Wizard spells and +crit damage interaction

[dam]

Hey up everyone,

 

 

 

I'm currently running POTD with an Aumaua wizard (for the +2 might, and the prone/stun resist).

 

Wiz focuses on both CC and an array of damaging spells.

 

I'm at the point where I can choose a faction and I'm thinking of going with Doemenel for the +30% crit damage bonus.

I'm unsure, however, if it applies to spells.

Anyone's been able to try that ?

 

 

I'm also pondering if :

- the white march Rogue talent for all classes (+15% damage baby sneak attacks) works with spells ?

- sabres and war axes +50% crit damage enhance spell crits ?

 

 

I'm gonna experiment a bit, but if anyone has already tried and knows, kindly tell.

 

[dam]

Ok the baby sneak attacks do not work with spells.

 

They do however work with Kalakoth's Minor Blights, for the little good that does.

[MasterCipher]

crit mod on weapon, i.e. axe and saber, do not enchance spell crit

 

you can hold a 1h hammer for a passive +1 MIG and shield with +1 movement speed (running) that stacks with other sources

[dukefx]

The Merciless Hand, Dungeon Delver, Rabbit Fur Gloves and Azalin's Helm do work with spells. Weapon properties (the crit dmg property in question, as well as everything else) only apply when the weapon is used to deal damage.

[gkathellar]

The Merciless Hand, Dungeon Delver, Rabbit Fur Gloves and Azalin's Helm do work with spells. Weapon properties (the crit dmg property in question, as well as everything else) only apply when the weapon is used to deal damage.

I'm curious - do they effect the durations of spells on crit?

[dam]

The Merciless Hand specifically states : +0.3 to crit damage multiplier

 

One can only assume they do not.

[dukefx]

Crit duration is a fixed x1.5 multiplier. I don't know of anything that would alter it.

[MasterCipher]

Spiritual gloves (+10%) and Stalker boots also work on spell damage (+10% vs flanked).

Cipher has unique ability phantom foes which is a large aoe that applies flank status without the risk of having to position your melees. Think of it as Cipher bless that stacks with priest bless. 

 

+20% to specific fire/cold talents are particularly good for wizards.

Squeezing in as many +20% damage vs. beast/spirit/wilder/etc. talents is more effective imo than diluting your build with wand or gish 2h talents, no matter how awesome the lvl 5 spear blast spell is.

 

I took the +20% lightning talent to experiment with lightning bolt and chain lightning. I can't get reliable results, but potential for multiple hits reflecting off walls seems interesting and I *think* chain lightning should be able to jump to between the same targets more than once based on my observation that the pally chain heal does and I'm assuming they share the same mechanic.

Edited September 22, 2015 by MasterCipher

[dam]

Spiritual gloves (+10%) and Stalker boots also work on spell damage (+10% vs flanked).

Cipher has unique ability phantom foes which is a large aoe that applies flank status without the risk of having to position your melees. Think of it as Cipher bless that stacks with priest bless. 

 

+20% to specific fire/cold talents are particularly good for wizards.

Squeezing in as many +20% damage vs. beast/spirit/wilder/etc. talents is more effective imo than diluting your build with wand or gish 2h talents, no matter how awesome the lvl 5 spear blast spell is.

 

I took the +20% lightning talent to experiment with lightning bolt and chain lightning. I can't get reliable results, but potential for multiple hits reflecting off walls seems interesting and I *think* chain lightning should be able to jump to between the same targets more than once based on my observation that the pally chain heal does and I'm assuming they share the same mechanic.

 

I think Heart of the Storm is really *really* not worth it.

I'd rather get Rime for +frost damage.

 

Granted there are only 2 frost spells that are really worth it, but god do they dish out the pain.

[hilfazer]

 

Spiritual gloves (+10%) and Stalker boots also work on spell damage (+10% vs flanked).

Cipher has unique ability phantom foes which is a large aoe that applies flank status without the risk of having to position your melees. Think of it as Cipher bless that stacks with priest bless. 

 

+20% to specific fire/cold talents are particularly good for wizards.

Squeezing in as many +20% damage vs. beast/spirit/wilder/etc. talents is more effective imo than diluting your build with wand or gish 2h talents, no matter how awesome the lvl 5 spear blast spell is.

 

I took the +20% lightning talent to experiment with lightning bolt and chain lightning. I can't get reliable results, but potential for multiple hits reflecting off walls seems interesting and I *think* chain lightning should be able to jump to between the same targets more than once based on my observation that the pally chain heal does and I'm assuming they share the same mechanic.

 

I think Heart of the Storm is really *really* not worth it.

I'd rather get Rime for +frost damage.

 

Granted there are only 2 frost spells that are really worth it, but god do they dish out the pain.

 

 

Chill Fog is also nice with it's blind.

[MasterCipher]

lvl 1 chill fog - I used a lot early game

lvl 3 paralyze iceball (discovery only) - makes me wonder why they nerfed cipher's mental binding when this is far superior

lvl 5 torrent of frost, very high damage

lvl 6 40 dam hit per second beam that also inflicts stuck 

 

fire spells I use

lvl 1 fire cone

lvl 2 ray of fire

lvl 3 fireball , until you get iceball

lvl 7 delayed blast fireball

 

lighting spells I'm experimenting with (wish there were more)

lvl 3 crackling bolt

lvl 6 chain lightning

 

I may end dropping heart of storm for another +dam vs specific race talent; I'm hoping I can figure out how to get some good multi hit wall bounces and back and forth jumps

[Ymarsakar]

"lvl 3 paralyze iceball (discovery only) - makes me wonder why they nerfed cipher's mental binding when this is far superior"

 

Mostly because the cipher has infinite focus over time if they keep doing damage, so technically there is a lot of use of that mental paralysis ability. Obsidian likes to balance things with limited usage so people have to make a choice and trade off rather than keep spamming the same thing. Although that goes out the window with level 3 spells for the wizard due to the quadratic wizard thing at max level.

 

The lightning bolt is very useful in tight corridor fights. If you move your character so the wall is at a 90 degree angle, the hit will reflect off the wall, so anyone between wall and you gets hit twice. Also another trick may be to use the spell reflection on you and see if that will reflect the lightning bolt back again on your enemies, allowing you to use your own wizard as a wall. The level 2 rolling ball thing also bounces off walls.

 

Generally when shooting down a corridor, I try to do the zig zag trick so it doesn't come bouncing back at me (killed my party doing that against Bodi in BG2 when in the catacombs, due to accident of angle).

 

There is no top down view or auto angle prediction, so it's a little hard to get right. But even outside I positioned myself so the ogre would be next to a tree and I would just shoot at the ogre, it would bounce off the tree and hit the ogre for 2x hits.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[pi2repsion]

lvl 3 paralyze iceball (discovery only) - makes me wonder why they nerfed cipher's mental binding when this is far superior

This is a bug.

 

I got it as a 4th level spell, and the spell is designed as a 4th level spell, but due to one of the bugs affecting Ninagauth's Black Pages grimoire (five 4th level spells for the four 4th level slots), it will for some people show up to be learned as a 3rd level spell rather than 4th level. This is supposed to be fixed in the 2.02 beta, such that it is level 4 for everybody. (Though I don't know if it is a retroactive fix, changing it from 3 to 4 for those who've got it memorized as 3rd, or not.)