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Survival Guide Part 2 As can be seen from the way the I selected my spells, the Frozen Lance was quite efficient at poking most enemies to death. As long as I controlled my position on the battlefield, used summons to distract opponents and used my spell sequence most fights were a walk in the park. At this point, I had not done any of the bounties, but I had cleared all of Od Nua except for the final level. Trying to clear that led to many abrupt endings and I decided to focus on Act 3 and White March Part 1 instead. Difficult Fights - Od Nua Difficult Encounters - White March Pt 1 Difficult Encounters - White March Pt 2

Survival Guide for the Frozen Lance My early game (Act 1) was based on the paladin walkthrough provided by David Ashton on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgOrDfghilGH9712JmOGIhA). For Act 1, I followed the exact same sequence of quests as he did - however, my wizard dispatched of enemies a lot quicker with a combination of Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff and Curse of Blackened Sight. I did need to rest more than he did though, but in Act 1 the wizard was not any weaker than the paladin. Since my goal was to play this wizard as a melee wizard, stats started of as MIG 18, INT 15 and PER 15 with the rest of the stats averaged. I do not like dumping stats preferring to have a character with no discernible weakness, but it also means there are no exceptional strengths. Since I wanted to clear out all the areas to get to level 5 before Caed Nua, I was engaged in melee quite often. The stats as presented here probably made the wizard a bit tougher at lower levels (compared to my end-game stats), but if i were to do it again, I would sneak past most encounters and return to complete them in Act 2, thus negating the need for a respec. Difficult encounters - Act 1 Midgame - Act 2 In Act 1, the game mostly comprised of luring single opponents out and killing them while they were alone. In Act 2, my gameplay changed more towards the usual wizard. I used Gaun's Snare with an exceptional small buckler for most of Act 2 and either the backer plate or the Sanguine Plate once I got it for armour. I got both of the figurines asap and bought the Rotfinger Gloves and Shod-in-Faith as well. With the Rotfinger Gloves and the typical spell complement, I could win most fights, but needed to rest after every encounter. Unfortunately Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff did not work that well anymore as encounters started to be more open, thus I got surrounded more often and enemies were tougher meaning that I needed all the deflection I could get. Completing Act 2 took much longer than it should have, as it was pretty frustrating to grind through encounters this way. David Ashton's paladin started having a much easier time than my wizard since he could survive a lot longer. I also made the mistake of not taking the two Citzal's spells at level up as I knew I could get them in Od Nua. When I finally got them, and then realised how to utilise them, I realised that Act 2 could have been much easier if I had those spells available for it. After I got these spells I started figuring out the buffing sequence and this turned was really the point where the game became fun again. Difficult Encounters - Act 2

The Frozen Lance is primarily a wizard that engages his opponents head-on. Should the need arise, he has access to an impressive repertoire of spells and is capable of clearing battlefields in short order. This was my first solo attempt at PoE, and I am proud to say that this character killed all of the dragons, completed all of the bounties, and probably all of the possible side-quests (faction choice dependent of course). I would not recommend this build for TCS as he is usually in the middle of the action and without the targeting circles, I would probably have nuked myself more than once. I respecced a couple of times to try new ideas or new strategies, but with the final build it should not be necessary. The toughest fights were Llengrath, the Alpine Dragon, everything on the Concelhaut quest and Adragans…damn, how I hate Adragans… =================================== The Frozen Lance =================================== Difficulty: PotD v. 3.02 – solo -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Wizard -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Any race will do – I used a Moon Godlike which is easier low-level but you miss out on nice helms later on. -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Living lands - Background : Drifter (+1 Stealth / + 1 Mechanics) -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats: MIG: 14 (Base 10 +1 Living Lands +1 Gift from the Machine +2 Vengiatta Rugia) CON: 19 (Base 12 +4 Iron Circle + 3 Woodland Trails Resting Bonus) DEX: 17 (Base 12 +1 Godlike +4 Viettro’s Formal Footwear PER: 19 (Base 13 +1 Song of the Heavens +1 Hylea’s Boon +4 Mantle of the Excavator) INT: 20 (Base 15 +1 Godlike +4 Gwyn’s Band of Union) RES: 17 (Base 13 +4 Siegebreaker Gauntlets) -------------------------------------------------------------- Skills: Stealth: 6 (Base 4 +1 Drifter +1 Blooded Hunter) Athletics: 3 (Base 1 +2 Woodland Trails Resting Bonus) Lore: 12 (Base 6 +2 Wizard +2 Hylea’s Boon +3 Viettro’s Formal Footwear) Mechanics: 8 (Base 6 +1 Wizard +1 Drifter) Survival: 10 (Base 8 +2 Mantle of the Excavator) -------------------------------------------------------------- Talents obtained at level-up: Weapon and Shield Style Weapon Focus Noble Bear’s Fortitude Body Control Superior Deflection Two-Handed Style Secrets of the Rime Beast Slayer / Sanctifier – Choose either although I think Beast Slayer is much more useful Story Talents: The Merciless Hand Gift from the Machine Blooded Hunter Wild Running Scale Breaker Flick of the Wrist Dozen’s Luck Sever the Soul Song of the Heavens Hylea’s Boon -------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon Set 1: The Unlabored Blade / Litte Saviour (Superb / Durgan-Reinforced) Weapon Set 2: Abydon’s Hammer or Steadfast / Aila Braccia (Exceptional / Durgan-Reinforced) Head: N/A Chest: Vengiatta Rugia (Superb / Durgan-Reinforced /+2 Might) Hands: Siegebreaker Gauntlets Ring 1: Iron Circle Ring 2: Gwyn’s Band of Union Feet: Viettro’s Formal Footwear Waist: Arthek’s Cord Pet: Concelhaut’s Skull Quick Items: Scroll of Prayer Against Imprisonment / Scroll of Paralysis / Scroll of Maelstrom / Potion of Major Endurance *** I adjusted these based on certain encounters, for instance Scrolls of Prayer Against Fear are very useful before I got Steadfast. -------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Mastery Level 1 – Eldritch Aim Level 2 – Merciless Gaze Level 3 – Deleterious Alacrity of Motion (“DAoM”) Level 4 – Ironskin -------------------------------------------------------------- Tactics -------------------------------------------------------------- Endgame Tactics (Act 3, WM 1 & 2 and Level 16 onwards) -------------------------------------------------------------- Midgame Tactics (Act 2) -------------------------------------------------------------- Early-game Tactics (Act 1)