Wizard - implents + blast talents worth it?

[Samugol]

Hi, 

I have been having a blast with the game and one of my favorite characters Aloth has become a permanent member of the group. He always helps with keeping mobs in place (CC) and is able to output impressive amount of damage when I really need something dead fast. 

The thing I am not sure about is 

 

1. Make him more useful during most encounters by taking some of talents that would help with his auto-attack such as (blast, penetrating blast, dangerous        implements)

 

2. Use the talents to boost some of his cool fire/frost/corruption spells. Or add something like a beast slayer, or even take some of the defensive talents (deflection, body control, Bull's will etc.)

 

The thing is he is about level 7 now, and I know that at level 9 you are going to get some per rest spells. I just do not understand how spells per encounter work. If I get one extra spell per encounter, that is nice but definitely not game changing so it makes sense to have some effective auto-attack as backup so I do not have to rest all time.

 

On the other hand, If I get 4 casts of say Chill fog, than I cannot imagine I would auto attack EVER AGAIN :D 

 

So any thoughts about this from people who have some experience would be very welcome.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Samugol

[Boeroer]

If you want to spare spells:

Blast + Penetrating Blast, then use Kalakoth's Minor Blights. As non-summoned weapon for backup you can first use the soulbound scepter, the Engwythan Scepter and later the Golden Gaze. You can also use implements with on-crit effects.

 

The thing is that Blast works will all on-hit and on-crit effects on weapons. This means those effects will happen a lot more often if you hit enemies with the AoE of Blast.

In addition to that, Blast also works with the AoE of Minor Blights, meaning that those AoE hits of the blights will each trigger a seperate Blast. This is powerful and can be further boosted with Combusting Wounds (you'll generate a lot of hits with one shot).

GOlden Gaze is nice because it shoots two projectiles with one attack which both will have a Blast. Expose Vulnerabilites will trigger a lot because of this setup (nearly every second attack).

 

Dangerous Implement is very good for Kalakoth's Minor Blights, but it doesn't work with Blast itself but only with the initial hit on the target you clicked on. Still a nice damage boost.

 

With Minor Blights you get a powerful AoE "cast" that only uses one spell and usually lasts for the whole encounter.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Boeroer

[Braven]

Both blast talents are very solid and the best way to improve his ranged auto attacks. Wizards do well with implements.

 

Originally, casters got all 4 casts in a spell level turned turned to per-encounter and it would eventually make weapons rather obsolete. But that was changed in a balancing patch when The White March was released. Now it is only one per encounter cast and also tied to a specific spell and is now called “Spell Master”. At max level, it will be a total of 4 spell casts, one each from spell level 1-4.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Braven

[MaxQuest]

I have played with a wizard specced into Blast+PenBlast with GoldenGaze / Kalakoth's Minor Blights.

 

It's really solid in the early-mid game. This wizard has potential to compete with the dedicated dps'ers and for instance can surpass damage-oriented barbarian for awhile.

 

But in the late game... naa, this wizard falls behind badly.

Chanter starts to heavily surpass him from lvl 9 (Dragon Trashed).

Barbarian also takes a heavy step forward around those levels, and even more at lvl 11 (HoF).

And damage-oriented cipher will out-double/triple this wizard as well.

 

I just do not understand how spells per encounter work. If I get one extra spell per encounter, that is nice but definitely not game changing so it makes sense to have some effective auto-attack as backup so I do not have to rest all time.

Personally I'd say it actually is game changing.

Being able to start every fight with a mastered Shadowflame followed by mastered Slicken, allows you to rofl-stomp majority of non-boss/bounty fights.

 

Add there mastered DAoM which allows to save on potions, and Combusting Wounds / Bewildering Spectacle and your wizard has achieved top utility for the party.

Edited October 19, 2017 by MaxQuest

[Samugol]

Huh, did not realize that about Kalakoth's minor blights. I thought that it is some sort of spell. It says "ball of energy" in the description. So if it is implemented as an actual WAND that is kind of neat. Also quite cheesy :D if they meant it as a spell and made it into  a wand... and now I just exploit the hell out of it...Might have to think about that one.

 

 

@MaxQuest - I see that it is just as I feared, that it might be cool early, but later on, I do not think I can boost implement damage very much. And I should have plenty of spells to cast that should be a much better option. Also... are you talking about cipher ranged or cipher melee or just cipher using his powers?

 

EDIT: can someone actually tell me how do those per encounter spells work? how many do you get? is it spammable?

Edited October 19, 2017 by Samugol

[Samugol]

Thank you maxQuest Do you get to cast shadowflame and slicken once? or is it 4 times per encounter?

[MaxQuest]

Also... are you talking about cipher ranged or cipher melee or just cipher using his powers?

A cipher that has high MIG and very often uses powers that deal damage in AoE.

Depending on the build it can be melee or ranged.

 

EDIT: can someone actually tell me how do those per encounter spells work? how many do you get? is it spammable?

Let's say you have 4 per-rest usages of rank 1 spells.

When you master a rank-1 spell, you get 1 per-encounter usage of that specific spell, on top of those per-rest usages.

 

So for example you can use Slicken 5 times, and in the next fight, that 1 per-encounter usage will be ready again.

 

Thank you maxQuest Do you get to cast shadowflame and slicken once? or is it 4 times per encounter?

Usually 1, because usually that's enough 

But yes you can cast it 5 times)

Edited October 19, 2017 by MaxQuest

[Samugol]

The people here are so nice and helpful. It always makes me feel fuzzy inside :D Thanks everyone.

[Moneo]

A blasting wizard is a decent approach, because this may make a spellcaster helpful even without tossing spells in every encounter. Thus you can rest not so often while dealing with different mobs.

 

Blast is useful not only because of its on-hit effects from weapons, it also causes interrupts. Since a wizard usually has high Perception, just add "Interrupting Blows" talent, and your blasting wizard will hold a whole bunch of enemies interrupted and doing nothing while you are bringing them down. The best weapon for a blasting wizard is IMO The Golden Gaze. It fires two projectiles, so more hits = more on-hit effects + more chances of interrupts (+more procs of Combusting Wounds, hehe).

 

So, a blasting wizard IMO is not for dealing enormous damage (like a barb with his Carnage), but for tactical stuff in order to impede your enemies and make them more vulnerable for the damage dealt by other party members and different effects (like Combusting Wounds or interrupted foes who can't get out of Chill Fog area etc).

 

In order to increase damage from Blast, take 12 Survival with your wizard (+20% dmg against Flanked), Penetrating Blast talent, boot Glanfathan Stalking Boots (+10% dmg against Flanked) and cast "Phantom Foes" with your cipher upon your enemies in the beginning of the battle. So, Blast will have a bonus +%% dmg from Might, +30% dmg against Flanked targets and also will negate 10 DR, not bad, assuming The Golden Gaze fires twice.

 

Calakoth Minor Blights + Dangerous Implement talent is an exellent choice for dealing damage, but I prefer not to take "Dangerous Implement", 'cause it harms health and makes you rest more often.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Moneo

[Lampros]

The people here are so nice and helpful. It always makes me feel fuzzy inside :D Thanks everyone.

 

I agree. A wonderful, friendly community here. I am sure I will utilize the collective knowledge in the next game as well! (As usual, I probably won't buy immediately but a year or so after release, because RPGs tend to have most "show-stopping" bugs.)

[Lampros]

A blasting wizard is a decent approach, because this may make a spellcaster helpful even without tossing spells in every encounter. Thus you can rest not so often while dealing with different mobs.

 

Blast is useful not only because of its on-hit effects from weapons, it also causes interrupts. Since a wizard usually has high Perception, just add "Interrupting Blows" talent, and your blasting wizard will hold a whole bunch of enemies interrupted and doing nothing while you are bringing them down. The best weapon for a blasting wizard is IMO The Golden Gaze. It fires two projectiles, so more hits = more on-hit effects + more chances of interrupts (+more procs of Combusting Wounds, hehe).

 

So, a blasting wizard IMO is not for dealing enormous damage (like a barb with his Carnage), but for tactical stuff in order to impede your enemies and make them more vulnerable for the damage dealt by other party members and different effects (like Combusting Wounds or interrupted foes who can't get out of Chill Fog area etc).

 

In order to increase damage from Blast, take 12 Survival with your wizard (+20% dmg against Flanked), Penetrating Blast talent, boot Glanfathan Stalking Boots (+10% dmg against Flanked) and cast "Phantom Foes" with your cipher upon your enemies in the beginning of the battle. So, Blast will have a bonus +%% dmg from Might, +30% dmg against Flanked targets and also will negate 10 DR, not bad, assuming The Golden Gaze fires twice.

 

Calakoth Minor Blights + Dangerous Implement talent is an exellent choice for dealing damage, but I prefer not to take "Dangerous Implement", 'cause it harms health and makes you rest more often.

 

I agree Golden Gaze is awesome for a blaster Wizard, and I've used it to good effect in the past. But in my most recent game I had spectacular success with the Rod of Pale Shades. With a Godansthunyr Fighter, a Borresaine ranged Fighter, and a Chanter with a stunning Cladhaliath, I had multiple enemies on perma lock-down every encounter. It was so crazy that I am thinking of duplicating Godansthunyr and giving it to the other front-liner in a future run.

[Boeroer]

Just use We Toki or Starcaller instead.

[Lampros]

Just use We Toki or Starcaller instead.

 

I am so enamored with the two-damage type that war hammers offer though!

[Beanstalk]

Sorry for the necro, I felt this wasn't really worth a new thread:

 

The thing is that Blast works will all on-hit and on-crit effects on weapons. This means those effects will happen a lot more often if you hit enemies with the AoE of Blast.
In addition to that, Blast also works with the AoE of Minor Blights, meaning that those AoE hits of the blights will each trigger a seperate Blast. This is powerful and can be further boosted with Combusting Wounds (you'll generate a lot of hits with one shot).
GOlden Gaze is nice because it shoots two projectiles with one attack which both will have a Blast. Expose Vulnerabilites will trigger a lot because of this setup (nearly every second attack).

Is it possible this got changed somewhere along the line? I just picked up golden Gaze, and across 10 fights were Blast hit 2+ enemies (I'd guess at least 100 hits in total), Expose Vulnerabilities procced exactly once. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Beanstalk

[Boeroer]

Golden Gaze (and some other weapon with on-hit chance) are sometimes buggy. When you equip them for the first time they don't proc at all or not properly.

 

Try to unequip, save, reload and reequip. Or also switch weapon sets between Golden Gaze and something else without hitting pause first.

 

As far as I know the behaviour of Blast didn't change. I still get crit-stuns from Rod of Pale Shades and dominates from the soulbound scepter with Blast.

[Beanstalk]

Golden Gaze (and some other weapon with on-hit chance) are sometimes buggy. When you equip them for the first time they don't proc at all or not properly.

 

Try to unequip, save, reload and reequip. Or also switch weapon sets between Golden Gaze and something else without hitting pause first.

 

As far as I know the behaviour of Blast didn't change. I still get crit-stuns from Rod of Pale Shades and dominates from the soulbound scepter with Blast.

That seems to have done the trick, thanks. What a weird bug.

 

Incidentally, Rod of Pale Shades was what I was using before picking up GG. I'm still kinda torn on which is better...