Wizard for a POTD game, Blast or Arcane Veil?

[GrimnirBorson]

Hello, everyone. Beating this game with POTD difficulty has always been my white whale, so now that Avowed is out I have an excuse to do that before playing it. Despite the restartities, my favourite class has always been Wizard. While I don't plan to play it Solo, I have seen good arguments for either an implement build with a lot of blasting (my favourite) but I also saw an rcane Veil/Concelhaut Staff or Citzal lance perform very well. What should I try?

[Boeroer]

Hi!

That depends on what you like better. Arcane Veil is limited per rest and can never be a spell mastery (per encounter) spell. So that's limiting. Also there's normal spells that function in a similar way (Mirrored Images etc.) and don't stack with it. But if you are melee-focused and if you tend to rest often then it's great to have. Parasitic Staff and Spirit Lance both have very high base damage (twice the amount of other two handed weapons) and the Staff is of exceptional quality right at lvl 1 - which is very powerful and feels just great in the early game. Also spares you a lot of other spells per rest. The Lance is superb and has an AoE - and it has speed! In combination with Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, some damage bonuses (Two Handed Style, Might, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Savage Attack etc.) you can reach very good melee/AoE dps. The pinnacle would be to gain Gauntlets of Swift Action so you could reach 0 recovery with the Spirit Lance. Which is kind of bonkers.
A melee Wizard has to be more sturdy than a ranged one, even if he oly operates from the second row - so you need to either invest in defensive talents and/or abilities/spells and use them. This can be Arcane Veil, but you can also do without it. Melee Wizard needs more micromanagement. 

Blast is a passive so it will always be there. It becomes very potent in combination with Combusting Wounds and Kalakoth's Minor Blights (summoned wand-like weapon): because every hit in the AoE of Minor Blights will cause a Blast, you can have a LOT of damage rolls that all trigger Combusting Wounds - if you manage to hit many enemies with Minor Blights+Blast. Lots of damage rolls (no matter how weak) in combination with Combusting Wounds melts all mobs but the fire immune ones. Good crowd control is nice to have (sturdy front line, disables, using choke points etc.) so you can reach many enemies with the AoE. This approach can work with a glass-cannon build. If you get rushed you need a plan B, but you don't have to be somewhat sturdy at all times like a melee wizard would.

For a main character I think the more fun approach is the melee way - if you like that in the first place. Because one tends to micromanage the main character a lot more than the others anyways. The Blast Wizard is better for companions and adventurerers imo because you don't have to move and position them a lot.  

 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by Boeroer

[Chaospread]

22 hours ago, Boeroer said:

For a main character I think the more fun approach is the melee way - if you like that in the first place. Because one tends to micromanage the main character a lot more than the others anyways. The Blast Wizard is better for companions and adventurerers imo because you don't have to move and position them a lot.  

I agree 100%. Late game with Citzal's Martial Power wizard becomes a war machine, you can also all low levels buff (Merciless Gaze, DaoM) and defensive buffs (Wizard's Double etc.) as master spelles, and why not also Arcane Veil and you start stomping foes. A ranged version with Caedebald's Blackbow is also very powerful.