A Guide to Wizardry - Mod 13/14 PvE CW Guide

trzebiat

A Guide to Wizardry

PvE Control Wizard Guide - Mod 13 (consoles) / Mod 14 (PC)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vKn2m4p-tDODxBciQxMTFeSnC3mHWJXx5ev8R9N4XGA/edit

silence1x

Nice guide. Thanks for sharing.

c1k4ml3kc3

Situational BiS is the way to go!

Although a relative difference between Razorwood and Chultan Tiger should be made.

theraxin

Nice guide.

A specific mention:

Combat Advantage bonus from 1800 to 2400 gives +0.5% damage, which of course way more clunkier than a simple 0.5% buff, though the stat giveup is negligible if you can utilize the effect. Noting it against Companion influence.

So, AP gain has been not tested by me, but regardless. Companion influence as a stat is total and utter garbage. If you set your off-hand to CI for 400, the 400 -> 500 shift only gives 47 stat in the tester, which I suppose distributes equally between power-crit-arpen, so if you capped the latter 2, means like 16 point of power. In short, this does nothing.

So, where I want to go is IMO Heart of the Blue dragon (or at least lantern/Kessel/Black Ice beholder) should be considered the 3. BiS secondary artifact.

-This is the only artifact that has crit+reco and not in exchange of each other.

-Because how useless companion influence is, you better stack up most of the agressive insignias there to actually gain some (might not be that significant, but still better than nothing) effect, which makes Lantern of revelation/Black ice beholder less of a good option.

-As the insignias on a side effect stack up the AP gain bonus, the AP gain powers of the artifacts will get less and less useful, making CA more and more of an option.

-I just make a wild claim that if the buffed power is high enough, the CA effect in any state can overvalue the 600 power that you would give up for the CA. Which is true above an untested number between 0 and infinite. This less of a serious point because I won't gonna test it out, like ever, but not fully unvalid

Second thing: Missed Major Recovery insignias.

trzebiat

theraxin#5169 said:

So, AP gain has been not tested by me, but regardless. Companion influence as a stat is total and utter garbage. If you set your off-hand to CI for 400, the 400 -> 500 shift only gives 47 stat in the tester, which I suppose distributes equally between power-crit-arpen, so if you capped the latter 2, means like 16 point of power. In short, this does nothing.

Tested Companion Influence in game at 23 CHA on legendary striker companion.

Comp Inf -- base single stat -- total sum (x3) -- Expert/Master striker (x1.2) -- max bondings + leg comp (x2.26)
0 (0%) -- 858 -- 2574 -- 3088.8 -- 6980.688
400 (4.6%) -- 885 -- 2655 -- 3186 -- 7200.36
600 (6.2%) -- 894 -- 2682 -- 3218.4 -- 7273.36
800 (7.4%) -- 901 -- 2703 -- 3243.6 -- 7330.536
1000 (8.1%) -- 905 -- 2715 -- 3258 -- 7363.08
1199 (8.7%) -- 909 -- 2727 -- 3272.4 -- 7395.624
1399 (9.1%) -- 911 -- 2733 -- 3279.6 -- 7411.896

Everything depends how you manage stats, too many Aggression insignias and you'll get too much arpen, and most of the best artifacts also have arpen stat. Shirt, Eyestalk Wrappers and Shadowstalker rings have arpen too and striker companion will also transfer arpen from the base stat through bondings. Also stacking more power on character from e.g. Dominance insignias will give better gain on Camaraderie/Friendship.

theraxin#5169 said:

So, where I want to go is IMO Heart of the Blue dragon (or at least lantern/Kessel/Black Ice beholder) should be considered the 3. BiS secondary artifact.

I was thinking about that, but since it depends on how you distribute stats on enchants, gear and companion, I'd opt more for any artifact with 600 CA bonus as the best 3rd artifact for stats (Lantern, Kessell, Valhalla, Blue Dragon, Beholder) rather than a specific one. But since from boons alone you get 800 CA, off hand can give another 400 for 1200 and any Skill insignias more, you can get 1600 with 4 Barbed Skill insignias without any artifact with CA bonus and e.g. use Eye, GWF Sigil and Key for max stats. Personally I like Lantern in that spot the most because it allows to switch between Valhalla and Blue Dragon in content where less RI is required so you can gain either HP or recovery while keeping the same crit.

theraxin#5169 said:

-Because how useless companion influence is, you better stack up most of the agressive insignias there to actually gain some (might not be that significant, but still better than nothing) effect, which makes Lantern of revelation/Black ice beholder less of a good option.

-As the insignias on a side effect stack up the AP gain bonus, the AP gain powers of the artifacts will get less and less useful, making CA more and more of an option.

Aggression vs Dominance insignias choice is very dependent on the gear used. Replacing all 10 Dominance with Aggression would give 1400 AP gain with reinforcement kits and also 2000 arpen, and with all other gear it can be too much. But for tweaking stats when being short only some %, insignias are the best way to go. Also AP gain loses its value when utilizing spamming Artificer's.

theraxin#5169 said:

Second thing: Missed Major Recovery insignias.

They are mentioned: "Epic Barbed, Illuminated, Enlightened Insignia of Mastery - 200 recovery, 100 control bonus". Or did you mean Recovery reinforcement kits? Recovery vs Power - power will be better because it'll affect Camaraderie/Friendship.

theraxin

trzebiat#2067 said:

Tested Companion Influence in game at 23 CHA on legendary striker companion.

Comp Inf -- base single stat -- total sum (x3) -- Expert/Master striker (x1.2) -- max bondings + leg comp (x2.26)
0 (0%) -- 858 -- 2574 -- 3088.8 -- 6980.688
400 (4.6%) -- 885 -- 2655 -- 3186 -- 7200.36
600 (6.2%) -- 894 -- 2682 -- 3218.4 -- 7273.36
800 (7.4%) -- 901 -- 2703 -- 3243.6 -- 7330.536
1000 (8.1%) -- 905 -- 2715 -- 3258 -- 7363.08
1199 (8.7%) -- 909 -- 2727 -- 3272.4 -- 7395.624
1399 (9.1%) -- 911 -- 2733 -- 3279.6 -- 7411.896

Everything depends how you manage stats, too many Aggression insignias and you'll get too much arpen, and most of the best artifacts also have arpen stat. Shirt, Eyestalk Wrappers and Shadowstalker rings have arpen too and striker companion will also transfer arpen from the base stat through bondings. Also stacking more power on character from e.g. Dominance insignias will give better gain on Camaraderie/Friendship.

Well, of course, if you already capped RI, then Aggression insignias are useless, but with the need of 100% RI in the new mod, it's easy to keep it under. But yes, I missed that it buffs Camaraderie, good point. However the CI statting still unimpressive if you settle 4 insignia into CI and just see how much do you get for more slotted. And I change my opinion on changing off-hand into CI because it's kind of a waste if the dominance insignias will have more utility.

trzebiat#2067 said:

theraxin#5169 said:

So, where I want to go is IMO Heart of the Blue dragon (or at least lantern/Kessel/Black Ice beholder) should be considered the 3. BiS secondary artifact.

I was thinking about that, but since it depends on how you distribute stats on enchants, gear and companion, I'd opt more for any artifact with 600 CA bonus as the best 3rd artifact for stats (Lantern, Kessell, Valhalla, Blue Dragon, Beholder) rather than a specific one. But since from boons alone you get 800 CA, off hand can give another 400 for 1200 and any Skill insignias more, you can get 1600 with 4 Barbed Skill insignias without any artifact with CA bonus and e.g. use Eye, GWF Sigil and Key for max stats. Personally I like Lantern in that spot the most because it allows to switch between Valhalla and Blue Dragon in content where less RI is required so you can gain either HP or recovery while keeping the same crit.

Any of the CA artifacts will be fine imo for the 3.-rd slot, just the Blue heart has that little edge with the crit+reco stat distribution for me. I actually using 2 of them (Blue heart and Black ice) and the recovery is more of an issue at the moment, so the swapping is less prevalent to my character. If you can utilize it's effect, I would count any CA artifact as a "max. stat".

trzebiat#2067 said:

theraxin#5169 said:

-Because how useless companion influence is, you better stack up most of the agressive insignias there to actually gain some (might not be that significant, but still better than nothing) effect, which makes Lantern of revelation/Black ice beholder less of a good option.

-As the insignias on a side effect stack up the AP gain bonus, the AP gain powers of the artifacts will get less and less useful, making CA more and more of an option.

Aggression vs Dominance insignias choice is very dependent on the gear used. Replacing all 10 Dominance with Aggression would give 1400 AP gain with reinforcement kits and also 2000 arpen, and with all other gear it can be too much. But for tweaking stats when being short only some %, insignias are the best way to go. Also AP gain loses its value when utilizing spamming Artificer's.

I don't prefer Artificer, because the unreliability or the "waste" of artifact power to keep up the buff permanently. Though I like how it's an unique option and the different style it can give into play.

trzebiat#2067 said:

theraxin#5169 said:

Second thing: Missed Major Recovery insignias.

They are mentioned: "Epic Barbed, Illuminated, Enlightened Insignia of Mastery - 200 recovery, 100 control bonus". Or did you mean Recovery reinforcement kits? Recovery vs Power - power will be better because it'll affect Camaraderie/Friendship.

Uhm, yes, I meant Major Recovery kits, not insignias. And yes, missed the Camaraderie here as well. However if Arpen and crit is mentioned, Recovery as well. And recovery hard to get stacked up high, so sometimes giving up <224 power can be worthy in the kits. with insignias the Control bonus is really meh.

mebengalsfan

Razorwood should be replacing a Fire Archon if you still use one over the Tamed Raptor.

As for stats, it really is a 3 step process if we stop and think about.

1) Gear: This includes artifacts and companion gear.
2) Insignia: Use these to flush out the important stats like Combat Advantage, Action Points gained.
3) Enchantments:Use this to ensure you get 100% defense ignored, 100% critical chance, 12K+ recovery and finally power

By following this model when you adjust stats you will always be able to obtain maximum stats.

Since gear is constantly changing it also changes the next two and it is why I always look at gear first than my insignia and finally my enchantments.

As mod 13 vs Mod 14 gear, the only piece that is probably worth changing is the head piece. Other than that, the other pices, even at IL 465 are still better, IMO, than what can be bought with the new seals.

The other thing I want to point out, is that we now need more defense ignore and the best way to achieve that is by swapping enchantments as needed or changing the ring on our companion.

That is just my take on the changes to CW, I don't think we have much to change come mod 14 other than increasing our defense ignored.

vorphied

Fire Archon still has a place given that damage dealt in later phases of boss fights often has more weight as mechanics tend to intensify.

A slightly lesser bonus that lasts throughout the entire fight could very well be the mathematically correct choice, but in certain fights, I think the higher conditional bonus of Fire Archon makes more of an impact.

For now I’ve replaced my Siege Master with Razorwood and left Fire Archon alone.

Edit: It also shouldn’t be necessary to use mount insignia for combat advantage or action point gain. Those soft caps are easy to hit with boons, artifacts, and kits. Instead I’d suggest using those slots to fine-tune crit and arp values as you change or upgrade equipment.

gromovnipljesak

vorphied said:

Fire Archon still has a place given that damage dealt in later phases of boss fights often has more weight as mechanics tend to intensify.



A slightly lesser bonus that lasts throughout the entire fight could very well be the mathematically correct choice, but in certain fights, I think the higher conditional bonus of Fire Archon makes more of an impact.



For now I’ve replaced my Siege Master with Razorwood and left Fire Archon alone.



Edit: It also shouldn’t be necessary to use mount insignia for combat advantage or action point gain. Those soft caps are easy to hit with boons, artifacts, and kits. Instead I’d suggest using those slots to fine-tune crit and arp values as you change or upgrade equipment.

With all the bonuses a lot of DPS classes get via feats etc, it's not worth it to save the archon. The 2nd half of the boss fight lasts for a shorter time than the 1st half usually (except in codg where half the damn group gets wiped), and the shorter it lasts, the shorter the duration of the 7% DPS buff. So Fire Archon gives 3.5% on average - if the 1st half of the boss' health lasts exactly as long as the 2nd half. If the uptime is below 50%, then the buff isn't as significant which is why Siege Master is still better.

vincentr6669

Nice guide! Only two nitpicks:

1)Not mentioning Conduit of Ice (if it is or is not affected). I mean, if it is (which i don't think to be the case) then each proc of AoC coming from CoI gets boosted, right?

Eyestalk Wrappers - 14693 HP, 2150 offensive stats, 3% increased damage of ranged powers. BiS on single target. Increases damage of all important ranged powers that are commonly used on single target:
Ice Knife
Disintegrate
Ray of Enfeeblement
Chill Strike
Fanning the Flame
Icy Rays
The only powers not affected are:
Scorching Burst
Storm Pillar DoT
Oppressive Force
Icy Terrain
Steal Time
Smolder
Sudden Storm primary hit and DoT
Arcane Power Field
Arcane Singularity
Ice Storm
Shard of Endless Avalanche
Shield Pulse

2)You didn't talk about Everfrost Glyphs (or whatever the name is from those SKT's campaign glyphs) on the Overload Slots section.

vorphied

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

With all the bonuses a lot of DPS classes get via feats etc, it's not worth it to save the archon. The 2nd half of the boss fight lasts for a shorter time than the 1st half usually (except in codg where half the damn group gets wiped), and the shorter it lasts, the shorter the duration of the 7% DPS buff. So Fire Archon gives 3.5% on average - if the 1st half of the boss' health lasts exactly as long as the 2nd half. If the uptime is below 50%, then the buff isn't as significant which is why Siege Master is still better.

This may be true, but wouldn't it also make sense to suggest that part of why the 2nd half of boss fights tend to be shorter (when all goes well) is because players stack their various buffs? Fire Archon is 8%, not 7%, assuming that the player is also running Air and Earth, which in turn have the values of their respective bonuses increased by an additional .5% from the Fire Archon synergy.

Also, if someone really wants to min/max for bosses, they can forget Siege Master and slot a Batiri.

In the end I think it will depend on your group and the content. If you have a designated boss-killing GF, TR, or HR, your choice of archons is not likely to be significant since these classes can delete some of the highest HP bosses in the game in no time.

theraxin

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

Razorwood should be replacing a Fire Archon if you still use one over the Tamed Raptor.

As for stats, it really is a 3 step process if we stop and think about.

1) Gear: This includes artifacts and companion gear.
2) Insignia: Use these to flush out the important stats like Combat Advantage, Action Points gained.
3) Enchantments:Use this to ensure you get 100% defense ignored, 100% critical chance, 12K+ recovery and finally power

By following this model when you adjust stats you will always be able to obtain maximum stats.

Since gear is constantly changing it also changes the next two and it is why I always look at gear first than my insignia and finally my enchantments.

As mod 13 vs Mod 14 gear, the only piece that is probably worth changing is the head piece. Other than that, the other pices, even at IL 465 are still better, IMO, than what can be bought with the new seals.

The other thing I want to point out, is that we now need more defense ignore and the best way to achieve that is by swapping enchantments as needed or changing the ring on our companion.

That is just my take on the changes to CW, I don't think we have much to change come mod 14 other than increasing our defense ignored.

I suggesting you to look into the hunt gears. Like, for a staple Rag's Hags is BiS for CW and the spare hat seems to worth testing as well. The salvage pack from the campaign store has several noticeable itesm as well, but only the caps are interesting. But I personally hate the Manalord's cap, because the chance of losing crit if you rely on it is so bad, but if not, you lose it's advantage.

iimrmonkeyii

@trzebiat#2067

Fantastic guide! Thank you very much for the hard work. I'm sure the community appreciates it. I know that I do!

mebengalsfan

gromovnipljesak#8234 said:

vorphied said:

Fire Archon still has a place given that damage dealt in later phases of boss fights often has more weight as mechanics tend to intensify.



A slightly lesser bonus that lasts throughout the entire fight could very well be the mathematically correct choice, but in certain fights, I think the higher conditional bonus of Fire Archon makes more of an impact.



For now I’ve replaced my Siege Master with Razorwood and left Fire Archon alone.



Edit: It also shouldn’t be necessary to use mount insignia for combat advantage or action point gain. Those soft caps are easy to hit with boons, artifacts, and kits. Instead I’d suggest using those slots to fine-tune crit and arp values as you change or upgrade equipment.

With all the bonuses a lot of DPS classes get via feats etc, it's not worth it to save the archon. The 2nd half of the boss fight lasts for a shorter time than the 1st half usually (except in codg where half the damn group gets wiped), and the shorter it lasts, the shorter the duration of the 7% DPS buff. So Fire Archon gives 3.5% on average - if the 1st half of the boss' health lasts exactly as long as the 2nd half. If the uptime is below 50%, then the buff isn't as significant which is why Siege Master is still better.

Fire Archon should be removed. The bonus damage from the new companion along with the Tiger, Air, Seige, and Earth archons are way better to be using over the Fire. The Fire is no longer a BiS companion and if you run with a group that all use the Tamed Raptor, than the Earth is replaced with that. We no longer need the archons other than Air.

dairyzeus

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

if you run with a group that all use the Tamed Raptor, than the Earth is replaced with that. We no longer need the archons other than Air.

Disagree

trzebiat

Earth Archon will remain BiS, just like Air Archon. 6.5% and 5.5% more damage. Raptor with full party is only 5%. How 5% and 5% from Air is better than 6.5% and 5.5% from Air?

mebengalsfan

trzebiat#2067 said:

Earth Archon will remain BiS, just like Air Archon. 6.5% and 5.5% more damage. Raptor with full party is only 5%. How 5% and 5% from Air is better than 6.5% and 5.5% from Air?

Are you always at 100% health? No. The 5% from the raptor is a constant 5%. The 6.5 % from the Earth varies and you do not always get that bonus when not at 100% health. If you decide that the Earth is better than replacing the Siege would be worth it if all party members have the raptor otherwise the Alpha Compy would be worth using over the Siege in T9 and CoDG.

BiS for companions changes based on what you run and who you run with, if you are lazy and want to keep to a set list of companions that is fine as well. If you play to max out your character than you need to have a variety of companions ready to swap in and out or loadouts if you want to make it easier when at a camp fire.

dupeks

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

trzebiat#2067 said:

Earth Archon will remain BiS, just like Air Archon. 6.5% and 5.5% more damage. Raptor with full party is only 5%. How 5% and 5% from Air is better than 6.5% and 5.5% from Air?

Are you always at 100% health? No. The 5% from the raptor is a constant 5%. The 6.5 % from the Earth varies and you do not always get that bonus when not at 100% health. If you decide that the Earth is better than replacing the Siege would be worth it if all party members have the raptor otherwise the Alpha Compy would be worth using over the Siege in T9 and CoDG.

BiS for companions changes based on what you run and who you run with, if you are lazy and want to keep to a set list of companions that is fine as well. If you play to max out your character than you need to have a variety of companions ready to swap in and out or loadouts if you want to make it easier when at a camp fire.

I'm definitely lazy, although I appreciate when main dps swaps out accordingly (with armors and hats too, depending on context... lol pioneer hat).

That said, max buff matters pretty much only in bossfights where you have tight grouping and very likely a healer closeby. So earth elemental is definitely a good choice for lazy people, and has the benefit of being BiS provided you have that healer keeping you topped up (many classes can do this incidentally when they shower you with buffs).

vorphied

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

Are you always at 100% health? No.

To be fair, as you've likely observed, players in end-game content are almost always at 100% HP between various forms of temp HP and constant healing. There aren't many fights that continually deplete the entire party's HP to the degree that the Earth Archon's bonus would suffer from any significant lack of uptime.

Under those circumstances there's no benefit to trying for a party-wide stable of raptors considering that the payoff isn't quite as good as what the Earth Archon offers, never mind the modest synergy it has with its fellow Archons. I'm not sure how this makes Earth Archon a choice for lazy people; sounds like a more reasonable choice for...well, just about all kinds of people. It strikes me as less sensible to expect that a mass raptor craze will catch on, because it's not likely to become a real thing considering that it wasn't one already.

mebengalsfan

vorphied said:

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

Are you always at 100% health? No.

To be fair, as you've likely observed, players in end-game content are almost always at 100% HP between various forms of temp HP and constant healing. There aren't many fights that continually deplete the entire party's HP to the degree that the Earth Archon's bonus would suffer from any significant lack of uptime.

Under those circumstances there's no benefit to trying for a party-wide stable of raptors considering that the payoff isn't quite as good as what the Earth Archon offers, never mind the modest synergy it has with its fellow Archons. I'm not sure how this makes Earth Archon a choice for lazy people; sounds like a more reasonable choice for...well, just about all kinds of people. It strikes me as less sensible to expect that a mass raptor craze will catch on, because it's not likely to become a real thing considering that it wasn't one already.

Raptor at minimum should replace the siege master as the bonus it offers the group is greater than the siege master bonus. Like I said, it all depends upon the group. Also, if you run T9 or CoDG replace the Siege Master with the Alpha Comply for the extra 1% damage.