Melee Wizard-Multiclass or Single?

[Thesoulgazer]

Anyone try to make a summoned weapon melee wizard build?  Does it work better as a single class or a multi?  I was thinking Soulblade/Conjurer as an option, I saw a Battlemage post by marc5477 which looked too defensive for my tastes (and doesn't have any weapon summons).  Maybe Sage?

 

For that matter, do you get to keep the buffs from your statstick weapons when you summon another one?

[Tosho]

I would multiclass the summoned weapons are meh.

[Emeus]

Summoned weapons are bad... really bad. You can try though, but many have tried discarded their builds very fast.

[Teacher]

The problem with summoned weapons is that they don't become legendary until your wizard hits the level cap and they don't really have as many tricks as the good weapons you find yourself. Blackbow is the only one I used often for the foe jump+terrify effect but less for damage more for CC.

 

Other than that though you can have a pretty decent multi class weapon wizard. You can cast 10 buffs on yourself in like 3 seconds (pretty much every enchantment buff) and then just wade in using weapons you find. It gets the job done.

[Retro1210]

Started a Paladin/Evoker since Psyblade bored me to tears. Its a lot of fun, the raw firepower of the Evoker meshes well with the rock solid defenses of the paladin. Plus Arcane Knight is a cool name.

[Stasis_Sword]

Assuming you want to be a wizard/melee hybrid:

1). As mentioned summon weapons aren't that great. However if you love them they could work

2). I'd recommend against conjurer because you lose access to illusion which along with enchant has most of the melee buffs.

3). If you wizard/fighter is too defensive I would recommend checking out wizard/monk.

 

If however you want to lay waste to your enemies with meteors and cleanup the stragglers with summoned weapons pure wizard would be the way to go.

[TheMetaphysician]

I have Aloth as a wizard/fighter using a two-hander with cleave stance, and he's a badass. That'll work with Citzal's Lance even better when I get it, but it works pretty well with a couple of two-hander uniques that do aoe damage already like the lance does (I'm using the Whispers of the Endless Paths, but the aoe polleaxe would work too).

 

He doesn't do quite as much damage as my Eder fighter/rogue dual-wielding, but he's much sturdier because of the wizard buffs. Overall, he feels really powerful.

[Grubworm]

wiz // paladin

[marc5477]

Anyone try to make a summoned weapon melee wizard build?  Does it work better as a single class or a multi?  I was thinking Soulblade/Conjurer as an option, I saw a Battlemage post by marc5477 which looked too defensive for my tastes (and doesn't have any weapon summons).  Maybe Sage?

 

For that matter, do you get to keep the buffs from your statstick weapons when you summon another one?

It actually had weapon summons but I focused on defensive stuff because I built it to main tank the gods ;-p The summoned weapons are really just for RPG flavor (same with the 2H) because they are not very good. If you are power gaming, then you obviously go with dual wield and you open each battle differently. You dont want summoned weapons if you want to min/max. They take a while to summon, dont last all battle long, and cost a spell.

 

Anyway here is the DPS version. Pick up the obvious dual wield stuff and subtract 5 int and 5 resolve to max out dex for 30% faster attack. This will reduce deflection by 5 which is manageable.

 

Human Unbroken/Wizard (DPS version)

Might - 19

Constitution - 7

Dexterity - 18

Perception - 18

Intelligence - 10

Resolve - 5

 

Now select the spells that define your play. Instead of all the defensive stuff, pick up DPS related stuff. There are a lot of great spells for either pure DPS or support for melee DPS. The key to debuffing is to know your enemies. In general, you want a variety of debuffs that work against the various defenses; deflection, fortitude, reflex and will power.

 

The general rule of thumb is to identify the enemy weaknesses by watching what they do or looking at what they wear:

 

Casters or Robes = High Will, Low Fort and Med Reflex/Deflection. Target with fort spells.

Ranged or Leather/Padded Armor = High Reflex, Med Fort/Deflection and Low Will. Target with will spells.

Melee or Heavy Armor = High Fort/Deflection, Med Will, Low reflex. Target with reflex spells.

L1 - Minor Missiles (no resists), Chill Fog (frost vs fort, very OP for level 1)

L2 - Merciless Gaze (long lasting 15% crit)

L3 - Expose Vulnerabilities (great AOE debuff vs Will... great against front line attackers)

L4 - Phantom (more dps), Concussive Missiles (against deflection), Wall of Flame (fire vs reflex, great against stationary stuff)

L5 - Piggy (vs Fort... because its fun), Spirit Lance (is actually not bad due to AOE effect), Arkemyrs Tormet (long lasting debuff vs Will)

L6 - Piercing Burst (15 penetration... vs reflex), Arkemyrs Hex (vs Will)

L7 - Martial Power, Substantial Phantom (more dps)

 

Open with those spells and go to town. I would also invest in the Wizard penetration passives and I am not 100% but if the warrior tactical barrage works on wizard power level then that should be high priority.

[CaVeReTieN]

Single Class Wizard Evoker, at lvl 8-ish once you get access to tier 4 spell, there this spell call Lloetta*** concussive missle can destroy 3 enemy in 1 cast, the higher level you are the more OP that spell is, only the dragon and final boss can survive 1 hit of this spell. My first playthrough potd pose no challenge whatsoever, boring story, no combat challenge.

 

If u wanna go Melee Wizard, go Enchanting Wizard + any fighting class (ranger,rogue,fighter,bar,monk), the best buff won't come until very very late

[JerekKruger]

The only summoned weapons that are worth it currently are Citzal's Spirit Lance, Kalakoth's Minor Blights and the Priest Spiritual Weapons. The rest are really bad. Even those three are debatable given how amazing so many of the unique weapons in the game are. Sadly, at the moment, summoned weapon Wizards aren't that good.

That said, if you want to play a melee Wizard then you're in luck. Wizards have plenty of instant cast self buffs that, when multiclassed with a melee class, are great.

[JerekKruger]

L4 - Phantom (more dps)

L7 - Substantial Phantom (more dps)

 

Note that at the moment these spells seem to be bugged. Both only attack with their fists (rather than having a lightning based attack as described) and Substantial Phantom doesn't get the spells described. They're still a (warm?) body you can use to soak damage but they're nowhere near as great as they were in PoE.

[master guardian]

I tried a multi assassin / wizard and it failed spectacularly for the following reasons

 

- don’t try and build a multi class wizard to sling damaging spells and buffs/ or debuffs on enemies. You will never come anywhere close to being as good as a single class wizard at this. Not even in the same ballpark. Like seriously don’t attempt it, all you will accomplish is the severe weakening off a very powerful wizard by multiclassing it for no reason at all.

 

- I was aware of that he above so I attempted to build a assasin / wizard that specialised in buffing himself to increase tankiness, speed and damage per second. This also failed spectacularly for the following reasons:

 

1. Both the level 1 and 2 mirrored image spells either completely disappear after being hit ( the level 1 one) or severely diminish in power after being hit ( the level 2 one) . Both of them are not worth it and arcane veil is the only good defensive spell up to second level and it has a stupid short duration of 12 seconds. IMO also not worth it. There are two really good defensive spells for a wizard one of them is level 3 ( lengraths displaced image) and the level 5 iron skin. The sad thing is I realised that I didn’t need to buff myself for survivabilty because other companions in my party could buff me far better then I could buff myself. For example the cipher in my party was constantly buffing me with pain block and the priest was buffing me with devotions of the faithful.

 

2.the level three haste spell basically does nothing now. All it does is increase Dex by 5 points and you walk in combat faster. This spell would have been a huge help to a multiclassed dps wizard had they left it like it was in POE1. But no it is also currently useless and far from worth using

 

3. As mentioned above by Jerek Kruger the summoned weapons are crap

 

So I realised multiclassing a wizard was a complete waste of time and ended my playthrough because a single class wizard was on another level more powerful. If I could have put up with it until I got citzals martial power then it would have been fun but that would have been right at the end of the game.

[Takkik]

well, monk have far better self buff than wizard. At level 1 a quick + action speed buff that can be upgraded with lightning lash or chance to another attack on critic. + Might & penetration buff, another fire lash upgrade or CON + Armor. And lot of the buff can be recast without limit (only quick buff is on mortification).

I don't understand why the wizard level 3 speed buff don't get some action speed since it drain your life!

 

I haven't progressed much in the game because of the bugs, but I think if you need some spells, isn't just better to stock the potions/scrolls to give some multiclassing favor to your build? Your quick slots work like class free abilities.

 

I like to play hybrid builds, but I think they should have developped the subclasses or introdruce hybrid classes. The actual multiclassing is more about 'abusing' / min-maxing class features.

[Thesoulgazer]

 

Anyone try to make a summoned weapon melee wizard build?  Does it work better as a single class or a multi?  I was thinking Soulblade/Conjurer as an option, I saw a Battlemage post by marc5477 which looked too defensive for my tastes (and doesn't have any weapon summons).  Maybe Sage?

 

For that matter, do you get to keep the buffs from your statstick weapons when you summon another one?

It actually had weapon summons but I focused on defensive stuff because I built it to main tank the gods ;-p The summoned weapons are really just for RPG flavor (same with the 2H) because they are not very good. If you are power gaming, then you obviously go with dual wield and you open each battle differently. You dont want summoned weapons if you want to min/max. They take a while to summon, dont last all battle long, and cost a spell.

 

Anyway here is the DPS version. Pick up the obvious dual wield stuff and subtract 5 int and 5 resolve to max out dex for 30% faster attack. This will reduce deflection by 5 which is manageable.

 

Human Unbroken/Wizard (DPS version)

Might - 19

Constitution - 7

Dexterity - 18

Perception - 18

Intelligence - 10

Resolve - 5

 

Now select the spells that define your play. Instead of all the defensive stuff, pick up DPS related stuff. There are a lot of great spells for either pure DPS or support for melee DPS. The key to debuffing is to know your enemies. In general, you want a variety of debuffs that work against the various defenses; deflection, fortitude, reflex and will power.

 

The general rule of thumb is to identify the enemy weaknesses by watching what they do or looking at what they wear:

 

Casters or Robes = High Will, Low Fort and Med Reflex/Deflection. Target with fort spells.

Ranged or Leather/Padded Armor = High Reflex, Med Fort/Deflection and Low Will. Target with will spells.

Melee or Heavy Armor = High Fort/Deflection, Med Will, Low reflex. Target with reflex spells.

L1 - Minor Missiles (no resists), Chill Fog (frost vs fort, very OP for level 1)

L2 - Merciless Gaze (long lasting 15% crit)

L3 - Expose Vulnerabilities (great AOE debuff vs Will... great against front line attackers)

L4 - Phantom (more dps), Concussive Missiles (against deflection), Wall of Flame (fire vs reflex, great against stationary stuff)

L5 - Piggy (vs Fort... because its fun), Spirit Lance (is actually not bad due to AOE effect), Arkemyrs Tormet (long lasting debuff vs Will)

L6 - Piercing Burst (15 penetration... vs reflex), Arkemyrs Hex (vs Will)

L7 - Martial Power, Substantial Phantom (more dps)

 

Open with those spells and go to town. I would also invest in the Wizard penetration passives and I am not 100% but if the warrior tactical barrage works on wizard power level then that should be high priority.

 

 

Do you know if your normal weapon stats persist when you summon a weapon?

 

Single Class Wizard Evoker, at lvl 8-ish once you get access to tier 4 spell, there this spell call Lloetta*** concussive missle can destroy 3 enemy in 1 cast, the higher level you are the more OP that spell is, only the dragon and final boss can survive 1 hit of this spell. My first playthrough potd pose no challenge whatsoever, boring story, no combat challenge.

 

If u wanna go Melee Wizard, go Enchanting Wizard + any fighting class (ranger,rogue,fighter,bar,monk), the best buff won't come until very very late

 

I've already done that.  I decided to do something different once empowered doublecast spells started ending fights in seconds. 

[marc5477]

 

 

Anyone try to make a summoned weapon melee wizard build?  Does it work better as a single class or a multi?  I was thinking Soulblade/Conjurer as an option, I saw a Battlemage post by marc5477 which looked too defensive for my tastes (and doesn't have any weapon summons).  Maybe Sage?

 

For that matter, do you get to keep the buffs from your statstick weapons when you summon another one?

It actually had weapon summons but I focused on defensive stuff because I built it to main tank the gods ;-p The summoned weapons are really just for RPG flavor (same with the 2H) because they are not very good. If you are power gaming, then you obviously go with dual wield and you open each battle differently. You dont want summoned weapons if you want to min/max. They take a while to summon, dont last all battle long, and cost a spell.

 

Anyway here is the DPS version. Pick up the obvious dual wield stuff and subtract 5 int and 5 resolve to max out dex for 30% faster attack. This will reduce deflection by 5 which is manageable.

 

Human Unbroken/Wizard (DPS version)

Might - 19

Constitution - 7

Dexterity - 18

Perception - 18

Intelligence - 10

Resolve - 5

 

Now select the spells that define your play. Instead of all the defensive stuff, pick up DPS related stuff. There are a lot of great spells for either pure DPS or support for melee DPS. The key to debuffing is to know your enemies. In general, you want a variety of debuffs that work against the various defenses; deflection, fortitude, reflex and will power.

 

The general rule of thumb is to identify the enemy weaknesses by watching what they do or looking at what they wear:

 

Casters or Robes = High Will, Low Fort and Med Reflex/Deflection. Target with fort spells.

Ranged or Leather/Padded Armor = High Reflex, Med Fort/Deflection and Low Will. Target with will spells.

Melee or Heavy Armor = High Fort/Deflection, Med Will, Low reflex. Target with reflex spells.

L1 - Minor Missiles (no resists), Chill Fog (frost vs fort, very OP for level 1)

L2 - Merciless Gaze (long lasting 15% crit)

L3 - Expose Vulnerabilities (great AOE debuff vs Will... great against front line attackers)

L4 - Phantom (more dps), Concussive Missiles (against deflection), Wall of Flame (fire vs reflex, great against stationary stuff)

L5 - Piggy (vs Fort... because its fun), Spirit Lance (is actually not bad due to AOE effect), Arkemyrs Tormet (long lasting debuff vs Will)

L6 - Piercing Burst (15 penetration... vs reflex), Arkemyrs Hex (vs Will)

L7 - Martial Power, Substantial Phantom (more dps)

 

Open with those spells and go to town. I would also invest in the Wizard penetration passives and I am not 100% but if the warrior tactical barrage works on wizard power level then that should be high priority.

 

 

Do you know if your normal weapon stats persist when you summon a weapon?

 

The summoned weapon replaces your current weapon for the duration of the spell.

 

As others have stated, summoned stuff is not for power gamers. But the game is not hard enough for power gamers anyway even on PotD so I say, play how you want. My personal favorite is the spirit lance summon because it has innate 20% speed buff and is an AOE weapon which opens up some interesting combos like Lance + Merciless Gaze. It is a good weapon and can be power gamey... for example:

 

If you want to be cheesy (and insanely OP) go with Wizard/Monk and take all the on-crit monk passives. Then use lance+gaze combo for all the monk crit goodies but I need to be honest, it is game breaking. Its not as bad as the blunderbuss nonsense, but its still pretty bad.

[marc5477]

- I was aware of that he above so I attempted to build a assasin / wizard that specialised in buffing himself to increase tankiness, speed and damage per second. This also failed spectacularly for the following reasons:

 

1. Both the level 1 and 2 mirrored image spells either completely disappear after being hit ( the level 1 one) or severely diminish in power after being hit ( the level 2 one) . Both of them are not worth it and arcane veil is the only good defensive spell up to second level and it has a stupid short duration of 12 seconds. IMO also not worth it. There are two really good defensive spells for a wizard one of them is level 3 ( lengraths displaced image) and the level 5 iron skin. The sad thing is I realised that I didn’t need to buff myself for survivabilty because other companions in my party could buff me far better then I could buff myself. For example the cipher in my party was constantly buffing me with pain block and the priest was buffing me with devotions of the faithful.

 

3. As mentioned above by Jerek Kruger the summoned weapons are crap

 

So I realised multiclassing a wizard was a complete waste of time and ended my playthrough because a single class wizard was on another level more powerful. If I could have put up with it until I got citzals martial power then it would have been fun but that would have been right at the end of the game.

 

I think I know what went wrong for you. Tanking is an (almost) all or nothing skill on PotD. You are either all in, or it will not work so well and that is true of all classes except maybe Paladin with their nutty passives. If you build your toon to tank, then Mirror Image is awesome because it takes you from normal tank to very hard to hit for only a level 2 spell and for a very long time. It works great on my wizard/fighter when I want him to tank but I did build him for tanking. I usually open with mirror image rather than anything else. If it does not do the job, then I move up to L3 buff. Ironskin is actually not good for a tank vs multiple opponents but is awesome for a roaming DPS character who just wants to hit and run.

 

Here are my guideline for tanking in PotD:

 

How much deflection do I need to tank on PotD?

L1 - L5 = Does not matter as long as you dont venture outside the early quest areas.

L6 - L10 = 60-65 minimum (before buffs). That said, I did face several enemies with over 100 accuracy so obviously, more is better.

L11 and up = 90-100 minimum before buffs. Enemy accuracy will climb as high as 130 (maybe even more, didnt check everything).

 

Surprisingly, you dont need tons of armor protection to tank well if your deflection is very high. It obviously helps, but most of the time, you dont need it. So I just use light armor or 35% armor once I get the warrior armor passive. This is one of the reasons why my main tank is keeping up with a DPS pure Wizard Eloth in total damage. He hits pretty darn fast for a tank and along with cleave stance and other goodies, he is respectable DPS.

 

Anyway, at around mid levels (L6-L10), most stuff will have accuracy of between 60 and 80. Which means that the deflection from mirror image would make you very hard to hit since you will have 90-95 deflection. I rarely see mirror image drop before its timer. Just watch your flanks and of course, none of this stops abilities that target other defenses but that is why you bring healers. 

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by marc5477