The Guide to Wizardry

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Note: Yes, I am attempting to write a guide again. Although this time, I've learned my lessons and will not attempt to write a troll guide or anything. Newbie wizards are kept in mind this time.

Chapter 1: Starting up

First of all, hi! I'm AsimM, fellow wizard, who's gonna be informing you of the many aspects of a wizard, up to date. I've decided not to make my guide look as pretty as the other, because I can't. And it'll save me some time.

Now that the prologue is out of the way, go ahead and click yes on wizard. Make sure you customize it exactly the way you want it, for you're going to be stuck with it for a while, if you want him to be pro. If you make him like Arnold Schwarznegger, I'll give you a cookie.

Chapter 2: The Builds

The basic attributes:

Strength: Increases base physical attack, and increases physical defense. Wizards need this in small quantities to equip their armor.

Dexterity: Increases physical attack (For archers and assassins), increases evasion and accuracy. It does other stuff, but this is only required for LA build. See below.

Magic: Increases mana pool (mp), speeds up mana recovery, increases base magic attack, and increases magic defense. We need this a lot. See Int build below.

Vitality: Increases health points (by 10 for us), speeds up (HP) recovery. See below.

Pure: Full Intelligence build

Every 2 levels, add 9 magic points, and 1 strength point. Simple enough. This will insure you'll be able to wear up-to-date Arcane Armor (AA) and hit hard towards endgame. This is my prefered build, because of the new rank gear, which tends to make a difference in your magic attack between this build and the next one, Light Armor. (LA)

Light Armor Build

Your strength and dexterity (str and dex) will be (Your Level) +4. So if you're Lvl 21, your strength and dexterity should be at...25! Basically, it's 1 str, 1 dex, and 3 magic every level. I know, I'm good at math. You'll need the magic points to equip the magic weapon of your level. And the str and dex is for the...armor. Self explanatory. In my opinion, this is a cockroach away from being the best build out there. If you decide to go this build, you'll have slightly improved survivability and slightly elevated hp from refines (~20-25%, thanks Adroit). Also, at the lower levels, your damage won't be reduced that much from not dumping those points into magic. I do not recommend this build endgame, for the reduce in damage is NOT worth the slightly improved survivability.

Heavy Armor Build

Do I even have to discuss this? Go into the barbarian guides if you want the (HA) Build. Good luck.

Hybrid Build

This is basically....7 magic, 2 vitality (Increases HP), 1 strength every 2 levels. I do NOT recommend this build, wizards have the one of the lowest HP modifiers with vit in the game. A whopping 10 vitality per point. Barbarians get about 17hp, so just...use the 2 points for magic. This build is acceptable in the lower levels for slightly improved survivability, but I don't recommend it for endgame, again.

Last minute opinions: I believe you should pay attention more to the Full Int. build if you're going for endgame. If not, enjoy yourself with HA and LA builds. Fun stuff.

Chapter 2.5: The gear (weapons)

Well, assuming that you went either the AA (Arcane armor) or LA (Light armor) builds, here's the types of weapons you should be using through your wizardly career. But first, here are the types of magical weapons:

Magic sword: The most balanced type, it has medium-high magic. The wizards SHOULD be using these.

Glaive: The cleric's preference, it has mediumlow-high damage. A bit more spread apart from ours.

Pakata: The veno's preference, it has low-high damage, the most spread apart. Avoid this whenever you can, but it's not bad if you use it.

Wand: Just a regular magic weapon that does medium-mediumhigh damage. It's our second priority after magic swords. Not bad to use.

Now gearwise.

1-~21: Quest reward weapons (Stick with whatever they give you, it's better than NPC gear for now.

22-59: Well if you're decently rich at this point, use legendary weapons, the first one being Mirage Sword @ Lvl 22. Legendary weapons are usually better than NPC or quest gear. If you're not so rich, use quest gear and 3* gear. 3* gear is basically NPC gear but with it's stats raised a bit more than NPC gear.

60-99:: At this point start thinking about TT (Twilight Temple) runs for gear. This is significantly better than normal gear, so look into your in-game encyclopedia (near your mini-map) for more information on what materials you need to craft it. The first one (at Lvl 60) is a weapon called Ancient Arbor.

100-105: Now that you're endgame, you've got a lot of choices. You can go the R8/TT99/Nirvana route, which is the best (and most affordable option). You can also go R9 if you're richer than the rest. Warsoul weapons are too expensive for now, stick with R9. For more info on endgame gear, go to DaKillanator's guide. Kthxbai.

Chapter 3: The skills

MAIN WEBSITE FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE: http://www.ecatomb.net/skillpwi.php

I will group them by levels, not skill elements. Enjoy! I will also include sage/demon path modifiers.

Level 1

1) Pyrogram: The starter skill. Does a good amount of damage. Priority to level up: ASAP

Sage(Winner): You gain a 20% chance to gain 30 chi on a successful hit.
Demon: Reduces channeling time to 1.2 seconds.

Sage wins, because the channeling reduce time isn't that good, and chi is always good right?

Level 3 (It gets slower)

1) Gush: Pyrogram's sister. Also does good damage and slows the enemy. Priority: ASAP

Sage(Winner): Increases slow chance by 5% and duration by 1 second.
Demon: Does 600 more damage. I lol'd.

Sage wins, since 600 damage is basically less then our base physical attack. So slowing effects wins.

Level 6

1) Stone rain: Slower casting spell that does more damage than Pyrogram and Gush. Priority: ASAP

Sage: Reduces channeling time to 1.6 seconds.
Demon(Winner): Gives 20% chances to stun for 5 seconds.

A 5 second stun? I believe it wins, 5 seconds is almost as long as a Blademaster's stun. And that's good right? Demon wins.

Level 9

1) Pyroshell: A self-buff that increases fire resistance and hp recovery. Priority: When you can.

Sage(Winner): Increases fire resistances to 150% instead of 120%
Demon: Increases hp regeneration a little bit more.

Both are decent at best, but sage wins

2) Glacial Embrace: A self-buff that increases water resistance and mana recovery rate. Priority: When you can.

Sage(Winner): Increases water resistance by 150% instead of 120%.
Demon: Increases mp recovery a bit more.

Both are decent, but sage wins again.

3) Stone Barrier: A self-buff that increases earth resistances and physical defense. Priority: ASAP.

Sage: Increases earth resistances to 150%
Demon(Winner): Increases physical defense to 150%.

Demon wins because of the physical defense modifier. It takes priority over sage unless you're LA.

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Level 13

1) Crown of Flame: A fire spell that does damage over time. Priority: Just don't.

Sage: Does an additional 15% fire damage.
Demon(Winner): Decreases the duration of the burn. Just go look at ecatomb.

Oh great a whole 15% more damage! No, seriously, demon wins since decreasing the duration of the burn will mean more damage every time it hits. Demon wins. Said it again.

Level 16

1) Hailstorm: Our first spell that affects an area (AOE). Does water damage and has a chance to freeze your target(s). Priority: Last.

Sage: Does additional damage to frozen targets.
Demon(Winner): Increases the freeze chance to 50%.

Demon wins, because this will become one of our "control" spells. This means we can keep them in range and nuke them while they can't do anything. Freeze chance 50% is better.

Level 19

1) Divine Pyrogram: A slower casting, more powerful version of pyrogram. Priority: ASAP

Sage: Decreases fire resistances upon a successful hit.
Demon(Winner): Reduces channeling time to 2.5 seconds. It helps.

We have undine strike. In my opinion, demon wins because this skill needed a channel reduction. And with -channeling gear, you'll be able to cast this like a boss.

2) Pitfall: Does earth damage over time, and slows the target. Priority: Last

Sage: Increases the slow effect to 20%
Demon(Winner): Increases freeze chance to 33%.

Well if you ever use it, Demon wins, again because of the freeze chance being increased. Slow effect isn't that good to be useful.

Level 24

1) Morning Dew: A slow casting skill that heals a X amount of hp instantly. Priority: Before last.

Sage: 10% chance to heal the target fully.
Demon(Winner): Heals an additional 600 hp over 9 seconds.

Demon wins because a 10% chance to heal fully won't even matter at this level. You'll heal fully to anyone besides barbarians anyway. Demon makes it heal over time, so it helps a little. You can stack the heals on demon.

Level 29

\

1) The Dragon's Breath: A constantly casting area spell that does fire damage every 3 seconds, sucking up mana when it damages. Priority: After ASAP.

Sage (Winner): Has a chance to stun the target upon a hit.
Demon: Has a chance to heal 500hp on successful hit.

Sage wins, it has a chance to stun, which is always good. But both effects occur rarely, so keep that in mind.

2) Wellspring Quaff: Increases your mana pool by X%. Priority: Before level 59.

Sage: Grants a 150% addition to your magic attack for 15 seconds.
Demon(Winner): Gives a 20% increase to your channeling.

Demon wins, if you want 150% addition, just use single spark. Channeling increase is always better.

3) Distant Shrink: Instantly teleports you away or towards an enemy. Priority: After ASAP.

Sage: Decreases chi cost.
Demon (Winner): Increases distant to 30meters.

Demon wins, since it increases the distant that you shrink.

4) Spark Eruption: Instantly gives you 200% damage and you become invincible for 1 second after you use it. Priority: Just get it.

5)Fire Mastery: Increases damage done by fire skills by x%, 20% being at Lvl 10.

Sage(winner): Increases to 25% instead of 20%.
Demon: (Unsure) Increases critical hit rate done by fire skills by 1%

Sage wins, an extra 5% damage will do wonders endgame. Also this is very debatable since having all 3 masteries will have a nice effect as well.

6) Water mastery:: Increases damage done by water skills by x%, 20% being at Lvl 10.

Sage(winner): Increases to 25% instead of 20%
Demon: Increases critical hit rate done by water skills by 1%

Sage wins again, same notes as above.

7) Earth mastery: Increases damage done by earth skills by x%, 20% being at Lvl 10

Sage(winner): Increases to 25% instead of 20%
Demon: Increases critical hit rate done by earth skills by 1%

Sage wins again, same notes as above.

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Level 39

1) Will of the Phoenix: A fire skill that does damage and knocks targets back. Priority: ASAP

Sage: Decreases cooldown of skill by 1 second.
Demon(Winner): Increases area of effect by 50%.

Demon wins, since the AOE gets increased.

2) Frostblade: A buff that adds x% to the targets weapon damage. Priority: Lvl 1. Last.

Sage: Increases duration to 30 minutes instead of the regular 15 mins.
Demon(Winner): Increases the damage percent to 50% instead of 40%.

Demon wins, since it grants more water damage added to weapon damage.

3) Sandstorm: Slow casting earth spell that does a good amount of damage. Priority: ASAP

Sage: Increases the decrease in accuracy. Read that 3 times for it to make sense.
Demon(Winner): Adds on another 1200 damage.

Who cares if it increases the decrease in accuracy? We're wizards, we want damage. Demon wins.

Level 49

1) Emberstorm: A useless skill that sacrafices your precious hp to do AOE fire damage. Priority: Level it if you want Style.

Sage: Reduces hp cost by 20%.
Demon(Winner): Gives a 50% chance to stun on a successful hit.

Demon wins, because of our beloved stun chance.

2) Glacial Snare: Slow casting water spell that does water damage. Priority: After ASAP.

Sage: Reduces water resistances by 20% for 15 seconds.
Demon(Winner): Reduces channeling time by .4 seconds. (To 2.1 seconds instead of 2.5)

Demon wins, because we have undine strike. And this skill needed a reduce in channeling.

3) Force of Will: A fairly quick casting skill that interrupts all enemy channeling and makes it so they can't attack for x seconds. Priority: ASAP

Sage: Gives it a 3 meter AOE.
Demon(Winner): Reduces cooldown time by 2 seconds.

Sage would win, but from what I heard, the AOE it gets is horrible. Demon wins because of Cooldown.

Level 59

1) Black Ice Dragon Strike: A very flashy, very slow casting spell that does unbelievable amounts of water damage. Priority: After ASAP.

Sage(Winner): Gives a 50% chance to increase your critical hit rate by 20% right before casting this.
Demon: 50% chance to consume only 1 spark while casting this.

If this does a critical hit, it'll surely oneshot your target. Enough said. Sage wins.

2) Blade Tempest: A very slow casting, incredibly powerful spell that does both fire and physical damage. Priority: ASAP.

Sage(Winner): 50% chance to consume only 1 spark while casting this.
Demon: 50% chance to interrupt enemy channeling

Sage wins because the demon version is complete ****.

3) Mountain's Seize: A very, very, slow casting spell that does earth damage and stuns in an AOE. Priority: After ASAP.

Sage: 50% chance to consume only 1 spark while casting this. (Creative right?)
Demon(Winner): Increases range by 5 meters. Now you can cast this at 35 meters range.

Demon wins, since it'll be really useful in TW, and the casting range will be phenomenal.

4) Essential Suttra: A instant casting spell that...makes all spell cast without channeling for 6 seconds. Priority: ASAP.

Sage: N/A
Demon: N/A

Yes, Essential Suttra is so great, it gets it's own colour.

Level 79

First of all, you need to forge a skill book for all skills that you want to learn for 79 and further. Keep that in mind. Visit the forges in the City of a Thousand Streams for more info.

1) Undine Strike: Decreases enemy Fire, Water, and Earth resistances by 60% for 12 seconds. Priority: ASAP

2) Soporific Whisper: Puts the enemy to sleep for 4 seconds. Priority: After Undine Strike.

3) Elemental Shell: Increases target's Fire, Water, Metal, and Earth resistances by 1000% for 4 seconds. Also has a 10% chance to purify target. Priority: After Soporific Whisper.

Level 100

1) Manifest Virtue: Divides your base mana by 100, puts a percent sign on it, and that's how much your magic attack increases for 1 spark.

2) Elemental Invocation: Reduces targets mana by 50% over 30 seconds, does damage equal to 60% of your mana, and reduces 20 chi per hit over 30 seconds.

EXPANSION UPDATE: NEW SKILLS

So the expansion is finally here! I'll list the new skills, what they do, their area restrictions, and if they're worth getting! Enjoy.

Spatial Reversion (Order of Luminance): Curse your target, forcing him to return to his position when you cast this skill 6 seconds later. Has a 40-80% chance of working, depending on your level, your opponent's level, your soulforce, and your opponent's soulforce

Level requirement: 80 ; Level 100 for advanced version (Acquired through Advanced Endless Universe instance [by chance])

Advanced version: Tactical reversion (Improves mean proc rate by 20% [changes it to 60-100%])

Only works on players, outside instances, and outside Safe Zones

Channeling time: 0.6 seconds
Cast time: 0.2 seconds
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Life Reversion (Order of Luminance): Curse your target, forcing his HP to return to when you cast this spell 6 seconds later. This has similar restrictions to Spatial Reversion. 40-80% chance to work, with 60% as an average. Depends on soulforce and level.

Level requirement: 80 ; Level 100 for advanced version (Acquired through Advanced Endless Universe instance [by chance])

Advanced version: Mortal Reversion (Improves mean proc rate by 20% [changes it to 60-100%])

Channeling time: 0.6 seconds
Cast time: 0.2 seconds
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Sand Miasma (Order of Corona): Reduces your chance of being critically hit by 5% (+/-). This skill takes about 35 days to get, depending on your prestige/influence.

Level requirement: 100

Passive buff

Arcane Defense (Order of Shroud): Self buff, lasts 5 minutes. Every time you get hit by a melee auto-attack, it knocks you back 20 (+/-) meters and purifies all debuffs off you. Effect has an 25 second cooldown. Also takes ~35 days to get.

Level requirement: 100

Channeling time: 3.5s
Cast time: 1.5s
Cooldown: 60s (1 minute)

Self-buff

Ice Prison (Order of Luminance): Casts a water pulse wave 12m around the caster, every 3 seconds, and has a 67% change to freeze the target for 2 seconds every time it pulses. Frozen targets also take 130% damage. Lasts 9 seconds. Also takes ~35 days to get.

Level requirement: 100

Channeling time: 2.0s
Cast time: 1.3s
Cooldown: 180s (2 minutes)

Blinding Blaze (Unknown order): Curses your target, causing him to get stunned every time he takes a hit. Effect has a 6 (+/-) second cooldown.

Channeling time: Will update later
Cast time: Will update later
Cooldown: Will update later

Sage/Demon playstyles

So since I got criticized so much for not doing this, I'll do it. Now I'll list what I know about the different advantages and disadvantages of the two paths.

Sage:

This is mostly a chi, and TW preference path. As a sage, the big advantage is chi control. You'll be draining chi slower than that of a demon. With skills like "Master Li's technique," sage pyrogram, distant shrink, etc, you'll be saving chi for what really counts. And we all know that all GOOD wizard skills actually cost chi. Right? Also, with the masteries in sage mode, you'll be outputting more damage with each spell, since the masteries increase damage by 25% instead of 20% for demon. Although this is true, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll do more DPS than a demon. Sage and demon aren't based on DPS. The disadvantages are not that significant. The only one worth mentioning is the fact that the control spells don't really improve in the sage path.

Demon:

Oh the demon path. The demon path is basically a control/channeling/PvP path. The big advantage for a demon is in PvP. Mostly PK mode. In this path, there are a bunch of (reduce channeling) and (Freeze chance increase) skills. For example, demon stone rain gets a little 5 second stun. Demon emberstorm also get a little stun. Demon hailstorm gets 50% freeze chance. Demon pitfall gets 33% freeze chance and slow chance. Demon divine pyrogram, demon glacial snare both get a channeling reduction. Don't forget about the awesome looking demon spark, which gives -25% channeling when it's active. With the masteries, you'll have +1% crit rate for each one you learn, totaling to +3% crit rate. And that's always good right? The down side is that you'll be struggling a bit with chi. Make sure you log your GF in with you.

A little note: Don't let the winners and loosers of the skill paths confirm your decision. Both paths have their advantages and disadvantages. You just have to pick upon your preference.

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Chapter 4: Player vs Environment (PvE) and Player vs Player (PvP)

Here is a breakdown of the levels.

Levels 1-30

1) Do quests
2) Kill mobs
3) Request help for it to go faster

4) Spam FC runs with hyper exp stones (Only for alternate characters)

Levels 31-60

1) Grind if you feel like it.
2) Do daily quests, such as Crazy Stone and Bounty Hunter (After level 40)
3) Do quests if you wish.

Levels 61-80

1) Do Twilight Temple runs for better gear
2) Do Bounty Hunter runs
3) Do training Frostcovered City runs with high level friends (If any).

Levels 81-100

1) Do Frostcovered City runs with hyper exp stones, which multiply the amount of exp received for an amount of time.
2) Do Bounty Hunter quests
3) Do Twilight Temple runs for better gear.

Levels 100+

Note: (EDIT): Do something called "Caster's Nirvana," which is like regular Nirvana, but the mobs are immune to physical damage. So it's only for Casters. It earns a lot of money for us casters. They just added this feature.

1) Do Bounty Hunter Quests
2) Go PvP
3) Go for making a PvP Genie, which will be explained later.
4) Go farm or cashshop rank gear, which is worth it.

Before I explain Player vs. Player (PvP), I'll explain a major part of the game, Genies.

GENIES

Genies are a major system of the game, which were introduced in an expansion of the game. They are basically similar to pets, but they do not attack the enemy directly, like regular pets. Instead, they indirectly affect the player, and add a strategic element to the game. When you level your genie up, you usually get a random amount of lucky points, which determine the amount of attribute points you get every 5 levels. Also, every 5 levels, you also get 1 affinity point, which you can distribute according to what skills you would like your genie to have. If you want a more detailed discussion of this stuff, please visit the following topic by the famous Adroit: http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=992692

They basically do the following:

Heal yourself
Protect yourself
Debuffs other players
Buffs yourself
Makes yourself immune to negative status effects.
Etc.

Now I will go onto PvP elements of the game.

Player Vs. Player (PvP)

This is one of the most discussed and ambiguous topic of the game. I am open to all opinions, but for now, read and enjoy! Note: You should not PvP until you are at least Lvl 90, and sharded well enough. Here are a few tips:

Edit: Since so many people like to know a good endgame build, I'll first go into a recommended Lvl 90-99 build. Then I'll go into a good build at Lvl 100. Enjoy.

Level 90: http://pwcalc.com/4be3886579b68aa4 (Good-Great build)
Level 99: http://pwcalc.com/94edc981c9a758e1 (Great build)
Level 100: http://pwcalc.com/94edc981c9a758e1 (Good build)

1) Shard your gear with either Citrine shards (Hp modifiers) or Garnet shards (Physical defense modifiers). I prefer to shard with citrine shards for extra health.

2) Make sure your belt and necklace gears are PROTECTION not ELEMENTAL. This will ensure that you will survive longer in battles.

3) Now concerning genies, here are the skills that I think you should have. You should have enough lucky points to equip at least 4 genie skills.

Absolute Domain
Expel
Extreme Poison
Badge of Courage
Fortify

4) I will now list the effects of all these skills.

Absolute Domain: Makes you immune to all damage for X seconds, and immune to movements debuffs (Such as stun and sleep) for another X seconds after that.

Expel: Makes you immune to all physical damage for X seconds, but renders you unable to attack for that time.

Extreme Poison: Increases damage taken by target by 20% for X seconds.

Badge of Courage: Has a chance to remove a stun effect.

Fortify: Makes you immune to stun effects (Not sure about this one, but heard a lot about it.)

Few last comments: If you're sure that they are unable to interrupt, stun, silence, or sleep you, use Essential Suttra. It will cause a lot of damage in a short amount of time if you use it right.

Use of distant shrink: Use it appropriately, in the right direction. It'll give you distance between your enemy, and time to regenerate your charm. Or to heal whatever.

Use of Expel: If you're sure that their neutral buff filter is off, use expel on them instead of yourself. They'll be defenseless as you nuke them.

Use of Badge: Use it when you're stunned. Simple enough.

Oh I almost forgot, I'll be discussing Territory Wars, a big part of the game in which faction fight very powerful monsters, or fight other factions, for control of a certain piece of land. This belongs under this chapter.

Territory Wars(The only reason you play after 100): Your roll

Here are a few tips to doing a territory war and the different positions you could be put on.

1) Defense: This means, basically, that you will be defending a certain lane, in which it's your job to kill anyone in sight in your lane. Short and simple.

2) Catapult kill: This means you'll be in a squad, who's jobs are to kill any squad protection or carrying an enemy catapult, which are items used to attack the enemy base.

3) Attack: You will assist in pushing down a certain lane, in which you kill anyone on sight.

4) Solo: You were late to your TW, so you're going solo. Good luck.

So you're completely new to this and you need help on your first time? Well I'm glad you asked, AsimM is here to give you a few tips:

1) Make sure you bring a guardian charm, which heals your health fully if it falls below 50%. They help in survival in mass PvP.

2) Make sure you bring plenty of apothecary herbs. Such as Herb Yuxiano, Dew of Godly Protection, etc. These will also ensure survival in mass PvP.

3) Do NOT run ahead of your squad. This will mean certain death, because you'll be the primary target of anyone who sees you.

4) Do NOT run right next to a cata barb. This will also mean certain death. If you're protecting him, stay within casting range.

5) Grab chi whenever you can, you'll need it for mass PvP, to drop anyone that isn't that better geared than you.

6) Do NOT waste chi on skills like Spark Eruption and Advanced Spark Eruption. Third grade sparks are fine, such as demon and sage sparks. Use them on Essential Suttra, and your Lvl 59 AOE's.

7) Never use AOE's on a single person, just use your pyrogram and gush to tick their charm, and let your friends take care of them.

8) If you're new to TW, or your Blade Tempest/Black Ice Dragon Strike skill isn't Lvl. 10+, use Mountain's Seize instead. It has a hefty stun chance which'll help your more powerful friendlies take them down. BT and BIDS will just annoy your enemies' charms.

Adroit - Lost City · August 2011

haven't read through everything but seems to be a good start to the guide. The one thing I'd recommend would be to give more of an opinion about each subject, just raw description is easily found on ecatomb or other fan sites. Explain situations where things might be useful and try to give a new wizard an idea of what end game wizards are like. I guess that's just what I prefer in guides.. haha

Good luck w/ the guide

edit: sorry for breaking your combo, I didn't check to see if you'd reserved posts below

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Adroit - Lost City wrote: »

haven't read through everything but seems to be a good start to the guide. The one thing I'd recommend would be to give more of an opinion about each subject, just raw description is easily found on ecatomb or other fan sites. Explain situations where things might be useful and try to give a new wizard an idea of what end game wizards are like. I guess that's just what I prefer in guides.. haha

Good luck w/ the guide

edit: sorry for breaking your combo, I didn't check to see if you'd reserved posts below

Alrighty, I'll edit in the sage/demon skill winners like Tanzourou (or something) and add why I think they win. b:pleased

And it's fine, there's only one last post about how to properly use our spells in battle, that's about it. It'll include suttra combos and whatnot. And I'll just edit that into my last post.

Pearlwood - Lost City · August 2011

First, in a guide never say Never. Never is a big word. You say 'never lvl emberstorm.' I've found sage emberstorm to be effective in certain situations.... And, it's unique cause its a nonspark charge skill. Out of sparks and that 102 cleric is half down? Blink in and emberstorm. Sometimes sheer audacity can cause hesitation.

Second in pvp, be willing to throw down. Dying is not permanent in this game. Die a hundred times in a row if u have to. Everybody talks about style. U won't have a style if your not willing to develop one.

Third, read Adroit on genies.

Fourth, keep a long safety lock.

Thas all.

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Chapter 5: The use of skills

In this chapter, the proper use of skill will be discussed. Enjoy!

5.1: The use of Essential Suttra

1) Never use it randomly. The enemy will use Absolute Domain or Holy Path to run away if they notice you using this skill. Only use it if you're absolutely sure they're under your control.

2) Use it with Undine Strike. Do this and you'll see your damage go up each and every shot you pull off on them.

3) Use apothecary herbs to become immune to movement debuffs before this skill. Vacuity Powder tends to do the job. This will ensure you don't get stunned or slept while using this skill!

4) Suttra combos: When you get 3.9 sparks at level 89, you're able to cast your Level 59 ultimates instantly! Here are a few suggestions.

Force of Will>Suttra>Extreme Poison>Divine Pyrogram/Sandstorm>Mountain's Seize>2 more hits.

Force of Will>Suttra>Extreme Poison>Divine Pyrogram>Blade Tempest>Death.

Etc.

Enjoy!

5.2: The use of distant shrink

1) Against barbarians: If you see them charging at you, distant shrink in THEIR direction. Face forward and click on that skill. They'll get confused and will have to turn around to chase you again. In this time, sleep and nuke them. If you distant shrink they other way, away from them, they'll catch up in no time, due to their fast speed in Tiger Form.

2) Learn to kite. If your enemy trolls you for it, go ahead and laugh. They lost because they can't handle you kiting like a pro. (Kiting: A term describing using distant shrink in a way where you kill the enemy without being hit.)

5.3: Use of pyrogram and gush

1) Use these skills to do basic damage to your enemies. Once you know they've been weakened, go ahead and use a control skill, then use one of the more powerful, slower casting skills.

2) Use these in TW, like mentioned before, to weaken the enemy before your friends finish them off.

5.4: Use of Emberstorm

1) Remember, only use this if: Your skill is at Sage or Demon form.

2) If you know you're not gonna be attack, and to mess with your friends

3) To reveal an assassin in stealth mode.

4) Do NOT use it on R9 +12 foreign players. They'll keyboard faceroll you thinking that you wanted to pick a fight.

...Thanks for reading.

Final Chapter: The Endgame Wizard

So you managed to follow my amazing tips and reach endgame with your wizard. You did it. You stuck through your wizard long enough to find out how awesome you really are. This is what you worked so hard to accomplish. This is what an endgame wizard can really do:

1) Oneshot most classes, with the exception of extremely well geared barbarians, and other rank 9 classes. (Unless you're rank 9 yourself.)

2) You're now high enough to NOT be roflpwned by Lvl 80 assassins! Maybe.

3) Amazing in PvP. You're one of best when it comes to 1v1 and especially in Territory Wars.

4) You're now a class in which you'll be super deadly with 3.9 sparks. Enjoy them sparks!

If you want to know more about how you can win (Like Charlie Sheen), look up DaKillanator's endgame guide, which I'll conveniently NOT link for you. Kthnxbai.

Kidding. It's http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1166101.

End of Guide!

Any additions you think I should make? Troll me with the Post Reply button! Thanks!

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Pearlwood - Lost City wrote: »

First, in a guide never say Never. Never is a big word. You say 'never lvl emberstorm.' I've found sage emberstorm to be effective in certain situations.... And, it's unique cause its a nonspark charge skill. Out of sparks and that 102 cleric is half down? Blink in and emberstorm. Sometimes sheer audacity can cause hesitation.

Second in pvp, be willing to throw down. Dying is not permanent in this game. Die a hundred times in a row if u have to. Everybody talks about style. U won't have a style if your not willing to develop one.

Third, read Adroit on genies.

Fourth, keep a long safety lock.

Thas all.

Edited the priority for Emberstorm. Enjoy!

Delicta - Lost City · August 2011

AsimM - Raging Tide wrote: »

2) Phenomenal in PvE. You kill them mobs like they're 30 levels below you or something.

Wizards are easily the worst PWI's class PvE wise. The important PvE in this game is inside instances, the most profitable ones (TT and nirvana) will require a party wich excel on single target damage, aka APS party.

thumbs · August 2011

We all have different perspectives. A guide ideally should stick to definitive answers as opposed to subjective opinions.

Light Armor Build

Your strength and dexterity (str and dex) will be (Your Level) +4. So if you're Lvl 21, your strength and dexterity should be at...25! Basically, it's 1 str, 1 dex, and 3 magic every level. I know, I'm good at math. You'll need the magic points to equip the magic weapon of your level. And the str and dex is for the...armor. Self explanatory. In my opinion, this is a cockroach away from being the best build out there. If you decide to go this build, you'll have significantly improved survivability and slightly elevated hp from refines. Also, at the lower levels, your damage won't be reduced that much from not dumping those points into magic.

If you want to gimp your matk for survivability; why not just get weapons with def/hp modifiers, and defense ornaments instead of -ch or +mat/crit? Why set yourself up to have to buy reset notes and change all gears / experience down the road? Why make your character less MP & kill efficient for an armor that many archers and assassins don't even like being stuck with at lower levels?

1) Pyrogram: The starter skill. Does a good amount of damage. Priority to level up: ASAP

Sage(Winner): You gain a 20% chance to gain 30 chi on a successful hit.
Demon: Reduces channeling time to 1.2 seconds.

Sage wins, because the channeling reduce time isn't that good, and chi is always good right?

Faster channeling = faster chi also. Faster channeling can also save your life, and provides more consistent better performance.

Sage(Winner): Increases slow chance by 5% and duration by 1 second.
Demon: Does 600 more damage. I lol'd.

That 600 can make the difference in hits per kill. The slow effect at this point in the game is almost trivial and Glacial Snare, Will of Phoenix, or Force of Will is more effective for slowing.

Sage: Reduces channeling time to 1.6 seconds.
Demon(Winner): Gives 20% chances to stun for 5 seconds.

A 5 second stun? I believe it wins, 5 seconds is almost as long as a Blademaster's stun. And that's good right? Demon wins.

20% chance for a stun: I don't think anyone is going to use this skill for it's stun, and it's effect in PvE will probably get little praise and almost no use.

3) Stone Barrier: A self-buff that increases earth resistances and physical defense. Priority: ASAP.

Sage: Increases earth resistances to 150%
Demon(Winner): Increases physical defense to 150%.

Demon wins because of the physical defense modifier. It takes priority over sage unless you're LA.

As a mage in PvE: you're mostly tanking at range. Most range attacks are mag attacks. It really depends on final goals, how fast you're getting them, and how you want to play. To be LA at this point of the game is also commonly accepted as fail. The only justification for it would be if you're sharing equips with an Assassin or Archer and even then; you're dmg is going to suck.

Many skills have a synergistic effect and shouldn't be compared on their own to the alternate culti's version. Likewise; one may choose equipments tailored for their culti choice and goals.

Stats should not be used in lieu of equips. Non pures are fail or toys and should have no business as a suggestion in a guide. Rather than keep up with pears on equips and skills: they end up slowing their squads down which is akin to mooching if they're letting others carry them through instances.

Adroit - Lost City · August 2011

thumbs wrote: »

20% chance for a stun: I don't think anyone is going to use this skill for it's stun.

Please tell me they moved April Fool's Day to August or something.. this must be some sort of joke.

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

thumbs, if you want a guide that has direct answers, go to a fansite. Wizard form = Wizard opinions. If you don't agree with it, read it and move on.

EDIT: And this might sound cliche, but I'm not telling you how to play your wizard. I'm only providing my opinions.

DaKillanator - Raging Tide · August 2011

totally unreadable until it's color coded.

COLOR CODE IT NAOb:angry

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

DaKillanator - Raging Tide wrote: »

totally unreadable until it's color coded.

COLOR CODE IT NAOb:angry

Oh fine, fine. Anything for my Decimate buddy. b:laugh

DaKillanator - Raging Tide · August 2011

AsimM - Raging Tide wrote: »

Oh fine, fine. Anything for my Decimate buddy. b:laugh

change the demon color to this, and make fire spells dark orange. That color you're using for demon spells atm make my brain bleedb:cry

Otherwise you did a good job Leviathan buddy <3b:dirtyb:kissb:cute

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

DaKillanator - Raging Tide wrote: »

change the demon color to this, and make fire spells dark orange. That color you're using for demon spells atm make my brain bleedb:cry

Otherwise you did a good job Leviathan buddy <3b:dirtyb:kissb:cute

I didn't colour them by demon or sage, I coloured them by element.

Fire: This.
Water: This.
Earth: This.

Explanation of which path wins: This.

And so forth.

Adroit - Lost City · August 2011

So I did end up reading it, and had a few things I didn't totally agree with.

LA does not have a significant advantage over AA in terms of survivability, it is a tiny advantage. LA actually has less total resists (pdef + mdef) than AA, but gets ~20-25% more hp/refine from equivalent armors. Keep in mind you get hp from a number of sources (refines/shards/stats on gear etc) so that 20-25% more hp/refine does not equate to 20-25% more hp total . Add in that AA allows for more stat points to be put into attributes that increase resistances (LA requires ~100 points into dex, which means the gap between resists widens even more). There is a bit more that goes into it, but I think significant advantage is too strong a phrase for the difference in survivability between these armor types.

I've never heard of this hybrid build you speak of, but I do think adding vit can make sense early game. 50 points for 500 hp is stupid at true end game, but when you have like 2k hp in your 7x or something.. spending 50 points to increase your survivability by 25% doesn't sound so bad.

Just FYI, barbs get 17 hp/vit

Your skill list didn't do a lot for me, it's basically just ecatomb in a different format. I've never been a fan of demon/sage wins for a particular skill because skills work together. For example, you say demon sandstorm is better than sage.. but if all you wanted was to do more damage with sandstorm, sage would be the better choice because of the masteries. Then you realize you should really be saying demon sandstorm does slightly less damage than sage, but you get the added benefit of 3% extra crit with demon because of its masteries. It just gets complicated singling out individual skills, I much prefer a separate sage/demon section really describing the different playstyle of each cultivation. Kinda on this same idea, if you decide to keep that section as is.. at least give yourself the flexibility to say a tie. So when there is an awesome benefit on both sides (i.e. pyrogram with chi or channeling.. you can say it's a toss-up). The main one I was looking at was distance shrink (you spelled that distant shrink btw).. and you thought demon was better. I strongly disagree because distance shrink is probably the #1 reason sage has so much chi.. the only real chi drain we have being 50% less of a chi drain is absolutely amazing. I realize demon distance shrink is also good.. and you are entitled to your opinions, but you kinda lost me with that line.

For expel, please don't offer advice expecting your opponent to be stupid. No half competent pvper is going to leave their neutral blessing filter off.. you may as well be saying if you are fighting a mage you should wait on sutra until they inevitably stop in the middle of a fight to fully charge up emberstorm on some mob that's bugging them. I mean really.. nobody needs help against the stupid opponents, they need help against the tough ones.

In your final notes you say that we are "phenomenal in pve". That needs to be removed. And there are several other classes that can end a fight in a draw.. that isn't class specific to us.

I know there were a few other small things I didn't care for, but I can't remember them now. I don't mean to be mean, but I really didn't see the huge leap over the previous guides that were already up. One of my main complaints about the ones that are already up are that they just restated information that is readily available from ecatomb and other fan sites. The bits of info that were new were kinda thrown in their in what seemed to me to be random places without much thought to organization. Maybe I just don't remember what it was like being a lowbie and reading my first few guides, but I was kinda expecting you to use the start of what you had as.. a start. It seemed like you started covering the basics and then got bored and just threw in a few random thoughts and called it done. I'm not saying to just give up or that it sucks, but I'd think of it more as a rough draft and maybe reorganize it so it has some logical order to it and maybe adding in more info that isn't really available on sites like ecatomb (like pvp strategies or w/e you want)

Anyway, I didn't really intend for this post to be as harsh as it probably sounds.. but I'm not going to be back and rewrite it. You'll have plenty of opportunity to critique my guide when I finish it in hopefully the next week or two

DaKillanator - Raging Tide · August 2011

I agree with everything Adriot says.

I'll make sure to read his post later

HardToThink - Lost City · August 2011

dakillanator - Raging Tide wrote: »

i Agree With Everything Adriot Says.

i'll Make Sure To Read His Post Later

Lol

HarmOwnie - Dreamweaver · August 2011

hi

first off all nice idea for a new guide keep on improving it. The skill descriptions are ok and the sage wins /demon wins is a good idea but cant be done for all of the skills. Let me explain it on the stonbarrier example:

AsimM - Raging Tide wrote: »

3) Stone Barrier: A self-buff that increases earth resistances and physical defense. Priority: ASAP.

Sage: Increases earth resistances to 150%
Demon(Winner): Increases physical defense to 150%.

Demon wins because of the physical defense modifier. It takes priority over sage unless you're LA.

you are right when you point out that the 150% phys def from demon > 120% phys def for sage but you forget about the earth res effect here it is the other way round there sage 150% and demon 120%. Well you might say phys def >elemental def for PvP because there are more physical classes than magical but dont forget the effect of earth res in PvE like in Warsong and dont forget that having a 150% boosted earth resistance prevents you from getting attacked with earth skills from other wizards or psychics. So it is not that clear to say demon wins because if you kill mobs that do earth dmg ( and most earth mobs come with a earth+stun attack combo) the sage barrier helps also a lot.

another point is saying stone rain wins for the stun chance is also debateable because the sad truth is using a skill for a stun effect that has only 20% is dangerous and a huge gamble in pvp. I see it more like you use the stone rain for the higher weapon multiplier and take advantage of the situation if the stun occures but using it as stun will cause a lot of problems. More or less same situation with hailstorm but chances to demobilizes are a bit higher.

greetz harm0wnie

Kannone - Heavens Tear · August 2011

4) (Optional) Solo: You were late to your TW, so you're going solo.

I lol'd at this ^

I appreciate that you compared the heaven and hell skills in a way that anyone as dumb as me can understand; the one thing I would say is that one cultivation doesn't always have to be "better," the culti's are different and lend to different styles of play, "better" invites arguments... but you did very well.

Will be very useful for newcomers if they care to read.

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

Few things.

1) GM's are hovering their hand over "Sticky" for Adroit's guide.

2) Thanks for all the good stuff you guys said about my guide.

3) Killanator succeeded into bullying me into colour coding it.

4) Yes, I do understand that everyone has a different playstyle, and there's no right answer. I kept that in mind when I declared the winners, but I also kept in mind that if I went into all that different playstyle stuff, it would take me ages to write this guide. So I just kept it to my opinions. And I don't have those ages to write a fully comprehensive guide. First day of college tomorrow. b:laugh

DaKillanator - Raging Tide · August 2011

AsimM - Raging Tide wrote: »

3) Killanator succeeded into bullying me into colour coding it.

Further proof that if (when) we make love I'll be the one on top.

AsimM - Raging Tide · August 2011

b:surrender You win this battle.

DaKillanator - Raging Tide · August 2011

AsimM - Raging Tide wrote: »

b:surrender You win every battle.

fixed b:pleasedb:heart

Ezehc - Lost City · August 2011

Adroit - Lost City wrote: »

So I did end up reading it, and had a few things I didn't totally disagree with.

Does that mean you did totally disagree with everything but those few things? b:victory

Adroit - Lost City · August 2011

Ezehc - Lost City wrote: »

Does that mean you did totally disagree with everything but those few things? b:victory

Oh I get it, that was meant to be a "CHEESY" joke

*goes back to edit typo

*

Aeyisha - Lost City · August 2011

Kannone - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I lol'd at this ^

I appreciate that you compared the heaven and hell skills in a way that anyone as dumb as me can understand; the one thing I would say is that one cultivation doesn't always have to be "better," the culti's are different and lend to different styles of play, "better" invites arguments... but you did very well.

Will be very useful for newcomers if they care to read.

When did you come back? :O

chaoticshelly · August 2011

Stickied! Keep the team effort to make this a great guide for new wizards to come.

Adroit - Lost City · August 2011

Being that this has been stickied, I just hope AsimM goes back to fix/update it as time goes by. It just doesn't seem finished to me

The Guide to Wizardry

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