I play a PM Wizard. Coming back to the game after 3 years. Where do I even start?

[spade413]

I played a 20 Human Pale Master, mostly solo and small group, and stopped right at the Epic Level update. At first I thought all I'd need to figure out is how epic destinies work, but after logging in I see that I need to go back to the basics. The enhancements are all different, the items are all different, and I suddenly find that I have no idea what I'm doing.

So, please, someone, crash course me.

Specifically, I'd like to focus on playing a nuking/buffing caster in small group play, mostly with my son who plays a WF Artificer. I liked Pale Master because of heals and immunities, and the freebie SLA's were so nice to conserve SP (though they don't seem as good anymore?). Are the pet lines worth it now? Also, it looks like I can easily still promote AM and PM at the same time. Finding a happy medium seems involved.

Another question I have that doesn't seem to be answered is play style differences. For instance, when I was last playing, there was a mindset that, without building for it specifically, AC was to be ignored. Focus on saves and rely on Displacement to stay alive. With the significant changes to defensive abilities, does this still hold true, or are other defense types I should be focusing on?

When last I played, Ray of Frost was the Big Nuke Spell, with disintegrate following and FoD/Wail for trash. Does this still hold true? I had DCs capable of killing lvl 19/20 Hard creatures, and some elite. Are there new tips/tricks/items to focus on getting it higher?

What are the current, go to "Must have" items? When I left, torc was a big deal (and I never got one). I was heartbroken to see my Winter Festival Glaciation item had suddenly hopped up in level such that I can't wear it anymore (I made it on the highest Potency/Ice Crit item I could find). What other items are currently defining? My highest priority are items which can be duo-ed for.

Thanks in advance for anyone who answers. Even a couple sentences answering some of these questions would be really helpful, and could greatly lower my relearning curve.

[EllisDee37]

For a basic pale master build, you might take a look at the epic challenge farmer linked in my signature. It's a by-the-numbers pure pale master, including an easy-to-acquire "starter" gearset that would serve you well as you get your feat under you. The only challenge-specific aspect of it is that it maxes the skeleton pet line, which works great in challenges and easier epics (EN and EH) but becomes useless on EE. I say try it out as written and see how you like the skeleton. You can always reset your trees if you don't like it. For a non-skeleton version of pale master enhancements, see the pale trapper thread linked in my signature.

Sadly the pale master SLAs were made terrible by virtue of being super expensive to take. Much more expensive than they're worth.

AC is still largely to be ignored, however, the heavier your armor the better your physical and magical resistance rating (PRR and MRR) which is the primary means of defense in the game today. As a pure wizard in robes, though, you'll still get most of your defense from displacement. My main killing comes from finger and wail. (Wail may have changed since you last played. Instead of an instant AoE effect, it now an over-time effect that targets 2 mobs per tick, three tics, for a maximum kill of 6 mobs.)

I'm a big fan of the style you describe, with frost nukes and insta-kills. I don't use disintegrate much, instead relying on necrotic ray (the best ray for PMs) and polar ray. I use frost lance as my primary ray while leveling, but replace it with polar ray as soon as I get it. Energy Burst is probably the best staple dps attack, an AoE that does thousands of elemental damage to everything around you. It's an ability from the Draconic Incarnation epic destiny.

Torc is no longer considered worth slotting, so no worries there. In fact, guard procs as a rule are considered worthless because EE mobs hit so hard.

EDIT: The epic challenge farmer works pretty much the same as a human, but humans do get an extra bonus feat. Your best choices for that feat would be:
- Mental Toughness (taking Improved Mental Toughness @ 20)
- Augment Summoning (if you want to stick with the pet)
- Toughness (not great, but not terrible)
- Enlarge (can be super useful for finger, especially vs beholders)

[Makkuroi]

about defense: armors (and some items) now reduce incoming damage from physical and magical attacks (PRR and MRR), so it might make sense for a pure wizard to use at least light armor.

Enhancements: you can now invest in archmage and pale master, putting most points in PM for capstone and lich form, but still getting some nice stuff out of archmage.

Epic destinies: this is a big game changer, draconic incarnation will make you a lot stronger, the nuke staple is now draconic burst (which can even be twisted but you wont have enough destiny points for that at the beginning). Running without destinies you will feel pretty weak compared to current epic chars. Magister isnt good but the tier 2 ability which adds +3 to a schools dc is a very good twist.
There is a special destiny-based caster build, shiradi caster, which is quite effective but requires you to get a primal destiny which takes a while to unlock. Its using magic missile and other spells with several missiles/rays to proc shiradi abilities as often as possible. This could be a long-term goal since you have to level 4 destinies to get there.

Spells: Wail of the Banshee, Finger of Death, Ottos Sphere and Mass Hold are still top, spell nukes arent too interesting for wizard even though icestorm and firewall still have their uses.

[Andoris]

I played a 20 Human Pale Master, mostly solo and small group, and stopped right at the Epic Level update. At first I thought all I'd need to figure out is how epic destinies work, but after logging in I see that I need to go back to the basics. The enhancements are all different, the items are all different, and I suddenly find that I have no idea what I'm doing.

So, please, someone, crash course me.

First off... Welcome Back!

As for a crash course, check out the Pale Master guide (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/405017-Pale-Master-Guide) .. while it is long, most of the interesting sections have been hot linked in the first post.



Specifically, I'd like to focus on playing a nuking/buffing caster in small group play, mostly with my son who plays a WF Artificer. I liked Pale Master because of heals and immunities, and the freebie SLA's were so nice to conserve SP (though they don't seem as good anymore?). Are the pet lines worth it now? Also, it looks like I can easily still promote AM and PM at the same time. Finding a happy medium seems involved.

While you want to have the ability to Nuke mobs, don't discount your DC's. Many of the epic mobs are sitting on thousands of hit points. When possible it is much more spell point efficient to insta-kill them or crowd control the mobs and let your Son kill them (he will like that too :) )

The SLA's and Pet lines are really not worth it -- however the pet skelly can be useful for pulling levers, it is not needed if you Son is playing an Arty with you.

As for enhancement lines.. you will be able to invest in both AM and PM .. you also might invest into the new Haper Enhancement tree.



Another question I have that doesn't seem to be answered is play style differences. For instance, when I was last playing, there was a mindset that, without building for it specifically, AC was to be ignored. Focus on saves and rely on Displacement to stay alive. With the significant changes to defensive abilities, does this still hold true, or are other defense types I should be focusing on?

I wouldn't bother with AC, however; there is a new mechanic "PRR (http://ddowiki.com/page/PRR)" and "MRR (http://ddowiki.com/page/Mrr)" that is quite helpful in mitigating damage.

Make sure you have insightful reflexes and keep yourself displaced and you should be fine.



When last I played, Ray of Frost was the Big Nuke Spell, with disintegrate following and FoD/Wail for trash. Does this still hold true? I had DCs capable of killing lvl 19/20 Hard creatures, and some elite. Are there new tips/tricks/items to focus on getting it higher?

Polar Ray is still good, your big damage dealer now is Ruin (http://ddowiki.com/page/Ruin_(feat)) but be careful as it can get very spell point intensive.

Cycling between necrotic ray, Scorching Ray, Polar Ray, Black Dragon Bolt, Meteor Swarm, Delayed Blast Fire Ball -- and on occasion your DoTs (Eldar's and Nicas) will keep your spell damage up and your spell point pool down :)



What are the current, go to "Must have" items? When I left, torc was a big deal (and I never got one). I was heartbroken to see my Winter Festival Glaciation item had suddenly hopped up in level such that I can't wear it anymore (I made it on the highest Potency/Ice Crit item I could find). What other items are currently defining? My highest priority are items which can be duo-ed for.

Thanks in advance for anyone who answers. Even a couple sentences answering some of these questions would be really helpful, and could greatly lower my relearning curve.

For "Must Haves" it really centers around getting your Int as high as you can and then getting some DC gear. Once you get high enough you are going to want to live inside of Temple of the Deathwyrm (http://ddowiki.com/page/Temple_of_the_Deathwyrm) and Mark of Death (http://ddowiki.com/page/The_Mark_of_Death) Raids -- as Thunderforged (http://ddowiki.com/page/Thunderforged) items are a big boost to Wizards and the Mark of Death loot has a lot of goodies for Wizards as well.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out.

Welcome back and good luck!

[spade413]

Excellent responses, all. Thank you. I'm reading and digesting these and the other suggested posts.

[spade413]

Some more basic questions:

I see that suddenly Heal, Repair, and Spellcraft add to the damage of spells (not to mention that spellcraft even exists). So, I have no points in any of these. Not sure if its worth burning a heart to redistribute skill points. Also, are these skills useful enough to place them at a priority while leveling and needing to use less-than-optimal gear while farming better items?

Also, how do DoTs work atm, do they "snapshot" you current gear when cast, or are they dynamicly updated by your gear over time? In other words, if I put a +15 Heal item to cast Death Aura, then swap it out, will it be modified by the +15 the whole time, or just for the initial casting? Is the effect potent enough to even worry about considering it?

[Lonnbeimnech]

Some more basic questions:

I see that suddenly Heal, Repair, and Spellcraft add to the damage of spells (not to mention that spellcraft even exists). So, I have no points in any of these. Not sure if its worth burning a heart to redistribute skill points. Also, are these skills useful enough to place them at a priority while leveling and needing to use less-than-optimal gear while farming better items? Say you cast necrotic ray, which does 5-8 damage per caster level, at level 20 thats 130 damage. Modified by your spell power, lets say you have 400 with gear and such, that would do about 650 damage. If you had put 11 ranks into heal (because it is not a wizard class skill) you would do 664 damage.

In other words, if you tr, go ahead and train those skills, but for the time being it's not going to be that noticeable.


Also, how do DoTs work atm, do they "snapshot" you current gear when cast, or are they dynamicly updated by your gear over time? In other words, if I put a +15 Heal item to cast Death Aura, then swap it out, will it be modified by the +15 the whole time, or just for the initial casting? Is the effect potent enough to even worry about considering it?The calculations are made based on the gear you have equiped at the time you cast the spell, and are not updated if you change gear around once the spell is ticking.