Level 17 PM - now what?

[Docjon66]

I'm a fairly new player, and having just reached level 17, my Drow wizard is my highest level toon to date. I've been running cold/fire up through level 16, but lately I'm not happy with the damage I'm getting. It seems I'm running into things that are some combination of immune or resistant to both, and I either burn through a lot of spell points fast, or die. Sometimes both :) . I redid my enhancements a few days ago and jacked up my electricity damage, but sort of spread the rest of the points around, and except for my lightning spells, none are particularly powerful now. The lightning is really quite nice much of the time, particularly the chain lightning, but I noticed the Cannith Manufacturary mobs are evading. I'd like to have a good secondary form of damage to fall back on. Having never run many of the quests at this level, I don't have a good idea what I should be expecting, and what damage will be a good choice going forward.

I've been playing with Wail of the Banshee (just got it today), and it's great, but it seems to have a very, very short range, like reach out and touch them range. Finger of Death, Undeath to Death, Circle of Death, and Hold Monster, Mass, are also spells I've been mixing in. I've also been throwing Black Dragon Bolt, Cloudkill, and Acid Rain spells around. Some of the preceding are very good, but I need to settle on 2 schools of direct or AOE damage. I'm still trying to get comfortable with the all-or-nothing spells. Nothing more disheartening than wasting 30-40 spell points just to see a critter shrug it off and squish you.

Trap-the-soul seems unnecessarily complicated. I wish I could just cast it and have the spell take the needed component. Instead, I feel like I need to have a list of monsters and hit-dice handy. I think I used it twice so far.



So anyway, what schools do you recommend going forward? Fire, cold, electricity, acid? Below is a bunch of info on my character, if you need it.



I picked up some equipment in the CC event this week, all fully upgraded - level 16 & level 20 Ornamented Daggers , a level 20 Buccaneer ring, a greater cunning trinket, and a hat with Archmage & balance 15. Seems like some nice gear until I get into crafting (which should be any day now).


Gear in use:
Archmage hat with +15 balance
Lvl 16 Ornamented Dagger(Concentration +13, Superior Potency VI, Major Fire Lore, Major Ice Lore, Major Lightning Lore)
Major Acid lore sceptre

Featherfall ring (switched out with underwater action & blindness immunity rings) I could free up a slot if I could remember to always be in wraith form, or stop jumping off the harbor cliffs :)
Ring of Unknown Origins (disease immunity(duplicate effect), Proof against poison, Intel +3(duplicated and exceeded by goggles), and Char +3))

Disease immunity belt of greater false life
30% striding boots

Intel +6 Goggles
Dex +6 gloves
Str +6 bracers

Protection +5 necklace
Resistance +4 cloak

Robe of the Magi (armor +5, Spell resist 19 (I'm already at 27 without it), +2 spell penetration 7)
Cunning Trinket (+50 spell points, Enchantment & Necromancy Focus 1, Efficient Metamagic - Maximize 1)


Feats:
Empower Spell
Extend Spell
Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
Heighten Spell
Improved Mental Toughness
Insightful Reflexes
Maximize Spell
Toughness

Enhancements:
Racial Toughness 1 and 2
Wizard Intel 1, 2, 3
Energy of the Scholar 1, 2, 3, 4
Improved spell penetration 1, 2
Pale Master 1, 2
Wraith form
Improved Maximizing 1
A bunch of electricity boosts, and a mishmash of boosts spread out among others. Not good. I must've been drunk.

[Rawrargh]

Switch the protection +5 neck for a con+6 necklace...

About the spells... PM's rely heavily on instant kills for trash: Finger, wail, circle and power word death.

When it comes to damage spells, I personally like acid, since very few monsters are immune or resistant to acid. Also acid rain works with low DC's so you won't have to spend extra SP heightening it.

I would also suggesto dropping mental toughness and improved mental toughness and picking up a secondary spell school, most PM's go enchantment along with necromancy; The trick is that most enchantment spells use a will save, while necromancy spells use a fortitude save, so if you can't instant kill the big beefy melee mobs, you can play on their weakness - their lack of will saves and hold/dance them so the rest of the group can take them down (or your acid rain can do it)

Just my opinions.

Edit Forgot about mental toughness being a pre-req for wraith form... You're probably gonna switch to shroud of the lich once you hit 18 though.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Swap Improved Mental Toughness for Spell Penetration and then take Greater Spell Penetration at level 18.
Cold/Lightning is a popular spec. I like acid/lightning. At level 20 triple speccing is an option (currently I have acid/lightning/force).

With enhancements always go 7/1/1 first (7 into damage, 1 into crit chance, 1 into crit damage). Before this 1/1/1, 1/1/0 or 1/0/0 is acceptable for specific purpose spells (like wanting to have 1 spell to kill 1 specific monster).

Swap the +15 balance to +15 concentration or make a new hat for when you want to stop using cove dagger.

In most cases I rely on debuffs, CC and instant death spells rather than pure damage alone. Hypnotism, Scare, Crushing Despair, Enervation scrolls, Circle of Death, Waves of Exhaustion, Symbol of Death and Energy Drain are all excellent spells to use on high save enemies to prepare them for a follow up spell.

Web, Otto's Sphere of Dancing and Hold Monster, Mass are the best Crowd Control spells. Always keep at least 1 mass charm spell handy (mass suggestion, symbol of persuasion or mass charm monster). Realise that monsters have different saves and you sometimes need to target the save that they are weak against (fighter types have low will/reflex, rogue types have low fort/will, caster types have high will, divine types have low reflex).

For persistent damage it's hard to beat acid rain/web combo. Alternatively, debuff and jump into a large group of enemies and wail away.

[Faent]

Swap the +15 balance to +15 concentration or make a new hat for when you want to stop using cove dagger.

When will he want to stop using the LVL 16 Cove Dagger? Also, how about Minos Legens? It looks like he's missing both Heavy Fort and Toughness. The LvL 16 Cove Dagger is isn't something any caster swaps out of for a LONG time. (Maybe you thought he was ready for that comment? I wonder why you thought that?) And if he's not in Minos or better yet, pray tell what gear setup is preferable for him to one that includes Minos + Cove Dagger? I'm not sure what kind of advice you think you're giving, but it strikes me as awful advice.

Make a Cove Hat for when you move out of the LVL 16 Cove Dagger? WHAT? That's just nuts.

[Tyraelus]

A agree with wax completely.

However, the best advice I can give you is to True Reincarnate as soon as you can.
I know you want to try all that endgame content but on a drow MP it's just gonna be too much pain.
My advice it to TR into a Warforged Archamge, max Enchantment DC and take Necromancy as a secondary school. You'll have more HP, better enchantment DC and reliable selfhealing so you should live thru most epic quests.
In addition you will get +2 spell pen and +1 to all DCs feat which is priceless and absolutely worth the time.

When you start running endgame content your job will be to crowd control, which is mainly the use of disco ball, web and hold moster mass. If your DCs are low, the party will wipe no matter how good the cleric is. When you master this, you can swap to necro spec and get A LOT of kills but untill then you should concentrate on survival, which means decent HP (400+) and enchantment dc (40+).

The two quests you should run as much as possible are Lords of Dust (to get 20 tokens for reincarnation) and Shroud (to get an HP and SP item).

Good luck.

[Postumus]

However, the best advice I can give you is to True Reincarnate as soon as you can.


I think he's looking for advice to get from 17 to 20.

I also like acid as a secondary (or primary) damage line. If you pick two main lines for damage you can get more bang for the SP. Play around with wail more, it should be your bread and butter with FOD and other instakills.

You could get an arcane lore item to boost everything 6%. Elf crafted robe (http://ddowiki.com/page/Elfcrafted_Robe) is fairly easy to get. You'd lose 1 for spell pen from your magi robe, but it might be worth the boost to everything else.

You could go for a skiver (http://ddowiki.com/page/Skiver) if you like farming the orchard rares.

If you are low on HPs you an get another stacking 20 hps from the alchemists pendant (http://ddowiki.com/page/Alchemist%27s_Pendant) for SPs you can farm the hell out of Shroud and make some greensteel items like a conc-op/SP item.

[Daemoneyes]

When will he want to stop using the LVL 16 Cove Dagger? Also, how about Minos Legens? It looks like he's missing both Heavy Fort and Toughness. The LvL 16 Cove Dagger is isn't something any caster swaps out of for a LONG time. (Maybe you thought he was ready for that comment? I wonder why you thought that?) And if he's not in Minos or better yet, pray tell what gear setup is preferable for him to one that includes Minos + Cove Dagger? I'm not sure what kind of advice you think you're giving, but it strikes me as awful advice.

Make a Cove Hat for when you move out of the LVL 16 Cove Dagger? WHAT? That's just nuts.

Umm he is PM he wont need Heavy Fort, light Fort is more than enough
And Toughness is really nice but i didnt see one time while lvlng where i would have needed it.

[gerardIII]

From personal experience leveling up my Wizard with Sorc, Wiz, Wiz past lives.

I've been running cold/fire up through level 16 Put 1 AP in all the schools for +20% damage, that's all

I've been playing with Wail of the Banshee (just got it today), and it's great, but it seems to have a very, very short range, like reach out and touch them range Wail has the same range as a Haste centered on yourself, it's best used:
- charging the group of mobs, jumping over them and casting it
- blocking and waiting for a few mobs to gather around you and casting it


Finger of Death, Undeath to Death, Circle of Death, and Hold Monster, Mass If you have good DC these spells can be great like Wail, it all comes down to knowing what type of monster you're facing and if they have high or low save against your spells

Cloudkill In quests where there is a big fight, cast cloudkill inside a Disco ball

I need to settle on 2 schools of direct or AOE damage Take all 4 and change spells before the quest or at shrines (when you realize you're fighting cold resistant undeads and you have mem Otiluke freezing sphere and cone of cold). Being a wizard is about versatility, you dont have a fixed and limited spells list like a sorcerer

Nothing more disheartening than wasting 30-40 spell points just to see a critter shrug it off and squish you. Only use them when you're pretty sure you will succeed (comes with experience)

Trap-the-soul seems unnecessarily complicated. I wish I could just cast it and have the spell take the needed component. Instead, I feel like I need to have a list of monsters and hit-dice handy. I think I used it twice so far. Don't use it except in select quests to farm gems for crafting

Protection +5 necklace I used to have AC gear on my first life but realized after TRing that it was actually useless, AC doesn't matter for a caster lvl 4+. change it for something else like Fearsome necklace (http://ddowiki.com/page/Emerald_Claw_Talisman)

Feats:
Empower Spell
Extend Spell
Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
Heighten Spell
Improved Mental Toughness Change this for Quicken
Insightful Reflexes
Maximize Spell
Toughness
After lvl 18 Mental Toughness will not be a prerequisite for your undead form (Lich), so you can change it unless you want to keep Wraith form.
Take Spell pe.netration and if you want to do endgame content, take both Spell focus: enchant feats.

Enhancements:
Racial Toughness 1 and 2
Wizard Intel 1, 2, 3
Energy of the Scholar 1, 2, 3, 4
Improved spell penetration 1, 2
Pale Master 1, 2
Wraith form
Improved Maximizing 1
A bunch of electricity boosts, and a mishmash of boosts spread out among others. Not good. I must've been drunk.
1 AP in each +20% damage school,
2 + 4 AP in Empower
2 + 4 + 6 AP in Maximize
4 AP in Heighten
Energy of the scholar 1, 2 (take 3 if you don't reset after lvl 18 as it is a prereq for Palemaster 3)
Drop spell pen and take the feat
Quicken: if you like using quicken, you might want to put all 12 AP to reduce the cost from +10sp to +6sp. It's debatable but I like it like that.

Comments in red.

[Kinerd]

2 + 4 AP in Empower
2 + 4 + 6 AP in MaximizeIt really confuses me when people do this. 18 AP??? That's two elements you could get to the magic 7/1/1. We wizards have so many SP-efficient DPS options, I'm just perplexed by people going so into nominally Improved Metamagics.

I like sticking with Cold rather than Acid because if you miss one tick of Acid Rain, it's at 66% effectiveness, whereas if you miss one tick of Ice Storm, it's at 95% (or whatever) effectiveness, plus Ice Storm works on literally everything. Everything bludgeons. I do like putting a few AP in Acid, though, which should be possible if you're disciplined in other areas.

[Postumus]

I like sticking with Cold rather than Acid because if you miss one tick of Acid Rain, it's at 66% effectiveness, whereas if you miss one tick of Ice Storm, it's at 95% (or whatever) effectiveness, plus Ice Storm works on literally everything. Everything bludgeons. I do like putting a few AP in Acid, though, which should be possible if you're disciplined in other areas.

I think cold is a good way to go. I have seen situations where if the two main damage lines are cold + lightning (Ghosts of perdition, certain undead, frozen beholders) where your nuking comes to a complete stop. Admittedly they are not overly prevalent.

[gerardIII]

It really confuses me when people do this. 18 AP??? That's two elements you could get to the magic 7/1/1. We wizards have so many SP-efficient DPS options, I'm just perplexed by people going so into nominally Improved Metamagics.
Investing in Metamagics rather than Elemental lines is in essence what differentiates wizard from Sorcerers.

Improving Metamagics beneficiates all the spells, while specializing in 1 or 2 lines of damage is more of a 'Savant' thing.

As an endgame wizard (the OP is about lvl 17+) I mostly use instakill spells, CC, DOT on bosses and some necro damage SLA/ray when needed. I don't throw Fireballs or Cones of Cold anymore.

Again, this is from experience, my main is a wizard with a few caster past lives and I've been doing great so far.

[wax_on_wax_off]

When will he want to stop using the LVL 16 Cove Dagger? Also, how about Minos Legens? It looks like he's missing both Heavy Fort and Toughness. The LvL 16 Cove Dagger is isn't something any caster swaps out of for a LONG time. (Maybe you thought he was ready for that comment? I wonder why you thought that?) And if he's not in Minos or better yet, pray tell what gear setup is preferable for him to one that includes Minos + Cove Dagger? I'm not sure what kind of advice you think you're giving, but it strikes me as awful advice.

Make a Cove Hat for when you move out of the LVL 16 Cove Dagger? WHAT? That's just nuts.

Hardly. How many trips into Ascension Chamber does it take to pull a Staff of the Petitioner? For most, probably 20 (or more). However, it only takes 1 trip in there to pull it and then all of a sudden you're down a concentration item.

Cove doesn't come around too often, it only takes 2-3 runs to make a new hat so why not?

The above is only 1 scenario, you might level a TR and find the pages to make a Skiver, you might pull a Rakhir's Ring and/or Greenblade, you might get your elemental lore effects from challenge items (cloak of flames, epic rock boots, bracers of wind etc).

Quite a few scenarios can quickly arise to make you wish you'd crafted a +15 concentration/SFL hat at Cove when it was around and it can quite often turn out that it isn't coming around again for quite some time.

[sirgog]

Other than Improved Mental Toughness and the item slots devoted to Armor Class (Dex item, etc), your build looks pretty solid. IMT is just weak (not useless but weak) and you'd be better served with Spell Penetration (taking Greater Spell Pen as your level 18 feat).

I love Acid as a damage spec and absolutely max out the Acid lines while investing a little into Fire and Cold (while levelling) and respeccing to max Acid, medium Cold, medium Elec at cap. The reason is Acid Rain.

Unlike the longer duration, lower damage persistant AOEs (Firewall, Icestorm, Incendiary Cloud) Acid Rain kills mobs fast enough to matter, and much less is immune to it. Plus its damage is much less affected by monsters with elemental resists - a foe with 50 resist fire isn't immune to Wall of Fire but they might as well be, whereas 50 resist acid is just a nuisance.

In addition, you pick up the acceptable (but not brilliant) Black Dragon Bolt as another damage option. IMO slightly better overall than Polar Ray as a way to kill monsters with Evasion and good general saves.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Other than Improved Mental Toughness and the item slots devoted to Armor Class (Dex item, etc), your build looks pretty solid. IMT is just weak (not useless but weak) and you'd be better served with Spell Penetration (taking Greater Spell Pen as your level 18 feat).

I love Acid as a damage spec and absolutely max out the Acid lines while investing a little into Fire and Cold (while levelling) and respeccing to max Acid, medium Cold, medium Elec at cap. The reason is Acid Rain.

Unlike the longer duration, lower damage persistant AOEs (Firewall, Icestorm, Incendiary Cloud) Acid Rain kills mobs fast enough to matter, and much less is immune to it. Plus its damage is much less affected by monsters with elemental resists - a foe with 50 resist fire isn't immune to Wall of Fire but they might as well be, whereas 50 resist acid is just a nuisance.

In addition, you pick up the acceptable (but not brilliant) Black Dragon Bolt as another damage option. IMO slightly better overall than Polar Ray as a way to kill monsters with Evasion and good general saves.

Necrotic Ray is the real Polar Ray substitute. BDB is a weird middle spell that I admittedly only use on undead, am SP dumping or if acid vulnerability is applied.

[sirgog]

Necrotic Ray is the real Polar Ray substitute. BDB is a weird middle spell that I admittedly only use on undead, am SP dumping or if acid vulnerability is applied.

It suffers from being level 6. Too many good spells at that level.

[jbleargh]

I use cold and electric because of the DoTs (Niac's and eladar's). IMHO, more damage is important only in Boss fights.

For trash, necro spells and necro SLAs are usually enough. When mobs have deathward then they have to die slowly... dancing in a Ice Storm or being barbecued in a Wall of Fire.

The instadeath spells will be much better at lvl 18 when you get Pale Master III... Being a lich will change your life. If your DCs are not high enough for the quest you can use enervation or other form of debuff.

Playing solo I rarely use SP in a single target spell. If you want to save SP: run till you get a yellow alert, wail/Symbol of persuasion/ice storm/etc till the alert goes green... rinse and repeat.

In groups: buffs, CC and slas for trash. The barbarian costs you zero SP. If the party is good, I only use mana offensively to finger some casters and DoT the bosses.


Cogito ergo doleo

[Docjon66]

Thanks for all the replies. It's fun and informative to watch everyone here go back and forth on an issue.

Well, I went ahead and reset my enhancements. From top to bottom, in my Enhancements window:
Metamagic: Improved Maximizing 1 & 2: I'm loathe to spend six action points, but I'm using maximize so much it will save me a lot of spell points.

Racial Toughness 1: Ten hit points for the cost of one action point. Hard to pass up.

Acid school 7/1/1: Gonna give this a good try
Electricity school 7/1/1: Was liking this before, figure I'll stick with it awhile longer.
Cold school: 1/1/0
Fire school: 1/1/0

Wizard Improved Spell Penetration 1: +1 pen for 2 AP? Everyone says spell penetration is very important, and then some folks say dump this and get the spell penetration feat. The feats are more dear than the action points. Heck, why not both?

Wizard Energy of the Scholar 1-3: Wizzies run on spell points. Skipped 4, as the cost was a bit high, but I needed 3 for my Pale Master.

Wizard Intel 1-3: Of course!

Pale Master 1 &2, and Shroud of the Wraith:

Still have 9 AP left to ruminate over.

Improved Mental Toughness cannot be traded for anything but Enlarge, Quicken, Eschew Materials (yeahright), Augment Summoning (see prvious), and Spell Focus. Contemplating Enchantment focus here, haven't made a change. Plus, I like having nearly 100 more spell points, kind of a lot to give up.

Empower has the same trades available. Thinking of dumping it, as Maximize is now about the same cost. I pretty much run with it on all the time now anyway.

Got a Constitution Necklace +6, seems like a good call there. Will see about replacing the Dex item in the future.

I'll keep reading, and will reply again in the future.

[soloist12]

I've been at the wizard for a bit now (on the third wiz life, caster life 5), and here's what I can say:

- Acid/Fire all the way. Acid Blast/Fire Ball and Fire Wall/Acid Rain work very well together or when the other element won't. I really like Scorching Ray as well (I wish Acid had a better ray than Dragon Bolt). I switch to cold/acid at 18.

- I grab Maximize early, enhance it to -6sp, and just skip Empower now (both are for sorc's/divines imo)
- mental toughness till 18, then swap it
- as a first life wizard, elites at 17-20 will likely shrug off your spell pen a fair amount, so as others have said you'll want to use some debuffs first
- The 12/16 challenge gear is great at Tier 2 (I use Boots/Cloak at Tier 3 at levels 12/16, but with craftman shard and use them at 10/14 for TRing) to help out wizard damage in that range.
- With Major Lore's + heavy enhancements and a sup potency 6 item (16 rock boots/cloak covers delayed blast fball and dragon bolt), you're golden.
- My favorite spells to use are (almost all maximized):
- fireball/DB fireball for groups, it is lethal on normal/hards
- acid blast+fireball for clear a room on hard/normal if just one wont
- firewall and or acid rain for elite, coupled with a possible fireball/blast (though usually not as effective with a low evo dc on elite, better to wall/rain)
- scorching ray for single targets/stragglers, coupled with past life wizard force sla
- disintegrate - love this spell. with a potency item and only 1/1/1 force dmg enhancements, you'll see 1k crits. Works well vs. undead/spell dmg resistant mobs/wiz king (highten this)
- FoD - around level 15+, this kills just about anything with 36+ int, even on elite. Just keep your spell pen up. You start to see this being more and more efficient than dmg spells for certain targets (highten this as well)
- Wail - Same as FoD
- Dancing Ball/Mass Hold - Excellent for parties, let the melee kill stuff while you relax a bit more and pluck casters off with fod. On elite, these will challenge your enchantment dc+spell pen.


With all that said, you wont see the class excel at first life on 17-20 elite quests. You can build him as best as possible, however. That involves possibly a spell pen 9 item (though ship buff gives +1, so it's really only 1 more if you can't), both spell pen feats, both necro sf feats (for pm obv), both enchantment sf feats, and spell pen enhancements as needed. Even enervation has to bypass spell pen to neg-level targets, so it's a very important caster stat.

As for normal/hard quests at high level, you'll fair better than elite. For the most part, even as a pm, you'll be CC'ing enemies for the party to kill, buffing them with haste/rage/gh/whatever, and insta-killing trash. The only thing I don't like about a pm is they're a bit weak vs. red/purple bosses.

[sirgog]

As for normal/hard quests at high level, you'll fair better than elite. For the most part, even as a pm, you'll be CC'ing enemies for the party to kill, buffing them with haste/rage/gh/whatever, and insta-killing trash. The only thing I don't like about a pm is they're a bit weak vs. red/purple bosses.

I actually find PMs to be extraordinary against red/purples.

Most rednameds have ~25000hp or less (outside Epics, or minibosses in Epics) or ~60k-140k (major bosses in Epics).

Against the ~20k HP bosses, you manadump. Acid Rain, BDB, Polar Ray, Necrotic Ray (skip if mob immune), DBF/Oitiluke/Chain Lightning/Ball Lightning (skip if Ref save is excellent). If soloing the boss, add the three-stack DOTs (only worth casting if the boss will last 15+ seconds). If melees are Improved Sundering, maybe add Disintegrate (seldom worth it without serious debuffing of boss Fortitude saves).

Against the ~100k HP bosses, roll the two big DOTs, and if you are not soloing the boss, add in whatever other spells have the best damage per mana for your spec given the boss's resistances (Acid Rain, BDB, Polar Ray, etc). Firewall, Incendiary Cloud, Acid Fog and Icestorm might or might not be useful in these situations - these are the only times I use these very low DPS, very high damage per mana persistant AOE spells.

In 'boss plus weak adds' fights (end boss of Epic Last Stand for instance, but this scenario is common) - either Wail the adds, or charm/fear them (if that's useful in the encounter), or roll the two big DOTs, Mass Hold/Halt Undead the trash, and spam AoE damage spells. Acid Rain is sickeningly good in fights like this - if the adds must be killed, one casting of Acid Rain can sometimes do more damage than a TWF melee's entire contribution to the fight. Stand in your own AoE and endure enemy attacks unless there is a very, very good reason not to. Otherwise noone else can attack the mobs while you kite them.

In multiple boss fights (example: Shroud part 2, or part 5 Lieutenants phase) - group them up and burn them down unless you are forced to separate them. Try to keep the bosses in one tight pack while you run tight circles around them. Be very aware of any that can immobilize you and if possible take countermeasures (e.g. ask for Freedom of Movement if one boss drops Grease or similar effects).

Against purple nameds (which tend to have more HP), you still perform well just rolling the big DOTs and keeping an eye on your mana bar versus their HP, except for a few purple nameds with extreme elemental resists/immunities (Abbot, Lailat, Lord of Blades, MA titans, and while he's technically rednamed, Turigulon should be considered here too). If your mana bar gets much bigger than their HP, add other high damage per mana spells. However, in most of the longest fights casters are often given non-DPS jobs such as kiting adds that respawn quickly, or unloading extreme burst DPS in specific parts of the encounter (Velah's eggs, Bloodplate's armorers), or CCing resilient mobs (Bloodplate's Barbazu).

For anti-boss DPS, your main concerns should be:
1) Knowing whether or not it is OK to pull aggro. Keep this firmly in mind - we know your DPS against epic Cojoined Abashai Devastator is awesome. You don't need to prove it by standing in the middle of the raid and pulling aggro just before he does a fire breath.
2) Knowing when your best contribution is something other than DPS. Anyone can DPS Nythirios, but no other class can tank Shadowfiends as easily as you can. Anyone can DPS the Cojoined Abashai Devastator, but your ability to Hold/Fear/Web/Dance/Prismatic Spray the Barbazu trash is unmatched.
3) Know when to burn spellpoints and when to conserve them. I'd rather a Pale Master go all out on Lailat from 100% to 85% and from 15% to dead (and do little from 85% to 15%) rather than focus on doing steady damage. Likewise in Challenges I'd rather a PM spend half a mana bar on killing Crystal's water elementals and fearing the air elementals ASAP rather than spending that mana doing slow, steady damage to the kobold.


Edit: One more to add. It's difficult to get the hang of, but with practice you can roll Niac's on one boss and Eladar's on another in two-boss situations. This is also useful occasionally in Epics and in a few other situations on non-boss monsters (example: If you can't land spells reliably through the very high saves of Inspired Quarter Dream Reavers and are facing four of them, try to Wail first (hopefully you'll get one). Then try to Power Word Kill one (hopefully you'll beat its SR). Then Niac's one, Eladar's another, and if any remain, repeatedly Energy Drain it and after you land two of those, Finger it. At the same time, build up your Niac's and Eladar's stacks. This takes practice but is very effective.

[wax_on_wax_off]

On a first life wizard you need both spell penetration feats and all 3 ranks of the enhancements (12 AP!). With all of this plus a spell penetration IX item (vibrant purple ioun stone from dreaming dark casual repeats) you get up to 29 spell penetration which is still 1 short of acceptable but just have to suck it up unless your elf, do a TR or get some rare raid loot.

[sirgog]

On a first life wizard you need both spell penetration feats and all 3 ranks of the enhancements (12 AP!). With all of this plus a spell penetration IX item (vibrant purple ioun stone from dreaming dark casual repeats) you get up to 29 spell penetration which is still 1 short of acceptable but just have to suck it up unless your elf, do a TR or get some rare raid loot.

I did not have anywhere near this on Myrmidral when solo-CCing epic Chronoscope, epic Devil Assault and pretty much everything else in the game.

For a time I had 2 spellpen enhancements, one feat and a Greater Spell Pen 8 item that I could swap in. That's 27 spellpen on level 8 and under spells, and only 24 on Wail/PWK. Later I respecced/regeared to 2 feats, 1 enhancement and Magewright's Spectacles (27 on all spells). Unbuffed DCs were only 40 Necro, 39 Enchant/Conj as well (+2 with both Yugo pot and ship buff).

Epic drow? That's what Web is for. ~38 SR Jariliths? Let the melees play with them. ~34 SR Hezrou? Some spells are going to bounce. That's where damage spells come in (especially Death Aura) - get the aggro of the mob, dodge and weave like a maniac, and then try again once your spell is off cooldown.

Very high DCs and Spellpen are important if you do not know which spell to cast in which situation. If you do, mid-range DCs and spell pen are good enough for everything. Higher stats just make it easier.

[AtomicMew]

Necrotic Ray is the real Polar Ray substitute. BDB is a weird middle spell that I admittedly only use on undead, am SP dumping or if acid vulnerability is applied.
Is necrotic ray enhanced by any damage line? Seems like you'd lose quite a bit of damage compared to polar ray if not.


Acid/Fire all the way.
Aside from fire vulnerabilities, ice seems almost strictly better, no? Esepecially since level 17+ is vale/reaver's range.

DBF -> otiluke's
scorching ray -> frost lance (frost lance is higher damage) AND polar ray

Also, Niac's doesn't have a fire equivalent.

[sirgog]

Is necrotic ray enhanced by any damage line? Seems like you'd lose quite a bit of damage compared to polar ray if not.


Aside from fire vulnerabilities, ice seems almost strictly better, no? Esepecially since level 17+ is vale/reaver's range.

DBF -> otiluke's
scorching ray -> frost lance (frost lance is higher damage) AND polar ray

Also, Niac's doesn't have a fire equivalent.

Pale Master base enhancements grant big boosts to negative spells (Necrotic Ray, Death Aura, and also Wail/Finger when the target saves). Necrotic is a better spell than Polar on even a cold-specced PM if you can spare a level 6 slot (ouch) and the target is not immune. Immunities, however, kill that spell off for me. Constructs, undead, mobs that cast DW - it's just too limited in use IMO.

DBF hits a massively larger area than Otiluke's, making it far, far superior for levelling. Widespread immunities are only an issue in a couple of quests that are XP farmed (Rainbow in the Dark, Sins of Attrition, Desecrated Temple of Vol, A New Invasion, Enter the Kobold end fight). Only two of those are spectacular XP, the rest are just 'decent' and often run once per life anyway.

[wax_on_wax_off]

I did not have anywhere near this on Myrmidral when solo-CCing epic Chronoscope, epic Devil Assault and pretty much everything else in the game.

For a time I had 2 spellpen enhancements, one feat and a Greater Spell Pen 8 item that I could swap in. That's 27 spellpen on level 8 and under spells, and only 24 on Wail/PWK. Later I respecced/regeared to 2 feats, 1 enhancement and Magewright's Spectacles (27 on all spells). Unbuffed DCs were only 40 Necro, 39 Enchant/Conj as well (+2 with both Yugo pot and ship buff).

Epic drow? That's what Web is for. ~38 SR Jariliths? Let the melees play with them. ~34 SR Hezrou? Some spells are going to bounce. That's where damage spells come in (especially Death Aura) - get the aggro of the mob, dodge and weave like a maniac, and then try again once your spell is off cooldown.

Very high DCs and Spellpen are important if you do not know which spell to cast in which situation. If you do, mid-range DCs and spell pen are good enough for everything. Higher stats just make it easier.

I did the same on Wohe when I first capped him, ran eDA quite regularly in guild with really mediocre DCs and spell pen but it was a bit risky and usually didn't make it through the first phase without downing a major pot (no bauble still).

I've noticed blue shields often enough that I want to try a 32-34 spell pen next life. Elite devil raids, quite a few epics etc have mobs with mid 30s SR which I think will make it worthwhile. Web is great but wail is better ...


Pale Master base enhancements grant big boosts to negative spells (Necrotic Ray, Death Aura, and also Wail/Finger when the target saves). Necrotic is a better spell than Polar on even a cold-specced PM if you can spare a level 6 slot (ouch) and the target is not immune. Immunities, however, kill that spell off for me. Constructs, undead, mobs that cast DW - it's just too limited in use IMO.

DBF hits a massively larger area than Otiluke's, making it far, far superior for levelling. Widespread immunities are only an issue in a couple of quests that are XP farmed (Rainbow in the Dark, Sins of Attrition, Desecrated Temple of Vol, A New Invasion, Enter the Kobold end fight). Only two of those are spectacular XP, the rest are just 'decent' and often run once per life anyway.

I don't mind the slot, level 6 is great but I even find room for GH (fair bit of swapping occurs here though for some quests). It's a great spell and can help vs high save/high SR mobs for the negative level. Mind you, I don't have it slotted yet, will probably add it when I get PMIII.

I take fire over cold just for firewall.

[sirgog]

I don't mind the slot, level 6 is great but I even find room for GH (fair bit of swapping occurs here though for some quests). It's a great spell and can help vs high save/high SR mobs for the negative level. Mind you, I don't have it slotted yet, will probably add it when I get PMIII.

I take fire over cold just for firewall.

The only time I memorize Firewall is for undead-heavy quests when levelling (or some rare ones at cap). Even then, Acid Rain is more DPS at a lower damage per mana. Firewall stayed much the same in the U9 spellpass when everything else got better, and now it's just a spell that used to be awesome but is obsolete.


On level 6 you have:

Circle of Death: 2nd best spell the class gets
Undeath to Death: Incredible whenever a quest has at least as many non-boss undead as Lords of Dust has
Mass Suggestion: The best 'Oops, I/someone else made a mistake and we need a 10 second breather' spell in the game. Buys enough time to raise a dead divine in almost any situation. (Mass Charm Monster is no substitute as orange-nameds are immune).
GH/TS: Grouping these. Situationally important buffs that can be scrolled, but are needed by multiple people and so scrolling them adds noticeable amounts to completion times. Both also are buffs you want to Quicken at times (after a death in epic DQ2, etc).
Acid Fog: Raidwide huge DPS boost (basically +4 to-hit that stacks with everything). Can be dropped in trivial content or when grouped with the top 5% of melees but otherwise adds about as much DPS against the tougher bosses as Haste does.
Necrotic Ray, Disintegrate: One-shot damage spells that pack a big punch against the right targets
Symbol of Fear: Second best CC effect in the game for mobs that you do not need to kill at all (second only to Fascinate). Better than Wail when mobs respawn.
Flesh to Stone: Worse version of Symbol of Fear, but attacks a different save so sometimes better. Also works as an alternative, single target version of Mass Hold Monster for mobs with Fortitude saves far lower than their Will saves such as many humanoid casters

That's not mentioning very niche spells (Reconstruct for running VOD without a real tank, Stone to Flesh for when you need to quicken it), random AoE damage spells that can be replaced by other similar spells (Oitilukes, Chain Lightning), and stat buffs (mainly Mass Bulls) for HOX and Epic Last Stand.

[wax_on_wax_off]

The only time I memorize Firewall is for undead-heavy quests when levelling (or some rare ones at cap). Even then, Acid Rain is more DPS at a lower damage per mana. Firewall stayed much the same in the U9 spellpass when everything else got better, and now it's just a spell that used to be awesome but is obsolete.


On level 6 you have:

Circle of Death: 2nd best spell the class gets
Undeath to Death: Incredible whenever a quest has at least as many non-boss undead as Lords of Dust has
Mass Suggestion: The best 'Oops, I/someone else made a mistake and we need a 10 second breather' spell in the game. Buys enough time to raise a dead divine in almost any situation. (Mass Charm Monster is no substitute as orange-nameds are immune).
GH/TS: Grouping these. Situationally important buffs that can be scrolled, but are needed by multiple people and so scrolling them adds noticeable amounts to completion times. Both also are buffs you want to Quicken at times (after a death in epic DQ2, etc).
Acid Fog: Raidwide huge DPS boost (basically +4 to-hit that stacks with everything). Can be dropped in trivial content or when grouped with the top 5% of melees but otherwise adds about as much DPS against the tougher bosses as Haste does.
Necrotic Ray, Disintegrate: One-shot damage spells that pack a big punch against the right targets
Symbol of Fear: Second best CC effect in the game for mobs that you do not need to kill at all (second only to Fascinate). Better than Wail when mobs respawn.
Flesh to Stone: Worse version of Symbol of Fear, but attacks a different save so sometimes better. Also works as an alternative, single target version of Mass Hold Monster for mobs with Fortitude saves far lower than their Will saves such as many humanoid casters

That's not mentioning very niche spells (Reconstruct for running VOD without a real tank, Stone to Flesh for when you need to quicken it), random AoE damage spells that can be replaced by other similar spells (Oitilukes, Chain Lightning), and stat buffs (mainly Mass Bulls) for HOX and Epic Last Stand.

At level 14 I'm running Circle of Death, Undeath to Death, Create Undead (Mummy Lord is a walking symbol of fear at these levels) and Symbol of Persuasion at the moment. On my capped palemaster I have Necrotic Ray, GH, CoD, Chain Lightning and Acid Fog iirc.

[gerardIII]

Firewall stayed much the same in the U9 spellpass when everything else got better, and now it's just a spell that used to be awesome but is obsolete.

If I remember well it lost a +50% boost against all undead and got reflex save for 1st hit.

And it gets overriden when someone casts Ice Storm. :(

[Kinerd]

Investing in Metamagics rather than Elemental lines is in essence what differentiates wizard from Sorcerers.

Improving Metamagics beneficiates all the spells, while specializing in 1 or 2 lines of damage is more of a 'Savant' thing.
This is what I'm saying, though, by ignoring the Improved Metamagic lines you can easily get 7/1/1 in two lines and a decent smattering in 2 or 3 others.

As an endgame wizard (the OP is about lvl 17+) I mostly use instakill spells, CC, DOT on bosses and some necro damage SLA/ray when needed. I don't throw Fireballs or Cones of Cold anymore.

Again, this is from experience, my main is a wizard with a few caster past lives and I've been doing great so far.You seem to contradict yourself here. If the only Maximize/Empower spells you cast are DoTs, why would you spend 18 AP on saving a few SP on them when you could instead spend those AP on making them much stronger? Especially when you can use non-Maximized and non-Empowered for the first two in your stack in most situations.

And of course you're doing great. You're a wizard! The question is could you be doing more great?
Stand in your own AoE and endure enemy attacks unless there is a very, very good reason not to. Otherwise noone else can attack the mobs while you kite them.I wish this was on the character creation screen for arcanes.
Edit: One more to add. It's difficult to get the hang of, but with practice you can roll Niac's on one boss and Eladar's on another in two-boss situations. This is also useful occasionally in Epics and in a few other situations on non-boss monsters (example: If you can't land spells reliably through the very high saves of Inspired Quarter Dream Reavers and are facing four of them, try to Wail first (hopefully you'll get one). Then try to Power Word Kill one (hopefully you'll beat its SR). Then Niac's one, Eladar's another, and if any remain, repeatedly Energy Drain it and after you land two of those, Finger it. At the same time, build up your Niac's and Eladar's stacks. This takes practice but is very effective.IMO a great place to practice this is Epic Labor Shortage. The marilith is immune to lightning and while soloing lasts long enough for the rakshasha to plod his way to the center. Though orange named, his SR is high enough to make pure direct damage a reasonable option. It's a great place to practice because who cares if you die in a challenge.

[gerardIII]

If the only Maximize/Empower spells you cast are DoTs, why would you spend 18 AP on saving a few SP on them when you could instead spend those AP on making them much stronger?
1) 7/1/1 in Cold and Electric improves only 3 spells: 2 DOTs and Polar ray (maybe Ice Storm if used)
2) DOTs are not the only Max/Emp spells I use (Necrotic Ray), Negative Energy Burst is the only burst healing option for PM and it costs a lot for ~150hp
3) I prefer doing a little bit less damage and being able to cast more spells, than being 'that guy' who steals aggro from CAD or some other boss

Sorcerers maximize damage output, I prefer managing my 40% lower SP pool to last longer (I don't have MT, IMT or the active PL: Sorc, sitting at 2300sp).

My DOTs still hit for 320 on average (non crit) with only 1 AP spent in the elemental damage lines.
The AP cost increases by a multiplier of 4 after the 1st AP spent (from 20% per AP to 5% per AP).

[sirgog]

1) 7/1/1 in Cold and Electric improves only 3 spells: 2 DOTs and Polar ray (maybe Ice Storm if used)
2) DOTs are not the only Max/Emp spells I use (Necrotic Ray), Negative Energy Burst is the only burst healing option for PM and it costs a lot for ~150hp
3) I prefer doing a little bit less damage and being able to cast more spells, than being 'that guy' who steals aggro from CAD or some other boss

Sorcerers maximize damage output, I prefer managing my 40% lower SP pool to last longer (I don't have MT, IMT or the active PL: Sorc, sitting at 2300sp).

My DOTs still hit for 320 on average (non crit) with only 1 AP spent in the elemental damage lines.
The AP cost increases by a multiplier of 4 after the 1st AP spent (from 20% per AP to 5% per AP).

With the sharp diminishing returns on Efficient Metamagics, I generally take tier 1 or 2 of Maximize and tier 1 of Empower. A previous enhancement setup had tier 1 of Heighten as well but that's very expensive and only exceptional on Web which I don't cast all that often now.

While levelling tho, tier 3 of Efficient Maximize is a must-have. You can respec out of it later when you cast less damage spells.

[wax_on_wax_off]

1) 7/1/1 in Cold and Electric improves only 3 spells: 2 DOTs and Polar ray (maybe Ice Storm if used)
2) DOTs are not the only Max/Emp spells I use (Necrotic Ray), Negative Energy Burst is the only burst healing option for PM and it costs a lot for ~150hp
3) I prefer doing a little bit less damage and being able to cast more spells, than being 'that guy' who steals aggro from CAD or some other boss

Sorcerers maximize damage output, I prefer managing my 40% lower SP pool to last longer (I don't have MT, IMT or the active PL: Sorc, sitting at 2300sp).

My DOTs still hit for 320 on average (non crit) with only 1 AP spent in the elemental damage lines.
The AP cost increases by a multiplier of 4 after the 1st AP spent (from 20% per AP to 5% per AP).

My theory is somewhat similar but I approached it a different way. I've dropped cold entirely my current AP lineup. Currently I have 7/1/1 electric (as EES is the most efficient boss DPS in most situations and chain lightning is a nice nuke), 7/1/1 acid (as BDB is the only consistent DPS vs hard+ abbot and acid rain is about the most effective persistent AoE) and 7/1/1 force (not sure if I need this but it's nice for ice storm, disintegrate and meteor swarm).

2 AP spent into efficient metamagics is often worth it but the % increase in efficiency from going above this just isn't there (though neither is it efficient to go higher than 7/1/1 unless you have superior lore (and then it's just a few more points in damage).

I'm considering dropping empower on a next life to further increase efficiency (as it's only +25% over maximise and its SP intensive).

[Docjon66]

OK, I exchanged the Empower feat for Spell Focus: Enchantment, and I'm playing more with disco balls and holds now. I just can't afford the spell points to use both Empower and Maximize at the same time, and with my 2 levels of Improved Maximize and my Greater Cunning trinket, Maximize costs nearly the same as Empower, so why keep it at all? (I REALLY need to get one of those Mysterious Baubles.)

I took the extra AP I had left after my last respec and added them to fire, so I'm running 7/1/1 Elec/Acid/Fire. Acid is really nice for the DoT and AOE spells, but I'm finding myself needing more heavy-duty nuking faster than the acid can provide, and I'm still getting a fair amount of evade from the electricity. The fire should help. I hope.

[Kinerd]

1) 7/1/1 in Cold and Electric improves only 3 spells: 2 DOTs and Polar ray (maybe Ice Storm if used)
2) DOTs are not the only Max/Emp spells I use (Necrotic Ray), Negative Energy Burst is the only burst healing option for PM and it costs a lot for ~150hp
3) I prefer doing a little bit less damage and being able to cast more spells, than being 'that guy' who steals aggro from CAD or some other boss

Sorcerers maximize damage output, I prefer managing my 40% lower SP pool to last longer (I don't have MT, IMT or the active PL: Sorc, sitting at 2300sp).

My DOTs still hit for 320 on average (non crit) with only 1 AP spent in the elemental damage lines.
The AP cost increases by a multiplier of 4 after the 1st AP spent (from 20% per AP to 5% per AP).I guess I'm just not seeing it. If you want less damage over a longer time, why not abandon Empower? Even wizards benefit from another feat, it would be cheaper on the SP and AP, 2.5*1.95=4.875 is pretty close to 2*2.25=4.5.

Even if those were the only three spells you used from those elements... those are really good spells! (Personally I use Ice Storm constantly, but it's obviously not in those spells' league.) Also, you would have AP to pump up your other elements a bit as well. If aggro is a concern for you, you would logically only go 7/0/0, giving you 4 AP minimum to shore up others.

I am a bit surprised you're concerned about NEB's SP cost. My guys don't have close to your guys' SP totals, and I never find myself worrying about Reconstruct's cost. I also have no Auras ticking away, obviously.
OK, I exchanged the Empower feat for Spell Focus: Enchantment, and I'm playing more with disco balls and holds now. I just can't afford the spell points to use both Empower and Maximize at the same time, and with my 2 levels of Improved Maximize and my Greater Cunning trinket, Maximize costs nearly the same as Empower, so why keep it at all? (I REALLY need to get one of those Mysterious Baubles.)

I took the extra AP I had left after my last respec and added them to fire, so I'm running 7/1/1 Elec/Acid/Fire. Acid is really nice for the DoT and AOE spells, but I'm finding myself needing more heavy-duty nuking faster than the acid can provide, and I'm still getting a fair amount of evade from the electricity. The fire should help. I hope.This is another reason I like Cold. No save Polar Ray, no save Ice Storm, even unevadeable Frost Lance in a pinch.

[Docjon66]

OK, I exchanged the Empower feat for Spell Focus: Enchantment, and I'm playing more with disco balls and holds now. I just can't afford the spell points to use both Empower and Maximize at the same time, and with my 2 levels of Improved Maximize and my Greater Cunning trinket, Maximize costs nearly the same as Empower, so why keep it at all? (I REALLY need to get one of those Mysterious Baubles.)

I took the extra AP I had left after my last respec and added them to fire, so I'm running 7/1/1 Elec/Acid/Fire. Acid is really nice for the DoT and AOE spells, but I'm finding myself needing more heavy-duty nuking faster than the acid can provide, and I'm still getting a fair amount of evade from the electricity. The fire should help. I hope.



This is another reason I like Cold. No save Polar Ray, no save Ice Storm, even unevadeable Frost Lance in a pinch.

I reset my enhancements. I went with cold/acid/fire 7/1/1, instead of Elec/Acid/Fire. Fingers, Banishment, Disintegrate, Necrotic Ray are also featuring in my spell-bar often. Electricity, when it hit, was awesome, but way too many were evading. Now, just one more rank away from getting my Lich form!

[Docjon66]

So I'm level 20 now, and still questioning what to specialize in. I ran into a 3rd-life level 20 Sorcerer that specialized in electricity. His Cha was lower than my Int (if he told me the right number) but he was mowing down critters in elite quests and epic challenges, whereas I was not. My Necrotic Ray was often hitting in the mid-to-high 400's, and I was still running down my spell-bar pretty fast. I thought the deleveling aspect of that spell would help more.

I think the sorcerer was running 7/7/7 on Electricity, and tearing things up. He hardly needed us. I had 7/1/1, and the difference was obvious. I'm doing pretty well with the necromancy spells, but I need more. I'm thinking of going 7/7/7 in Force, with small bumps in fire and cold.

Disintegrate
Force Missiles
Chain Missiles
Magic Missiles
Cyclonic Blast
Ice Storm
Meteor Swarm
Not great damage in some of those, but many strikes, with many chances of a critical.

Maybe a 7/7/7 force, with a small bump to the fire and cold spells, to go along with my Pale Master Necromancy?

I'm still trying to get the hang of the upper levels. Levels 16-on seems different than the first 15. So many things save, evade, are immune or resistant, or just take thousands of points of damage.

[wax_on_wax_off]

So I'm level 20 now, and still questioning what to specialize in. I ran into a 3rd-life level 20 Sorcerer that specialized in electricity. His Cha was lower than my Int (if he told me the right number) but he was mowing down critters in elite quests and epic challenges, whereas I was not. My Necrotic Ray was often hitting in the mid-to-high 400's, and I was still running down my spell-bar pretty fast. I thought the deleveling aspect of that spell would help more.

I think the sorcerer was running 7/7/7 on Electricity, and tearing things up. He hardly needed us. I had 7/1/1, and the difference was obvious. I'm doing pretty well with the necromancy spells, but I need more. I'm thinking of going 7/7/7 in Force, with small bumps in fire and cold.

Disintegrate
Force Missiles
Chain Missiles
Magic Missiles
Cyclonic Blast
Ice Storm
Meteor Swarm
Not great damage in some of those, but many strikes, with many chances of a critical.

Maybe a 7/7/7 force, with a small bump to the fire and cold spells, to go along with my Pale Master Necromancy?

I'm still trying to get the hang of the upper levels. Levels 16-on seems different than the first 15. So many things save, evade, are immune or resistant, or just take thousands of points of damage.

Force is an inferior line compared to the main 4 lines for general purposes (though it makes up for it in versatility somewhat).

The air savant rips it up not because of the enhancements (7/6/6 is maximum investment) but because of Air Savant III (which requires 7/5/5 in lightning anyway) which gives massive boosts to his lightning spells.

Sorcerers are good nukers, they cast spells very quickly and they have a lot of SP. Nothing to be done about that; don't try to play a wizard like a sorcerer.

Wizard strengths:

Possibility to dual spec lightning/acid or fire/cold.
Possibility to have higher DCs on CC/instant death spells.
Survivability/tanking ability (palemasters are more survivable than WF).
More feats.
More spells.


Sorcerers often can't nuke things faster than what a wizard can instant kill them, just finger/wail/circle of death instead. If that isn't working then either debuff first (symbol of death, crushing despair, energy drain, enervation, scare), swap to CC (mass hold monster, otto's sphere of dancing, web) and/or nuke (ice storm/acid rain/firewall/otilukes freezing sphere/chain lightning).

Don't try to beat a sorcerer at its own game, it won't work :)

[EvilI]

Well, the bread and butter of a pale master are instakills. Dont overanalyze. Gather trash mobs in is as large groups as you can (run through several rooms if you want), then Circle of Death, jump in their middle and Wail, use FoD on any survivors. Web or dance ball can be useful for coralling them if they're hitting you too hard.

Not that much super gear is needed: +6 intelligence, +2 necro focus, if you have an epic treasure hunter spyglass on top of that you're golden.

Imo direct damage is more for bosses. Orange nameds can be danced with Irresistable Dance and then Energy Drained a couple of times before you finsih them off with a DoT or Polar Rays.