Looking for a 1st life wizard build

[lnsoci]

Lets get straight down to it. I'm looking for a build that will do decent in epics/low reapers

I'd prefer to be in the back lines as it will be a first lifer and extremely squishy till the right gear is farmed

I was thinking as a race maybe drow? for the extra int points

If it's possible I wouldn't like to take empower or maximize and would prefer to have this be a straight DC build as I feel max and emp don't do much for a wizard (in my opinion) especially in reapers

any and all help would be appreciated!!

[Feal]

1st life wiz may be challenging... Also need skills to play it.

I'm not a pro about wizard but i can tell you the basics

Survivability:
raise Heal, get negative heal amp, use pale master forms, get aura of death (not sure if normal and lesser stack) and negative energy burst.

Focus on enchantment and necro dc:
Otto, hold monster/person mass, mass suggestion, FoD, power word kill etc..
For a wizard is easier to instakill and charm that do dmg.

Dps:
Dots

For soloing you may consider shiradi and missiles and spells that multi hit, but going hybrid on 1st life i don't think is advaisable..
Try to rais DC as much as possible.

Feats:
Spell focus lines for enchanment and necro, insightful reflexes, enlarge may be useful to range

But again, i'm not a pro about wiz, you may want to ear other advices

[HungarianRhapsody]

Heroic Elite and occasionally Reaper work fine for a first life Wizard. Epic Reaper is really tough on a first life Wizard.

Getting the DC you need can be challenging on a first life and getting the spell penetration needed for some enemies is REALLY hard.

Having Empower and Maximize helps a lot because it lets you blast your way through content where your DC or Spell Pen aren't at the level you need. Keep in mind that your Empower and Maximize are free on all of your SLA from past lives and/or Enhancements.

[HungarianRhapsody]

Survivability:
raise Heal, get negative heal amp, use pale master forms, get aura of death (not sure if normal and lesser stack) and negative energy burst.

That will work great on Hard and mostly fine on Elite. It will not work at all on Reaper. Incoming damage is too high even if you didn't have to worry about the self-heal penalty.

[C-Dog]

I'm looking for a build that will do decent in epics/low reapers
...

I was thinking as a race maybe drow? for the extra int points

... prefer to have this be a straight DC build...

Drow gains +1 DC and a few more spell points, in exchange for 1 less Feat and a few less Hit Points (vs. Human). (There are other options, depending - see link below.)

"1st life" and "DC Caster" are not the best mix - without 36 build points, without the bonuses from past lives, tough road - so accept that for what it is, you will not be that "no fail" wizard, just won't happen.


o The classic is the Pale Master: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...e-Master-Guide

o A solo-friendly spin on that is the Pale Trapper; Rog splash: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...izard-Rogue%29

However, you are trading capstone, which is often a nice thing to have in Epics (+2 Int etc.).


o There are also some more creative builds, but those have various non-basic requirements - classes, races, past lives, etc. https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5759365


(And for what it's worth, I don't recommend taking a 1st life character thru Epics to 30. Just so much going against them, esp now that Heroic TR is fast enough. Consider zerging a PL or two first, Wiz (obviously) or even Sorcerer (for Evoc DC) or something else, then going this route. But doesn't look like you're a new player, so you know what you're getting in to - GL!)

[Selvera]

I've done a first life MM spam wizard and it worked well.

I also did a MM spam wizard on my main who had no caster pastlives and it worked well.

Just don't expect to be that godmode r7 solo wizard you saw on a firstlifer and expect to do a difficulty more appropriate to a first lifer and you'll have no difficulties.

MM spam has the advantage of being less DC based, less SR based, less mana intensive, better at soloing, etc...

[cru121]

If I had to do a first life wizard, I'd make a stupid evoker, maybe with enchant as secondary.
Or a Deep Gnome Illusionist.

[Relventree]

1 Arti/2 Monk/17 Wiz Warforged

you acturally UNABLE to get decent penatration on 1st life,so why not just forget about it

you lost 1-3 CL in wiz spell and 2int in AM's capstone
you gain access to repeaters and extra rapid load feat
you have tons of multi-hits spell/SLA
so take shiradi with pin/otto's at hand and passive debuffs would be an easy way
for mobs without SR you can still reach reasonable DCs and have enough spell slots to do something

the problem is that you cannot active monk stance while using repeaters,that's not a big one imo if you really need suvival then simply switch into kamas and play as a traditional shiradi spammer

[slarden]

I would recommend archmage with a 2-3 level favored soul splash. If you don't need level 9 spells you can also splash in 2 monk with insightful reflexes for evasion with a really high reflex save. A classic split is 14 wizard 4 favored soul 2 monk because the 4th tier of the fvs tree gives you +3 caster levels so even with 14 wizard levels you are casting as a level 17 wizard. If you want level 9 spells for energy drain and meteor swarm 17-18 wizard + 2-3 fvs works really well. Meteor swarm is quite awesome situationally for this type of build.

The favored soul splash compliments archmage really for the following reasons:
1) metamagic discounts stack so you can effectively get maximize and empower for very little extra spell points and until you get those discounts you can just run the non-slas without metamagic to save spell points.
2) just reward from angel of vengeance tier 2 gives you 10 spell points every time you crit and some of your spells have multiple chances to crit
3) each tier of angel of vengeance smiting gives you 2% more crit chance

So for low cost casting you have:

1) fully meta'd magic missle sla: 2 spell points
2) fully meta'd chain missle sla: 8 spell pionts
3) fully meta'd arcane bolt: 4 spell points
4) fully meta'd arcane blast: 6 spell points
5) unmeta'd magic missle spell: 4 spell points
6) unmeta'd chain missle spell: 15 spell points
7) eventually chain missle with maximize/empower + legendary blurfingered gloves + 10% discount from various sources: 19 spell points
8) eventually magic missle with maximize/empower + legendary blurfingered gloves + 10% discount from various sources: 8 spell points

Each time one of these crits you get 10 spell points back from just reward and each cast of magic missle, chain missle and arcane blast has multiple chances to crit.

If you want easy self healing you can go warforged with repairs or reconstruct. You can also go fleshy with scroll healing or even pm shroud of the wraith for the 25% incorporeal

For epic levels you can do fine in off-destinies while building up your trees, but Shiradi works great with this type of build as just like you get multiple chances for just reward procs you also get multiple chances for shiradi procs. Shiraidi also has nerve venom so alot of enemies end up paralyzed and subject to extra "helpless" damage which most other sources of paralyze don't provide, but shiradi paralyze does.

[Enoach]

For a first life wizard I recommend the following races

1. Gnome - Higher starting Int + Enhancements to raise Int. Has a good CC SLA that does not have Spell Penetration
2. Drow - Higher starting Int + Enhancements to raise Int.
3. Human - Extra Feat

The weakness of 1st life Wizards is in Spell Penetration. DCs and stats are mostly gearing. To that end learn to use the right spell against the mob and you will not only save on SP but also be very effective

Empower and Maximize are ways to up the damage - However, they can also be very draining, so use them with caution.

Enlarge is a good choice for a caster that wants to work from the back of the group. Also good for Solo play. Charming a mob from way down the hall were you can see them and they can't see you is a way to kill stuff without taking any damage

[silinteresting]

That will work great on Hard and mostly fine on Elite. It will not work at all on Reaper. Incoming damage is too high even if you didn't have to worry about the self-heal penalty.

this is not quite technically true, even in low epic reaper. the undead healing you get from the aura and bursts
is fine when combined with negative amp items and harm scrolls and these can obtained very easly using the
Mysterious Remnant person in the hall of heroes. over reaper four this does get a bit harder but one to three
your be fine.

your friend sil

just like to add make sure you have wand and scroll mastery from somewhere as this really does help when using
harm scrolls.