Int or dex for magic users

[Dinky Dino]

Which do you guys generally push a little bit more in PotD? I know some just max em both but you can also choose the resting bonus and the +1 bonus to either when you create the character. Just curious if you prefer dex and casting faster spells over casting in a wider aoe and having debuffs and buffs last a bit longer with int.

[Nobear]

No reason not to max both on any caster. If you're playing a traditional back row caster you can safely dump Con even on PoTD, because I've found that, with two tanks, focus firing any enemies who get to your back row is more effective than playing your back row defensively. Ironically, it's also best to max Might for any caster who's anything but a pure CCer, because Might affects all damage including magic. Then I put whatever is left in Resove and Per instead of Con, because those are better defensive stats, but I don't raise either above average. I put slightly more in Resolve than Per, because, if my caster is ever being hit, the most important thing is that s/he not be interrupted.

 

As far as which to prioritize for culture bonus or equipment and buffs as you level, it depends on the caster's role. For Ciphers I prioritize Strength because they hit harder and consequently get more focus for spells. People tend to like Dex best for Priests so they can spam buffs and other spells quickly. For a Wizard focused on CC, I'd probably prioritize Int so his spells hit a larger area. But these fine-tune decisions are based on personal preference and exactly what role you want your casters to play. The important thing is, in character creation, max Str, Int and Dex, but a single point more in one vs another won't make a huge difference.

[Luckmann]

Spellcaster? Int, Int, Int, Int, Int, Int, Int.

 

After that, Str vs. Dex is debatable, but Int vs. anything? Int.

 

Intellect's got two primary caster-centric bonuses condensed into a single attribute, +AoE and +Duration. It's no contest.

 

Casting faster is ultimately of very little value by comparison, since you will almost never be chain-casting spells anyway - but I can see it's use for blasting out fast successions of certain spells.

 

But Intellect is consistently useful.

[Dinky Dino]

As far as which to prioritize for culture bonus or equipment and buffs as you level, it depends on the caster's role. For Ciphers I prioritize Strength because they hit harder and consequently get more focus for spells. People tend to like Dex best for Priests so they can spam buffs and other spells quickly. For a Wizard focused on CC, I'd probably prioritize Int so his spells hit a larger area. But these fine-tune decisions are based on personal preference and exactly what role you want your casters to play. The important thing is, in character creation, max Str, Int and Dex, but a single point more in one vs another won't make a huge difference.

 

Yea I suppose I was wondering whether say more time on inflicting prone or paralysis was more important to you guys that say launching spells 6-9% faster in quick succession which can be very valuable if say a healer needs to heal or buff people quickly or you summon a weapon to get the most hits out of it.

 

 

Spellcaster? Int, Int, Int, Int, Int, Int, Int.

 

After that, Str vs. Dex is debatable, but Int vs. anything? Int.

 

Intellect's got two primary caster-centric bonuses condensed into a single attribute, +AoE and +Duration. It's no contest.

 

Casting faster is ultimately of very little value by comparison, since you will almost never be chain-casting spells anyway - but I can see it's use for blasting out fast successions of certain spells.

 

But Intellect is consistently useful.

 

Yea for say the spells that summon weapons, hitting faster with those things is crazy good or you can have more duration on the summon plus more duration on debuffs. I guess in the end it's down to preference and whether or that that particular battle lasts long because then more time is always good. Or if you use the aoe spells more, int is better because of range and extended duration on it since the ticks aren't affected by dex.

[Nobear]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the wizard's Blast and Minor Blights conjure spells both have range affected by Int as well. Dex will increase DPS more when targets are close, but that's not always the case.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Nobear

[MalVeauX]

Which do you guys generally push a little bit more in PotD? I know some just max em both but you can also choose the resting bonus and the +1 bonus to either when you create the character. Just curious if you prefer dex and casting faster spells over casting in a wider aoe and having debuffs and buffs last a bit longer with int.

 

Heya,

 

I have a few caster builds that I've played and ultimately Intelligence is useful for a few things to magic casters, but it depends on what you're casting. For example, to a Priest or Druid, Intelligence is pretty much required to increase duration of a lot of spells and increase area of effect. The same can be true to a Wizard's spells if they fit those two categories. But if your Wizard, or whatever character, is casting mostly single target attack spells, then Intelligence isn't so much of a benefit to them, and that's where Might is more critical (to me at least) to make the most of those singular attacks. And that's where Dexterity can become very useful to increase speed (especially if you're wearing high recovery armor like plate). Alternatively, you have to look at the defenses they grant. Will is important later in the game I find. But Reflex is super important all the time I find because when you set off a lot of traps, or when spells are slung at you, a lot of them are versus Reflexes.

 

Now, if you're a Wizard who wears plate and tanks and drops spells at the front line (hey, it's actually do-able), you'd want high Dex to simply use your own Reflex saves, and a little Int to increase the AOE area, and of course a ton of Resolve.

 

Very best,

[Clicks]

I've tried swapping them around, and found that Intellect was the most useful for me. I think duration of spells makes a huge difference in a battle - kind of annoyed me when a spell fizzled too early due to a lower than optimal Intellect score.

[Luckmann]

Yea for say the spells that summon weapons, hitting faster with those things is crazy good or you can have more duration on the summon plus more duration on debuffs. I guess in the end it's down to preference and whether or that that particular battle lasts long because then more time is always good. Or if you use the aoe spells more, int is better because of range and extended duration on it since the ticks aren't affected by dex.

Why would you use the weapon summons, though? If we're comparing Attributes, we're obviously comparing them from an optimization standpoint, and from that point of view, you shouldn't be doing anything other than long-to-mid-range DPS.

 

No Wizard should ever get into the thick of it.

 

A better argument for Dex is probably Clothing Wizards (because for some reason Robes does not count as Clothing) built around the Blast Talent and Implements. I loathe to build a character around mere auto-attack, but Wizards can actually do really respectable damage with it.

 

I still say that Int is way, way, way better because it boosts core functionality and the key feature(s) of the Wizard, though. And considering that we've got a limited amount of points to work with, once we've taken Intellect, it's really between Strength Might and Dexterity. And then Strength Might wins because it's better for blasting and spellcasting.

 

9 times out of 10, Dexterity should be considered a tertiary attribute at best. Luckily, Wizards are free to dump Resolve and Perception fairly freely.

[Nobear]

 

Yea for say the spells that summon weapons, hitting faster with those things is crazy good or you can have more duration on the summon plus more duration on debuffs. I guess in the end it's down to preference and whether or that that particular battle lasts long because then more time is always good. Or if you use the aoe spells more, int is better because of range and extended duration on it since the ticks aren't affected by dex.

Why would you use the weapon summons, though? If we're comparing Attributes, we're obviously comparing them from an optimization standpoint, and from that point of view, you shouldn't be doing anything other than long-to-mid-range DPS.

 

No Wizard should ever get into the thick of it.

 

A better argument for Dex is probably Clothing Wizards (because for some reason Robes does not count as Clothing) built around the Blast Talent and Implements. I loathe to build a character around mere auto-attack, but Wizards can actually do really respectable damage with it.

 

I still say that Int is way, way, way better because it boosts core functionality and the key feature(s) of the Wizard, though. And considering that we've got a limited amount of points to work with, once we've taken Intellect, it's really between Strength Might and Dexterity. And then Strength Might wins because it's better for blasting and spellcasting.

 

9 times out of 10, Dexterity should be considered a tertiary attribute at best. Luckily, Wizards are free to dump Resolve and Perception fairly freely.

 

 

I know Aloth's stats make him best for CC, but I have a cipher and priest (repulsing seal) for CC and I'm building Aloth for Minor Blights. Yes it would work better with a custom with higher Might and Dex, but I like the companions for RP, and he still does a ton of damage with Minor Blights. In some fights he still CCs with Slicken, and then does decent damage with Penetrating Blast, and he'll get even better at both auto attacking and Minor Blights the more wand talents he gets. It could be killer on a custom Wizard, but this game is easy enough and I like that banter that the companions do :D.