Thinking of buying, worried about Wizards though

[Lephys]

It's just a limited style Wizard, as opposed to a "I just jog around spewing magic out wherever I go" type Wizard.

 

I can assure you the PoE Wizard feels like he can do a LOT more than a DnD Wizard, especially at low levels.

[Longknife]

It's not THAT bad.

 

I think what initially happens is that paradox of wanting to conserve on consumables. Yknow how it is: you have consumables that give buffs, but you think "I should save these for a tougher fight," but then when the tough fight comes you're practically forgetting they exist and the potential is wasted.

 

After some time playing you get a feel for when to use their potential, (typically a case of "if you feel they'd be helpful now, then use it") and then they're plenty helpful. Though yeah I'll admit that in fights where you don't use them, they're the most useless **** ever. Another issue is that Ciphers just seem universally easier, while Rangers seem to be better for the fights where the Wizard's spells aren't used since Rangers tend to crit a lot.

[XxxReaperX30xxX]

Any idea what best starting stats an elf wizard should have. I try not to have negative stats but does it really affect something?

[Sylvanpyxie]

 

 

Recovery time and casting time are the trouble with my Cipher, as while he's standing there in melee for five seconds casting a spell he is not doing any damage but he is getting punched in the face.

 

I'm playing at range, so I'm not being punched in the face :D

 

Also I get a sexy attack speed boost from my Chanter.

[PrimeJunta]

I'm actually not auto-attacking with the wizard all that much of the time. In the easier encounters, I use his two Arcane Assaults and sometimes Grimoire Slam, and by then it's usually over. And in the harder ones when Aloth gets to open up with the spells, stand clear everyone.

 

But this is the type of game where casters are the "big guns" you bring out when the going gets tough. I haven't really run out of spells as a general rule once I hit level 4 or so, which happens pretty quickly. By the time I'm out, I'm also low on health or fatigued or both.

 

Also am finding two camping supplies is plenty. But then I am feeling my way forward and going somewhere else if things get too manly.

[kylania]

 

 

 

I've seen some videos saying to not even wear armor on your mages to speed up their recovery time, but the face punching does make that a tricky proposition!  I think tonight I'll try removing armor from my ranged characters and just pay a lot of attention to positioning them.

 

I've found that custom formations helps keep them in the back where they should be while walking around a dungeon, but you still need to be careful with where you click to move.

[Zanos]

 

 

While cyphers can cast 1-2 spells and then hope for getting some focus back.

You're kidding right? I've been playing a Cipher and honestly, she's got focus pouring out of her pointy little ears.

 

Focus is not a problem. If you want endless spell casting, roll a Cipher.

 

This has been my experience, basically. Cipher keeps pace with the wizard in the theoretical 'unlimited rests' scenario, and just ramps harder the fewer rests per campaign you take.

 

I'll throw a third on that. After playing both a cipher and a wizard, cipher seems to be better in nearly every way.

[Jimmious]

Buy the game it is worth every single penny

[Arctic]

 

While cyphers can cast 1-2 spells and then hope for getting some focus back.

You're kidding right? I've been playing a Cipher and honestly, she's got focus pouring out of her pointy little ears.

 

Focus is not a problem. If you want endless spell casting, roll a Cipher.

 

 

As i said, "hard fight" , when you find a boss with 100 Deflection or more you dont get your focus back. you need to keep debufing him to be able to hit him but you cant couse you have no focus ..

 

then you feel that wizzard really usefull.

 

(and yes , my main is a cypher, im lvl 12 already , and i do more damage with him than all my other party members together , well its really min maxed so .. xD)

Edited March 30, 2015 by Arctic

[Arctic]

Any idea what best starting stats an elf wizard should have. I try not to have negative stats but does it really affect something?

 

 

Heavyly max  Might, Dext, and Int, you can drop the others (3 for constitution, you will die yes or yes if they hit you at melee)... unless you want to try a melee wizard xD

 

Anndd ... go nude , no armor, it will slow you down

Edited March 30, 2015 by Arctic

[Mashiki]

I wish more AOE damage spells did not hit allies too, for my wizard.

 

In realtime it becomes a mess when you try to position your wizard on a flank and cone out those flames.

 

After the next patch I'll get back in and see how Aloth does for CC.

Well any IE game aoe damage spells hit your party as well, they're always a situational cast.  I have three grimoires now for my wizard and switch between targeted use and a aoe-only grimoire, then I have a dibilitator and controller grimoire as well.

[Matt516]

 

I wish more AOE damage spells did not hit allies too, for my wizard.

 

In realtime it becomes a mess when you try to position your wizard on a flank and cone out those flames.

 

After the next patch I'll get back in and see how Aloth does for CC.

Well any IE game aoe damage spells hit your party as well, they're always a situational cast.  I have three grimoires now for my wizard and switch between targeted use and a aoe-only grimoire, then I have a dibilitator and controller grimoire as well.

 

 

Just as an FYI, the yellow part of the AoE doesn't hit allies. This part of the AoE is increased by INT.

[Lephys]

Heavyly max  Might, Dext, and Int, you can drop the others (3 for constitution, you will die yes or yes if they hit you at melee)... unless you want to try a melee wizard xD

 

Anndd ... go nude , no armor, it will slow you down

Melee Wizard's doable, for what it's worth, but I do kinda wish it were a little more feasible. I wish the Wizard didn't inherently get crap Accuracy and Deflection. There are some nice spells you can basically use to boost yourself in combat instead of tossing out fireballs, but, the trade-off isn't really worth it, unfortunately. You give up other spells to cast those (as well as cast time, etc.), and you make yourself a pretty decent melee-er, but the Fighters are still better than you.

 

I get that Fighters (among others) should get better readily-available bonuses to conventional combat than a Wizard should. BUT, if you're going to let a Wizard build himself for melee combat and give him spells to support that, he needs to not just be "decent" after he specifically does everything in his power to support melee combat at the cost of supporting his allies with buffs and 'splosions.

 

It's still kind of fun, but basically don't count him as a Wizard anymore (more like half-a-wizard, when it comes to combat output) if you're going to go melee Wizard.

 

My PC is a melee Wizard, but he's kind of just support. You give up way too much stat-wise, too, to give him halfway-decent Deflection and Health. And since Health/Endurance get a percentage modifier from Constitution, and the Wizard has the lowest starting Health and Endurance of anyone, you can max out Con and it barely amounts to an additional hit you can take in combat before you die. Those are points you could've used to double your AoE range, or maximize your damage or action speed, etc.

 

I'd recommend Dex, and no less than 10 Con for a Melee Wizard. Maybe Might and Resolve, or Resolve and Perception. You could just be an Interrupt Master who can also sling spells.

 

You definitely cannot tank as a Wizard, but you can melee okay if you do it right. I just hope that gets a little TLC (among a lot of other inter-class crookedness) in future balance tweaks/patches.

[Horrorscope]

 

I've been playing a Cipher and honestly, she's got focus pouring out of her pointy little ears.

 

Focus is not a problem. If you want endless spell casting, roll a Cipher.

 

Recovery time and casting time are the trouble with my Cipher, as while he's standing there in melee for five seconds casting a spell he is not doing any damage but he is getting punched in the face. So even though Focus isn't a scarce commodity, I still find it's best to have him only cast at a couple of junctures in the fight -- usually at the outset and when the guy he's engaged with goes down.

 

 

Reading how it worked that is why I went fast ranged base, zero armor with the Cipher, the whole goal is to keep up focus and attack quickly.

[avoidconfusion]

Can't you have multiple grimoires on a wizard with different spells in each and then swap them in combat?

[View619]

Can't you have multiple grimoires on a wizard with different spells in each and then swap them in combat?

 

Yeah, but there's a cool-down before the new spells can be used. Also, once you prepare spells the ability to swap on the fly may become irrelevant.

[bobthe]

My main issue with wizards is positioning, especially with cone based fire spells while I'm fighting in close quarters.  I've had a lot of situations where I either couldn't get close enough to hit things or I'd have to singe the backs of my tanks!

 

One great strategy to use in situations like this is to move your wizard back a bit farther such that the red area of whatever cone spell you're using ends before your front-liners but the yellow (extended) part goes through your front-liners and hits the enemies. While the red (base) area will affect allies, the yellow (extended) portion will not affect your allies. Very useful trick to allow cone spells to be used when you have a choke point you're guarding.

[Horrorscope]

Can't you have multiple grimoires on a wizard with different spells in each and then swap them in combat?

 

I don't believe so, you can just take spells from their book into yours, for a fee, $100 per level it seems.

[dirigible]

 

Can't you have multiple grimoires on a wizard with different spells in each and then swap them in combat?

 

Yeah, but there's a cool-down before the new spells can be used. Also, once you prepare spells the ability to swap on the fly may become irrelevant.

 

You can swap grimoires in combat to have access to more spells, but in practice it's not that useful.

[Lephys]

^ Yeah, but can't you only store 4 spells per spell-lvl in a single Grimoire? So, even if you take all the spells in the world, without swapping a grimoire, you can only ever cast 4 different spells from a given spell level at a time. Whereas, with a grimoire swap at your disposal, if a couple people unexpectedly drop unconscious in a fight, you can swap from, say, an offensive grimoire, to a defensive/protective grimoire to spend the remainder of your per-rest/per-encounter spell "ammo."

[dirigible]

^ Yeah, but can't you only store 4 spells per spell-lvl in a single Grimoire? So, even if you take all the spells in the world, without swapping a grimoire, you can only ever cast 4 different spells from a given spell level at a time. Whereas, with a grimoire swap at your disposal, if a couple people unexpectedly drop unconscious in a fight, you can swap from, say, an offensive grimoire, to a defensive/protective grimoire to spend the remainder of your per-rest/per-encounter spell "ammo."

Yes, but it'll cost you about 5 seconds of cooldown time. Which I (personally) would rather spend killing the enemies as opposed to casting defensive buffs on the corpses of my friends.

[demeisen]

I'm playing a wizard as my PC (on Hard), and I'm pretty happy with how they work in POE.  I mean I can always nitpick on stuff, sure, but there's a lot more good than bad here.  I like the dynamic that you have to use your "big guns" strategically, rather than spam-cast them in every fight.  When you're diving deeply into a dungeon, it makes you think a bit.  The only thing I'd like better would be if there was a low level of respawns, so you might have to fight your way back out too.

 

I don't feel my wizard lacks for offensive power or CC.  He'll go down in 1 or 2 hits (with robes), sure, but he's supposed to be frail.  In many small fights, he's got the two per-combat mininukes to use, plus the party friendly wand blast, so he does decent, constant damage.  Bigger fights, well, you start busting out the more serious stuff...

 

I like him.  I could wish for some more utility spells, maybe.  I'd like more of a "it's eaten-by-a-Grue dark and you need a light spell" dynamic + a light spell, for instance.  But he's fun to play even as things are now.

[Lephys]

^^ Oh, true. I was only emphasizing the fact that simply copying all the spells you find doesn't really get you much with a single grimoire. The concept of swapping a grimoire provides greater value than just how many spells you know.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Lephys

[View619]

 

 

Can't you have multiple grimoires on a wizard with different spells in each and then swap them in combat?

 

Yeah, but there's a cool-down before the new spells can be used. Also, once you prepare spells the ability to swap on the fly may become irrelevant.

 

You can swap grimoires in combat to have access to more spells, but in practice it's not that useful.

 

 

Just nitpicking, but that's exactly what I said. Carry on

[Voqar]

Was reading the wiki and saw that wizards function like baldur's gate

 

 

Yeah, which means it's like D&D, and which means it's a sensible system where you need to think and use resources.  Couple this with how resting works in this game (an attempt and preventing players from dumping everything they have ever battle then resting for 8 hours between each fight) and overall you have to manage your party's resources a wee bit or spend a ton of time waking too/from town.

 

The opposite IMO is a system like DAI/DA2 where you can basically cast nonstop (they do kind of limit you with a cheesey mana/stam pool that recharges fast during combat) such that you basically spam every ability you have (and you have far fewer and less distinct abilities) off cooldown and there's next to zero tactical thought.