I'm looking into a 36pt build that tries to blend full-blooded arcane casting with some decent situational non-sp dps and that ideally is complemented by the shadowdancer ED (which I like for the instakill abilities if/when they are fixed as well as the evasion and synergy with an Int-based caster).

So on that basis, the build I'm trying to put together is as follows (apologies for the non-standard format, I haven't used the build planning tools):

Race: HElf
Class: Wizard 20, Palemaster. Also with the full Arcane archer enhancements.

Stats:
Str: 8 (+3Tome+7Item)=18
Dex: 16 (+3Tome+7Item+2Excep+2HElfDexEnhancments)=30
Con: 16 (+3Tome+7Item+2Excep)=28
Int: 18 (+3Tome+5Level ups+3WizIntIII+6Item+2Capstone+2LichForm+Epic Destiny Enhancements?)=39+ED Enhancements
Wis: 8 (+3Tome+5Item)=16
Cha: 8 (+3Tome+5Item)=16

The stats above are listed for level 20, and there would be additional bonuses that could be applied, but at this stage I'm looking broad brush to see if the concept is sound.

Feats (@20):
SF:Necro; GSF:Necro; Toughness; Maximise; Empower; Heighten; Quicken (for NEB healing); Extend(?); Point-blank shot; WF: Ranged; Rapid Shot; Manyshot; HElf Ranger Dilettante

Enhancements would be as follows:
Helf - Arcane fluidity II (3pts), Arcane Archer (14pts), ElvenDexII(6pts), Racial ToughnessII(3pts); Ranger Dili I [gives bow strength up to +4] (1pt)
Wiz - Capstone (2pts); PMIII (8pts); Shroud of the Lich (2pts); Improved Maximise I (2pts); Improved Empower I (2pts); Improved Heighten I (4pts); Energy of the Scholar III (6pts); Int III (12pts); Energy manipulation lines (15pts, see below)

For the energy manipulation lines, I was thinking either 3 pts in each of cold, fire, elec, acid, and force, or specialise in one for 9 pts (probably cold for Polar ray and Niac's biting cold).

Primary epic destiny: Shadowdancer, with Consume and Executioner's strike

Twists: (short term) - Magister +3 to Necro DCs; Dragonhide (+6 Fort); Impregnable mind (+6 Will) [Longer term, the light damage reduction in EA looks great for a palemaster, but thats a lot of grinding through the map].


My analysis of the above:

This build is essentially a standard pure PM wizard, which sacrifices spell penetration feats plus 2 other feats (probably spell focus, either in conjuration or enchantment) and 17APs (for arcane archer and arcane fluidity) in order to gain arcane archer abilities, primarily divine power'd manyshot when off the timer using imbued slaying arrows. The lost APs result in either additional lost spell pen and/or loss of nuke damage for some elemental lines.

One of the reasons for doing this is that the shadowdancer tree requires some weapon capability, and has its own instakills which may not be subject to SR in the same way that spells are (this is an unknown for me). Therefore, you're trading a bit of your own ability to land instakills (i.e. with reduced spell pen) but compensating with ED driven instakills of consume, shadow manipulation, and executioner's strike. Consume and shadow manipulation are driven off Int, so very high synergy there, whilst executioner's shot is driven off dex which is moderate on this build (but if it turns out to be a good ability, you could potentially shift some points from Int to Dex, although this is unlikely to be optimal).

The Cloak of Shadows ability looks great for a PM (120pts of light damage reduction), but I understand its currently bugged. This build assumes that all broken abilities are fixed by the devs at some point.

Imbue slayer arrows cause a cooldown of FoD (can anyone tell me how long this is?), but conversely offer very solid ranged dps during manyshot which is non-SP derived. This results in a choice of either using FoD as your main attack on trash, or using a bow (depending on mob resistances, see below).

This build is missing a couple of things: insightful reflexes would be nice, and I'd consider dropping extend or alternatively taking it at L21. Also missing is a slot to take a wizard past life feat (which I don't have yet) which again could either be taken by removing extend or by waiting til level 21 or 24.

Tactics:

Against non-SR trash, standard palemaster MO: wail, fod, shadowdancer instakills, enchantments based CC supplemented with heightened web

Against SR trash where its difficult to land fod: imbue slayer, ranged attacks (manyshot when available, always popping divine power first), PM nukes, sp based nukes depending on mob elemental vulnerability, heightened web as primary CC

Against boss mobs: Eladars, Niacs, Black dragon bolt in rotation, imbue slayer ranged attacks (again using many shot when available) and supplemented by sp-burning nukes as appropriate



Does this build seem ok, or am I trading in too much to obtain the (arguably minor) benefits from the arcane archer features?