Wizard Guide

"I disagree. Phoenix has many advantages. For example, it has the fastest cast for dps ratio of all fire spells. You can't knockback in pvp, but it gets out damage fast if people are near you - plus it is aoe, you can hit a bunch of people at once really fast if for some reason you're that close."

I'm not saying it's worthless. I'm saying, to me, it's not worth leveling until later. With the skill points available it's much better to level the other skills. Firewings is too expensive to level early on. Maxing the other spells I mentioned are better, and if you are that close to people I advise using Shifting Earth and running instead of using firewings.

"Also, one of the hardest-hitting mobs after 70 are cavalry mobs - either in the swamp, or south of 1000streams, etc. You'll be seeing a lot of them if you do any quests past that level. They have a long-range aoe attack, as well as a very short-range attack that does incredible damage if each bolt hits. This is one of the mobs where you can effectively neutralize that attack by casting phoenix and pushing them out of range while they're casting that attack to give yourself a few seconds to finish them off before they use their long-range aoe attack. Not everything has the whole 28m range of a full caster. A lot of mobs have short-range attacks that you can neutralize this way."

Archer's knockback does not have a range to it. You hit a mob with it, and it gets repelled. Firewings has a 10m range to it. Most mobs ranged attack is ~15m. I find it rare that you stop a ranged mob from nailing you with this spell. You will start your lead spell, mob will move to you, you fire your second spell, mob begins casting, you start firewings, but instead of repelling them you get a blast to the face as your wizard moves forward a few meters to firewing them.

"If you're in a crowded small area with many people and many many mobs packed close together, phoenix is great just for adding dps since you can hit many mobs at once at very little danger to yourself. It's also useful for those times when you disrupt zhen for whatever reason and need something that gives the group a little extra time with those 30 mobs that the lurer just pulled."

Very little danger? Firewinging a group of mobs without being well agroed by a tank is a good way for dying. Much more advisable to assist the tank with single-target spells then suicide with firewings.

"Finally, once a wizard has all his skills, phoenix makes it so you'll never be hit by a physical mob. You have enough spells to effectively defeat any normal physical mob before it gets off a hit (slow effects, phoenix, blast point, etc.). This isn't really possible to do consistently without phoenix in your spell rotation even if you're pure int and have a +10 gold weapon. There ARE pure melee mobs in later levels."

Level 1 Firewings is sufficient to never be hit by a physical mob, you do not need to level it.

"The idea of a skill build only matters at low-mid level, since by a moderately high level you'll have every skill maxed anyway. It is exactly at those low-mid levels where phoenix is most useful."

And it's exactly where you will be cramped for skill points. Level 1 Firewings will be fine there. Leveling up Brand of Fire, Surging Spring, Stone Rain, Armor of Ice, Brand of Godly Flame, Hail of Doom, and Fire and Water Mastery I find to be much more important.

I hear you out, and I respect your opinion. Everyone has their own playstyle. Some enjoy firewings. I personally don't. I leveled mine to level 5 and I feel like it was a complete waste.

taelrak wrote: »

The 2 ranges increase with higher levels, which makes it much more useful. Plus the extra damage is nice too.

Ok, this is what I thought as well. The pw-my skill database (http://perso.numericable.fr/ecatomb/pw/skillmy.html) shows an increase in casting distance of it, and that is the only reason I leveled it, thinking I could level it higher and it could knock them back from further away. However, by level 5 it still was not enough. The pw-int skill database (http://perso.numericable.fr/ecatomb/pw/skillpwi.html) shows a static 10m range to it, which goes along more with my experience of it. From level 1 to 5 I still had to run the same distance up to a ranged mob to try and repel it. I'm not sure which is correct, but I'm sure by level 5 it still is not sufficient to meet my needs, which is repelling them before a ranged mob starts its casting, after I have lead with 2 spells(running up to a mob after your lead spell just to repel it seems kind of counterproductive).

I will agree with you on Armor of Ice, that it's not totally necessary. It helps a good bit on mana regen to save gold, but if you have plenty of gold then that wont be a problem, and you can max Armor of Earth sooner for pvp. In fact I think I will change it, ty.

haiz wrote: »

Wow, I guess most wanna-be wizards here are rather selfish. "Frost enchanted blade doesn't help me any so I won't get it at all".

Now then, let me get into specifics instead of saying what is nice to use and what isn't. I'm assuming you haven't gotten anywhere near 8x or above considering you're saying "Oh I don't have enough sp to get that!".

Blizzard blast is your best single target attack simply because it does have high attack and has a great effect that comes along with it. The only problem is its cool down. If you want to solo, blizzard blast is a one time spell and you won't be using it again for a while. The reason why divine pyro is such an epic fail of a spell is because of its casting time compared to damage. You can cast a spring gush and a blazing hierogram in the time you cast one divine pyro, and I can guarantee you that the two spells will do more damage. Granted divine pyro is nice if you use sutra, but you can't depend on having two vigor points all the time and using vigor bursts is way better than sutra in most cases. Which leaves arenaceous wave as a good, spammable spell that gives you a huge advantage on leveling at water mobs which will give you bonus exp. Grinding on water mobs is what you do instead of AoE parties too if you want a cheaper way to level. In terms of being able to spam a strong skill, arenaceous is better than blizzard. It's also a good spell to use on bosses, it does help the tank.

As a mage, your best skills are your faster casting skills, aka the starting three. Rock fall is especially superb if you ever reach the ripe level of 89 where it basically becomes overpowered and is as strong as blizzard blast (if you get the book).

And take this from someone who had a level 10 tempest and a level 10 cryonite, tempest is better. I tested it in many cases and on many classes and in many wars. Though one hitting a barbarian with a triple fury burst + cryonite dragon is just plain sexy. Too bad I lost all my screen shots in my format.


That was my 9x wizard hitting an 8x archer who had full gold hh armor. Rock fall + pyro edge tempest I believe it was, good times.

If I'm trying to level as fast as possible and pvp, what does frostblade have to do with it? I think you assume to much, yeah I have gotten to 80. Glacial Sare isnt a one time spell, it's cooldown is no loner than an archer's Impact Arrow, or Blinding Arrow, which is 15 seconds. Under most circumstances you can use this spell to lead. If I am killing faster than 15 seconds thats where I lead with a Divine Pyrogram, and combo swap.

Grinding on water mobs doesn't start till around level 80. Until then I recommend soloing on air mobs or aoe party, which is fire based, which is what this skill build mostly is.

Different strokes for different folks. There are definitely other ways to build a wizard, and they make good support if built that way, yet most people don't realize it. This guide though is not for a support wizard. This guide is for a fire element specialized wizard.

Everyone has their own play style, and of course will make their own build tailored to them. I've only attempted to give advice on the most basic spells and builds, so that people new to wizard wishing to play them will at least have one type of wizard skill guide to roll with. I know many wizards choose this type of wizard, and I know many wizard choose a more balanced element build, and I know some wizards have an earth specialized build. However, I do not have the experience of the other wizard builds, I found myself too tight on skill points to have everything I wanted, so I chose to specialize in fire. So, instead of mentioning every build, even builds I'm not experienced with, I chose to make a guide and give advice and experience on the way I built my wizard.

Feel free to make guides as well, because I'm not denying any of the spells you mentioned aren't good, it's just the skill points aren't there for a long time. This is what I went with and I had an easy time leveling, so I know it's a valid build. The water spells cannot be chain cast, due to Glacial Snares long cooldown, so I don't think specializing in water is a stong build. Stone Rain and Sandstorm can be chain casted, so an earth element specialized wizard is a valid build to me. The problem I encountered was that Sandstorm was not obtainable until level 39, and going for at least 20 levels without a decent Divine Pyrogram seemed a harder road. I've wanted to play an earth-based wizard though, and if you have experience building an earth based wizard I would love to see your skill build recommendations.

haiz wrote: »

Like I said, useless to go into one or two elements.

If you're too tight on SP then you're doing something wrong. I was able to keep all the attack skills maxed as I reached their level for all three elements. I don't see why you're saying "support mage" when all I said was you get a simple buff and use it once every 30 minutes, does that make you support? Or if by any chance you don't have any clerics and instead you heal, that makes you support? It's called being a well rounded mage, who still has every single target attack skill up to date and uses full potential. In HH runs wizards are known for being rather useless. People liked taking me along though because I attacked and healed making me much more loved.

You shouldn't be running out of SP, you should be running out of gold.

Saying "fire specialized" means nothing to me because you get nothing extra than a mage who is "well rounded". There isn't limited points, you do get everything, but like you said there is a shortage on SP. The shortage on SP isn't as extreme as you say it is though, because there is plenty to get all three elements if you leave out the unnecessary spells. I just disagree with you on what you consider is unnecessary. You also called this a "wizard guide", so I assumed it was for wizards, and not a "fire specialist".

It might be useless to go into two elements for you, it's not to me. You seem to be very dogmatic, and believe you have the ultimate wizard build. Then by all means show us, please.

I'm not doing anything wrong, people play how they want. There is no way possible you have the skill points to keep all the nukes up to date AND keep the element masteries up to date. This is what it means by specializing, you only level masteries in two realms, and level up your major nukes from those realms. Yes, you do get something more then a well rounded wizard, you get better damage due to higher level masteries.

In your example, yes that makes you a support wizard. Wizards are much better to use as a damage dealer if possible, not a healer. If you end up healing for a boss, you are support. No one takes a wizard to holy hall or fb unless they feel like it or are your friend, believe me it has nothing to do with your heal spell. A wizard is not needed.

One last question. Are you haiz from oracle server?

haiz wrote: »

Yeah, I am. And my guild knew me for being able to attack and heal in bosses. I don't see how I'm support when I still have maxed out attack skills and the ability to heal. All it does is give me an edge over someone who doesn't heal. Not to mention our one buff we have that I use and it is appreciated as it adds to overall dps a lot. Asked an 8x archer buddy of mine how much it added to his damage and he said about 600 per shot. Doesn't sound like much, but remember how long boss fights are and how fast archers attack.

And yes, my heal spell has everything to do with it. You probably don't realize it because you never did it yourself. We have a full party that wants to go to HH but we only have one healer on, so what do we do? We call in the amazing Haiz to heal the tank as a back up so we can do it instead of not going due to a lack of clerics. If we have two clerics? I get to go dish out damage, either way, I have one more use than you. Though no clerics and two wizards healing is just dumb.

Oh and my wizard build most people don't like and would never go through. Most people say "I want to be pure int!", but they never get far. Not only that, but what I do most people can't do due to a lack of simple common sense, so its better off with simpler guides. Skill guides are one thing where you tell people to get certain skills are one thing, using the skills so you get the best out of them is a whole new world that can't be put into a guide. I've already expressed my feelings through my posts so if you want to see the "ultimate" guide you can scavenge through all those long **** posts I made. =p

Yeah haiz, I've grouped with you. You helped me do my fb. You decided to out damage the tank and tank the boss to show off and almost got yourself killed and was making the healers mad. You also did an amazing job of wiping the party with pulling agro on the last boss. You really impressed me.

You also are the same person who said you grind on mobs without using hiero or potions, which is utter and complete nonsense. If you don't need mana regen for grinding as a wizard then you need to learn to kill faster.

I've tried being nice to you, but that has failed. So now I'm telling you how it is. You were a nub, you are a nub, and you always will be. I don't need to ask anyone I've seen firsthand. I will not respond to any more of your posts. Have a nice day, enjoy your beta.