wizard for farming toee/slavers

[Hobgoblin]

looking at making a build to solo heroic slavers on reaper to get helms/blanks with reaper bonus.

trying to make it work on dcs right now

first the build
wizard
Wizard 13
True Neutral Deep Gnome


Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . .6. . . .4: INT
Dexterity . . . .8. . . .8: INT
Constitution. . 18. . . 12: INT
Intelligence. . 20
Wisdom. . . . . 10
Charisma. . . . .6. . .


Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13
. . . . .---------------------------------------
Concent . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 16
Spellcr . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 16
Search. . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. .8
UMD . . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. .8
. . . . .---------------------------------------
. . . . .16. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4
. . . . .28. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8


Feats

.1. . . . : Empower Spell
.1 Wizard : Spell Focus: Enchantment
.3. . . . : Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment
.5 Wizard : Spell Focus: Illusion
.6. . . . : Quicken Spell
.9. . . . : Enlarge Spell
10 Wizard : Heighten Spell
12. . . . : Greater Spell Focus: Illusion


Enhancements (52+1 of 52+1 AP)

Archmage (34 AP)

• Invisibility, Blur, Displacement, Phantasmal Killer
  1. Spell Critical, Wand and Scroll Mastery III
  2. Efficient Empower III, Spell Critical
  3. Arcane Bolt III, Spell Penetration I, Spell Critical, Intelligence
  4. School Mastery: Illusion, Spell Critical, Intelligence
  5. School Mastery: Illusion

Deep Gnome (19 AP)

• Wariness, Intelligence, Wariness II, Intelligence
  1. (none)
  2. Color Spray III, Permanent Blur
  3. Spellcraft III, Illusion Focus III
  4. Phantasmal Killer III

dont think i missed anything. havnt put tomes in as i dont know if it will turn into an actual char

gear -

kinda mishmash right now

i know i want the ring from fresh baked dreams
i want spinneret
debating between rl set or slavers. i have the set now but not sure if slavers gets me more
helm will be a pan circlet - leaving weapon for maybe mistfallen + macabre?

maybe i missed a few things?

[HungarianRhapsody]

How many times are you going to run those on Reaper to look for the items? I'd suggest just running it three times per life (once at level for XP and twice when you're at the maximum level that you can enter on Reaper). That way you get some heroic XP, you get some reaper XP and you don't completely burn out on one character farming one chain.

Edit: if ToEE and Slavers were super fun chains in general, I might offer a different opinion.

[Hobgoblin]

How many times are you going to run those on Reaper to look for the items? I'd suggest just running it three times per life (once at level for XP and twice when you're at the maximum level that you can enter on Reaper). That way you get some heroic XP, you get some reaper XP and you don't completely burn out on one character farming one chain.

Edit: if ToEE and Slavers were super fun chains in general, I might offer a different opinion.

enough?

i want a reaper bonus helm - that wont drop

and i would like the other bonus

and i like 1 and 3 of the slavers

toee - bah.

i will run it enough to get bow, dagger and some ings

[SirValentine]

Did you consider taking Insightful Reflexes?

[cru121]

Those two quests have a bunch of mobs. PWK is single target. Wouldn't Evocation work better for the hordes? How you gonna heal?

If I rolled a first life farmer for these, I'd go for ES Warlock, Arcanotechnician Artificer or Spellsinger Bard. Or maybe BF Sorc. Or even DG wizard evoker.
Basically something with AoE DPS and ideally with some way to heal.

[Hobgoblin]

Those two quests have a bunch of mobs. PWK is single target. Wouldn't Evocation work better for the hordes? How you gonna heal?

If I rolled a first life farmer for these, I'd go for ES Warlock, Arcanotechnician Artificer or Spellsinger Bard. Or maybe BF Sorc. Or even DG wizard evoker.
Basically something with AoE DPS and ideally with some way to heal.

The healing is a concern.

The idea is mass hold + firewall with other cc in there

I want arcane blast but can't work it in

[C-Dog]

wizard
Wizard 13
True Neutral Deep Gnome

Why stop at 13? Am I missing something that 13 gives that 14 would not?

(Reaper lockout is over 6 levels above.)

How you gonna heal?

As a blind guess, I would say a hireling.

There's no contest here, no "That's not real soloing!", so a well-controlled Level 14(ish) healer should do the job np.

Either Blade Barrier/Cometfall (to help w/ the groups) or Divine Vitality is gravy on top of that, depending on the choice.

o http://ddowiki.com/page/List_of_Hirelings

lEnhancements (52+1 of 52+1 AP)
...
I want arcane blast but can't work it in

You won't take 15, but you'll have the full XP for it, which gives 56 AP out of the gate.


(* @ Newer Players - Altho' Iconics can start as high as Level 15, you don't have to level them up that high. Entrance to Reaper is limited to base Level of quest +6, so Slavers Base Level 8 + 6 = Level 14 characters max - that's where (I would think?) this one will park.)

[xenon211]

Why stop at 13? Am I missing something that 13 gives that 14 would not?

(Reaper lockout is over 6 levels above.)

I know he said just slavers in the text of the post but the Thread Title ofc says: "Wizard for Farming TOEE/Slavers"

So ... 7 + 6 = 13

[Hobgoblin]

Did you consider taking Insightful Reflexes?

i did.

i love that feat

i just cant seem to fit it in

[C-Dog]

I know he said just slavers in the text of the post but the Thread Title ofc says: "Wizard for Farming TOEE/Slavers"

Ah, so it does. Ah well - but then I'm not sure where the "+1" in "52+1" is coming from...

(Since the OP is not as excited about TOEE, he could just farm those up at Level 13, and once satisfied bump up to 14 for the (longer) slog in Slavers.)

[Hobgoblin]

Ah, so it does. Ah well - but then I'm not sure where the "+1" in "52+1" is coming from...

(Since the OP is not as excited about TOEE, he could just farm those up at Level 13, and once satisfied bump up to 14 for the (longer) slog in Slavers.)

its from the racial ap tome

[EllisDee37]

You won't take 15, but you'll have the full XP for it, which gives 56 AP out of the gate.

You don't get 56 AP until you take level 14, which the build in the OP won't do. He'll stop at 13, while having enough xp to level to 14, meaning he'll get the full 52 AP for being level 13 immediately.

[peng]

If you do level up to 14, you could (barely) have enough ap for 2 phantasmal killer slas, t4 archmage, and vampire form. 13 in pale master gets you vamp and int, 25 in archmage gets you pk sla, int x2, and illusion focus, and 18 (19 with tome) gets you pk sla. You'd end up with +1 int, -1 illusion, +2 ench. You'd also lose some spell crits, efficient meta, and/or arcane bolt. With enough negative amp/spellpower/crit chance, death aura is still decent in low reapers. I *think* the only light damage in slavers is from light bearer champs. Not sure about toee (other than wisps in p2 air).

If you're using arcane bolt, I'd recommend maximize over empower. In general, spells become less sp efficient with max/empower on, and max is a little less efficient than empower, but much more efficient on slas.

You might want to drop starting con by 2 to boost str by 6. It'll cost you 13 hp and 1 fort save. Dumped str is sometimes an issue on non- gnome/halflings, particularly without tomes. On a gnome? You'll likely start out with medium encumbrance even before you step into a quest.

Also, there's not much point in always on blur when you have blur and displacement slas. Maybe put a point into underdark experience for +1 saves instead?

[Hobgoblin]

as another note its an iconic which was attractive. none of the other iconics were attractive.

cleric? - doable, but much much better with pls to back it up
rogue? - not happening right now - though i did play with the idea of a mech - cc was my concern on that one
fighter - melee is getting hosed in reaper right now, especially with no pls
paladin? - see above though the healing pen be ok on lower skull reapers
then there is wizard
my only other option is to level a lock up and park it at 13.

my build on that -
warlock
Warlock 13
True Neutral Human


Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . .8. . . .4: CHA
Dexterity . . . .8. . . .8: CHA
Constitution. . 16. . . 12: CHA
Intelligence. . 14
Wisdom. . . . . .8
Charisma. . . . 18. . .


Feats

.1. . . . : Spell Focus: Enchantment
.1 Human. : Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment
.3. . . . : Maximize Spell
.6. . . . : Empower Spell
.9. . . . : Enlarge Spell
12. . . . : Spell Focus: Necromancy

.1 Warlock: Pact: Great Old One


Spells

1. Nightshield, Jump, Entangle
2. Suggestion, Command Undead, Knock
3. Dimension Door, Charm Monster, Phantasmal Killer
4. Evard's Black Tentacles
5. Mass Hold Person

Enhancements (52+1 of 52+1 AP)

Tainted Scholar (40 AP)

• Tainted Spellcasting, Tainted Lore, Stanch, Tainted Lore II
  1. Planar Power I, Feigned Health III, Strong Pact
  2. Utterdark Blast, Eldritch Chain Shape, Strong Pact, Wand and Scroll Mastery III
  3. Confusion III, Strong Pact, Charisma
  4. Strong Pact, Charisma
  5. Eldritch Power, Eldritch Ball III, Spell Focus: Enchantment, Planar Focus

Soul Eater (12 AP)

• Inhuman Understanding
  1. Consume, Hungry for Destruction III
  2. Stricken III, Hungry for Destruction III

Human (1 AP)

• Spell Power Boost

but that takes more work straight to set up

[Hobgoblin]

If you do level up to 14, you could (barely) have enough ap for 2 phantasmal killer slas, t4 archmage, and vampire form. 13 in pale master gets you vamp and int, 25 in archmage gets you pk sla, int x2, and illusion focus, and 18 (19 with tome) gets you pk sla. You'd end up with +1 int, -1 illusion, +2 ench. You'd also lose some spell crits, efficient meta, and/or arcane bolt. With enough negative amp/spellpower/crit chance, death aura is still decent in low reapers. I *think* the only light damage in slavers is from light bearer champs. Not sure about toee (other than wisps in p2 air).

If you're using arcane bolt, I'd recommend maximize over empower. In general, spells become less sp efficient with max/empower on, and max is a little less efficient than empower, but much more efficient on slas.

You might want to drop starting con by 2 to boost str by 6. It'll cost you 13 hp and 1 fort save. Dumped str is sometimes an issue on non- gnome/halflings, particularly without tomes. On a gnome? You'll likely start out with medium encumbrance even before you step into a quest.

Also, there's not much point in always on blur when you have blur and displacement slas. Maybe put a point into underdark experience for +1 saves instead?

i am trying with enough crafted gear to do r4 and higher - at least thats the dream
so im trying to avoid the heal pen for necro
i agree on the str - couple of places they love spamming ray on you so the str is a better opt
the permablur was solely a filler so +1 saves is better i agree

[xveganrox]

as another note its an iconic which was attractive. none of the other iconics were attractive.

cleric? - doable, but much much better with pls to back it up
rogue? - not happening right now - though i did play with the idea of a mech - cc was my concern on that one
fighter - melee is getting hosed in reaper right now, especially with no pls
paladin? - see above though the healing pen be ok on lower skull reapers
then there is wizard
my only other option is to level a lock up and park it at 13.

If you're willing to do a separate toon for Slavers, BF Sorcerer is also an option. That’s what I use for Slavers — At 14 you can take 2 levels of Paladin for the +8 to saves and still get Savant core 4, and you’ve got better self-healing than PM with some of the same immunities. Since Slavers is pretty horde-based I think you’d have an easier time soloing with damage than DC casting — even with 2 PKs and custom gear to support them, the mob density in Slavers is pretty harsh. Assuming you’re using a hire for heals, which works fairly well in most situations, but isn’t nearly as reliable as a quickened Recon SLA. Even with Reaper penalties, with CC gear and a generic wiz Slaver’s set you’re looking at 25 SP quickened Recons that hit for ~155 on R4 or ~225 on R1 (or 190/275 if you CC a repair amp item). The only gear you need then is spellpower items, RL scepter depending on your SL set, and burnscar sash and the other one from RL for the huge stacking spellpower boosts.

High reaper it probably doesn’t work as well, but IMO it’s a great option for flexibility, since you can swap enhancements to farm components on HE (or challenges, etc.) and get Air Savant wings, or switch to dual-Reconstruct/Fire Savant for low reaper. You do lose 2+ charisma compared to other races and 2CL + Dance Sphere compared to pure Sorc, but the saves bonus isn’t bad and the self-healing is good enough for soloing low reaper — plus it’s still in the sweet spot where RL belts are pretty OP, and the self-healing/higher saves give a little bit of margin for error. Recon has a base of almost triple negative energy burst at the same cost, and you can have it on two timers if you need to. And more SP from Sorc+Paladin over Wizard means more walls of fire.