Build Review/Advice [Archmage PrE focus]

[carlosjuero]

Hello DDO Vets - I am looking for some input/advice on my wizard build. I am heading towards the Archmage PrE [yeah yeah, PM is the big "I Win" build, but I want an Archmage].

My primary focus is to be a decent solo character with some group support - some parts of the character are kind of set in stone unless [/until] I can manage a GR [not happening anytime soon though - too far away to contemplate level wise].

Here is the My DDO page for my character: http://my.ddo.com/character/khyber/firanas/ showing the gear and basic stats [gear is mainly up to date, My DDO only stopped updating information recently].

Here are the stats w/ gear [/feat] modifiers:

STR: 10
DEX: 11 [10 + 1 from Moog's Ornament Trinket]
CON: 14 [13 + 1 from crafted belt {Health +1 Belt of Light Fort - Con +1, Light Fort} {conflicts w/ Moss Weave Cloak which gives Con +1 and Fort Save +2}]
INT: 21 [19 + 1 Feat + 1 from Arcane Necklace]
WIS: 8
CHA: 11 [10 + 1 from Arcane Necklace]

The Arcane Mind set is "conflicting" with other items [as you can see from the gear shown on My DDO] - but I haven't found anything to replace them or been able to come up with a crafted solution [my attempts at Bracers/Necklace/Hood[/helm] crafting have met w/ failure as I guess I am not high enough crafting level]

Here are my skills:

{Skill: Total Mod - Rank - Ability Mod - Misc Mod}

Balance: 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 [I have no idea why this is at 1 - I dont' remember putting points into it]
Bluff: 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
Concentration: 15 - 8 - +2 - +5
Diplomacy: 3 - 2 - 0 - +1
Disable Device: N/A
Haggle: 3 - 3 - 0 - 0
Heal: 3 - 4 - (-1) - 0
Hide: 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
Intimidate: 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
Jump: 1 - 0 - 0 - +1
Listen: 1 - 0 - (-1) - +2
Move Silently: 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
Open Lock, Perform: N/A
Repair: 14 - 8 - +5 - +1
Search: 7 - 0 - +5 - +2
Spot: 3 - 2 - (-1) - +2
Swim: 2 - 2 - 0 - 0
Tumble: N/A
UMD: 2 - 2 - 0 - 0

Here are my feats [excluding basic ones that everyone takes/has access to or that are racial or auto-given based on class]:

Combat Casting, Extend Spell, Heroic Durability, Mental Toughness, Spell Focus: Evocation

Here are my Enhancements [Only highest level of multi-level branches]:

Elven Arcane Fluidity I, Elven Arcanum I, Improved Concentration II, Improved Repair I, Combustive Spellcasting I, Deadly Flame I, Flame Manipulation II, Force Manipulation II, Wizard: Energy of the Scholar II, Wizard: Subtle Spellcasting I, Wizard Intelligence I, Wand and Scroll Mastery I

For spells I have most of the Level 1, 2, 3 spells that can be purchased. I have been running with the following:

L1: Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Burning Hands, Shield
L2: Blur, False Life, Scorching Ray
L3: Haste, Chain Missiles


Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

For further info: I have 1 free feat exchange, and should be able to do an enhancement reset [haven't done one at all] though I am set on Archmage PrE [thus need to keep all pre-reqs]. My crafting levels are kind of abysmal [10 Arcane, 2 Divine, 10 Elemental)

Thanks in advance.

[hiryuu42]

You're current position could be better, but it's not bad. Wizards get plenty of skill points, so you can recover there.

For skills, roughly in order of importance: Concentration, Balance (helps get up after trip and other knockdowns), Jump, UMD, Diplomacy, Haggle, Spot, Move Silently. Heal and Repair sounds like they should be useful, but they are not.

Feats: Combat Casting is okay, but not really worth a feat. Make Maximize, Empower, and Heighten high on your priority list. You can use those on SLAs, which an Archmage will get plenty of, for free.

Enhancements: Dump Arcane Fluidity and just wear robes. The rest is fine.

Spells: Honestly, I found it easier to just use Master's Touch+Bull's+Greataxe this early stuff. YMMV.
Level 1: Charm Person isn't always good, but it can really trivialize some tough battles.
Level 2: Web. Use Fox's until you get a +4 Int item (boosts your DCs). Command Undead if you're heading into undead.
Level 3: Drop Chain for Fireball, a good AoE spell. Doesn't play nice with Web, tho.

[Doxmaster]

STR: 10
DEX: 10
CON: 13
INT: 19
WIS: 8
CHA: 10

Well, you maxed Int, which is good, but your con leaves something to be desired, especially from a character that is not going to get easy selfhealing. I nearly had twice your HP on my human Wizard, the first character I made on Khyber: 18 base con, +2 con item, toughness, racial HP, False life item (the permanent Hp one, not the spell).

Thats 25Hp (con bonus), 7 hp (toughness), 10 HP (falselife), 20 HP (Basic DDo character), 20 HP (Wizard), 10 (racial toughness)
25+7+10+20+20+10
92 Hp total, 102 with Bears endurance.

For an easy false Life item, run catacombs and pick the Robe of Duality.

I understand you are an elf, which limits you to 16 max starting con and if you are a 28 point character you can only have a max of 14, but having that +2 modifier as base woulld really help.

Strength and Dex do absolutely nothing for you. Charisma does little for your build in particular; it helps your UMD but yours will only come out to be useful at endgame with UMD boosters at which point +1 from not having 8 charisma will be small. Up to you though.
----
As for spells, make sure you go out and but scrolls of every spell you can find BEFORE you level up. Then, when you actualyl level, you will ownly be shown spells that are hird to find in scroll form. There is an actual list of what spelsl arent availible as scroll, but I dont know its link off the top of my head.

Seeing as you're doing an evocation Archmage, you should already have Maximize and Empower by the time you get the Magic Missile SLA. Then you can set the SLA to permanently have both toggled; it wont cost any extra SP but it WILL do 2.5x the damage.

Combat casting is a terrible feat. A truly truly terrible feat.

My feat layout for my lowby Nuke-mage:
1-Empower
1-Spell Focus: Evocation
(Human feat)- Spell focus: Necromancy
3-Maximize
5-Enlarge
6-Mental toughness
9+all you.

This allows you to fire off magic Missiles at simply unfair range for decent damage. I mean, really...the base damage is 4.5 per missile. At level 6 you are firing off 4 at a time (yes, I know its 1 every odd level, but the starting item sets and a few other items give you +1 caster level, so at 6 you are caster level 7)

Thats 18 damage. Include enhancements (x1.3 damage) and you're at about 25 damage. Per spell.

With my feat setup, you're at 25x2.5 or 73 damage per spell. At a range large enough to get one extra spell off, at the very least.

If you dont have any feats you immediately need at 9, pick up SF: necormancy. With my setup, you'll toss out another 73 damage at short range; anything that reaches you will eat another magic Missile then a Chilling touch for a total of 150ish damage which should be enough to kill any low level enemy. Since I usually run humans, I pick up both at level 6 for even more fun. At higher levels, I swap out Necromancy for Conjuration for the Web SLA or Enchantment for the hypno SLA.

Of course, there is no save at all on this. They simply show up, take migic missile after magic missile, then get Chilling touched if they ever manage to reach you. (Technically, there IS a save on chilling touch, but the save only negates the bonus stat damage it carries.) Your only problems are golems and undead; there arent many iron/clay golems at low levels though and undead are CC'd by chilling touch so you're golden.

Please note that you can toggle what Meta Magics affect a spell/SLA in particular, so you should always leave your metas on your SLAs. Sure, you might not need that magic missile Quickened and enlarged, but hey...its free, so why not?
-----
Depending on when you're on, we could run together if you wish to check out how the build works. I've got a ranger, a PM wizard and a cleric at level 4-6 atm, but I dont need the ranger and I can guide you with any of them.

[carlosjuero]

You're current position could be better, but it's not bad. Wizards get plenty of skill points, so you can recover there.

For skills, roughly in order of importance: Concentration, Balance (helps get up after trip and other knockdowns), Jump, UMD, Diplomacy, Haggle, Spot, Move Silently. Heal and Repair sounds like they should be useful, but they are not.

Feats: Combat Casting is okay, but not really worth a feat. Make Maximize, Empower, and Heighten high on your priority list. You can use those on SLAs, which an Archmage will get plenty of, for free.

Enhancements: Dump Arcane Fluidity and just wear robes. The rest is fine.

Spells: Honestly, I found it easier to just use Master's Touch+Bull's+Greataxe this early stuff. YMMV.
Level 1: Charm Person isn't always good, but it can really trivialize some tough battles.
Level 2: Web. Use Fox's until you get a +4 Int item (boosts your DCs). Command Undead if you're heading into undead.
Level 3: Drop Chain for Fireball, a good AoE spell. Doesn't play nice with Web, tho.

Hmm, I didn't want to get into melee unless necessary [which is why I have a crafted quarterstaff that is basically just a stat stick], I can try out the Masters + Bulls + 2H Weapon though. Just need to get a decent 2H that I can add some wizard specific enchants on w/ crafting [Spell Pen + something maybe?]

I didn't think about charm person because so far most of the enemies I face I wouldn't qualify as "people", I am unsure whether there is a distiction in DDO though [eg: Charm Monster vs Charm Humanoid etc] - I in Tangleroot right now facing Hobgoblins and the like [with the occasional spider/ooze thrown in for good measure of course].

I can put Fox's into my rotation, either a defensive measure [False Life or Blur] or an attack measure - If I go w/ Masters I guess I can drop Scorching Ray to make room, don't realy want to drop Blur [and iffy on False Life]. Any defense I get is important to me right now I think [I don't like running quests on Casual unless I have to].

I was running w/ Fireball for a little while, but the damage didn't seem to "scale" as much as the enemies resistances [I think]. I know with Chain Missiles I have a high proc rate of 1 hitting some of the enemies hit by the mission explosion proc [when it turns into more missiles], don't know if that is a fluke though. No problem dropping that back into my lineup.

I will use my feat exchange to drop Combat Casting and pick up Empower or Maximize I think. The skills I will have to work on as I level up.

Well, you maxed Int, which is good, but your con leaves something to be desired, especially from a character that is not going to get easy selfhealing. I nearly had twice your HP on my human Wizard, the first character I made on Khyber: 18 base con, +2 con item, toughness, racial HP, False life item (the permanent Hp one, not the spell).

Thats 25Hp (con bonus), 7 hp (toughness), 10 HP (falselife), 20 HP (Basic DDo character), 20 HP (Wizard), 10 (racial toughness)
25+7+10+20+20+10
92 Hp total, 102 with Bears endurance.

For an easy false Life item, run catacombs and pick the Robe of Duality.

I understand you are an elf, which limits you to 16 max starting con and if you are a 28 point character you can only have a max of 14, but having that +2 modifier as base woulld really help.

Strength and Dex do absolutely nothing for you. Charisma does little for your build in particular; it helps your UMD but yours will only come out to be useful at endgame with UMD boosters at which point +1 from not having 8 charisma will be small. Up to you though.
----
As for spells, make sure you go out and but scrolls of every spell you can find BEFORE you level up. Then, when you actualyl level, you will ownly be shown spells that are hird to find in scroll form. There is an actual list of what spelsl arent availible as scroll, but I dont know its link off the top of my head.

Seeing as you're doing an evocation Archmage, you should already have Maximize and Empower by the time you get the Magic Missile SLA. Then you can set the SLA to permanently have both toggled; it wont cost any extra SP but it WILL do 2.5x the damage.

Combat casting is a terrible feat. A truly truly terrible feat.

My feat layout for my lowby Nuke-mage:
1-Empower
1-Spell Focus: Evocation
3-Maximize
5-Enlarge
6-Mental toughness
9+all you.

This allows you to fire off magic Missiles at simply unfair range for decent damage. I mean, really...the base damage is 4.5 per missile. At level 6 you are firing off 4 at a time (yes, I know its 1 every odd level, but the starting item sets and a few other items give you +1 caster level, so at 6 you are caster level 7)

Thats 18 damage. Include enhancements (x1.3 damage) and you're at about 25 damage. Per spell.

With my feat setup, you're at 25x2.5 or 73 damage per spell. At a range large enough to get one extra spell off, at the very least.

If you dont have any feats you immediately need at 9, pick up SF: necormancy. With my setup, you'll toss out another 73 damage at short range; anything that reaches you will eat another magic Missile then a Chilling touch for a total of 150ish damage which should be enough to kill any low level enemy. Since I usually run humans, I pick up both at level 6 for even more fun.

Of course, there is no save at all on this. They simply show up, take migic missile after magic missile, then get Chilling touched if they ever manage to reach you. (Technically, there IS a save on chilling touch, but the save only negates the bonus stat damage it carries.) Your only problems are golems and undead; there arent many iron/clay golems at low levels though and undead are CC'd by chilling touch so you're golden.

Please note that you can toggle what Meta Magics affect a spell/SLA in particular, so you should always leave your metas on your SLAs. Sure, you might not need that magic missile Quickened and enlarged, but hey...its free, so why not?

Wow - you edited as I hit reply apparently, most of your post wasn't there when I went to reply to you heh.

Good thoughts on the SLA's - I will look into it [I will definitely be dropping Combat Casting now]. I didn't know about using the scrolls pre-level up, never occurred to me that I could see what non-scrolls spells I could get this way. Thanks for that.

Regarding Con & Catacombs: I already finished the Catacombs arc and got the end reward [I got the Ghost Touch long sword so I have something vs ghosts if they get in melee range - probably not the best choice eh?] - is the end reward for special items [eg: Robe of Duality] a one time choice?


@ Both:

Thanks for the tips/ideas - Definitely rethinking some of the choices I made and planning on how to rectify the ones I can.

[hiryuu42]

Also get Toughness, which also allows you to take the racial toughness Enhancements.

I dismissed Charm Person early on, since mind spells suck in most RPGs. It works on many humanoids, though, like Kobolds, Orcs, and Trogs. Use it on melee and archers, since they have terrible Will saves. If you go the Master's Touch route, just use the highest +x to hit you can equip, since you'll need the boost. Go pure caster at level 7, when you can Firewall/Ice Storm everything.

[Doxmaster]

I didn't think about charm person because so far most of the enemies I face I wouldn't qualify as "people", I am unsure whether there is a distiction in DDO though [eg: Charm Monster vs Charm Humanoid etc] - I in Tangleroot right now facing Hobgoblins and the like [with the occasional spider/ooze thrown in for good measure of course].

Hob goblins and kobolds are humanoids. Hit z to examine them and it should tell you that.

I will use my feat exchange to drop Combat Casting and pick up Empower or Maximize I think. The skills I will have to work on as I level up.

Maximize. Get a wand of False life; i believe marketplace sells them.

Wow - you edited as I hit reply apparently, most of your post wasn't there when I went to reply to you

Regarding Con & Catacombs

Run it two more times. Get the cure wand and the robes. They aren't one time offers, but you cant have 10 of the wands with you at once. Sometimes, one thing doesn't show up. Run it again.

[Doxmaster]

What is the flavor of this character that you wanted to preserve? Just "elf archmage that nukes"?

Post your feat plan.

[Kinerd]

Unless you are absolutely married to elf, I very strongly encourage you to reroll as warforged. Self-healing will make soloing dramatically easier and even make you better off in groups.

The absolute strongest Archmage ability is SLA Web. Enemy HP will rapidly outgrow your SLA DPS, even while soloing. CC is pretty useless at low levels but becomes absolutely indispensable at high levels: an investment in SLA Web is one that will pay massive future dividends.

Here is the build from scratch I would recommend for you...

Feats
1: Toughness and Mental Toughness
3: Maximize
5: Spell Focus: Conjuration
6: Heighten
9: Spell Penetration
10: Spell Focus: Necromancy
12: Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
15: Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment and Spell Focus: Enchantment
18: Greater Spell Penetration
20: Quicken

Primary Necro or Enchant, Secondary Conjuration, SLA Web (requires SLA Grease), SLA Hypno, no other SLAs.
While leveling, go Primary Conjuration to get SLA Web ASAP, then enhancement swap at level 12. It won't matter until level 15, but it's cheaper at level 12.

If you stick it out with the build you have, you could go:

Feats
1: Maximize (from Combat Casting) and Mental Toughness
3: Extend
5: Spell Focus: Evocation
.
6: Heighten
9: Spell Focus: Conjuration
10: Spell Focus: Necromancy
12: Toughness
15: Spell Penetration and Spell Focus: Enchantment
18: Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
20: Quicken

[carlosjuero]

What is the flavor of this character that you wanted to preserve? Just "elf archmage that nukes"?

Post your feat plan.

I don't really have a "flavor" in mind - I just want to have a fun character to play that is viable as a soloer and has at least some group viability. The reason I chose Archmage is because I like the idea of my character being an Archmage, and don't care at all for undead. I picked elf because, well - I used to play a PnP Elf Wizard a very long time ago [Core Rules pre 3.0].

My feat goals are basically just those that will compliment the class/character - ones that help w/ spells, enemies, etc. I am not looking to min/max [though it is inevitable when asking for advice I know, but I sacrifice some immersion for meta gaming so that it doesn't become a frustrating slog into a brick wall]

Unless you are absolutely married to elf, I very strongly encourage you to reroll as warforged. Self-healing will make soloing dramatically easier and even make you better off in groups.

The absolute strongest Archmage ability is SLA Web. Enemy HP will rapidly outgrow your SLA DPS, even while soloing. CC is pretty useless at low levels but becomes absolutely indispensable at high levels: an investment in SLA Web is one that will pay massive future dividends.

Here is the build from scratch I would recommend for you...

Feats
1: Toughness and Mental Toughness
3: Maximize
5: Spell Focus: Conjuration
6: Heighten
9: Spell Penetration
10: Spell Focus: Necromancy
12: Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
15: Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment and Spell Focus: Enchantment
18: Greater Spell Penetration
20: Quicken

Primary Necro or Enchant, Secondary Conjuration, SLA Web (requires SLA Grease), SLA Hypno, no other SLAs.
While leveling, go Primary Conjuration to get SLA Web ASAP, then enhancement swap at level 12. It won't matter until level 15, but it's cheaper at level 12.

If you stick it out with the build you have, you could go:

Feats
1: Maximize (from Combat Casting) and Mental Toughness
3: Extend
5: Spell Focus: Evocation
.
6: Heighten
9: Spell Focus: Conjuration
10: Spell Focus: Necromancy
12: Toughness
15: Spell Penetration and Spell Focus: Enchantment
18: Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
20: Quicken

I know that WF are great as wizards [easy pie self heals], but I don't like the WF model [yeah yeah, I am an odd duck out looking at things like that]. Plus I am already kind of invested in this current character [though I could vet status up to 4 and make it back to current level easy enough, I wouidn't have the gear/craft xp/experiences I have had].

I can use my feat exchange to drop Combat Casting for Maximize, already have Mental Toughness [it is an Archmage pre-req I believe].

Can I ask why so much focus on Necromancy? Would it hurt to go Greater Spell Focus: Evocation?

[count_spicoli]

necro is for your insta kills which wizzy's are the best at.

[Kinerd]

Evocation only helps your direct damage spells, and even then only some. The following direct damage spells have no save at all:

Ice Storm
Magic Missile (and Chain/Force)
Polar Ray
Niac's Biting Cold
Eladar's Electric Surge

You can do all the direct damage you'll ever need to do with just those and Wall of Fire, which has a save on 1 of about 15 ticks. Souping up your instant kill spells is more bang for your feat bucks. Getting SLA Chain Missiles requires not just GSF Evo but losing SLA Web, which is not a good trade.

[hiryuu42]

Can I ask why so much focus on Necromancy? Would it hurt to go Greater Spell Focus: Evocation?

Necro and Enchant spells tend to be awesome-or-nothing, so moving more results into the 'awesome' category is a big deal. Most Evoc spells either have no save or a save for half (but still decent) damage. Likewise, Heighten is crucial on Necro and Enchant spells, but more debatable on Evoc.

Kinerd's build is very skewed toward crowd-kill and crowd-control, which is a good end-game route. I think it will make early and mid-game tougher, though.

[Faent]

I know that WF are great as wizards [easy pie self heals], but I don't like the WF model [yeah yeah, I am an odd duck out looking at things like that]. Plus I am already kind of invested in this current character [though I could vet status up to 4...

Honestly, I would strongly recommend that you reroll as a WF. If you can vet status it, you will really lose almost nothing of value in terms of gear. (And you can always pass non-BtC to another toon or put it in your shared bank.) I predict that you will be very unhappy beyond level 11-ish without WF self-healing abilities. If you could UMD Heal scrolls, I could see staying Elf, but hitting that will be insanely gear intensive and you won't see it for a long time.

Here's my feat order:

01 Feat: Toughness
01 Bonus Feat: Mental Toughness
03 Feat: Insightful Reflexes
05 Bonus Feat: Empower
06 Feat: Wizard Past Life
09 Feat: Spell Focus Necro
10 Bonus Feat: Maximize
12 Feat: Greater Spell Focus Necro
15 Feat: Spell Focus Conjuration
15 Bonus Feat: Heighten
18 Feat: Quicken
20 Bonus Feat: Spell Focus Enchantment

You'd want to take a Focus feat at level 6 (instead of my Wizard Past Life) in order to open up immediate access to Archmage Enhancements. I run a Necro/Conjuration build, which is, IMO, the strongest AM build in the current game. Enchant isn't bad either. Frankly, you can basically reproduce this feat list if you stay elf, since you have access to Elven Arcanum Enhancements. If you went that route, I'd recommend taking Spell Focus Conjuration in place of my Wizard Past Life, and then take Spell Penetration at level 15. If you swap to Warforged, you will have to add in Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration feats. To do that, you'd drop the Spell Focus Enchant for Greater Spell Penetration.

I recommend duplicating my metas exactly. Empower, Maximize, Heighten and Quicken only. Drop Extend. Add Toughness. Drop Combat Casting. Get rid of Evocation Focus. You're a wizzie, not a sorcerer.

Statwise, a wizzie should be maxing INT and CON, and then, if you have extra skill points, dump them into either STR or WIS. I would reroll for this reason alone. Max your INT and CON. This isn't min-maxing. This is properly assigning stats for a wizard. Insightful Reflexes means you don't need any DEX, and nothing else is going to benefit you. (Unless you're trying to UMD Heal scrolls in the DISTANT future. Then some CHA would help.)

Until around level 9-10 or so, you'll be better off wielding a nice THW (especially something like Carnifex or a Holy Greatsword of Bleeding) with Master's Touch. Expeditious Retreat, Fox's Cunning, Web, Sleep, Blur, defensive gear and to-hit gear, and go to town.

As a wizard, there is really no good reason not do take both Necro Focus feats. You completely gimp your AM if you don't do this. As an Archmage, you need either Conjuration Focus or Enchant Focus (or both). This is for the AWESOME SLAs which permit AWESOME CC (the Hypno SLA and/or the Web SLA).

You mention that you want to be viable as a soloer. Honestly, you need to go WF for this. Your Elf will be dependent on a healer (or hireling) for a LONG time. Most good casters can heal themselves. All divines can. And sorcerers can because their casting stat is CHA, and that permits them to UMD Heal scrolls well. Palemasters can. And WF Archmages can. You won't have either the Reconstruct spell or scrolls available to you. That's gimpy as all get out. Folks will wonder why you are placing an extra burden on their groups because you don't like having three toes.

[Faent]

My crafting levels are kind of abysmal [10 Arcane, 2 Divine, 10 Elemental)

Cannith Crafting is your friend. Low level wizzies benefit from this greatly. Goggles of Accuracy grant up to a +4 to-hit, which rocks at low levels. And you can wield that Holy Greatsword of Bleeding with another +3 Guild Bonus to your to-hit.

[Kinerd]

Necro and Enchant spells tend to be awesome-or-nothing, so moving more results into the 'awesome' category is a big deal. Most Evoc spells either have no save or a save for half (but still decent) damage. Likewise, Heighten is crucial on Necro and Enchant spells, but more debatable on Evoc.

Kinerd's build is very skewed toward crowd-kill and crowd-control, which is a good end-game route. I think it will make early and mid-game tougher, though.

This is true. Up until just before level 7, the build is pretty poor soloing and not all that great in parties either. Starting at level 7, though, the dominoes start to fall. Combining SLA Web at level 9 with Ice Storm and power DoTs, forget about it. The no self healing is a bit of a stumbling block, but just think of yourself as a barb with wiggly fingers, bring a hireling, and you can roll through everything solo. In a group, let the divines know you are neither warforged nor undead.

[carlosjuero]

Ok, first - thanks for all the feedback!

I made a new alt - a WF Wizard [vetted up to 4] with the full spectrum of suggestions. Haven't played much of him but will soon.

I also did some work on my Elf. I swapped Combat Casting for Maximize - and boy do my spells hit for alot. Problem is my SP pool is kind of small to keep it up [of course - I use Extend for my defense spells so I don't have to recast so often, though it doesn't affect all of them it seems]. I also crafted a +1 Thundering Greatsword of Lesser Goblinoid Bane [can't craft +2 reliably yet and I figured Goblinoid Bane would work well against Tangleroot enemies [and STK]]. Using Masters Touch + Maximize for my damage spells [+ Bulls Strength added to my buffs] I am doing quite well in melee [though getting hit hurts bad, Cleric Hireling is a godsend].

I am liking the versatility I am getting, I will look towards re-doing my enhancements in the near future [want to have a good nights sleep on a day off from work so I can avoid accidental mistakes].

I am trying to get my crafting up so I can put together some good +stat gear, but I have a hard time figuring out what can be used on what [apparently some crystals can only be used on weapons, others only on jewelry, etc - I am having a hard time figuring out what goes where :/]. Is there a general trend towards what type of crafting works on what type of equipment? Also is there some logic behind what can receive both suffix and prefix enchantments? [Maybe my crafting isn't high enough to show all the possible recipes]. I am probably being dense about it all but I have a hard time figuring out combinations for enchantments [took me quite a few attempts to figure out the great sword - +1 prefix I knew could go onto the weapon no problem, but trying to get stat shards on the weapon was a pain [wanted spell pen or something but I couldn't do it]]

Thanks again for the information, looking forward to more slaying and hopefully a better ability to get through the game and be viable.

[Kinerd]

http://cannith.cubicleninja.com/ is your friend for crafting information. Breaks everything down into suffix and prefix, lets you know what can go on what, doesn't take forever to load, can search, filter, basically everything you could ever want. You can also get this information in game: in the shard + item machine, you can mouseover the weapon icon to see what can go on what, and suffix shards are "shard of blah" while prefix shards are "blah shard".

[Nahiz]

...

The absolute strongest Archmage ability is SLA Web. Enemy HP will rapidly outgrow your SLA DPS, even while soloing. CC is pretty useless at low levels but becomes absolutely indispensable at high levels: an investment in SLA Web is one that will pay massive future dividends.

Here is the build from scratch I would recommend for you...

Feats
1: Toughness and Mental Toughness
3: Maximize
5: Spell Focus: Conjuration
6: Heighten
9: Spell Penetration
10: Spell Focus: Necromancy
12: Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
15: Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment and Spell Focus: Enchantment
18: Greater Spell Penetration
20: Quicken

Primary Necro or Enchant, Secondary Conjuration, SLA Web (requires SLA Grease), SLA Hypno, no other SLAs.
While leveling, go Primary Conjuration to get SLA Web ASAP, then enhancement swap at level 12. It won't matter until level 15, but it's cheaper at level 12.

I really like this feat selection, since SLA web is great and my goals are cc and insta killing. I´d like to ask you, though, which feat would you leave out if you must. I`m currently kind of insightful reflexes dependant (though i know it´s not adviced for pure wiz, right now those reflex saves have saved me more than once). Also, why do you take SF and GSF Necro before Enchantment?

Thanks!

[Kinerd]

I'm not super happy with how the SF/GSFs shake out, it's mostly an artifact of needing to fit GSF in non-wizard feat slots and wanting to get Heightened SLA Web ASAP. I go Necro before Enchant because I get Circle of Death before I get Dancing Sphere, and I found that SLA Web is so much faster and cheaper than Sphere that I rarely used it outside of special circumstances even once I did get it. The only Enchant spell I really used a ton (and cared about bypassing a save with) was MHM, and I have GSF Enchant by the time I get that.

I really like Insightful Reflexes, but I run into the same problem you do trying to fit it in for a first lifer: what am I going to drop? The best candidate for me if I had to drop one would be GSF Enchant, but I don't really want to wait until level 15 to take IR, so I'd probably slot it at 6, bump Heighten to 9, bump Spell Pen to 15. Ideally I'd wait until second (or later) life though, in which case I could go: 6 IR, 9 Heighten, 12 PL Wizard, 15 GSF Necro just in time for AM 4, 18 Spell Pen instead of G Spell Pen, but thanks to passive past life be just as well off.

Another philosophy could be to ignore SLA Web until later, reducing the rush for SF: Conj and Heighten, due to how CC isn't that big a deal at low levels. For me, though, SLA Web's turned out to be just like Heavy Fort. It probably doesn't make that much of a difference at low levels, but I count down the levels until I can get it, you know?

[Shareeth]

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=305790

for a list a scrolls you cannot buy from a vendor.