How should I use Aloth the wizard?

[WCG]

(Note: minor spoilers, maybe, but only if you haven't even been to Gilded Vale yet.)

 

I'm playing a ranged rogue, and I've got two fighters, since I purchased one before I found the one at Gilded Vale. That's OK (though I would have done things differently, if I'd known I would already get a fighter), but I just can't figure out how to use Aloth the wizard effectively.

 

I would love fire- and cold-based attacks for some enemies, but I can't use them without hitting my own characters and/or putting Aloth on the front line, where he doesn't last long at all (reasonably enough). Scepter and rod attacks also seem to hit friendly characters in the way (unlike arrows) - and like his magic missile spell, they do mundane damage, which is also a bit disappointing. (I'm struggling to get past damage resistance.)

 

He does have some debuffs, though it's hard to tell if they're doing us any good. He also has to get close to use them and wait until my fighters have stabilized the front line (if they ever do - those damned shadows!), since they seem to affect friends, and not just enemies. So, most of the time, Aloth seems to have nothing useful to contribute.

 

For the shadows, I used his rolling fire spell to start the fight, then had him run away. That worked OK if I was lucky enough to hit them (and the fire didn't bounce back into us). But then, he was pretty much useless for the rest of the fight, except as a target (since the shadows almost always targetted him, whether he initiated the fight or not).

 

His cold spell works OK against slimes, but he has to be in melee range, which is not such a wise idea for a wizard. For other enemies, once the battle is stabilized, I can sometimes move him around to the other side, so he can use his scepter. But by then, the battle is pretty much over, one way or another.

 

So, what am I missing? How should I use Aloth? I'm only playing on normal difficulty, but the battles are plenty hard enough for me (just about right, I'd say).

 

PS. I'm loving this game. Best Kickstarter investment I ever made!  I normally prefer sandbox games, but so far, the setting and the story in this one has been superb. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

 

[Kaldurenik]

So yeah when you cast a spell you will have a red area and a yellow area. The red area will in general hit everyone, and the yellow area will only hit the enemies. This means that if you step your wizard back far enough so that your melee is not in the red area, the enemies are in the yellow then you will hit with the flame spell. Avoid magic missiles its bad.

 

Overall Ciphers and druids are better however wizards do have some great and useful abilities. One of them is the spell "slicken" simply cast it infront of your melee without them standing inside the red area and watch all the enemies fall all the time.

 

Wizards are mainly for their ability to CC large groups of enemies.

 

Just remember red area = all targets get hit, Yellow = enemies. Not every spell work like this but most of them do.

[IvoryOwl]

I'm in the same position as you.
My main is a cipher, so Alloth is basically rendered useless in my party. The only reason why I keep him its because I'm curious to see how his character progresses (story, dual-personality thing, etc) and the occasional time where some of his spells are actually useful. I'm probably just bad at managing wizards in this game but... his damage sucks, his spells hurt my team more than the enemies, he dies pretty quickly all the time (because of his positioning vs spell usage)... I think I'm going to kick him and add someone more useful, like a pala or another fighter.

I don't really like Kana either...

Edited March 31, 2015 by IvoryOwl

[Elvarein]

A good list of useful spells is: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73696-wizard-spell-guide-spells-you-get-for-free-early-on/

 

Note that slick is hands down the BEST control spell in your arsenal. For some strange reason it works against drakes as well! Slick causes your enemies to go prone. And at the highest levels its still useful (esp when level 1 spells become per encounter) at level 11. 

 

Also look at the utility talents. There are talents that increase a specific elements damage by 20% which helps increase your damage significantly. 

[termokanden]

Aloth starts out a bit helpless, but he gets better. I often use my level 3 and 4 spells with great success. Fan of Flames is also pretty good (excellent with Scion of Flames or whatever it's called), I just needed some practice to recognize the best opportunities to use it.

[Sleazebag]

Against a wa- wait that's dirty.

 

Pick up chill fog and slicken on him, those are probably the best first level wizard spells. Chill fog only affects enemies. Yeah, cold damage AND blind, on an enemy only AOE. It's awesome. Focus on debuffs and crowd control. Pick up AOE damage spells sometimes, but sparingly. Pick up the blast traits so he has a backup attack (though you'll be using that more often than your spells). Always keep him as far away as possible from the fight, though he'll still probably be knocked out if there's a lot of teleporting enemies. 

[termokanden]

That's actually exactly why he works well with a cipher. I can easily protect him with my arsenal of insane debuffs.

 

The confusion spell at level 4 is pretty crazy, by the way. I just had a fight where he took 5 out of 6 enemies out of the fight with it.

 

I have to admit, I didn't think much of wizards at first but I'm starting to come around. No they're probably not as overpowered as ciphers or even as good as druids, but they're still fine.

[ErlKing]

While Cipher wreaking havoc at regular fights Alloth is backup, heavy artillery for tough fight, boss battle or something like that. Cipher can throw stun or mass damage spell, but have to recharge by attacking afterwards while Alloth at later stages can hurl pack of fireballs, place prolonged aoe debuff zones, blind, sicken, confuse and burn every enemy on field without catching a break.

 

 

But yeah, most of time he is just one more fragile crappy gun/bow shooter. Wizards still viable in game, but more useful later.

[WCG]

So yeah when you cast a spell you will have a red area and a yellow area. The red area will in general hit everyone, and the yellow area will only hit the enemies.

 

 

Thank-you. I didn't realize that. (I thought the red area would get the full damage, while the yellow just partial damage.)

 

For the rest of this, Aloth doesn't have chill fog or slicken, and I haven't found new spells anywhere yet, but I'll keep an eye out for them. It's good to know that he gets better later on.

 

 

The only reason why I keep him its because I'm curious to see how his character progresses (story, dual-personality thing, etc)...

 

Yes, me, too. I'm only playing on normal difficulty, and I'm not interested in power-gaming, so I'd like to keep as many of these characters as possible, at least until I learn their stories.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

[Viperswhip]

Debuffer/control, Slumber is one of the best spells in the game.

[bobthe]

A couple things in this thread confused me. First, anyone considering Aloth to be underpowered. I think a lot of people just aren't aware of proper use of the two area ranges for spells. You CAN overlap the extended yellow area over allies without affecting them while still affecting enemies. Only the base red area affects both allies and enemies. I believe this was mentioned above also. This allows for some really great uses of the cone spells from behind your front lines as long as you're back far enough that the red area stops before your front line. Sure, you won't get the enemy's back line, but you'll get all the ones by your front line.

 

Second, I keep seeing references in the forums to the "slick" spell or whatever it's called. I still haven't found this spell. Aloth does not start with it. Are people spending 2nd level new spells gained on 1st level spells just to get access to this spell?

[Mungri]

NChill Fog is a must have friendly fire AoE DOT, plus Slicken for level 1 spells.

 

For level 2 spells make sure you keep fetid caress (CC), miasma (vastly debuffs enemy defenses), and the aoe Blind, plus your choice lf damage spell.

 

I've mostly only played up to level 4 so far as I keep rerolling to try new builds and to perfect my characters, but I believe my current group is perfect for me at last.

 

Slumber sounds great too.

 

If an enemy breaks off from your tank(s), fetid caress it before it reaches your backline and shoot it down.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Mungri

[Mungri]

On normal difficult the in game NPCs are fine. I cant remember what Aloths intelligence is, but might isn't important if you focus him on crowd control and debuffs.

[Hatred]

I actually chose slicken as a leveling spell. There seems to be similar spells in a lot of enemy mage grimoires, I havent seen slicken on an enemy even once.

[Elvarein]

Let me remind all of your that if you really want to get more spells you can create a wizard at the inn and select the spells you want. Then just add them to Aloth.

[Krockus]

Aloth is quite ok.

Of cause, I think that if you do play on normal/easy difficulty, equipped your party for melee and used to fight without pause, then he would give you trouble because you should activly using pause for battles with Aloth (except situations when he is out of reach for enemy fighters).

On a hard difficulty in not simple battles you should use pause anyway so Aloth is quite normal guy there.

First, you should use your melee fighters (especially a tank, Eder can becoime him) to block enemy fighters from going to Aloth by engaging them (keep in mind doorways, they are good to put there one ore two fighters and not to worry for ranged comrades).

Then you should manage the situations when you can not avoid melee engagement fot Aloth. Currently I do have access to 3 levels of spells, and each of them has a spell which would aid Aloth survaivability in melee, and he can use magic protective sphere twice per rest. So you should start casting protective spells on Aloth when you see that he would be engaged soon enough.

Then, Aloth has two weapon slots, while first is occupied with rod, the second should be occupied with one-handed weapon and shield, and when Aloth is engaged you should pause immidiately and switch to weapon-shield set of weapons.

Also if you see that you can not dispatch the guy who attacs Aloth for a reasonable amount of time, then you should look how you can break engagement against Aloth and order him to move behind your ranks. If Aloth got much damage, then to get some time for resquing him you can cast a spell from your priest (it's some sphere, level one or two) which makes a character unavsilable for taking part in melee fighting for some time.

[vistani]

A couple things in this thread confused me. First, anyone considering Aloth to be underpowered. I think a lot of people just aren't aware of proper use of the two area ranges for spells. You CAN overlap the extended yellow area over allies without affecting them while still affecting enemies. Only the base red area affects both allies and enemies. I believe this was mentioned above also. This allows for some really great uses of the cone spells from behind your front lines as long as you're back far enough that the red area stops before your front line. Sure, you won't get the enemy's back line, but you'll get all the ones by your front line.

 

Second, I keep seeing references in the forums to the "slick" spell or whatever it's called. I still haven't found this spell. Aloth does not start with it. Are people spending 2nd level new spells gained on 1st level spells just to get access to this spell?

 

Aloth is underpowered severely because of his low might.  Wizards are amazing but Aloth just isn't so I would suggest either making your own wizard or using IE mod (found in the poe nexus) to change his might.  One might be able to do this with console commands too.  I'm only just now starting to look into how exactly I'm supposed to do this myself so I can't offer much advise but I cannot suffer having 0 companion related story nor innefficiently built chars.  I'm playing on hard and I'm not sure I shouldn't be playing on potd but using vanilla Aloth as my wizard for even normal difficulty is just not acceptable unless all I cared about was his supporty control spells and considered dmg a secondary concern.. I do not.

 

As for slicken, easiest way would be to make a wizard at the inn and pick it then just give the book to aloth and learn it from it.  Would cost a mere 350 gold.. 450 if you want chill fog or something too.

Edited April 1, 2015 by vistani