Newbie. Wizard build help, advice on role and spell use.

[Rackot]

First - my planned build. I wish to play as a human. I just started the game, so 28 points and equipment will be whatever I find. I play with a Rogue partner, and would like a build that can duo as much content as possible in the game (with cleric hirelings)

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.12.01
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Someguy 
Level 20 Lawful Good Human Male
(20 Wizard) 
Hit Points: 182
Spell Points: 1831 
BAB: 10\10\15\20
Fortitude: 8
Reflex: 7
Will: 11

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(28 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             10                    10
Dexterity            12                    13
Constitution         14                    14
Intelligence         18                    28
Wisdom                8                     8
Charisma              8                     8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               3                     3.5
Bluff                -1                    -1
Concentration         6                    11
Diplomacy             1                     1.5
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -1                    -1
Heal                  1                     1.5
Hide                  1                     1
Intimidate           -1                    -1
Jump                  0                     0
Listen               -1                    -1
Move Silently         3                     3.5
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                4                     9
Search                4                     9
Spot                 -1                    -1
Swim                  0                     0
Tumble                3                     3.5
Use Magic Device      1                     1.5

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Augment Summoning
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell
Feat: (Human Bonus) Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Improved Concentration I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I


Level 2 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Empowering I
Enhancement: Force Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence I
Enhancement: Wizard Wand and Scroll Mastery I


Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Evocation
Enhancement: Kinetic Spellcasting I
Enhancement: Wizard Wand Heightening I


Level 4 (Wizard)


Level 5 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell


Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Maximizing I
Enhancement: Improved Concentration II
Enhancement: Force Manipulation II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence II
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage I


Level 7 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Intelligence I
Enhancement: Force Manipulation III
Enhancement: Evocation I - Magic Missile


Level 8 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Improved Concentration III
Enhancement: Force Manipulation IV


Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Arcane Bolt
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage II


Level 10 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Improved Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Force Manipulation V
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration I


Level 11 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence III


Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar III
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage III


Level 13 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Improved Concentration IV
Enhancement: Force Manipulation VI


Level 14 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Dexterity I


Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Heighten Spell
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration
Enhancement: Force Manipulation VII
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration II
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage IV


Level 16 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Kinetic Spellcasting II
Enhancement: Archmage Spell Mastery I: Evocation
Enhancement: Evocation II - Gust of Wind
Enhancement: Evocation III - Chain Missiles


Level 17 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Maximizing II


Level 18 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Heightening I


Level 19 (Wizard)


Level 20 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell
Enhancement: Wizard Master of Magic
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration III

My initial thoughts when I was making that build (before ever playing yet) was that I wanted a wizard that could, given foreknowledge of wiki for quest, prep spells for any boss/situation, and for normal fodder minions, would contribute to killing via cheap magic missile, arcane bolts, constant summoning of pets and whatever wands I could find. I like necromancy spells for role-play reasons, but palemaster seemed like a very restricted class that I decided to leave for later experimenting on my TRs. On forums I read that damage dealing is the primary concern toward end game and so planned to spec in evocation.

However my impression of my wizard so far is making me doubt my choices - my wizard is half way through level 3, we try to do all the quests on elite from the first, and have not yet had to downgrade difficulty, though we are now dying more. My damage output with spells just barely exceeds my endless fire finger wand, and trying to kill anything except the weakest mobs with spells costs me more then half my mana bar. Our survival through mob rushes during earlier quests mostly depended on my Charm Person and rarely, Sleep, (and summon monster is alwaysa given). On last quest we met Kobold Shamans for the first time. Now the only 3 spells i cast during a quest are charms on warriors, blind on shaman, summon monster 2. My pets can no longer tank enemies, though they are still able to occupy one or two. Charm is getting less and less reliable - average of 2.5 castings to succeed (spell shows DC 16 will in description). Have just scribed Web - will probably be using it more now.

Also, did a quest called Bringing the Light, party got wiped out by 4 dogs, despite both of us having 2 cleric hirelings to heal us. Can't charm them, they resisted sleep, and by the time I thought to try Blinding them, it was too little, too late. Got through the quest by not letting them get released, but inability to handle 4 pets was a bit of an ego blow.

So to sum up, I though I was building to be a nuker with flexibility, but so far the only role required from me was crowd control. In fact, I can't even allocate a slot for any damage spells - right now I have Protection from Evil, Charm, Sleep, Grease (initially was for casters, now sometimes used when we need to run) as level 1 selection, Blind and Summon 2 as level 2. Will probably switch Blind for web now - will have to see how good of a reflex save shamans get.

What roles/strategies should I be preparing and gearing myself up for as I level? Am I missing something about how I should be using my spells at this point?

[Barhai]

At low level a lot of vets just cast master touch and go to town with a greatsword until they reach the level they can clean a room with a single spell.
I'm not a huge fan of this approach and really prefer to cast even at low level. Now as a wizard your main roles are CC and insta-kills (at higher level), but you should be able to do damage quite well...
If you have the proper gear.
The damage boosts to spell are multiplicative, so if you want to do damage you really need to stack everything you can:
-step 1: force spells don't do nearly enough damage especially at low level so ditch the force enhancement and take fire instead (you'll switch at higher lv but at low level fire is king), get a rod/club to increase fire damage (superior combustion I or superior potency I), then use burning hand: you'll do 16-21 damage per cast, 2 casts should be enough to clear a nest of kobolds. If you can get a superior combustion item you'll have extra damage for the tougher fight (18-25 damage). Pretty much all of the L2 damage spells are fantastic, but only at higher lv (scorching ray) or with high int/dc boost (air/lightnings ones).
-step 2: don't use empower, until you get higher lv spells it's a waste of SP, you can use it for boss fight if you have a lot of sp but not against regular mob.
-step 3: cc makes quest easier, it requires phenomenal gear to do efficiently on elite especially at high level. But you can get cheap bonus: casting hypnotism gives the mob a penalty to will save even if they save , crushing despair does the same with a huge area. So cast these first then the big enchantment.

[Cauthey]

Hey, Newbie! Welcome to the game! I hope that you come to enjoy it as much as I do!

Wizards are awesome! They are a little tough to start, but perhaps I can offer you a little bit of insight:

I'm not sure that I would ever invest in Spell Focus: Evocation, and Greater Spell Focus: Evocation. There are enough spells in your library that can do decent damage without requiring a save. And honestly, for the majority of the early game and mid-game, you likely won't have too much trouble beating mobs with at-level spells.

I would like to share that once you get to end game content, most raid and group leaders are going to expect a wizard to be able to have some strong crowd control. Crowd control (CC) will mean Spell Focus: Enchantment, and Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment.

Additionally, there is nothing tastier than having your nasty Necromancy spells (Circle of Death, Finger of Death, Wail of the Banshee) hit every single time. This means Spell Focus: Necromancy, and Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy.

Augment Summoning is arguably a wasted feat. I, too, thought that my summoned beasties would be rock stars, and I invested in Augment Summoning. The result of that feat was me openly declaring myself gimp with it (LOL!), and making myself a good puppy charmer for the Hound of Xoriat raid. The bottom line is that summonables really aren't going to make a difference for in game content, and there are other feats that you need a lot more desperately.

Empower, Maximize, Heighten (for Epics), Spell Penetration and Quicken are all excellent choices. Try not to shirk any of these if you can.

I would recommend taking Toughness at first level. This would help you in the HP department, and might prevent you from getting spanked around. Also, consider ditching your DEX and dumping those points into Constitution. You can't EVER have a high enough Constitution.

As Barhai said, DEFINITELY invest in a good greataxe or a greatsword as a trash beater. Until you really get going, you're going to have more mobs to deal with than you have spell points. So, you might as well Master's Touch it, and make the best of it.

Good luck! I hope that my feedback has been helpful!

[UrbanPyro]

Deleted.

[Rackot]

Thank you all for your advice.

Bummer on the summonings - I suspected as much considering that at level 1, my dogs expired after 10 minutes, and at level 3, my spiders need to be re-summoned in middle of most fights.

Thankfully there is a feat respec quest i found in marketplace. Won't be able to adjust ability stats, but can fix summoning error.

Rereading the available archmage enhancement, if I choose to spec toward double specialization as necromancer/enchanter, and go for necromancy enervation ability will I be able to contribute in groups by using cheap enervation to reduce every difficult boss to a weakling? Or is this one of those spells that somehow gets devalued toward high levels?

[Rackot]

Based on advice, changed build (no ability changes since only feat/enhancement respec available at this point).

Please critique on any weaknesses:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.12.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Someguy 
Level 20 Lawful Good Human Male
(20 Wizard) 
Hit Points: 182
Spell Points: 1631 
BAB: 10\10\15\20
Fortitude: 8
Reflex: 7
Will: 11

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(28 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             10                    10
Dexterity            12                    12
Constitution         14                    14
Intelligence         18                    28
Wisdom                8                     8
Charisma              8                     8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               3                     3.5
Bluff                -1                    -1
Concentration         6                    11
Diplomacy             1                     1.5
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -1                    -1
Heal                  1                     1.5
Hide                  1                     1
Intimidate           -1                    -1
Jump                  0                     0
Listen               -1                    -1
Move Silently         3                     3.5
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                4                     9
Search                4                     9
Spot                 -1                    -1
Swim                  0                     0
Tumble                3                     3.5
Use Magic Device      1                     1.5

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell
Feat: (Human Bonus) Mental Toughness
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Flame Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I


Level 2 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Maximizing I
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence I


Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Enchantment
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Flame Manipulation II


Level 4 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Improved Concentration I
Enhancement: Improved Concentration II
Enhancement: Wizard Wand and Scroll Mastery I
Enhancement: Wizard Wand Heightening I


Level 5 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Intelligence I
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II


Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Necromancy
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage I


Level 7 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Archmage Spell Mastery I: Necromancy
Enhancement: Enchantment I - Hypnotism
Enhancement: Necromancy I - Chill Touch


Level 8 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence II


Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar III
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage II
Enhancement: Necromancy II - Command Undead


Level 10 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Empower Spell


Level 11 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence III


Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment
Enhancement: Improved Concentration III
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage III


Level 13 (Wizard)


Level 14 (Wizard)


Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Heighten Spell
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar IV
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage IV
Enhancement: Archmage Secondary Spell Mastery I: Enchantment
Enhancement: Archmage Spell Mastery II: Necromancy
Enhancement: Enchantment II - Otto's Resistible Dance
Enhancement: Necromancy III - Halt Undead
Enhancement: Necromancy IV - Enervation


Level 16 (Wizard)
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Empowering I


Level 17 (Wizard)


Level 18 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Empowering II
Enhancement: Wizard Improved Maximizing II
Enhancement: Improved Concentration IV
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage V


Level 19 (Wizard)


Level 20 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell
Enhancement: Wizard Master of Magic
Enhancement: Wizard Spell Penetration III

The spell waves of fatigue as described on wiki seems very weak for the 125sp pool cost, so decided to limit necromancy to 4th level of Archmage. Basically putting all my hopes on enervation spamming on everything scary.

[Cauthey]

I'll admit: I'm not as knowledgeable about Archmages. I can tell you that Pale Masters do Necromancy best. I think that non-Pale Masters can manage to do Necromancy pretty well, but it may not be the best school to invest your feats in for your Prestige Class Spell-like Abilities (I forgot that your PrEs were tied to these).

I will say, that if you're still only level 3... it would not be terribly hard to re-roll your character. There ARE options for respecing your character's ability points (Lesser/Greater Reincarnations), but they come with a significant Turbine Point cost. Or, requiring some wicked awesome luck to get the hearts of wood to drop from a chest or from the MyDDO lottery.

I've seen others say that if you're level 4 or less, re-roll. Also, I think that most that begin DDO will make some early on character building mistakes that are easiest solved by re-rolling. I re-rolled my very first character about three times. And, he's still gimped. :P

Then again, there's something, too, to be said for sticking it out. 14 CON isn't that bad, for a caster. It's mainly that the DEX really isn't gaining you anything. *shrug*

Further... there are more feat respec'ing opportunities beyond your free respec from Lockania. See Fred.

[Kinerd]

I like necromancy spells for role-play reasons, but palemaster seemed like a very restricted class that I decided to leave for later experimenting on my TRs.

Pale Master gives you self-healing, +DC, +HP, and cheap direct damage SLAs. The only costs are that you cannot be healed by positive energy (largely irrelevant, as you have self-healing) and you take more damage from light spells (dangerous but rarely lethal). It is a much stronger choice for human than archmage.

However my impression of my wizard so far is making me doubt my choices - my wizard is half way through level 3, we try to do all the quests on elite from the first, and have not yet had to downgrade difficulty, though we are now dying more. My damage output with spells just barely exceeds my endless fire finger wand, and trying to kill anything except the weakest mobs with spells costs me more then half my mana bar. Our survival through mob rushes during earlier quests mostly depended on my Charm Person and rarely, Sleep, (and summon monster is alwaysa given). On last quest we met Kobold Shamans for the first time. Now the only 3 spells i cast during a quest are charms on warriors, blind on shaman, summon monster 2. My pets can no longer tank enemies, though they are still able to occupy one or two. Charm is getting less and less reliable - average of 2.5 castings to succeed (spell shows DC 16 will in description). Have just scribed Web - will probably be using it more now.

Unfortunately, both wizards and rogues are weak in early levels. Stick with it until level 7 and you will turn it around. That is a guarantee.

Rereading the available archmage enhancement, if I choose to spec toward double specialization as necromancer/enchanter, and go for necromancy enervation ability will I be able to contribute in groups by using cheap enervation to reduce every difficult boss to a weakling? Or is this one of those spells that somehow gets devalued toward high levels?

The biggest bosses tend to have red or purple names. A good rule of thumb is nothing fun works on them. Enervation is fun => Enervation doesn't work on them. Almost every SLA is a player trap. If you do stick with Archmage, by far and away the best SLA is Web. It is a persistent, AoE CC that bypasses SR and can be cast Heightened and Quickened for 3 SP. Here is the feat order I just recommended for another AM:

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

It so happens that you took the early feats the same + SF Enchant, so you could keep using this order just fine. For the wizard feat at 15 you could take Empower or Extend, although I'd strongly encourage Empower rather than Extend. Enhancement-wise you would take Spell Mastery Necromancy and Secondary Spell Mastery Conjuration. For a human PM, it would be more like:

1: Toughness and Mental Toughness and Insightful Reflexes
3: Maximize
5: Spell Focus: Necromancy
6: Heighten
9: Spell Penetration
10: Spell Focus: Enchantment
12: Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
15: Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment and Empower/Extend
18: Greater Spell Penetration
20: Quicken

[daniel7]

If you are playing with a rogue you guys can utilize stealth. A normal party won't want to do that but you and your rogue friend might enjoy it. Google Ghoste wizard build for some ideas

[daniel7]

Ok I wanted to see if he had any knew builds and here it is

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...30#post3390830

[GlorifyQuC]

Most people go AM until 12, which is when they switch over to PM due to wraith being pretty solid.

I'd suggest WF, you don't need points in dex or strength, cap int rest into con, whatever is left over can be splashed into strength.

1W Maximize -- You make use of this very early, as early as FB.
1 Insightful Reflexes -- Useful from level 1.
3 Toughness -- Useful at all levels, but not more so than IR at 1.
5W SF Illusion -- PK at 7.
6 Mental Toughness -- For AM+Wraith form
9 Quicken -- Damage can get to the point of interrupting you, SP is high enough to have it on for certain things.
10 SF necro -- Going to be needed at 13
12 GSF Necro -- Wraith form
15w Heighten -- Useful now for a variety of spells
15 SF ench -- Useful for CC which is more heavily used in this bracket
18 GSF ench -- ^
20 empower -- Always max/empower dots, at the very least.

SF illusion and MT can be swapped now for shield prof/mastery or spell pen/extend

In terms of spells, keep some form of self healing up, buy a few pots for burst emergencies. PK single targets at low levels, firewall grouped mobs. Always kite mobs in your firewalls never tank them.

Once you get finger, you essentially deal with just about everything via FoD/PK, PK works well on melee mobs where as FoD works well on casters/evasion mobs.

DoT bosses, CC when needed with web/sphere/mass hold