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Newish player, wizard questions
voodoogroves
Member Posts: 42
So, newish to the game - though not to MMOs and/or D&D. Some questions... current highest level character is a 21 wizard, played mostly through the normal content (in Blackdagger now) with few repeats except for daily skirmish/dungeons.
I can see how the various abilities (power, etc.) seem to stack - but the # on your equipment has some sort of relation to the % increase on your character sheet.
- Do the core scores all stack linearly? If I have power on 3 items, and slot an additional item w/ a runestone are there any hidden diminishing returns? I've not tried slotting, say, Power in a runestoe on an item that also has power.
- Is there a chart somewhere that shows how much X increase in raw power translates to Y % in actual power? Same question for the other non-D&D stats (deflection, defense, etc.)
- Is armor penetration relevant at all for wizards, or just martial classes?
Defenses
- How is AC used?
- I can see how Defense and Deflection work / scale - but as above, is there a chart that shows how much gear # affects actual % reduced.
- I've not prioritized for defenses, but I find that (say) while I may lead in kills or damage dealt I'm also often leading in damage taken as well ;-)
- Is it better to blend Deflection / Defense or pick one and amp it?
Life re(gain)
- Regen and life steal - worth it? I've got some riders providing these on my current gear, but they are secondary effects that I'm not prioritizing for currently - I'm wearing the gear for some other reasons (crit, etc.)
I can see how the various abilities (power, etc.) seem to stack - but the # on your equipment has some sort of relation to the % increase on your character sheet.
- Do the core scores all stack linearly? If I have power on 3 items, and slot an additional item w/ a runestone are there any hidden diminishing returns? I've not tried slotting, say, Power in a runestoe on an item that also has power.
- Is there a chart somewhere that shows how much X increase in raw power translates to Y % in actual power? Same question for the other non-D&D stats (deflection, defense, etc.)
- Is armor penetration relevant at all for wizards, or just martial classes?
Defenses
- How is AC used?
- I can see how Defense and Deflection work / scale - but as above, is there a chart that shows how much gear # affects actual % reduced.
- I've not prioritized for defenses, but I find that (say) while I may lead in kills or damage dealt I'm also often leading in damage taken as well ;-)
- Is it better to blend Deflection / Defense or pick one and amp it?
Life re(gain)
- Regen and life steal - worth it? I've got some riders providing these on my current gear, but they are secondary effects that I'm not prioritizing for currently - I'm wearing the gear for some other reasons (crit, etc.)
Post edited by voodoogroves on
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Comments
1. Power is a flat scale, everything else has diminishing returns.
2. There are charts floating around, but they are not perfect yet.
3. Armor pen is mostly irrelevant as we have skills that reduce the enemy's mitigation, but you can use it if you wish.
4. AC is armor class, it's for your damage resistance.
5. See 2.
6. You're a wizard harry, not a tank.
7. Get as much defense as possible, it's DR. Deflection is a chance to take less damage.
8. Life regen and steal is good, hard to get on gear when you need to prioritize recovery, etc.
4/4 Castle Never legit. 4/4 Shadow Weaver set. 1/2 Ancient Court Magister.
This is one of those things that I'm sure the words I read don't mean what you think is obvious.
I'm very familiar with AC and DR in D&D. That said, there are no rolls to-hit in this game - so AC must add to something else. Is it adding to the % damage reduction as well as defenses? And this applies to all attacks, regardless of source (magic vs martial). It seems like this is what you're saying - your AC and defense both provide an increase to your damage resistance %.
Is AC a bigger portion, much like DEX for deflect-base? You've never seen me play ;-) Enough offense and anyone has to consider what they do when they are taking damage. I play pretty ... aggressive AC and defense provide a flat reduction on damage taken then - converting a 100 point hit to 80.
Deflect is a chance to take no damage? (or 50%? if I read the sheet right?)
This (to me) says that deflect is spike-y and not something you can count on unless you get seriously large % going - while deflect is continual, reliable and predictable. Steal seems to be small amounts - I guess every little bit helps though.
Currently I do not have the link for all the spreadsheets and stuff, but that's the closest one I've gotten for values.Another cleric had more informational values in a youtube vid iirc. But do not take Kripp's word for armor pen. I am unable to actually test how DR works against spells, but I assume that it will reduce all damage, melee/magic. I have never played D&D or NWN so I do not understand martial etc.. And you are correct that deflect is a chance to take 50% reduced damage.
4/4 Castle Never legit. 4/4 Shadow Weaver set. 1/2 Ancient Court Magister.
Now is CW the game's squishiest class? I'm playing one at level 10 & basically have to constantly pot in order to just barely survive
It is intended to be squishy.
4/4 Castle Never legit. 4/4 Shadow Weaver set. 1/2 Ancient Court Magister.
I went with the cleric companion, and I tend to play very forward-offense. I do chug pots still, but I figure that's the price for my playstyle.
I'm by no means an expert (only 21) but have had little problem. I did read a bit of the wiki and a few threads here, but they are mostly relevant to level 60 characters.
You're only squishy if they are still alive or can otherwise hit you.
In practice, they're though as hell due to ability to teleport/dodge 3 times in a row, and having small scale cc's up the <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>.
Grab a healing companion, load icy conduit on tab, entangling force, Chill Strike and Repel on other slots and take the train to murder town.
If i need to drink a potion, it's a sign that something has gone horribly wrong, either i did a double pull, server is lagging like hell (making it impossible to know what is going on, so can't dodge/cc properly) or there is more than one CC immune mob.
Replace Chill Strike or Repel with Shield when available, and the which ever is left with Steal Time asap, and feat for damage.
Icy conduit minions, entangling force the thoughest mob, clean uyp the small fry and start chain cc'ing the big ones while dodging damage, if done right, you can keep on killing non stop with no downtime or health potions spent for a looong time.
This is levelling experience though, still at level 56, so it might change at top level content.
I think Chill Strike in the tab slot for the AoE is crucial; I have had it there almost nonstop. Entangling Force is our best single-target CC and another skill I basically never remove from my bar. Besides that I have switched around different things, but I really like Sudden Storm and Ray of Enfeeblement.
I think the key as a CW in most fights is to start off with an initial stun on the toughest mob, then use AoE's to burn down the trash, then you can focus all your attention back on the tough one. If you have Chill Strike, Entangling Force, and then Ray of Frost (all of which you have by level 6), then you should be able to perma-CC a single mob indefinitely. This means you are almost never getting hit, and thus almost never taking damage. And these are all skills you will get pretty early as a CW.
How do you do it? Start from far away. Chill Strike on the mob, that will stun him in place for a little bit. (And if Chill Strike is your tabbed skill, it will also do AoE damage that will either completely kill or almost kill any trash mobs near the tough one.) While he is temporarily stunned, hit him with your Ray of Frost until he freezes. If you started your attack from far away (and this mob is not one of the ones that can instantly-teleport), you should freeze him before he gets to you. Once he is frozen pop him with a few Magic Missiles until he unfreezes. At that point immediately hit him with Entangling Force, lifting him off the ground. Pop him with either more Magic Missiles or whatever other DPS power you have slotted. By the time he hits the ground again, Chill Strike will be off cooldown, so you can Chill Strike (stun) and Ray of Frost (freeze) him again, etc. By the time he unfreezes, Entangling Force will be off cooldown so you can Entangling Force him. And so on and so on. The mob may get an occasional hit in on you in this fashion, but overall as long as you can keep this cycle going you are pretty effectively locking him down.
Once you get higher in level you can experiment in your own way, lots of CW's have lots of different approaches (some CW's love Icy Terrain, for example; many love Steal Time, which is another AoE CC power you will get much later on), but the basic approach outlined above is possible from virtually the beginning and is very effective when you only have to deal with a single monster.
Essentially, I open w/ either Chill Strike or Entangling Force (on the tough) depending on the group make-up. Chill Strike followed by an Entangling, then a Conduit on the toughie essentially guarantees the trash drops quickly. I hardly ever use an at-will that isn't magic missile, and have found I don't need it.
All this I could figure out easily. I'm still perplexed on the whole 20/20/20 attribute thing I keep seeing people suggest.
Conduit of ice increase damage as it ticks when chill gets added - so the chill from the chill strike will add to it's remaining ticks - assuming you hit the whole group with it - and you should (unless the regulars are archer types).
If you chill strike first - either the frozen target (or his now sprinting at you buddies) might be out of range for the conduit of ice when it hits, depending on who you target. Anyway - that's just how my rotation seemed to work out for bunches of melee mobs. Happy to be persuaded otherwise. In any case - either approach should see you pretty much happy and whole at the end unless you lag balls or you get sloppy and get swamped by nearby mobs (and even then there's always your daily).
I do altar my opening based on what I think the mobs will do - stay ranged, swarm me, just die, etc.