Is Conjuration Archmage Worth Continuing?

[arminius]

I have a WF Conjuration Archmage that was very fun to play and a great support addition to groups, that I essentially haven't played in over a year. Last night I got it to 28 so it could at least be an Acorn Farmer.

This build seemed great in 2011-12 but just doesn't seem to have the dps for today's fast-paced, solo-heavy game, which, for the Arcanes, seems to heavily favor Sorcs and Pale Masters (and any Archmages remaining would go to Evocation for force/Shiradi?). To bring it up to the standards of the rest of my characters I'd have to do at least the 3 Cleric past lives for the Conjuration (have the Wiz past life and one ETR).

Even the awesome stuff about Conjuration seems muted today, even if you forget the dps; the opposing casters seem to have a script that says "If Web Then Instant FlameStrike." And some enemies just seem to ignore it without even a save.

I'm just not sure if this is worth further investment though; I don't want to send good money after bad. Is there a place in today's game for a Conjuration Archmage? What are my options if not? Evocation? An Acorn Farmer forever? Not interested at all in Pale Master, would sooner let the character retire before that. Please advise, thanks!

[arminius]

So, my guess from the overwhelming response is, the answer is no?

Oh well, at least there's the acorn routine to run.

[Timap]

So, my guess from the overwhelming response is, the answer is no?

Oh well, at least there's the acorn routine to run.

I've run an Acid Savant for a long time, and have some experience with the Web spell. Sadly, the Web spell is very bad in epic levels. Not only is it incompatible with the many Fire spells that get thrown around in PUGs, nearly all elite mobs will pass the strength check, so each Web spell lasts around 2s. You can stack the webs, especially if you have a cheap Web SLA, but this makes it slow, and not well suited to the zerg runs that are very common. Pretty much, you can be a Conjuration Archmage if you intend to solo most of the time and can take time to set up Web traps ahead of time, but in groups, its pretty bad.

Alternatives are

Evocation>Shiradi. Spam MM and CM SLAs for Shiradi procs. Very popular build. Quite effective if appropriately geared. Could be your cup of tea.
Evocation>Draconic. The build I run now. Time your Energy Bursts/Breaths/Vortexes to coincide with Arcane Supremacy. Can be very effective, but takes a bit of timing and coordination.
Enchantment>Magister/EA/Draconic. Very popular. Used to be "the" CC build, but nowadays heavily outclassed by bards who can CC much better with less investment. Could still be fun if you like CC though. Go Magister/EA if you need help on DCs, else go Draconic for DPS.
Illusion>Magister/EA/Draconic. Phantasmal Killer SLA can be guaranteed instakill. People think Phan-killer is weak because it has 2 saves, but in practice, if you can make the fort save, you can make the will save, so there is no difference. I've seen wizzes achieve 1 instakill every 20s with this.
Necromancy>Magister/EA/Draconic. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to be a Palemaster to instakill effectively. Your Ennervation SLA as a Necro Archmage allows you to instakill quite well without top DCs.

The good thing about being a Wizard is that all it takes for you to try these builds out is a simple Enhancement respec for some plat. The bad thing is that most of these builds require gearing, which can take time. Even the Shiradi build requires at least good Impulse/Kinetic Lore items and probably Sonic items as well to perform reasonably well. But you can get 80% of the way to the ideal gear just from the AH. And you can give each build a try just to see if you like the playstyle.

Hope this helps. And yes, I am a fan of the web spell too, so I'm bummed about this as well.

[arminius]

It does help a lot, thanks!

[Ladywolf]

back when stormhorns first came out I tested conjuration shiradi. If you work at it you can be quite effective.

[Eth]

Not interested at all in Pale Master, would sooner let the character retire before that. Please advise, thanks!

Since the enhancement pass there is simply no real distinction between archmage and palemaster, you more or less have to pick enhancements from both.
Archmages run in undead form.
Palemasters use Archmage SLAs.

I share some sympathy though, since I get upset when people call my archmage a palemaster :D

U23's new harper tree would allow you to spend your remaining points after AM for +4 int from that tree instead of putting points into the PM tree.

After 13 ETRs on my wizzy (and pretty much trying everything out a bit) my personal favorite setup is Illusion AM for PK SLA + necromancy as main school (42 points in AM, 24 points in PM, 14 points in sun-elf).

I ran this same toon pre MotU as a Enchant/Conjuration AM toaster, but you can't pick hypno/web/ottos as SLA choices anymore at the same time, and just web is not worth it really. Other SLAs are just better.

[blerkington]

Hi,

A little while back my wizard took the conjuration line in archmage for the cheap web SLA. It's a useful spell, and the difference in SP cost between the SLA and the heightened spell is pretty big.

Later on I changed to the evocation line. The reason for this was it made switching between shiradi and other destinies much easier, in that I already had the missile SLAs.

It's by no means an optimised spamming build, but with those SLAs and the enlarge feat it performs decently and it is very convenient. So I can be a DC caster or a missile spammer as needed, without having to fiddle around with his enhancements.

The fireshield SLA is quite useful, especially on a fleshy where there are many more important level 4 spells to take than slots to fit them in. Gust of wind is a nice bonus too; I use it pretty frequently to disperse dancing balls and clouds.

Thanks.