Iron Shiradi: Less is More?

[cforce]

I was musing about what to do next with my Wizard. The current state of the end game is very... interesting. I'm going to present something more as a theory-build than anything else. This isn't something I'm likely considering at the moment -- but I think it fuels some interesting discussion.

For performance in EE, the clear best choice is to focus on damage, preferably no-save damage, and it's widely acknowledged that the smoothest EE runs are when arcanes are Shiradi-based casters focusing on MM, CM, and the like. Not that it can't be done with other builds, but it's smoothest when people accept that DC's are hard, and no-save damage is considerably more consistent. (There are other threads to debate whether Shiradi-nuking is the current "best choice" for endgame EE -- here, I'm going to take it as a given.)

Which leaves me with the following assessment of "what's important for optimizing your wizard build".

DCs: Unimportant. Sure, you *can* focus on DCs that are effective in Normal/Hard content, but that's a WAWG. Shiradi casters can solo Normal/Hard just as trivally without effective DCs, so I'd assess high DC casting (vs. Shiradi damage-casting) as "worse in EE, and with no marginal benefit over Shiradi casting in EN/EH". Heck, most people are looking at Shiradi-based CC as superior to other options.

Spell Pen: See DC's.

Spell Points: Meh. Of some use, but if you're a true power gamer, this is more a question of "when do I want to start chugging potions". High spell point totals are for those who don't play heavily; for folks routinely running EE, your spell casting power is bounded by your wealth, not your spell point pool. To boot, the most effective casting right now is generally from Archmage SLAs, which can be chained for a long time on the SP equivalent of pennies on the dollar. Also SLAs can be continued indefinitely out of Echoes of Power.

Important spells: Honestly, not much past level 12 anymore for the Shiradi caster. Here's what I'd list as important for a current "optimized" end-game wizard, given the above:

- Tier III Archmage SLAs
- Niac's/Eledar's
- Cloudkill for concealment
- Quickened/Maximized Reconstruct if WF

Any other spells in levels 7-9 are too expensive, have a DC or Spell Pen check, or both.

Stepping back, this evaluation is pretty much the opposite of what we've been doing building Wizards to date. Well, if these aren't important, than what is?

Hit Points: Critical! Stuff hits *hard*. There's not a threshold anymore for "_____ is enough hit points for a Wizard". Things hit hard enough that more is always better.

Saves: Pretty darn important -- and you need to get these values pretty high, to boot.

Other survivability: Anything you can add here helps. More dodge, more PRR, incorporeal miss chance.


Here's the thing -- Wizard levels 13-20 are only improving the stuff that doesn't provide much extra value for a Shiradi caster, and aren't great at all for all of the survivability criteria that *are* important now. The clear solution: other class levels *besides* wizard probably make you more effective in your caster role than wizard levels!

Once we've got "everything we need" from a caster perspective at level 12 Archmage, why not fill out the remaining levels with a good survivability package? Defender of Siberys 6/Monk 2 has a lot to like, providing gobs of saving throw help, a lot of hit point help, and situationally either a good chunk of PRR (through using a shield and being in DoS stance) or some Dodge help (by remaining centered for the Monk 4%, +1% if ocean stance).

What about our feat requirements? With no desire to care about DC's or Spell Pen, our must-have feat list isn't very long:

- Maximize, Quicken, Empower, Extend (Extend is debatable)
- SF/GSF: Evocation, Mental Toughness (for Archmage III)
- Toughness

Plenty of room for extra feats to increase survivability. The 10 PRR bonus Defender of Siberys gets for using a shield seems better, percentage-wise, than the dodge bonus that staying certered would give, so let's start with that, and pile on the PRR with Shield Mastery/Improved Shield Mastery! Epic Toughness would be nice to fit as well; let's see if we can reasonably get the CON pre-req. Since we don't care much about INT beyond being able to cast level 6 spells, it shouldn't be too hard. We've still got room for two more feats from Monk bonus levels, so let's round out our survivability package with Lightning Reflexes, Dodge, and Bulwark of Defense.

What do our starting stats look like? We care most about CON and CHA for hit points and saves. DEX and WIS would be secondary for saves, and INT only needs to get to 16 with equipment. I'm going to start with a Warforged template, as I think it's tough to argue against Quickened Reconstruct as a survivability measure.

36-pt Warforged
STR 8
DEX 14
CON 18 <- Can get to Epic Toughness pre-req with Tomes
INT 12 <- Can get to disjuncted casting safety with Tomes
WIS 12
CHA 14

Level-ups are debateable, but I think they go in Charisma. +3 to all saving throws, which are still on a old-fashioned d20, is probably a bigger swing than +75 hit points.

So, here's a rough-out of what this might look like:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.16.01
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Iron Shiradi 
Level 25 Lawful Good Warforged Male
(6 Paladin \ 2 Monk \ 12 Wizard \ 5 Epic) 
Hit Points: 516
Spell Points: 1074 
BAB: 13\13\18\23
Fortitude: 31
Reflex: 27
Will: 28

                  Starting            Ending          
Abilities        Base Stats         Base Stats        
(36 Point)       (Level 1)          (Level 25)        
Strength              8                 12            
Dexterity            14                 18            
Constitution         18                 22            
Intelligence         12                 16            
Wisdom               12                 16            
Charisma             14                 24            

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Strength used at level 3
+1 Tome of Dexterity used at level 3
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 3
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3
+1 Tome of Wisdom used at level 3
+1 Tome of Charisma used at level 3
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+3 Tome of Strength used at level 11
+3 Tome of Dexterity used at level 11
+3 Tome of Constitution used at level 11
+3 Tome of Intelligence used at level 11
+3 Tome of Wisdom used at level 11
+3 Tome of Charisma used at level 11
+4 Tome of Strength used at level 15
+4 Tome of Dexterity used at level 15
+4 Tome of Constitution used at level 15
+4 Tome of Intelligence used at level 15
+4 Tome of Wisdom used at level 15
+4 Tome of Charisma used at level 15

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Lightning Reflexes
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Barbarian
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Barbarian
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness


Level 2 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell


Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Evocation


Level 4 (Wizard)


Level 5 (Wizard)


Level 6 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness


Level 7 (Wizard)


Level 8 (Wizard)


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


Level 10 (Wizard)


Level 11 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell


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


Level 13 (Wizard)


Level 14 (Paladin)


Level 15 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Dodge
Feat: (Selected) Shield Mastery


Level 16 (Paladin)


Level 17 (Paladin)


Level 18 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Shield Mastery


Level 19 (Paladin)


Level 20 (Paladin)


Level 21 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Toughness


Level 22 (Paladin)


Level 23 (Paladin)


Level 24 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Bulwark of Defense


Level 25 (Paladin)
Enhancement: Paladin Armor Class Boost I
Enhancement: Paladin Courage of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Focus of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Defender of Siberys I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III
Enhancement: Improved Concentration I
Enhancement: Improved Concentration II
Enhancement: Improved Concentration III
Enhancement: Kinetic Spellcasting I
Enhancement: Kinetic Spellcasting II
Enhancement: Kinetic Spellcasting III
Enhancement: Kinetic Spellcasting IV
Enhancement: Deadly Kinetics I
Enhancement: Deadly Kinetics II
Enhancement: Deadly Kinetics III
Enhancement: Frost Manipulation I
Enhancement: Frost Manipulation II
Enhancement: Frost Manipulation III
Enhancement: Storm Manipulation I
Enhancement: Storm Manipulation II
Enhancement: Force Manipulation I
Enhancement: Force Manipulation II
Enhancement: Force Manipulation III
Enhancement: Force Manipulation IV
Enhancement: Force Manipulation V
Enhancement: Force Manipulation VI
Enhancement: Repair Manipulation I
Enhancement: Repair Manipulation II
Enhancement: Repair Manipulation III
Enhancement: Repair Manipulation IV
Enhancement: Repair Manipulation V
Enhancement: Repair Manipulation VI
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar III
Enhancement: Paladin Charisma I
Enhancement: Paladin Charisma II
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence I
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence II
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness I
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness II
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution I
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution II
Enhancement: Warforged Inscribed Armor I
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage I
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage II
Enhancement: Wizard Archmage III
Enhancement: Archmage Spell Mastery I: Evocation
Enhancement: Evocation I - Magic Missile
Enhancement: Evocation II - Gust of Wind
Enhancement: Evocation III - Chain Missiles

OK, some numbers checks:

Ending stats
DEX: 14 base +4tm +8ench +2in +2ship = 30
CON: 18 base +4tm +8ench +1ex +3in +2rage +2enh +2ship = 40
WIS: 12 base +4tm +8ench +2in +2ship = 28
CHA: 14 base +4tm +8ench +1ex +3in +2enh +6lvl +2ship = 40


HP:
20 base
50 Epic levels
124 class
375 con
40 SFL
20 barb pl
50 tough enh
45 shroud
10 argo
20 toughness item
27 toughness feat
50 epic toughness
------------------
831 out of stance
+25 CON
* 1.1
--------
942 in stance

Saving throws
Fixed:
15/15/15 Divine Grace
2/2/2 Aura
4/4/4 GH
2/2/2 luck
7/7/7 ench
2/2/2 brace for impact
1/1/1 stance
2/2/2 Bulwark
---------
35/35/35

Variable
12/9/13 class levels
15/10/9 stats
0/2/0 Lightning Reflexes
---------
62/56/57

PRR Potential
15 Artifact
15 Enhancement
10 Imp. Shield Mastery
20 DoS
15 Legendary Shield Mastery twist
---------
75 PRR

OK, I'm going to an extreme here for emphasis, but the fact of the matter is, the spellcasting performance of this guy is likely to be pretty similar to a pure-classes Shiradi Archmage. There are a few enhancements on the force line that I missed out on, but the drop is really, really marginal.

So, the question is, which wizard do you want the most with you in EE? The CC guy or Pale Master who's got a 50% success rate on their DC's? The pure-classed Archmage Shiradi who's got a bigger spell point pool? Or this guy, who has saves right around 60 the 60 range, evasion, 900+ hit points, 75 PRR, and has about the same damage output as the pure-classed Shiradi...and can always dip into their pots if they run out of spell points? Discussion/flaming starts below ----v

[voodoogroves]

This is the kind of build I like to ruminate on.

More interesting is if/when any enhancement pass comes - how WF will look then.

The alternate to this is a Monk 6 / Pal 2 split which ends up with more dodge and would go earth stance (likely) so less PRR.

I've not messed with Shiradi much as the characters I've farmed EDs extensively on are not-compatible this life and are instead romping in other destinies - how much of the Shiradi abilities can you twist and stay relevant?

[cforce]

I've not messed with Shiradi much as the characters I've farmed EDs extensively on are not-compatible this life and are instead romping in other destinies - how much of the Shiradi abilities can you twist and stay relevant?

Not much. Most of the power comes in the innates.

[Feralthyrtiaq]

I leveled Shiradi during my Druid life. 4 Lives and many EDs later I found myself as a Sorc (life 12).

I rolled Earth Savant 2Monk/2Pal/16Sorc and Leveled Draconic Incarnation ED with the Shiradi "Stay Frosty" as a Twist.

Heavy investment in Force 7/3/3 Acid 6/1/1 Cold 4/1/1 and a Trivial Amount in the others.

While in DI I choose Black Dragon Acid as Primary and Cold as Secondary.

You could squeeze a lot more out of Stay Frost as a Twist but as far as Twists go this one is great for a Tier 1 Twist.
7% Proc Cold Damage, 20% to Proc 50% move speed Debuff.

Stay Frosty Procs off MM, CM and FM + Ice Storm/Solid Fog/Acid Rain etc and the mobs move in super slow motion.

Was SUPER powerfull on my Druid in Full Shiradi, Water Elemental Form and Chill of Winter (Cold spells Debuff Move Speed 40%, Attack speed 10% and give -5 to Fort and Reflex Saves)

[loren9109]

I'm not sure but I'm afraid sp depth will still be major problem of this build. Using unmeta'd missles on my pure shiradi sorc and I still feel sp tight in some EE questing. Without something like epic spell storing ring I doubt SLA's can make up your shallow sp pool. If you end up drinking pots I feel this build not much different from a pure PM using energy drain and FoD.

Shiradi is something arcanes are using to cope with current EE metagame, but imho not something that strong to put so much focus on while losing 8 caster levels (less missles per cast too perhaps?), a big chunk of sp, all DC based spells and some no save spells such as irresistable dance, PW kill, etc.

If you can make torcing workable in a red named fight or a messy instance this build might have some appeal. But otherwise I think 18sorc/2pal, 18wiz/2monk or an AA will serve your purpose better.

[cforce]

If you end up drinking pots I feel this build not much different from a pure PM using energy drain and FoD.

It's definitely a good discussion point. Maybe someone who runs a AM shiradi can comment on their typical spell rotation (I run PM right now), but I'd suspect the SLA savings add up faster than you think. Bear in mind that the first two casts in every encounter would be SLAs, so you'd start out +10 sp vs. what the sorc version would have cast, and then add another +10 spell points every 7 seconds or so?

That being said, I don't think it's in the same class as a PM using energy drain and FoD, who is using north of 100SP on a single mob. While you'd start out a couple of pots "in the hole", so to speak, you're still burning spell points waaaaaay slower.

[gphysalis]

dump dex

take insightful reflexes

stat consolidation
more sp

[HalfORCastrator]

dump dex

take insightful reflexes

stat consolidation
more sp

My thoughts exactly. Pale Master(Wraith/Lich) and Warforged both get by most of what you'd want to get by with non-ref saves anyway.

WF:
18int (16pt) (+6 lvlups)
18con (10pt)
14cha (10pt)
gets what you want


SP is my biggest issue with this build. Chugging Major pots as a plan A is not the type of caster I want to make.

The other issue is that 18wiz/2mnk or 18sorc/2pal get what you want anyway. The survivability, saves, and power are all there already. These builds have all that, and just expanding on them is more "cherry on top" than an actual functional improvement, but then take into consideration that you lose all that sp and the ability to function during heroic levels and on epic hard as a normal caster, and that makes it even worse.


As a side note, 18sorc/2pal is a lot more amenable to this prr heavy build. I have a human 18/2 shiradi sorc that gets to mid 30s prr(19% mitigation) without anything besides medium armor(Shadowmail) prr, 14prr augment, and DP clickies.

[cforce]

The other issue is that 18wiz/2mnk or 18sorc/2pal get what you want anyway. The survivability, saves, and power are all there already. These builds have all that, and just expanding on them is more "cherry on top" than an actual functional improvement, but then take into consideration that you lose all that sp and the ability to function during heroic levels and on epic hard as a normal caster, and that makes it even worse.

I'd say there's a better argument that 16wiz/2mnk/2pal gives me most of the same benefits; losing either evasion + 2 feats or divine grace are both pretty significant survivability differences. If was actually going to recommend a build like this to someone, I'd likely recommend that direction.

That being said, I would trivially dismiss what 6 levels of Paladin bring. First, I forgot to factor in the stance CON bonus in my first calculation:

HP:
20 base
50 Epic levels
124 class
375 con
40 SFL
20 barb pl
50 tough enh
45 shroud
10 argo
20 toughness item
27 toughness feat
50 epic toughness
------------------
831 out of stance
+25 CON
* 1.1
--------
942 in stance

Go with "just" Wiz 16/Monk 2/Pally 2, and you get:

20 base
50 Epic levels
100 class
375 con
40 SFL
20 barb pl
40 tough enh
45 shroud
10 argo
20 toughness item
27 toughness feat
50 epic toughness
------------------
797

"797" vs. "942 and +20 PRR" isn't a trivial difference. Are +290 SP in your starting pool (delta between level 12 and level 16) worth it? It's no longer that hard to go from 797 to 0 in a short time period...

[Ancient]

I've been toying with a similar line of reasoning on my NovaSoul. The high level spells simply aren't carrying their weight. Using similar logic, I've toyed with a 12 FVS (for AoVII) / 8 Sorc or Wiz using Arcane augmentation to get the arcane casting level a bit higher.

Consider:
Force Missile - level 4 (max at level 12)
Chain Missile - level 3 (should max at 19, currently always max)
Magic Missile - level 1 (max at level 10)

Such a build would lose 30 spell power of force manipulation to gain 60 more from AoV II. In addition it would combine magic missle spew along side shoulder cannon archon spam.

No telling how many groups would turn down a 12 FVS/8 Wiz simply on principal Things would only get worse if I did a 7 wiz/1 arti splash, lol.

[korsat]

Interesting, ok you can drink pots but how large your sp pool will be with just 12 wizard levels? Don't think someone will consider this if you don't reach at least 1500sp pool.

If you want saves and survivability a 18/2 monk wf with insightful reflex can get around 40 fort 50 reflex, immune to most will effects and 20% dodge. Get ghostly somewhere, ring or boots, slot 14prr+citw set15prr+earth stance grandmaster twist15prr and you have 47prr. This can end up with 800 hp easy And break the 2500sp.

You need more survivability? Go palemaster instead of archmage. You are immune to everything and have increased dr(boon, hp proc) renuncing at the evocation sla. But double death aura+ice storm+necrotic blast give a lot of aoe procs every second for really few sp.

Just some ideas I have that may be better. I'm not saying your idea is not going to work, indeed, I'm interested! Show me it works

[cforce]

You need more survivability? Go palemaster instead of archmage. You are immune to everything and have increased dr(boon, hp proc) renuncing at the evocation sla. But double death aura+ice storm+necrotic blast give a lot of aoe procs every second for really few sp.

I run a WF Pale Master now, and I can tell you his survivability is poor in EE's, especially the new ones. Death Aura doesn't keep up, and NEB isn't a big enough heal to bridge the gap.

[Darkrok]

I run a WF Pale Master now, and I can tell you his survivability is poor in EE's, especially the new ones. Death Aura doesn't keep up, and NEB isn't a big enough heal to bridge the gap.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the more sp's you have free the more often you can shoot off meta'd spells which equals faster completions.

Why do I bring this up in response to the death aura/neb? Because there's an ability from Shiradi that gets ignored by some people when they talk about WF'd casters - Healing Spring. I've found that playing like the old-school caster, kiting and moving constantly, means that you can avoid getting hit most of the time. When you do get hit, even on EE, assuming a large enough HP pool and a solid Fortification, you can hold off on hitting the reconstruct button. Often that every 20 second heal is enough to keep you topped off which means far less reconstructing and far more sp's available for meta'd nuking.

You have to build/gear for this a bit but I've found it highly effective to use the PDK gloves, 20%/+4 resist bracers, and 2 tiers of WF Healer's Friend. That's 109% healing w/o the ship buff which makes the spring a workable source of self-healing. In EH and below it's all I ever need and in EE's it probably saves me a good 200-250sp's per run. Now I do have my reconstruct key tied to my mouse's extra button so it's very easy for me to pop off that recon at exactly the moment I need it but as long as you've got the hp's to survive at least one more hit it's workable in most EE's.

[HungarianRhapsody]

You need more survivability? Go palemaster instead of archmage. You are immune to everything and have increased dr(boon, hp proc) renuncing at the evocation sla. But double death aura+ice storm+necrotic blast give a lot of aoe procs every second for really few sp.

Pale Master is essentially immortal on EN and EH. On EE, they fall apart because the enormous DR that they effectively have (stacking real DR with boon and hp proc as you point out) doesn't mean much when the hits change from 30 HP hits to 200 HP hits and because the only self healing that you have are the Aura and the Negative Energy Burst. The two of those just don't do enough to take care of EE damage and your ability to completely ignore your red bar on EN and EH teaches you sloppy play because HP are irrelevant to you until you actually step in to those EE quests.

[korsat]

Pale Master is essentially immortal on EN and EH. On EE, they fall apart because the enormous DR that they effectively have (stacking real DR with boon and hp proc as you point out) doesn't mean much when the hits change from 30 HP hits to 200 HP hits and because the only self healing that you have are the Aura and the Negative Energy Burst. The two of those just don't do enough to take care of EE damage and your ability to completely ignore your red bar on EN and EH teaches you sloppy play because HP are irrelevant to you until you actually step in to those EE quests.

I see the point, so do you think palemastets are useless on EE? You don't have to tank trash in EE I think... Death aura is more sp efficient than reconstruct

[cforce]

I see the point, so do you think palemastets are useless on EE? You don't have to tank trash in EE I think... Death aura is more sp efficient than reconstruct

Pale Masters aren't useless in current endgame EE. It's just that *none* of their usefulness comes from being a Pale Master anymore. The boost to Necro DCs doesn't put them in "reliable" territory, the self-healing is no longer "better than Reconstruct" as plan A, and the SLAs are a drop in the bucket.

Pale Masters can still provide value... by choosing Shiradi and/or twisting Energy Burst. It's just that Archmages get *more* value out of these same options, by virtue of their SLAs.

[cforce]

Oh, for what it's worth, I agree Insightful Reflexes and INT/DEX consolidation is a smart idea.

[hit_fido]

I had used Ron's Planner to scratch out something like your original, but with six artificer levels instead. So, Wizard 12, Artificer 6, Monk 2. Having never tried a shiradi caster I thought the use of a repeater to supplement spells would be advantageous. The synergy between Wiz/Art re: int seems good too. With battle engineer you could wear some light armor without spell failure, keep evasion, and get some of the PRR back that you lose from paladin stance. Is this a bad idea or a reasonable idea but you'd prefer paladin for the charisma bonus to saves?

Of course I was also thinking pale master wraith form for the 25% incorporeality, realizing most shiradi wizards are archmages that may also be a bad direction but was again thinking the 6 artificer levels could reduce some of the dependance on using SP for damage...

[Symerith]

Would be interesting to go w/ 6 monk / 2 paladin splash -> manyshot + 10k stars for mana free DPS.

---------------------------------

Your build concept is to go with a general shiradi caster with a lot of additionnal defenses.
However, it seems like overkill.
Shiradi casters have insane DPS, the best CC in the game, quickened 500+ self heals while staying out of range.
The downsides? It's repetitive, hence a "fun" direction that would be grab some free mana bow DPS w/ manyshot+10kstars.
As it is, WF 18 wiz 2 monk will be roughly the same defense-wise: 60 saves, 25% dodge, evasion, amazing CC & DPS at low mana cost (although you chose prr over dodge)
HP and PRR don't matter on a caster so a 18 sorc 2 paladin will not only have better saves, but bigger mana pool while having wings & knockdown immunity.

I think there are many possible splits, but the justification for your chosen split doesn't work, because your idea is getting more HP/PRR/Saves on a shiradi platform, when it's something that's either not important for a shiradi caster (HP/PRR), or it's something 18/2 splits will already have in better (saves).

[cforce]

Would be interesting to go w/ 6 monk / 2 paladin splash -> manyshot + 10k stars for mana free DPS.

That's definitely an interesting build! But, it wasn't really my point for this particular post, which is: does a heavy splash make for a more effective "pure caster" than a pure wizard, at this point in time?

As it is, WF 18 wiz 2 monk will be roughly the same defense-wise: 60 saves, 25% dodge, evasion, amazing CC & DPS at low mana cost (although you chose prr over dodge)

Maybe I don't understand your numbers, but the Paladin splash with an emphasis on CHA added +18 to all saves. I'm not clear on how 18 wiz/2 monk would be "roughly the same". And I only chose to give up the 5% dodge for the +20 shield-based PRR. It would obviously still be a good idea to load up on dodge from items, etc.

HP and PRR don't matter on a caster

Why not? Do casters not take damage?