Seraphim's PVE-TW Wizard Guide

WitchBurner - Sanctuary

One thing I'd add is, edit the guide to make it prettier, it'll look less like a wall o' text. Might even get stickied.

Also as said before, none of the Demon/Sage skills(Not counting spark) magically pop into your inventory, they are rare skills only attainable in the hardest parts of the game.

Kristoph - Lost City

Witchburner - Sanctuary wrote: »

One thing I'd add is, edit the guide to make it prettier, it'll look less like a wall o' text. Might even get stickied.

Also as said before, none of the Demon/Sage skills(Not counting spark) magically pop into your inventory, they are rare skills only attainable in the hardest parts of the game.

Uh, gush/stone rain/pyrogram can be found in the auction house. For about 50-100k. lol.

Forp - Heavens Tear

fbs aren't hard. at all.

Mizorie - Lost City

Forp - Heavens Tear wrote: »

fbs aren't hard. at all.

what?.................

Forp - Heavens Tear

he said the books come from the hardest places in the game. they come mostly from fbs. fbs aren't hard. i've been into all of them, i'm the healer, i know the difficulty of them. it's not hard.

WitchBurner - Sanctuary

I was more talking about cube books and highest level books, I know the primary skills are easy.

Rinnve - Lost City

As most of this guide is good and all, i can't stop myself for fixing some minor errors.

Seraphim - Dreamweaver wrote: »

And any good wizzie will tell you, the low levels from 1 to 70 are a pain no matter what build you go.

That's what, to stop other people from leveling another wiz? lol. I do not consider 1-70 levels as a pain, no more as for other classes. BMs and WBs do suck hard at magick mobs, archers... well, if they know what they do, it's simple. But they don't, most of them. Basically, 1-70 levels are hard to any class newbies, and are easy to any class - if they know what they do.

Next more important.

Seraphim - Dreamweaver wrote: »

PDEF PDEF PDEF first. Some HP gear to increase survivability and you can get considerable HP bonuses on rings.

That's the error. Not a major one, i must admit, 'cause he tells later about hp/vit eq, but pdef first? NO WAY. This MUST be balanced, and hp takes priority in that, not pdef stats. The trouble is, even with high mdef all magical classes can hit hard; all their moves have solid add-on damage, and they do not have auto-attack so they hit only with skills - so, they hit hard. Pdef cares about physical classes, hp cares about all of enemies.

<good advises skipped>

Seraphim - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Demon's Earth barrier adds a phenomenal 150% PDef. The damage is really ramped up on our core skill Sandstorm, and the Crit bonuses help greatly in 1 shotting people.

That's somewhat tricky part. Demon's EB is ungodly, yes, but it takes forever to get it, so it can be considered as non-existent. Crit bonus? +1%? Are you fking joking?

It is very surprising that there were not stated two main reasons (IMO, of course) to go demon.
1. -channeling from demon spark, -25%.
2. -channeling with demon wellspring, -15%.

Channeling is a main trouble wiz have got, and those skills can help very much, especially when stacked with equpment's -channeling.

<good notes skipped>

Forp - Heavens Tear

cube is hard now? maybe for a mage. b:bye

WitchBurner - Sanctuary

anyone with under 1mil I guess b:cry

Ty - Heavens Tear

Mizorie - Lost City wrote: »

Now the other two ultimates are good also a 50% chance to use 1 spark. so in theory 89+ mage has 399 chi, you use 2sparks on sutra and you can cast 2 ultimates spells with that if you are lucky, and at 50% chance that is pretty good.

Having not been able to try this for myself yet as I have the skill book but not the level I doubt you can pull off 2 ultimates in a row without chi pots. It has a chance at costing 1 spark, but I'm pretty sure you'll need 2 sparks before you're able to cast it. And if your theory was correct it would mean only being able to cast Seize then BT still a nice combo on robes but not as good as seize/dragon would be on heavies.

Seraphim - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I agree the +50 Chi skill on Sage is amazing but since the release of Genies, Chi is not a factor for me in TW anymore.

Essence Penetration Lv. 10:

Raise your Chi by 200 over 15 seconds, then drop it by 300 over 15 seconds. Cooldown 60 seconds.

Genie skills are something which hasn't had much discussion on the forums as yet. I'm interested in how much energy this skill costs and what the affinity requirements and how this fits in with other skills such as frenzy and extreme poison. While super-duper aoes are great and all there will come a time a when a blade tempest won't one-shot all the robes in range or Ice dragon all the heavies. Looking at your level and the fact you're in the top 50 list for Dreamweaver you have the level advantage for now, but later as more and more people start getting TT90 with +4 refines and above 1 shotting with an aoe is less and less likely.

What I'm getting at here is for a skill like frenzy which pumps your attack level up by 20 at level 10, (not counting dex modifiers) it has a greater chance to one shot people with better gear than simply having the ability to cast a ultimate every 60 secs.

My TW experience with genies is a little thin as my faction's been unopposed in our last 2 attacks and the week before that my genie was lvl 1 :P. My main use has been in cube rooms 14 and 34 sitting and waiting with 399 chi, with which my current skills of poison and frenzy work very well.

Forp - Heavens Tear wrote: »

cube is hard now? maybe for a mage. b:bye

Cube isn't hard for a wizard in TT90 gear, ~3000 HP is all you need to pass room 47 using pots and morning dew. All the other rooms are passable long before that. And 90+ is the only time I'd recommend doing the cube unless levelling quickly is your aim.

Seraphim - Dreamweaver

800 HP < 5K Pdef. Period. If you want to get 2 shotted by archers be my guest.

Poi Lv. 79 Robe Veno got hit for 8.2k by a Crit/Berserk Drake's Bash (HP Gems)
I got hit by the same Drake's Bash and took 3.7k *Crit/Berserk*. Had I actually refined my gear that would have just ticked my charm.

Lets say a warrior hits you for 5k.
20% damage reduction (HP Shards) = 4k taken.
60% damage reduction (Pdef+Pdef Accessories) = 2k Taken

If you somehow manage to get an additional 2k HP from Accessories/Sharding 4 gear slots let me know.

Seraphim - Dreamweaver

Rinnve - Lost City wrote: »

Crit bonus? +1%? Are you fking joking?

Every time I crit, something gets one shotted. Full Mag crit is closest thing you can get to rigged.

WitchBurner - Sanctuary

Rinnve's a little slow, he's convinced that his Vit build is better than LA for PvP.

Phsyco - Lost City

Witchburner - Sanctuary wrote: »

Rinnve's a little slow, he's convinced that his Vit build is better than LA for PvP.

lol clearly...

Rinnve - Lost City

Seraphim - Dreamweaver wrote: »

800 HP < 5K Pdef. Period.

lol i did not say that it's good to trade ALL your pdef for hp. But look... i'm building my 6X-early7X set. As for now, i replaced headgear and boots, so now i have 1021 def (w/o earth shield) instead of 1157; but hp is 2771 instead of 2496. So, pure physical damage of 1k was reduced to 680 and became 710, but it is 27% of hp vs... wait... 26% of hp. And, obviously, i've became more protected from magical attacks (main reason i did it). So, sometimes it's better to do some calculations rather than mindlessly pump pdef to the sky.

Seraphim - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Every time I crit, something gets one shotted. Full Mag crit is closest thing you can get to rigged.

It's obvious. But +1% is not gonna change something. It's just 1%. If you build up +crit set, it can be important 'cause all these +1% crits add up; but one must choose between +crit and -channeling sets, and channeling is much more important for a wizard.

Kristoph - Lost City

Rinnve - Lost City wrote: »

It's obvious. But +1% is not gonna change something. It's just 1%. If you build up +crit set, it can be important 'cause all these +1% crits add up; but one must choose between +crit and -channeling sets, and channeling is much more important for a wizard.

Uh, no, it isn't. 2% crit does a lot more than 6% channeling. 6% does close to nothing in TW, does nothing for sutra, etc. 2% crit is an extra 2% that you'll kill someone in 1 shot with the right skill, higher chance to bypass someone's hiero, faster killing of catapullers, and so on. Besides, there's only 4 pieces of gear which can give channeling for PvP; rings, weapon and gauntlets. Mdef ornaments are for carebears and idiots.

Seraphim - Dreamweaver

300 HP = 260 PDef. You would lose around 500 SelfBuffed Pdef (800 Fullbuffed) for 300 (400) HP.

Its hard to feed the troll, he consumes meat faster than a Herc.

Rinnve - Lost City

Seraphim - Dreamweaver wrote: »

300 HP = 260 PDef.

This can not be true. 1000 + 260 def is good. 5000 + 260 is meh, just another 0.1% of damage reduce. 1000 + 300 hp is good. 5000 + 300 hp is still good. There is some kind of a limit after that adding def is not as good as adding hp: law of diminishing returns does not work for hp. Hmm... maybe i'll recall some programming skills and make a calculator for that... b:puzzled

Seraphim - Dreamweaver

Rinnve - Lost City wrote: »

There is some kind of a limit after that adding def is not as good as adding hp: law of diminishing returns does not work for hp. Hmm... maybe i'll recall some programming skills and make a calculator for that... b:puzzled

Diminishing returns start at 5k pdef.
Using HP shards means 5.5k HP, 1.6k Pdef
Using Pdef shards means 4.8k HP, 7K pdef
(FullBuffed)
@ Level 90, refined + sharded TT.

_NecroX_ - Dreamweaver

So wait Arcane build is pretty much Pure Magic build right?right??

Seraphim - Dreamweaver

Yup, pure magic users use Arcane Armor because they dont have the stats to wear Light or Heavy (as they didnt put points into DEX)

_NecroX_ - Dreamweaver

so wait... what do I wear in lower lvls???

And the build is 9mg,1str right?'

sorry im new to this game..

_NecroX_ - Dreamweaver

plz reply if u can

what gear and wr can i find it for lower lvl?Like gear with...mag and str required or what?

reply plz =D

Mrbungle - Lost City

you wear arcane and build 9mag 1 str, yes

_NecroX_ - Dreamweaver

And arcane is?All those robes that require more mag to wear instead dex,str.. right??

Sorry i know this is n00by i know ill laugh atthis post one day lol

Seraphim - Dreamweaver

Yes .

oxytorch

_NecroX_ - Dreamweaver wrote: »

And arcane is?All those robes that require more mag to wear instead dex,str.. right??

Sorry i know this is n00by i know ill laugh atthis post one day lol

The Armour will say below its name whether its Heavy, Light or Arcane armour.

Tisa - Dreamweaver

Considering you shard most (or all) of your equipment with Pdef shards, at what level is it advisable to start refining your gear to at least +1 or +2?

High levels are obvious, but what about pre 60 or 70 when you really dont have much life yet? Or is it maybe good to make a combination of Pdef and HP shards in the early levels?

Arron - Dreamweaver

Very nice Seraphim. i remember reading this a while ago.

but I'm a bit confused. you mentioned Zeratul having 200 more Pdef and 1k less Edef. what about his critical hit rate? and have you actually killed him?

I'm still impressed with this. you mention skills to survive, not actual movesets. and to be honest, i have seen these at work.

And with sage or demon, can you provide a link as to where people can decide on what they wish to choose? because some people may disagree with demon and go for sage (and vice versa).

Still. Good job.

Hadeni - Dreamweaver

Thanks for guide Seraphim, loads of useful advice there!!