Scarecrow - Post U21 Illusion Wizard

[Deathdefy]

Introduction:

It's been over a year since I posted the old Scarecrow build and since I'm going to head back to it after messing about in the new raids for a while I figured I'd post an updated version.

In short, you use Phantasmal Killer a lot. You get the SLA, and the spell, and now they're on separate cooldowns so you have ~1.5x the blue tentacles of doom vs the old version.

The loss of Hypno and Web SLAs hurt the build substantially, but hey. There's always ETR now and this build does positively destroy the easier / moderate EEs. I'll qualify that by saying it's not a build that solos things easily since dps on red names is good for a non-shiradi wizard which in other words is 'quite poor'. I'm more saying that 'you can definitely streak to cap without much effort'.

Race Choice:

You can be Drow or Sun Elf with a LR +1. The difference is the Sun Elf has exactly 1 point of Spell Penetration more (taking you from 58 to 57 with full caster PLs and a +4 item) vs the Drow with 2 discretionary enhancement points. I think I'm going to go Sun Elf, but that's mostly because I am tired of levels 1 - 15.

The decision should turn on:
- your willingness to level to 28 and take an Iconic PL instead of an Epic PL at the point when you wish to 'get out' of Sun Elf,
- your willingness to purchase a Lesser Heart +1,
- your preference for Sun Elf ranged weapons (bows) vs Drow ranged weapons (shurikens). This very seldom comes up, but spell-touched shurikens for debuffing aren't awful and the new suffix 'of draining' might be of some use.
- your love of Drow SR,
- your preference to go from level 1 or 15,
- your subjective aesthetic preferences.

Right, the build.

Stats:
STR 8 Nothing. Don't care. You might care about Symbol of Weakness incapacity. Desage in ETK does it, Rushmoor does it, and so does the end guy in A Break in the Ice. You truly can just avoid them, or through items / magic / tomes have a strength over 20 incidentally anyway which I think I usually do.
Irestone Inlet's Rays of Enfeeblement are not a good justification for any permanent base stat decisions and you should flame accordingly.

CON 16 + stuff. Do care about Con, but it's a very distant 2nd from Int.

WIS 8 Nothing. Don't care.

INT 20 + 8 Level-Ups + 5 Tome + 2 Completionist + 2 Racial Enh + 2 AM Enh + 2 PM Enh + 2 Master of Magic Capstone + 11 Item (EE Gloves) + 1 Exc Item + 3 Insight Item + 2 Lich Form + 2 Ship Buff + 6 Main ED + 1 Twist (Echoes: Magister) + 1 GA: Int + 2 Yugo = 72 for a MOD of 31

DEX 8 Nothing. Don't care.

CHA 8 + maybe an item. Depends if your UMD is solid or not. Possibly use an item until you have enough native skill in UMD to toss it.

4 free points if you're a 36 point Sun Elf. I genuinely don't know where I'll put these. Probably CHA for Perform with Satyrs funzies.

Feats:
1 - SF: Illusion, Quicken
3 - Completionist
5 - Heighten
6 - PL: Wizard
9 - Spell Pen
10 - Maximize
12 - GSF: Illusion
15 - Insightful Reflexes, Empower
18 - Greater Spell Pen
20 - Enlarge
21 - Epic Spell Pen (Can swap this an ESF: Illusion; I wouldn't though for the sole reason of EE Drow Chains which may as well be done early)
24 - ESF: Illusion
26 - ESF: Negative
27 - GA: Int
28 - Epic Skill Focus: Spellcraft

NB. If you have a +5 Con Tome, and Litany or Epic Completionist (with +1 Int in that fourth slot) and so will have an even Int without GA: Int, I'd go 26 - Toughness, 27 - Epic Toughness, 28 - ESF: Negative

Enhancements:
Pale Master:
31 Points - Lich form, +2 Int Enhancements, Go Nuts with the rest

Archmage:
41 Points - (Illusion SLAs are all pre-reqs to...) Master of Magic, +2 Int Enhancements, +2 Illusion DC, Arcane Supremacy, +3 Spell Pen, Go Nuts with the Rest. Efficient Meta-Magics (particularly Heighten and Quicken) are nice.

Sun Elf:
8 Points
Accuracy x 2, +2 Int, Spell Pen 1.

OR

Drow:
6 Points
SR x 2, +2 Int

If you are Drow you have 2 left-over points to spend anywhere.

ED:
Magister or Draconic. Get Spell Pen, +6 Int and 3/3 of whichever of Draconic Presence or Illusion Specialist is in the tree. The rest is whatever. I'd go Draconic for Energy Burst and Roar, but Magister's capstone is fun.

Twists:
3 - Echoes of the Magister from Fatesinger (+2 Spell Pen, +1 Int)
2 - Piercing Spellcraft from whichever of Draconic or Magister you're not in
1/2 - Draconic Presence OR Illusion Specialist. Again from whichever of Drac or Mag you're not in.

If you're an epic Completionist I'd go +1 Int, but you probably know what you're doing.

DCs:
Illusion - DC 70 sustainable with pre U21 gear, DC 75 with new gear (assuming my reading is correct which is far from certain).

Old Gear
10 Base
09 Spell Level
31 Int Mod
03 Spell Focus Feats
01 Wizard Past Life
02 Archmage Enhancements
03 Draconic Presence
03 Magister Specialty
05 Illusion Spell Focus Item (EE Gloves of Master Illusionist are very solid on this character until you get a new +6 DC Stick and +11 Int Elsewhere)
01 Phiarlan Entertainer Ship Buff
02 Greater Illusion Item Augment (which will allegedly stack post U21)
70

New Stuff
01 +6 DC Stick over +5 Existing
01 +1 Profane DC Robe
02 +2 Unique DC to Everything Stick
01 2 of 3 out of Litany / +6 Int Tome / Epic Completionist slot used for +1 Int
75

Bursted with new stuff figure to horrify everybody If you're a dev and reading this, I'd ignore it entirely since no one, ever, will do it. Also, frankly, this build gives up too much for any reasonable player to even pursue it to the 75 DC benchmark.
01 +2 Store Pot
05 Magister Epic Moment
02 +3 Alch Pot from House D AND 3 of 3 out of Litany / +6 Int Tome / Epic Completionist slot used for +1 Int
83

Every other school has a god-awful DC. Don't ask me to list them. They're under 60. As an indicator, Enchantment without new gear, but with +5 Stick and +2 Augment is a 59. Trade-offs hey.


Oh, and debuff with Quickened Scare or Quickened Cause Fear before going for a PK:
1) It justifies the name of the build
2) If you took Master of Magic, and Efficient Metamagic Quicken it only costs 11 SP for Cause Fear, or 15 SP for Scare. Both are an unresistable -2 saves debuff to anything vulnerable to PK.
3) They're not a beam; they're voodoo magic ('smite targetting' - anyone play DCSS?) that means you can target the thing at the back of the crowd you want to PK, unlike Enervate. Still take Enervate or Energy Drain for Orange Names and Stormhorns nonsense though.


Spell Penetration
20 Wizard Levels
05 Mag/Drac Levels
08 Spell Pen Feats
03 AM Enh
01 Sun Elf Enh
03 Drac ED / Twist
03 Mag ED / Twist
02 Echoes Twist
03 FvS Past-Lives
09 Wiz Past-Lives
04 Item
58

You can go nuts and get a +2 more from an Alchemical Item from LoB/MA, and even more by crafting a Spell Pen Weapon in the new raid, but pfft. It's enough.

DPS:
That's ummm... not really its thing.

You have Arcane Supremacy, Maximize and Empower though, so just be smart and go nuts (relative to your target's HP, your SP, and Shrine Availability) when AS turns on.

I also run in Draconic for Draconic Roar + Energy Burst so you can contribute non-trivially on non-PKable trash.


Conclusion:
I think that's it. It's a fun spec... lots of things immune to PK though. Here's my list to-date with probably a million omissions:
- Undead
- Plants
- Constructs (except Warforged)
- Quori
- Spiders (except Fiend-Blood/Fiendish Spiders and their look-a-likes)
- Scorpions (except Fiend-Blood Scorpions)
- Minotaurs in Madstone
- Giants in Prey
- Malefic Illusionists
- Mind Controlled Scrag in Deeps
- Bladesworn Paladins in Blown to Bits
- Yugoloth Mercenaries
- Duergar
- Wisps

I think you need the Spell-Penetration-busting past-lives to really enjoy it, but I could be wrong. I think you also want at least most of the gear to really enjoy it, but again I could be wrong.

The numbers look pretty for next update. But, my experiences as an Illusion AM in raids hasn't been great.

With that in mind, I'm going to farm gear first since, 'What do you do to a ~1 million HP undead dragon on an Illusion Specialist?' doesn't have a brilliant answer. There is an answer of course, being:
- go Shiradi
- memorize spells it's vulnerable to
- play like a gimped sorc
which is what I'll do, but raids are obviously nowhere near as enjoyable as 6 person dungeons are for this build.

[pappo]

Introduction:

It's been over a year since I posted the old Scarecrow build and since I'm going to head back to it after messing about in the new raids for a while I figured I'd post an updated version.

In short, you use Phantasmal Killer a lot. You get the SLA, and the spell, and now they're on separate cooldowns so you have ~1.5x the blue tentacles of doom vs the old version.

The loss of Hypno and Web SLAs hurt the build substantially, but hey. There's always ETR now and this build does positively destroy the easier / moderate EEs. I'll qualify that by saying it's not a build that solos things easily since dps on red names is good for a non-shiradi wizard which in other words is 'quite poor'. I'm more saying that 'you can definitely streak to cap without much effort'.

Race Choice:

You can be Drow or Sun Elf with a LR +1. The difference is the Sun Elf has exactly 1 point of Spell Penetration more (taking you from 58 to 57 with full caster PLs and a +4 item) vs the Drow with 2 discretionary enhancement points. I think I'm going to go Sun Elf, but that's mostly because I am tired of levels 1 - 15.

The decision should turn on:
- your willingness to level to 28 and take an Iconic PL instead of an Epic PL at the point when you wish to 'get out' of Sun Elf,
- your willingness to purchase a Lesser Heart +1,
- your preference for Sun Elf ranged weapons (bows) vs Drow ranged weapons (shurikens). This very seldom comes up, but spell-touched shurikens for debuffing aren't awful and the new suffix 'of draining' might be of some use.
- your love of Drow SR,
- your preference to go from level 1 or 15,
- your subjective aesthetic preferences.

Right, the build.

Stats:
STR 8 Nothing. Don't care. You might care about Symbol of Weakness incapacity. Desage in ETK does it, Rushmoor does it, and so does the end guy in A Break in the Ice. You truly can just avoid them, or through items / magic / tomes have a strength over 20 incidentally anyway which I think I usually do.
Irestone Inlet's Rays of Enfeeblement are not a good justification for any permanent base stat decisions and you should flame accordingly.

CON 16 + stuff. Do care about Con, but it's a very distant 2nd from Int.

WIS 8 Nothing. Don't care.

INT 20 + 8 Level-Ups + 5 Tome + 2 Completionist + 2 Racial Enh + 2 AM Enh + 2 PM Enh + 2 Master of Magic Capstone + 11 Item (EE Gloves) + 1 Exc Item + 3 Insight Item + 2 Lich Form + 2 Ship Buff + 6 Main ED + 1 Twist (Echoes: Magister) + 1 GA: Int + 2 Yugo = 72 for a MOD of 31

DEX 8 Nothing. Don't care.

CHA 8 + maybe an item. Depends if your UMD is solid or not. Possibly use an item until you have enough native skill in UMD to toss it.

4 free points if you're a 36 point Sun Elf. I genuinely don't know where I'll put these. Probably CHA for Perform with Satyrs funzies.

Feats:
1 - SF: Illusion, Quicken
3 - Completionist
5 - Heighten
6 - PL: Wizard
9 - Spell Pen
10 - Maximize
12 - GSF: Illusion
15 - Insightful Reflexes, Empower
18 - Greater Spell Pen
20 - Enlarge
21 - Epic Spell Pen (Can swap this an ESF: Illusion; I wouldn't though for the sole reason of EE Drow Chains which may as well be done early)
24 - ESF: Illusion
26 - ESF: Negative
27 - GA: Int
28 - Epic Skill Focus: Spellcraft.

This looks like a great build. I ran the other night with an Illusionist build and his PK dominated the quests.

A couple of questions though.
I am just doing a TR on my first life Wizard. A Palemaster Wiz/Rog 18/2.
I will not have Completionist. Can this build work for a 2nd lifer, and if yes, how would you recommend changing the feats. What would you change for the Level 3 Feat?

Also, what did your spell list look like for levels 1-20? Besides PK, were you fire/cold/acid/elect speccd ?

I will not take this toon into Epics so I am only interested in how you would get to cap.

Thanks again for the +1 build.

[Deathdefy]

A couple of questions though.
I am just doing a TR on my first life Wizard. A Palemaster Wiz/Rog 18/2.
I will not have Completionist. Can this build work for a 2nd lifer, and if yes, how would you recommend changing the feats. What would you change for the Level 3 Feat?

Also, what did your spell list look like for levels 1-20? Besides PK, were you fire/cold/acid/elect speccd ?

I will not take this toon into Epics so I am only interested in how you would get to cap.


If you don't care about epics it'll be 100% fine on an 18/2 second lifer - only reason I say to get some PLs before epics is spell penetration for epic drow (which occupy a good portion of the epic content this build excels at).

Enlarge is definitely what I'd fill the level 3 slot with if you're not hitting epics later. I know that sounds odd, but the PK SLA with enlarge (and quicken and heighten) is very enjoyable. If you do it at a distance, and the monster dies, their friends won't even be alerted to your presence. It also is good for cycling cooldowns between the PK spell and SLA since you can have already killed the monster and have the cooldown being worked off sooner. Honestly I recommend it very strongly, but at least try it - and if you hate it swap it for another metamagic.

You could swap the positions of a few other meta-magics if you'd rather move maximize up instead, but generally definitely just get meta-magics sooner. For the level 20 feat you'll have free, I'd probably get Extend (if you need to farm up a token before TR-ing).

I was cold specced, using a frozen tunic basically always, but a scepter would do just as well. I also used a combustion item from Wall of Fire onward. Honestly though, nothing turns on it. If you prefer Acid / Elec that would also work. Just ensure you have 2 elements - one of Fire / Acid (for Wall of Fire or Acid Rain), and one of Cold / Elec (so at least 1 of your DoTs is good, though I'd take both DoTs and have swap items for their element anyway).

That's my take, that works for me on elements anyway. I wouldn't force spec (unless you maybe want to go Evocation Archmage until level 12, then swap to Illusion when you get the Phantasmal Killer SLA). I do take disintegrate (heightened and maximized) since it comes in handy every now and then, but I personally don't use a force item even then.

Last note, if you're going 18/2, you don't have to spend 41 points in AM, since some of the first 40 is at least slightly just to allow access to the capstone (which requires 40 points spent in the tree). Similarly, if you're not doing epics, and only going to get access to lichform at 20, you don't have to spend so heavily in PM. I'm not sure where those points go, but I'm sure there's something fun to be done.

[pappo]

If you don't care about epics it'll be 100% fine on an 18/2 second lifer - only reason I say to get some PLs before epics is spell penetration for epic drow (which occupy a good portion of the epic content this build excels at).

Enlarge is definitely what I'd fill the level 3 slot with if you're not hitting epics later. I know that sounds odd, but the PK SLA with extend (and quicken and heighten) is very enjoyable. If you do it at a distance, and the monster dies, their friends won't even be alerted to your presence. It also is good for cycling cooldowns between the PK spell and SLA since you can have already killed the monster and have the cooldown being worked off sooner. Honestly I recommend it very strongly, but at least try it - and if you hate it swap it for another metamagic.

You could swap the positions of a few other meta-magics if you'd rather move maximize up instead, but generally definitely just get meta-magics sooner. For the level 20 feat you'll have free, I'd probably get Extend (if you need to farm up a token before TR-ing).

I was cold specced, using a frozen tunic basically always, but a scepter would do just as well. I also used a combustion item from Wall of Fire onward. Honestly though, nothing turns on it. If you prefer Acid / Elec that would also work. Just ensure you have 2 elements - one of Fire / Acid (for Wall of Fire or Acid Rain), and one of Cold / Elec (so at least 1 of your DoTs is good, though I'd take both DoTs and have swap items for their element anyway).

That's my take, that works for me on elements anyway. I wouldn't force spec (unless you maybe want to go Evocation Archmage until level 12, then swap to Illusion when you get the Phantasmal Killer SLA). I do take disintegrate (heightened and maximized) since it comes in handy every now and then, but I personally don't use a force item even then.

Last note, if you're going 18/2, you don't have to spend 41 points in AM, since some of the first 40 is at least slightly just to allow access to the capstone (which requires 40 points spent in the tree). Similarly, if you're not doing epics, and only going to get access to lichform at 20, you don't have to spend so heavily in PM. I'm not sure where those points go, but I'm sure there's something fun to be done.

Thanks for the quick reply.
I am definitely going to roll this build up. Until I found your build, it was all Evocation builds.
I am looking forward to seeing / hearing comments from my Guildies when I start PK'ing everything.. lol

[pappo]

If you don't care about epics it'll be 100% fine on an 18/2 second lifer - only reason I say to get some PLs before epics is spell penetration for epic drow (which occupy a good portion of the epic content this build excels at).

Enlarge is definitely what I'd fill the level 3 slot with if you're not hitting epics later. I know that sounds odd, but the PK SLA with extend (and quicken and heighten) is very enjoyable. If you do it at a distance, and the monster dies, their friends won't even be alerted to your presence. It also is good for cycling cooldowns between the PK spell and SLA since you can have already killed the monster and have the cooldown being worked off sooner. Honestly I recommend it very strongly, but at least try it - and if you hate it swap it for another metamagic.



Could you show your spell list ?
I will also be going cold / elec since I have a previous Sorc (Air savant) who has lots of elec boosting staffs & scepters.

[BelVic]

I am playing with Illusion wizard as well. Seems to be fun at lvl 14-15 in Gianthold quests. SLA PK + PK spell + Finger of death, rotate all 3 to kill quick.

I made changes to my build. Not going pure but 18wiz/2 monk. Monks levels are for evasion and 2 toughness feats ( never enough HP). I also spent 2 feats on exotic repeating crossbow.
I it can be unusual on caster so I'll try to explain. Thinking about taking Exalted Angel ED for "Shadows upon you" ability, where you need to hit monster in order to reduce saves (up to -11 ?)

Another good abilities from this ED :
Transcendental Magic : Passive Bonus:+3 to the DC of all your spells -
Reborn in Light' Epic Moment
Piercing Spellcraft : Passive Bonus: +[1/2/3] to spell penetration.
Embrace the light : Passive Bonus: You take +[10/20/30]% less light damage.

Thinking if I might be able to fit 2 abilities from Shiradi in the future : Double Rainbow and Prism for stuff immune to PK

Another difference - use of Feywild Tap from Morninlord - to have more mana.

At lvl 15 I had 37 DC on PK. Yesterday I did lvl up and tried Spinner of Shadows on elite. Unfortunately Hezrou didn't want to die fast. Took some time to debuff them, thinking to try curse spell on them next time.
Drow Priestesses in previous quest Servant of the Overlord had deathward, not sure if anything besides Flesh to Stone could help with it. Using frozen tunic with w/p repater at least make them froze after some time.

Looking forward to try levels 20+ . Until then it's all good.

[BelVic]

Lvl 17 and current DC 42 (with gloves of illusionist)
So far so good - most kills in majority of pugs :)

Found combination Daze Monster + PK works good against Spell caster ( first spells got changed and provide -5 to will saves for 5SP)
Against melee with high fort saves - the spell "Bestow Curse" with or without "Cause Fear" seems to be enough.

"Trap the Soul" and "Disentigrate" for non Pk-able mobs.

[pappo]

If you don't care about epics it'll be 100% fine on an 18/2 second lifer - only reason I say to get some PLs before epics is spell penetration for epic drow (which occupy a good portion of the epic content this build excels at).

I was cold specced, using a frozen tunic basically always, but a scepter would do just as well. I also used a combustion item from Wall of Fire onward. Honestly though, nothing turns on it. If you prefer Acid / Elec that would also work. Just ensure you have 2 elements - one of Fire / Acid (for Wall of Fire or Acid Rain), and one of Cold / Elec (so at least 1 of your DoTs is good, though I'd take both DoTs and have swap items for their element anyway).



I am level 8 now. I took Enlarge as my level 3 feat as you suggested, since I am not doing Epics.
No PK SLA yet. I tried out non-SLA PK, leading with Cause Fear, but if I enlarge/heighten/quicken it it cost 45 SP and I go through mana very quickly.
I have web + ice storm for my DOT. I have frost lance and scorching ray also. I found a nice pair of scepters that give me 54 combustion and cold.

Should I change to AM Conjuration, and use a heightened web + ice storm or FW until I get to level 12 and can take PK SLA ?
What do you recommend doing until I get PK SLA at level 12 ?

[Ramidus]

Does this build work with a fresh, 32-pt build?
I like the sound of the build but I'm a little iffy if I'm going to be making myself useless later on.

[BelVic]

Does this build work with a fresh, 32-pt build?
I like the sound of the build but I'm a little iffy if I'm going to be making myself useless later on.

Sure, why not ? Max int, rest in con. You will be missing only +1 DC from past life feat.
(more past lives is better for Spell Penetration). For EH it will be not a big difference, not sure about EE.
I run 18wiz/2monk version and like it so far. I use shattermantle weapon if I need to lower monster SR or use different spells.

[pappo]

Lvl 17 and current DC 42 (with gloves of illusionist)
So far so good - most kills in majority of pugs :)

Found combination Daze Monster + PK works good against Spell caster ( first spells got changed and provide -5 to will saves for 5SP)
Against melee with high fort saves - the spell "Bestow Curse" with or without "Cause Fear" seems to be enough.

"Trap the Soul" and "Disentigrate" for non Pk-able mobs.

I am still at level 9 because I run with a once-a-week guild group so not leveling real quick. I wondered two things.
1. Could you show me your spell list at lvl 17
2. What did you use for offensive, and CC, until you got the PK SLA at lvl 12? I am using Web and Hypno at lot now.

thanks