[class build] The witted wizard (wizard build focused on mental stats)

[Ben No.3]

ATTENTION: while a viable build, there are FAR stronger ways to build a wizard. If you are looking to become the strongest spellcaster, sorry It is just not as bad enough to defeat Thaos on Story Mode with a little bit of cheating (one high level damage spell and dozens of scrolls).



"The absence of visible violence allows manipulation to disguise itself as the harmlessness it pretends to be"

-Friedrich Hacker
 

This wizard is a build that should make it possible to be a (somewhat) efficient spellcaster and have very high mental stats (per, Int, Res) at the same time. My problem was, I wanted somewhat high Dex for casting speed as well. This means I had to drop con... And might. This is the reason why I chose a wizard: they have a lot of very powerful crowd control spells and suffer the least from having no might, especially at lower levels their CC spells are craziely overpowered. So, let's take a look:

Wild Orlan (wonderful stat bonuses (on two mentals, and bonus damage doesn't really help us (so we'll care about neither the -1 might nor about not being a Heart Orlan). Orlan also has lots of racial interactions)
Mig 2 (3 base -1 orlan)
Con 3 (3 base)
Dex 18 (14 base +4viettro's formal footwear)
Per 22 (18 base + 2 Orlan +2 helmet of darksee)
Int 22 (18 base +4 Gwyn's Band of union)
Res 25 (17 base +1 Orlan +4 Siegebreaker Gloves +3 Gyrd Haewanes Stenes)

Yes, I know simply switching mig and Res would make him much more potent, but this guy is about roleplay. Don't worry, you'll get very fast extremely precise long lasting disables combined with high dialogue possibilities. It's a power gamer's nightmare, but it's a wonderful roleplay-character.

I won't recommend a culture or background, since this guy is all about roleplay and you go with what you like. Notice however that a bonus on mig or con might not be the best possible option .

I'd recommend putting a lot of points into lore, it's very commonly used in dialogues (you'll also get a bonus from being a wizard and from viettro's formal footwear) and then survival for the same reason.

Talents:
In no particular order
(!) recommended
Blast (!) (makes Gyrd Haewanes much more useful)
Bonus spell (pretending on ring choice) or arcenic veil
WF: Noble
Interrupting blows (!) (the only other way besides Gyrd's dominate we'll do something with that weapon)
Marksman or Bear's Fortitude (becomes (!) if you find yourself in trouble more often)
(another) bonus spell (again pretending on ring choice)

Spells:
Lvl 1:
slicken (very powerful)
Eldrich aim
Fleet Feet (early on an excellent panic button)
Chillfog (the blind debuff is very good and it'll last quite a bit... Can go for spirit shield instead of you want to get up concentration)
Lvl 2:
Bewildering spectacle (this thing is ridiculous this early on!)
Miasma of dull-mindedness
Curse of blackened sight
Fetid caress
Lvl 3:
Expose Vurnablilities
Delirious Accelerity of motion (bread and butter spell)
Arduous delay of motion
Arcane dampener
Lvl4:
Confusion
Maura's writhing tentacles (our only useful damage spell)
Pull of Eora
Minor arcane reflection (with grimoire imprint, we might only steal damage spells, which isn't helpful)
Lvl 5:
Arkemyr's wondrous torment
Call to slumber
Form of the helpless beast (such fun, to cool to pass on)
Ryngrim's enervating terror (if you have a rouge, choose Wall of Force instead... Hobbled triggers Sneak attack and it lasts forever (base 20s!))
Lvl6:
Arcane Reflection
Arkemyr's Capricious hex
Gaze of the adragan
Death ring (destroying is nice and I don't really see an alternative)
Lvl7:
Wall of draining
Lengrath's warding staff (hear me out: the push enchantment makes this our last resort when everything else failed and your the last man standing)
Llengrath's siphoning image
Substantial phantom (it has ADoM, so that's good... Lvl 7 spells aren't that great for CC)
Lvl8:
Llengrath's death haze
Major grimoire imprint
Wall of many colours (blue, indigo and voilett are very useful for us)
Superior elemental bulwark

So, a lot of CC... Ultimately it's the only thing we can do effectively (but obviously we can do THAT pretty effectively). We won't do any damage, but we'll contribute a lot. Mainly we need to justify dropping might for resolve

Spell Mastery:
Lvl 1:
Slicken or Eldrich aim
Lvl 2:
Miasmana or bewildering spectacle
Lvl 3:
DAoM
Lvl 4:
Confusion or pull of Eora

Equipment:
Since we focus on Roleplaying, we'll mainly use stat-pushing items, since dialogue checks work by the numbers.
Feet: viettro's formal footwear (+4 Dex, +2 lore)
Rings: Gwyn's band of union (+4 Int) and either ring of the selonan or telda's ring (choose your bonus spells accordingly)
Head: helmet of darksee (+2 per and an awesome icon)
Neck: Cape of the cheat (with so little health, we need a way of getting out of trouble, thus this cape)
Hands: Siegebreaker's Gloves (+4 Res), early on I'd recommend Fulvano's gloves (+2 Dex)
Armour: Angious Gambeson (DAoM spellbind) or Raiment of wael's eyes (nice synergy with our high Res and arcenic veil), early on I'd recommend Rundl's Finery (+2 int, +2 lore)
Weapon: Gyrd Haewanes Stewes (with blast, it triggers quite a few dominantions. The +3 Res is why I chose it over the golden gaze)

In a party, this character will play exactly as you would expect her to... As a squishy Uber-crowd-controller. Which mind sound awful at first, but the build has its times.  The AoEs are huge, you have especially early on great acc, and your spells roll in quite quickly. I found the character in the end to be an unique one. It is... special Once again: This build is not exactly an ideal wizard. But if you think you would enjoy roleplaying a determined caster, and at least I really did, then this might actually be for you.

 

So... Yeah

 

CREDITS:
THANK YOU for all the input

Link to the artist's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itspuzzlingme/
Be sure to check her out...

Edited October 30, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Loren Tyr]

I'd consider Chill Fog as well. Not going to do much damage obviously but should get some nice Blindness going on for quite a while, and with the high Perception and Interrupting Blows you should get quite a few interrupts each pulse. Scrolls of Tanglefoot are nice for that as well though, I actually have been pondering an oddball interrupter druid layering two or three Tanglefoots for large area interrupting. 

[Ben No.3]

Thanks, has been added

[KDubya]

What does the high Resolve get you besides dialogue?

 

If you pull 8 points from Resolve you'd have a base ten Might and avoid the -24% damage malus.

 

If you then dump Resolve to a 3 (4 with Orlan) you could get a 17 Might for +21% damage bonus. This'd be the basic min maxed Wizard but your damaging spells and wand blasts would be far more damaging and you'd have the same high accuracy and duration.

 

Maybe look at going with another race as well.

 

For roleplaying whatever floats your boat but from a mechanics standpoint I'd change it.

[Ben No.3]

What does the high Resolve get you besides dialogue?

 

If you pull 8 points from Resolve you'd have a base ten Might and avoid the -24% damage malus.

 

If you then dump Resolve to a 3 (4 with Orlan) you could get a 17 Might for +21% damage bonus. This'd be the basic min maxed Wizard but your damaging spells and wand blasts would be far more damaging and you'd have the same high accuracy and duration.

 

Maybe look at going with another race as well.

 

For roleplaying whatever floats your boat but from a mechanics standpoint I'd change it.

Trust me, I know... It's just I wanted to do a spellcaster who can talk a lot. Yes, it isn't as good as it could be. But if your focus rests on Roleplay rather than fighting, he'll do an excellent job (I hope... Really wanna play this guy). For the "actual" wizards, there are a lot of awesome builds around here already

 

High Res gets me nothing, I just wanted to see an spellcasting party-leader

Edited September 19, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

Besides the abysmal fortitude defense it sounds like fun. You are right - a wizard doesn't have to deal damage to be good (in a party). 

 

I would also add take Chillfog because of the Blind affliction.

 

With that much RES you can easily make an "on demand" tanky wizard. Just take Weapon & Shield and Arcane & Hardened Veil and use some of the nice defensive self buffs if you have to. If you then add +40 deflection with Wizard's Double on top you'll be untouchable by foes who target deflection. CON 3 is not such a big problem then. 25 RES gives you +15 deflection. Once you get swarmed you trigger Arcane Veil and Wizard's Double and get +115 deflection. You can then stand there, relax and cast on while the enemies try to hit you. Weapon & Shield can give you additional deflection and reflex. With Little Savior you will have another nice effect: Not only will it raise your defenses by another +5, but it also gives you +50 to all defenses if you catch prone or stun - both target fortitude and that's your weak spot. So as soon as you suffer from prone or stun you switch to that. Add another preservation item and you'll get +100 to all defenses when prone or stun occur.

 

Another option would be Ailia Braccia. If you get targeted by enemy rangers or casters you can switch to that and reflect all the spells/shots with Arcane Veil + Wizard's Double. It's hilarious against Lagufaeth. They will all paralyze themselves. 

Edited September 19, 2016 by Boeroer

[Ben No.3]

Yes, I did think about going melee with this guy. It would indeed make sense with his high defenses. But ultimatly, my frontline is already far to crowded and when not casting, he'll underpreform. I am also to scared of getting hit by raw damage .

But yeah, maybe he could be running around with Aru-Brekr, fast runner, boots of speed and sugar dishing out calls to slumbers onto what is now a group of small innocent pigs... Maybe that way he could solo thaos... On story time, that is

Edited September 19, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Ben No.3]

Although probably not without tons of cheese, if at all

 

Realism...

Edited September 19, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

I only meant this as an option when you get rushed or shot. He should keep the scepter and use it as main weapon - it's too good to not use it. Only switch to "defense mode" when he's getting hit.

[Ben No.3]

But what armour should he use then? However, you have me the idea to use wael-robe... Nice synergy with arcane veil and high Res.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

I also looks kinda cool. Wael and all those mind tricks fit nicely, too. You should add a melee priest of Wael to the party.

[Ben No.3]

I guess until my pc is back, I can play around a bit with theocrafting... But yeah, wael fits this theme quite well

[Ben No.3]

Please do check the artist out, she's a friend of mine and has so much talent

Sry for the shameless promotion , but I promised her to do so if she'd illustrate my build

EDIT

I am happy to Report that this build works exactly the way it was supposed to. Just remind to always keep a priest nearby to help out if you are attacked on fortitude

Edited October 21, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Ben No.3]

As promised, I tried to solo Thaos on Story Mode with this build. And what to say... It worked!! Although I have never before used so many scrolls of maelstorm.... And those tentacles were quite helpful. Few optimisations were:

-Adra Armour (for the looks.. and second chance)

-Harened Veil

-Spelltounge

-Little Saviour (for the Adra Beetle)

-Scrolls of moonwell

-Scrolls of Maelstorm

-freezing rake on lvl 8

 

It was actually surprisingly easy... Story Mode helped a lot. The thing is, on story mode, pull of eora hits all the time... ALL the time. So that made things a lot more simple. Further, I tried to get up mig... So I started with base 2 +3 from dragon meat +4 from skull was a total of astonishing 9 might (resting went into int, which was a mistake in retrospective). With these incredible numbers, freezing rake, moonwell and maelstorm could be used somewhat effectively. Another spell Taft was of great use was Wounderous Torment. It is a great debuff... And of course call to slumber.

 

Special thanks to my lovley fellow, the Adra Beetle

 

Something important: I exclusively solod this fight... even sun in shadow I completed with a party (which I forced to kill each other and then the last durance standing had to commit suicide )... So don't blame me for anything

 

Next time I might go easy

Edited October 30, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Dalnor]

First of All , Look really like a nice build and i think i will try it , i never did an Orlan , but it seems interesting ^^

 

And the idea of all control wizard with no damage but nearly all dialogue option is for me

 

But when i create your character i have more points than you have , without culture i have :

 

Mig 2
Con 3

Dex 15
Per 20
Int 18
Res 19

 

Sorry if i am a necromancer of old post , but i thought it could have some utility to tell that ^^

 

I think it'll be my Orlan , with maybe +1 Resolve via culture