How to build a melee wizard?

[TheMetaphysician]

What are good ways to build a melee wizard, focusing on summoned weapons? Is it better to go single-class or multi-class? Which are the key abilities?

 

How does the melee wizard stack up against other melee classes?

[Boeroer]

Since summoned weapons scale with character level and not Power Level I'd say it's always beneficial to multiclass with a melee class such as Streetfighter, Devoted or Unbroken, Barbarian, Monk, Paladin, Stalker, Soulblade, Skald.

 

Wizard/Fighter and Wizard/Monk felt best for me. But Wizard/Skald was also fun. Especially with Citzal's Spirit Lance + Killers Froze Stiff (lance added via console).

 

Of course we don't know which high level summoned weapons might wait for a single class wizard which a multiclass wizard can't get (like Llengrath's Warding Staff or so).

Edited April 7, 2018 by Boeroer

[TheMetaphysician]

Ok, that basic reasoning makes a lot of sense. I'm glad, since I'm planning on making Aloth a melee wizard, and I really like the idea of multiclassing him with a martial class and thinking of the martial class as expressing the influence of Iselmyr.

 

On that line: what's the best synergies between wizard and fighter, in your view? What do you focus on when you build a wizard/fighter?

[Boeroer]

The wizard has awesome self buffs, I'd concentrate on those besides the summoned weapons. Also Rhyngrym's Repulsive Visage is a great spell for melee wizards. Some illusion spells are great self buffs (Mirrored Image for example), that's a resaon why I would use a vanilla wizard and NOT a Conjurer (looses access to illusions).

 

The fighter has Disciplined Barrage which gets upgraded to Disciplined Strikes. That's a must-have. Another must-have is MobStance/Cleavin Stance. It's very powerful with Spirit Lance. Confident AIm will stack with Disciplnied Strikes for 75% graze-to-hit conversion. I'd also take Two-Handed Style. Mule Kick is very nice with Spirit Lance as well (ALL enemies in the AoE get kicked into the air) - but it competes with Disciplined Strikes for Discipline (fighter resource pool). Armored Graze is also great if you plan to wear thicker armor.

 

Best synergy is Cleaving Stance with Spirit Lance: once you kill an enemy you'll execute an attack to all adjacent enemies. Since Spirit Lance does AoE-attacks and Cleaving Stance cascades, this often leads to a one-shot for whole groups of enemies once you killed your first enemy. Also the massive conversion of grazes to hits and hits to crits works extremely well with the AoE of the Spirit Lance.

[SaruNi]

Since summoned weapons scale with character level and not Power Level I'd say it's always beneficial to multiclass with a melee class such as Streetfighter, Devoted or Unbroken, Barbarian, Monk, Paladin, Stalker, Soulblade, Skald.

 

Wizard/Fighter and Wizard/Monk felt best for me. But Wizard/Skald was also fun. Especially with Citzal's Spirit Lance + Killers Froze Stiff (lance added via console).

 

Of course we don't know which high level summoned weapons might wait for a single class wizard which a multiclass wizard can't get (like Llengrath's Warding Staff or so).

 

Multiclass will be able to get:

 

PL 7 Unlock - Citzal's Martial Power

PL 7 Unlock - Llengrath's Warding Staff

 

... at level 19. 

 

But not: 

 

PL 8 Unlock - Caedebald's Blackbow

PL 9 Unlock - Citzal's Enchanted Armory

 

Could be more....

Edited April 8, 2018 by SaruNi

[Boeroer]

Yeah - we'll have to wait and see it they are worth it. Currently Cleaving Stance and Disciplined Strikes are so good with Spirit Lance that they have to be really, really good to give that up right from the start.

 

That the Blackbow comes so late/is not accessible for multiclass is a shame for every wizard/ranger aka wannabe arcane archer out there. Since it scales now it would have been nice to put it into a lower spell level. I disliked how late it comes in PoE already. When you want to play an arcane archer you have to play with a normal bow for 90% of the game.

I mean Persistence + Alacrity + Martial Power is fun, but obviously inferior to lots of other things you can do as a wizard.

 

Also I always wanted to see what happens when Blackbow meets Driving Flight.

Edited April 8, 2018 by Boeroer

[JerekKruger]

PL 9 Unlock - Citzal's Enchanted Armory

 

If this spell doesn't teleport my Wizard to a small room where he can pick out a full bespoke set of summoned weapons and armour before teleporting back to the battlefield I will be very disappointed!

[Boeroer]

ROFL

 

Dammit - now every other solution they come up with will be bland and boring.

[M4xw0lf]

 

Since summoned weapons scale with character level and not Power Level I'd say it's always beneficial to multiclass with a melee class such as Streetfighter, Devoted or Unbroken, Barbarian, Monk, Paladin, Stalker, Soulblade, Skald.

 

Wizard/Fighter and Wizard/Monk felt best for me. But Wizard/Skald was also fun. Especially with Citzal's Spirit Lance + Killers Froze Stiff (lance added via console).

 

Of course we don't know which high level summoned weapons might wait for a single class wizard which a multiclass wizard can't get (like Llengrath's Warding Staff or so).

 

Multiclass will be able to get:

 

PL 7 Unlock - Citzal's Martial Power

PL 7 Unlock - Llengrath's Warding Staff

 

... at level 19. 

 

But not: 

 

PL 8 Unlock - Caedebald's Blackbow

PL 9 Unlock - Citzal's Enchanted Armory

 

Could be more....

 

I've seen several of these leaked higher PL abilities - is there a central source for all of that?

[JerekKruger]

I've seen several of these leaked higher PL abilities - is there a central source for all of that?

 

They're from here

 

They're old so probably out of date, but they give some idea of what is to come.

[M4xw0lf]

 

I've seen several of these leaked higher PL abilities - is there a central source for all of that?

 

They're from here

 

They're old so probably out of date, but they give some idea of what is to come.

 

Thanks!

 

Ok, I'm diving into rpgcodex now... wish me luck. *dons airtight filth-diving attire*

[JerekKruger]

Ok, I'm diving into rpgcodex now... wish me luck. *dons airtight filth-diving attire*

 

It's all in the spoiler block of the specific post linked, no need to stray any further than that

[KDubya]

I just had a thought about a Devoted Wizard going with staffs until unlocking Citzal's Lance and then re-speccing; in PoE first level selections were locked, only second level and beyond were changeable. Devoted select their one and only weapon at level one so they'll never get an opportunity to select a different one.

 

If that is still true would you want a staff user who can use their summoned weapon for the entirety or go with Pikes and just suffer until you finally unlock Citzal's?

 

Or avoid Devoted and go with a plain fighter or some other melee class?

 

 

 

​​MY BAD - its companions who are locked, you are free to cheeses as much as you want.

Edited April 9, 2018 by KDubya

[JerekKruger]

Wasn't that only true for companions KDubya? I think you could fully respec the watcher (you could certainly change their attributes for example)

[mrmonocle]

A melee wizard or multi is definitely an option with the latest patch. Most self buffs are instantaneous. You can fire of quite a few buffs in a matter of seconds. So yeah.

[malchiorita]

I dont have much knowledge of wizard spells... Would an illusionist/rogue be able to be a melee dps without being too much a glass cannon? Are there enough defensive spells to keep him alive without problems?

 

I was thinking about going illusionist/assassin with a focus on self buffs and dual wielding. Is that doable or nit worthy/too squishy?

[KDubya]

I don't think that any of the wizard subtypes are worth it, I'd rather have a general wizard and have accesses to all the spells, especially as a subclass.

 

If you are looking for an illusion using rogue, the Trickster rogue subclass is pretty good. The illusion spells add a lot of survivability and paired with a Paladin, Cipher, Fighter, Monk, or Barbarian makes a very capable melee with much better survivability than the other Rogue types.

[Boeroer]

I'd also nearly always prefer a normal wizard. Self buffs are all over the place when it comes to wizard schools and you will lose access to some nice self buffs if you choose Conjurer or whatever subclass.

[malchiorita]

Mmm but trickster would lose a lot damage doesnt it? What about assassin/basic wizard? I was looking a bit of spells on the wiki (dunno if it is updated) and looks like they synergize well with assassin (btw does the assassin bonus work on stealth only, or with invisibility aswell?). Lots of deflection bonuses from illusion spells (thst should allow melee in light armor) , more status that triggers sneak attack, plus aoe from spells that should compensate the single target only rogue dps...

 

That doesnt seem bad, at least on paper

[SaruNi]

Mmm but trickster would lose a lot damage doesnt it? What about assassin/basic wizard? I was looking a bit of spells on the wiki (dunno if it is updated) and looks like they synergize well with assassin (btw does the assassin bonus work on stealth only, or with invisibility aswell?). Lots of deflection bonuses from illusion spells (thst should allow melee in light armor) , more status that triggers sneak attack, plus aoe from spells that should compensate the single target only rogue dps...

 

That doesnt seem bad, at least on paper

 

Assassinate works from invisibility, and applies to spells too (though sneak attack etc don't apply to spells). But it only does +50% crit damage now (so, +12.5% damage, not counting increased crit chance and possibility of overpenetration). Also Kalakoth's Minor Blights applies rogue strike abilities in an AoE.

 

Streetfighter gets more weapon damage bonuses. If you're mainly using weapon damage it's probably better. More durable too. (Hoping assassin will get a damage boost before launch, the nerf really seems excessive....)

Edited April 11, 2018 by SaruNi

[malchiorita]

Mmm streetfighter? It doesnt seem appealing to me. Or am i missing something? If you get flanked or bloodied doesnt it mean you are doing something wrong?

[SaruNi]

Mmm streetfighter? It doesnt seem appealing to me. Or am i missing something? If you get flanked or bloodied doesnt it mean you are doing something wrong?

 

Flanked? No. Especially since you can get it using Powder Burns from Blunderbuss (think the devs were giving us a big hint by starting off the mercenary Rogue with blunderbuss). Can also probably get it by letting a berserk (or otherwise confused) cipher cast Phantom Foes.

 

Wizard goes well with abilities that trigger on Blooded because you can drastically boost your defenses after you're Blooded. It's only 1/2 of health. You can hit yourself with your own AoE to get it faster and Deleterious Alacrity reduces health a little too.

[Boeroer]

Wizard/Fighter is pretty good with Spirit Lance + Cleaving Stance. Each Kill will trigger a sort of double-AoE cleave. Like HoF in PoE basically.

[BlueBird0]

Also, I think battlemage could potentially be very fun because I suspect there are probably soulbound melee weapons that give strong bonuses to battlemage's play style, like a staff maybe.

[Yenkaz]

 

PL 9 Unlock - Citzal's Enchanted Armory

If this spell doesn't teleport my Wizard to a small room where he can pick out a full bespoke set of summoned weapons and armour before teleporting back to the battlefield I will be very disappointed!

In picturing a summoned armourie that opens up and hurls dozens of magical weapons on your enemies.