Fire and Ice - "I'm actually a sorc" evocation leveling build

[wax_on_wax_off]

Have to say though that Undeath to Death is a really useful spell and certainly an SP saver (35 SP vs 60+ for a firewall).

[Inferno346]

At level 18, you can be running a sustainable 42 Necro DC as a WF AM.

Perhaps you can have the best of both worlds if you have enough past lives and gear though. The "evocation" of this build is mostly in making sure you max out the damage lines, use 75% clickies, and know how to aoe nuke-spam. All the evocation archmage choice really gives you of note is the + to evocation DCs. I did evocation on my first wizard life, but plan to try necro AM for my last two since I will have 3 sorc past lives. It will still be an "evocation" build since it will rely on nuking for 95% of kills, but it will also have a passable necro DC for elite IQ2.

[goodspeed]

originally this was the basic build, back when fire and ice were joined. And with new content coming I think it will be again. Anything with a SR save forget it. Not if the epic content is going to be anything like those new 3 quests. Some of the creatures are outright immune .

Nope fire and ice... mayhaps acid. And web. I feel web will be the saving throw against alot of that content. I gotta get me that diabloist robe for it. In view of SR and immunities, I think pales are gonna be takn the back seat to a web spamming AM.

Course it's just theory. But I do know drow, and unlike our sad characters, the epic drow, hell even elite drow are the very definition of SR

[wax_on_wax_off]

Back to say that I still prefer acid while leveling and at end game. Picked up ML:16 Rock Boots and upgraded them to ML:14 to have Superior Corrosion VIII and Major Acid Lore available at level 15 when I got Black Dragon Bolt. Worked a treat in Necropolis IV and against a significant amount of mobs in the vale.

Having hit vale I swapped to cold/acid and even fit in lightning (3*7/1/1) see as how I have major lightning lore on the abbot robe anyway.

The double AoE combo of firewall/acid rain or ice storm/acid rain in a web/disco ball is just so effective (though admittedly sometimes the longer duration spell suffices).

[squishwizzy]

A short prologue here: my wizzy was my second toon, and I never took a specific path. So at level 20, I eventually Lesser Reincarnated are re-worked the toon.

My wizzy is based off a Ingenious Sage build I found here on the forums (the build is probably a little out of date), but given my experience in the past, I spec-ed the toon to focus on ice and acid for elemental damage. I purposely didn't take fire as an option.

Why?

Before I start my explanation, my first inclination was to spec out with fire being first, but after some thought I decided against it.

Well, the workhorse spells with fire are Fireball, Scorching Ray, Firewall, and Delayed Blast FB (as far as I see it). The problem with these, in my experience is that fire immunity is rampant at upper levels. Secondly, Firewall is kinda gimped when it comes fo AoE.

What I read about Acid Rain, and how it's not all that good because of timing, isn't what I'm seeing on quests. If I lay down an Acid Rain cloud, it does damage almost right away, and stuff passing in and out of it take damage. Plus, a lot of stuff is still affected by acid at upper levels. Acid Blast is pretty nice, as is Black Dragon Bolt. Evasion kicks in on some of these, but I still do damage.

Ice, however, can be brutal with many mobs. My Oliluke's Sphere, and Frost Lance probably do more damage than most of my spells. I find that there are relatively few mobs that are immune to cold - with the exception of some undead - and even with those that are resistant, they seem to do a lot of damage.

And Ice Storm? If the cold doesn't hit them, the bludgon damage does. I don't think anyone disputes that.

I use Meteor Swarm from time to time - it provides some damage, but the fire immunity of many high-level mobs gimps that spell in so many ways. There are too many mobs that too easily evade lightning spells, though it is pretty effective on outsiders in certain quests.

As far as undead that are immune to fire and ice, that's where disintigration comes in. They have little to no fort, and can be picked off easily. So this is a spell I can switch to when cold doesn't cut it (which is kinda rare).

So, in the final analysis, cold and acid were my top two safe picks.



Ok, someone tell me where I'm wrong in my observations (and no, I'm not being sarcastic).

[AtomicMew]

No you aren't necessarily wrong. Acid rain is simply a bit too slow for my tastes at high levels. I like having 2x max damage AoE nukes available, since the cooldown is a bit longer than sorcs. The great thing about wizard is that you can easily respec... or even tri-spec. Whether you go acid/ice or acid/fire or fire/ice, you should definitely have at least 1 point in the third line to leverage weaknesses where you can.

[squishwizzy]

No you aren't necessarily wrong. Acid rain is simply a bit too slow for my tastes at high levels. I like having 2x max damage AoE nukes available, since the cooldown is a bit longer than sorcs. The great thing about wizard is that you can easily respec... or even tri-spec. Whether you go acid/ice or acid/fire or fire/ice, you should definitely have at least 1 point in the third line to leverage weaknesses where you can.

You know, I agree with you. But being too slow is much better than casting something where the mobs are immune.

Plus - and this another thing that I've observed - dropping firewall works great if the mobs don't move. But most mobs DO move, and when they move then tend to cluster around something. Given that dynamic, Acid Rain, and Ice Storm are actually a better fit for AoE by just plain geometry. Yeah, you center a firewall on a character, and he's surrounded by 6 enemies, the line of the firewall will hit maybe half of the monsters. But with an AoE like Ice Storm or Acid Rain, when centered on a tank, will encircle the mobs whether they are right up against the tank, or somewhat backed away from the tank. You basically get better coverage, and (in my opinion) more control over who or what gets damaged.

[AtomicMew]

You know, I agree with you. But being too slow is much better than casting something where the mobs are immune.

I'm not sure how this is relevant. This isn't a build for a first time player, you should know ahead of times before you even cast whether a mob is immune to a particular element or not.

Plus - and this another thing that I've observed - dropping firewall works great if the mobs don't move. But most mobs DO move, and when they move then tend to cluster around something. Given that dynamic, Acid Rain, and Ice Storm are actually a better fit for AoE by just plain geometry. Yeah, you center a firewall on a character, and he's surrounded by 6 enemies, the line of the firewall will hit maybe half of the monsters. But with an AoE like Ice Storm or Acid Rain, when centered on a tank, will encircle the mobs whether they are right up against the tank, or somewhat backed away from the tank. You basically get better coverage, and (in my opinion) more control over who or what gets damaged.

Who cares about tanks? You're a WF arcane with displacement and quickened reconstruct. Gather everything up and nuke everything dead in one hit with an otiluke's or DBF.

[Geve08]

What's the level guide? What's the end build? Like 19wiz1barb?

[Faent]

If you think your Necro wizzie is so great at 13-16 then solo Running with the Devils Hard in under 9 minutes with optional. No pots. That's what nuking lets you do. I levelled this life on my wizzie as a PM, but they were very much a nuker because until you start running level 18+ elites (~2000hp mobs), nuking outclasses Wail and Circle of Death.

You've picked this quest because you think I'll have trouble beating SR. If I couldn't run this quest on Hard in under 9 minutes at level 16, that wouldn't show anything of interest.

[squishwizzy]

I'm not sure how this is relevant. This isn't a build for a first time player, you should know ahead of times before you even cast whether a mob is immune to a particular element or not.

It was due to a tangental discussion on which elements to focus on. My point was that if you're going for endgame stuff, dumping action points into stuff that will elevate fire damage may very will cripple you when you hit the cap. If you're going to focus on elemental damage-dealing, my analysis was they want to go for acid and cold, and avoid fire as there seems to be a lot of endgame mobs that are immune to fire.

Otherwise, you get to the top of the mountain, and find that you've invested in a elemental focus that probably gimps you in endgame content.

Who cares about tanks? You're a WF arcane with displacement and quickened reconstruct. Gather everything up and nuke everything dead in one hit with an otiluke's or DBF.

Well, if you're running with a party, and the tank is drawing the aggro (which is what tanks do), yeah you can use Otilukes (which I do often)...or you can use something like Ice Storm. My point was that for most commonly accepted AoE, stuff like Acid Rain and Ice Storm are probably better suited for dealing damage because of basic geometry. I consider Otilukes to be a ranged spell.

Plus, and this is another consideration, if you do a lot of fighting with teleporting devils, it's probably a wiser move defensively to drop an Ice Strom spell or Acid Rain, and stand in the middle of it than it is to do the same with the firewall...mainly because of the gemoetry of the spell.

[AtomicMew]

As per the title, this is a leveling build. This isn't a build you should take to endgame.

[squishwizzy]

As per the title, this is a leveling build. This isn't a build you should take to endgame.

True. But this is the Internet. Where posts start, and where they eventually end up are noe one in the same... ;P