Which Feat(s) to drop?

[Krinn83]

I'm planning a Warforged Archmage, with 12 feats to choose.

Planning to have 2x Focus on Necromancy (for high save DC), 1x Focus on Conjuration (for web SLA) and 1x Focus on Enchantment (for hypnotism SLA).
That's 4 feats, then there's Mental Toughness (required), Maximize, Empower, Heighten, Quicken, 2x Spell Penetration, Toughness, Insightful Reflexes.

That's 13 feats, but I can only have 12. Which one would you drop?
With the Past Life feat, which one would you drop after that?

I'm considering Toughness, Insightful Reflexes and the Spell Penetration line. Between Toughness and Insightful Reflexes, I feel the latter would help more toward survivability in epics, since Toughness is just 42 hp while a halved spell easily accounts for a hundred damage. Spell Penetration I'd rather not drop but after a couple past lives it might be a valid choice.

What's your advice?

[FuzzyDuck81]

I'd drop empower - as a necro focussed archmage you're more likely to be using instakills etc. so spell damage won't be as much of an issue especially if you already have maximise.

[Franke]

Personally I'd drop sf conjuration and aim for an epic Docent of the Diabolist for +3 conjuration dc's and nail everything with webs. After you TR with pl Wiz I'd probably drop one spell pen feat . . .have fun which ever way you decide to go.

[Krinn83]

SF Conjuration is needed for Archmage Secondary School Focus (Conjuration) and Web SLA (cheap!).
I'm basically going Necro/Conj for Necro DC and Conj SLA. Enchantment is there for Hypno SLA, not school focus.

Losing Empower means DPS loss on DoTs vs bosses... is the loss negligible enough to make Empower worth less than Toughness?
Maybe less dps would also mean less issues with aggro and that'd be a plus...

Dropping SP to make room for PL makes sense

[CountHenri]

Personally I'd take and then swap Insightful Reflexes for one of the foci ~ Its great leveling but not so useful once capped (free feat exchange FTW)...

Since you have, as a Wizard, the ability to cast resistance/protection from elements , stoneskin and Fireshield on demand you can mitigate a lot of damage yourself...

Failing a spell pen check or having an enemy (or worse a group of enemies) make a save is far more dangerous to you...

With your Past life drop a Spell Pen ~ you'll have the gear (if you've properly tooled up before TR) to compensate...

With regard to Toughness 42HP is a non-trivial % of your overall HP at cap so keep that in mind...

[K_0tiC]

If you take secondary enchantment you can use 1sp hypno for -3will save on weaken will (no save) to anything you want to hold etc, webs work ok but you get too many things that burn/blow them up etc. When you want something like a web to stick drop a solid fog+web on the same spot = -5 reflex no save to anything in the solid fog. Youll find your discoball is a better option since the lasting time is about double of a web also.
If you invest in abit of dex items get about a 20ish +resistance item buffs like gh etc you should be able to manage a mid 20s reflex good enough to make most saves 5+ish on a roll then use things like mass prot/fire shield to mitigate the left over dmg your going to take, youd have to roll really badly to get dropped by spell dmg if your buffed right. This would allow for you to drop IR and leave your secondary options open.
You could consider dropping toughness when you have obtained your idea gear set and say a shroud hp item as well as a sp item this would give you the hp lost back you really dont want to be under 400-500hp in epics, damage ranges from 30s~90s and some red names in the 120s.
be sure that your spell pen for level 9 spells is @ least 29 before dropping feats in favor of spell focus etc spell pen failures are gonna hurt you more then 1dc differnce in a save in situations like wailing/circling on mobs 1dc might mean 1-2 save but failed spell pen could see the 5/10 save.

[Krinn83]

Ok then, dropping Insightful Reflexes in 1st life, dropping Toughness in 2nd and subsequent lives

HP breakdown with toughness on 1st life:

20 (heroic durability)
80 (hit dice)
160 (constitution 26 = 18 starting +6 item +2 AP)
22 (toughness feat)
20 (toughness AP)
10 (argonessen favor)
20 (toughness item)
30 (greater false life item)
____________
362 hp unbuffed

20 (rage spell)
40 (yugoloth potion)
20 (+2 con ship buff)
20 (maximum toughness AP)
____________
462 hp max buffed


HP breakdown without toughness on 2nd+ life:

20 (heroic durability)
80 (hit dice)
200 (constitution 30 = 20 starting +6 item +2 AP +2 tome)
10 (argonessen favor)
20 (toughness item)
30 (greater false life item)
45 (shroud item)
___________
405 hp unbuffed

20 (rage spell)
40 (yugoloth potion)
20 (con +7 epic item and exc.con +1 colorless slot)
20 (exc.con +2 epic item)
20 (+2 con ship buff)
10 (superior false life instead of greater false life item)
20 (+4 tome)
____________
545 hp max buffed

Yeah, dropping toughness can work.

[StrixAluco]

So for a first life warforged archmage would it be viable with:
Toughness
Maximize
Mental Toughness
SF: Necro
SF: Conj
Insightful Reflexes
Empower
GSF: Necro
Quicken
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration
Heighten
?
- and in which order would you recommend to take the feats?

[blade_of_will]

For your first life, main things I would consider dropping would be one of sf:ench/conj (why? because you only need so much cc. I would drop enchant first probably, because web can catch almost anything, and its one of the few non-will save ccs), empower, toughness, IR in roughly that order.

Future wiz lives, drop spell pen feats, since thats what your past life feats are for :P

Depends partly on your playstyle, if you dont like to be hit/stay in the back often, IR and toughness may be less important to you. If you like to be up front, gain sp from torc/conc opp, wailing everything, IR and toughness may be essentials that you dont want to lose.