Need feedback on wizard build

[DarkGospel]

A lot of things are diferent when I was checking for wizard builds I've played wizard once when Lich was available on lvl 12 and not 18 and stayed away from the game for almost a year though it's the 1st time in 3 years that I post something here.
I would appreciate if someone could give me some advice.

1st life 32 points
STR 8
DEX 8
CON 18
INT 18
WIS 8
CHA 8

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Mental Toughness
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Empower Spell
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Insightful Reflexes

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

Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Necromancy

Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration

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

Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy

Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Improved Mental Toughness?

Level 18 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Shield Mastery?

Level 20 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell??

Well, I think those are must have Mental Toughness, Empower Spell, Toughness, Insightful Reflexes, Maximize Spell, Spell Focus: Necromancy, Spell Penetration, Heighten Spell, Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy, Greater Spell Penetration.

I read on some threads that Mental Toughness would be just to make Wraith form available and then ditch it after getting Lich form but why should I ditch Mental Toughness? I already got all wizard bonus feats execept for the useless ones like Eschew Materials and I'm not a fan of a secondary spell focus plus it's a 1st life so I don't really have anything better to Mental Toughnessal for though a +1 DC for enchantment would be nice but for that I would simply drop Improved Mental Toughness instead since I just got it for really not having anything else to get.

Some people said that Shild Mastery would be reduce the icoming damage but I think casters should being hit in the 1st place plus a Shiel Mastery is just usefull if I use a shield what would give me spell failure chance and I don't like it. So please if someone can explain to me why a wizard should get this feat even if it will give spell failure chage?

About Quicken it's more for testing really, I never used it on my old wizard and never missed not having it but there were a lot of changes on game on the time I was away so maybe I should give it a tray.

I would like some advice on spells aswell, fire spells seems to have being weakened but still word good on undead. Acid sounds nice but there aren't many spells so I'm not sure what to do with acid just repeatedly cast melf's, acid blasd and acid rain? Eletricity since to have some good aoe spells but then again I'm not familiar with eletric spells. Ice still the heaviest dps as it was before and I plan to swamp my main focus to ice on higher lvls but what would be best for fast leveling?

Thanks in advance.

[Inouk]

A lot of things are diferent when I was checking for wizard builds I've played wizard once when Lich was available on lvl 12 and not 18 and stayed away from the game for almost a year though it's the 1st time in 3 years that I post something here.
I would appreciate if someone could give me some advice.

1st life 32 points
STR 8
DEX 8
CON 18
INT 18
WIS 8
CHA 8

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Mental Toughness
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Empower Spell
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Insightful Reflexes

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

Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Necromancy

Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration

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

Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy

Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Improved Mental Toughness?

Level 18 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Shield Mastery?

Level 20 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell??

Well, I think those are must have Mental Toughness, Empower Spell, Toughness, Insightful Reflexes, Maximize Spell, Spell Focus: Necromancy, Spell Penetration, Heighten Spell, Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy, Greater Spell Penetration.

I read on some threads that Mental Toughness would be just to make Wraith form available and then ditch it after getting Lich form but why should I ditch Mental Toughness? I already got all wizard bonus feats execept for the useless ones like Eschew Materials and I'm not a fan of a secondary spell focus plus it's a 1st life so I don't really have anything better to Mental Toughnessal for though a +1 DC for enchantment would be nice but for that I would simply drop Improved Mental Toughness instead since I just got it for really not having anything else to get.

Some people said that Shild Mastery would be reduce the icoming damage but I think casters should being hit in the 1st place plus a Shiel Mastery is just usefull if I use a shield what would give me spell failure chance and I don't like it. So please if someone can explain to me why a wizard should get this feat even if it will give spell failure chage?

About Quicken it's more for testing really, I never used it on my old wizard and never missed not having it but there were a lot of changes on game on the time I was away so maybe I should give it a tray.

I would like some advice on spells aswell, fire spells seems to have being weakened but still word good on undead. Acid sounds nice but there aren't many spells so I'm not sure what to do with acid just repeatedly cast melf's, acid blasd and acid rain? Eletricity since to have some good aoe spells but then again I'm not familiar with eletric spells. Ice still the heaviest dps as it was before and I plan to swamp my main focus to ice on higher lvls but what would be best for fast leveling?

Thanks in advance.

Not everything can be killed with Necro (for example, the many times you'll run into a cleric who will death ward the whole group she's with). For this reason it can be REALLY nice having greater SF enchantment for dancing ball, mass hold, etc. If you prefer you could go conjuration for web, but I do suggest having a good backup school to CC when you need to burn them down. Quicken is also nice to have for your neg energy burst, which is slow to cast and is your emergency heal, and for dancing ball. Not sure about shield mastery. As an experiment one time I got a high DR shield and tried solo-tanking using ice storm, displacement, epic robe of shadow, demon consort bracers, death aura, and shield blocking on epic hard devil assault. It made a quest that isn't that hard for me impossible - really bad idea. Shield mastery could maybe make it workable, but I wouldn't suggest it when there are so many other good feats to take. Mental toughness is anything but a "must have" once you get lich form IMO.

For spells I'd focus on fire until you hit your teens, then switch to ice with air or acid secondary. Having some in force isn't a bad idea either for disintegrate, and later meteor swarm.

As for stats... it's hard to criticize 18 con but... with the +4 con you get from lich form you could afford to drop that a point or 2 so that you don't have to dump stat EVERYTHING else. Personally I like at least a couple points in str or I find myself encumbered all the time, even with a +6 str item.

[DarkGospel]

Not everything can be killed with Necro (for example, the many times you'll run into a cleric who will death ward the whole group she's with). For this reason it can be REALLY nice having greater SF enchantment for dancing ball, mass hold, etc. If you prefer you could go conjuration for web, but I do suggest having a good backup school to CC when you need to burn them down. Quicken is also nice to have for your neg energy burst, which is slow to cast and is your emergency heal, and for dancing ball. Not sure about shield mastery. As an experiment one time I got a high DR shield and tried solo-tanking using ice storm, displacement, epic robe of shadow, demon consort bracers, death aura, and shield blocking on epic hard devil assault. It made a quest that isn't that hard for me impossible - really bad idea. Shield mastery could maybe make it workable, but I wouldn't suggest it when there are so many other good feats to take. Mental toughness is anything but a "must have" once you get lich form IMO.

For spells I'd focus on fire until you hit your teens, then switch to ice with air or acid secondary. Having some in force isn't a bad idea either for disintegrate, and later meteor swarm.

As for stats... it's hard to criticize 18 con but... with the +4 con you get from lich form you could afford to drop that a point or 2 so that you don't have to dump stat EVERYTHING else. Personally I like at least a couple points in str or I find myself encumbered all the time, even with a +6 str item.

Shield mastery requires shield proficiency and only gives 5 PRR for a large shield, at the cost of 2 feats, I'd pass. It -used- to be worth it for some back when it gave something like 25%(?) incoming damage reduction and was used with spell failure reduction gear.

Mental toughness line is not that good either since you get so much sp now from epic destinies and maybe endless faith twist. If I remember well, lich got changed around the time of the spell pass so you might not know about the decrease in sp cost of spells and the addition of the two arcane dots that are cost-effective in boss fights. Add to that magister sp reduction and/or draconic SLAs and you're golden. Sure, more might be better but mass hold/aoe dmg is fun(held mobs now get 50% more dmg instead of always crit)

Spell focus enchant feats are good choices as is quicken for bacon saving neg burst.

Seems shild mastery is really a bad idea I'll drop it and go with SF and GSF enchantment.

I'll have to see which one works better for me as secondary elemental line but since fire is still good on low lvls and ice on high lvls it's of less thing to think about since my old wiz was focused on fire/ice so aside from the new spells that I haven't tested yet the rest must be the same as before.

I don't want neg burst failing in an emergency and since mental toughness is good just till lich form I'll swamp it to quicken isntead lf geting quicken at level 20 and for the last one SF evo? Maybe there is something better then evo.

Now it looks like this

str 12
dex 8
con 16
int 18
wis 8
cha 10 (UMD)

Would as well go str 14, dex 8, con 16, int 18 or str 11 +3 tome, con 17 +3 tome, int 18

Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Mental Toughness swamp to Quicken Spell afer geting lich form
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Empower Spell
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Insightful Reflexes

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

Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Necromancy

Level 9 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration

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

Level 12 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy

Level 15 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Spell Focus: Enchantment

Level 18 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment

Level 20 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Spell Focus: Evocation

Level 21 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Spell Penetration

Level 24 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Spell Focus

[Vmbra]

Shield mastery requires shield proficiency and only gives 5 PRR for a large shield, at the cost of 2 feats, I'd pass. It -used- to be worth it for some back when it gave something like 25%(?) incoming damage reduction and was used with spell failure reduction gear.

Mental toughness line is not that good either since you get so much sp now from epic destinies and maybe endless faith twist. If I remember well, lich got changed around the time of the spell pass so you might not know about the decrease in sp cost of spells and the addition of the two arcane dots that are cost-effective in boss fights. Add to that magister sp reduction and/or draconic SLAs and you're golden. Sure, more might be better but mass hold/aoe dmg is fun(held mobs now get 50% more dmg instead of always crit)

Spell focus enchant feats are good choices as is quicken for bacon saving neg burst.

[Kinerd]

I would like some advice on spells aswell, fire spells seems to have being weakened but still word good on undead. Acid sounds nice but there aren't many spells so I'm not sure what to do with acid just repeatedly cast melf's, acid blasd and acid rain? Eletricity since to have some good aoe spells but then again I'm not familiar with eletric spells. Ice still the heaviest dps as it was before and I plan to swamp my main focus to ice on higher lvls but what would be best for fast leveling?

The marquee spells are...
Fire - Wall of Fire (incidentally the only fire spell that inherently does more damage to undead)
Acid - Black Dragon Bolt, Acid Rain
Electric - Eladar's Electric Surge
Cold - Polar Ray, Niac's Biting Cold, Ice Storm
...as a PM you have a bit of a crunch at level 4 so are unlikely to be able to have all three AoE spells memorized at all times. You should absolutely have the other 4 at all times, though, they are enormously powerful. If you really want an AoE nuke you can get one from any element (although Acid lags a bit there), they're not terribly useful for a wizard though.

Second thing to consider is how much AP you can devote to elemental lines. This depends on what else you're getting, but you should at least be able to get 7/1/1 in two elements. I very strongly encourage you to make one of these Cold. For the second either Acid or Electric are strong choices. IMO Fire just doesn't have the spellbook to compete, even with the reduced proportion of enemies that are immune it's not a strong choice.

[DarkGospel]

Ice Storm, Wall of Fire and Polar Ray are old friends since they where the main focus on my old wiz and had both ice and fire lines maxed 7/6/6 somehow, I'm a little obsessed with damage I guess on that regard a sorc would be better for me but I also don't like having to pay to change spells.
Never tried acid since there wasn't enogh spells to make it an opition at the time but maybe I should givi it a try.
As for Black Dragon Bolt, Eladar's Eletric Surge and Niac's Biting Cold are completely new spells to me so I'll have to see then in action, my orignal plans where to go the cold line as main after level 14 so cold 7/6/6 a secondary 7/1/1 and a force 3/1/1 or 2/1/1 depending on how much AP I can aford to spend on it.

[DarkGospel]

Need some help with items aswell, I had some planned but they were originaly sorcerer gear so I made some changes to the list and there must be some better items options now.

End-Game Targets
Head: Minos Legens
Neck: Torq of Prince Raiyum / Noxious Embers / Smedgar's or Shiona's Necklace
Goggles: Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Goggles of Positive Energy (or Air) : Wizardry VI, +150 SP, +6 Cha-based skills
Trinket: Head of Good Fortune / Litany of the Dead
Robe: Blue Dragonscale / Dragontouched 1 (Greater False Life, Con +6, Greater Spell Penetration VIII) / Dragontouched 2 (Greater False Life, Con +6, Glacial Assault) / Dragontouched 3 (Greater False Life, Con +6, Potency VIII) / Dragontouched 4 (Greater False Life, Con +6, Earthen Guard)
Bracers: Bracers of the Glacier / Bracers of the Demonic Consort / Tier III Green Steel HP item (Tempered with Con skills for +13 Concentration)
Gloves: Gloves of the Glacier / Seven-Fingered Gloves / Vile Blasphemy
Cloak: Stormreaver's Napkin
Belt: Rahkir's Sash / Vorne's Belt
Boots: Feather Falling Boots / Green Steel Boots of Useful Effect (Negative boots for immunity, fire absorption boots, Concordant Opposition, etc.) / Kundarek Delving Boots / Firestorm Greaves
Ring 1: Rahkir's Ring (+6 Int, +1 Exceptional Int, +2 Exceptional Int)
Ring 2: Gnawed Ring (+6 Strength, +1 Exceptional Con, + 2 Exeptional Con)
Main Hand: Skiver / Superior Potency VI / Greater Potency VII
Off Hand: Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Scepter of Fire (or Negative Energy) : +6 Int, +1 Int , +2 Int.


Epic Gear
Head:
Neck: Epic Torq of Prince Raiyum-de-II (+6 Con)
Goggles: Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Goggles of Positive Energy (or Air) : Wizardry VI, +150 SP, +6 Cha-based skills / Epic Spectacles of Spirit Sight
Trinket: Litany of the Dead
Robe:
Bracers: Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Bracers of Concordant Opposition (Hit Points)
Gloves: Seven-Fingered Gloves / Vile Blasphemy / Gloves of the Glacier
Cloak: Epic Cloak of the Zephyr (Blindness Immunity) / Epic Cloak of the Silver Concord
Belt: Rahkir's Sash / Epic Lion-Headed Belt Buckle
Boots: Firestorm Greaves / Epic Kundarek Delving Boots (+6 Str) / Green Steel of Useful Effect (Tempered perhaps for concentration, with +3 con skills on third tier)
Ring 1:
Ring 2: Ann Velsing's / Band of Syberis / Lorinthor's Ring (+6 Str, +1 Exc. Cha, +2 Exc. Charisma) / Epic Ring of Spell Storing
Main Hand: Skiver / Epic Green Blade / Upgraded Death's Touch
Off Hand: Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Scepter of Fire (or Negative Energy) : +6 Int, +1 Int , +2 Int.

[Such755]

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4760799

That's my build of an end game wizard, pale master, high necro\enchat DC
Build and gear are all in there.

[DarkGospel]

Thanks this will help me a lot.

[count_spicoli]

No extend. Yikes. Its a must have for 5 min hastes and displacements at 25. At leazt for me.

[DarkGospel]

No extend. Yikes. Its a must have for 5 min hastes and displacements at 25. At leazt for me.

I can live without exted and don't use displacement that often and still can solo HE just fine and nobody waits for haste anyway actually they don't wait for any buff and end up dying or I just have bad luck with parties.