newbie question

espada02

i just started PWI last night and am rolling a mage tonight.
i've decided to try the 1 str 9 mag rule for stats but what about skills?
is there certain skills i should choose/ is this a 1 v 1 build?
or is it based off what skills i like?
also is there a max # of skills u can max out seeing as the game goes so high lvl?
thx in advance for any help on this subject.

Elahim - Lost City

As a low 40s pure int wiz I can give you some insight into my experiences so far.

I hear in the end you will have enough SP (skill/spirit points) to max out every skill you want but throughout most of the game you will be picking and choosing your skills. Up to lvl 29 you should have enough SP to max every skill however I would not recommend doing so as you get to a spirit crunch a little later on. I've found that the 3 basic spells are indispensible (especially gush, gotta love the -40% movement speed) and should be maxed out as often as your level allows. As for the 3 shield types (fire, water, earth) I am quite cheap so I have chosen to only max out the water shield as it grants an MP regen boost. If you want to consider PvP you MUST max out your earth shield (adds +100% phys res) however I do not believe you should level that immediately as your phys res is going to be low since you are going to be a robe wearer. Your first 2nd level direct damage spell is divine pyrogram and I was very underwhelmed by it and as such have ignored it completely. It has a very long channel time (but very short cast time) for not much more damage. I have heard that when you get higher level there is a skill that removes channel time and the pairing of divine pyrogram and this skill is godly. But I figure I'll level divine pyrogram at that point, not now. Your first fire damage over time (DoT) is junky dont level it at all. The second DoT, the earth one is alright but still not that great. I have it leveled to lvl 3 (I could have it up to 5 by now I think). It's nice to drop the DoT on a boss then cycle your 3 basic spells. The first AOE you get access to (the watery one) is awful dont put any points into it. At lvl 29 you get access to distance shrink (similar to blink from WC3) and should be leveled as often as possible because its a life saver! Wellspring Quaff gives a cheap +15% max mana buff for 15 minutes and is worth grabbing a level in. The second level adds an underwhelming +3% (18% total) so I have opted to ignore it for a while, I believe lvl 5 wellspring quaff is the pre-req for the skill that erases channel time, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. The first AOE thats any good is your fire AOE you get access to at lvl 29. Put a point into it but dont level it right away. It draws lots of monster aggro and you get killed very fast by using it so I've put it on the back burner for now. At lvl 29 you can grab your only healing spell. It has a god-awful long channel/cast time but is rather powerful. Put a few levels into it so outside of battle you can have an mp->hp converter (your mp regen speed is WAY faster than hp). At lvl 39 you pick up the next good direct damage spell, sandstorm. Has a very slightly longer channel/cast time than your basic earth spell in exchange for more damage and a 10 second accuracy debuff. I plan on leveling this one up as one of my regulars. Also at level 39 you get your first non-self buff in frostblade. I grabbed the first level of it and may consider leveling it semi-regularly as I do a lot of questing with my archer gf. It's fairly useful, adds like 100dps to each physical attacker in your party @ lvl 39, figure there will be 3 of those in a dungeon run so you get a relatively free +300dps. At lvl 39 you also get your knockback spell (fire based.. phoenix something). It's a relatively short ranged so don't cast it to early or else you'll be running towards the monster but I think it will end up being more useful than archer's knockback arrow. It knocks back all monsters who are in line with the skill. So if you or someone else is being aggro'd by several monsters you can knock them all back. Could give a short reprieve to a tank to let a cleric catch up with healing or simply to keep melee's from messing with you. I'm curious how much the range will grow with levels but this skill combined with distance shrink should save you a lot of trouble in PvE (knockback disabled in PvP). I'm lvl 42 right now with 50k SP (that's about 1.5 skills worth) saved up but that will be dwindling soon as I have skills to level at 43, 44, and 45.

As for PvP, wiz's are not so good at duels at the level I am. Wiz's are great at killing if they get a jump on the opponent as we have very highly front-loaded DPS. I hear Wiz's are really good at territory war (mass pvp) and get better as they get higher in level, it's a time investment class but will pay off in the end. I would rank wiz slightly on the higher side of normal cost wise. My lvl 20 veno (super cash efficient) alt has 1/3rd the cash my wizard does. My gf's archer on the other hand is perpetually bankrupt.

Well this is quite a lengthy post at this point but I hope it gives you an idea of what you might be thinking like at level 40ish.

/haiku/ - Lost City

Omg o_o I don't mean to offend you but damn, I like to read, but the length of that post scared me. Maybe that's just cause it's 4am. Some shorter answers, lol:

Pure mags can AoE as well as 1v1, but the AoE you will be using (the dragon's breath) needs to be left at level 3 until you're 70+, or you risk drawing aggro onto yourself (from whoever is doing the tanking) and dying. It's also cheaper on your mp to leave it at 3.

The skills you will use primarily for grinding are mainly those starting three. With that build, I would also recommend getting level 1 will of the phoenix asap as well as 1 force of will to make killing easier on yourself. The rest is up to your personal preferences, playing styles / what you like to work with, and whether you're pve or pvp. Check out Haiz's thread here on skills if you'd like to know more about each one.

Wizards have a lot of skills and there's lots of different ways to go before you get to the end where you can max them all.. but the higher you get the less choosy you have to be :d have fun. Oh, and when looking for gear, aim for +pdef/hp.