Hey all.

After my lock life i feel like I should do a wizard life (and probably feel horribly underpowered in comparison). My experience is mostly with melee builds so I feel I should try the real wizard experience.

The things i'm looking for in this build:
-Non iconic, I would like to get both an epic past life and an heroic past life out of this
-Should be able to handle heroic elite. Epic play is not a concern as i'll just join the xp train.
-Multiclassing is an option but I would like it to atleast feel like a wizard.

What I've been toying around with:
*Pale trapper (18 wiz/2 rogue) my concern with this one is that I won't be able to kill undead easily. It seems pretty self sufficient though.
*Wizard 20 enchantment focussed archmage. The problem with this build seems to be the self sufficiency and the dps. Being able to stun everything is great but do I have the dps to take down red named?

Are the above viable for heroic elite and what should I do to compensate  for their weaknesses? I have no fvs/sorc/wiz past lives so no extra SP/spell pen. I do have a torc and conc op item lying around.

As I said, I have no real experience with casters (I don't feel warlock counts) so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Invis + run --> Firewall. Invis is optional.
It's heroics. Don't overthink it.

RV had this, but I'll toss this out for funsies:

If you have Warforged:

Mage-Rogue 18/2 split.

Everything in Archmage, Evocation or maybe Conjuration focus for more DPS. Get the Evocation SLA's, all of which can be Metamagic'd for free (including the Arcane Bolt/ Blast). Spam the crap out of those SLA's and use Repair-(X) and Recontruct as necessary.

Don't forget to take the Insightful Reflexes feat. (I took it at Lvl 1)

If NOT:

Human Pale-Trapper. Wiz-Rogue 18/2 split,

Trick is to put enough in Pale Master to get the Undead forms (Wraith is ideal, but Vampire can do in a pinch, and the shroud is cooler looking, IMHO) anything spent past that is a mug's game, since there's so many Undead in game you'll be crippled for DPS.

Spam Negative Energy Burst and Death Aura for self-heals in Undead form. You can buy Inflict Serious Pots at the House Jorasco Apothecary as well, for emergencies.

Watch out for Searing Light, since you'll take a pounding from Light damage in Undead form (PM enhancements and Murky items can mitigate this somewhat, but not all of it).

Shroud of the Abbot robe (HaHa) or that new belt from Search and Rescue quest in Eveningstar are great items for PMs with their Boon of Undeath ability.

After that, same applies to Pale-Trapper as Archmage, jam all your remaining point into Archmage DPS and enjoy the self-healing solo zerg. Don't forget the Insightful Reflexes.

Fair Warning: Splashing a Wizard is agony. By Lvl 7 you'll likely be looking to buy an XP stone just to be shut of it. It gets better, but it never matches a Sorc or Warlock for DPS.

Foot Note: Heightened Web is sick CC. Forget Disco Inferno (Otto's Sphere of Dancing + Firewall). You CAN lay Fiewalls on top of Webs. 

Metal-Beast wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2016 at 4:07pm:


That's what I was looking for. Thanks for taking the time to type it out. The web/firewall trick sounds like a good one to keep in mind.

If you'd go human could you easily get UMD up for heal scrolls or is it simply not worth it?

Revaulting wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2016 at 10:39pm:


Nowq that sounds like a ton of fun... But first i'll have to get past the single digits.

WeHaveLived wrote on Jul 4^th, 2016 at 1:31am:

It was cathartic. Penance for collecting caster sticks in the first place.

5 Foot Step wrote on Jul 4^th, 2016 at 11:46am:

If you care about time, then you should just zerg + AoE. If you want to melee as a build focus, that's something different, and you're probably better off splashing Wiz, or avoiding it entirely. EK sucks balls for actual melee.

Imo, you certainly don't need Bard. You probably lose less if you just take the SWF feats on a pure Wiz. or 18 Wiz./2 Monk or Rogue (or even Fighter, but then you'd be pretty tempted to go 3).

I haven't tried a Bard/Wiz. split, but at first impression it seems to have much more synergy for sonic & enchantment than melee. You may consider that a challenge, though 

Metal-Beast wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2016 at 4:07pm:


What's the drop rate like on that belt? I've burned dozens of hours searching for certain items in some of the new chains. The belt looks awesome, but not if I have to run the question 300 times to get it. (fuck you so hard Barbette's Bracers)


Revaulting wrote on Jul 4^th, 2016 at 9:59pm:


I was actually just considering doing an 18 wizard/2 fighter split. Why would you go 3 fighter instead of 2?

Revaulting wrote on Jul 11^th, 2016 at 7:11pm:


That would make sense.

My idea is to melee while spamming SLAs and using Death Aura and Negative Energy Burst. I dunno how effective it'll be but it sounds like fun.

Mixing magic and melee DPS has been dead for years and turbine seems intent on making it even deader with increasingly specialized gear and stacking bonuses requiring multiple gear slots.  Not even melee-locks are decent, except to fuel trees. 

There's apparently a good melee spellcaster build in 18 sorcerer/2 paladin, but I am in the market for a wizrd.

AtomicMew wrote on Jul 12^th, 2016 at 7:55pm:


I'm not disagreeing, but the recent addition of the Eldritch Knight tree would tend to support the notion that they were at least trying.

That's kind of where I was going with the split. 2-3 fighter gives you a nice collection of feats to work with, and a few points spent in Eldrich Knight should give you enough melee capability to get the job done, while still leaving enough wizard levels to do some spellcasting. Death Aura affects nearbye targets, so if you're in undead mode, displaced, etc, well it all looks like it should be viable.

Maybe not top-tier, but playable and fun.