Need tips on playing a wizard

[Kohmi]

I have a level 8 PM wizard and long ago I discovered that wizards suck at sustained spell damage. So I have been using masters touch and a 2 handed weapon for damage with the ocasional spell thrown in. Now that I am getting up in level I am finding this very bad to do now as my HP is low, am squishy, and things like to hurt me lol.

What is the best way for a wizard to do damage? I use my skele mage all the time and he rocks but what should I be using? Melee weapon? Range? Wand?

[somenewnoob]

My wiz is a couple levels below yours, to save sp I have a lot of wands and scrolls stashed on a mule. I use these a lot for general trash and save the sp for tougher fights.

[herzkos]

wall of fire and displacement.
jump and expeditious retreat are also handy.

[AnYtHiNg23]

Death Aura and Lesser Death Aura are great sustained damage dealers - not in the same ball park as Wall of Fire but it also heals you.

Don't forget Negative Energy Burst as well.

Make sure you have a good Void Lore item as there aren't any enhancements for Negative spells (apart from Pale Master itself)

Later on, get Niacs (forgot name) and Eledars Electric Surge DoT spells - can stack up to 3 times, is great sustained dps too.

[thwart]

I have a level 8 PM wizard and long ago I discovered that wizards suck at sustained spell damage. So I have been using masters touch and a 2 handed weapon for damage with the ocasional spell thrown in. Now that I am getting up in level I am finding this very bad to do now as my HP is low, am squishy, and things like to hurt me lol.

What is the best way for a wizard to do damage? I use my skele mage all the time and he rocks but what should I be using? Melee weapon? Range? Wand?

I play an 11th level WF wiz although I am an archmage. I also use masters touch and a two handed weapon for some mobs. The other thing that I do is try and run some mobs close together and drop a firewall. THat is great use of spell points. Make sure you have maximize and empower. Also make sure that you have clickys that increase the damage of your spells.

I also carry some wands; however, I use them situationally. For example, I am fire specced at the moment. I keep running into a lot of blackbone skellies that are immune to fire. A lightning bolt wand is a great tool to bring down those arcane blackbones quickly.

Keep working at it. You will eventually get it and be very powerful. I am a solo player and I have found that I can easily solo much of the content that I have encountered so far.

[Ultimaetus]

Right now Im running a 17th level drow pm

Some tips on conserving sp
-Wands and scrolls, the cost is nearly trivial once your in the higher ups, also a wand of blasting from diplomatic impunity end chest is pretty cool (eternal and fires random 10d6 elemental dmg 10/charges)
-By the 12th level a pm can just go into form with death aura and just spam necro bolt, at 18 you can spam necro burst which is basically a negative energy fireball.
-torc of raiyum de 2 is an item that drops from DQ raid chest, it can convert melee dmg dealt to you into free sp
-a shroud concordant opposition item also can cause you to gain sp when getting hit (4% chance)
-I have messed around with tensers transformation. It is a novelty spell that lets you play like a melee( lose the ability to cast spells for its duration) stick with masers touch for practicality
-I have heard that the earwig can produce eggs that you can eat for sp. I havent gotten one yet so idk.
- the easiest way to conserve sp is to load up on defensive buffs and just haul yourself through the quest, then turn around and aoe the massive group following you.

[dredre9987]

-I have heard that the earwig can produce eggs that you can eat for sp. I havent gotten one yet so idk.

Take off disease immunities and then you can get the eggs.

[Kohmi]

can necro bolt/burst be used on yourself? the first ability at level 6 cannot be used on players

[Drekisen]

Get augment summon and start making use of charm spells......especially when you hit level six you will have mass suggestion and symbol of persuasion.....great great bang for the buck.......you minions will out last their former buddies and then dismiss charm one at a time what is left. Despite what anyone may tell you Augment Summon makes a huge difference.

Toss a non extended haste on them and it's a wash.....land an energy drain or ennervation on spellcasters and they can do a ton of damage for you as well.

Ennervation scrolls are great to carry for non spell resistant mobs, especially for higher difficulties so your insta death and non damage spells will land on them more often....u can even ennervate trash and non red nameds to death.

[MindCake]

I have a level 8 PM wizard and long ago I discovered that wizards suck at sustained spell damage. So I have been using masters touch and a 2 handed weapon for damage with the ocasional spell thrown in. Now that I am getting up in level I am finding this very bad to do now as my HP is low, am squishy, and things like to hurt me lol.

Out of curiosity (sorta) what spells are you using?

Because that doesn't quite match my experiences. Yes, back before U9 you needed to ration the SP quite carefully, but it was still possible to blast away. After U9 it became much easier, damage spells in particular are much cheaper, and then there's the bunch of SLAs that are nearly free, and the echoes of power just in case.

I imagine if I tried gearing for melee, say with STR gloves, anger's wrath set, bold/nimble trinket, the +1 to hit goggles and say, antique great axe then I could whack stuff for some damage. How good would that work? I'm not exactly interested to check.

I just get INT goggles, cunning trinket, archivist's necklace in my backpack, protector's gloves (DR 1/-), a pair of lore scepters/daggers, an array of superior inferno clickies and scorching ray/burning hands. Seems to kill the stuff dead just fine.

[DeafeningWhisper]

That sounds odd at that lvl on my Drow PM without really good gear I was doing nice damage, do U use a ten sp spell as your single target spell of choice? I went with Frost Lance(with Frost manipulation of course) and later switched it to Necrotic Ray, only used mass spells on groups and used my Lances to finish off trash to help the melee or kill archers/casters, once at the end fight turned all my metas on and earn my exp by dealing tons of damage to the boss. If U play less aggressive U can also keep the party buffed and be useful that way, do get Potency of the right lvl and clikies to help deal more damage.

While I chose Ice from the start I always kept some spell form other elements, also keep in mind that Scorching Ray will probably be better in lower lvls where undead reign supreme.

[Kohmi]

for single target I use frost lance. I have just under 600 SP (594). I have points into frost enhancements and for critting with frost. If I did have 600 that would only be 60 casts of frost lance, and with targets taking up to 3 casts of lance to die, it goes fast.

[Kohmi]

also, using the undead shrouds, should I use a melee weapon with them? cause their benefit is for unarmed

[Autechre]

Invisibility!

My point is play smart learn the mobs weakness, look at the quest objectives and terrain and act accordingly.

Tactics
Nuking
Crowd Control
Instant Killing

Those are the areas every wizard should excell in my eyes.

[Shakanos]

also, using the undead shrouds, should I use a melee weapon with them? cause their benefit is for unarmed

The unarmed "benefit" is a red herring, best used to amuse yourself when running a quest you vastly over level because you want favor.

There's two main, broad benefits to the undead forms. One of them is the various immunities you gain, many of which Warforged have as well. The other is that you're healed by negative energy. Lesser Death Aura (lvl2), Death Aura (lvl4), and Negative Energy Burst (lvl4) to be specific. Death Aura being the most efficient of the bunch (Extend works on it too - one of the few spells worth grabbing Extend for). The self healing aura also allows you to mindlessly spam the SLAs from each rank of Pale Master, as they cost HP instead of SP. They all do d6 per caster level so Necrotic Touch (costs 2HP), which you get with PM1, will work fine for free damage.

Unfortunately Zombie is your only option at low levels and it has an Int (aka, DC) penalty. The self healing will generally outweigh that while you learn quests, though.

[Kohmi]

do the other PM abilities (Necrotic bolt/blast) work on players? Like use a necro bolt on yourself to heal?

[wax_on_wax_off]

I have a level 8 PM wizard and long ago I discovered that wizards suck at sustained spell damage. So I have been using masters touch and a 2 handed weapon for damage with the ocasional spell thrown in. Now that I am getting up in level I am finding this very bad to do now as my HP is low, am squishy, and things like to hurt me lol.

What is the best way for a wizard to do damage? I use my skele mage all the time and he rocks but what should I be using? Melee weapon? Range? Wand?

The solution is to gather every mob in the dungeon and then let loose with maximised, empowered firewalls. SP efficiency is very good in this case.

Ok, so often that isn't possible but variants on this are quite possible. Don't let your party set the pace as they will just fight a few mobs at a time and your SP can't afford that. Run ahead (with extended displacement/haste/death aura and a stoneskin wand used), gather a bunch of mobs and then nuke them to death.

If you have low HP, it isn't a problem with the class, it is a problem with your build. You should have 14 base constitution on a drow wizard, you should have toughness and you should have both racial HP enhancements. You should be using bears endurance. You should have at least lesser false life (normal or improved is available). You should have an axeblock robe (to round out 5/- against all damage types in zombie form). You can use aid potion and false life wands to further boost HP. You can use rage clickies as well to get HP up again.

Add that up:
20 base
8*4 wizard
8*2 base con
8*3 bears endurance + rage clicky
10 false life item
30 toughness feat + enhancements
5 Palemaster I
= 137 HP
11 aid potion
13 false life wand
8 +2 con ship buff
8 +2 con tome
10 stalwart trinket from crystal cove
= 187 buffed HP possible

[evilgardengnome]

A cleric hireling with divine vitality will also help with SP.

...and keeping you alive.

[Drekisen]

Invisibility!

My point is play smart learn the mobs weakness, look at the quest objectives and terrain and act accordingly.

Tactics
Nuking
Crowd Control
Instant Killing

Those are the areas every wizard should excell in my eyes.

^This

Altho wizards can definitely be nukers, their main advantage is tactical play.

Wizard is to Sorc as Fighter or Rogue is to Barbarian.

Learn how to control the situation....not blow it up......that is not really the mould wizards are shaped from.

Notice the icons for each...Wizards is a book...symbol of intelligence, thoughtfulness....Sorc is a hand and flaming sphere.....symbol of aggression and raw power.

Also don't forget to trade in those Funerary Tokens for inflict serious potions........3 for 3....very hand in a pinch.

Hopefully you took the Archivist's set on Korthos, you can also grind out The Last Stand and the General's rare chest in the Sand's Explorer for an extra I think it is 225 total sp if you can obtain those two items. They are both ML 9 IIRC...225 is a ton of SP if you know how to use it conservatively.

Make a Concordant Opposition GS item FIRST as soon as you can, flag for ADQ and try getting the Torc, and then there is also the Mysterious Bauble at higher levels from Weapons Shipment.

It may seem silly, but the AH can sometimes be full of minor, lesser, and regular mnemonics for pretty cheap prices....if you buy a bunch of them they can really help in a tight spot through a tough quest.

And altho everyone seems to love to bash this idea because they are so concerned with XP/minute you can always run quick quest at any quest level range for end lists and end up with quite a few mnemonics this way...this is a lot easier for a Wiz too with end reward based on class option turned ON....as they are given these in end lists quite often.

[Barashkukor]

do the other PM abilities (Necrotic bolt/blast) work on players? Like use a necro bolt on yourself to heal?

No. Necro touch from PM1 used to work as a self-healer, but that was removed when a death aura-bug, that gave the player a save against every tick of the aura, was fixed.