Post by Test on Sept 26, 2010 0:21:52 GMT
Under Construction - Being Edited from old to new builds, do not use right now. Please check back in a few days
Introduction:
This is the build for my wizard (who is currently called 'Test'), I use my Sorcerer as my primary Arcane for Hells/Ely/Abos this toon as an arcane that is good for soloing and for going anywhere else that I want to head off to. It is the third version of my Wizard's build. The first one was actually a build designed by Azpride - and at that point he was not a searching wizard. I did post the second version here in this thread (which was also a pure searching wizard) but it is no longer available.
A wizard, in my view, is a general purpose arcane caster. He lacks the tight specialization, and supreme power within that specialization, of a Dragonstorm Mage or a Palemaster - yet he brings a versatility that can not be surpassed. I never specialize on my wizards, as I firmly believe that as a wizard your real power lies in having the ability to cast literally any spell.
The Level 80 version of the build makes use of the Paragon levels system and a wonderful synergy between skills and abilities that was pointed out by TheRajah to save two feats and gain maximized search skill. Consider that crossclassing search into Paragon Levels (up to 41 ranks at 79), with +50 from items, +34 from 78 intelligence (double demi, pl stats, +16 item, arti), +2 from elf you hit the 127 cap to search skill without the need to invest any feats. A quite common item with the Embroided (uncommon rarity) augmentor gives 3 more points to reach the cap a bit earlier. Using the Elf race in the level 80 version also provides the additional bonus of being immune to sleep.
Please note that this is not primarily an Evocation Karsus Wizard. This build does get access to Karsus (through Polymathy) however Evocation is not the intended primary school for damage on this toon. That was a deliberate choice and is not a 'mistake'. I enjoy the difference in play-style that this, an equally Conjuration and Evocation focussed Wizard, provides to my Evocation based Sorcerer. That being said - every version of this build does have Legendary Spell Focus in Evocation.
The Open and UR subrace versions of this build loose Conjuration as a focused spell school due to the reduction of available feats from starting with a lesser subrace. This however remains a viable and playable wizard - it simply lacks some of the 'blow stuff up' power of the BUR versions.
Other builds:
If you want to consider other types of arcane casters, who are more specific in purpose, you might like to look at the following builds:
- Searching, Rak grabbing Pure PM (10 Wiz 50 PM)
- Bane (80 Sorcerer) - Open, UR & BUR Builds
- Imajica (60 Wizard) (This is an older build.)
Some of the strengths of this build are:
- Legendary Illusion Focus for awesome Wierd DCs and very good EV and GV
- Legendary Conjuration Focus for inflicting pain on mobs, laying down disablement clouds and generating very powerful summons
- Legendary Abjuration for the excellent buffs and debuffs, plus great DCs on Banish and the coming HG enhanced Abjuration spells
- Six HG Epic Spells and one HG Paragon Spell
- Totally Max Intelligence
- Dominate mobs with the Intelligence Artifact
- Search ability for farming or group runs
- Maximized Armor bonuses from Mage Armor with the use of Legendary Abjuration focus and The Unbroken Way
Cons and its possible solution:
- "But you have not maximized Evocation and that is what everyone uses." Stop worrying about them. Use orbs and clouds. This is a soloing toon, not a specifically maximized toon for group based runs in the Abyss or Hells. You can kill stuff easily with clouds and orbs - it is just focused in a different way. The Evocation vs Conjuration argument has been had on HG many times.
- The build is heavily maximized for level 80. You will gain considerably in power at that point. Whilst this is a hard one to 'overcome' it is a viable build at all levels.
Autocaster spells(in order of importance):
Etheral Visage, Premonition, Energy Buffer, Mage Armor, Expeditious Retreat, Endure Elements, Energy Immunity (I usually have this set to Fire but choose any element that suits the place you are going and the holes in your gear), Lesser Mind Blank, Greater Spell Mantle, Protection from Alignment, Elemental Shield, Mestil's Acid Sheath.
You should then use shadow shield from your Tia staff.
NB. I will shamefully admit that both azpride and I have in the past intentionally morded people wearing Elemental Shield and Mestil's Acid Sheath if they obviously did not understand positioning - and caused party kick back by wearing those buffs. Keep in mind that several people might consider doing that. Do not use those buffs in group runs if you do not know which mobs will potentially cause area wide kick back.
The Build:
IGNORE THIS TABLE FOR NOW
Skills:
Max: Concentration, lore, parry, appraise, craft armor, tumble, pick pocket, search (after LSA search), spellcraft, spot and listen + what you feel like
Spell Usage Ideas:
As a wizard Bestow Curse (necromancy) is a very important spell - much more so (in my opinion) than for a sorcerer. Using Bestow Curse will help you land other DC based spells.
For damage spells I use empowered everything, well maybe not everything - as I will cast normals after I run out of empowered. Empowered gives you a much better damage output where you have the spell slots available.
Evard's Black Tentacles (conjuration) are your best buddies. Following that, empowered Greater Orbs (conjuration) are like using a bazooka on a boss. Seriously, they hit hard.
Reverse Gravity (transmutation) breaks monsters. Mkay? This is really only used as an aoe spell though - and you do not have the DCs to maximize damage from this spell.
In aoe situations, after laying down Evard's, your best bets are empowered Great Thunderclaps (evocation), Empowered Vitriolic Spheres (conjuration) and empowered Freezing Spheres (evocation).
In terms of dealing with machines you will need to carry Energy Drains (level 9, necromancy).
For spell use in the Abyss I suggest checking out Herc's Spell Guide. It is really cool!
Ultimately you should check the Hell Bestiary and the Abyss Bestiary.
If you want to learn about how to better deal with spell resistance issues you should read TheRaja's post Spell Resistance: how to deal with it.
It might be a good idea to put this in a quickbar slot or a voicebind command if you have installed the Additional Quickbats (downaload link, place it in the nwn override folder).
What to do with your Epic Spells
Death of Magic
This is most definately one of the most powerful epic spells in Higher Ground. You should use it on these occasions:
1. To stop any boss or miniboss from drinking heal potions when they reach badly injured. This is of particular significance on the Hell run Min.
2. To spawn mobs that cast spells. You can use this in Hells, the Abyss or just about anywhere. Likewise you can stop random spawns from casting if they land on you.
3. To insta-kill the flux in Abo 2.
4. To make friendly casters able to cast spells in the Rona temple during its duration.
Starfire
Starfire does a massive amount of magical damage - and it is guaranteed to always do damage.
You can use Starfire to knockdown mobs. I particularly like using that knockdown effect on Raks and Rajas to give me time to mord/breach them and then Wierd them.
Transmute Barrier
This creates a wall around you. I quite like using this in Ely by time stopping after agroing Pelor, putting up a wall (with him in it), and running out of the wall before it spawns into place. This contains him nicely for the fight.
You can also use this when absolutely necessary to regroup within during a bad random - or if you just really need space from mobs (such as if everyone else is in limbo and you are out of GV).
Bigby Swarm
All enemies in a Large radius are struck by Bigby's Crushing Hand, ignoring SR and lasting for CL rounds (duration includes paragon levels). I have had some success at 'afk' farming with this epic on some LL run maps (including specific parts of Rona). You can use this epic to grab a LOT of enemies, Bigby9 and left overs, then cast Evard's Black Tentacles under them and go and make a coffee. (Just don't tell anyone I said that! )
Notably this epic is also amazing for grabbing groups of Raks in Hells, or simply dropping on top of a random as it appears.
Mass Spell Destruction
When you use this epic all enemies in a huge radius are struck by a dispel effect at 20 levels higher than the caster's normal level. Additionally all enemies struck have their concealment reduced by 10% for 10 rounds, plus 1 round per 4 caster levels above 40. All enemies struck have their SR reduced by 4 + (Abj foci * 2) for 10 rounds, plus 1 round per 4 caster levels above 40 - and they all suffer an aura-suppression effect for 4 + (Abj foci * 2) rounds. Both duration and dispel level include paragon levels in their calculation. That makes this epic ideal for two things. Firstly - you can use this epic to drop the conceal on bosses. Dropping the conceal on bosses will make them die a lot faster. Secondly, you can use this epic to prepare Raks for Wierding or Grabbing.
In general play, when farming or massing runs in small groups, you can mass a map then hit the mobs with this epic to drop their spell resistance before unleashing Karsas and Reverse Gravity (or some other type of non-cloud damage spells).
Missile Barrage
This epic spell may be used twice per day. It invokes an Isaac's Greater Missile Storm-type barrage of 20 missiles, striking targets for 8d6 points of Force damage each. Force damage is similar to Magic damage, but only respects half of a target's Magic damage immunity, and does not respect Magic damage resistance. Unfortunately it is totally useless in 90% of the areas you will use this build in. I do however find it has it's uses in some LL areas that I have farmed.
Paragon Epic - Polymathy (set to Karsus Avatar)
You get this epic in Paragon levels of the build. With this you can select to use any Paragon Epic for arcanes.
When used as Karsus Avatar you drain the power of a deity for the duration of the spell - and for a turn, all of your spells are auto-extended, empowered, and maximized, and have 2 DC added. This is officially known as the 'teach me how to PWN' epic.
Abilities:
Assist Other (Player Tool 2):
Pick up any player who is knocked down, even though you are not a Bard. It can save time and prevent the death of a party member.
Other SIMtools commands
!password password
Sets your password. Set your password to '-' to stop having a password. Your password is linked to your CD key.
!cancel aoe
This command will instantly remove all of your AOE spells. This can be very important if KB is becoming an issue.
!filter checks
!filter sr
!filter saves
To easier analyse important caster combat checks familiarize yourself with the filter commands above. Those three are your must use filter commands if you want to see what is going on with your spell casting. Use all of them until you read in green letters something like: will be sent as system messages...
Now do a right click on the thin bar above the combat log window right to the chat window. A radial menu will appear and the left bottom option says: exclude combat info. Activate that and enjoy.
What happens now, after you did that, is that you will no longer see all the attack rolls and damage spam, but just the spell resistance, DC checks and saves. With that reduced information, you get all you need and can even check during fights occasionally if your spells are successful.
If you want to see for some reason still all the spam, then !filter brief helps reducing this a bit, without loosing any information.
!sb fill
Fills all empty slots in your spellbook with the spell immediately proceeding them. For example, if you have ten first-level slots and the first slot is Burning Hands and the sixth slot is Magic Missile, and all the other slots are empty, you will end up with five copies of Burning Hands in slots 1-5 and five copies of Magic Missile in slots 6-10.
!sb empty
Clears all slots in your spellbook found after an empty slot. For example, if you were to clear the third slot in the above spellbook with five copies of Burning Hands and five copies of Magic Missile, then use this command, you would end up with two copies of Burning Hands in slots 1 and 2 and the remaining 8 slots empty.
!sb wizswap level
Swaps two spells in your wizard spellbook of the specified level. To select which spells you wish to swap, they should be the first two spells you have memorized of that spell level.
!qb list
Lists any quickbars you have saved.
!qb save slot name bar
Saves one of your quickbars into the specified slot (which must be a number from 0 to 9). You must specify 1, 2, or 3 for the bar parameter; 1 is the normal quickbar, 2 is the Shift quickbar, and 3 is the Ctrl quickbar.
!qb slot
Restores the specified quickbar. At this time, only spell slots can be restored. In the future, feats and some other abilities will be restorable as well. It is unlikely item slots can be restored due to technical limitations.
!search
To use the !search command, simply hit enter to type text, type '!search', and then hit enter again. You'll be given a command targeter item if you don't have one. You then use your command targeter to choose the place you want to search.
Hint: Make a quickslot (i. e. F5) with !search and label !search. Right click on F5 for it and enter text. Make another quickslot with the targeter (i. e. F6), just drag-drop the targeter on F6, and select the option you need. By this, you can !search quite fast by clicking F5 and then F6 and click mouse...enjoy!
Gear:
As a wizard, this toon is all about versitility - and being able to function anywhere. Cosequently, I reccommend usig multiple gear sets. By using multiple gear sets you can maximize your utility in different areas, ad hence increase the value of your toon. Below are just a few suggestions of possible items for different locations.
These gear lists do not exactly reflect what I wear. They are primarily comprised of items that are either 'set' or where the randomization is not a huge factor. That choice has been made to make the lists more accessible to people who are trying to use them.
Entering Hell for the first time pre-level 60
Ring 1: Abjurer's Bane
Ring 2: Signet of Set
Main hand: Ruinvorn's Claw
Off hand: Teldar's Travail
Amulet: Amulet of Hadean Power Wizard
Cloak: Cloak of the Axerian Battlecaster
In general:
Ring 1:
Ring 2:
Main hand: Staff of the Axerian Grandmaster
Off hand: Rampart of Pact Primevil
Belt: Fiendish Advisor OR Belt of the Axerian Grandmaster
Chest: Wrap of Fistandantilus
Cloak: Cloak of the Axerian Grandmaster
Gloves: Spellguards of Netheril
Shackled in the Toyshop:
Ring 1: Signet of Axeria Imperia
Main hand: Ruinvorn's Claw
Off hand: Teldar's Travail
Chest: Kelpweave Robe
Amulet: The Unbroken Way - This item will give you a huge self buffed AC increase when you cast the Level 1 spell Mage Armor.
Mote: Wellspring of Power
In Aboleths:
Ring 1:Ring of the Planewalker - set to Magic and Cold
Ring 2:
Main hand: Staff of the Axerian Grandmaster
Off hand: Rampart of Pact Primevil
Belt: Fiendish Advisor OR Belt of the Axerian Grandmaster
Chest: Kelpweave Robe
Gloves: Spellguards of Netheril
NB. On this run the first job of a wizard is always to use your intelligence artifact on a Gibbering Mouther. Gibbering Mouthers cause sonic inflictions that also applies to mobs after you dominate them. This means that you should also buff them, and do your best to keep them alive as a group.
In the Pit of Moliation
Cloak: Cloak of the Axerian Grandmaster
Chest: Shroud of Evernight
Gloves: Spellguards of Netheril
Mote: Wellspring of Power
Items that you should carry:
Greater Rod of Resurrection
These are important as you do not loose any bonuses when resurrecting fallen party members. Until you can get hold of one of these just use scrolls. You can access a lesser rod for this purpose somewhere in a low level area of the module.
Codex of Arcane Algorithms
This is my favorite wizard item on the module. On use, it teaches you EVERY arcane spell. This is beyond valuable. I rate this as more valuable to my toon (for convenience) than a Shield Pandect.
Bountiful Beaker of Healing
Until you can get one of these you can just use standard potions.
Soul Jar
Grapes of Plenty
Grand Signet of Talisid
Amnesia immunity ring.
The Fine Print
You can use this to save Biorejuvenators. You'll lose a couple of spell slots using this but it is worth it.
Biorejuvenators
Never hesitate to use them if necessary. It can save the party from a wipe.
Stone of Succor
These will return you to your party if you Limbo during a run - without having to run the Limbo maze.
Rune of Return
These are useful in all areas, but basically a necessity if you plan to run the Abyss. You can however simply buy teleportation gems until you manage to buy or farm one of these.
Wands: Clarity, Stone to Flesh (Stygia Shop), Remove Fear (Stygia Shop), BBOD (Stygia Shop), Timestop (Thids)
Scrolls: Mind Blank, Greater Sanctuary, Mordenkainens Disjunction (for Mords Spawning - to save on your active casts at level 9)
Drow Wardstone
This is the key to get through a locked gate on the way to the Aboleths run starting point.
Farming Runs:
Soloing on a wizard can be done in a wide variety of ways - mainly due to their fantastic versatility. In the good old days the combination of a bard with epic cloud and a wizard was a dual box dream for farming - as you could cloud (which persists through death) and have the wizard drop various aoe spells then gate away elsewhere to sit and watch timers on the bard - cancelling aoes and then gating back in GS to rez. That ofcourse is without even needing to use Time Stop. These days farming takes a little more work - but is still simple enough.
Some obvious spells for soloing are:
- Time Stop (level 9)
- Gate (level 9)
- Mordenkainen's Disjunction (level 9)
- Bigby's Crushing Hand (level 9)
- Weird (level 9)
- Greater Planar Binding (level 8) You could alternatively use a Black Blade of Disaster instead but they really are not as useful in most soloing situations - they do however become more useful in endgame situations.
- Delayed Blast Fireball (level 8)
- Reverse Gravity (level 7 - I often empower this)
- Freezing Sphere (level 6 - I often empower this)
- Chain Lightning (level 6 - I often empower this)
- Circle of Death (level 6)
- Evard’s Black Tentacles (level 4 - but cast at level 6 as Empowered spells)
- Web (level 2)
- Greese (level 1)
There are also a wide variety of damage cloud spells to choose from - including but not limited to Vortex of Teeth (level 4), Static Field, …
In addition to those possible selections I recommend using Orb spells for single targets that you want to kill quickly. Obviously the higher the level of orb spell the more damage that you will do.
Thanks:
Thanks to the various people who have helped along the way of this character's progression with ideas or feedback including:
Azpride - (who is in my opinion the best Wizard player hands down that I have ever encountered. Healso got me into trying 3 man Hell runs... our PM, Cleric, Tank Stygia at lvl60 was a blast)
Avissar
TheRajah
Hercules
Thanks also to people whose posts or forum ideas have helped me develop the formatting of this post, or some of the support ideas that go along with it:
Rain
Vichya
Paradoom
Introduction:
This is the build for my wizard (who is currently called 'Test'), I use my Sorcerer as my primary Arcane for Hells/Ely/Abos this toon as an arcane that is good for soloing and for going anywhere else that I want to head off to. It is the third version of my Wizard's build. The first one was actually a build designed by Azpride - and at that point he was not a searching wizard. I did post the second version here in this thread (which was also a pure searching wizard) but it is no longer available.
A wizard, in my view, is a general purpose arcane caster. He lacks the tight specialization, and supreme power within that specialization, of a Dragonstorm Mage or a Palemaster - yet he brings a versatility that can not be surpassed. I never specialize on my wizards, as I firmly believe that as a wizard your real power lies in having the ability to cast literally any spell.
The Level 80 version of the build makes use of the Paragon levels system and a wonderful synergy between skills and abilities that was pointed out by TheRajah to save two feats and gain maximized search skill. Consider that crossclassing search into Paragon Levels (up to 41 ranks at 79), with +50 from items, +34 from 78 intelligence (double demi, pl stats, +16 item, arti), +2 from elf you hit the 127 cap to search skill without the need to invest any feats. A quite common item with the Embroided (uncommon rarity) augmentor gives 3 more points to reach the cap a bit earlier. Using the Elf race in the level 80 version also provides the additional bonus of being immune to sleep.
Please note that this is not primarily an Evocation Karsus Wizard. This build does get access to Karsus (through Polymathy) however Evocation is not the intended primary school for damage on this toon. That was a deliberate choice and is not a 'mistake'. I enjoy the difference in play-style that this, an equally Conjuration and Evocation focussed Wizard, provides to my Evocation based Sorcerer. That being said - every version of this build does have Legendary Spell Focus in Evocation.
The Open and UR subrace versions of this build loose Conjuration as a focused spell school due to the reduction of available feats from starting with a lesser subrace. This however remains a viable and playable wizard - it simply lacks some of the 'blow stuff up' power of the BUR versions.
Other builds:
If you want to consider other types of arcane casters, who are more specific in purpose, you might like to look at the following builds:
- Searching, Rak grabbing Pure PM (10 Wiz 50 PM)
- Bane (80 Sorcerer) - Open, UR & BUR Builds
- Imajica (60 Wizard) (This is an older build.)
Some of the strengths of this build are:
- Legendary Illusion Focus for awesome Wierd DCs and very good EV and GV
- Legendary Conjuration Focus for inflicting pain on mobs, laying down disablement clouds and generating very powerful summons
- Legendary Abjuration for the excellent buffs and debuffs, plus great DCs on Banish and the coming HG enhanced Abjuration spells
- Six HG Epic Spells and one HG Paragon Spell
- Totally Max Intelligence
- Dominate mobs with the Intelligence Artifact
- Search ability for farming or group runs
- Maximized Armor bonuses from Mage Armor with the use of Legendary Abjuration focus and The Unbroken Way
Cons and its possible solution:
- "But you have not maximized Evocation and that is what everyone uses." Stop worrying about them. Use orbs and clouds. This is a soloing toon, not a specifically maximized toon for group based runs in the Abyss or Hells. You can kill stuff easily with clouds and orbs - it is just focused in a different way. The Evocation vs Conjuration argument has been had on HG many times.
- The build is heavily maximized for level 80. You will gain considerably in power at that point. Whilst this is a hard one to 'overcome' it is a viable build at all levels.
Autocaster spells(in order of importance):
Etheral Visage, Premonition, Energy Buffer, Mage Armor, Expeditious Retreat, Endure Elements, Energy Immunity (I usually have this set to Fire but choose any element that suits the place you are going and the holes in your gear), Lesser Mind Blank, Greater Spell Mantle, Protection from Alignment, Elemental Shield, Mestil's Acid Sheath.
You should then use shadow shield from your Tia staff.
NB. I will shamefully admit that both azpride and I have in the past intentionally morded people wearing Elemental Shield and Mestil's Acid Sheath if they obviously did not understand positioning - and caused party kick back by wearing those buffs. Keep in mind that several people might consider doing that. Do not use those buffs in group runs if you do not know which mobs will potentially cause area wide kick back.
The Build:
IGNORE THIS TABLE FOR NOW
Optimized for (All numbers below refer to the final state of the respective build) | Level 60, Moon Elf (Open Subrace) | Level 60, Planewalker (Ultra-Rare Subrace) | Levels 60-79, 5x Demi, Genie (Beyond Ultra-Rare Subrace) | Level 80, 5x Demi Genie (Beyond Ultra-Rare Subrace) |
Build | 60 Wizard | 60 Wizard | 60 Wizard | 80 Wizard |
Race/Subrace | Elf / Moon Elf +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength, +4 spellcraft | Human / Planewalker -2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, Immunity Damage Type: Acid: 5%, Immunity Damage Type: Cold: 5%, Immunity Damage Type: Electrical: 5%, Immunity Damage Type: Fire: 5%, Breathes Water, Able to walk on Quicksand, Firewalking, Innate Passwall Ability, Speaks: Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal | Human / Genie +6 Intelligence, +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity, FC: Wizard, Strider, Feats: Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration | Elf / Genie +6 Intelligence, +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity, FC: Wizard, Strider, Feats: Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration |
Abilities at character creation (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) Creation/Boat | Str: 10/8 Dex: 14/14 Con: 14/14 Int: 18/20 Wis: 8/8 Cha: 8/8 | Str: 10/8 Dex: 14/16 Con: 14/16 Int: 18/20 Wis: 8/8 Cha: 8/8 | Str: 10/10 Dex: 14/16 Con: 14/16 Int: 18/24 Wis: 8/8 Cha: 8/8 | Str: 10/10 Dex: 14/16 Con: 14/16 Int: 18/24 Wis: 8/8 Cha: 8/8 |
Pre-epic and epic ability progression | Always take Intelligence | Always take Intelligence | Always take Intelligence | Always take Intelligence |
Legendary level ability progression | Always take Intelligence | Always take Intelligence | Always take Intelligence | Always take Intelligence |
Pre-epic feats Abbreviations: SpF - Spell Focus GSpF - Greater Spell Focus ESpF - Epic Spell Focus LSpF - Legendary Spell Focus PSpF - Paragon Spell Focas | Silver Palm (at creation) Spell focus: Illusion Greater spell focus: Illusion Spell focus:Transmutation Greater spell focus: Transmutation Spell focus: Evocation Greater spell focus: Evocation Spell Penetration Greater Spell Penetration Extend spell Empower spell Spell focus: Abjuration | Silver Palm (at creation) Spell focus: Illusion Greater spell focus: Illusion Spell focus:Transmutation Greater spell focus: Transmutation Spell focus: Evocation Greater spell focus: Evocation Spell focus: Conjuration Greater spell focus: Conjuration Extend spell Empower spell Spell focus: Abjuration | Spell focus: Illusion Greater spell focus: Illusion Spell focus:Transmutation Greater spell focus: Transmutation Spell focus: Evocation Greater spell focus: Evocation Spell focus: Conjuration Greater spell focus: Conjuration Extend spell Empower spell Spell focus: Abjuration | |
Epic feats | Epic spell focus: Illusion Epic Spell Penetration Greater spell focus: Abjuration Greater intellegence I-X | Epic spell focus: Illusion Epic spell focus: Conjuration Greater spell focus: Abjuration Greater intellegence I-X | Epic spell focus: Illusion Epic spell focus: Conjuration Greater spell focus: Abjuration Greater intellegence I-X | |
Legendary level feats | Legendary spell penetration Epic spell focus: Transmutation Epic spell focus: Evocation Epic Spell Focus: Abjuration Legendary spell focus: Illusion Legendary spell focus: Evocation LSA Search | Epic spell penetration Legendary spell penetration Epic spell focus: Transmutation Epic spell focus: Evocation Epic Spell Focus: Abjuration Legendary spell focus: Illusion LSA Search | Epic spell penetration Legendary spell penetration Epic spell focus: Transmutation Epic spell focus: Evocation Epic Spell Focus: Abjuration Legendary spell focus: Illusion Legendary spell focus: Transmutation | |
Paragon level feats | Paragon Polymathy Legendary Spell Focus: Abjuration Paragon Spell Penetration Legendary Spell Focus: Evocation Legendary Spell Focus: Necromancy Paragon Spell Focus: Illusion | Paragon Polymathy Legendary Spell Focus: Abjuration Paragon Spell Penetration Legendary spell focus: Conjuration Legendary Spell Focus: Evocation Legendary Spell Focus: Necromancy | Paragon Polymathy Legendary Spell Focus: Abjuration Paragon Spell Penetration Legendary spell focus: Conjuration Legendary Spell Focus: Evocation Legendary Spell Focus: Necromancy | |
Tome | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy |
Artifact | The Eye of Vecna | The Eye of Vecna | The Eye of Vecna | The Eye of Vecna |
Pandect | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields |
Abilities (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) Including +14 bonus for immortals, and +16 bonus for the current version | ||||
Skills @ Lvl60 |
Skills:
Max: Concentration, lore, parry, appraise, craft armor, tumble, pick pocket, search (after LSA search), spellcraft, spot and listen + what you feel like
Spell Usage Ideas:
As a wizard Bestow Curse (necromancy) is a very important spell - much more so (in my opinion) than for a sorcerer. Using Bestow Curse will help you land other DC based spells.
For damage spells I use empowered everything, well maybe not everything - as I will cast normals after I run out of empowered. Empowered gives you a much better damage output where you have the spell slots available.
Evard's Black Tentacles (conjuration) are your best buddies. Following that, empowered Greater Orbs (conjuration) are like using a bazooka on a boss. Seriously, they hit hard.
Reverse Gravity (transmutation) breaks monsters. Mkay? This is really only used as an aoe spell though - and you do not have the DCs to maximize damage from this spell.
In aoe situations, after laying down Evard's, your best bets are empowered Great Thunderclaps (evocation), Empowered Vitriolic Spheres (conjuration) and empowered Freezing Spheres (evocation).
In terms of dealing with machines you will need to carry Energy Drains (level 9, necromancy).
For spell use in the Abyss I suggest checking out Herc's Spell Guide. It is really cool!
Ultimately you should check the Hell Bestiary and the Abyss Bestiary.
If you want to learn about how to better deal with spell resistance issues you should read TheRaja's post Spell Resistance: how to deal with it.
It might be a good idea to put this in a quickbar slot or a voicebind command if you have installed the Additional Quickbats (downaload link, place it in the nwn override folder).
Crucial Stuff: As a wizard you should make sure you know the following spells - and NEVER ban their schools. I will not explain why here, but they definitely do have a purpose. - Gust of Wind - Bigby 6 - Chain Lightning - Cone of Cold - Mestil's Acid Breath |
What to do with your Epic Spells
Death of Magic
This is most definately one of the most powerful epic spells in Higher Ground. You should use it on these occasions:
1. To stop any boss or miniboss from drinking heal potions when they reach badly injured. This is of particular significance on the Hell run Min.
2. To spawn mobs that cast spells. You can use this in Hells, the Abyss or just about anywhere. Likewise you can stop random spawns from casting if they land on you.
3. To insta-kill the flux in Abo 2.
4. To make friendly casters able to cast spells in the Rona temple during its duration.
Starfire
Starfire does a massive amount of magical damage - and it is guaranteed to always do damage.
You can use Starfire to knockdown mobs. I particularly like using that knockdown effect on Raks and Rajas to give me time to mord/breach them and then Wierd them.
Transmute Barrier
This creates a wall around you. I quite like using this in Ely by time stopping after agroing Pelor, putting up a wall (with him in it), and running out of the wall before it spawns into place. This contains him nicely for the fight.
You can also use this when absolutely necessary to regroup within during a bad random - or if you just really need space from mobs (such as if everyone else is in limbo and you are out of GV).
Bigby Swarm
All enemies in a Large radius are struck by Bigby's Crushing Hand, ignoring SR and lasting for CL rounds (duration includes paragon levels). I have had some success at 'afk' farming with this epic on some LL run maps (including specific parts of Rona). You can use this epic to grab a LOT of enemies, Bigby9 and left overs, then cast Evard's Black Tentacles under them and go and make a coffee. (Just don't tell anyone I said that! )
Notably this epic is also amazing for grabbing groups of Raks in Hells, or simply dropping on top of a random as it appears.
Mass Spell Destruction
When you use this epic all enemies in a huge radius are struck by a dispel effect at 20 levels higher than the caster's normal level. Additionally all enemies struck have their concealment reduced by 10% for 10 rounds, plus 1 round per 4 caster levels above 40. All enemies struck have their SR reduced by 4 + (Abj foci * 2) for 10 rounds, plus 1 round per 4 caster levels above 40 - and they all suffer an aura-suppression effect for 4 + (Abj foci * 2) rounds. Both duration and dispel level include paragon levels in their calculation. That makes this epic ideal for two things. Firstly - you can use this epic to drop the conceal on bosses. Dropping the conceal on bosses will make them die a lot faster. Secondly, you can use this epic to prepare Raks for Wierding or Grabbing.
In general play, when farming or massing runs in small groups, you can mass a map then hit the mobs with this epic to drop their spell resistance before unleashing Karsas and Reverse Gravity (or some other type of non-cloud damage spells).
Missile Barrage
This epic spell may be used twice per day. It invokes an Isaac's Greater Missile Storm-type barrage of 20 missiles, striking targets for 8d6 points of Force damage each. Force damage is similar to Magic damage, but only respects half of a target's Magic damage immunity, and does not respect Magic damage resistance. Unfortunately it is totally useless in 90% of the areas you will use this build in. I do however find it has it's uses in some LL areas that I have farmed.
Paragon Epic - Polymathy (set to Karsus Avatar)
You get this epic in Paragon levels of the build. With this you can select to use any Paragon Epic for arcanes.
When used as Karsus Avatar you drain the power of a deity for the duration of the spell - and for a turn, all of your spells are auto-extended, empowered, and maximized, and have 2 DC added. This is officially known as the 'teach me how to PWN' epic.
Abilities:
Assist Other (Player Tool 2):
Pick up any player who is knocked down, even though you are not a Bard. It can save time and prevent the death of a party member.
Other SIMtools commands
!password password
Sets your password. Set your password to '-' to stop having a password. Your password is linked to your CD key.
!cancel aoe
This command will instantly remove all of your AOE spells. This can be very important if KB is becoming an issue.
!filter checks
!filter sr
!filter saves
To easier analyse important caster combat checks familiarize yourself with the filter commands above. Those three are your must use filter commands if you want to see what is going on with your spell casting. Use all of them until you read in green letters something like: will be sent as system messages...
Now do a right click on the thin bar above the combat log window right to the chat window. A radial menu will appear and the left bottom option says: exclude combat info. Activate that and enjoy.
What happens now, after you did that, is that you will no longer see all the attack rolls and damage spam, but just the spell resistance, DC checks and saves. With that reduced information, you get all you need and can even check during fights occasionally if your spells are successful.
If you want to see for some reason still all the spam, then !filter brief helps reducing this a bit, without loosing any information.
!sb fill
Fills all empty slots in your spellbook with the spell immediately proceeding them. For example, if you have ten first-level slots and the first slot is Burning Hands and the sixth slot is Magic Missile, and all the other slots are empty, you will end up with five copies of Burning Hands in slots 1-5 and five copies of Magic Missile in slots 6-10.
!sb empty
Clears all slots in your spellbook found after an empty slot. For example, if you were to clear the third slot in the above spellbook with five copies of Burning Hands and five copies of Magic Missile, then use this command, you would end up with two copies of Burning Hands in slots 1 and 2 and the remaining 8 slots empty.
!sb wizswap level
Swaps two spells in your wizard spellbook of the specified level. To select which spells you wish to swap, they should be the first two spells you have memorized of that spell level.
!qb list
Lists any quickbars you have saved.
!qb save slot name bar
Saves one of your quickbars into the specified slot (which must be a number from 0 to 9). You must specify 1, 2, or 3 for the bar parameter; 1 is the normal quickbar, 2 is the Shift quickbar, and 3 is the Ctrl quickbar.
!qb slot
Restores the specified quickbar. At this time, only spell slots can be restored. In the future, feats and some other abilities will be restorable as well. It is unlikely item slots can be restored due to technical limitations.
!search
To use the !search command, simply hit enter to type text, type '!search', and then hit enter again. You'll be given a command targeter item if you don't have one. You then use your command targeter to choose the place you want to search.
Hint: Make a quickslot (i. e. F5) with !search and label !search. Right click on F5 for it and enter text. Make another quickslot with the targeter (i. e. F6), just drag-drop the targeter on F6, and select the option you need. By this, you can !search quite fast by clicking F5 and then F6 and click mouse...enjoy!
Gear:
As a wizard, this toon is all about versitility - and being able to function anywhere. Cosequently, I reccommend usig multiple gear sets. By using multiple gear sets you can maximize your utility in different areas, ad hence increase the value of your toon. Below are just a few suggestions of possible items for different locations.
These gear lists do not exactly reflect what I wear. They are primarily comprised of items that are either 'set' or where the randomization is not a huge factor. That choice has been made to make the lists more accessible to people who are trying to use them.
Entering Hell for the first time pre-level 60
Ring 1: Abjurer's Bane
Ring 2: Signet of Set
Main hand: Ruinvorn's Claw
Off hand: Teldar's Travail
Amulet: Amulet of Hadean Power Wizard
Cloak: Cloak of the Axerian Battlecaster
In general:
Ring 1:
Ring 2:
Main hand: Staff of the Axerian Grandmaster
Off hand: Rampart of Pact Primevil
Belt: Fiendish Advisor OR Belt of the Axerian Grandmaster
Chest: Wrap of Fistandantilus
Cloak: Cloak of the Axerian Grandmaster
Gloves: Spellguards of Netheril
Shackled in the Toyshop:
Ring 1: Signet of Axeria Imperia
Main hand: Ruinvorn's Claw
Off hand: Teldar's Travail
Chest: Kelpweave Robe
Amulet: The Unbroken Way - This item will give you a huge self buffed AC increase when you cast the Level 1 spell Mage Armor.
Mote: Wellspring of Power
In Aboleths:
Ring 1:Ring of the Planewalker - set to Magic and Cold
Ring 2:
Main hand: Staff of the Axerian Grandmaster
Off hand: Rampart of Pact Primevil
Belt: Fiendish Advisor OR Belt of the Axerian Grandmaster
Chest: Kelpweave Robe
Gloves: Spellguards of Netheril
NB. On this run the first job of a wizard is always to use your intelligence artifact on a Gibbering Mouther. Gibbering Mouthers cause sonic inflictions that also applies to mobs after you dominate them. This means that you should also buff them, and do your best to keep them alive as a group.
In the Pit of Moliation
Cloak: Cloak of the Axerian Grandmaster
Chest: Shroud of Evernight
Gloves: Spellguards of Netheril
Mote: Wellspring of Power
Items that you should carry:
Greater Rod of Resurrection
These are important as you do not loose any bonuses when resurrecting fallen party members. Until you can get hold of one of these just use scrolls. You can access a lesser rod for this purpose somewhere in a low level area of the module.
Codex of Arcane Algorithms
This is my favorite wizard item on the module. On use, it teaches you EVERY arcane spell. This is beyond valuable. I rate this as more valuable to my toon (for convenience) than a Shield Pandect.
Bountiful Beaker of Healing
Until you can get one of these you can just use standard potions.
Soul Jar
Grapes of Plenty
Grand Signet of Talisid
Amnesia immunity ring.
The Fine Print
You can use this to save Biorejuvenators. You'll lose a couple of spell slots using this but it is worth it.
Biorejuvenators
Never hesitate to use them if necessary. It can save the party from a wipe.
Stone of Succor
These will return you to your party if you Limbo during a run - without having to run the Limbo maze.
Rune of Return
These are useful in all areas, but basically a necessity if you plan to run the Abyss. You can however simply buy teleportation gems until you manage to buy or farm one of these.
Wands: Clarity, Stone to Flesh (Stygia Shop), Remove Fear (Stygia Shop), BBOD (Stygia Shop), Timestop (Thids)
Scrolls: Mind Blank, Greater Sanctuary, Mordenkainens Disjunction (for Mords Spawning - to save on your active casts at level 9)
Drow Wardstone
This is the key to get through a locked gate on the way to the Aboleths run starting point.
Farming Runs:
Soloing on a wizard can be done in a wide variety of ways - mainly due to their fantastic versatility. In the good old days the combination of a bard with epic cloud and a wizard was a dual box dream for farming - as you could cloud (which persists through death) and have the wizard drop various aoe spells then gate away elsewhere to sit and watch timers on the bard - cancelling aoes and then gating back in GS to rez. That ofcourse is without even needing to use Time Stop. These days farming takes a little more work - but is still simple enough.
Some obvious spells for soloing are:
- Time Stop (level 9)
- Gate (level 9)
- Mordenkainen's Disjunction (level 9)
- Bigby's Crushing Hand (level 9)
- Weird (level 9)
- Greater Planar Binding (level 8) You could alternatively use a Black Blade of Disaster instead but they really are not as useful in most soloing situations - they do however become more useful in endgame situations.
- Delayed Blast Fireball (level 8)
- Reverse Gravity (level 7 - I often empower this)
- Freezing Sphere (level 6 - I often empower this)
- Chain Lightning (level 6 - I often empower this)
- Circle of Death (level 6)
- Evard’s Black Tentacles (level 4 - but cast at level 6 as Empowered spells)
- Web (level 2)
- Greese (level 1)
There are also a wide variety of damage cloud spells to choose from - including but not limited to Vortex of Teeth (level 4), Static Field, …
In addition to those possible selections I recommend using Orb spells for single targets that you want to kill quickly. Obviously the higher the level of orb spell the more damage that you will do.
Thanks:
Thanks to the various people who have helped along the way of this character's progression with ideas or feedback including:
Azpride - (who is in my opinion the best Wizard player hands down that I have ever encountered. Healso got me into trying 3 man Hell runs... our PM, Cleric, Tank Stygia at lvl60 was a blast)
Avissar
TheRajah
Hercules
Thanks also to people whose posts or forum ideas have helped me develop the formatting of this post, or some of the support ideas that go along with it:
Rain
Vichya
Paradoom