Epic caster questions

[Verdex]

Alright been playing about 6 months, and finally breaking into the epics.

I have Lvl 20 wizard, archmage untill today where i realized i could go Palemaster for 200sp loss and gain self heal for it.

There is few problems in my build I cant seem to work out though:

1. The 40 DC for enchantment spells: I have the focus feats, a +3 item, and my intelligence is 36, and yet i only have a 37DC when others are running 42+

Short of TR where do I get the extra, i have sat next to someone with the Character sheet open checking off things and I have the same feats, the same items (minus some GS) and same enhancements

2. Lots of deaths: I have toughness, 18 Con (i need pick up a con item i have some strgt belt on and should swap it). I have some plans for heavy fortification and Toughness (minos/end epic gear), my AC is 18 (for what AC counts for)

The problems come from
A)things hitting me for ALL my HP at once. I'm only sitting around 250HP right now which i know is a big part of the problem.
B) Being a target for everything not matter what

I was playing eDQ and kept dying. I was told it was because i "wasnt behind the wall" of DPS, but even when i'm not casting anything the Mobs like to single me out, I had the Djinn spawning and coming STRAIGHT FOR ME, they went around the wall even. I've always had this problem too, it's bad enough i warn people in certain quest that i will be running more than anything. I've had mobs skip the party and come around the corner to me when all i'm doing is self buffing back there. And once things get to me they can knock off about 30-45 hp a hit, I cant just kill a group (one or two depending on what it is I can handle solo) And once i'm dead without the buffs i start getting hit for 350+ a hit. I cant survive that


I'm about ready to TR which i know will increase my DC, and I can run that up to +3, and there is still alot of items to pull for bonuses I dont have yet, but I wanted everyones thoughts And ideas. Maybe people having some of the same problems.

http://my.ddo.com/character/thelanis/verdex/
^that's my gimp wizard.

Any suggestions for getting little tougher?

[Vellrad]

1. TRing will give you +1 DC no matter how many times you do it.
2. Try some easier epics first: house P, house D, some Red Fens are easier than vons and deserts.
3. Try getting Greater False Life item, 100% fortification and +6 con item.
4. Get and use +2 int and con tomes (if you didn't before).
5. Consider builing Green Steel accesory with +45 stacking hit points. Also, toughness feat is important it gives +22HP and opens racial toughness enhancements giving 10, 20, 30 or 40 more HP (depending on your race and how many AP you willing to spend).

[Waylayer]

By my calculations, you are short 2 points of intelligence.

18 Base
2 Tome
6 Item
5 Level Ups
2 Capstone
2 Lich Form
3 Wizard Int

Considering your current "squishy" self - Lich from also gives 100% fortification and +4 constitution (another 40 hit points).

I think that switching to PM would help you, until you get some better gear.

[Rusty_Can]

1. The 40 DC for enchantment spells: I have the focus feats, a +3 item, and my intelligence is 36, and yet i only have a 37DC when others are running 42+


Assuming you min/maxed your character, you should "easily* have 18 base INT + 5 level-up points + 3 Wizard enhancements + 1 human enhancement + 6 item + 3 exceptional INT (on a ToD ring or a greensteel weapon) + 2 capstone +2 tome = 40 INT. This is without ship buffs (+2), +4 tomes (+2), Yugoloth potions (+2), profane bonuses (e.g. Litany), epic +7 items.



2. Lots of deaths:

You need hp and Heavy Fortification ^^.

Feats and enhancements: take Toughness feat and its enhancements.
Equipment: +6 Con, Greater False Life, Toughness, greensteel "hp" item; wear them all together ....
Buffs: Rage, Stoneskin, Protection from Elements (in case of burst elemental damage), Fireshield.

[slimkj]

1. The 40 DC for enchantment spells: I have the focus feats, a +3 item, and my intelligence is 36, and yet i only have a 37DC when others are running 42+
TRing just once isn't very painful and will help with +1 DC from that. You could also get some items with +exceptional intelligence to bump INT more and therefore DC more. Also farm the raids that give chance of +3 tomes on 20th to look for the +3 INT tome to bump that again.

Doesn't Archmage also bump it further with spell mastery iirc? So you've lost that bump to DC by going PM. You could always TR into warforged AM once you farm the +3 tomes, that's what I did with one of my squishy drows from back on Keeper.


2. Lots of deaths: I have toughness, 18 Con (i need pick up a con item i have some strgt belt on and should swap it). I have some plans for heavy fortification and Toughness (minos/end epic gear), my AC is 18 (for what AC counts for)
Casters do require thought & investment in the toughening up side of things to be viable in content where there is a lot of incoming damage, particularly from spells (as melee attacks can often be avoided). Dying a lot is a good sign you need to evaluate your build/gear as you have with this thread, and sometimes your play style.

Don't worry about AC, that's pointless on a Wiz. For defence, if you don't already, keep Stoneskin and Displacement up almost constantly (unless you're looking for mana regen, then whip out a shield, hit block and let Displacement fizzle)
Definitely fit in a +6 CON item, a Greater False Life item, and Heavy Fort. Those are your problems right there. With 0% fort you will get critical hits which in Epics will be enough to kill you with one or two hits at 250hp.
Further, with 250hp you won't withstand more than half a dozen or so hits on Epic, even with 100% fort once you've sorted that. Invest in a +2 CON tome too if you haven't already.
You might want to also look into the path some take of investing in reflex saves via the Insightful Reflexes feat.

Casters also benefit from a good response time and twitchy playstyle of the player, so you can keep moving and casting those spells whilst staying largely out of harm's way. Practice avoiding their attacks as much as landing your own.

These days, I'm a big fan of self-healing and heavily defense-oriented builds and gear but for years I played as supersquishy drows and it is doable, but takes considerably higher consistent attention and effort than just upping HP, fortification and saves.

The downside of this approach of course, and going something like WF AM for the self healing and reasonable DCs, is it can make you a lazier player if you let your twitch skills decline. :)

[shadow_419]

First a correction : You don't have a +3 item for enchant dc's because one doesn't exist in the game. +2 to enchant dc's are the best you can get right now on an item.

1. Your int is exactly where it should be for someone that doesn't have any exceptional int items ( Either Greensteel or ToD ring), Litany, or better than a +2 tome on a non PM.

2. The lack of a con +6 item, GFL, and heavy fortification are a trifecta of bad choices. You can bolster your hp even further with a GS hp item(+45 stacking hp).

[kernal42]

Many things have random aggro, and it's unclear (at least to me) how targets are assigned when the aggro list is empty and the whole party is seen at once (ie 3 spawning efreeti). In any case, due to your low hp I'm sure you notice the 25% of the time an efreeti targets you much more than the 75% of the time they find someone else to pick on. You need more hp to survive these situations; I personally consider 400 on the low end (but marginally acceptable) for an arcane.

As others have stated, get yourself more hp; none of your current gear (on myDDO) shows any hp boosting. No +con item, no GFL item, no toughness item, etc. These combine for 110 hp, which would bring you to 360ish; a vast and easy improvement. After that, look to craft a +45 hp greensteel accessory (concordant opposition?), which would bring you above 400. Not great, but you won't die every time something looks at you sideways. Also, get heavy fort. Just do it.

For DCs, get that int up! 36 seems consistent with eating only a +1 int tome; find a +2 for a bonus, and then start running Tower of Despair to get another +3 exceptional int. A 40 int is starting to get good, and will give you a DC 39 for enchantments (40 with ship buffs) which should be good for most content.

Cheers,
Kernal

[Meretrix]

You dont get any + to DCs by TR'ing a wizard

[kernal42]

You dont get any + to DCs by TR'ing a wizard

You can take the active past life: wizard to get +1 to all DCs. So yes, you can get a DC boost from TR.

-Kernal

[Shallowain]

You dont get any + to DCs by TR'ing a wizard

you do, from the selectable Past life feat, the passive one doesn't give that

[Lycurgus]

You dont get any + to DCs by TR'ing a wizard

Purchased past life= +1 to all dcs.

[Meretrix]

Ah you're right about that. I thought somone said it stacked but that's the other feat. never mind me, move along...

[Verdex]

My int is actually 1 low from what everyone seems to calculate for i pulled the 17 starting int "to make the most of points"

Heavy fort, a con item, and GFL are all planned but i'm low on funds right now

The GS is auctually being built right now with HP boost conop and the highest level of regen i could throw on there.
All i'm lacking at this point is 6 large sulfer stones...I havent managed to pull any yet.

been trying pull some +3 tomes, but all i have pulled so far was +3 wisdom alotta good that did me :/


So basicaly i'm headed in the right direction and my plans will get me there, i just need to keep up the grinding?
It just felt like I was missing something somewhere along the way. Thanks

and yes it you were right my eardweller is only +2 enchanment DC dunno why i was thinking 3

[Ruphus]

My int is actually 1 low from what everyone seems to calculate for i pulled the 17 starting int "to make the most of points"

Heavy fort, a con item, and GFL are all planned but i'm low on funds right now

The GS is auctually being built right now with HP boost conop and the highest level of regen i could throw on there.
All i'm lacking at this point is 6 large sulfer stones...I havent managed to pull any yet.



Not to sound Nit-Picky, but with Wizards and casters in general, you want to spend all of your build points maxing out your primary casting stat (Int) then the rest into Con, with maybe two points into Strength, those spell components and stacks of 100 scrolls do get heavy with bags full of loot :)

Now... about funds for a +6 con item and/or a GFL item... and those sulfurous stones...

I recommend heading over to The Devils Battlefield, it's a rough place, and will take some practice, but you should be able to solo all of the quests, at least on casual/normal. Do not get frustrated if a couple of em take multiple tries, as you will need to find what spells are going to work best for ya, but they are prime farming grounds for you because....

There is a named belt with +6 con and GFL on it, Knosts Belt, drops in Genesis Point (will need a hireling here for lever pulling)

You can also get numerous Shroud components, small, medium and large from the 4 ToD flagging quests.

Good cash, good practice and good renown (if your in a guild)

Also, flagging for ToD and the ingrediants for Boots of Anchoring, which are needed for ToD, all drop in these quests.

Weapons Shipment - Another Shavarath quest, which, rarely, drops the Mysterious Bauble, which is great for all casters

[sephiroth1084]

Considering your current "squishy" self - Lich from also gives 100% fortification and +4 constitution (another 40 hit points).

I think that switching to PM would help you, until you get some better gear.
Going PM also nets 20 HP all by itself, so that + Lich becomes an increase of 60 HP.


My int is actually 1 low from what everyone seems to calculate for i pulled the 17 starting int "to make the most of points"

Heavy fort, a con item, and GFL are all planned but i'm low on funds right now

The GS is auctually being built right now with HP boost conop and the highest level of regen i could throw on there.
All i'm lacking at this point is 6 large sulfer stones...I havent managed to pull any yet.

been trying pull some +3 tomes, but all i have pulled so far was +3 wisdom alotta good that did me :/


So basicaly i'm headed in the right direction and my plans will get me there, i just need to keep up the grinding?
It just felt like I was missing something somewhere along the way. Thanks

and yes it you were right my eardweller is only +2 enchanment DC dunno why i was thinking 3
My suggestion is to stop running epics until you are properly outfitted with at least the minimum gear required to participate in difficult quests, and then to head into the easier epics of House P and D before venturing into the tougher stuff in the Desert and VoN.

As boring as it may be, one thing you could do to springboard your gear improvement would be to start doing a little farming. Go out and do some full-clear runs of the Orchard and the Vale solo. Running the Orchard should get you enough Tapestries to make a Minos in just a few hours, while the other random junk you pull can be used to up your crafting score or to pad your wallet. A typical full-clear run of the Vale tends to net me around 15-25k plat.

Going Pale Master will take care of your Heavy Fortification for a while, though you should look to work in a Moderate or Heavy Fort item eventually anyway so that you can use Yugoloth Intelligence potions at some point for an extra +2 Int at no penalty. That +6 Con item should be a priority, as should a Greater False Life item. Consider running a couple of the Amrath quests and/or ToD, as there are 2 (3?) named belts that have +6 Con and GFL on them (Genesis Point drops two of those belts I believe).

The other benefit to soloing out in the Vale is that it should give you some time to learn how to deal with packs of troublesome foes, truth be told, though, if you want some practice along that vein, put up an LFM for Vale chests and split up the group--go tackle one side of the Vale on your own while the other 5 people stick together somewhere else. This will cut down on your time to loot a little bit (you still have a lot of running to do), and, more importantly, will remove the downward dungeon scaling in the area so that you will be fighting monsters with a little more in the way of teeth.

When you find the Vale to be too easy for you, start working on the Devil Battlefield and Sins of Attrition. Sins is actually preferable since it can be a little bit harder (better training) and has better returns, with a shot at up to 4 chests that may contain large Shroud ingredients. Those will help you get your greensteel crafted faster and can be turned around for a rather large profit as well.

[Daggertooth]

You've been playing 6 months and finally getting into epics...you shouldn't be doing epics, especially as a caster... Its bad enough having useless melees who can't hit anything unless it has been made helpless but an inexperienced caster in epic is a recipe for frustration for eveyrone involved.

There is more to the game then numbers, years of experience goes a long way... more so for a caster.. knowing what spells to use for what etc etc etc only comes with experience.

In my opinion even with the lowered epic difficulty it still requires much longer then 6 months to effectively play a caster unless your with a very solid group.

Your not alone though, the vast majority of the population rides on the backs of others and rarely if ever gets a true estimation of their own skill. I know one guy who started about 6 months ago, who I helped out quite a bit who then joined a guild grinded out some epic gear and a TR (still only one character) and now the guy thinks he's god's gift to epics.. It need not be said that his weaknesses are easily made apparent by anyone else in the group who fails to compensate for his lack of experience..

[Verdex]

Not to sound Nit-Picky, but with Wizards and casters in general, you want to spend all of your build points maxing out your primary casting stat (Int) then the rest into Con, with maybe two points into Strength, those spell components and stacks of 100 scrolls do get heavy with bags full of loot :)
Now... about funds for a +6 con item and/or a GFL item... and those sulfurous stones...
I recommend heading over to The Devils Battlefield, it's a rough place, and will take some practice, but you should be able to solo all of the quests, at least on casual/normal. Do not get frustrated if a couple of em take multiple tries, as you will need to find what spells are going to work best for ya, but they are prime farming grounds for you because....
There is a named belt with +6 con and GFL on it, Knosts Belt, drops in Genesis Point (will need a hireling here for lever pulling)
You can also get numerous Shroud components, small, medium and large from the 4 ToD flagging quests.
Good cash, good practice and good renown (if your in a guild)
Also, flagging for ToD and the ingrediants for Boots of Anchoring, which are needed for ToD, all drop in these quests.
Weapons Shipment - Another Shavarath quest, which, rarely, drops the Mysterious Bauble, which is great for all casters

I finially picked up the Health +6 Mod Fort belt, and then a rind of GFL/water breathing (wasnt wearing a water breathing item recently)

Those were just to hold me over, thanks for pointing me at some items, and the warning for the hireling, I HAD NO IDEA I COULD GET SHROUD ING OUT OF SHROUD!!!! finially something todo to kill time while the raid timers run.
Also had time to try out Shroud of lich, with it and the ship buffs my Hold jumps up another 2 points, still doesnt hit all the time but it will actually hit now.
I never took death aura not needing it before so now i'm scroll hunting for it, I have lesser, but I would rather better heals.

Mysterious Bauble: there is no such thing...it's like the easter bunny and santa, everyone believes for a time but no one ever sees one :p i'm on something like 36 completions there :/

I wish i wouldnt have done the 17int, it works better in Pnp than it did here, you can google it and see everyones math and thoughts on it, but with enhancements, SP etc it was a mistake on my part :(



The other benefit to soloing out in the Vale is that it should give you some time to learn how to deal with packs of troublesome foes

Never had that problem before.
Step 1 wail
Step 2 touch of death
Step 3 power word kill
(some times a frost lance, or if there was ALOT of mobs, a CoC/chainlighting
Step 4 pick up bags
Epic, I hit for a crit of 1.5k and the mob looses 5% health...all i can do is cry
well that or energy drain then instakill but I cant keep that up forever.




There is more to the game then numbers, years of experience goes a long way... more so for a caster.. knowing what spells to use for what etc etc etc only comes with experience.

Guess i'm little ahead of the curve then, been running house D and P epics every chance i get without alot of problems, Things get little hairy in VoN1 near end when all the MOBs come at once, since i cant hold i have to move fast to get dance sphere out there
Tried into the deep...it was over my head, but everyone was greatful for me trying, I told them my DC my low hp and they couldnt find a CC so they tossed extra heals and bought me the time for disco, i'm sure they would prefer a better CC but with them knowing what I needed to perform my job they were able to pick up that slack...barely :)

[sephiroth1084]

Yeah, you'll want to make sure you have both Death Aura and Negative Energy Burst scribed and prepared at all times. It makes level 4 very tight, but you don't want to be running around without either of those. DA you use for general purpose healing, and NEB for emergencies.