New Player Nuking 101

[Varis]

Nuking 101 : A guide to burning dungeons to the ground

To start, let’s make sure this is your cup of tea.

A nuker is a very aggressive caster, comfortable with all the aggro and at melee. You’re at the front of the party working with an intimi tank, getting all the agro yourself or committed to taking out the most dangerous enemy. Crowd control, charming and buffing are possible roles but not your forte, especially at elite you may have to soften them up with a level drain or enervate before finishing them off

If you are more of a passive player that prefers to buff the party and keep the healing needs reasonable with crowd control, then a nuker is not for you… not that you can’t nuke but the build is not geared for it and the play style is very different.

Here is a little guide to nuking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAQDI0xqM3Q

A word on nuker builds:


Race:Any race will make a good nuker although Drow, Humans and Warforged have a small edge if your gear and play style makes use of that. For sure it is not something to have sleepless nights over.

Starting stats:
4 things to worry about in that order… Charisma, dex, con and int.
Charisma needs to be at max
Dex and con need about the same (little bit more dex if you can)
Int needs to be at 10 for any race except humans (humans only need 8)

Example stats:
Drow 8str, 16dex, 12con, 10int, 8 wis, 20 cha
28point Human 8str, 14dex, 14con, 8 int, 8 wis, 18 cha
32point Human 8str, 16dex, 14con, 8 int, 8 wis, 18 cha


Spells: (Note, this is a nukers spell selection at 20th. empty slots are for whatever you prefer)

1st level spells:
1.expeditious Retreat 2.jump 3.shield/nightshield 4. empty (niacs, shocking grasp and burning hands are must have spells to 5th level to be swapped after that)

2nd level spells:
1.resist energy 2.scorching ray 3.web 4.knock (if you have very limited gear and money then the spell eagles splendor is a great choice until you can get a +4 charisma item)

3rd level spells:
1.Rage 2.haste 3.displacement 4. Fireball, once you get Delayed Blast Fireball swap Fireball for Acid Blast

4th level spells:
1.Firewall 2.Stoneskin 3.Fireshield 4.Dimension door

5th level spells:
1.Cone of Cold 2.Protection from Elements 3.Cloudkill 4. empty

6th level spells:
1.Disintegrate 2. Greater Heroism 3. Flesh to stone (greater heroism is often just scrolled so put whatever you want... I just take it because a scroll spell will get dispelled every time and that... annoys me)

7th level spells:
1. DBF!!! muahahaahah (delayed blast fireball) 2. Finger of Death 3. Waves of exhaustion

8th level spells:
1.Polar Ray 2. Ottos Irresistable Dance 3. empty

9th level spells:
1.energy drain 2. Wail of the Banshee 3. empty (popular is summon monster 9, meteorswarm and mass hold monster)


Skills:
Max concentration and max UMD (use magical device)

Things like jump and balance are not important. Spells and items will get enough of a bonus so you won’t have to ever worry about them.

Feats: what is not required, is recommended

Empower (required)
Maximise (required)
Heighten (required)
Spell focus: transmutation (great for disintegrate, flesh to stone and greater shout)
Greater spell focus: transmutation
Toughness (only once)
Force of Personality
Extend


if you don’t like the focus, you can exchange it for spell penetration, mental toughness or whatever fluff you like ;-)


Enhancements:

few things to focus on, the rest is up to you:

Your primary damage line, be it Fire/Cold, Lighting/Acid or Force/Repair, needs to be completely maxed out.
For Fire/Cold spec for example that means, Elemental Manipulation, Lineage of Deadly Elements and Lineage of Elements at the highest you can get.

Then you worry about Sorcerers Charisma and energy of the dragonblooded.

After that comes wandmastery UNLESS you are warforged

I would recommend to finish it off with improved empower and maximize but it’s really up to you.



Once you are comfortable with nuking I have another vid with tips on gathering mobs up for a nuke and some good uses of firewall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfKJry5Pk3Y