Wizard Questions

[Mocker22]

Hey guys, I have some general questions concerning a wizard designed for CC/dps in a pure caster roll. Help is greatly appreciated.

 

1- Can anyone recommend a good build for talents? Not sure what to take.

 

2- What is the best dmg type/types for wiz nukes(i.e. what talents would I take here for the dps boost)

 

3- Recommended armor and weapon? Most pieces seem fairly obvious but not experienced enough to know what to do here.

 

 

I appreciate the help, I just really don't have the time anymore to test/figure this all out for myself. This helps a lot for maxing out my game time.

[Heijoushin]

Hmmm... I may be wrong here, but talents don't seem too big a deal for a wizard. Besides the elemental stuff, there just isn't anything that directly boosts your magic. (And the spell damage types are spread out so there isn't really a "best" element.)

 

I would say that playing a wizard is more about what spells you use. 

 

There are lots of threads on the best spells, but for example, on level 1, I always use:

Slicken (great for putting the enemy on their backs), Fan of Flames (good AOE damage), Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff (awesome magical melee weapon)

 

For weapons, I recommend anything long range. Wands/Scepters/Guns... take your pick! 

[FlintlockJazz]

If you are planning on using implements (wands/sceptres/rods) I would recommend the mage-specific implement talents, as they are a bit naff without them.  Arcane Veil wasn't worth it at release but has been buffed significantly since then, and is now a good "Oh crap" button.  The elemental talents I don't really bother with since most of the spells I use are not element-based or I use them more for the CC, but you may play it differently. 

[Vorad]

Wizards are a powerful class to begin with and their power comes from their spell arsenal. That being said I think we lay the foundation of how one could pick a path for his wizard. We need to realize wizard's spells are finite(apart from low level ones later on in the game and that will change with next expansion). So as a wizard you have a limited resource to begin with. The question raises on how you are going to manage this resource. Are you willing to spend all of it in 1-2 fights or would you rather prefer to conserve it for a longer period?

 

If you imagine your wizard as blasting through enemies with his most powerful damage spells then you could build that way. Get all the elemental damage talents + spells and for every fight start nuking the opponents with all you've got.

There is also the other option of picking utility spells which allow you to control your environment or opponents, these spells got longer duration so you might only need to cast them 1-2 in the entire fight. Again the choice is yours on what you really like to play and how you envision your wizard.

 

All these being said one need to consider the nature of fights in PoE. Most fights lets face it are just trash minions with barely average stats even in path of the damned difficulty(apart from Act 1). Therefore spending all your arsenal on trash minions in my opinion wouldn't be very effective from a wizards perspective. Another class like ranger, fighter, rogue, monk, barbarian etc can make short work of these pests just by utilizing their simple attacks or per encounter abilities. Furthermore your opponents most of the time although harmless they tend to have a decent amount of hp meaning that you will need to cast multiple fireballs on average to deal with them if you choose the nukers path. Wouldn't it be more productive to debuff them only once and let your other teammates clear the trash? By lategame you got minions with more than 500 hp you will need to spend 4-5 high level aoe nukes on them.

 

Taking under consideration all of these personally I train my wizard in a more generalized fashion so that he can provide support to the team, be able to maintain constant pressure on the opponents and if really necessary able to land some heavy nukes whenever I feel like it.

 

My fully leveled wizard looks like this:

 

Talents with leveling order:

Arcane veil

Blast

Dangerous Implement

Interrupting Blows

Scion of Flame

Secrets of Rime

Bloody Slaughter

 

Stats:

Might 15

Constitution 3

Dexterity 20

Perception 19

Intellect 18

Resolve 3

 

Race: Wood elf

Background: Dreadfire Archipelago

 

The purpose of the build is to be versatile depending on what the current situation is. First of all here we got some sustain damage with Kalakoth's Minor Blights + Blast + Dangerous Implement you might want to cast Deleterious Alacrity of Motion first. With this combo you can clean the floor with most of trash encounters through the game.

If you happen to face some powerful foe then you got enough debuffs in there to apply conditions like blind, weaken, terror, hobble, -DR, -resolve. Usually Chill fog + Miasma is all you need other times a combination of Slumber/Gaze/Slicken might be required.

Taking under account the new changes on immunities there will always be some kind of affliction to which the boss will not be immune to and the wizard got them all.

Last but not least if you can't apply your afflictions/conditions because of immunities then the high perception combined with the talent + wall spells will allow you to keep your enemies interrupted most of the time. You can apply multiple layers of wall spells they all stack and even if the opponent is immune to the damage type he still gets hit so the interrupt kicks in.

 

So the purpose of the above build is to be able and answer to any kind of threat. You could toy around with the talents a little bit since some of the choices are really useful in early game but not so much in lategame. You might wish to retrain at level 14 and change the blast and dangerous implement for the two leftover elemental talents(lightning and corrode). Bear in mind that it's always useful to have some scrolls for backup on my wizard I keep 2-3 scrolls of Maelstorm(if I want some extra direct damage nuke) and 2-3 scrolls of paralysis just in case.

 

Hope this helps and enjoy your game!

[aweigh0101]

step 1: use your mouse to click on Aloth
step 2: use your mouse to click on the spell Slicken

step 3: repeat steps 1 and 2

[jsaving]

There are a few basic questions you want to ask when building your wizard.  First, do you want blights (PoE's equivalent of the minute meteors spell from Baldur's Gate) to be your main attack?  If so, you are treated as firing them from a wand so you want to focus on talents that boost your wand accuracy/damage and secondarily on talents that boost your elemental damage (because blights rotate between elements).  Second, do you want to be an AoE interrupter?  If so, you want to make sure you have high DEX/PER and take the interrupting blows talent.  Finally, do you want to be a front-line melee combatant, and if so, which spells do you want to use as your staples to get there?  (The build Vorad provided earlier in this thread would be a solid blight/interrupter wizard.)

[Mocker22]

Few Questions....

 

Does Blast talent effect Blights?

 

How big of dps boost is Dangerous Implement and does it effect Blights as well.

[Wolken3156]

1- Can anyone recommend a good build for talents? Not sure what to take.

Wizards can really get away with anything for Talents, personal recommendations though:

 

Arcane Veil and Hardened Veil - Gives a crazy high Deflection score, a great move to pop when there's heat on the Wizard or even if you plan on having your Wizard duke it out in melee. I feel this one is always a must have.

Interrupting Blows - Wizards are the best source of interruption, so bonuses to it are nice to have.

Scion of Flame - Wall of Flame is IMO, one of the best Wizard spells in the game. This will help it overcome an enemy's DR. Its also a nice boost to Fireball and Delayed Fireball if you use them.

Secrets of Rime - If its ice elemental, chances are its one of the Wizard's best spells. I feel this one is a must have. Shadowflame, Freezing Pillar and Chill Fog are all amazing, and welcome the damage boost.

Bloody Slaughter - Makes your DoTs really nasty when an enemy reaches low endurance.

Dangerous Implement - This works with Kalakoth's Minor Blights so if you plan on being a ranged Wizard you'll want this. Careful that you don't kill yourself with it though, which is very easy to do with Deleterious Alacrity of Motion.

Two-Handed Style - If you prefer Citzal's Spirit Lance or Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff, you'll probably want this talent instead.

Ghost Hunter - Spirits are annoying and common enough to actually justify taking this talent.

Beast Slayer - Very specialized, but this can help when trying to take down any of the big three dragons.

Weapon Focus - Any will do since summoned weapons are universal. Its nice accuracy boost to them.

 

3- Recommended armor and weapon? Most pieces seem fairly obvious but not experienced enough to know what to do here.

Wands, though your weapon is ultimately irrelevant since you'll probably use a summoned weapon for most serious skirmishes anyway.

 

As for armor, I prefer light armor, but you can really go with anything here. If you prefer sticking to the back lines, Light Armor or just clothing are probably the best choices. If you plan on going into melee, heavy armor is probably more ideal.

 

Few Questions....

 

Does Blast talent effect Blights?

 

How big of dps boost is Dangerous Implement and does it effect Blights as well.

Dangerous Implement boosts damage by 25%.

 

I'm not sure if Blast affects Blights or not, since Blights already come with the effect. I'll need to check >_>

 

EDIT: Blast does work with Minor Blights. Have fun!

Edited November 7, 2015 by Wolken3156

[Vorad]

Few Questions....

 

Does Blast talent effect Blights?

 

How big of dps boost is Dangerous Implement and does it effect Blights as well.

Yes that's exactly the reason why the talent is barely worth taking it will tick out of every single target within the aoe of the Blights so actually blast will tick multiple times within the same aoe area. It's good for cleaning trash minions but when the big DR kicks in then it becomes obsolete and only useful for aoe interrupt but as I said earlier you can keep this combo up for the entire duration of the fight so you don't have to waste many spells(unless you don't mind resting after every 2-3 encounters) also if really necessary you could also drop the -DR/-concentration aoe on the blob of minions.

[Ymarsakar]

A lot of the wizard's damage comes from his weapon spells, not his direct damage spells. Things like citzal's martial lance, the quarterstaff, and the blight wands.

 

For armor, usually it's all naked, light robes or heavy plate mail using attack speed boosts.

 

Generally the more enemies there are and the more enemy cc, the heavier the wizard's armor must be.