Starting damage spell

[Mumu720]

I have noticed that in a lot of guides people take maguc missle as their first dmg spell. But why not niacs cold ray? It does more damage. Can someone help me out. Or could someone point me in the direction of a good wf nuker guide?

[Visty]

niacs has a save

[coolpenguin410]

Niac's has a save to negate the damage. That means, even if you have a high DC, a good number of your casts will be worthless doing absolutely no damage for low levels. That doesn't even factor in the fact that it's a ray and unless the target is moving straight at you, there's a good chance of missing, again doing no damage.

However, magic missle never misses, has no save and is rarely negated (by shield or nightshield spells). Any creature resistant to cold damge still take full damage from magic missle.

[Anneliese]

As a WF sorc you can do the lower levels usually easy with

#1 Masters Touch, Repair Light
#2 Shield
#3 Charm Person/Burning Hands/Hypno .. whatever floats your boat

[DownClan]

The problem with Magic Missile is that is does so little damage, why bother?

For low-level Sorc's, a very viable strategy is to use Master's Touch, and swing whatever good two-handed weapon you can get. If you drop some form of CC on a MOB and then whack at them, it works pretty well.

--DownClan

[richieelias]

MM is the worst spell to take *at low level* on a sorc. Extremely poor damage to mana. And even at later levels chain missile is better if you can fit it in.

Next worst for WF is Niacs unless you maxed CHA and took conjuration focus.

Burning Hands would come in third worst in my opinion. Mostly it just draws a lot of agro and does little damage.

Your best option (as WF) would be shocking grasp. Works on everything at low levels, does good damage, and instant cast on a sorc. You have repair (or you'd better), so being in melee range is not an issue.

I never bothered with charm at low level on a WF sorc. It was always easier just to burn through them with shocking grasp or whack at them with a mace.

My spell list for WF casters is: Shocking grasp, repair, expedious retreat (I do not like walking slow, and I do not like clickies) but a good alternative would be jump or shield instead.

[Mumu720]

MM is the worst spell to take *at low level* on a sorc. Extremely poor damage to mana. And even at later levels chain missile is better if you can fit it in.

Next worst for WF is Niacs unless you maxed CHA and took conjuration focus.

Burning Hands would come in third worst in my opinion. Mostly it just draws a lot of agro and does little damage.

Your best option (as WF) would be shocking grasp. Works on everything at low levels, does good damage, and instant cast on a sorc. You have repair (or you'd better), so being in melee range is not an issue.

I never bothered with charm at low level on a WF sorc. It was always easier just to burn through them with shocking grasp or whack at them with a mace.

My spell list for WF casters is: Shocking grasp, Shield, expedious retreat (I do not like walking slow) but a good alternative would be jump instead.

why wouldnt you max cha with a sorc?
So shocking grasp is a touch spell? How do you use it? Select them and cast? I dot no how to select some one if they arent in my party how do you do that?

[richieelias]

Well, with a WF nuker you do not necessarily *have* to maximize charisma, but its best to do so at all times anyway. The point was that you'd really need to maximize charisma *and* take the conjuration spell focus.

Yes it is touch range. Generally I just spam the button as something approaches me. It wont actually cast until it is in range. Most things will die with just one cast and wont even have time to get off one hit.

Best way to use it is to turn on mouselook "T" and bind your spells to keys near the wasd movement keys and the extra buttons on your mouse if you have any. You are now in something similar to first person shooter mode, and your spells will target whatever you are pointing the center of your screen at. I highly recommend trying this mode and getting used to playing this way.

If you are going the slow method of casting spells by manually clicking them on your hotbar... I would advise against using any touch spells. They simply are not friendly with non-mouselook mode given the mobile nature of the game. You can select monsters easily with the <tab> key.

[Mumu720]

O ok i didnt no if there was a specific way to target them, normally i just hold down the right mouse button so its basically the same thing. Ok so this is along the same lines but what "stun"( spells that render the victim inmobile and unable to attack) are good. I no web is good but what about hypnotise?

[Maegin]

hypno used to be the zergs wet dream, till DA, but its still good

[Mumu720]

Whats da?

[richieelias]

DA = dungeon alert.

Supposedly dungeon alert is getting nerfed in update 3, but so are CC spell durations... so.....

[Mumu720]

This may be the frenzie barb in me but i say keep the dungeon alert, means i have to run less to kill everything!

[richieelias]

All dungeon alert does is make you run slower if too many mobs are "awake" at once, reducing you to a crawl at red.

This is highly annoying in certain quests where large numbers of mobs are "awake" but unreachable at the start.

[Stonen]

Never liked mm in ddo, because it doesn't kill mobs in one time. You will then get aggro and the mob comes after you. I rather use niacs for a kill or nothing. The nothing doesn't get my squishie robwearer in trouble.
And I allways liked killing the ogres with maximized niacs. I considered killing the troublemakers fast as my job.

[Mumu720]

Ok so now what about the night shield spell? Is that worth it? Im just trying to get my starting spell setup to get a good
foundation going for my toon.

[richieelias]

Shield and nightshield both do the same basic thing - protect against magic missile. Nightshield gives a bonus to saves, shield gives a bonus to AC. Since AC is actually useful at low level, go with that and just wear a resistance item. You only need one though, so go with one or the other.

[Mumu720]

Shield and nightshield both do the same basic thing - protect against magic missile. Nightshield gives a bonus to saves, shield gives a bonus to AC. Since AC is actually useful at low level, go with that and just wear a resistance item. You only need one though, so go with one or the other.

Well since i can get the bracers from ww thats plus 4 to ac so shield is obsolete. Im mainly asking if the plus 3 to saves(max) is worth it? Or if there is something more worth it?

[Freeman]

Well since i can get the bracers from ww thats plus 4 to ac so shield is obsolete. Im mainly asking if the plus 3 to saves(max) is worth it? Or if there is something more worth it?

The bracers give you an armor bonus. The Shield spell gives you a shield bonus. They stack with each other, so the bracers do not make the spell obsolete. At lower levels, the Shield spell will be better.

[richieelias]

The bracers do however make mage armor obsolete. Though that spell isnt worth taking on a sorc anyway.

Also, come about level 9 to 11 the only thing you will be using nightshield or shield for is the magic missile immunity (which includes chain missile and force missiles). Your AC wont matter at that point, and you're likely to have a resistance item greater than +3 which wont stack with nightshield. So, by midgame your choice of which of the two to use wont make much of a difference.