doesn't sync particularly well with my feats. The main problem is that it's a fourth level spell. The same level as firewall and stoneskin. I'll probably start experimenting with it when I hit level nine and move my summon monster spell off of the level four list. At the higher levels there are some more useful ones. Finger of death stands out as the main hurty one.

Re: Enervation, most of the time I run with enervation and wall of fire, unless it's an undead quest. I've been using scrolls for summon monster IV and stoneskin since level 6 or so, after a comment someone made in another thread made me realize I could do that. Success rate is about 85% for a scroll of the next level up spell, so I'm now carrying some earth elemental scrolls at level 7. For a summons, as near as I can tell the only difference between casting it off a scroll and casting it yourself is that Extend metamagics may increase how long it stays around when self-cast. Augment Summons apparently works on both self-cast and scrolled summons. I had assumed it wouldn't but was assured on another thread that it does. Stoneskin would be a little different, since your caster level affects it more and you may well have metamagics that boost it as well. I front-loaded my pale master feats heavily as I was afraid I'd forget to get them at appropriate levels, so my next level may be the first one where I take a metamagic feat. Probably extend for buffs. Your mileage may vary :)

[Aloro]

Does Blur works against spells? That is what does most of the damage to my toon.

Blur will only work against spells requiring an attack roll, I believe.

I'm puzzled though by your statement that spells do most of the damage to your character. Shield/Nightshield for magic missles, Resist Energy/Protection from Energy/Protection from Elements for acid/cold/electrical/fire/sonic. Protection from Evil for domination magics. Lesser Globe/Globe of Invulnerability for literally everything up to lvl 3 or 4 respectively.

Other than spells like Blade Barrier that deal physical damage, and ones dealing negative energy, you should be able to mitigate or completely block damage from most other spells. Get a Death Ward clicky, stock up on Stoneskin components, and you should be able to cut down a lot of the remaining damage. Run with Displacement and Haste up and you'll minimize melee damage, as well.

Mages can actually be pretty hard to damage if properly buffed. Until we get dispelled, anyhow. ;)

[Angelus_dead]

Blur will only work against spells requiring an attack roll, I believe.
That must be referring to some other game.


Lesser Globe/Globe of Invulnerability for literally everything up to lvl 3 or 4 respectively.
Is that a joke?

[Aloro]

That must be referring to some other game.

That's the base D&D rule. I don't actually know of any spells that use a touch attack mechanic in DDO but wasn't excluding the possibility. ;) If, as appears to be the case, no spells in DDO use a touch attack, then by extension Blur won't defend against any spells.


Is that a joke?

... I guess it could be the punchline, if you work hard enough on the setup. :D

Lesser Globe of Invulnerability blocks all spell effects lvl 3 or lower. Globe of Invulnerability blocks all spell effects lvl 4 or lower. They also have substantial drawbacks that prevent them from popular use. I know. I'm not suggesting that everyone make use of these spells, nor arguing their efficacy compared to other spells available for this purpose. They are however not useless and they do block spell effects.

My point though was simply that mages have a lot of options to block damage from spells.

[Crimzin1]

I never play casters. I guess I just like to get my feet dirty...but casters are always a welcome sight on my team.

I once teamed with a low level (level 6) wizard before, in gladewatch defense. That guys was definitely the top 3 assets on our team. I was level 6 at the time, and to me, gladewatch was a hard bloodbath on elite. But with that wizard, I just sat and watched 3 hobgoblin assassins chewing up the shamans while I do a /dance2. It was fun.

From from what I've seen, a powerful wizard:

1. Casts charm spells on grunts (not casters).

2. does not bother wasting money on scrolls or inscriptions materials at low levels (they'll come to you as loots when you advance in level. Besides, most of those scroll spells are not needed at low levels anyway. Patience is a virtue).
So what do they spend their money on?
-spell penetration gears so mobs have a hard time resisting their spells.
-returning throwing weapons or wands.

3. When needed, cast elemental resist spells on party members (This can literally mean the difference between a quick kill and a party wipe).

I'm certain your offensive spells can do respectable damage, but if you buff the grunts in your party, you usually get more bang (dps) for your bucks(sp)


edit: I actually would give rare scrolls I can't cast well to the wizards on my party for free. And I believe most grunts are willing to do that--or at least well it for cheap. So keep your eyes open on your teammate's loots, if you see a scroll you need, ask if they're willing to trade!

[shagath]

So what do they spend their money on?
-spell penetration gears so mobs have a hard time resisting their spells.
-returning throwing weapons or wands.
Earliest point you need spell pen is Stormvauld's Mine(drows) but you really need it only at lvl10+. Lower level monsters just don't have spell res to penetrate. Use your plat on conj focus items perhaps and a superior freeze/nihil/impact clickie. :)


I'm certain your offensive spells can do respectable damage, but if you buff the grunts in your party, you usually get more bang (dps) for your bucks(sp)At low levels, you have access to stuff like bull's strenght(+4str), blur, hypnotism, mage armor and shield. You'll do better in melee with master's touch(greatsword/greataxe) than most of melee builds at low levels. And if you are a wf, you can already repair yourself with wands... Unless you totally dumped your strength. Spells are only viable main damage form at lower levels with boss fights, or at Cannith Crystal. :D At low levels, casters will run out of sp so easily and a melee weapon will do way better damage than eternal fire wand. :)

[kamizz]

Currently on my 4th Wizard trying out my own Pale Master WF build. Up to level 14 now.
Highly suggest:
1. Mental Toughness and Toughness for lower levels. Toughness triples your survivability when combined with the enhancements. Mental Toughness and the enhancements greatly improves your mana pool.
2. Extend Feat - Handy when you get 20+ mana cost buffs and are doing dungeons that take time - doubles length of spells for 10 more mana. Though, highly recommend not bothering to use it when you know there are mobs that dispel (Like beholders). Don't bother. But, it is extremely useful when soloing at lower levels since your buff times are short. Though, some dungeons are fairly short or have a lot of shrines so extending won't be needed (Except perhaps for Haste or Displacement).
3. Get a Cleric Hireling with Divine Vitality. This ability will pretty much fill your mana bar twice over at the lower levels and refills on resting your hireling. This is pretty key when not running in a full party. I usually duo with a friend and we each bring a DV cleric along with us. Once you get one, it's **** near smooth sailing as far as mana consumption goes. Very important suggestion.
4. Eternal Wands are your friend. At lower levels, the Eternal Wands give you a near limitless supply of damage for no mana cost. You start with an Eternal Fire wand, you can get Eternal Acid from Waterworks, Eternal Magic Missile from Catacombs, and Eternal Frost from the "new" Deneith quests. Frost and Magic Missile are both very slow but can be handy at times. Also good to pick up the +dmg to wands enhancement. Contrary to some posts in here, I do not recommend going melee. Get use to using spells and wands early, learn your class. The fire wand casts a lot faster than most melee swings and does sufficient damage. It's not like they have tons of hp at low levels. There's also an Eternal Monster Summoning wand from House D but I gave up on trying to get that after running the quest to 0 xp.
5. Niac's Cold Ray - I consider this spell to be one of the most overrated low level spells in the game. Nothing is worse than spending mana only to have the spell do absolutely nothing. I've tried to use this on every Arcane Caster I've made and end up never using it again after about 10 minutes. Even tried +Conj build Drow Sorc which didn't help. When it's not undead, use Chill Touch or an Eternal Wand and stop wasting your mana. This is, of course, my opinion only based on my experiences with it but it seems to me that some (most) mob saves are very unbalanced and not in our favor. I do not like "A successful Reflex save negates this effect." Negating all damage is a big waste of my time. If you're worried about mana usage, don't bother.
6. If doing pale master, combining your granted attacks from pale master (Necro touch, bolt, etc), negative energy buffs, toughness+enhancements, and a cleric hireling will come out to a good deal of single target damage especially if combined with Chill Touch (very powerful for it's level). the majority of the other neg energy spells and such are nigh worthless at the moment. Using the granted ability leads to much less mana usage. Also, the Necro bolt you are granted for PM2 (Pale Master II) cannot be cast while your touch from PM1 is on cooldown. However, your touch can be cast while your bolt is on cooldown. So, if you bolt first then touch, you get two hits in short time. Also, the Arcane Skels you get from PM are pretty much the best of the pets. If he runs out of mana?, resummon him. The first one blows his wad really fast but the Blackbone is pretty killer. Even tosses out some Hold monster/person and seems very fond of Wall of Fire and Scorching Ray.
7. Wall of Fire - best used in combination with Blur,Jump spell, Expeditious Retreat, Blademaster's Docent (Or Invuln Robe/Docent, Hammerblock, etc - whatever you can get your hands on) will lead to the majority of your damage until FoD. Keep in mind you can dual wield clubs (Scepters) so you can use +fire dmg +fire crit one in each hand, etc. Put it on a corner..aggro the mobs with a ray or whatever and run around the edges of the fire to get maximum effect. I say a corner because Casters/Rangers will (usually) run to visual range if you pass around a corner..leading them into your Fire. It's also fun to, later on, make use of Otto's Sphere and Wall of Fire. Having Jump and Retreat on helps you to get out of being surrounded by mobs in your Fire. You can pretty much avoid getting hit most of the time with Blur miss chance and moving around. Blur is also extremely important for general survivability that and later on Displacement when standing in your Fire for extended sessions.
8. Charm Person is extremely handy at low levels but you must make sure to keep your int as high as evenly possible and it helps to pick up a +Enchantment sceptre. Though, I didn't have much trouble landing it up til I got Mass Suggestion (Which is really handy on the Gnolls in Desert walk-ups and the entrance of Raiyum). Keep in mind divine classes are higher resistance than melee/ranged/arcane. Control Undead is the Undead version and massively effective in Desert as Eternals have no save (Mindless). Grabbing an arcane eternal skeleton = slaughtered mobs by the masses.
9. If going crowd control, some suggest using Hypnotism, but I found it a waste of mana for the most part. Especially if you're team running as they tend to hit randomly. Best to charm the most dangerous thing you can hit and save your mana. Make sure to keep Dismiss Charm hotkeyed. People get extremely annoyed if they're going for the kill count or need the mob for something (Granted ability in your character window that you can drag to hotbar).
10. Keep in mind you can use scrolls fairly successfully up to 2 spell levels higher than you. So, it can help a lot to pick up a stack of much higher Summon Monster versions and use them for bait or control. The Earth Elemental is fairly competent, the spider is worthless, the Djinni is pretty **** strong for undead, and the Troll regenerates so (if you're careful) you can keep him a long time. Remember that damage type plays a big factor on choosing a summon as well..not just the level. Blunts (Elem/Troll) vs Skels, Fire (Hellhound/Djinni) vs Fire weak undead (Not blackbones), etc.
11. Maximize and Empower I find overrated for low levels. 14+ they are almost essential. The only use I found at lower levels was to blow my mana wad at the end boss/goal of a dungeon or just before a shrine. Considering you mentioned not knowing where the shrines are..that won't be very helpful. Wall of Fire and Scorching Ray do a great deal of damage on their own if you don't skimp on +Fire/Crit items and with Necro you get decent 1vs1 damage without any mana cost.
12. In regards to Warforged wizard specifically, people might call me crazy but..I found Shield spell combined with a decent docent, Barkskin pots, and dex item/buff leads to pretty decent armor for the lower levels while jumping around in your fire. 30ish AC isn't very helpful higher up but at low levels it can be the difference between life and death. It's also a good idea to pick up the best Fortification item as possible. Critical hits are death to a Wizard. Luckily WFs get +25% granted to them that stacks with Fort items..making it a lot cheaper to get full crit protection.
13. This part can be highly expensive but is also the best way to make sure you are maximizing your granted spells each level. Always, always, always try to buy all the scrolls for the next (or current) spell level before picking any spells at level up. There are spells that are not scrolled and can only be obtained by level up. It helps to have a high guild to join that has discount Arcane Vendors unlocked to do this. It's also handy to check the AH for scrolls that might be up for cheaper or drop-only scrolls that will free up a spell choice for levelup..it's a rarity (extremely) but you never know. There's also a list of level up only spells on the net but I do not have the link handy.
14. The Dusk Heart from Menechtarun rare spawns is a nice wizard item as well +hp and +% miss as well as Molb's Fist from The Ruins of Threnal. Not so much for the +dmg buffs but for the +mana on gloves slot that doesn't conflict with the dusk trinket. I know people moan when someone mentions Desert drops but if you're running the desert as often as I am, you're bound to find one of the Dusk Hearts or one of the others that you can sell and buy a Dusk Heart =P. Take someone nice along with you and double your chances. That evil Spell Storing ring still eludes me but I've found 1 Bloodstone, 4 Dusk Hearts, Several Elemental Bows, 2 of those Cyclone swords, and 2 Chain Coifs (+healing helm). Definitely paid for the majority of my post 11 gear. Control Undead is essential when running for the Dusk/Spell Storing chests. Don't bother trying to Dismissal the Elder Elementals if you're going up there. But, Necro touch and Wall of Fire (Scorching Ray) works ^^
15. Spear Bane - This is the item you get from one of the newbie island quests. I know, it looks crappy. But, if you're worried about rangers, this is the item for you. You can hotkey it with your real bracer and swap them out when you come up to a ranger. At low levels, this pretty much negates the damage done when combined with Resist Energy (Most 4+ Rangers do elemental damage with their normal damage). The other block items are also mildly useful if you know what weapon types you are coming up against.
16. Know Your Class/Role - This is perhaps the most essential suggestion I can give: Learn your class, learn the dungeons, and learn to control yourself. The best way to do this is start doing quests solo on Casual mode. At low levels, you can pretty much 2 hit mobs on casual with your eternal wand. They do not hit hard. This is the best way to practice and learn a dungeon for the first time. DDO, unfortunately, is an extremely large amount of repetition. I guess that's why I like Menechtarun so much (Raiyum's Chamber is randomized very well).

--about my wiz (Fairly useless info)--
I was able to fairly easily solo Raiyum at level 12 (Well, me + cleric hireling) including the dungeons to get the Seals for the Djinnis. I consider that a successful build to that point.

Should note that my Wiz currently has 24con, 30int - 250ish hp at level 14. Not so bad for survivability considering I have no raid items and "soloed" 80% of the time up until Gianthold (now) which is much more enjoyable with a partner. I also just started on a new server to join friends so I had no money to start off.
Note: Not trying to brag..just pointing out that it's not that difficult even from scratch - even easier with a main to pass cash.
Wall of Fire started dying off in effectiveness right about the time I picked up FoD (handy with greater necro focus) which means I'll probably need to start using Maximize or perhaps upgrade my Elemental Enhancements line. Most things in Gianthold are strong vs Fire but the Wall is still quite mana effective even then. FoD is handy for the Aurums/Lions.

[GuntherBovine]

I'm puzzled though by your statement that spells do most of the damage to your character. Shield/Nightshield for magic missles, Resist Energy/Protection from Energy/Protection from Elements for acid/cold/electrical/fire/sonic. Protection from Evil for domination magics. Lesser Globe/Globe of Invulnerability for literally everything up to lvl 3 or 4 respectively.
That is a huge number of SP for buffing


Other than spells like Blade Barrier that deal physical damage, and ones dealing negative energy, you should be able to mitigate or completely block damage from most other spells. Get a Death Ward clicky, stock up on Stoneskin components, and you should be able to cut down a lot of the remaining damage. Run with Displacement and Haste up and you'll minimize melee damage, as well.
My Wiz Rogue is only level 5 currently and doesn't have access to those spells. But they aren't high on my list of spells to use on her. She runs with a steel defender and a fighter hireling and mainly does CC, so she is rarely hit in melee (which makes blur/displacement a waste of SP). Haste would just cause her to get to far in front of her melee shields - I don't even cast Exp Retreat. Though I plan to case Haste on my hireling. BTW, if I do the benefits of Haste and Heroism stack on my hireling? Does Heroism provide a +2 to CC spell DC checks?

[Postumus]

Some spells I just don't know how to fit in my playstyle (no idea what it is though. Just means that I never miss them or use them) like Web or Charm spells. Haven't found an good place to use Web where I couldn't throw in a Hypno. Those casters barely move anyway, so they don't get stuck in the Web unless the person with the aggro runs far away.

When I first got Web I was all "YEAHHH YOU MUTHER EFFERS ARE GONNA PAY!" Then I cast it a few times and I was all "#)%(*)%$@(*%)# this spell SUCKS!!"

It takes too long to cast, it doesn't go where I want it to go, I'm lucky if it affects HALF the kobolds attacking me; and those few that do get webbed break through in no time at all.

I might be using it incorrectly, but as it reads the spell sucks. A save to miss not be affected entirely, and then a save every TWO SECONDS if they are affected? So in the span of 6 seconds, the little kobastid gets four saves?

I have a lot better luck with hypnotism or burning hands. Even if the burning hands spray starts in the wrong direction, cuz I'm that coordinated, I find I can still swing it around before the spell ends to catch anyone near me.

Charm, OTH, rocks. With a crummy +2 spell penetration staff, I can consistently charm kobolds & kobold warriors; charm kobold throwers about 60% of the time, and charm orcs & bugbears & most humans 75%+ of the time.

I can usually charm a mob before the rest of them detect me, so they attack the charmed guy rather than ganging up on me.

That, plus the hell hound from Mon Sum III really allows me to sit back and watch, plink away with the wand, or throw in a burning hands.

I found scorching ray is practically a one-shot kill on kobolds (any), orcs, bugbears, and most humans. It's a two shotter for trog shamans.
F
I've also started to use a fighter hireling more. FTR+Hell hound = BIG help. But then my drow wiz is a complete wuss at 40 hp, so I need all the friends I can get.

[Dunfalach]

Postumus mentioned the +2 spell pen staff, and that echoed something I've been noticing. I've seen people say that spell pen only matters if the enemy has spell resistance, which you shouldn't encounter for several levels, so there's no point in having a spell pen item before then. Yet, I have noticed a consistent difference in the success of my suggestion spells against the same type of enemy in the same quest when I have my spell pen sceptre equipped and when I don't due to swapping in a quarterstaff or something and forgetting to swap back. It's possible this is just coincidence, but I've noted the success rate of my spells changing enough that it seems to me, from a subjective look, to be affecting CC spell success.


Regarding Web, my impression is that it is not really a combat spell, unless you're really good at it. It does seem to have some success for me on my sorc when I cast it in doorways or on spots on the floor and then pull enemies through it. I've seen it work VERY well cast by a good sorc in the doorway on Kobold Assault, but will note in that situation he cast 3 or 4 of them to cover the doorway area, thus forcing them to make several saves trying to get in. And since we were fighting in the web area part of the time, the enemies were having to make still more saves every time they ran from one to another chasing the PCs. I've seen several web users talk of leading enemies through it back and forth till they get caught, much like I often find myself leading a string of angry enemies back and forth through my wall of fire so that it hits them over and over (and so they don't murder me while I stand still, but that's another matter ;) )

[Aloro]

That is a huge number of SP for buffing

Heh, yes, it would be. I'm not advocating using all those spells at once. By and large, that would be massive overkill. ;)


My Wiz Rogue is only level 5 currently and doesn't have access to those spells. But they aren't high on my list of spells to use on her. She runs with a steel defender and a fighter hireling and mainly does CC, so she is rarely hit in melee (which makes blur/displacement a waste of SP). Haste would just cause her to get to far in front of her melee shields - I don't even cast Exp Retreat. Though I plan to case Haste on my hireling. BTW, if I do the benefits of Haste and Heroism stack on my hireling? Does Heroism provide a +2 to CC spell DC checks?

Haste is an AE party buff. You can get yourself and your party members at the same time - caster level is your number of targets affected. It is well worth it for the movement, attack speed buff, and AC. The duration is short (6 sec per caster lvl) so Extend helps a lot.

Heroism stacks with Haste, sure. Heroism affects attacks but not spell penetration or DC.

[GuntherBovine]

That, plus the hell hound from Mon Sum III really allows me to sit back and watch, plink away with the wand, or throw in a burning hands.
:
I've also started to use a fighter hireling more. FTR+Hell hound = BIG help. But then my drow wiz is a complete wuss at 40 hp, so I need all the friends I can get.
Get Wiz Repair I, Wiz Repair II and Iron Companion. For solo play, Iron Defender >>>> Summons 1-4. I had been working on some video for a post on this, then my computer crashed :( With an Iron Defender and a fighter hireling, you can then focus on CC and one-shotting enemies.


I found scorching ray is practically a one-shot kill on kobolds (any), orcs, bugbears, and most humans. It's a two shotter for trog shamans.
Try using Niac's for melee types. Depending on your level and equipment, it can do more damage or as much with half the SP. Also, get a Superior Freeze and a Superior Inferno weapon and have their boost active for a big boost in damage. They will provide the boost for 9 minutes between rests.

[Postumus]

Postumus mentioned the +2 spell pen staff, and that echoed something I've been noticing. I've seen people say that spell pen only matters if the enemy has spell resistance, which you shouldn't encounter for several levels, so there's no point in having a spell pen item before then. Yet, I have noticed a consistent difference in the success of my suggestion spells against the same type of enemy in the same quest when I have my spell pen scepter equipped and when I don't due to swapping in a quarterstaff or something and forgetting to swap back. It's possible this is just coincidence, but I've noted the success rate of my spells changing enough that it seems to me, from a subjective look, to be affecting CC spell success.

Now that you bring it up, you wouldn't think the SP+2 would help charming kobolds, but it seems to be the difference maker for consistently charming enemies like kobold throwers. Without the scepter I can't seem to charm them at all.



Regarding Web... I've seen it work VERY well cast by a good sorc in the doorway on Kobold Assault, but will note in that situation he cast 3 or 4 of them to cover the doorway area, thus forcing them to make several saves trying to get in. And since we were fighting in the web area part of the time, the enemies were having to make still more saves every time they ran from one to another chasing the PCs.)

That's a good idea. I'll have to try that next time I run Assualt.

[Postumus]

Get Wiz Repair I, Wiz Repair II and Iron Companion. For solo play, Iron Defender >>>> Summons 1-4. I had been working on some video for a post on this, then my computer crashed

Would love to see that when you get it finished.

Basically ANYTHING is better than that crappy scorpion from MS II. Lil' bastid always disappears for his sneak attack and leaves me face to face with an enraged bugbear. :P

[GuntherBovine]

Would love to see that when you get it finished.
Here is a preliminary version from what I remember. I need to make some more runs before I finalize it. I would appreciate feedback on it.

This is a comparison of Summon Monster I spell, Summon Monster II spell, Summon Monster III spell, Summon Monster IV spell, Iron Companion enhancement and Steel Companion enhancement for what I consider most important in a summons. The items are presented in order of importance. This is based upon multiple "The Depths of Darkness" mini-runs on hard with Frenzy, the level 3 WF Barbarian. The mini-run consists of going through the secret door to the right of the entrance, battling 2 Hobgolblin Infiltrators, battling the Hobgolblin Witch Doctor, battling 2 Hobgoblin Slayers, retracing my steps to the other side of the entrance to battle 2 Troglodytes, and finally battling a Troglogdyte Shaman. I also used the Celestial Dogn other quests to get a better picture of their usefulness.

The Summons are:
Summon Monster I spell - Celestial Dog
Summon Monster II spell - Fiendish Scorpion
Summon Monster III spell - Hellhound
Summon Monster IV spell - Fiendish Spider
Iron Companion enhancement - Iron Defender
Steel Companion enhancement - Steel Defender

Pulling Aggro
I want my summons to tie up as many of the enemies as possible. That allows me and my hireling to either attack the remaining enemies at reduced numbers or flank attack the summon's attackers one at a time.
Celestial Dog - 5 (5 = Best, 1 = Worst). Would consistently aggressively attack enemies and got their full attention. Can hold the attention of multiple kobolds
Fiendish Scorpion - 1. Not very aggressive and when it did attack, the enemy being attacked would mostly ignore it. Also, would frequently go underground and when underground, would have no effect on the battle. It did take some scorching rays from the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor, but that may have been because the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor didn't realize it was in the way. Can't hold the attention of a single kobold
Hellhound - 3. When a battle starts, the Hellhound is invisible and is consequently ignored by enemies. The Hellhound then breathes its fire attack, becomes visible and starts pulling aggro. Can hold the attention of multiple kobolds
Fiendish Spider - 2. Its AI is that it mainly stays away from enemies and snipes with poison and web, though it will occasionally spring at enemies and then retreat. It will sometimes pull aggro by being too close to the front when enemies activate and they will then focus on it. While sniping, it can lose the attention of those that it was sniping
Iron Defender - 5. AI very similar to Hellhound except that instead of spewing fire, it spews grease. Would consistently aggressively attack enemies and got their full attention. Can hold the attention of multiple kobolds
Steel Defender - 5. I couldn't tell any differences between the Iron Defender and the Steel Defender

Synergy with Hireling
Does the summons make my fighter hirelings more effective?
Celestial Dog - 4 By pulling the attention of attackers, it allowed the hireling to get many flank attacks
Fiendish Scorpion - 1. Didn't help my hireling as far as I could tell
Hellhound - 3. Similar to Celestial Dog, except that it didn't grab enemies' attention until after its first breath attack
Fiendish Spider - 2. When it cast a web, it really helped the hireling by entrapping enemies. However, it mainly stayed back and launched poison attacks, which didn't help the hireling
Iron Defender - 5. The first thing it does is spew grease, which frequently knocks down enemies while never knocking down the hireling (some hirelings like the WF's never seem to fall in grease). Enemies that were knocked down did no damage to the hireling and were easy for the hireling to whack on
Steel Defender - 5. I couldn't tell any differences between the Iron Defender and the Steel Defender

Survivability
I want my summons to last a good long time. If it dies in the middle of a big battle, suddenly the odds are much worse for me
Celestial Dog - 3 Died against the Troglogdyte Shaman at the end of the mini-run the one time I used it
Fiendish Scorpion - 1. Died against the third enemy, the Hobgoblin Witch Doctor. This may understate its general survivability as it seemed to be a Scorching Ray magnet in the mini-run
Hellhound - 2. In the first run I did, it died while battling the Hobgoblin Slayers. It the second run, it died while battling the Troglogdyte Shaman. Because the Hellhound is invisible outside of battles, it is easy to miss that it has died. What happened when I was using it in a normal quest run was that I started a big battle and then realized that it wasn't around any more
Fiendish Spider - 2. It took three runs to make it to the end. The first two runs, it died while battling the Hobgoblin Slayers. This despite hanging back for most of the battles.
Iron Defender - 5. Finished the mini-run with almost no damage
Steel Defender - 5. Finished the mini-run with almost no damage

Run times and hireling repairing
How long did it take to make the mini-run and how much healing did the WF hireling require during it?
Steel Defender - had the fastest run and the hireling didn't take enough damage to merit repairing
Iron Defender - like 10-15 seconds slower than the Steel Defender and the hireling didn't take enough damage to merit repairing
Celestial Dog - Had a good time. Had Otto's Resistable Dance cast on him and his dancing cracked me up
Fiendish Scorpion - I thought I was going to lose the hireling as he got really low on life and lost life as fast I could repair him
Other Summons - I can't remember

Note: none of these summons do as much damage as a level 1 hireling. Don't count on them to kill things for you

Conclusions
Celestial Dog holds up very well against the other summons
Fiendish Scorpion is worthless
Hellhound is not as good as a Celestial Dog
Fiendish Spider may or may not be better than a Celestial Dog depending on what you want from a summons. I can see it would be better than a Celestial Dog in a party tackling a tough quest where the Celestial Dog will die quickly
Iron Defender - Vastly better than spell summons. However, never use with a player who wants to melee as they will hate the constant grease
Steel Defender - From the mini-run, it was hard to see any improvement over the Iron Defender

[Postumus]

Here is a preliminary version from what I remember. I need to make some more runs before I finalize it. I would appreciate feedback on it.

Conclusions
Celestial Dog holds up very well against the other summons
Fiendish Scorpion is worthless
Hellhound is not as good as a Celestial Dog
Fiendish Spider may or may not be better than a Celestial Dog depending on what you want from a summons. I can see it would be better than a Celestial Dog in a party tackling a tough quest where the Celestial Dog will die quickly
Iron Defender - Vastly better than spell summons. However, never use with a player who wants to melee as they will hate the constant grease
Steel Defender - From the mini-run, it was hard to see any improvement over the Iron Defender

Looks great. Makes me want to use the iron defender.

Agree with your observations with the MS creatures.

Love the dog. Hate the scorpion (practically worthless with his little disappearing act).

I think I've had more luck with the hell hound than you have though. He's not as good as drawing immediate aggro, but he's still the second most aggressive monster, his breath is great against hordes (I learned how to coordinate my burning hands with his breath attack for a double whammy), and he does have a ranged attack.

But you've sold me on trying the iron defender.

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[Aloro]

Conclusions
Celestial Dog holds up very well against the other summons
Fiendish Scorpion is worthless
Hellhound is not as good as a Celestial Dog
Fiendish Spider may or may not be better than a Celestial Dog depending on what you want from a summons. I can see it would be better than a Celestial Dog in a party tackling a tough quest where the Celestial Dog will die quickly
Iron Defender - Vastly better than spell summons. However, never use with a player who wants to melee as they will hate the constant grease
Steel Defender - From the mini-run, it was hard to see any improvement over the Iron Defender

Good info. I agree with your assessment of the first four The lvl 1 celestial dog was pretty good at its level, while the scorpion and hellhound were fairly awful, especially the stupid scorpion, which seemed to burrow and hide whenever I actually needed it. The spider seemed decent. I haven't tried the iron or steel defenders.

Nice summary. :)

[Reock]

My Observations so far on pets:

Celestial Dog: Fantastic early on pet for casters, multiple casters with multiple dogs can steamroll 1-4 lvl quests.

Fiendish Scorpian: Worthless, dives under ground too often to do damage or soak, avoid this spell.

Hellhound: cone fire attack does quite alot of damage when you first get this summon, combined with its stealth means it can get up close and use its strongest ability before the risk of being killed pops up. Fair replacement for Celestial Dog.

Fiendish Spider: Fragile, but the first pet normal casters get that can snipe, its random webs are nice but unpredictable. Probably usefull in groups with alot of melee were the monsters are busy and the spider can make full use of his sniping attacks.

Iron Defender: Good starter pet, much tougher and harder hitting than the Celestial Dog but its random greases could aggrivate low reflex/balance players.

Steel Defender: Upgraded Iron defender, more hp/ac/dmg.
--------
Necromancer Pets (Wizard prestige)

Skeletal Swordsman: Cheap good damage profile early on, gets around fairly fast and does better than most other pets but has not special tricks. (CR3)

Skeletal Knight: Low damage profile but a TON of hp and armor, randomly (and rarely) stuns enemies. Not the best pet IMO if he could keep aggro he would be fantastic, as they rarely die. (CR6)

Skeletal Archer: Low damage, but fairly durable and is always attacking so its a damage boost to your group, tends to lag behind though as he tries to hang in the back and snipe; meaning zerg groups will always outrun him.

Skeletal Mage; Damage powerhouse, no pet so far can cause so much harm in so little time. Drawback is he has a fairly tiny spell point pool, So you either need to resummon often or only break him out for big fights. Can cast a wide variety of spells, including electric loop, fireball, fire wall, hold person, melfs acid arrow but does so rather randomly.
----

I'll add more as I aquire more summons and the next types of skeles (a upgraded set shows up at 12 and 18)....If I remember to update this anyways.

[Dunfalach]

My Observations so far on pets:

--------
Necromancer Pets (Wizard prestige)

Skeletal Swordsman: Cheap good damage profile early on, gets around fairly fast and does better than most other pets but has not special tricks. (CR3)

Skeletal Knight: Low damage profile but a TON of hp and armor, randomly (and rarely) stuns enemies. Not the best pet IMO if he could keep aggro he would be fantastic, as they rarely die. (CR6)

Skeletal Archer: Low damage, but fairly durable and is always attacking so its a damage boost to your group, tends to lag behind though as he tries to hang in the back and snipe; meaning zerg groups will always outrun him.

Skeletal Mage; Damage powerhouse, no pet so far can cause so much harm in so little time. Drawback is he has a fairly tiny spell point pool, So you either need to resummon often or only break him out for big fights. Can cast a wide variety of spells, including electric loop, fireball, fire wall, hold person, melfs acid arrow but does so rather randomly.
----


Haven't tried the defenders, but I generally agree with your assessments on the Summon Monster set. My wizard has Augment Summons, and it's surprising how durable the Dog and Spider can be with it. I'm really interested to see what happens when the new summons come out that are currently previewing on Lammania.

I use the Skeletal Knight constantly, as I find him enormously survivable with Augment Summons especially. His only real weaknesses are slow speed and a tendency to occasionally get stuck on an obstacle and seemingly take a long time to decide to finally teleport to you. Usually he'll finally pop in just before I finish recasting the summon. :P Once in a while I use the archer or the mage, usually when I know I need a ranged target hit and don't want to cast my own spells.

[geezee]

Your first problem is that you're new to the game. That's easy to fix, by playing more. All of us that have been playing the game have gotten through that one.

Your second problem is that you havent yet decided to start thinking and playing like a good player. There is a lot of good advice on this thread that you simply reject for reasons that seem very trivial to an experienced DDOer.

For example, wall of fire. This is by far your highest damage-dealing spell. Just because you died in irestone doesnt mean its not a great spell. Irestone is easily one of the hardest low level quests in the game. If your group is weak, you will die no matter what you do in there. And while wall of fire is by far your highest damage-dealing spell, it also requires a lot of skill to use it without getting killed. Moreso with a crappy group. Instead of shying away from this spell, I would practice with it until you become a master.

Another example is oozes. Most of your spells dont work on them, and your best option is muckbane. Even with 10 Strength. In a party, there's no reason to die from 5 hits from an ooze. Wait til a melee gets agro, then assist him by smacking with muckbane. You shouldnt get hit even once. If you do, use diplomacy. So you definitely shouldnt get hit twice.

Another example is buffing. You must blur everyone. Dont really need to give them anything else besides maybe resist for certain hard quests. And no, it's not better to quaff a heal potion than casting resist on yourself. That is a real noobish mindset which is causing you to die and then come on here wondering why.

One more thing about buffing is haste. This is your best low level spell, even though it really deosnt help you nearly as much as your melee party members. Learn how to run up to the front line of battle, haste, and quickly retreat. If you do this, everyone will love you no matter if you dont cast another spell. They will add you to friends list and invite you to guilds.

One other thing: Niacs is pretty terrible IMO. It really wouldnt hurt you to forget that spell.

Hope this helps.

[Azcarim]

Sorry to rez this, but if any other new wizards come along here they might be able to read this for some advice.

Firewall IS the best damage spell you will need for soloing at the time you get it, the damage may not seem like much but it lasts for quite a while and does MULTIPLE hits of damage, resulting in far more efficiency than say fireball spam.

Firewall takes a lot of getting used to, since aside from web it's one of your first real 'skill' spells, try and learn to use it to it's utmost.

One firewall isn't always enough, sometimes if i need to kill faster i'll make a T or a l l with the firewalls to rack it up faster as i train them through both.

Jumping with firewalls is a valid strategy, but it is very unforgiving if you do it wrong. Best thing to do is learn by running first, i can usually kite 3 guys or so by running round my wall in a pattern similar to this (l) *as in running in a ring with the wall in the middle, stay close enough and they'll take consecutive damage as if they were just standing in it. Depending on the enemy i can do this without getting hit, but that's more luck than anything.

And at the lower levels, while soloing, buy cleric hirelings. I will NEVER make another character and not bring along a cleric hireling for EVERY QUEST, even if i am a WF. It's flabbergasting how big a difference they make, since any time not spent healing yourself is more time spent...well, doing other useful stuff. And if you aren't a WF you will die pretty much halfway through a quest without heals no matter HOW good you are at soloing.

As for group play, there is no Recount like there is on WoW, and since a lot of the game is stuff other than damage just try your best to look like you are contributing and hopefully you will make it through with what you needed from the quest. Sounds bad i know, but it gets better as you go and when you start getting more SP and some instakill spells your epic DC you should have as a wizzy will finally pay out and you will start ****ing those fighters off as you FoD the enemy they were running at...good times...

Anyways, wizard is a fairly challenging class to play at the start, and i actually wouldn't recommend it but if your heart is set on it who am i to say you are wrong, just try and be patient because it can be a tedious class even in the mid to high levels.

[ArcherBarry]

I love my wizard. Hes Drow, now lvl 8, and Pale Master.

My main strategies are getting skeletal minion out and a good summon, The new choices for the summoning spells are great, usually ice mephit. Then i cast buffs on myself, like mage armour, shield lesser death aurs. Cast firewall and kite monsters through it. They take damage from firewall, my aura and my minions, and i can Necrotic Touch them. Love Necrotic Touch, great damage and uses no sp.

Ooohh, i never used web. I read that fire burns them off, and since i use firewall i just dont bother.

Also, havent put much into con. Only got 49 hp, but im good and dont die much. I would never try hitting anything in melle though, thats why i got Necrotic Touch.

Only thing ive got from this is the idea of using scrolls to summon monster of higher level than i can cast. I will try that.

[winsom]

Arcane Casters are an "expert" class in DDO. Anyone can play one, but it is really impressive when you see one played masterfully.

The fast-arcade action and limited AI of monsters plays perfectly into the hands of an expert mage. You can have AC 11 at level 11, much fewer hit points than melee characters, and you can out-survive your teammates while destroying monsters to a degree that no other class can. At least until level 16 or so, and then rely even more on finesse-play as monsters scale-up quickly in survivability/immunity so your raw power is much less impressive..

It takes a lot of practice to make an Arcane look like "easy/god mode" and innate player talent with action games helps a large amount too. Some casters are a lot better than me and Ive been honing my arcade-play and mastering arcane-tactics since Beta.

[Thaminor]

General tip with summons: mage armor, among other buffs, greatly increase their survivability. They are built to be remotely survivable, but the effects of these buffs stack with them (e.g. celestial dog doesn't carry bracers of armor +4).