A wizards purpose

[Kalari]

I dont think it would then again by the time I got my first spell pen II scepter I was out of the starter robes. Now due to twinking I dont wear the robes long enough to test but I think I can check on Thelanis sometime this weekend with one of my newer builds to let you know. As you go up in level you will recieve items that help boost spell pen and potency or even the spells you wish to see enhanced the most.

On my main Kalari im lucky I went threw the Dragon touched armor lotto as I call it and got robes that have potency on them. I think I also have a set of spell pen 8 robes. I do have back up potency scepters for just in case a long with superior lore scepters that I swap out depending on spells like my superior kinetic (force) fire (firewall, scorching ray, fireball) and ice lore (cone of cold, freezing sphere, polor ray)

Was tempted to try to get the glaciation set but im so annoyed with the reavers refuge to keep doing so and have yet to pull the bracers on my wizard though my cleric has a a pair *sigh*

I like keeping a variety of spell enhancing equipment on all my girls. It helps to have anything that will help crits with spells.

[stevenagy123]

A wizards edge over the sorc is his versatility. Perhaps you find it hard to be efficient with your sp pool because you are just beginning to learn some of the quests you are running, but I guarantee you will begin adjusting your spells to be tailored for every quest as you progress. It never hurts to ask the party for suggestions for what spells to prepare if you don't know the quest.

Another important detail is to never over-buff. Make sure you use exactly the spells that are essential, at lower and mid levels you should focus pretty much on blur and haste. Remember that other classes can help you out: rangers can cast energy resistance, clerics can do basic mass buffs.

Debuffing is another important skill for a wizzy. If you max out your spell pen you will be able to consistently land debuffs on endgame red/purple mobs.

Another important thing is to eventually switch to scrolling some spells like greater heroism. It might be expensive to be restocking on scrolls, but if you have played the AH game right, coin should not really be an issue after a while.

Happy gaming !

[PlanetSeer]

Thanks, for bringing up this topic, Tralese. I'm also new to DDO and have always loved playing Wizards in any type of game. I've been shy about grouping, but I'm starting to get over that. People are really friendly out there to us new guys.

These are all really great tips. Thanks, everyone.

[tralese]

Thanks, for bringing up this topic, Tralese. I'm also new to DDO and have always loved playing Wizards in any type of game. I've been shy about grouping, but I'm starting to get over that. People are really friendly out there to us new guys.

These are all really great tips. Thanks, everyone.

I'm glad others are benefiting from the thread.


I haven't done much in the area of debuffing. I will have to pick up some scrolls to inscribe so I can have a couple of them memorized for boss fights. It would indeed help to know if there are rest shrines and where they are so as to know if I need the debuff right away or only when we get closer to the end. I'll make sure to ask every time I enter a quest how many rest shrines there are.

[William_the_Bat]

I rarely focus on buffs at early levels, you don't have a lot of SP, and a hobgoblin that is hypnotized or stuck in a web is not attacking the party, so the party is not taking many hits.

The exceptions to this are resist energy (when appropriate) and haste.

My low level wizards generally throw a hypno or web at every group of monsters, then nuke the shaman if needed. Kobold shaman in particular like to bounce around, giving them a lot more time to do annoying things like cast hold person on the barbarian who just drew all the aggro charging past everything to get to the shaman. A quick shocking grasp or scorching ray fixes that. (no saves on either)

I always take empower and maximize on my wizards, and try to learn exactly how much of them I have to turn on to one-shot the typical enemy caster or cleric with my best damage spell. Needless to say, I do not nuke the trash unless I've drawn aggro and can't scrape them off on the local melee.

Some of the end bosses have regeneration, so the maximize and empower can really help there, as well as for overcoming elemental resistances.

A lot of casters, at low level especially, just love charm spells. Personally, I can't stand them. There is no denying that they are effective, but all the same, I hate them. With a passion.

Often I'll carry a wand of resist energy and save some SP, it usually takes less than 3 minutes to get through whatever you need the resistance for. If the situation warrants, I'll suck it up, take the spell, and extend it. At higher levels (7+) a cast resist will actually block more damage, but by then I have more SP and more spell slots. Haste I extend and apply liberally, and carry some scrolls for when I'm out of SP (though I try not to run out!)

Incidentally, trying to use halt undead on those arcane skeletons in Delara's is only semi-effective, as they are considered intelligent so they do get savings throws, and casters almost always have high will saves. Much better to ask the cleric to load Seek Eternal Rest, equip a sacred item, and turn undead the arcanes. It works surprisingly well, as the arcanes typically have far fewer hit dice than the rest of the undead. Do keep casting halt undead at groups of undead, but for the arcanes, if the cleric isn't taking good care of them, refer to my "nuke the caster" strategy above.

Probably the most important thing you can do as an up-and-coming caster is figure out what kind of creatures are weak to what kind of savings throws.

For instance, kobolds, even shamen, tend to have high reflex saves. Don't bother with niacs, and even burning hands has limited value. Shocking grasp, on the other hand, pwns them, although it does take a little practice to get the spell off between hops. Ogres, on the other hand, have weak will saves, and really like to boogie down (who'd have thought?) Those big bad ogres turn into chumps when you cast otto's resitable dance on them. Keep in mind that while most of your spells will work fine on orange named bosses, red names are often immune to the more debilitating spells. You can't dance a red name, for instance. You can maximize and empower a scorching ray, though.

As you gain levels you'll find your roll can change somewhat. When you pick up firewall, you'll find some groups will ignore that and rush off to fight things individually, and other groups will clog up a convenient doorway for firewall pwnage. Firewall works best when you can funnel a lot of monsters into a small area and stop them from getting to you. No, you can't use web and firewall at the same time, but later you'll get dancing sphere and that'll do the trick nicely. Firewall is a wonderful "fire and foreget" for perching archers or casters who will have nowhere to go to get out of it, just make sure you can hide behind something or otherwise avoid getting smacked around while they cook. Speaking of perchers, Melf's Acid Arrow is totally underrated as your most SP efficient pre-level-7 damage spell... if you can afford to wait a while for it to work. Use it on those perchers as an alternative to multiple casts of more direct damage. There's no savings throw, and unlike the pen-and-paper variant, no to-hit roll.

As for equipment, the starter robe is pretty good, but it'll only affect your level 1 spells, and it's a small increase. At level 4, it should not be difficult to hit the auction house and find an improved potency II or something like that. Any spell you cast will use only the most effective version of potency (or element-specific variant) that applies, they do not stack. Getting a 30% or 40% bonus to your damage spells is -very- helpful.

If you are finding it difficult to earn money, consider putting vaguely useful magic items you find in the auction house. +1 full plate is useless to a wizard, but if you check the auction house, and put it up, undercutting the lowest prices, it'll sell for a lot more than a vendor will give you. Of course, it often depends on what you are trying to sell, disable device +3 goggles are winners, listen +3 rings are not. A magic item that casts a useful spell like expeditious retreat, detect secret doors, or shield is worth quite a bit to a fighter or someone who can't cast spells.

I appologise for writing a novel here, but I really enjoy playing wizards at low levels, there are a ton of fun things to try.

[Valtar]

This does bring up a good question about equipment though. I currently use a dagger when I'm not shooting with my crossbow. The dagger allows me to cast this spell enhancement thing a few times per rest period. Do you have any recommendations for low level equipment?

I dual-wield items that enhance my spell casting--spell points, spell damage of my favorite type, or give the DC to resist my favorite spell school a bump. I never swing my weapons, so the minus to hit is meaningless.

The starter gear for the Korthos quests and rewards from Waterworks, Shanto-kor, and Delara's Tomb will outfit you quite nicely through 7th level or higher.

As for clickies, I don't like them because I'm a Sorcerer--my low Int means I always forget to use them...

[tralese]

William_the_bat,
Don't apologize for the length of your post. It was chalk full of amazingly useful nuggets. Thanks for sharing it. I can't wait to try some of these tips.

Valtar,
what level do you need to be to run Shanto-Kor?

[Hirosue]

noticed no one has mentioned it yet.

At low levels fear spell can be incrediably usefull especially in quests like waterworks vs those big ogers that can 1 shot kill people. cast a fear on the ogers and your party will love you. Amazing how many lowbie wizards dont use it.

[RTN]

Use a returning dagger for a ranged weapon rather than a crossbow. Then you can leave in your offhand weapon (I usually leave in potency and swap my right hand weapon to whatever I need--DC, lore, etc.). You also don't have to worry about ammo.

[Valtar]

William_the_bat,
Don't apologize for the length of your post. It was chalk full of amazingly useful nuggets. Thanks for sharing it. I can't wait to try some of these tips.

Valtar,
what level do you need to be to run Shanto-Kor?

The Bat's post was spot on. Except for his irrational hatred of Charm, but, you know, no wizard is perfect.

As for Shanto-Kor, if you're running with a group who knows what they are doing, 3rd-5th level can get it done, if you employ perfect strategy. Only the final fight is really tough and that becomes almost trivial if you know how to do it. Coincidentally, the key is an Arcane Caster with Scorching Ray (Some feel Magic Missile is better if your spell points are lacking). For lower level casters it is usually better to leave Maximize and Empower off, because you will often run out of spell points before the bad guy is dead. But without them the fight takes a while and your tanks/cleric/others must protect you for a longer time. I won't spoil the final fight for you, if you've never done it, unless you prefer. I'm sure you can find plenty of people to run with who've done it many times.

[tralese]

Use a returning dagger for a ranged weapon rather than a crossbow. Then you can leave in your offhand weapon (I usually leave in potency and swap my right hand weapon to whatever I need--DC, lore, etc.). You also don't have to worry about ammo.

Ingenius! Definitely going on my to do list. Thanks for that tip. I was running a long quest in the Marketplace today with a PUG and ran out of bolts. That was a sad thing as my only other weapon was a dagger +1.

At low levels fear spell can be incrediably usefull especially in quests like waterworks vs those big ogers that can 1 shot kill people. cast a fear on the ogers and your party will love you. Amazing how many lowbie wizards dont use it.

Absolutely, I've been using fear ever since I could cast level 2 spells. My only concern with that spell is whether the npc would run away and bring reinforcements. 3 years of playing WoW taught me fear isn't always the best solution when stuck in a dungeon with a bunch of nasties. How exactly does fear work in DDO? Can/will they go and find friends to help?

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Ah, the old lets classify and pidgeon hole all char classes to certain assigned roles thread.

What I see most often in DDO is a movie star approach to dungeons. With the star usually being a barbarian or sorceror. Or co-stars.....usually of the melee variety.

All expecting the other classes to be their supporting cast.

Wizards? Bah..you guys are just supposed to buff me and make my kill count look good. And stand back until I call for you.

Well, sry..I have trouble playing that way.

I created all my chars for me to have fun with. Not buff you and watch you have fun.

Don't get me totally wrong here. I do buff. I do whatever is needed for success.

But at low lvl IMO Wizards do not have the SP to be buffing everyone.

My 3rd lvl Wiz is not going to be casting blur on six people every 3 min.....sry.

What I will be doing is charging ahead, dropping to sneak mode, and charming one guy (that's right...one!) in a mob.
This gets agro off the party right away.
If needed I charm more, but I prefer Hypno and Web.

Wizards can be nukers too, but I find nuking draws too much agro.
Hypno and Web and Charm make quests easy and keep my squishy butt intact.

High lvl Wizards are slightly different.
Here I buff more (at first).
In a 6man group you can expect Blur, GH, Stoneskin, and Haste when we zone in and at shrines.
You can expect a Displacement if I see you are about to die. maybe an Invisibility on a cleric, but I know they will break it and not appreciate it's benefits.

I'll Haste again at times, and throw out whatever is asked for.

I'll have myself super-buffed so when I run out of SP, I'll be jumping into melee as soon as someone bigger than me gets agro.
But even with agro, all those great buffs means I'm not squishy despite a lack of AC/HP.

Amazes me when other casters die in quests like the reaver.
As soon as I take damage, I am displaced and taking action to survive.

I find a quick hold or Otto's will solve my agro problems much faster than fireballs.
But that's just my preference.

What is a Wizard's purpose?
Wizards are versitile enough to fill many roles.
Mine carry weapons for when I run low on SP....or sometimes when the party is killing things so fast I feel it's a waste to cast spells.

I prefer CC, but with Max/Empower and appropriate items I can pour on the nuking when needed.

I choose "D" All the above.

[Valtar]

Ah, the old lets classify and pidgeon hole all char classes to certain assigned roles thread...<snip>

Very well, Talon, just hold my coat and hat a moment...

[Drekisen]

Sorry if this has been said already.

Low levels.....1-6....buff the party, if u need to do anything else....do it, if u don't, don't waste ur mana. The first few levels belong to melee...end of story...IMO it is ur duty to keep them optimized with buffs. If thier is a WF'ed, state u will wand whip them if they provide the wands.

Mid levels.....7-12.....u ascend to godliness.....u have wall of fire and solid fog....the ultimate CC spells if used properly. Learn how to shield block and go into defensive stance or CE after u cast. Ur wall of fire might be devastating but so is a bunch of angry enemies that will all be aggro'ed on u. As u progress toward 12th u will get many more nice spells as ur mana pool increases and ur buff timers increase as well.

High levels.....13-16......u are put back in line......ur offensive magic will not be as dominant as it was when going thru 7-12....and melees come back to play a big role in end game....however by this time a lot of people will be more self sufficient, u'll have more mana to spare for CC and insta death spells. Play smart tho, a lot of melees in end game are agressive and trying to prove who has the biggest axe, and altho most of them are indeed great warriors it's an attictude that will lead most casters to thier death if they follow suit. Trying to nuke everything will still be a bad move unless u specifically went out of ur way to get a large mana pool. By this time tho, u should know how to be conservative with ur SP along with the fact that ur not a feat starved class puts u at an advantage to having a high spell pen....which is nice for most end game mobs, and also having a high DC for at least one specific spell school....usually enchantment or necromancy. High spell pen and necromancy focus puts u at a great advantage for taking down end game bosses at any setting, the debuffs will be very useful.

Of course u can play ur wizard however u want, this is just what I find works best for me

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Very well, Talon, just hold my coat and hat a moment...

Lol.

[vicsav]

so what do you do in long quests to amuse yourself while judiciously using your mana pool? throw a dagger, shoot an x-bow, or just kinda stand around looking good?

[Aranticus]

so what do you do in long quests to amuse yourself while judiciously using your mana pool? throw a dagger, shoot an x-bow, or just kinda stand around looking good?

there are very few quests that are so long that you run out of sp between shrines

if there are then its pretty simple. make use of spells like charm and suggestion. an army is really fun

[Talon_Moonshadow]

so what do you do in long quests to amuse yourself while judiciously using your mana pool? throw a dagger, shoot an x-bow, or just kinda stand around looking good?

My Wiz16 has Rapiers of Banishing, Punctering, Smiting, Paralysing, Holy Burst of Pure Good.....Kukris (master's touch) of Disruption, and Vorpal (Wizards can roll 20s too)
A Cursespewing Shortsword of Shattermantle that I kinda like.
Scrolls of Tensers and Divine Power clickies.
High Dex, Wep Finese.
Stealth Skills.

Paralysing Bow (Master's again)

I can usually find something to do with my time.

[Drekisen]

My Wiz16 has Rapiers of Banishing, Punctering, Smiting, Paralysing, Holy Burst of Pure Good.....Kukris (master's touch) of Disruption, and Vorpal (Wizards can roll 20s too)
A Cursespewing Shortsword of Shattermantle that I kinda like.
Scrolls of Tensers and Divine Power clickies.
High Dex, Wep Finese.
Stealth Skills.

Paralysing Bow (Master's again)

I can usually find something to do with my time.

This is really great advice. I find it very dissapointing when a caster with no blue bar left is just standing around. Melee combat giving u too much damage...grab the crossbows. If u have DP or TT going and some means of haste u are getting a good enough RoF to contribute too.

Paralyzing, Smiting, Banishing, Cursespewing, Destruction, Crippling....etc etc, these are all very helpful things to melees, just try to use a different effect if the melees are already using one of the others, aside from Smiting, Banishing or stat damagers, it's ok to use more than a few of those

[Talon_Moonshadow]

This is really great advice. I find it very dissapointing when a caster with no blue bar left is just standing around. Melee combat giving u too much damage...grab the crossbows. If u have DP or TT going and some means of haste u are getting a good enough RoF to contribute too.

Paralyzing, Smiting, Banishing, Cursespewing, Destruction, Crippling....etc etc, these are all very helpful things to melees, just try to use a different effect if the melees are already using one of the others, aside from Smiting, Banishing or stat damagers, it's ok to use more than a few of those

A wizard isn't going to do a lot of damage, but that actually works to your advantage, because you shouldn't get agro.

Wait for the melee guy to get agro, attack from behind (you get a bonus to hit). And use weapons that have a benefit other than HP damage. (but even small HP damage is at least doing something helpful)