Nice noobfriendly wizard

[knightmarh]

Hey, my brother is wanting to start playing DDO and would like to roll a palemaster.
I dont really understand wizards so any help would rock!

Cheers
Knight

[firemedium_jt]

Tons of pure builds on here. Just search. prob human best. How to pick spells. wiki rare arcane scrolls. Now for wiz18/rog2 it is a harder search but I got a thread on here for that.

[Myrrae]

First rule - Con is not a dump stat

Does your brother have warforged? 32 point builds?

Warforged are definitely the most 'noob friendly' because you can self heal yourself starting at level 1. I started with a Drow myself and I definitely noticed the lower hit points, plus the extra light damage you take could really be killer.

Stats:
Max int
Put as much as possible into con after that.
Left over points go into strength (because Ray of Enfeeblement can suck) or Charisma (to make people like you more!)

Take Maximize by level 6. Maximize Fireball in Delera's = fun!

Don't bother with Vampire form. It sounds good on paper - until searing light one shots you!

Zombie form is optional - not a bad way to get used to being undead if you're not WarForged, but not really worth it if you can already heal yourself.

Take extend for Death Aura (and Haste & Displacement)

There are also builds and other advice on the boards, but that's a start

[Kinerd]

Here are the best 5 things wizards can do:
self-heal
instant kill
crowd control
direct damage
buff/debuff

Being a pale master versus an archmage has no substantial relative impact on any of the last 4, although of course you should be one or the other. The only time you should really be a pale master is if you cannot otherwise do #1 (self-heal) by Repairing your warforged self. (Note that this doesn't imply you shouldn't be a PM if you are WF.)

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The other thing about wizards is that they are very weak early on and very (very, very) powerful late. This makes them great for people who are already into DDO, but pretty bad for someone just starting out. If you absolutely insist, I very strongly urge you to go WF AM instead of PM, and I would build like this...

Feats
Level 1 - Toughness
Level 1 Wizard - Spell Focus: Conjuration
Level 3 - Insightful Reflexes
Level 5 Wizard - Mental Toughness
Level 6 - Maximize
Level 9 - Heighten
Level 10 Wizard - Spell Focus: Necromancy
Level 12 - Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy
Level 15 - Spell Penetration
Level 15 Wizard - Quicken
Level 18 - Greater Spell Penetration
Level 20 Wizard - Spell Focus: Enchantment
(if into epic levels)
Level 21 - Epic Spell Penetration
Level 24 - Epic Spell Focus: Necromancy

Enhancements
7/1/1: Cold and Electric
1/0/0: Every other element
Archmage 4 (requires Intel 3, Concentration 3, Energy of Scholar 3)
Spell Mastery 2: Necromancy
Secondary Spell Mastery 1: Conjuration
(note: while leveling start with Spell Mastery Conjuration and enhancement swap at level 12 or whenever you can take Secondary Spell Mastery.)
SLA Web (requires SLA Grease)
SLA Hypno
Inscribed Armor 1 and Capstone

You'll have a few other AP to play with, so play away. I like more Acid and Improved Maximize 1.

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Your first big level is 7: you get persistent AoE direct damage spells, including one that does super damage to undead for no good reason in Wall of Fire, one that arbitrarily does bludgeoning damage that bypasses every resistance in Ice Storm, and one that just eats things alive in Acid Rain. With these spells you are finally a wizard instead of a poor man's melee that throws a Fireball a few times a quest.

Your next big level is 9: SLA Web and your most powerful long-term single-target DPS spells in Eladar's Electric Surge and Niac's Biting Cold. With these spells you can CC with abandon and do enormous boss DPS. (So enormous that you will regularly pull aggro in pugs, so be careful and don't be that guy who runs around while the melees flail pointlessly 10 meters behind the boss.)

When you hit 11 it's all over, because you get Reconstruct and can keep yourself alive indefinitely.

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The drawback to this plan is you have to get to level 7 etc., which is no gimme for a new player. It might be better to just go Str/Con barb and hit things, you get a lot more positive feedback in the early levels without having to rely on vague promises of future glory.

[Myrrae]

The drawback to this plan is you have to get to level 7 etc., which is no gimme for a new player. It might be better to just go Str/Con barb and hit things, you get a lot more positive feedback in the early levels without having to rely on vague promises of future glory.

Do you really think so? I remember trying barb and being too broke to really buy potions and watching my health drop way faster than I liked in Korthos (I can't remember if I was too poor or just didn't know about healing hires).

By contrast I found anything with self healing really easy at low levels.

It is nice to know on a wizard that things only get better though

[GlassJaw]

Here's my advice to someone brand-new to the game, and it depends if you are F2P or not:

If F2P, make a battle cleric (Clr 20 or Ftr 2/Clr 18). You can fight, solo, self-heal, buff, and it will be easy to find groups.

If you are paying, make a FvS or Artificer. I find FvS to be more forgiving than cleric because of the extra spell points and Artificer is flat-OP right out of the gate. Also nice to boost your crafting levels. If you really want to play a pure caster, make a Sorc. More spell points and less to keep track of compared to wizard.

Just play and don't worry too much about specific/advanced builds. You definitely have to spend time researching (the DDO Wiki is great) but you flat-out have to put time in playing. Once you start to get a handle on things, then you can reroll, lesser reincarnate, or TR to "fix" your build.

You also need to unlock favor to get things like 32-point builds, Vet status, other classes/races, etc (unless of course you are paying for everything).

[Stylez777]

Enhancements
7/1/1: Cold and Electric
1/0/0: Every other element

First like your reply even though i am not OP, being new and a Wizard myself it helped me a great deal!

I am confused about what the 7/1/1 and the 1/0/0 mean. Could someone explain that?

[GlassJaw]

I am confused about what the 7/1/1 and the 1/0/0 mean. Could someone explain that?

The number of APs to put in your elemental spell lines: 7 in the spell power enhancement and 1 in each of the crits. It's generally considered to be the most bang for the buck rather than maxing out the crits.

3/1/1 or 1/0/0 are also common.

For a typical Wiz or Sorc, you should be able to put 7/1/1 in 2 lines, sometimes 3. A sorc Savant will have to max one line. If you spec 2 lines, it's usually not a bad idea to put a point (or 3) into force for example for Disintegrate.