Help me out with my wizard

[Maelodic]

Right now my feats planned are:

1 Least dragonmark of healing
1 Maximise
3 Empower
5 Mental Toughness
6 Spell Focus: Evocation
9 Lesser Dragonmark of Healing
10 Heighten
12 Greater Dragonmark of Healing
15 Spell Penetration
15 Spell focus: Enchantment
18 Toughness
20 Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment

I'm currently level 10, and have all the feats up to level 10. I'm really really loving the SLAs my archmage has while retaining metas and dragonmarks. I can't stand warforged so don't even bring that up.

So as I am loving my evocation focus, and about to hit level 12, is GSF: Evocation worth it for infinate chain missiles and cyconic blast at later levels? Basically SP free casting- only spending SP really on buffs and CC. (Stuff before 20 exists)

I could take it at 12, take GDM at 15, and delay SF: Enchant. What do you think?

First character, currently the highest I have. I was told to switch out evocation focus for conjuration for epics, but I don't know, I really am loving the SLAs.

[Krago]

That is a long time to wait for toughness. Im not sure I understand the benefit of the healing marks as being a wizard you should have more than enough skill points to but some into UMD and gain wand whipping abilities for self healing. Especially burning 3 feats which could be use elsewhere to enhance your casting ability.

I do like most of the feats you have picked, but you are missing out on at least 20hp until level 18 by delaying taking Toughness until then.

[Maelodic]

That is a long time to wait for toughness. Im not sure I understand the benefit of the healing marks as being a wizard you should have more than enough skill points to but some into UMD and gain wand whipping abilities for self healing. Especially burning 3 feats which could be use elsewhere to enhance your casting ability.

I do like most of the feats you have picked, but you are missing out on at least 20hp until level 18 by delaying taking Toughness until then.

Well, if you think about it, with the no-fail max and empowered heals, I'm gaining a ton more HP than just 20-40. I put a lot less strain on the healers that way as well, as if they're out or unconscious I can save them too. I don't know the exact calculation, but I'm pretty sure I get well over 1000 hp in heals, and as long as I'm not stunned, I can use them as quickly as a lay on hands, that's why I picked them up. Wizard by far has the most synergy with the halfling dragonmarks, and I wanted healing the entire game without having to worry about money or using SP on it, like warforged do.

The main thing I'm asking is does an Evocation archmage spamming chain missile/magic missile/cyconic blast/arcane blast/arcane bolt that are all emp/maxed work well for DPS or should I just switch to a conjuration/enchantment focus? I can't get the main damagers in the evocation line without getting greater spell focus.

[Mrmorphling]

You have quite an unusual choice of feat; apart from the very late tooughness you are missing:

- Greater spell penetration: it depends wether you want to cc or not, if your only focus will be spamming SLAa and DoT you can maybe ditch it but gl landing holds/discoballs

- Insightfull reflexes: for high lvl gameplay is VERY handy as it's the difference between not surviving more than 2 hits unless you roll 2x 20s or surviving 4 hits unless you roll 4x 1s

- Quicken: i can see the reasoning here as you don't have a self healing spell (recon and NEB) to worry about, still being able to cast that crucial hold/ball while pinned down can save your party; crucial no, handy yes.

With eladar and niac and full or near full spec on cold and ice plus assorte SLAs you should be able to sustain a resonable amount of DPS.

[Skavenaps]

Well, if you think about it, with the no-fail max and empowered heals

i dont think your empower will work, you need empower healing feat to affect healing spells. or is diferent for marks?

[Moltier]

i dont think your empower will work, you need empower healing feat to affect healing spells. or is diferent for marks?

Empower healing works on every heal spells and ability.
Empower and maximize works on these too, except heal, mass heal, and the radiant servant aura+burst.

[Maelodic]

You have quite an unusual choice of feat; apart from the very late tooughness you are missing:

- Greater spell penetration: it depends wether you want to cc or not, if your only focus will be spamming SLAa and DoT you can maybe ditch it but gl landing holds/discoballs

With the recent heavy nerf on crowd control, I have decided the best crowd control is death. I'll still be able to land SOME hypnotisms due to my archmage enhancements and greater spell focus stuff, but I'm mainly going to be focusing on killing everything ever.

- Insightfull reflexes: for high lvl gameplay is VERY handy as it's the difference between not surviving more than 2 hits unless you roll 2x 20s or surviving 4 hits unless you roll 4x 1s

- Quicken: i can see the reasoning here as you don't have a self healing spell (recon and NEB) to worry about, still being able to cast that crucial hold/ball while pinned down can save your party; crucial no, handy yes.

With eladar and niac and full or near full spec on cold and ice plus assorte SLAs you should be able to sustain a resonable amount of DPS.

With these I'll probably consider LRing toward the end of my wizard career, though I may just say screw it and TR and start a new wizard with everything I've learned. This is my first character I can actually see hitting cap, which was a tough concept for me considering I only have gianthold and vale. I'm presuming I'm going to TR and start a new wizard with the bonuses and such, also then knowing exactly what I want and how to get it. This is just my experimental run, with dragonmarks to make sure I don't die. It makes soloing way easier, and most people underestimate the heavy power of dragonmarks under a heavily metamagiced wizard.

I'm not really looking at endgame or epics yet. Probably farming twink stuff, crafting, and all that, but I'm sure I won't be up for epics with my lack of adventure packs and uber gear. Also from my knowledge you need some awesome stuff to even begin epics, so you know, long road ahead.

My main question though is if I should take GSF: Evocation in order to get incredibly powerful SLAs, or should I spec to something else. I didn't realize you wouldn't get chain missiles until just now. If it's a good idea to switch around feats to add that, how should I do so?

Everyone's focusing on the build rather than the actual question...

[DragonTroy]

With the recent heavy nerf on crowd control, I have decided the best crowd control is death. I'll still be able to land SOME hypnotisms due to my archmage enhancements and greater spell focus stuff, but I'm mainly going to be focusing on killing everything ever.



With these I'll probably consider LRing toward the end of my wizard career, though I may just say screw it and TR and start a new wizard with everything I've learned. This is my first character I can actually see hitting cap, which was a tough concept for me considering I only have gianthold and vale. I'm presuming I'm going to TR and start a new wizard with the bonuses and such, also then knowing exactly what I want and how to get it. This is just my experimental run, with dragonmarks to make sure I don't die. It makes soloing way easier, and most people underestimate the heavy power of dragonmarks under a heavily metamagiced wizard.

I'm not really looking at endgame or epics yet. Probably farming twink stuff, crafting, and all that, but I'm sure I won't be up for epics with my lack of adventure packs and uber gear. Also from my knowledge you need some awesome stuff to even begin epics, so you know, long road ahead.

My main question though is if I should take GSF: Evocation in order to get incredibly powerful SLAs, or should I spec to something else. I didn't realize you wouldn't get chain missiles until just now. If it's a good idea to switch around feats to add that, how should I do so?

Everyone's focusing on the build rather than the actual question...

hahahahaha, yeah, when people see something odd on a build, they usually focus on that over everything else

onto your question, i have a friend who is planning on being a evo archmage, and yes, the fully metamagic'd slas can destroy. i suggest you take that GSF :evo. and make everyone fear the halfling

[RTN]

If you're going for DPS, then you should really go sorc rather than wiz. Right now, you're a poor imitation of a sorc.

A wiz shines in their higher DCs and spell flexibility. If you want to kill as a wiz, you should go either pale master or archmage w/ a necro focus.

Like the others, I think you're wasting 3 feats on dragonmarks which you should be spending to increase your casting ability.

[Maelodic]

hahahahaha, yeah, when people see something odd on a build, they usually focus on that over everything else

onto your question, i have a friend who is planning on being a evo archmage, and yes, the fully metamagic'd slas can destroy. i suggest you take that GSF :evo. and make everyone fear the halfling

Thank you, I was worried they wouldn't be viable endgame. How should I re-arrange my feats 12+ then?

If you're going for DPS, then you should really go sorc rather than wiz. Right now, you're a poor imitation of a sorc.

A wiz shines in their higher DCs and spell flexibility. If you want to kill as a wiz, you should go either pale master or archmage w/ a necro focus.

Like the others, I think you're wasting 3 feats on dragonmarks which you should be spending to increase your casting ability.

I'm not really min-maxing, nor do I have the means to do any real DC casting at high levels. While I could farm these things, I'd rather just blow things up. I picked Wiz because I didn't know what spells did, so I wanted access to ALL of them. Testing out each one to shine in it's own way. I wanted self healing at every level, hence dragonmarks, which are super efficient and don't cost anything other than getting ardor clickies, which I have an abundance of.

I'm looking to explore everything right now. I'm still a viable toon and can do meaningful damage, and even contribute to party healing. This character is about the journey, it's my first. I had reasons for all this things, I just did an oops, which is why I posted here.

[DragonTroy]

Thank you, I was worried they wouldn't be viable endgame. How should I re-arrange my feats 12+ then?

i think the way you suggested in the OP is best. you dont really need GSF enchant if you are going to be doing a good bit of cc though

[Maelodic]

i think the way you suggested in the OP is best. you dont really need GSF enchant if you are going to be doing a good bit of cc though

So take GSF: Evocation and spell pen at 15, and then take SF: Enchant at 20?

[RTN]

I'm not really min-maxing, nor do I have the means to do any real DC casting at high levels. While I could farm these things, I'd rather just blow things up.

In that case, once you cap, I'd recommend trying out sorc through TR or a new character after you've learned about all the spells since that was one of your concerns. TRing from Wiz to Sorc also gets you some nice benefits as well.

[Maelodic]

In that case, once you cap, I'd recommend trying out sorc through TR or a new character after you've learned about all the spells since that was one of your concerns. TRing from Wiz to Sorc also gets you some nice benefits as well.

Should I farm some gear first or just strait up TR?

[RTN]

Should I farm some gear first or just strait up TR?

Depends. I wouldn't make an exceptional INT item since you're trying a sorc next. Some of the other caster items from various raids would be nice and might be worth trying to get. Since you have the Vale, you might consider making either a concordant opposition item or a SP item (or both). I like both on my goggle slot (start w/ the SP item, then swap to the Con-Opp item). However, it depends on how much grinding you want to do (i.e., running the Shroud). If I recall correctly, the SP item is single shard, which will be much cheaper. The Con-Opp is a double shard (at the 3rd tier), which takes a lot more ingredients. Those are both nice for a TR, but not a deal breaker if you don't have them. I'd say farm up gear until you're bored, then TR.

[Maelodic]

Depends. I wouldn't make an exceptional INT item since you're trying a sorc next. Some of the other caster items from various raids would be nice and might be worth trying to get. Since you have the Vale, you might consider making either a concordant opposition item or a SP item (or both). I like both on my goggle slot (start w/ the SP item, then swap to the Con-Opp item). However, it depends on how much grinding you want to do (i.e., running the Shroud). If I recall correctly, the SP item is single shard, which will be much cheaper. The Con-Opp is a double shard (at the 3rd tier), which takes a lot more ingredients. Those are both nice for a TR, but not a deal breaker if you don't have them. I'd say farm up gear until you're bored, then TR.

Good to know, I presume it'll be fun to run around as a sorc with the extra boosts to DCs that Wizard gives.

Anyway, thanks for the advice, I'll see what I can do.

[Kinerd]

The thing about being viable endgame is that as a wizard people are going to expect you to be able to CC, and you will struggle with it as currently constituted. While you will be viable in the sense of contributing something to the group, it can mean trouble if that something is not what people were looking for when they selected you to fill their group.

Also, SLAs do cost SP. This is especially relevant for Cyclonic Blast, which due to a quirk in the spell balance pass costs exactly as much as an SLA as it does cast normally, although it can be metamagicked for free.

[Maelodic]

The thing about being viable endgame is that as a wizard people are going to expect you to be able to CC, and you will struggle with it as currently constituted. While you will be viable in the sense of contributing something to the group, it can mean trouble if that something is not what people were looking for when they selected you to fill their group.

Also, SLAs do cost SP. This is especially relevant for Cyclonic Blast, which due to a quirk in the spell balance pass costs exactly as much as an SLA as it does cast normally, although it can be metamagicked for free.

I'm worried about DCs to begin with, because I'm 28 point and don't have any gear built up. Damage doesn't really require a lot other than superior lore and superior (insert element here) clickies, and metas as a mage, so that's why I went that route, wheras CC requires spell penetration on top of all that, along with more feats. I basically traded in my CC ability at 20 for healing.

With cyconic blast, I know it's the same, but you can still maximize and empower it, which is 150%, the difference between 100 damage and 250 damage, and the gap widens with enhancements and clickies. I am totally down with that. I can chain all the SLAs indefinately for a stream of damage as well, using the lighter ones when nessicary and the heavier ones when nessicary, most likely it'll be MM, Chain Missle, and Cyconic when they have evasion and Arcane Blast/Bolt/Cyconic when they have shield on.

[Fallout]

I'm worried about DCs to begin with, because I'm 28 point and don't have any gear built up. Damage doesn't really require a lot other than superior lore and superior (insert element here) clickies, and metas as a mage, so that's why I went that route, wheras CC requires spell penetration on top of all that, along with more feats. I basically traded in my CC ability at 20 for healing.

Thats a very bad trade off. Do you plan to stand in the middle of mobs? No right, you'll probably keep your distance. CC mobs = not getting hit. CC mobs = dead mobs. The mentality of groups now days is sorc=dps, wiz = cc. The sorc's pre enables them to do more damage than wiz, not to mention wiz have less SP. Wiz also have advantage of instant kill spells. So basically you're not using wiz to its strengths, thats why you're having some trouble now.

I recommend farming for equipment first before TR, because equipment is the most important factor. Unless you plan to change race. 28 build isn't a big deal because caster classes is basically max your primary stat and put rest into con.

[licho]

Meh, are you feeling gimped now?
If not, keep going. You definetly went other than everyone path, its quite possible that will suffer (either you or party) at level 20. But its still 10 more levels. You can swap feats once there, you can LR once there, you can pike 20 epics and start from beggining, or just reroll. Anyway the best answear will give actual play.