Looting Wands and Potions - What to Keep?

[Dulcimerist]

I'm trying to get my inventory under control, and wonder if there are wants, potions, and scrolls I'm hoarding that I should just get rid of. What's usually best to keep, and what's better to sell?

I keep anything healing and curing for sure - curse, disease, poison, paralysis, blindness, restoration, aid. Invisibility, Jump, Blur, Rage, Stoneskin, Haste, and Heroism can be useful. The +4 ability ones can come in handy at times, but I'm on the fence about those. Summon Monster scrolls are fun to use for giggles.

Tumble, Remove Fear, Protection from Evil, Waterbreathing, Wonder, Featherfall, and Barkskin I'm wondering about getting rid of. Detect Secret Doors and Expeditious Retreat I can usually find on clickies. The resist and protection from energy I also wonder about - I often forget to use them, even though I lack the resist ship buffs.

Offensive wands I don't bother with, since their DC is so low. Shield of Faith and Mage Armor get vendored.

Thoughts and advice?

[C-Dog]

I'm trying to get my inventory under control...

Good luck w/ that. If you figure it out, lemme know.

I will say that a single mule, w/ just the 4th pack slot from Coin Lords favor, can hold all the standard potions you'll find in the game. If you bother to level them up and grab the House K 2nd bank slot, their bank will hold all the non-standard (festival) ones as well.

Then, just mail that mule every potion you don't immediately have a use for, to wait for a new alt or one who does need them. If you don't want to have to think about it.

The +4 ability ones can come in handy at times, but I'm on the fence about those...

They're ~very~ handy for 1st level alts, who don't yet have a +4 item for their main stat(s) (combat, casting, etc.). But as soon as they hit Level 4-5(+), those are usually the first gear that gets added (along w/ +4(+) Con), so then they're useful only for secondary/other stats (like Dex/Wis for Saving throws), and whether one thinks it's worth it to carry a stack of pots for that is ymmv.

The resist and protection from energy I also wonder about - I often forget to use them, even though I lack the resist ship buffs

Similarly, the standard ones are only useful for early levels. And for any, it's another ymmv whether the amount of protection will help at any given level - by the time you can swig a +20 Protection from Electricity pot, the lightning bolts are doing damage in triple digits, so... :/

But (and esp if you're a multi-life toon w/ lots of inherent elemental resist), "every little bit helps" - right?

Tumble, Remove Fear, Protection from Evil, Waterbreathing, Wonder, Featherfall, and Barkskin I'm wondering about getting rid of.

Barkskin is like Protection from x-Element - if you already have a high AC, then +2 can add nicely to that. Otoh, if your AC is low and you depend on other means to avoid damage, +2 won't change a thing.

The others - either useless, or you should have on an item.

Wonder is the one possible exception in that list - some of those effects are great at any level, perfect for an end-fight. Problem is the negative effects, so you have to be willing and able to wait for those to wear off if you get the stinky end of the stick. For some, just not worth it.

Detect Secret Doors and Expeditious Retreat I can usually find on clickies.

I don't think these come in pots, no?
.

Offensive wands I don't bother with, since their DC is so low.

Yeah, 100%. Along w/ Wands of Expeditious Retreat, and some of the effects listed above that you should have on an item.

The one exception is Fireball, which can be useful to take out some doors that otherwise require a Strength check, and (with ice effect wants) for Inferno.

[HungarianRhapsody]

I keep scrolls that aren't available at a vendor.

I keep invisibility potions for the lives when I can't scroll Invis (I have a couple of invisibility clickies, too).

I keep wands of ML 11 Resist energy for lives when I can't self-cast but still have UMD. I never actually use them on those lives, though.

I keep no other wands since everything else can come in scrolls or potions. Wands take a hand. Potions don't. Wands also take more inventory room than scrolls. The scrolls I keep are Curse, Disease, Poison, Lesser Restoration and sometimes Jump.

I take Protection from Evil potions if I can't self cast it because that means I don't have to wait for a scroll's cooldown. I'd rather cast it myself, though. Being immune to Command is a good thing.

Visor of the Flesh Render x 3 is for avoiding negative levels. Deathblock augment/cannith crafted is for avoiding surprise death spells. I only use those Death Ward clickies after I hear the "wooooo" of a lost level in a quest.

Blindness Ward comes on an augment slot. True Seeing comes on a trinket or goggles.

I don't keep Heroism scrolls, but I do keep Greater Heroism scrolls.

[Dulcimerist]

Thanks for the advice! As I suspected, I was hoarding some junk.

Is it possible to drink a potion of Remove Paralysis while paralyzed? If so, that's a bit of a joke; unless I hotbar it to help others.

Detect Secret Doors got nerfed, so I believe my caster level 5 wands of that are junk. Expeditious Retreat wands are junk, since I get +30% speed items.

Thanks for the heads up on fire and cold spells! I'll remember to pack my Fireball clickies from the Colonoscope raid!

[Drelak]

I collect:
+30 resist element pots to use when I am too lazy to go get guild buffs
Deathward potions
Invisibilty potions
Haste potions
Jump on toons with less that 40 Jump total
one wand each resist elements (lvl 11) and protection from elements to use on hires

srcolls only for wizards or immediate use

I buy curse, disease and poison removal potions from guild vendor at house K.
Those are cheaper and don't stack with the ones that drop from quests.
Downside is that those are self only.

[Dulcimerist]

I buy curse, disease and poison removal potions from guild vendor at house K.
Those are cheaper and don't stack with the ones that drop from quests.
Downside is that those are self only.

I'm not a fan of the guild potion vendors because of the BtC issue. Is that vendor significantly cheaper than buying those potions from the vendor in House J or P? A character with high haggle could do a bulk purchase of those from the unbound vendor and distribute through the shared bank, and might it actually cost less?

[Enoach]

Now I use wands and scrolls on my wizard.

But I also have the Past Lives and find spending points in Wand/Scroll mastery beneficial for the Heroic levels (I use the Epic Eternal Wands in Epic/Legendary content)

I do this because my Wizard focus is DCs not DPS. So for DPS comparison the Wands don't match up to a meta'd spell. But they do allow me to spend spell points on DC related effects.

Also, don't underestimate the power of a Mass Hold plus AoE Wand like Fireball (of appropriate level) when it comes to killing power and spell point conservation.

--
Now there are several wands that can be purchased, these are not really worth the looting and keeping as after awhile plat is not an issue. However, there are wands and scrolls that are worth it.

Scrolls I like to hold onto...
Radiant Forcefield - These are short term and do require some UMD to pull off but, they are great situational for places where you need to run through a dangerous trap and don't have evasion, or situations where reducing damage even for short term is beneficial (Tanking)

Wild Instincts - +10 insight bonus on Listen and Spot checks. Very useful especially for trappers. Keep in mind "Auto-Search" feats/enhancements use the spot value and there is a lot of popularity in sacrificing spot for skill point distribution. This bonus can push that "Auto-Search" from simply detecting to "Oh there it is"

Deathward & Freedom of Movement - Useful buffs for situations. FoM scrolls can allow you to use a different set of boots. And Deathward just opens up options (keep in mind both have an eternal potion option so your mileage can very but since you can only use one of those at a time this can give you the opportunity to have both)

Focusing Chant - +1 circumstance bonus for skill dependent classes (trapping for example). Also, can make the difference with NPC dialogs.

True Resurrection - Don't recommend using in heat of the battle, but these can be useful if you are in groups that need to get back on their feet quickly .

Deadly Weapons - Sometimes the boost can make a difference and an artificer is not always available. Technically, any of the weapons buffs add utility (metals and alignments for DR or even just a little extra elemental damage)

[DYWYPI]

The Guild Potion vendors are likely cheaper than the regular Potion vendors. However, guild and generic potions of the same type can have slightly different functionally. Generally potions purchased from a Guild vendor are non-clicky type. For example you can use a Guild healing type potion while moving in combat, etc.

Some of the regular potions (none Guild potions) have funnels (supposedly to target other players). Potions equipped with funnels must be used from the shortcut bar if targeting another player.

If you are Paralysed you cannot drink a Potion (you are paralysed so cannot take such actions). Albeit 'Slow effects' are dispelled if you drink a Potion of Remove Paralysis.

[Whitering]

I save wands of Cure Crit or Cause Crit, also high charge offensive wands, because they can occasionally be useful on lower level alts, but I USE THEM, and only if they have wand mastery. As in, I use them until they run out then start using my SP, if you only use them when your SP runs out, that will basically be never if you play at all well.

Then Fireball and Icestorm for Inferno. Some of the festival wands are good, 50 charge ice storms, who cares, I use it all the time on some characters. Then the exclusive wands I use a lot. Roderick's is great at level 3, some are usable at 1 and will one shot all the regular mobs on Korthos. But their use tails off completely by level 10ish, excepting only certain wands like Stoneskin, the Cure Crits and Cause Crits, maybe Repair Crit.

I do keep potions and scrolls and wands of anything that protects against MM though, since those are no joke in Ravenloft. Those wisps can go right to hell.

[FestusHood]

Some offensive scrolls worth keeping would be:

Energy drain, Otto's irresistible dance, deadly weapons, power word kill, symbol of death. These have no dc's so will work like the spells provided there is no spell resistance.

Dimension Door is the single most valuable scroll in the game.

Wands i find useful:

Blur, shield , Mass protection from evil, elemental resist. All of these in the higher than vendor level versions.

Not directly related to this topic, but i want to mention that scrolls of spell resistance give higher values than gear up till epic. So if you are playing that angle.