Skill setup

gatts87
gatts87 Posts: 61 Arc User
edited January 2009 in Wizard
I've read almost all the posts about skills etc etc, so yes I've done plenty of research. All of which have left me more confused on what I need to do for my goal. However, I've never been past level 20 so I will need expert opinions from people who have played extensively as a wizard to figure out what I need to do for my character. My general goal is this, Best PVE skill setup. I will PVP when I'm bored of other things, but definitely isn't my main concern. Please be as detailed as you can be and show the pros/cons/priority/recommended level of each skill you are including in your explanation. Skill setups only please, don't need weapon/armor/attribute debates =).
Post edited by gatts87 on

Comments

  • Kristoph - Lost City
    Kristoph - Lost City Posts: 2,016 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    Just read Pandora's guide or something... there isn't much to it and it still depends on what you prefer.


    At lower levels, just keep Pyro, Gush and Stone Rain as high as possible, those are good skills, period. You'll spam them constantly. Crown of Flame should be left at 1, it's your best finisher if the mob has [] HP left. Fast and low mana cost. Keep earth barrier maxed if you don't want to be ****ed over by archer-like mobs. Glacial Barrier is pretty good too, MP recovery is nice when you don't need the defense. I got it to 5 at first, and left it there due to lack of SP. Put at least 1 point in Phoenix and Distance Shrink, they're great for kiting/survival. And keep Sandstorm maxed when you get it.

    ^will get you to 60 without any problems. You can leave everthing else at 1.
    Wondering how much longer these **** packs are going to be around.
  • Xerela - Heavens Tear
    Xerela - Heavens Tear Posts: 35 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    Pyrogram (max)
    Gush (max)
    Stone Rain (max)
    Pyroshell (1)
    Glacial Embrace (level as long as you have money and spirit)
    Stone Barrier (max).
    Crown of Flame (1)
    Hailstorm (not needed in PvE)
    Divine Pyrogram (level till you get sandstorm)
    Morning Dew (not needed but if you think you need it lvl1 will do)
    Pitfall (1)
    The Dragon's Breath (level if you can afford to zhen)
    Well Spring Quaff (not nescessary)
    Distance Shrink (even though most only advocate it for PvP I find it to be helpful in PvE as well so max when you can)
    Will of the Pheonix (superb PvE skill, max)
    Frostblade (useless, 1 and forget)
    Sandstorm (max)
    Of course you get spark eruption duh.
    As for the elemental boost ignore them until you can afford to level them.

    TIP: Level your blacksmithing at least. I personally love crafting. If you can, also do the apothecary.
  • gatts87
    gatts87 Posts: 61 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    What exactly does spark eruption do? "Discharge one Spark to acquire 200% extra physical attack from weapons for 10 seconds and become invincible for 1 second after the discharge". Is what it says for the skill, but does that mean that you add physical attack to your magic skills or that you simply make your weapon's physical hits stronger? Like going up close and hitting a monster with your staff, lol. Also why are pyrogram/gush/stone rain good for pve when they are single target skills, I know they are fast and can be good. I just think aoe skills would better serve me for this or are they that important to wizards regardless of pvp/pve?
  • Kristoph - Lost City
    Kristoph - Lost City Posts: 2,016 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    Divine Pyrogram (level till you get sandstorm)
    Distance Shrink (even though most only advocate it for PvP I find it to be helpful in PvE as well so max when you can)
    Will of the Pheonix (superb PvE skill, max)
    lolno.

    - Divine Pyrogram is useless, just use you starter spells, don't waste SP on it till you get sutra.
    - Distance Shrink should be left at a low level (1-3), maxing it is pointless and the SP has better places to go
    - Phoenix sucks at low levels. WAY too expensive to level, and you won't use it that often
    Wondering how much longer these **** packs are going to be around.
  • Jrudora - Lost City
    Jrudora - Lost City Posts: 445 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    Distance shrink can be left at 1 until level 60.
    After that, it becomes quite useful.
    It doesn't cost much sp compared to how much sp you get after 60, so its well worth the investment.

    As for phoenix, its only useful in pvp, or when you get to level 80s where some mobs are physical again. A maxed phoenix is possibly the strongest quick nuke you have. (2 seconds total to channel + cast, like gush ^^)
  • $ian - Lost City
    $ian - Lost City Posts: 22 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    gatts87 wrote: »
    What exactly does spark eruption do? "Discharge one Spark to acquire 200% extra physical attack from weapons for 10 seconds and become invincible for 1 second after the discharge". Is what it says for the skill, but does that mean that you add physical attack to your magic skills or that you simply make your weapon's physical hits stronger? Like going up close and hitting a monster with your staff, lol. Also why are pyrogram/gush/stone rain good for pve when they are single target skills, I know they are fast and can be good. I just think aoe skills would better serve me for this or are they that important to wizards regardless of pvp/pve?

    You can't solo AoE as a Wizard.
  • Jebbediah - Lost City
    Jebbediah - Lost City Posts: 126 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    You can't solo AoE as a Wizard.

    U can it's just exspensive.And if you dont like/play the game to make friends/ socialize.Your pretty much forced to solo aoe to lvl.

    I am solo aoe 80% of the time.
  • gatts87
    gatts87 Posts: 61 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    I wasn't talking about soloing in that post, I just asked some questions. If anyone could answer them that would be great. Thank you to those who have posted helpful tips for me =).
  • gatts87
    gatts87 Posts: 61 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    "What exactly does spark eruption do? "Discharge one Spark to acquire 200% extra physical attack from weapons for 10 seconds and become invincible for 1 second after the discharge". Is what it says for the skill, but does that mean that you add physical attack to your magic skills or that you simply make your weapon's physical hits stronger? Like going up close and hitting a monster with your staff, lol. Also why are pyrogram/gush/stone rain good for pve when they are single target skills, I know they are fast and can be good. I just think aoe skills would better serve me for this or are they that important to wizards regardless of pvp/pve?"

    Is anyone going to help me with these questions?
  • DiFiore - Heavens Tear
    DiFiore - Heavens Tear Posts: 28 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    gatts87 wrote: »
    "What exactly does spark eruption do? "Discharge one Spark to acquire 200% extra physical attack from weapons for 10 seconds and become invincible for 1 second after the discharge". Is what it says for the skill, but does that mean that you add physical attack to your magic skills or that you simply make your weapon's physical hits stronger? Like going up close and hitting a monster with your staff, lol. Also why are pyrogram/gush/stone rain good for pve when they are single target skills, I know they are fast and can be good. I just think aoe skills would better serve me for this or are they that important to wizards regardless of pvp/pve?"

    Is anyone going to help me with these questions?

    Because there's not really that many huge AoE spells for you to use? Monsters also don't stand neatly in piles waiting for your one-shot mega AoE spell at level 1. I mean, if there were some kind of super AoE at level 34, I would love to hear about it.

    Another problem with AoE spells, especially the first one you can get, Dragon's Breath, is that it doesn't kill things fast enough even if you can get enough monsters piled together to justify using it over single spells. What happens is that, the moment you get their attention and aggro, you're going to get ****.
  • gatts87
    gatts87 Posts: 61 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    That didn't really help me with my questions. We have more aoe's than anyone, but anyways if someone could answer the questions(experienced wizard preferred). Thank you =).
  • VonTerror - Lost City
    VonTerror - Lost City Posts: 224 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    First off, Spark eruption adds magical attack, not Physical so your question is irrelevant.

    Secondly, you know you could read one of the many guides that are on the forums that i am sure will answer your questions about skills. These threads have been brought up a million times as well and a search would do you some good. Not only that but seriously people are trying to help you here and i am starting to find your responses rude considering the posters have been answering your AOE question and your initial "what spells should you level for PvE". If you read what they are saying to you maybe you would have some answers.

    Lastly like others just wrote, for the most part wizzards are not really built to as a solo AOE class like a BM can be becuase you have low hp. At real high levels maybe, i don't know yet, but not your first 70odd levels for sure. It is effective for tank classes cause they have high HP and can withstand the hits. You most likely will not be able to except certain magical mobs. Therefore if you take agrro on many mobs at once and don't kill them before they get to you, you are as good as dead. I am not saying you can't, but its not reccomended as you will probably die a lot or run a lot. Wizzards kill very quickly so there is no need to attack everything when your chance of survial one or two at a time is high and its fast.

    AOE's are effective in parties, Zhens, and PvP. They can be used in solo grinding but you need to be careful as like i said above, your chances of death grow exponentially. That is why people are recommending the single target attacks

    I will not go into the specific spells and when you use them because you can easily just look at the two sticky threads above and get your answers
    b:bye
  • gatts87
    gatts87 Posts: 61 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    Actually no they didn't answer my questions, thats why I continued to ask about them. All they did was try to insult me(like you) or give me irrelevant information. Read my first, post it clearly states "I've read almost every guide" that includes the two stickys who really don't answer my questions since one is all pvp and the other is a mixture of both pve/pvp, im talking about just pve. Besides those posts are mostly just those individual wizards opinions and I wanted more details. Perhaps I sounded rude in my responses, but can you blame me? It took 3 days to get some simple questions answered...
  • Kristoph - Lost City
    Kristoph - Lost City Posts: 2,016 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    gatts87 wrote: »
    Actually no they didn't answer my questions, thats why I continued to ask about them. All they did was try to insult me(like you) or give me irrelevant information. Read my first, post it clearly states "I've read almost every guide" that includes the two stickys who really don't answer my questions since one is all pvp and the other is a mixture of both pve/pvp, im talking about just pve. Besides those posts are mostly just those individual wizards opinions and I wanted more details. Perhaps I sounded rude in my responses, but can you blame me? It took 3 days to get some simple questions answered...
    It's not our fault you suck at using the search function. Besides, do you honestly think PvP skill builds are that much different from PvE? There's only a few small differences, like Glacial Snare and Glacial Barrier, but if you don't have the brains to figure that out...
    Wondering how much longer these **** packs are going to be around.
  • Jrudora - Lost City
    Jrudora - Lost City Posts: 445 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    Three days and you're complaining?
    Do we look like we're all sitting on standby waiting for the mighty gatts87 to provide us with a question so that we may stop everything we're doing to answer him in the smallest of details, referring to every bit of his question, hoping to satisfy his depth for knowledge?

    Everyone answered your questions in the first page.
    You asked whats a good pve mage, Kristoph told you to read Pandora's guide.
    Pandora's guide does list everything you need as a PvE mage, especially since the 3 basic skills and sandstorm really is all you need to PvE with.

    Xerela answered with an even better response by quoting the skills you needed to add to, and what should be left at one.

    Kristoph corrected his post. Double the effectiveness now.

    Kristoph stated you can't solo AoE, that answers your question on why the basic skills are important. Pwi isn't an AoE based game (unless you zhen, which is very costly), which is why you need good 1 on 1 prowess.

    Spark Eruption costs close to no sp to learn. If you learned it, you'd know what it did. There is absolutely no risk involved. It isn't something like Mountain Seize which costs a lot of gold and sp. Plus the search button would do you good, cause then you'd find this site: http://www.ecatomb.net/skillpwi.php which lists all the mage skills for you to look at.

    And stop asking for "experienced wizards" only. Its an insult to people who've answered your questions previously in your post. You should really thank Kristoph for all the time he has spent in your topic answering your questions, as well as VonTerror, instead of just bickering on about how no one provides you any help.
  • gatts87
    gatts87 Posts: 61 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    All my questions were based on information from ecatomb.net again stop bringing up useless topics, I've learned that this is just another mmorpg where everyone hates questions from the new guy, I wont ask anymore questions only to get smart *** remarks, just simply answer or dont post at all... This topic is dead, don't need to bump it anymore.
  • comae
    comae Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    as a pure-int pve mage..

    no need for stone barrier.. well not much anyway. because your goal is to save MP, in general :o

    MP shield.. you will pretty much equip that atleast 50 percent of the time.

    stone barrier.. it is needed for fbs, bosses, and pvp (tw included).
    you need to upgrade wellspring quaff for extra mp recovery with advanced spark eruption.

    It is worth it. It may save one spark, but wellspring quaff stays on for quite a bit. If you have leveled it up that is.

    For zhenning you might need
    [Fire mastery] only.
    For other alternative todo lvl up skills, you might need
    [Fire mastery, Water mastery, Earth mastery]

    i swear i was sitting there hitting chintien, silver frost, and also with no charms...

    blade tempest... you only need a bit of lvls in there. I mean if you can get the money for it that is.

    *Thats for the increased mag resist.. *
    Another hint is that you can use spark + blade tempest
    method: Spark -> Gush -> Blade tempest

    and then spam damage them with fastest magic attacks.
    use your bread and butter skill combined with stunning, distance shrinking, and will of pheonixing.

    however without the best weapon, you are pretty much screwed at 70+
    you are going to need that extra damage for sure.

    AT 70+ GRINDING

    You need:
    Glacial snare, Sandstorm, Divine Pyrogram, Blade Tempest

    Spark:
    Advanced spark eruption

    Stun & Run:
    Will of pheonix (level one is fine) , Force of Will (level one is fine too), Distance shrink (a few lvls in) , Sutra


    of course.. your bread and butter skills.
    You will somewhat need your Masteries. Not that much though.

    You will be buffing yourself with wellspring quaff + your mp shield (every 15 minutes).

    That is all that is needed for everyday PVE wizard. If a pure-int can, you can.
  • Mosabi - Heavens Tear
    Mosabi - Heavens Tear Posts: 378 Arc User
    edited January 2009
    comae she/he sayed this topic is dead >.>

    no need to bother yourself anymore..

    I dont know why am writing here in the first place too
    Is Back once more.

    sorry med school needs some time.
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