How powerful exactly is the melee wizard?

[Kingsman]

I've had a good luck at trying to make a melee wizard work. It looks quote doable but what is holding me back is that I kept coming back to the same opinion that a wizard would be much better off on the back lines of combat throwing spells out of melee range.

 

Can you guys give me some feedback on what a melee wizard is like if you have ever played one and your opinion also on my above conclusion I kept coming to.

 

Thanks

[Karkarov]

I've had a good luck at trying to make a melee wizard work. It looks quote doable but what is holding me back is that I kept coming back to the same opinion that a wizard would be much better off on the back lines of combat throwing spells out of melee range.

 

Can you guys give me some feedback on what a melee wizard is like if you have ever played one and your opinion also on my above conclusion I kept coming to.

 

Thanks

Obsidian wanted to make a game with no "trap" builds where if you could imagine it, you could build it, and it could work.  They did that.  That said, just because you can make a melee wizard and that wizard can work and be effective doesn't mean it is "optimal".  So yes, you are correct, a wizard who is made the traditional way is always going to be more effective in general than one made as a melee wizard. 

 

The melee wizard still works though, and this game doesn't require perfect min maxing to beat it, not even on the highest difficulty.  Play what you find fun, not what you find "optimal for beating the game the easiest way possible".

[KDubya]

The melee Wizard does more than just work, it's definitely more spell efficient and probably more damaging than other Wizards (blast wizard with blights would have the advantage) besides being much more enjoyable.

 

For a long period of the early game the most damaging weapon is the summonable Concelhat's Staff. It has very high base damage which gets further multiplied by Might and Two handed style, it has endurance drain to heal you and has reach so you can stand safely behind another. It even lasts long enough to last most battles.

 

Starting with your two per encounter raw damage spell and following up with Concelhats Staff is very spell efficient and will output more damage than any other activity (if you cast every spell you have and rest after every fight this does not apply)

 

At higher level you get Czitzal's Lance which also has a huge base damage, reach and also has an AoE damage component. You can grab Concelhat's Staff as per encounter for normal/trash fights and bring out the big lance for tough fights. Combine these with the martial power spell and you are the most damaging melee guy in the game.  This requires all of one first level spell chosen as per encounter and two spells in the Grimoire, throw in a weapon focus for accuracy and Two Handed Style for another +15% damage and you can still take any other wizard style abilitiy and you still have all the rest of your grimoire to fill up with the super awesome spells that Wizards get.

 

Add in the huge deflection boost from Arcane Veil and you become a Jedi. Add in per encounter Alacrity and you become a Jedi on meth.

 

The melee Wizard also has the benefit of having you closer than 4 meters from the enemy so you can go with something better than the ubiquitous Wood Elf, try a Boreal Dwarf for the accuracy boosts to the two most common enemies or a Pale Elf for the extra elemental DR and style. Even an Orlan can get use out of the extra crits ability as you'll be behind your frontline and can double team for the bonus.                                                                                                

[Elric Galad]

By the way, the optimal weapon setting for wizard is Sword & Board, preferably with a "defensive" weapon. For tough encounter, all you want is slinging spells, so implements or firearms would be unecessary while shield (and style) will give you additional protection.

 

For pure melee purpose, as stated above, Citzal lance is probably optimal and it has reach, so you'll be more a second row than a frontliner anyway. Sneak attack will also help you to get more benefits from high base damage, and you can bring a random reach weapon for trash encounter (this avoids burning your lvl 1 mastery for Concelhaut staff).

 

Finally, I always think "charge !" when my wizard cast Citzal and I see the animation.

 

Anyway, melee spec mainly costs talents. For me, the only necessary talent for wizard are Ice Damages one and maybe interrupting blows (works with spells). All the rest is icing on the cake, speccing for melee does not cost much.

 

I'll consider infuse vital essence for a lvl 2 mastery. No lvl 2 wizard spell is truly superior to all others, and this will serve defensive purpose when casting from distance anyway.

 

Wizard might have the highest tanking potential of all classes due to spell and veil, for limited time. It worths noticing the Royal Court Battlemage on this forum which uses spelltongue to extend veil duration.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Elric Galad

[Loren Tyr]

@Elric: I wouldn't say Sword & Shield is optimal, actually. There are certainly good arguments for it, but I would say the whole point of a melee mage is that he actually wants to do more than just sling spells. He wants to physically hit things! Given that wizards aren't inherently blessed with great skill in that area, he might prefer investment in a more offensive weapon setup (when not using Staff or Lance; something from the Peasant family would be a logical choice, one-handed spear has something rather pleasing about it I think) and more offensive talents. For casting spells you probably wouldn't want to go beyond small shields anyway, since the shield accuracy penalty affects spells as well.

 

In any case, I wholeheartedly second Karkarov's sentiment that you should go with what looks fun to you; there's invariably going to be a way to make it effective. Go with a Wizard in full plate armour if you want... going off the beating path a bit is where you tend to find the most interesting stuff (or deadly, deadly spiders; but mostly interesting stuff).

[Kingsman]

The melee Wizard does more than just work, it's definitely more spell efficient and probably more damaging than other Wizards (blast wizard with blights would have the advantage) besides being much more enjoyable.

 

For a long period of the early game the most damaging weapon is the summonable Concelhat's Staff. It has very high base damage which gets further multiplied by Might and Two handed style, it has endurance drain to heal you and has reach so you can stand safely behind another. It even lasts long enough to last most battles.

 

Starting with your two per encounter raw damage spell and following up with Concelhats Staff is very spell efficient and will output more damage than any other activity (if you cast every spell you have and rest after every fight this does not apply)

 

At higher level you get Czitzal's Lance which also has a huge base damage, reach and also has an AoE damage component. You can grab Concelhat's Staff as per encounter for normal/trash fights and bring out the big lance for tough fights. Combine these with the martial power spell and you are the most damaging melee guy in the game.  This requires all of one first level spell chosen as per encounter and two spells in the Grimoire, throw in a weapon focus for accuracy and Two Handed Style for another +15% damage and you can still take any other wizard style abilitiy and you still have all the rest of your grimoire to fill up with the super awesome spells that Wizards get.

 

Add in the huge deflection boost from Arcane Veil and you become a Jedi. Add in per encounter Alacrity and you become a Jedi on meth.

 

The melee Wizard also has the benefit of having you closer than 4 meters from the enemy so you can go with something better than the ubiquitous Wood Elf, try a Boreal Dwarf for the accuracy boosts to the two most common enemies or a Pale Elf for the extra elemental DR and style. Even an Orlan can get use out of the extra crits ability as you'll be behind your frontline and can double team for the bonus.

 

Hardened veil, citzals spirit lance and alacrity. That's insane. More powerful then a preist with minor avatar and abydons hammer

[Dr <3]

My solo melee wizard have both 2h style and sword & shield style. The shield bonus to deflecion and reflex is fondamental to protect you while chaincast your buffs at the start of the fight. While Battle start i trow in order alacrity, llengrath displaced Image, sometimes vital essence, citazel lance or concelhaut staff, for heavy battles also citazel martial power and veil. Sometimes also a Ice cloud. You wreack havoc every time, and is much more fun than use only spells.

[falchen]

The melee Wizard does more than just work, it's definitely more spell efficient and probably more damaging than other Wizards (blast wizard with blights would have the advantage) besides being much more enjoyable..                                                                                                

 

The real disadvantage in this comes from the fact that you are a wizard, so while you are poking them with a staff for alright damage you could be knocking down, paralizing, blinding or otherwise shutting down whole encounters.

[DreamWayfarer]

 

 

The melee Wizard does more than just work, it's definitely more spell efficient and probably more damaging than other Wizards (blast wizard with blights would have the advantage) besides being much more enjoyable..

The real disadvantage in this comes from the fact that you are a wizard, so while you are poking them with a staff for alright damage you could be knocking down, paralizing, blinding or otherwise shutting down whole encounters.

Except it is a staff of almighty damage, and it lasts very long. So you can cast less spells and still do great damage on encounters that don't need permanent shutting down, and on harder ones wack them with your staff while they are petrified.

[Loren Tyr]

 

The melee Wizard does more than just work, it's definitely more spell efficient and probably more damaging than other Wizards (blast wizard with blights would have the advantage) besides being much more enjoyable..                                                                                                

 

The real disadvantage in this comes from the fact that you are a wizard, so while you are poking them with a staff for alright damage you could be knocking down, paralizing, blinding or otherwise shutting down whole encounters.

 

 

As DreamWayfarer said, the damage is more than alright, and it also heals you. But aside from that, why would it matter what else you could be doing? Even if a Staff Mage isn't the optimal wizard build, it is still a viable build that can be quite effective and fun to play. Given that, the roads not travelled seem fairly irrelevant (especially since you can travel them in another playthrough anyway, or even in the same one by adding a second mage).