Sorc or Wiz?

[Bobthesponge]

I prefer wiz 6/ sorc 7/bard 7, Half-Orc, wisdom maxed with throwing weapons.

oo... nice build. although i would also be a drow specced for shuriken.

[winsom]

Here are some very useful "wizard" spells that I typically do not see sorcerors using due to their limited spell slots:

Master's Touch = proficiency in the held weapon. As far as I know this is not available for sale as scroll.

Knock = very useful for the Shroud raid and other places. Many sorcerors will take this eventually but they are probably giving up Scorching Ray or Blur because they can only have Four 2nd level spell slots, A wizard can load up Five spells.

Rage = a popular party buff for extra damage and hit points.

Protection from Energy = a life saver in certain quests. If the wizard is quick to repeat-cast this he can survive a long time under heavy attack. At higher levels I repeat cast the 7th level Mass-version that protects from all energy types to everyone around me. A smart wizard-build will have the Insightful Reflexes feat for superior survivability compared to sorcerors.

Sleet Storm = one of the few spells that will modify how a boss monster will fight. He moves around in small steps and turns around because he doesn't like the Storm. That means he is attacking less often, i.e. easier to heal people. Many monsters are blinded by this spell too making it like a better form of Displacement.

Suggestion, Mass Suggestion = very useful at all levels of play, including Epic. Wizards can get a very high Enchantment DC. Any time you make a monster behave differently or attack differently you can take advantage of it, just like any other exploit that DDO players use.

Enervation, Energy Drain = some wizards will load up both of these for rapid energy draining as de-buffing or as a damage-dealing alternative. Enervation cooperates well with an item of Spell Penetration VII or less. Do you have a Spell Pen 9 item for Energy Drain?

Fire Shield/Chill Shield = a life-saving personal spell. Half damage is extremely useful especially against bosses and on Epic. You can get short duration from scrolls. I rarely see Sorcerors, bards, rogues (UMD) taking advantage of this protection.

Solid Fog/Acid Fog/Cloudkill = not often useful but certain adventures can exploit it very well, especially if the caster is soloing or short-manning the adventure. i.e. Web + Cloudkill = frost giants stop attacking, take damage, and lose CON. Now easier to land Stunning Blow/Fist for quick killing.

Stoneskin = added survivability is always great and the spell is superior to Wand usage. I think smart sorcerors will have this, but many will not because they only know Four level 4 spells, while the wizard can load up Five.

Ball Lightning/Chain Lightning = It is very useful to be able to deal high amounts of damage with energy other than fire and cold. I suspect a lot of sorcerors will have one of these spells, but they might not. A wizard can always have it ready, along with every other useful 5th and 6th level spell.

Break Enchantment = situationally very useful, even though I personally do not bother to cast it much even when loaded.

Dominate Person/Monster = very good for specific high level adventure exploitation, or small-group adventuring.

Mind Fog = the spell save de-buffer that allows wizards to land some really impressive control spells if they don't already have an Enchantment DC of 40+ . Epic Ward supposedly prevents it from working.

Summon Monster V: Bearded Devil = a very potent summon spell for characters around 9th level. Sorcs and UMD users are able to buy lots of scrolls of this.

Greater Heroism, Flesh to Stone, Reconstruct = very potent spells to cast from memory. Sorcerors and UMDers can use scrolls for half-power (or less). Only a Wizard is likely to have all of these available in memory, along with the other very useful level 6 spells.

Otto's Dancing Sphere, Delayed Blast Fireball, Symbol of Stunning, Waves of Exhaustion: A wizard is not likely to have all of these prepared at once, but he could. A sorceror will never have most of these prepared due to there being other good 7th level choices.

Summon Monster 8 & 9 = some very potent pets that any wizard will have available as needed. These scrolls are not available for purchase from vendors. Some sorcerors still do not have these. Perhaps they will change their mind eventually when they see what wizards are doing with them.

Meteor Swarm = an extremely high damage spell if you have a Combustion item to enhance it (Phoenix Regalia). The non-fire damage component alone is higher damage than many other lower level spells.

"end game, you will always use the exact same spells....whats the point of havin all if u use only the same ones again and again"

I have a wizard and a sorceror. They play the same in many ways but the differences are very noticible. The sorceror has a few very useful strengths and a few weaknesses.

The wizard's spell versatility is a strength to a player that knows when certain spells will serve better than the selection that most sorcerors end up with.