Wizard advice

[blade_of_will]

So, my wizard is the first char I got above 8, and I recently reached 20. Up until maybe the 17+ range, I felt comfortable soloing most stuff on normal or hard. While packs were on sale last week, i farmed up some tp and bought the devils of shavarath pack. The wilderness area was hard compared to earlier levels, but the ToD flagging quests were difficult enough to make me feel.. from weak, to impotent, to a buff bot. The combination of high saves + SR + high health on... everything makes me unsure of what I should be doing in a group, partly because up until now ive been able to tank a moderate amount of damage and simply gather up everything and aoe it to death, and the few things i couldnt do that easily with I could generally adapt to by going slowly.

My wiz is a first-life 28 point build pm, human, with 37 necro, 35 enchant, and 33 other dcs, with 442 hp. Not great, but not horrible I think, most of the improvement I need to make is in raid gear which takes time.

What are some tips from other mages for what I can do to become more effective? Mainly I'm wondering what I can do to make the most of what I have, and what would be a solid selection of spells to use for me now and later when i improve my gear for content that i cant instakill (or cant reliably instakill yet), and gameplay tips/tricks in general that you (or other casters youve seen) use.

[LeLoric]

So, my wizard is the first char I got above 8, and I recently reached 20. Up until maybe the 17+ range, I felt comfortable soloing most stuff on normal or hard. While packs were on sale last week, i farmed up some tp and bought the devils of shavarath pack. The wilderness area was hard compared to earlier levels, but the ToD flagging quests were difficult enough to make me feel.. from weak, to impotent, to a buff bot. The combination of high saves + SR + high health on... everything makes me unsure of what I should be doing in a group, partly because up until now ive been able to tank a moderate amount of damage and simply gather up everything and aoe it to death, and the few things i couldnt do that easily with I could generally adapt to by going slowly.

My wiz is a first-life 28 point build pm, human, with 37 necro, 35 enchant, and 33 other dcs, with 442 hp. Not great, but not horrible I think, most of the improvement I need to make is in raid gear which takes time.

What are some tips from other mages for what I can do to become more effective? Mainly I'm wondering what I can do to make the most of what I have, and what would be a solid selection of spells to use for me now and later when i improve my gear for content that i cant instakill (or cant reliably instakill yet), and gameplay tips/tricks in general that you (or other casters youve seen) use.

For normal amrath your necro dc is starting to get in the useful range. What is your spell pen? The good thing anymore with wail/finger is even if they don't land they do a decent chunk of dmg. If you are lightning specced gather a group of mobs wail to pick some off and start dmging the rest then follow up with a good ball or chain lightning for some pretty decent dmg.

[blade_of_will]

Spell pen is 20 + 4(feats) + 3(enhancement) = 27 for lvl 8&9, 29 for 7 and lower when I use a spell pen VII weapon.

Im kinda sorta able to land FoD on tieflings, but for the devils its maybe 50/50 at best on the weakest ones.

And I was considering trying something different for elemental lines, so maybe i'll try out a few points in lightning.

[LeLoric]

Spell pen is 20 + 4(feats) + 3(enhancement) = 27 for lvl 8&9, 29 for 7 and lower when I use a spell pen VII weapon.

Im kinda sorta able to land FoD on tieflings, but for the devils its maybe 50/50 at best on the weakest ones.

And I was considering trying something different for elemental lines, so maybe i'll try out a few points in lightning.

Yeah the melee tieflings have higher fort saves then the devils in amrath. 50/50 isn't optimal but its serviceable until you can get those saves up a bit more. You can also always use fear or scare to lower saves as an aoe will based debuff that uses your necro dc's. Groups may get a little mad at you but to be honest youll often just get shaken instead of fear which is -2 to all saves but they don't run off anywhere. Many of the amrath quest use large groups of teleporting mobs a sumbol of death works well in these spots as it will lower saves and they keep teleporting in and out of it for a neg level each time.

[bigolbear]

id suggest the folowing spells to lower saves.

symbol of death.
fear
enervate/energy drain.